BW Manilowe

Rob & Eli actually have done/do ads for DirecTV, not Dish. I'm not sure about Kevin Bacon though, I haven't seen his ad yet.

A few other new shows I'm looking forward to: The Muppets; Rob Lowe's new show, The Grinder, & Dr. Ken. I'm not watching the last 1 as much for the premise (it's based on the real life of actor Ken Jeong, who was a practicing, licensed, physician before/I think simultaneously with becoming an actor) as I am for 1 of the cast members. Dr. Ken's son is being played by young actor Albert Tsai, whose "breakout" role was "Bert", the adopted, Chinese-born, son of Bradley Whitford's & Michaela Watkins' characters in 2013-2014's Trophy Wife, which aired on ABC. I sort of "fell in love" with Albert Tsai while watching that. I get that he's playing a different character here, but the new character looks somewhat similar to Bert (from previews I've seen on TV), so I'm watching the show.

Rob Lowe is the new voice of The Lion King's Simba, opposite actress Gabrielle Union, the new voice of Simba's wife, Nala! (an excellent reason to watch cartoons with your kids beginning late this year & going through at least next year... Ha-ha.) This November, The Disney Channel (I think both in the US & internationally--check the information in the linked article to confirm) will air a new "sequel" movie to the originals The Lion King & The Lion King II (& a previous Saturday cartoon that apparently aired on TV), titled The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar. This movie is a precursor to/sets up a daily version of The Lion Guard, which is scheduled to begin airing on The Disney Channel & the Disney Junior channel, both in the US & international markets, in 2016. Rob gives voice to Simba in both the movie & upcoming series version of The Lion Guard. The movie & upcoming series focuses on Kion, Simba & Nala's second-born cub, as he & his friends form The Lion Guard (apparently a real-life jungle thing & normally an all-lion entity, but the movie/series version will include Kion's non-lion friends among its membership). So Rob may not be in it heavily, but he will be in it since, I'm sure, Kion will need guidance/correction/assistance from his father periodically. The Lion Guard helps to protect the Pride Lands, where the original The Lion King characters which will be in the new show (& some will be "voiced" by the same actors as in the previous/original incarnations of The Lion King) & the new characters created specifically for The Lion Guard live. There's a screen with a preview scene (I'm not sure if it's from the movie or an episode of the series) at the page linked below; it doesn't include Rob/Simba, though Simba is referred to in it by Kion. It's still a cute scene & worth watching. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/lion-king-sequel-series-taps-814718

I follow Timothy Omundson on Twitter, because I was a Psych fan; as you may know he now plays the King (King Richard, aka "King Dick" according to some) on Galavant. He Tweeted on August 5th he was back in London to start working on the 2nd season of the show--recording the songs, etc. I thought he also Tweeted, at some other point, that the show would begin airing again in January, but either I can't find the Tweet or I'm just plain wrong about that. I'm looking forward to seeing that. I'm also looking forward to seeing S6 of Hawaii Five-0. I don't think I've come up with any first-year shows I'm anxious to see, yet. OK, I just remembered 1. Jane Lynch & Maggie Lawson's new show, Angel from Hell, which starts on CBS in early November after CBS' slate of Thursday night NFL games ends.

Maggie Smith--actually Dame Maggie Smith--is a much-honored British actress. In the US, she's won (among others) a Tony Award, 3 Emmys, & 2 Oscars (& is 1 of only 6 actresses to win Oscars in *both* the Lead & Supporting Actress categories--she won the Lead Actress Oscar for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie & the Supporting Actress Oscar for the "Academy Awards" segment, playing opposite Sir Michael Caine, in Neil Simon's California Suite). In film, I think she's also fairly well-known as the Mother Superior of the convent where Whoopi Goldberg's Vegas lounge singer character is put into witness protection, after witnessing a "hit" performed by her mobster boyfriend, in Sister Act (she also appeared in Sister Act II as the same character). I think, right now, she's best-known for her current role as the Dowager Countess in PBS' Downton Abbey, a role for which she won 2 of her Emmys. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dame_Maggie_Smith

The pasta starting with an A is agnolotti (ann-yo-lot-e). I don't remember what else he did with it, unless he did something like a bolognese sauce to go with it (which I think's referenced upthread, but may also be from a different ep).

