Television

Yet Another Cooking Show: The American Baking Competition Heads to CBS This Summer

Over the last several years, cooking shows have popped up on a variety of networks, rather than the mother ship of all food and cooking shows, the Food Network. If Cupcake Wars and re-runs of Top Chef Just Desserts doesn't do it for you, this summer CBS will air a summer baking competition on May 29 ... More >>

I'm Rubber, You're Glue: CSN Houston Fires Back at DirecTV

If you caught my story yesterday on DirecTV's shot at negotiations with CSN Houston (if not, click the link), the television home to the Rockets, Astros and Dynamo, you know it is becoming more and more clear that the fight to get the local teams into more than the current 40 percent of Houston home ... More >>

DirecTV Drops Gauntlet on CSN, Sports Networks and Fans

DirecTV, considered by many to be the lynchpin in negotiations to get Comcast SportsNet Houston on cable system providers other than Comcast, is apparently digging in its heels when it comes to sports networks in particular. On a website -- DirecTVPromise.com -- it has an entire section dedicated to ... More >>

NFL Free Agency 2013: Your Texans Cheat Sheet (Cap Numbers, Restructure Candidates, and More!)

Back in the day, when I used to have oodles and oodles of idle time on my hands during prime game-show watching hours (that's code for "back in college"), Wheel of Fortune was a staple of my game-show dance card. (For the record, Tic Tac Dough, Joker's Wild and Price is Right -- the Sopranos of game ... More >>

In Defense of New Girl (Hear Us Out...)

Rockets Blocked Out

Sources say Astros Stopped a deal to bring CSN Houston, Rockets Games to DirecTV.

Sources: Astros Blocked a Potential Deal That Would Have Brought CSN Houston, Rockets Games to DirecTV

According to sources with knowledge of the situation, the Houston Astros, who are part owners of Comcast SportsNet Houston along with the Houston Rockets and NBC, nixed an 11th-hour deal with DirecTV that could have put CSN Houston on the provider and delivered Rockets games to its subscribers at th ... More >>

5 Food Network Shows That Need To Go

If you give me the remote and tell me to choose a show to watch, nine times out 10 I will turn to the Food Network. I'm addicted to the Food Network...which is probably why I'm so hungry all the time. I love watching chefs battle it out on Chopped. I love watching Bobby Flay surprise regular cooks ... More >>

Top 5 Cooking Shows to Watch in 2013

The New Year brings new series and the return of some of the best cooking shows on television. With today being the first day of 2013, we ranked our top five cooking shows for this year. Some are new and some are veterans, but all of them are enjoyable (or at least predicted to be) to watch. Here a ... More >>

Is It Time to Ditch Cable for Streaming Digital Video? Six Questions to Help You Decide

Lately, a number of my friends have asked the question: should I get rid of cable? Ten years ago, the answer would be yes only if you didn't watch any cable network television shows, at which point you could simply go back to an antennae. With the advent of digital television, that has become a more ... More >>

Five Ways You Can Help Your Buddies Without Comcast Follow the Rockets Games

The saga continues with Comcast Sportsnet. Game two of the very young NBA season is upon us and still no deals with U-Verse, DirecTV or Dish Network to carry the sports channel that is the exclusive home to the Rockets and Astros. It's difficult to say just how long it will take to get deals done. A ... More >>

Rockets Start the Preseason Tonight, But Not on U-Verse or DirecTV

When it comes to preseason sports, there is nothing as boring as professional basketball. Ok, maybe spring college football scrimmages come close, but, overall, preseason in the NBA is a torturous grind and this is coming from someone who loves pro ball. For the home town team, preseason will provid ... More >>

Mayor Annise Parker to Appear on Colbert Report Tonight

In case you hadn't heard, Mayor Annise Parker will be a guest tonight on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report tonight, which airs locally at 10:30 p.m. after The Daily Show. The announcement of her appearance camer earlier this week. It should be interesting to see the interaction between the two. P ... More >>

The 5 Sexiest Celebrity Chefs: Ladies Edition

We've taken a look at the Sexiest Men in the Kitchen (meatballs, anyone?). Now, it's the ladies time to turn up the heat. Check out the Top 5 Hottest Female Chefs: 5. Nadia Giosia As in, "Nadia G." As in, the wild and slightly psychotic Italian but Canadian-born chef, singer, and host of Nadia G' ... More >>

Houston Children's Festival

Win Free Tickets to the 2012 Menu of Menus and Iron Fork Competition

This year's Menu of Menus will take place on April 17 at Silver Street Studios. In addition to featuring 50 of the city's best restaurants in one place, Menu of Menus will offer an exciting new component this year: the Iron Fork competition, our own little take on Iron Chef. The Iron Fork competiti ... More >>

Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music: Everything Old Is New...ish Again

If Sesame Street's red, eternally three-year-old Muppet seems less ubiquitous these days than he did during the "Tickle Me Elmo" hysteria of the late '90s, well, he's got a lot more competition. Sure, plenty of kids still want to be shown how to get, how to get to Sesame Street, but nowadays there a ... More >>

Joel Osteen's Reality Show

Some suggestions from us.

