Author: soultrance

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American Inventor 2 Gets New Host, Judges

ABC has decided to try and salvage the reality TV show American Inventor by completely overhauling the second seasons cast. I actually really liked the idea behind the show and enjoyed watching it, but I definitely agree with ABC’s decision to overhaul the cast as the judges were terrible and the host was almost non-existent. The foundation for a great show is there, it’s just a matter of finding the right mix of judges, host’s, contestants and inventions to set things ablaze.

Only one of the first seasons judges managed to keep his head off the chopping, “U.K. Mogul Peter Jones“, and I have the sneaking suspicion that might just have something to do with the fact that he was and still is an executive producer for the show. Well duh.

Filling in for the three dearly departing judges are “entrepreneur and former talkshow host Pat Croce”, inventor Sara Blakely and most notably, the former heavyweight champion of the world, Olympic gold medal winner and namesake of one bad ass grilling machine, George Foreman! Along with the fresh blood of the judges comes a new face as host of the show, Nick Smith, a former news anchor for ABC’s San Francisco station.

But wait, there’s more. There’s always more, isn’t there?

Not only has the cast and crew been given a complete overhaul, the show structure itself has undergone some restructuring. The first six weeks of the show will now take place on the road, as each week will see the American Inventor 2 crew pull into a new city, only to leave again with a single inventors idea. The six cities that will be featured are: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, New York, Orlando and Houston.

A special 2-hour episode will kick week seven off as the six finalists will have to create and perfect their invention prototypes, presenting them to the judges. The judges will, no doubt, tear them apart and spit in their eyes until they’ve decided on the final three. Then, all that’s left is for America to cast their votes and a choose the American Inventor 2 winner! The winner of American Inventor 2 will walk away with a $1-million grand prize and the chance to mass produce and market their inventions. But don’t worry, just as happened in season one, I’m betting second and third place will get some love too.

American Inventor 2 starts June 6th at 9pm and will air every Wednesday night on ABC until the lucky $1-million winner is chosen!

Think you have what it takes to be the next American Inventor? Try your luck!

American Inventor 2 Casting:

  • San Francisco – March 25
  • Chicago – March 31
  • New York City – April 4
  • Orlando – April 10
  • Houston – April 15

Watch Heroes Online: The Where and How

dingoRUE RSSWant more Heroes? Subscribe to dingoRUE for continued coverage of Heroes Season 2.

I don’t know about you, but I’m seriously starting to get the shakes from being without my weekly NBC Heroes fix and it is really starting to get to me, not to mention all the awkward situations the shakes create. I can’t fill a cup of coffee without shaking half of it on to the floor, it’s damn near impossible to sleep and don’t even get me started with the typing, it took me an hour just to write this much. Needless to say, life without Heroes is rough and desperate times call for desperate measures. So what does the resourceful tech geek slash Heroes superfan do? He scowers the depths of the never ending interweb in search of any possible way to watch heroes online.

Now everyone knows that you can watch full episodes of Heroes on NBC in the USA and on Global TV in Canada, but that’s only good for full episodes that have already aired. What about trailers and spoilers for episode 19 “0.7%”, or backstage scenes and cast interviews, or talk show and conference appearances, or any of the myriad other videos any true Heroes fan wants to see? It was these questions that sent me on my journey through the series of tubes that is the Internet and here are the best sites I found to watch heroes online:

  • YouTube never fails to turn out at least a few good videos.
  • DailyMotion is a similar video sharing site, only they’re a lot looser with the rules, so you can always find some good Heroes videos there.
  • TV.com has some great behind the scenes and interview videos that you can’t find anywhere else.
  • The guys over at SuperHiro.org, a popular Heroes forum, have some great clips.
  • Even though the site is fairly new, MeeVee.com not only has every full episode, but a fantastic selection of other clips and pictures too.

Don’t forget, Heroes returns to air on April 23rd with episode 19 “0.7%”, the first of the final five episodes in volume 1!

Watch Heroes Online, For Free!
NBC Heroes Episode 19 “0.7%” Spoilers
Heroes Hit with Lawsuit!

Hillary Clinton 1984 Video Ad

Wow, I have been trying to keep politics out of dingoRUE for quite some time now, but I just couldn’t resist spreading the word about this one at least a little. Being a Canadian, a lot of America’s seem to think we don’t really know very much about US politics, when the actual fact is that Canadians generally know quite a bit about American politics, and in some cases, more than that of Canadian politics. Much like Canada gets most of it’s TV shows and reality TV shows from American networks, a great deal of the news is also American and even those news shows that aren’t American report heavily on American news.

