On Sunday, June 3 at 9pm Eastern, the 2012 Miss USA Pageant airs live from Las Vegas on NBC.  Returning as hosts will be Andy Cohen, Executive Vice President, Original Programming and Development for the Bravo cable network, and Giuliana Rancic, co-anchor of E! News.  The Miss USA pageant brings hopefuls from all over the country to vie for the title.  The winner of Miss USA will go on to represent the United States in the Miss Universe pageant.  The Miss Universe Organization owns and operates both pageants as well as the Miss Teen USA pageant.  The organization is owned jointly by NBC Universal and Donald Trump.

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO ANDY COHEN AND GIULIANA RANCIC OF THE MISS USA PAGEANT:

USTH: Do you know who the judges are for this year's pageant?

ANDY COHEN: There are a few judges that we can announce now: the former Bachelorette Ali Fedotowsky – she's the host of NBC's First Look and also Joe Jonas is going to be judge and Rob Kardashian and Giuliana's co-host on E! Fashion Police George Kotsiopoulos.

USTH: Andy, what do you feel about the semi-controversy a few years ago with Carrie Prejean [during the 2009 Miss USA pageant where Perez Hilton asked her about her views on same-sex marriage]? If you were a judge on that panel how would you have approached that whole situation? What do you feel about the question and the answer and the fallout?

ANDY COHEN: I thought the question was great. The answer was not something that I agreed with personally and I probably would have scored her low at the time.
But you know again I've never been a judge and so I don't have the specific criteria in my head of everything that the judges are looking for.
But you know, I think that it's a well-rounded person who speaks well and intelligently and inclusively of everyone and would be a great representative of the organization.
So, yes, I thought the question was within bound. I thought that there were some great questions last year [as well, when I hosted] and it's my favorite part of the pageant.

(l-r) Andy Cohen and Giuliana Rancic host the2012 Miss USA Pageant live from Las Vegas [Image credit: NBC]

USTH: Would you ever want to be a judge? Could you handle that pressure of having someone's dream in the palm of your hands?

ANDY COHEN: Giuliana already was a judge, right Giuliana?

GIULIANA RANCIC: Yes, I was. I was a judge about five years ago, and it was great. You know, I actually was in the Miss Maryland USA pageant a couple of times. I did not ever make it to the national level – so sad (laughs).
So, for me, I know how it feels to be on that stage and how nerve wrecking it is, so I took it very seriously.

USTH: Would either of you ever want to be a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice – Donald Trump's other show?
ANDY COHEN: I [have] too many balls in the air to even speculate at this moment. Bring me an offer, and we'll talk about it.

USTH: Okay, I like that. What about you, Giuliana?

GIULIANA RANCIC: You know, I actually met with them last season, but it was just not going to happen – it was a scheduling thing. But, I love the show. I've always been a fan of The Apprentice.
My husband [Bill Rancic] was the first Apprentice, so it's funny though because when I went to meet [the Celebrity Apprentice producers], my husband told me, "you realize if you do this show second place isn't good enough? You have to come in first place because I already won."
So, it was a lot of pressure. I don't know if I would do it, but it's such a great show, and it's a lot of fun to watch.

USTH: Listening to you both today, it is very apparent that you're both very goal oriented. Looking into the future, what are your unrealized goals? What is still on your wish lists of things you'd like to accomplish?

GIULIANA RANCIC: You know, one thing I would love to do is a talk show with my husband. I [mean] a daytime show, but more about relationships, not really a talk show or celebrity show interviewing celebrities.
So many people ask us about our marriage and our relationship and how we seem to have such a great relationship, and we really do.
So, I'd love to have couples come on who have issues and work them through their issues. My husband and I would love to do that.
I think that's definitely something in the future, not the near future but it's nice to dream about, and it's something that we can see ourselves doing somewhere in the future, but we have a long road ahead of us, so no rush.

ANDY COHEN: My goal is to get married. How's that?

GIULIANA RANCIC: Really?

ANDY COHEN: Fall in love and get married. Yes. I can do it in New York State now.

GIULIANA RANCIC: Andy, I feel like we might meet someone in Vegas who's going to fill those shoes. I don't know why.

ANDY COHEN: Really? You do?

GIULIANA RANCIC: I have a really good feeling about it. Yes, I don't know why.

ANDY COHEN: I don't know. Vegas seems like a part-time lover place.

GIULIANA RANCIC: No, no. Not necessarily someone who lives there or someone we don't know someone who's kind of part of all this. I don't know I'm feeling good about Vegas. I'm getting good vibes.

