elton john

We had an exciting live show tonight on 'So You Think You Can Dance' (Wed., 8PM ET on Fox). Due to the odd results of last week's show, not one, but two dancers were up for elimination on this week's episode. But that all paled next to judge Nigel Lythgoe's weird slip of the tongue.

[Spoiler alert.]

Nigel may be returning as the executive producer on the upcoming season of 'American Idol.' And even after watching Lauren and Allyson's pretty stunning performance, he still seemed pretty distracted by the thought of that. When host Cat Deeley asked him for his reaction to Lauren's dance, Nigel seemed a little confused. He praised Lauren, and agreed that her routine was "powerful," but then said: "This is the first time we've ever seen [anything like] it on 'American Idol.'" Whoops! Wrong show, Nigel! Mr. Lythgoe then swiftly tried to recover.

By the way, rumor has it that if Nigel takes over as producer on 'Idol,' he will eliminate all of the current judges, and will replace them. Two of the possible replacements are -- Elton John and Justin Timberlake. What do you folks think? Does this sound like a good idea to you?

In surprising recent news, Rush Limbaugh had Elton John perform at his wedding ceremony. It was Limbaugh's fourth wedding, and the singer received a $1 million fee to play at the event.

On 'Real Time With Bill Maher' (Fri., 10PM ET on HBO), Maher and his guests discussed the controversy. Elton John is -- quite obviously -- gay, and Rush Limbaugh has frequently come out strongly against gay marriage and gay rights. As a result, many people felt that Elton's performance was ... odd, to say the least.

Appearing on the show was MSNBC personality Rachel Maddow, the first openly gay anchor to host a prime-time TV program. Maher asked her how much money it would take to get her to sing at Rush's marriage. Maddow replied that she was "sort of against weddings" in general.

Anna Paquin, star of 'True Blood,' has come out of the closet and announced that she is bisexual. 'Inside Edition' (weekdays, syndicated) has the scoop. The actress appeared in a public service announcement for the "Give a Damn Campaign," founded by Cyndi Lauper. "I'm bisexual," Paquin says in the ad. Paquin then speaks out against attacks on gay men and women in America: "One hate crime is committed approximately every hour of every day in this country."

Watch the video after the jump.

'American Idol' producer Nigel Lythgoe has hinted that a good replacement for the departing Simon Cowell would be none other than Sir Elton John himself. The question is, can Sir Elton be as entertaining as Cowell?

Cowell had an acerbic wit that entertained and spoke what the viewers were thinking. If John didn't repeat that methodology, he'd be called boring. If he did, he'd be called nasty. Is Elton John known for being snide and sarcastic? He's more well-known, other than his music, for being ostentatious and wearing strange glasses.

On the other hand, Elton John has been a big name in the music industry for a long time and would certainly be credible as a judge. IT depends on who his fellow judges are and whether they have good chemistry together.

Would Elton John's presence be an indicator that the show has done that thing that shows that stay too long do?

Highlights from last night's 52 Annual Grammy Awards (Sun., 8PM ET on CBS) included numerous wins by Beyonce and Taylor Swift, a powerhouse duet between Elton John and Lady Gaga, a high-flying number by Pink and a posthumous Lifetime Achievement Award for Michael Jackson, which was accepted by his children Prince and Paris.

Beyonce won six trophies, including Song of the Year and Best R&B Song for 'Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),' and Swift won four awards in all, including the coveted Album of the Year honor for her 2009 album 'Fearless.'

Watch the video after the jump.

Wearing matching sparkly shades and smudged faces, Elton John and Lady Gaga kicked off the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards (Sun., 8 PM ET on CBS) with a duet.

Other highlights included a performance by Beyonce and a tribute to Michael Jackson with Celine Dion, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson and Carrie Underwood.

Watch the videos after the jump, and check out all the Grammy coverage on PopEater.

(S01E13) The summer's officially over on Swingtown, marked by Tom's Labor Day clambake at the shore, which turned out to also be a key party.

Now that the first season of the show has come to an end, it's clear that while they explored hot topics like open marriage, wife-swapping and group sex, the essence of the show was not titillation or a guide page by page through The Joys of Sex. Swingtown was about the characters, three families and the changing times in 1976.

Questions, questions. Will Tom and Trina keep the baby? The Deckers are the open marriage couple and they've enjoyed the freedom to swing. But how amazing is it that they are the marriage that's in synch! They actually talk things out and share what they're thinking. You can't say that about the Thompsons and Millers.

