Mark Wahlberg and Will Ferrell...this summer's other heartthrobs

I Eat Pop Culture is back!! I know, you don’t have to say it, you missed us. We took a little summer hiatus-pop-culture-meditation-staff-retreat-getaway-vision-quest. I’m hoping this means my two interns (Roxy and Suzy) will stop napping and licking their paws all the time, and actually be of some use around here. Okay, let’s get down to business…

TWILIGHT. ENOUGH. Listen, I like vampires as much as the next person, but holy zombie cow, all those moody brooding teens and their issues! Not to mention those ridiculous Burger King ads about choosing between Team Heartthrob #1 and Team Heartthrob #2 blah, blah, blah, the point is they are taking over everything right now…before we know it that Justin Bieber kid is going to start growing fangs too (if he hasn’t already). So, for those of you looking for summer movies that don’t involve vampires, you are in luck. I spent all morning on YouTube and came across some trailers that look interesting/entertaining. Check them out below, and enjoy!

Predators – July 9

The Kids Are All Right – July 9

Inception – July 16

I Love You Phillip Morris – July 30

Middle Men – Aug 6

The Other Guys – Aug 6

Eat Pray Love – Aug 13

The Expendables – Aug 13

The Switch – Aug 20

Most of the reality shows airing these days make my eyes bleed, especially those that feature privileged/wealthy people acting like a-holes. But wait…what if there was a reality show about privileged/wealthy a-holes who had their credit cards taken away, were forced to move out of their parent’s mansion, and actually had to work for a living? Yes, please!

VH1‘s You’re Cut Off premiered last week, and it is one of those awesome bait and switch reality shows—nine spoiled rich women, each think they have signed up for a reality show celebrating their wealthy lifestyles, but instead they are financially cut off.

With nowhere to go, they all move into a house together, and under the direction of their Host and Life Coach, Laura Baron, they have to learn to cook, clean, and work (referred to as “princess rehab”). They also have to participate in weekly group sessions, where they are expected to “take an honest look at themselves.” Drama ensues, and so do the ridiculous soundbites: “I decided to allow the girls to wear my tiaras because if I were them I’d want to be like me too.” …“Erica just has nothing between her ears, except botox and lip injections.” …“You are in the wilderness, stop trying to look hot!”

Yes, a part of me likes this show because it makes for good TV watching rich spoiled women lose control over stupid petty things, and freak out about normal stuff the rest of us do on a daily basis. But the other part of me appreciates the message tucked underneath all the screaming and crying: it’s not the end of the world to cut back, DIY, reprioritize, and to have some self-respect.

You’re Cut Off airs Wednesday nights at 9/8c. Click here for more info/video clips.

Dear New Directions,

Have a great summer, see you next year!

…and don’t worry, one day you guys will beat Vocal Adrenaline!

xoxo -I eat Pop Culture

Last night’s Glee finale did not disappoint—it had all the high drama, emotion, singing and dancing one could ever want AND it included Olivia Newton-John and Josh Groban. Glee had a fantastic first season, and I can’t wait for the next one!

For those of you who haven’t checked out this show, YOU NEED TO! Fox will re-run episodes this summer (check local listings). Click here for clips/additional info about the show.

And for you fans out there—what songs/artists would you like to see Glee cover next season???

*Image source Fox.com

• America hearts burned spies! The fourth season premiere of Burn Notice was record-breaking. — The Hollywood Reporter

• Sounds like Sandra Bullock stole the show at last night’s MTV Movie Awards. — People

• Speaking of Sandra, she shocked everyone with a surprise appearance at the Spike TV’s Guys Choice Awards. Go Team Sandra! — E!

• Something tells me the new Harry Potter theme park (opening later this month in Orlando) will magically help America’s sagging economy. — NY Daily News

• Oh thank goodness! Somebody found one of the Jaws prop sharks. — Yahoo

• In other movie prop news…someone, with a serious case of attention to detail, put together a photo montage revealing that the same prop newspaper has been used in several films and TV shows. — /Film

Last night, while flipping through channels, I landed on Comedy Central and came across a Daniel Tosh comedy special from a couple of years ago.  I had previously heard of Tosh, but I had never actually listened to any of his material.

OMG, he’s hilarious! If you like obnoxious, smug, irreverent, and very witty comedy, then he is your type of comedian. The new season of Tosh.0 premieres tonight at 10:30 PM. It’s a clip show, hosted by Tosh, similar to The Soup or Best Week Ever, but a bit more absurd and over-the-top. If you aren’t familiar with his work, below is a clip of his stand-up (graphic language/NSFW)…

• Based on the reviews I’ve read about SATC 2, sounds like it’s time to stick a fork in it. — NY Daily News

• Speaking of goodbyes, Simon Cowell and his black t-shirt rode off into the American Idol sunset last night. — ABC News

• Oh, and there was an American Idol winner last night too. — Star-Ledger

• Conspiracy Theory: how can we be sure Lindsay Lohan looks twice her age due to partying, and not that she is a time-traveler? Perhaps Lindsay looks 40 because she really is 40, and she’s traveled back in time to warn us of something! — NY Daily News

• Why I love Chelsea Handler, reason # 1,427. — E!

