HISTORY

Mudcats premieres on February 9, about a group of men in Oklahoma called “mudcatters”, who have been taught by their fathers and grandfathers the hand-fishing method with the purpose of passing the method down to their children and grandchildren.

Discovery Channel

New show, Beast Tracker, will premiere on Discovery on February 1. The show follows Dr. Andrew West, a marine biologist, as he tracks down exotic animals, including alligators and Burmese pythons that pose dangerous threats to human lives.

TLC

A new fashion reality series will soon premiere on TLC. From the producers of What Not To Wear comes the untitled show featuring a plus-size retail store, Jim and Lisa Dolan, the husband-and-wife team who own and operate it, and the customers who frequent the shop.

Sorority Girls will premiere on January 31. Five sorority girls from the US will be attempting to establish the first sorority in Leeds in the UK. The eight-week series will try to combine the upbeat American culture with traditional British culture.

Two new series are about to debut on TLC about love and royalty. Undercover Princes and Undercover Princesses follow six heirs as they travel to Germany, South Africa, Uganda and India to search for their true loves — anonymously. During their search, they also need to take care of themselves, including cooking their own food and getting real jobs. Undercover Princes premieres on January 31 and Undercover Princesses premieres on February 28.

Animal Planet

• Northwoods Law is a six-episode show about a game warden service in Maine that will premiere in March.

SCIENCE

• A new show premiered on the SCIENCE Channel last January 24. Monster Bug Wars delves deep into the world of insects, their mating, hunting and survival instincts. Dr. Linda Rayor and Dr. Bryan Grieg Fry are the experts who shed the light on these insects.

The CW

• From the writer of HBO’s Sex and the City comes the prequel everybody’s been waiting for. The Carrie Diaries has been picked up by the CW and will feature Carrie Bradshaw’s life before she moved to New York.
• The CW has also ordered a remake of the 1987 television show, Beauty and the Beast. It’ll be set in modern times with a procedural angle.

CBS

• CBS has picked up a comedy pilot from Nick Stoller. The untitled pilot features a guy working in an advertising agency with the woman who broke his heart.
• They also picked up a new drama show, Trooper, about a single mom who becomes a New York State Trooper.

Discovery Channel

• Unchained Reaction is a new series premiering on the Discovery Channel. This six-episode show follows two competing teams who need to build a complicated chain reaction contraption. Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman of Myth Busters are on board as judges.

ABC

• A new one-hour drama series is about to premiere on ABC. Based on the bestselling book by Gabriella Pierce, 666 Park Avenue follows the lives of a Midwestern couple who move to New York and to 666 Park Avenue, as resident managers. Little do they know, all residents of the building have made deals with the devil for their own desires.

NBC

• Comedy pilot, Isabel, has been picked up by NBC. The show will star Marcia Gay Harden and Sophie Schloss.
• NBC has also picked up two drama shows, Country and Chicago Fire. Country is set inside an LA County Hospital and Chicago Fire is set in a Chicago fire department.

Lately, though, watching Glee has been a bit of a chore for me. I didn’t even watch last week’s episode, the return after a winter hiatus. Maybe it was the Christmas episode that did me in. My favorite part was Kurt’s comment about Blaine being his “winter roommate” (mostly because I agree and also wish he were mine) but other than that I actually spent the whole time rolling my eyes. It’s just too over-the-top now. I appreciate what Glee has done to bring a lot of social issues into the spotlight, especially bullying and homosexuality, but now it seems like every episode has some kind of lesson that needs to be taught. Every once in a while is fine, but more than that and you’re lecturing your audience.

I’ve always been annoyed by Lea Michele’s character, the over-ambitious Rachel Berry, despite Michele’s role of Glee sweetheart. The producers keep saying Rachel isn’t coming back then changing their minds – I know they’re afraid losing Michele would kill the show, but at this point, I want to skip all of her scenes anyway. She has gone from annoying but lovable (hey, I have control issues of my own, so I have to give the girl a break) to just plain annoying. I want her to succeed and go to New York just so she’s out of McKinley – people can watch her on the inevitable spin-off, but I won’t.