ANDY COHEN: Okay, great!

Our thanks to Andy Cohen and Giuliana Rancic for taking the time to speak with us today.  The 2012 Miss USA Pageant airs Sunday, June 3 9pm Eastern live from Las Vegas on NBC.

One of the few bright spots on NBC's 2011-2012 primetime television schedule as far as genre televsion fans were concerned was Grimm, which stars David Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby as homicide detectives Nick Burkhardt and Hank Griffin who work for the Portland Police Department trying to solve murders with a decidedly supernatural bent to them.  NBC has announced that the series will return for a second season, and we talked with them recently as NBC gets set to broadcast the first season finale.  Also, the network has announced that the show will temporarily move to Tuesdays with reruns of Season 1, which will begin on May 29 following America's Got Talent.

USTOWNHALL SPEAKS TO DAVID GIUNTOLI AND RUSSELL HORNSBY OF GRIMM:

USTH: The first season finale will be airing soon, so let's have you reflect on this past year and how it's been for each of you in terms of your personal career and how the show has been going for you and the fan reaction and the network support.

DAVID GIUNTOLI: Appreciate it, absolutely. From a standpoint of an actor, I've grown leaps and bounds. I've learned so much. You really get thrown into it, and you don't stop running until 22 episodes are done and 9 months has passed.
And I've been very fortunate to get to work alongside guys who are youthful veterans of the entertainment industry like Russell Hornsby and Silas Weir Mitchell. These guys have really been great and gracious and have taught me a lot just so I kind of lock it in every day.
And the fans have been unbelievable. I've had fans in the past, but genre TV fans are passionate fans. They're completely active. They watch the episode, and then next thing, they're writing fan-fiction or creating more scenarios and asking questions, and they really hold you accountable. And the whole experience has been wonderful.

RUSSELL HORNSBY: Well, for me this experience has been rather surreal. I guess I don't consider myself a veteran of television. This is like the first time I've been on a show that people actually watch [David laughs] and so, just sort of getting used to the hubbub and fanfare and being the first time recognized. It has been crazy.
And so I really thought that I had sort of made it five years ago, and I realized, "Oh, no, I didn't." The work schedule has been very intense like I've never experienced – just all the hours that we've had to put in, being on location, being in Portland and shooting outside in the rain and at night.
I've just learned to appreciate this whole experience and as an actor learning just new things about myself – as an actor and as a performer, all the stuff that I can handle. I never thought I could up to this point.
And again, the fans have been crazy. I mean in a good way. Genre fans are nuts about their shows that they've loved and they follow them. And they're very interactive and very smart.
So, I'm just really curious to see what the next season is going to bring as far as the show's concerned, but also from a fan perspective.

(l-r) David Giuntoli (as Nick Burnhardt), Russell Hornsby (as Hank Griffin) on NBC's Grimm [Image credit: NBC]

DAVID GIUNTOLI: I'm excited for Nick to become more of a badass, so to speak. Throughout the Season 1, he's [gone] from [being] a very passive observer of what was taking place to a real kind of go-getter where he tried to work the politics of what Wesen [pronounced "Vessin," the series' mythological creatures] were against him and who was for him and who was going after his loved ones, who was his friend. And I think that certain events will make him a little more aggressive.

RUSSELL HORNSBY: My hope is that Hank sort of finds out what's behind door number one. And, if that's the case, then just sort of seeing an opportunity for the relationship to develop, I think, between the three of them – Nick, Monroe and Hank, as they try to solve these crimes together. And I guess the drama that could possibly ensue between the three of them.
You know, I did a little joke today that there's a chance for a nice love triangle, you know. And, Monroe might settle for fighting for the affections of Miss Burkhardt. So it'll be fun.

USTH: In the season finale, there is a new character introduced called "The Woman in Black,"  who will be played by Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.  I know you can't reveal any spoilers to the episode, but will the character continue on into next season or will she appear in just this one episode?

DAVID GIUNTOLI: I don't have a definitive answer to that, but I would imagine that yes, she would continue on to next season.

USTH: Our thanks to Nick Giuntoli and Russell Hornsby for speaking with us today.  The season finale to Grimm will air on Friday, May 18 at 9pm Eastern. 

Also, remember that beginning Tuesday, May 29, NBC will be airing reruns of the entire first season following America's Got Talent in an effort to attract a wider audience heading into Season 2.

The Bronx Opera returns for its Spring performances with something of a departure from its norm.  To be sure, it adheres to its customary template of presenting a well-known opera in the Spring, yet by choosing Hansel and Gretel as its focus, the Bronx Opera makes an inspired decision to perform a piece that could serve to introduce the world of opera to the younger generation.