So, getting back to my original point, it is damn near impossible to watch any form of television without at least learning something about the impending 2008 US Presidential elections and today I came across a really interesting video online. One of the hottest topics of the 2008 Presidential election is the competition between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, well, it looks like someone (though supposedly not a member of Obama’s campaign) put together and circulated an incredibly well done campaign video on YouTube. The video is a modified version of the world renowned Apple Computers Orwellian “1984” ad featuring Hillary Clinton as the face of Big Brother. Anyways, I’ve spent enough time talking about it, watch it and see for yourself!

The Original Apple 1984 Ad:

Hillary Clinton 1984 Ad:

America’s Got Talent, and a New Host!

According to the people over at Televisionary, the second season of America’s Got Talent is in for a bit of a shake up. As has been very well publicized, one of the shows hosts – Brandy – has a few legal matters (to say the least) on her plate that will most likely prevent her from fulfilling her show hosting duties. For those that’ve been living under a rock for the last year, Brandy is involved in a fairly heated legal situation stemming from a fatal car accident she was involved in and potentially the cause of last year. Never having been a Brandy fan, ever… I swear, I’m not especially heart broken about the possibility of her leaving the show, especially since the leading lady that may be taking over is none other than failed talk show host and reality TV superstar Sharon Osbourne!

As was reported by Televisionary, “producers of America’s Got Talent will be replacing beleaguered judge Brandy, currently embroiled in legal problems– both criminal and civil–stemming from her involvement in a fatal car crash last year, with British reality TV veteran Sharon Osbourne.”

Sharon Osbourne, long time wife of legendary rock-star Ozzy Osbourne, should have no problem filling Brandy’s tiny shoes as co-host on America’s Got Talent 2. Needless to say, she has more reality TV knowledge and experience than Brandy could ever hope to have (at least until she starts appearing on C-List celebrity shows like Surreal Life). Osbourne has hosted her own talk show, been a judge on the British reality TV series’ X-Factor and Xtra Factor and has, obviously, stared in the hit TV show The Osbournes”.

Though Sharon replacing Brandy on America’s Got Talent 2 has not yet been confirmed or made official, it’s sounding pretty likely and could prove to be a great move for the show and its ratings. I know I’d find her one hell of a lot more interesting to watch than Brandy, so here’s hoping their is truth behind this rumor!

Sources: Televisionary & Reality Blurred

America’s Got Talent 2 Homepage
America’s Got Talent News

NBC Heroes Hit With Lawsuit

It’s sad to say, although it doesn’t surprise me in the least – NBC Heroes has been hit with a lawsuit. What can I say, I’m not surprised someone is coming out of the woodwork and slapping the network with a lawsuit, I’m actually surprised it took someone this long to go after a slice of the NBC pie. Heroes has been an incredible success and it was only a matter of time before someone got the scent of money in their nose and claimed to have come up with the whole idea. Luckily the fact that it’s nothing more than a blatant attempt at a money grab should significantly decrease the chances of anything negative actually coming out of this entire debacle. After all, chances are the people behind the suit are just fishing for a pay off, which they will most likely get, so NBC can sweep the issue under the rug. Unfortunate, but most likely true.

Two artists from New York are behind the money grubbing lawsuit and claim that two writers for NBC’s Crossing Jordan attended their art showing and stole the idea for NBC Heroes from a short story, mini series and short film put together by the couple. Clifton Mallery and wife Amnau Karem Eele specifically claim to be the source of NBC’s inspiration for the Heroes character Isaac Mendez, referring to one of their characters who has the ability to paint the future, including the destruction of two New York landmarks.

Surprisingly enough, a spokesperson for the hit TV show Heroes went on record as saying, “We intend to defend it vigorously and expect to prevail.” If this statement is in fact true, which I doubt it is, and NBC decides to fight these money grabbers, I look forward to seeing how everything plays out!

Don’t forget, NBC Heroes is on hiatus until April 23rd, when the season will return in full force with episode 19 “0.7%”. As sad as it is that Heroes is on hiatus, the sadder fact still is that there are a mere fives episodes left in volume one! I don’t know about you, but I cannot wait to see how everything ends!

Watch NBC Heroes Online (USA)
Watch Global TV Heroes Online (Canada)
NBC Heroes episode 19 “0.7%” spoilers

Watch Heroes Online and on Your Cellphone

Any true fan of the hit TV series Heroes knows that the folks at NBC have been offering a whole lot of stuff online since the show started. If you miss an episode, no problem, you can watch it in full on the site; you can scan through a massive archive of pictures from past episodes, and from time to time, future episodes; you can get in on the Heroes 360 action and discover more Easter eggs and extras than you can shake a stick at; you can download wallpapers, screensavers and so much more; you can even follow along with the online comic book which, might I add, is an incredible source of information for upcoming events and episodes. With all that being said, Heroes is certainly one of the best TV shows out there, I would even go as far as to call it the complete entertainment package, and now NBC has expanded the package even more!