Even my favorite, Sue Sylvester, has been a little too much as of late. She goes from typical, lovable-villain-Sue to I-have-a-heart-Sue to downright evil Sue in a three-episode arc. The touch of humanity is nice, but some consistency would be, too.

Once I get invested in a show, I wait it out until its bitter end – I have this weird phobia of not knowing how things end. Even with shows I don’t watch on a week-to-week basis anymore (House, MD for one), I still catch up on weekends when I get the chance. I’ll watch last week’s episode soon, because c’mon – Michael Jackson week is next. I have high hopes, and hopefully they’ll be met, because otherwise it’s to the back burner we go.

(White House photo)

Manny “Pacman” Pacquiao, the boxing pride of the Philippines, has proven to fans and critics, in the boxing ring, why he is a boxing champion. A lot of people know about him and his family through media. But few people really know the man behind the champion, his trainer, Freddie Roach. This January, HBO has turned the spotlight on him.

HBO: On Freddie Roach follows the life of Freddie Roach, who owns and operates Wild Card Boxing Club in Hollywood, CA, and has produced world boxing champions, including the eight-division world champion, Manny Pacquiao, and UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. A former champion boxer, Roach was forced to quit when he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease and lost five of his last six fights. He retired from professional boxing at 26.

He apprenticed with his former trainer and mentor, Eddie Futch. The first boxer Roach himself trained was Hollywood actor, Mickey Rourke, in 1991. Rourke gave him the gym equipment that Roach would eventually use in Wildcard. Since 1991, Roach has trained Oscar de la Hoya, Virgil Hill and British boxer and former WBA light welterweight World Champion Amir Khan.

On Freddie Roach shows the man behind the success of world boxing and mixed martial arts champions — how he transforms them from boxers to champions, while dealing with Parkinson’s Disease.

On Freddie Roach premiered on HBO on Friday, January 20, at 9:30pm ET/PT.

(U.S. Army photo)

JJ Abrams

The basic premise of Alcatraz is that the prison closed in the 1960’s because all the inmates — and everyone else on the island –  mysteriously disappeared. Almost 50 years later they begin reappearing and performing all manner of no-goodness, looking not a day older for their absence of half a century. Now it is up to Detective Rebecca Madsen (Sarah Jones) and Dr. Diego Soto (Garcia) to unravel the deepening mystery at the behest of shadowy, government-issue cloak and dagger type Emerson Hauser (Neill). In what I can only hope is a misprint Neill is billed on IMDB as appearing in just three of the nine episodes this season and Garcia in only five. Their interaction was some of the best stuff in the show and Jones will be hard-pressed to carry things on her own if left without these two veteran actors.

The two-part, two-hour premiere episode started the show off with a very respectable 10 million viewers. Better news still for Fox is that the second hour held virtually the entire audience. That’s a really good sign that viewers were hooked, or at least intrigued, unlike other Fox sci-fi drama offering this year Terra Nova, for example, which lost a huge chunk of its audience during the premiere. Incidentally, Terra Nova’s future is now linked with Alcatraz’s success or failure to prop up Monday night.

The show’s heavy drama, slow pacing, and even the music are all highly reminiscent of another Abrams fan-favorite, Lost. Whether or not Alcatraz can develop into the kind of cultural phenomenon that Lost was remains to be seen. That, like most of the mysteries surrounding the inmates of Alcatraz, will only be discovered after a season or more. Maybe longer.

Tabatha Coffey is nothing short of obnoxiously opinionated. A native of Surfers Paradise, Queensland, Australia, Coffey’s reputation precedes her at any location she takes over. After revitalizing many salons, according to a recent interview in the Hollywood Reporter, she believed that, “It was such a natural progression (to take over more than just salons). I believe business principles are business principles, they follow through. So, it was a great transition to now move into other businesses not just hair salons.” Tabatha often says that it is exciting to see a salon, or any other business, go from “rags to riches,” especially in this economy. Somehow Tabatha is almost always successful in turning around her assigned salon, and has an uncanny ability to revamp every aspect of the business, from the attitude of the owners, to the cleanliness of the staff,  even to the way salons advertise.

