I've started this blog as an open forum to discuss current topics in the news in a "Point - Counter Point" manner. By using this method of debate, I seek to encourage all to lend their voices and opinions by weighing in on the current days topics up for discussion. Welcome to POINT - COUNTER POINT.
Maybe that’s just because in our heart of hearts, we’ll always love David Silver. (Yes, even more than Brandon and Dylan. Because who needs floppy hair and fiveheads when you’ve got a bad boy?) But we couldn’t be more excited to learn that Brian Austin Green is indeed in talks for a recurring role on Desperate Housewives. Especially when we saw the description of Green’s character: “The Beverly Hills, 90210 alum will play Keith, a new contractor and charming playboy who turns up the heat on Wisteria Lane.”
You know what that means: If we learned anything from Housewives‘ first season, it’s that the ABC series enjoys showing its blue-collar workers shirtless. (Hello Jesse Metcalfe’s underage gardener!) Not a difficult fact to digest, when you consider how foxy Green was on the tragically short-lived Sarah Connor Chronicles.
First Wilhelmina Slater. Then David Silver. Now Annie O’Donnell!
A Desperate Housewives insider confirms to me exclusively that Men in Trees‘ delightfully daffy Emily Bergl (a.k.a. Annie) is a breath away from landing the recurring role of Beth, the fragile soul who married Paul (Mark Moses) while he was behind bars. In season 7, she joins him on Wisteria Lane with a juicy secret.
No one ever just comes to that block with pie, do they?
So what do you think of all the DH newbies? Are you excited to see what Vanessa Williams, Brian Austin Green, and, hopefully, Bergl bring to the table? Or are you thinking, “Well, there goes the neighborhood”? Speak your mind below.
I hear Bree has a nasty confrontation with some tired old wallpaper in the season premiere. Of course, as my friend’s therapist would say, it’s not wallpaper she’s really mad at. I think somebody better run for cover...
Look like one resident of Wisteria Lane will not be returning next season and that's Julie Mayer.
Poor girl what a time she had last season. First she was attacked, it was discovered that she was having an affair with Angie's husband, then she lost her father when the small airplane crashed into the Lane for the midseason finale and last her mother lost the house. Oh and let us not forget the season before when it was revealed that she was having an affair with a professor at College. So it makes sense that Julie would pack it in and head for greener pastures.
While most reality TV focuses on mindless chatter ('The Hills'), hair-pulling cat fights ('Real Housewives') and drunken debauchery ('Jersey Shore'), networks like A&E are paving the way for more educational reality shows that are actually helping Americans.
A&E has capitalized on "intervention" programming which includes unscripted docu-series like 'Hoarders,' 'Intervention' and 'Obsessed.' These shows follow real Americans whose anxieties and addictions have taken control of their lives, making them prisoners of their behaviors. As the individual's families plot a total intervention -- with the help of a TV crew -- the heart-wrenching road to recovery is all captured on film as millions of voyeurs peer into these strangers' lives while they attempt to face their demons. Viewers watch as the person struggles to face their addiction with the help of interventionists and therapy in hopes of turning their lives around. But do these shows actually work once the cameras stop rolling?
Psychologist Shana Doronn, who is a veteran therapist on 'Obsessed,' tells PopEater the road to recovery is a "lifelong process," adding that continued therapy is "is crucial ... and all the therapists strive to keep therapy going after the cameras stop."
Doronn even offered free therapy sessions -- the woman had no insurance or a job -- to one of the show's subjects because she knew the client needed it. She credits continued support as a contributing factor to the 'Obsessed' clients high recovery rates.
This recovery success appears to hold true for the network's other shows. In a recent article, The Daily Beast points out an impressive fact, noting that "of the 161 addicts that have appeared on A&E's show 'Intervention' in the past five years, 130 are sober today ... the 71 percent recovery rate is, by any standard, astonishingly high."
MTV tried tapping into a similar market with 'Gone Too Far.' DJ AM (born Adam Goldstein) spent his last few months filming the series, in which he and concerned families staged interventions for young drug abusers. Goldstein had battled a drug addiction for years and, in a tragic twist of fate, the celebrity spinner died of an accidental drug overdose before the show aired its first episode. MTV eventually aired the episodes -- perhaps as a cautionary tale that could encourage others to seek treatment.
The eye-opening tale is just another reason why Doronn is continuing her stint on A&E's 'Obsessed.'
"I've received e-mails from all over the country from people thanking me for bringing real issues to TV that are handled with such sensitivity and care," she says. "My hope is that these shows motivate people to seek help as well as provide valuable information about recovery."
The MTA is considering a plan to hike the cost of an unlimited monthly MetroCard by a whopping $15, sources confirmed Monday.
If the budget proposal is adopted, riders would have to fork over $104 in January instead of the current $89 fare, but the number of rides would not be capped.
The option is one of two being considered by the MTA to raise revenue by 7.5% overall. An earlier proposal would increase the cost of a 30-day MetroCard by only $10 to $99, but would limit the number of rides to 90. The authority is expected to hold public hearings to get feedback about both plans.
Sources familiar with both the $99 plan and the $104 option - first reported by WABC-TV - noted that the $99 proposal would be of greater benefit to most commuters, since only a small percentage of unlimited card holders take more than 90 rides per month.
Hey MTA here's an idea - how about you MAKE your employees pay for their Metro Cards & Metro North Cards and stop giving it as a perk until you can get your budget under control. It's time for sacrifices and WE should not be paying for the failure of the MTA to run it business properly.
We've all heard of the term Collateral Damage - this is Collateral Murder. As you can see here these people were innocents anf for the government not to acknowledge that this had happened is a travesty.
5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.
Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-sight, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.
