Managing Arts Editor, Film & TV Audrey is kinda a big deal. She was Chicago-born and –raised, but doesn't miss the weather one bit (the people and the politics are another story). She spends a great deal of time eating oysters and drinking wine, watching movies and going to shows, reading Videogum and The Awl, and quoting Arrested Development (yes, still). Her favorite stuff on television includes 30 Rock, Mad Men, Breaking Bad, Community, Parks and Rec, and pretty much any VH1/Bravo reality trashvaganza. In terms of movies, she tends to agree with Glenn Kenny. Fun Fact: She always tries to keep on hand at least two pounds of Tillamook extra sharp cheddar cheese.
Nick Eaton at the PI has the story about the lawsuit against the ad agency hired by Microsoft to place Bing advertisements in the new NBC drama The Philanthropist. JWT and their parent group WPP are being sued by Denizen, who claim to have a patent on advertisers selling you things within the plot of a TV show. Sure thing, Denizen, even though that’s how everything on TV works now. (Just joking, don’t sue the site, I’m sure it’s very technical and patenty.)
What’s more alarming than a corporation thinking they hold claim to product placement as a plot point is who exactly is involved in this blatant shilling. Take a look at the clip above. Yep, that’s right, it’s actor Michael Kenneth Williams, best known as The Wire‘s Omar Little. Oh Omar, you should be ashamed. Acting as a modern-day Robin Hood stick-up artist and making a living stealing from low-life drug dealers is one thing, but whoring yourself out this way is inexcusable–even worse than meeting your untimely end in a bodega at the hands of a psychopathic child.
Episode 4 of this season of America’s Best Dance Crew was on last night, and this week’s episode was Bollywood-themed, with each troupe incorporating a form of Indian dance into their routine. Local crew Massive Monkees ended up with bhangra and knew that they would have to “put the b-boy into Bollywood.” Since they got ragged on by the judges last week for only one member doing their most difficult move, the Monkees were eager to bring it on, step it up 2 the streets, get served, etc. In their performance (starting at 2:05 in the video above), they hit the ground running, with footwork of fury, tons of spins and crabwalks, and even the occasional crotchgrab.
So sez the judges: JC Chasez liked that in this routine the dancers were “constantly moving and working the floor.” Shane Sparks said it was one of the “best performances they had done in a while,” and that they took it to another level, with so much of the choreography being “so sick.” Lil Mama agreed, saying they had “an energetic bounce from beginning to end.” Once again, Massive Monkees weren’t in the bottom two, so even after a lackluster performance last week, they’ve rebounded nicely, and they’re back to being one of the judges’ favorites.