Character Actor Gerald S. O'Loughlin (The Rookies, Our House, among other roles), Died July 31st, Age 93. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/gerald-o-loughlin-dead-rookies-814280?utm_source=twitter

Buddy Baker, 74, NASCAR's "Gentle Giant", Dies from Lung Cancer. http://wane.com/2015/08/10/buddy-baker-nascars-gentle-giant-dies-at-74/

Well, I guess now we know why the contestants didn't do a live-to-camera cooking demo on Rachel Ray's talk show this season, as they have for the last few seasons (& as was previously wondered about this season, in this forum): She was the Food Network personality selected to produce/direct the contestants' mini Pilot presentations this season. Their being on her show as well would've been a bit redundant.

I didn't realize it until maybe an hour ago, but--even though he didn't make it until his 85th birthday next Sunday--Frank Gifford's death happening today still has some interesting, & perhaps appropriate, timing. I had forgotten, earlier today, that this is the NFL Hall of Fame Enshrinement Weekend, for the 2015 Hall of Famers (Mr. Gifford was inducted in a previous year), which also includes the 1st pre-season NFL game, the Hall of Fame game, being played in Canton, OH, tonight between Pittsburgh & Minnesota. So, I suppose if he had to go now, today was appropriate as he was an NFL legend both on the playing field & in the broadcasting anchor booth & today's the start of this season's NFL pre-season activities.

. Say what you may about the Giffords, especially Kathie Lee (some days I can stand her much better than others, honestly), but that's sad. If he'd lived another week (I think it is), he would've turned 85 & Kathie Lee will be 60. They shared the same birthday--August 16th, I'm pretty sure it is--& he was (at least said to be) 25 years older than Kathie Lee.

*Cute* pic of Keri & Matthew with their doppelgängers, Michael Ausiello from TVLine.com & Hanh Nguyen from TVGuide, who presented The Americans with the TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Drama Saturday night, August 8th (also see my post in the Awards and Nominations thread). The pic was Instagrammed & Tweeted by TV Line.com. https://instagram.com/p/6Jh9XILxLV/ HitFix.com's critic, Alan Sepinwall, also Retweeted it & said, "Rhys' reaction is his best moment since 'Martial Eagle'." https://mobile.twitter.com/sepinwall/status/630259384241664004?p=v

The Americans won for Outstanding Achievement in Drama at the awards presentation during the Summer 2015 Television Critics' Association meeting, held for most of this week (if not slightly longer) in LA. http://variety.com/2015/tv/news/empire-tca-awards-full-list-of-winners-1201561929/

She also has an openly gay, older half-brother, Frankie J. Grande, who was on the previous cycle of Big Brother (Big Brother 16) to the 1 that's currently airing; who has appeared on Broadway in, among other shows, Rock of Ages; who's also a YouTube "personality", among other professional "credits". But that probably wouldn't help identify Ariana Grande either.

Another video from People magazine's webcast, People Now. This has the same 4 actors from the earlier video (Dann, Carolyn, S. Epatha, & Jill) reminiscing about their favorite show memories (or something I can't remember now). This link should work for everyone; I remembered to switch to Desktop Version on the site before copying the link. http://www.people.com/people/videos/0,,20943512,00.html

Archer moving to the FXX network next season, to be paired with a new animated series which has been ordered. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/fxx-orders-cassius-clay-series-813841?utm_source=twitter