One of the best known and most beloved fairy tales, Hansel and Gretel was published by the Grimm Brothers in 1812 in a volume containing scores of other legendary short stories such as Snow White and Cinderella.  By 1893, Engelbert Humperdinck – no, not the Las Vegas schmaltz-meister, the original German composer – turned the beloved story into a full-blown three-act opera to largely rave reviews.  It is this version that the Bronx Opera adapts for its May session.

The Bronx Opera's rendition of Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel is brilliantly brought to life by the Bronx Opera's founder, Michael Spierman who draws lush, room-filling sound from his full orchestra of almost three dozen extremely talented musicians.  Spierman's son Benjamin serves as Stage Director and translated the opera so that it could be fully performed in English while maintaining the integrity and wit of the original.

As is usual for a Bronx Opera production, there are standout and noteworthy performances aplenty.  In the cast we saw, Allison Pohl was charming and charismatic as Gretel and Bronx Opera vet Hannah Rosenbaum makes a memorable impression in a brief but pivotal role as the Sandman.  It should be noted that this rendition of the opera continues the tradition of the original in that the role of Hansel is performed by a female – a so-called "pants" role – and Jennifer Caruana does a fine job as the mischievous Hansel.  On the technical side, the many projections used to suggest the forest, the witches flying across the sky, and the gingerbread house are clever, colorful, and inventive and were quite effective tools in the school of doing more with less.

Image credit: The Bronx Opera Company

If we have one critique of Hansel and Gretel, it is with the third act, which follows the intermission.  At this point, the children are awakened by the Dew Fairy and soon find themselves at the mercy of the evil Gingerbread Witch.  This is where the story should kick into high gear and the action should rise toward a satisfying climax, but in spite of the fact that the children are captured and Hansel is being fattened in preparation for his eventual fate as a tasty morsel, no sense of underlying tension is ever achieved.  Therefore, when the children find the courage and resourcefulness to outsmart the witch and push her into her own oven, the thrill of giddy catharsis that shoud be felt by the audience is somewhat diminished.

Much of the problem is with the underlying source material.  Humperdinck, in trying to lift Hansel and Gretel from its childhood folk tale origins to an opera worthy of serious consideration by adults may have succeeded all too well.  The composer's Wagnerian influences are apparent, but are structurally too rigid, serving to deflate much of the playfulness and imaginative spark inherent in the concept.  In the past, we've seen fantastic results where the Bronx Opera stayed extremely close to the source material they adapted and did not take too many liberties, but in this case with such kid-friendly material, why not?

The staging of this production was perhaps too well-mannered where a little cutting loose would have worked wonders.  The production design was fun and colorful, and we would have liked to have seen things taken even further.  Having the witch's entrance moved off-stage and directly into the audience where she could pop up unexpectedly, for example, might have provoked shrieks of laughter from the many children that were in attendance.  Or use the many video screens adorning the stage to have the witch's ugly mug projected in large size on four screens simultaneously as she sings her entrance number.  On a similar note, the witch's performance could have been made more broadly campy as her presence comprises the money shots of this oft-told tale and therefore needed to make much more of an impact than they do here.  Everything about the witch, from the costume to the entrance to the performance should have been bigger, grander, and just plain more fun. 

Image credit: The Bronx Opera Company

While remaining faithful to the original, it might have been a canny idea for Spierman to have another story in the back of his mind that uses much the same template: lost child trying to get back home, but running afoul of an evil witch and singing songs along the way – The Wizard of Oz – to try to attain the same larger-than-life tone particularly in the witch's performance.

Humperdinck's opera ends up being a creation that is neither fish nor fowl – not weighty enough to engage a fully adult audience, yet not cartoonishly preposterous enough to have the kids leaping out of their seats in excitement.  Still, the Bronx Opera does a commendable job in bringing this flawed gem to the stage and it is a largely effective gateway to the world of opera for the little ones – a nice night out for the entire family.

There are still two more performances left to the Bronx Opera's Hansel and Gretel, and tickets should still be available for their Long Island shows at Hofstra University.  Please visit the Bronx Opera's website for more information and to keep up with future projects and their ongoing mission to make classical opera affordable and accessible to everyone.

To listen to our previous interviews with the Bronx Opera Company's Ben Spierman, click here.

Now that the 2011-2012 television season will be coming to an end in a couple of weeks, we thought it would be a good time to summarize the announcements that the five broadcast networks have made regarding the fates of their television schedules.  Some shows are still undecided, but the fates of most of their lineups are now known: