mark cuban

(S05E04) The stars are back for week two, and it's what I usually find to be one of my favorite weeks. The nerves and the pressure of the unknown are so hard to overcome in that first appearance, that week two is where much ground can be gained based on nothing more than a little confidence. As we would see tonight, that, as much as anything, is what is still holding a few of our stars back. Tom opened the show with a quick recap of last week, reminding everyone that Josie is no longer in the competition. But with eleven couples to dance, there was no time to dawdle, so on with the show.

(S05E03) The three-part premiere week finally reached its conclusion, and one star was sent packing. Tom's introduction really played up the battle of the sexes angle, calling Week 1 a "dance duel." Drew returned as Tom's co-pilot, and I'm curious to see how long he'll stick around. As usual, there was a tidy summary of the previous night of performances. The men answered the call after Len's warning on Monday night. Like Jennie Garth, Cameron set the standard with his Foxtrot. In his post-performance interview, Cameron was very proud of all the work he did.

(S05E02) After sitting on the sidelines last night, the male contestants got a chance to showcase their talents. Host Tom Bergeron dubbed tonight's episode "Testosterone Tuesday, " and I bet he wishes he could use that line again. We've reached the second part of the three-night premiere extravaganza, and I'm already exhausted. Tonight the men attempted the Foxtrot and the Cha Cha Cha, after getting a look at their competition yesterday. Drew Lachey was back in the co-host position, which might not have pleased some of you (especially those who sounded off on yesterday's blog). There was no all-pro dance tonight; the show cut right to the standard celebrity introductions. Mark Cuban still looked awkward, Julianne looked sensational in her dress, and the crowd went crazy for Mr. Las Vegas, Wayne Newton.

(S05E01) It's that time of year again, and fans always know what to expect from Dancing With The Stars: glamorous B-list celebrities, exciting performances, and frequent use of the phrase "than ever before." Host Tom Bergeron started things off by calling this season the "dawn of a new era," and claimed that they have the "most exciting cast ever assembled." Let's let the ratings decide that, shall we? For the first week of competition, the powers that be tried something new--a three-night premiere! Can you handle it?

Dancing With the Stars returns on September 24th and there is a pretty decent list of celebrity guests this season. Here's the list:

• Mel B (Spice Girl) paired with Maksim Chmerkovskly;
• Sabrina Bryan (Cheetah Girl) paired with Mark Ballas;
• Helio Castroneves (race car driver) paired with Julianne Hough;
• Mark Cuban (businessman) paired with Kym Johnson;
• Jennie Garth (former 90210 actress) paired with Derek Hough;
• Josie Maran (supermodel) paired with Alec Mazo;
• Cameron Mathison (All My Children) paired with Edyta Silwinska;
• Floyd Mayweather, Jr. (boxer) paired with Karina Smirnoff;
• Wayne Newton (singer) paired with Cheryl Burke;
• Marie Osmond (singer) paired with Jonathan Roberts;
• Albert Reed (supermodel) paired with Anna Trebunskaya;
• Jane Seymour (actress) paired with Tony Dovolani.

The official word doesn't come until this Wednesday (on a super-duper special Good Morning America, if you've seen the commercials ABC is running), but Sports Illustrated is reporting that billionaire and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is one of the celebs that will grace Dancing with the Stars this season.

But wait that's not all! Other stars rumored to have boogie fever this season are Wayne Newton, Jane Seymour, and Giselle Bunchen (there are many others rumored too but those three seem the most probable.)

Mark Cuban's HDNet channel has bought the rights to the cancelled NBC series The Black Donnellys.

The first episode of the series will air on Wednesday, June 13, at 8pm. Not only will HDNet air the episodes that were shown on NBC earlier this year, they will also run the seven episodes that never aired.

I wasn't a big fan of The Black Donnellys, but I really like the idea of having so many cable networks that short-lived shows can live on in some way. I still like the idea of have the Short-Lived Channel, a network devoted to all the shows that lasted 1 or 2 seasons. Imagine what that line-up would look like!

[via TV Tattle]

Ex-CBS newsman will be the guest tonight on Comedy Central's live Indecision 2006 special at 11pm. The show will be co-hosted by Daily Show host Jon Stewart and Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert. A quote from Rather, from the article linked above:

"J. Stewart and company offered the chance, and I've taken it...I don't do comedy, I do politics, which sometimes is one in the same."

J. Stewart? That seems like an odd way to say his name. Was this an e-mail interview? Even if it was, does it really take longer to write three characters (Jon) than two (J.)? But I digress...

After newsman Dan Rather left was fired from was forced out of departed CBS after four decades plus, a lot of people had no idea what the hell he was going to do. But then came news that he had signed on to Mark Cuban's HDNet, and now comes word that Rather's show will start on November 14 at 8pm.

It will be a news show called Dan Rather Reports, with Rather as the anchor, and will feature three segments: the war, a focus on the middle class, and politics. In other words, it sounds a lot like other news shows, but I guess the secret is in how they'll do it.

And to answer the next question you have, no, he really hasn't seen what Katie Couric is doing in his new seat. He's been too busy.

Mark Cuban was speaking to a group of advertisers in New York on Thursday, and the subject of YouTube came up. In typical blog maverick style, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and co-founder of HDNET told everyone exactly what he thinks of the online video sharing site. In this article from C|net, Cuban asserts that the people behind YouTube are "just breaking the law." He goes on to say that "anyone who buys that (YouTube) is a moron."

That is the tasty sound bite bit of the story, but if you click around a bit, there is more to it. Much of this latest Mark Cuban vs. YouTube story started with a post on his personal blog titled, "The Coming Dramatic Decline of YouTube." In that entry he goes into his thoughts as to why YouTube became so popular, and what it is that he thinks is going to be the downfall of the site. Cuban boils it down to the fact that if you take away all of the copyrighted material on the site, you take away the lion's share of the YouTube traffic.

We all have our opinions on what we'd like to see on television, and what we don't want to see. And now Salon has a two-part series where they asked several writers and other folks to come up with their fantasy television series. Included are such people as Phil Rosenthal (creator/producer of Everybody Loves Raymond), Mark Cuban, writer Megham Daum, Aaron Shure (writer on Lucky Louie), and ex-Men's Health, Maxim UK, and Stuff editor Greg Gutfield.

Most of the writers took it as a creative writing exercise, so many of the shows are more jokes than actual ideas. I don't really get Daum's idea about a show involving a ferret and laser tag, and John Darnielle (lead singer of The Mountain Goats) wants to see more boxing on TV.

Mark Cuban wants a reality show starring Dennis Rodman. Ugh.

You know whose essay I agreed with the most? James Frey's. Yup, that's James Frey of Million Little Pieces and Oprah fame. He wants to see a return of the old-fashioned private eye show we don't see on TV anymore, like Magnum, P.I., The Rockford Files, and Mike Hammer. I'd love to see that happen. Either that, or a variety show hosted by Amy Sedaris. All Amy, all the time!

Here's part one, and here's part two.

We knew that Dan Rather was still going to be kicking around, didn't we? The old coot's just too feisty to go away retire; even after quietly leaving CBS after 44 years of service (the last 2 of which were, shall we say, a bit contentious), he'll still be on our TV screens, or at least a small fraction of them.

Just as the rumors predicted, Rather signed with Mark Cuban's HDNet to do a weekly newsprogram called Dan Rather Reports. He'll also be appearing as a guest panelist on Chris Matthews' syndicated show and will be talking to Larry King about his new venture tonight. And I'm sure he'll be giving plenty of "exclusive" interviews to the critics gathered at this week's Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, as he has arrived there yesterday to promote his new venture with Cuban. Now that he's unfettered by his relationship with CBS, I'm curious to hear what spills out of Dan's mouth about his exit. This might get interesting.

Since CBS no longer needs his services, Dan Rather is reportedly mulling over an offer to host a weekly news program for HDNet. The network is owned by Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. The deal would establish Rather as the host and producer of a one-hour news program. Rather told The New York Times that he also has offers from two other networks but he's leaning toward the HD thing.

I don't have HDTV so I've never seen the network but, I have to wonder, does 74-year-old old-fashioned newsman Dan Rather match with the network?