Ah…New Jersey…the birthplace of Bruce Springsteen, baseball, and Jay and Silent Bob. Most recently though, in case you haven’t noticed, the Garden State has taken over cable. There are so many TV shows featuring Jersey that it’s hard to keep track. That’s why I’ve put together this little round-up:

• Jersey Couture – Premieres June 1 @ 10 PM on Oxygen, this new docu-series follows a New Jersey family who runs a popular women’s formal wear store

• Jersey Shore – MTV’s ridiculously popular series returns for a second season July 29

• Jerseylicious - A new series on the Style network about a Jersey hair salon, airs Sundays @ 10 PM

• The Real Housewives of New Jersey – Bravo’s Ladies Who Lunch series, Jersey style, airs Mondays @ 10 PM

• Cake Boss – TLC series about a bakery in Hoboken, where they make the most insane cakes, airs Mondays @ 9 PM

• 9 By Design – Follow Sixx Design on their latest project, to design the interior of The Bungalow Hotel, a new boutique hotel on the Jersey Shore, episode premieres May 25 @ 10 PM on Bravo

• Boardwalk Empire – The highly-anticipated new HBO series, set in Atlantic City during Prohibition, premieres this fall

My thoughts on the Lost finale—Spoilers!–please don’t read any further if you don’t want to know what happened.

It’s no secret that I’ve become disenchanted with Lost over the last few seasons. It felt like it had become a show more about twists and turns and confusing plot points rather than what it had started out as: a show about the characters and the human condition. The series had opened with a traumatic event—a plane crash—and the survivors banded together, despite cultural differences and opposing points of view, in search of salvation; both literally and figuratively, as we learned through their flashbacks.

Over the course of the final season, Lost revisited the flashback theme, only this time they were flash-sideways; another reality, possibly occurring simultaneously, or perhaps what would have happened if Oceanic Flight 815 had not crashed. We were provided a glimpse of another angle of the characters, and their other fates, so to speak. Meanwhile, on the island, a showdown was on the way, between the Man in Black (in John Locke’s body) and the candidates, those whom Jacob had chosen to replace him as guardians of the island. In the episode prior to the finale, Jack had volunteered to be the one to watch over the island, and kill the Man in Black, convinced that this was what he was supposed to do all along, setting up the finale that was to end all finales.

As sentimental as I did get with the show coming to an end, I kept my expectations in check. This was Lost after all, every time you think they might be on to some resolution they throw in another twist. Yet, as I watched the last episode unfold, all the beautifully written/acted awakenings/reunions of the characters in their flash-sideways lives, I was thinking, wow, this is a finale to be proud of—this may be one of the greatest TV finales ever. Sun and Jin are together again! Charlie and Claire reunite! Juliet and Sawyer—that kiss! Now all we needed was for Jack to be awakened…and I was convinced that that was going to be the end: Kate reminding Jack of their time on the island together and voila he’d be awakened, and everyone would live, and be together again, in their sideways lives.

…however, the last 20 minutes went somewhere else…it didn’t tie up loose ends, it didn’t explain a lot of other things still unanswered…but what it did shed light on was that in the grand scheme of things those unexplained details were not the things that mattered. What mattered were the relationships, the human condition, what it means to survive, and that these people found each other and themselves in life…and in death. We were brought full circle: in the end the Lost survivors did not die alone.

Gimmicky? Perhaps. Epic? Maybe for some people. Emotional? Absolutely. Whatever closure it did or didn’t bring, the ending, well it just is…and the journey, now that it’s over and we can catch our breath and look back, was one hell of a ride.

The Lost it.will.blow.your.mind series finale extravaganza airs Sunday night, and what better way to celebrate the end of an era than to watch a bunch of Lost YouTube videos. Below are the best ones I came across (in random order–and some of them do contain spoilers)…enjoy!

Upfront season is upon us which means all the networks have been revealing their upcoming schedules; lots of the usual suspects and some new shows that look promising. That’s all lovely and nice, but there is still a show out there in the TVosphere that I’ve been waiting for: Boldly Going Nowhere, a sci-fi comedy created by the kids of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.

Here’s the back story: in 2008 it was announced that the pilot (which the Sunny kids would only be producers of, not starring in) had been sold to Fox. Then in August of last year there were reports that Larry Charles (former Seinfeld writer) had been brought in for a pilot re-write…and finally, in November, there were two reports on the same day: one from Sci-Fi Wire noting that Fox had passed on the show and Zap2It posted that Larry Charles was going to re-write the pilot’s script, again. That’s all that I’ve been able to find through my tireless Internet research.

So…? …what’s going on now…is the show still getting re-written? Maybe there are secret negotiations happening right now in the basement of Paddy’s Pub for the pilot to go elsewhere? …Or is Boldly Going Nowhere definitely not happening and I’m just in complete denial because I like Sunny so much I was hoping that a second brilliant series from those guys was on its way?

If anyone has any insight/answers/thoughts/prayers that this show happens, I’d appreciate hearing from you. And if it’s a no-go, well, I’d like to know that too because I really need closure on this one.