When ballroom dancing just isn‘t challenging enough, it‘s good to know that there is always ice skating. ABC has announced that a new program, called Skating with the Stars, will debut on the network as soon as the current season of Dancing with the Stars ends. Read more »

ABC is about to heat up the ice with Skating with the Stars, a new reality competition similar to Dancing with the Stars, only with figure skating instead of ballroom dancing. During tonight‘s live DWTS results show the six celebrities who will lace up their ice skates were revealed, including a Real Housewife, a rock icon and a true Blade Runner.See Photos of the Skating with the Stars Celebrities  Read more »

Why did I watch the premiere of Skating with the Stars? For one simple reason, and it‘s not to see what Sean Young has been up to since she was last relevant 25 years ago. I wanted to see famous people fall flat on their butts on live TV. It was a simple hope, one echoed by the show‘s host, Vernon Kay. From the beginning, he assured us that there was real peril of falling and danger and with celebrities like Vince Neil, falling seemed all-but-certain.  Read more »

Welcome to The GBU, a weekly column coming every Monday where I look at the Good, the Bad and the Ugly on TV.With winter comes a brief hiatus for most TV shows, but if you look hard enough, there‘s plenty of new programming to get you through those long December nights.  Read more »

For Bachelorette and Bachelor Pad fans, this is some random, absurd, rather hilarious news. For everyone else, just thank your stars you don‘t know what I‘m talking about and kindly move along. OK, here we go:According to E! Online, former Bachelorette contestant Jonathan "The Weatherman" Novack is joining Skating with the Stars on Monday, apparently as an "understudy" for food poisoned Disney starBrandon Mychal Smith. Now, I don‘t watch Skating with the Stars, but I noticed three major things wrong with that sentence I just wrote. First, "The Weatherman" is not a "star." He is a celestial sidedish, at best. And I mean the kind of sidedish that people only eat when there‘s nothing else to eat or because it‘s comical. Like those weird mini corncobs. (And yes: Whether any of the other "stars" on this show qualify for that title is very debatable.) Second, Skating with the Stars has its FINALE next week, and it‘s a competition show. You can‘t just jump into the 100-meter dash at the last 10 meters, cross the finish line with everyone else and pretend you have any entitlement to a rank, a prize or even some measly recognition. That‘s cheating! And third, "UNDERSTUDY"? Don‘t make me laugh, Skating with the Stars. You are not Broadway. Good grief, it‘s like even YOU don‘t think of yourself as a real TV show.And listen, Skating with the Stars. I‘m guessing you‘re trying to appeal to people like me with this casting, because I loved "The Weatherman" on The Bachelorette. Openly loved him. But that was a specific case, in which his talents (or lack thereof) were perfectly suited for that schadenfreude-ridden spectacle of a show. That doesn‘t mean I want to watch him iceskate! Or watch him do anything besides cluelessly fight for some lady-love. But if I had to choose, here are 5 things I would RATHER watch "The Weatherman" do than go Skating with the Stars: Read more »

In case anyone cares: ABC‘s only first season of Skating with the Stars came to a close last night. And the winner is ... All My Children actress/Bachelor Bob Guiney ex Rebecca Budig, who outwitted, outlasted, outplayed outskated fellow finalist and Real Housewife of New York Bethenny Frankel. (Cue the confetti cannons!)No shocker here considering Budig, who skated with pro-skater Palascak, dominated throughout the five-week competition and received a perfect score for her last routine. According to People, runner-up Frankel, who glided alongside pro partner Ethan Burgess, even said, "[Rebecca] should be a real skater." Read more »

Sooooo the Spider-Man musical, right? It‘s worrisome. With four injuries over just the last few months and an actress recently quitting because of a concussion, it has become infamous. Instead of canceling it for good and saying, "well it was a cool idea but it didn‘t work," Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark is simply postponed until February. In this economy?! Well, accidents happen. Just look at reality shows! Here are some of the most accident-prone shows on TV.  Read more »