As someone who watches the show regularly, I can never get enough of Tabatha’s “no nonsense” approach. Many of the salon owners and staff are simply out of touch with reality, and need the stern tactics of Tabatha to alert them to how idiotic their decisions are. In a recent episode, a salon owner yelled throughout the episode that she had lost complete faith in her staff, even after her staff had shown significant improvements. Tabatha did not even hesitate to instruct the owner to sell the salon immediately. In another recent episode it was revealed that a salon owner was living in the salon. Tabatha took it upon herself to help the owner find a place to live, and even got her discounts. In every episode, Tabatha’s unique ability to instruct and coerce business owners and staff is nothing short of remarkable.

Many critics and viewers are highly anticipating the newest episode in Season Four in which she takes over a gay bar that is in desperate need of a complete overhaul. Tabatha will be put to the test as to whether her tactics really can work on other businesses that have nothing to do with her passion: hairdressing. Tabatha even took on the tough assignment of taking over an entire beauty school. Be sure to watch Tabatha Takes Over every Tuesday at 10 p.m. Eastern on Bravo.

Rachael Ray vs Guy: Celebrity Cookoff

The celebrities on Rachael Ray’s team are Aaron Carter (who got kicked off the first episode), Summer Sanders, Lou Diamond Phillips, and Taylor Dane.

Guy’s celebrity list consists of Cheech Marin, Alyssa Campanella, Coolio,  and Joey Fatone.

It is your basic four on four. I am not sure why there are only four to each side, other than the fact that this season is going to be a short one.

The first show started out with a trial run of the celebrities making their favorite things. They ran into a little trouble when forced to get by without ready-made products such as ranch dressing. After all their prep work, they took their food to the people who voted on the teams. Guy’s team won, partially fueled by their very creative way to encourage people to vote for their food.

The two losers boiled down to a fight between Aaron Carter and Taylor Dane. In a showdown, they had 10 minutes to create a dish. Then Guy and Rachael choose Taylor Dane as the winner while a still exuberant Aaron Carter left the fight.

There are more challenges left for the celebrities to face. As the very short list of celebrities winds down, one thing is guaranteed. Some charity is going to be very lucky with a very nice donation.

Despite the celebrities, the show itself is just kind of mediocre. The main problem is that Rachael Ray and Guy are both nice guys, almost too nice for a challenge show. There is more competitive spirit in the competitors than in the leaders.

Furthermore, watching celebrities cook is more of a “seen that somewhere” rather than anything really different. You do get some insight into their cooking pasts. But it is kind of hard for some of them to make the transition from screen to what people would consider “normal.”

I am not sure that I will watch this to the end. It lacks some of the edge that other Food Network shows have. But if you want to watch, it airs on Food Network on Sundays at 9 PM/10 Central.

PS. If you don’t know who some of these celebrities are, you aren’t alone.

HBO

Hoffman will be headlining a cast that also includes not-for-nothings Nick Nolte and Dennis Farina. LUCK promises to deliver an inside look at the relatively unknown world behind the scenes of horse racing. The show’s vast scope covers virtually every facet of the sport — owners, trainers, jockeys, and of course, the gamblers whose money makes it all possible.

In addition to the top notch cast, the creative team behind LUCK is not made up of slouches. Michael Mann, who directed a number of hit films, including Ali, The Last of the Mohicans, Public Enemies, and Heat will executive produce and direct. His fellow executive producer will be Michael Mann, who has a little show called Deadwood under his creative belt. Mann is also the head writer and series creator. The third leg of their executive producer stool will be lesser-known Carolyn Strauss, who is by no means a neophyte. She was previously the executive producer of HBO’s Treme and co-executive producer of Game of Thrones.

LUCK premiers January 29th and will air Sundays at 9pm.

Project Runway

The Designers

Anthony Williams (Season 7) is back to entertain us with his designs and stories. Since his last appearance, he has worked as a fashion director for Macy’s, designed freelance, and provided all of Stacey Dash’s wardrobe for the first season of VH1′s Single Ladies.