Comment of the Day: Joel Osteen's Reality Show

We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involving wit ... More >>

Yo Gabba Gabba's Creator Talks Bands and Stage Diving Kids

What do you do when you have kids but you can't stand any of the TV programming geared toward them? Get together with a long-time buddy and make a low-budget version of what you'd like to see on television. That's how Christian Jacobs, lead singer of the punk band The Aquabats, and friend Scott Sch ... More >>

Christian Jacobs on Yo Gabba Gabba, Stage-Diving Kids and Biz Markie

What do you do when you have kids but you can't stand any of the TV programming geared toward them? Get together with a longtime buddy and make a low-budget version of what you'd like to see on television. That's how Christian Jacobs, lead singer of the punk band The Aquabats, and friend Scott Schu ... More >>

Joel Osteen's Reality Show: How It Will Be If Based on Any of Six Current Shows

From the producer of Survivor.​TMZ has reported that Lakewood Church's Joel and Victoria Osteen will be the stars of a new reality show by the producer of Survivor. "The premise of the show is that ordinary people will give up several days or longer to go on a mission with Joel Osteen, one o ... More >>

Cam Newton Punks Jeopardy Contestant (With VIDEO)

As game shows go, I like watching those that I feel like I could win. Wheel of Fortune, The Price is Right, and the old Match Game are just remedial and random enough to where I could see myself celebrating on the set. Along those lines, I've never gotten into Jeopardy, mostly because I don't know ... More >>

The Five Best Talk-Show Guests, Ranked

The new Tom Hanks movie Larry Crowne was a bland bomb, but that's okay: He did publicity for it, and that means showing up on (just about any and all) talk shows as a guest. What makes a good talk-show guest? Someone who understands the dynamic -- you're not having anything close to a real conversa ... More >>

Chefing Shows Come to Texas

Guess who's not coming to town!​The big food TV news from over the weekend came from San Antonio (of all places), where it was revealed that Top Chef is currently filming. The news broke when a local blogger spotted Gail Simmons and Tom Colicchio in a San Antonio bar, then promptly got into a ... More >>

Pop Rocks: The Worst Part Of Parenting? The TV Shows.

Don't believe the hype.​Being a parent is tough, especially when the kids are toddler age or thereabouts. You're basically on 24-7 suicide watch while the little hobgoblins cram everything they find into their mouths and clamber to the top of the bookshelves, while at the same time you try to ... More >>

The Situation is Making Us Fat

He may be a tool, but, unlike most of us, he ain't fat.​Americans are voyeurs. We like to watch. Since the invention of the television, it has been the choice for peering into the world outside our living room and, despite the popularity of streaming video and the Internet in general, TV is ... More >>

Rick Perry Vs. Jon Stewart On A Daily Show Deathcage Match

Stweart, Perry: Adios, mofo​In the wake of his big victory, Governor Rick Perry immediately focused like a laser beam on the state's massive budget gap. Or maybe he went on a book tour.In a series of interviews in which the cloying coyness about 2012 will be palpable, Perry is headed to the East C ... More >>

Fox vs. Dish Network: Rockets Fans Need Alternative Plans

Dish Network: No Yao, but not for the usual reasons​The Rockets' season opens tonight, and if history is any guide, you'll want to catch the early-season games -- you know, the ones before Yao Ming goes down with an injury.That's easy enough tonight -- they're on TBS TNT -- but after that, things ... More >>

Ten TV Shows That Need To Go Away Now

​We're barely a month into the fall TV season and have already lost three new network shows. My Generation, the show that was to catch us up on a group of high school graduates ten years after the fact (and presumably set to the music of The Who) pulled a Keith Moon after two episodes. Lone St ... More >>

Bryan Caswell: No Pity

​Last night, half of Houston tuned in to watch Chef Bryan Caswell of REEF and Little Big's represent the Bayou City on the Food Network's newest show: Next Iron Chef. I didn't watch it. I was catcalling people from the back of a banquet room at the Hilton during the otherwise classy My Table ... More >>