Another casting update: Glee's Amber P. Riley will play Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North (who gives Dorothy the silver [in this version of the story] slippers & points her towards the Yellow Brick Road) & Orange is the New Black's Uzo Aduba will play Glinda, the Good Witch of the South (who tells Dorothy the secret of the silver slippers & points her toward home). They're sisters to Evilene, the Wicked Witch of the West (played by Mary J. Blige). http://tvline.com/2015/08/06/amber-riley-wiz-live-cast-uzo-aduba-nbc/

I don't tend to have a problem with shrink wrap (but *cling* wrap is another thing entirely--I always end up with that irreversibly clinging to itself). Who I'd like to "kill" (I wanna, but wouldn't really do it, ultimately) is the person who created the molded plastic packaging that not only thwarts anyone from taking items/the item from the packaging while it's in the store, but also keeps the legal purchaser from removing the item(s) from the packaging, once the item is bought & at the purchaser's home, without having to use the strongest implements to open it & without perhaps incurring personal injury like a (possibly nasty) cut when package opening is attempted with scissors or a knife of some type.

They have flea markets either every week or once a month (quite frequently, anyway) I think on Sundays at the Rose Bowl stadium. It's definitely "a thing"... But not in a bad way. They're just fairly well known around LA/Southern California as far as I know.

Sorry about that. The original link is a mobile link. I'm stuck in bed due to illness & in my current condition it's easier to use my iPhone for Internet surfing & posting, so I end up posting mobile links. If the non-mobile link you posted doesn't/didn't work, try this 1--I *did* switch to the People desktop site to get it, so it should work OK everywhere (crossing fingers). The L&O video is the featured 1 at the top of the linked page. I think it's the homepage for the People Now daily video cast from the day they were on--which was, like, yesterday or in the last couple of days. http://www.people.com/people/special/0,,20826806,00.html

Somehow, bad plastic surgery with Jill didn't cross my mind. Thank you for bringing it up. I just thought it was that she didn't age well naturally. Whatever the cause, she definitely doesn't look now like she did on L&O, Crossing Jordan, or even the "crossover" eps involving Crossing Jordan & Las Vegas, back in the day. I get the show began 25 years ago (but she wasn't even the first ADA on it; wasn't she somewhere in the middle of the pack, so to speak?) & everybody ages over that long a time (or tries to prevent it & it doesn't work as well for some as for others), but damn... And what was all that superfluous movement of her hands/arms? I thought she was acting like she was drunk/on some other substance. She was just so much more "out of it" than the others... You know? I think it's kinda sad, whatever happened/is happening (I think I remember reading she had 1 or 2--or maybe more--issues with DUI's after Crossing Jordan ended, or at some other point, but I haven't read anything in the sort of recent past).

From People.com: Watch this video mashup in honor of Law & Order's 25th anniversary. It's Dann Florek, Carolyn McCormick, S. Epatha Merkerson, & Jill Hennessey (who has *not* aged that well, compared to the others--I didn't really recognize her at first) attempting to recite the voice over from the main title credit that airs before the episode "setup" scene & the actors' credits with the main title theme playing over them. http://www.people.com/people/mobile/video/0,,20942283,00.html?xid=socialflow_twitter_peoplemag

From TVLine.com, here's a preview of tomorrow night's (August 4th) episode. Lil Picassos is the game mentioned in the accompanying article, but I didn't watch the video (yet) so I don't know if it's in the clip or not. http://tvline.com/2015/08/03/hollywood-game-night-yvette-nicole-brown-zachary-levi-video/

From Entertainment Weekly's Twitter: NFL Legend Jerry Rice will make a cameo appearance in Episode 604. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/02/hawaii-five-0-jerry-rice-season-6?hootPostID=5e13c9cd027c140d1759b6e23009a3cb

British Singer & TV Presenter (Host) Cilla Black, Age 72. http://www.ew.com/article/2015/08/02/british-singer-and-tv-star-cilla-black-dies-72?hootPostID=885f11def806468725bd4d37a94e99fa