Announced just the other day, NBC has officially teamed up with MobiTV to offer all of your favorite NBC TV shows for download on your cellphone! Now, no matter where you go, as long as you have your cellphone on you, you will have the awesomeness that is Heroes at hand. For only $1.99 you can download the newest episodes, in full, directly on to your phone for immediate viewing. At the moment, there is a 24-hour viewing period assigned to each video, so you will have to watch it within a day (which kind of sucks), but for a true Heroes fan that is willing to pay to download and watch the show on their cellphones, waiting 24-hours isn’t going to be very likely.

Watch Heroes on your cellphone!
Watch NBC Heroes (USA)
Watch Global TV Heroes (Canada)
Heroes episode 19 “0.7” Spoilers, Preview

NBC Heroes Auctions Art for Charity

hiro battles t-rex

With Heroes on hiatus yet again and not due to return until April 23rd, the hardcore fans are no doubt already starting to go through withdrawls – I know I am. Well, now there is a way to have a little piece of Heroes history with you for years to come and you’ll get the fuzzy feeling that comes with helping out a great cause at the same time!

NBC, in cooperation with the Epilepsy Foundation, is running an online art auction where all of the proceeds will be donated to the Epilepsy Foundation. What art is up for auction, you ask? None other than the fantastic pieces painted by Isaac Mendez in the hit NBC TV series Heroes! Now is your chance to own a piece of TV history, not only showing your support for the best show in television, but also supporting a great cause.

The painting up for grabs marks a pivotal moment in the TV series: “The Exploding Man”, “Homecoming”, “The Eclipse” and “Hiro Battles T-Rex“. The auction for the first two begins March 26st at 6pm PST, while the auction for the latter two kicks off April 2nd at 6pm PST. My personal favorite is “Hiro BattlesT-Rex”. I just wish I could afford to throw a bid in. How awesome would it be to have one of these fantastic pieces hanging in your living?

From NBC:

“You saw it in Heroes. Now you can own it yourself. Imagine a signed limited edition print of Hiro and the T-Rex hanging in your very own home—and the original drawing that inspired it from artist Tim Sale. These limited edition prints are actually displayed on canvas and stretched over wooden frames, just like in Isaac’s studio. On March 26, you can bid on these prints and other memorable artwork from the show. You not only have a shot at owning a piece of history, but you’ll also support the ongoing efforts of the National Epilepsy Foundation.

Over 2.7 Million Americans are living with epilepsy everyday. The Epilepsy Foundation works to ensure that people with seizures can participate in all life experiences. So join Greg Grunberg of Heroes and make a bid on exclusive Heroes artwork. In this auction, everyone goes home a winner.”

Get more information on the NBC Heroes Art Auction!

Don’t forget, you can always watch and re-watch your favorite Heroes episodes online:
Watch NBC Heroes Online (USA)
Watch Global TV Heroes Online (Canada)
Heroes Episode 19 “0.7” Spoilers, Previews

American Inventor 2 Auditions

Are you Mr. or Mrs. Creative? Maybe you’re an engineer with a cool new idea? Or maybe you’re just an average joe that likes to tinker, either way, the hit reality TV series American Inventor kicks off it’s second season auditions on March 18th in Los Angeles. Head to Hollywood and try your luck for a shot at a the $1-million grand prize, along with the lucrative opportunity to have your product created, marketed and sold all over the world.

Auditions are open not only to singles, but to groups, teams and anyone with at least a sketch of their product, though a prototype or concept is always going to give you better odds at making the coveted final three.

The first season of American Inventor was incredibly under appreciated. Even though it’s another one of American Idol host Simon Cowell‘s works, unlike his others, this one is actually original and interesting! Janusz Liberkowski of Los Gatos, Calif. won the first edition of American Inventor for his invention – the “survival capsule” – a revolutionary take on the common car seat, and if the first season was any indication of what we can expect to see in the second, it’s sure to be a great show!

I look forward to seeing what fantastic inventions come out of the second season, and even more so to the absolutely stupid and pointless inventions that are doomed to fail – like the head mounted toilet paper dispenser.

You can find a full list of all the American Inventor 2 audition cities and dates after the jump!

Continue reading “American Inventor 2 Auditions”