April Johnston (Season has started her own clothing company called “Mangled Courtesan”, inspired by her own dark and gothic romantic aesthetic. Her “April Johnston for Project Runway” line is also available at Jo-Ann stores nationwide. And she showed her collection at the Charleston Fashion Week in March 2010.

Austin Scarlett (Season 1) was the favorite to become the first-ever Project Runway winner. Despite not winning, he has not let that defeat him. Since the show, Austin has produced couture collections, joined NY-based Amsale as Creative Director of their luxury gown collections, had his designs featured on TLC’s Say Yes To The Dress, designed theatrical costumes for Shen Wei Dance Arts and hosted a reality show with Season 2′s Santino Rice, On The Road With Austin and Santino, that created couture designs from local items.

Elisa Jimenez (Season 4) is a freelance fashion designer and teacher and has designed costumes for Disney’s High School Musical 3 and The Killing Room.

Gordana Gehlhausen (Season 6) has moved her boutique, GOGA by Gordana, from Charleston,South Carolina to San Diego, California.

Jerell Scott (Season 5) is still freelance designing and has created custom designs for Katy Perry, Christina Milian, Nicki Minaj and Selma Blair. He has also designed wardrobes for Rachel Bilson on Hart of Dixie and Nicole Scherzinger on The X-Factor.

Kara Janx (Season 2) has opened her own clothing studio, Kara Janx, in New York City. She designs ready-to-wear clothes, bridal gowns, and special occasion dresses for both everyday women and celebrities, including Emma Watson and Olivia Palermo.

Kenley Collins (Season 5) has opened her own clothing studiowhich is sold in local shops and from her website. She is also the lead singer for Jetblack Bullseye.

Michael Costello (Season has been working hard to promote his namebrand and his business. He has since opened a showroom to showcase his collections.

Mila Hermanovski (Season 7) launched MILA and her Spring/Summer 2011 collection at the LA Fashion Week. Her clothes have since been sold in stores all over Los Angeles, CA. She still designs costumes for TV and film, with latest projects including Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows and Glee.

Mondo Guerra (Season has become an HIV/AIDS education and awareness advocate and has spoken for UnAIDS in Washington, D.C. on World Aids Day as well as for AIDS Walk New York. He showed his Fall/Winter 2011 collection at the El Paseo Fashion Week with Project Runway alums, Michael Costello and Christopher Collins.

Rami Kashou (Season 4) has made custom designs for Her Majesty Queen Rania of Jordan as well as for celebrities Heidi Klum and Rihanna. He is also working with a famous mall chain to design and sell bridal, bridesmaids’ and cocktail collections. Rami is also filming a pilot for a new reality show.

Sweet P (Season 4) created a limited-edition collection with her husband, artist Sage Vaughn. She also made a big decision to attend make-up school and she is now also working as a make-up artist for film and TV.

Project Runway All-Stars is now showing on Lifetime every Thursday at 9pm/8c.

http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/project-runway-all-stars

His second mission is to give aspiring models a reality check, a kick in the a**. And Paul Fisher is “the KICK” and “the A**”. He’ll tell it like it is and he’ll say it to your face, whether you’ll make it or not. And he’s not afraid to tell agencies what kind of models they should get to succeed. In Remodeled, he’ll show the transformation of an aspiring model to full-fledged professional model ready to compete with the best.

Remodeled brings you Paul Fisher’s newest venture called The Network. The Network aims to change what people know about the modeling industry starting with the little ones.

Remodeled premieres on The CW on Tuesday, January 17, 9/8c.
http://www.cwtv.com/shows/remodeled

About Paul Fisher

Paul Fisher is a modeling industry veteran of about twenty years. He’s worked with Naomi Campbell, Nicky Hilton and Kimora Lee Simmons. He started out in the modeling business when his grandfather gave him $10,000 to make a beginning. Paul has never looked back ever since. He went on a ten-year hiatus before coming back two years ago and founded The Network.