The Week In TV: Betty White and the Rich Dicks

I've got clear eyes, a full heart, and can't help but notice that you seem pretty practiced at putting on panties with one hand while holding a gun. This was the week in TV Land: • Because Facebook now controls us all, Betty White hosted Saturday Night Live a couple days ago after the booming po ... More >>

The Week In TV: So Long, Julia Sugarbaker

Even with my dependable shows in reruns, it feels good to be back in the stern embrace of David Simon. This was the week in TV Land: • Thank God for Hulu, you know? The video site is the only reason I actually keep up with Saturday Night Live most weeks. The show's had a real hard-on for tweens ... More >>

Riddle Me This

​This is a tough one ya'll...What has: Ego overload; Awkward, obvious dubbed-over video (at times); Shameless product placements of Toyotas, Whole Foods and now bands like The Bravery; Ridiculous food challenges: using gas station ingredients to cook a gourmet meal; An annoying yet addic ... More >>

DirecTV Caves to Social Media Pressure and Eventually Helps Stroke Victim

​The Leeder family recently found out how DirecTV does business: The company will not, under any circumstances, break a contract or waive cancellation fees, even if you've had a stroke and will never need the service again, unless you complain on Facebook and Twitter. That's pretty much the w ... More >>

Jim Gaffigan

We don't want to call him a food comic, but he does talk a lot about eating

Farewell, Conan: Don't Give Yourself Away

Fare thee well, Conando.​About two weeks before I graduated from college, my best friend got out of the poisonous relationship he'd been in for five years. He was ecstatic at the possibilities before him, and those final moments of school held for him a wonder and freedom he didn't even know h ... More >>

The End Is Near for Conan O'Brien

​I can't believe it's come to this. As most people know by now, Conan O'Brien will be exiting The Tonight Show, likely after Friday's show. It's a bitter end to his truncated run on the show, and the real hell is how easily it could have been avoided if things had just played out the way peop ... More >>

This Week in TV: Last Flight of the Conchords

I'm tired of shopping, ready for sunshine, and I need you to bring me some pens. This was the week in TV Land: • Blah blah blah obligatory paragraph about how awesome Community is. Maybe you're tired of reading it, but I'm not tired of writing it. It's consistently good, and it just keeps gettin ... More >>

On Its 40th Birthday, the Top 10 Sesame Street Musical Guests

Sing the blues, Kermit... or greens. We know how you feel. Big Bird, Oscar the Grouch, Bert and Ernie, Elmo and Grover have something to celebrate. Sesame Street, their fictional New York borough, and the television show probably responsible for everything you knew as a kid, turns 40 today. Created ... More >>

The Week In TV: The World Series Ruins Everything

Parks and Recreation, yet another reason to love NBC​The weather is cool, Halloween is in the air, and I just redesigned the Pontiac Aztec. This is the week in TV Land: • For being a weak network overall and the home to some truly awful medical dramas, NBC can bring the funny. This week it ... More >>

TV Land: 30 Rock Is Back! And Some Other Stuff Happened Too

It was a long week in TV Land, so let's get some Cheesy Blasters and do it to it: • 30 Rock is back! 30 Rock is back! I know that some of you -- most of you? -- probably thought that Texas' victory was the best thing on TV this week, but that's because you're young and don't know much yet. Trus ... More >>

Embarassing Moments In TV Cooking History: Welcome to the List, Padma

Padma Lakshmi isn't technically a celebrity chef. Yes, she's published two cookbooks and hosted/starred in an array of food-related programming. But she's also known for plenty of other endeavors, chief among them being married to Salman Rushdie and her career as a highly successful Indian model/act ... More >>

Playboy's Finalists for Sexiest Sportscaster: Erin Andrews, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi and Molly Sullivan

Playboy.com has named its five finalists for this year's Sexiest Sportscaster. And despite my best efforts, neither Carrie Milbank nor Suzy Kolber got the necessary number of write-in votes to qualify. The finalists are Erin Andrews, of course, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi, ... More >>

Playboy's Finalists for Sexiest Sportscaster: Erin Andrews, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi and Molly Sullivan

Playboy.com has named its five finalists for this year's Sexiest Sportscaster. And despite my best efforts, neither Carrie Milbank nor Suzy Kolber got the necessary number of write-in votes to qualify. The finalists are Erin Andrews, of course, Bonnie Bernstein, Charissa Thompson, Lauren Shehadi, ... More >>

What Do Shepard Smith and Soulja Boy have in common?

Wack's here to tell you: more than you might expect

Miss Pop Rocks Hearts Project Rungay

Diva

Theater LaB Houston production gets tripped up by awkward writing

The College Football Preview, Week Ten: Reality TV Bites

Avenue Q

A puppet learns some life lessons — and gets laid — in Avenue Q