OK, so we've all seen that surreal video of William Shatner "singing" Elton John's "Rocketman" at the 1978 Science Fiction Awards (and Stewie's version), but I bet you probably haven't seen Kojak taking a shot at Bread's "If."

I'm not sure what's scarier: Telly Savalas coming off as Blofeld trying to sing a love song (it's like he's going to announce his plans for world domination, but he has to sing this ode to his girlfriend first) or the giant head of the actress who is on the screen in back of Savalas. It must have been kind of odd to be her, just being told to "just stand there and look like Loretta Swit's sister." Full video after the jump!

As the ranking #2 fan of The Muppets here at TV Squad (Adam definitely has me beat), I'm happy to announce that season two of The Muppet Show will be available on DVD on August 7th. It's been about 2 years since season one came out on DVD and fans have been not-so-patiently waiting for more.

Season two is a 24-episode set with classic guest appearances by Bob Hope, George Burns, John Cleese, Milton Berle, Elton John, Bernadette Peters and Julie Andrews, just to name a few. The bonus material includes The Muppets Valentine Day Special, a pilot which aired two years before The Muppet Show came on air. It features Kermit and Mia Farrow, and is hosted by little-known Muppet 'Wally'.

This was a busy week for Idol. Three group songs for the contestants, two venues for the director, countless celebrities for the agents and enough video clips to keep the editors busy for months. At home on the couch, I felt exhausted.

During the season I can't recall ever not sleeping well. I was so tired at the end of each day -- and we didn't have all the gimmickry of today's Idol. These guys must be going out of their minds.

(S05E14) The up and down season of Family Guy continues, and I thought this one was a bit of a valley, rather than a peak. It had its moments, to be sure, but as a whole, it was somewhat lacking. Peter summed up my feelings for this episode pretty well with his quote after seeing the opening to Maude, "That was an ordeal."

That bit is a good example of what was wrong with this installment. Aside from the fact that it was a reference to a show that you have to be 40 years old, or a tv nutter, to get, it just wasn't funny. And no matter how long the song went on, it was never going to be funny. I found myself in much the same situation while watching tonight. I was just sitting and watching, waiting for it to get funny.

American Idol's Simon Cowell has turned down a role on Ricky Gervais' Extras because it required him to sing a karaoke version of Elton John's song "Daniel." The man who turned criticizing singers into a multi-million dollar global industry wisely took his own advice saying, "I can't sing. Why would I humiliate myself?" Singing is apparently the only thing Cowell wouldn't do, which is sort of a shame. I'm sure it would have been immensely gratifying to all of our fallen, former Idols to see Cowell be put through his vocal paces.

While I never think it hurts a celebrity's image to make fun of him or herself through vehicles like Gervais' Extras, I can't say that I blame Cowell for sparing us. If more pop wannabes would follow his example, than they could use their fifteen minutes of fame elsewhere -- like on Mark Burnett's Pirates or by waving frantically behind local news reporters on camera.

American Idol reject Chris Daughtry finally has a name for his new band: Daughtry.

Makes sense. It's probably good to keep it simple. But it would have been really cool if he just went way out there and named it something that no one would expect. Maybe The Cranberry Mocha Brigade?

He says that the album will have the lighter, sensitive stuff, but will also have stuff that will "make you want to run around in circles." It will also be influenced by Elton John and Led Zeppelin. Um...OK.

Oh, and someone tell whoever wrote the VH-1 article linked above that the sentence isn't "Daughtry are recording the yet untitled album," it's "Daughtry is..."

[via TV Tattle]

Do they even call them albums anymore? CDs?

American Idol champ runner-up Clay Aiken's third album, A Thousand Different Ways, will be a bunch of classic cover tunes. He'll sing everything from Elton John's "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word" to Mr. Mister's "Broken Wings." Throw in a Dolly Parton song and a bunch of others and you have quite a collection. He'll also have four new songs on the album (CD!)

Um...by the way, is it me or is Clay beginning to look an awful lot like K.D. Lang?

One word: KARAOKE. I just returned from a long weekend visiting friends in Savannah, Georgia, where we discovered the joy that is Comcast On Demand Karaoke. Sure, some of the songs suck to sing: who knew there really aren't any lyrics to Salt 'n Pepa's 'Push It'? But, there are some goodies like 'Baby Got Back' by Sir Mix-A-Lot, 'Every Rose Has Its Thorn' by Poison, and 'Pour Some Sugar on Me' by Def Leppard. Listing those songs dates me, doesn't it? There are also some songs by Britney Spears, Elton John, Beck and R. Kelly.

Anyway, it was a great way to spend a Friday night. On the couch, yelling out songs at the top of our lungs. Margaritas are optional.