The Kitchen Musical Heads To American Television

Did you know that The Kitchen Musical is coming to the USA? And that Ben Silverman's production company has bought its rights?

What is The Kitchen Musical, you ask?

It is this Pan-Asian TV show created and written by CheeK, the creative head of The Group Entertainment.

Described as Glee meets Hell's Kitchen, the show features performers coming from all over the Asian region, a few of them are actually Filipinos.

The show premiered on Philippine TV tonight and it will also be showing in 18 other Asian countries. 

I had the pleasure of watching it and except for the theatrical delivery, I was really entertained. This was an unexpected surprise!

Musical arrangment is done by Gerald Salonga, brother of Tony Award winning performer Lea Salonga, and the song choices are impressive and familiar. But some of it are done and delivered differently, they sounded pretty good!

Catch the first episode on cable AXN on 15 October 2011 and its succeeding airings every Saturdays at 8.00 pm. And you can join the Facebook page or follow the show on Twitter.

So then...who is Ben Silverman? And why does it matter if his company buys the show, you ask again?

Ben Silverman is THE guy who brought The Office to USA. His company has won numerous Emmys. He is THE guy who headed NBC between 2007-2009. Those were controversial years for NBC. But for all his misses in leading the formerly dominant network on US Television, he was also responsible for keeping Friday Night Lights (only one of the best shows on TV!) on air for five seasons.

Suffice to say, the track record speaks for itself. And if he and his company has taken interest in this Asian show, then that says a lot for the The Kitchen Musical's quality.

But I'm not sure if they are going to retain The Kitchen Musical as is, or completely redo and adapt this for US Television. I hope not, coz Gerard's musical arrangement's really good! But the prospect of this coming to the US sounds really exciting! It's high time something from this region gets to shine over there, in the field of television.

Read the press release here: Ben Silverman's Electus to Bring Asian Series 'The Kitchen Musical' to U.S.

And then watch Maddie (played by Filipina singer-actress Karylle) sing Unwell:

Where is the story in AMERICAN HORROR STORY?

What did I just watch? It was hard to process watching American Horror Story.

My expectations were low because:

• Before watching the pilot, I knew a lot of TV critics didn't like it. 
• Horror is the last genre I'd pick to watch over anything else.
• I am not a fan of Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuck, the creators of this show. It seems a lot of people are aware of how they do programs, where it starts out really promising and then it gets ridiculously bad. Case in point: Glee. Case in point: Nip/Tuck. Case in point: Popular.

And yet somehow, watching this with the awareness that it was gonna bad...FELT. SO. GOOD.

My emotions are conflicted. Because there was NO story with what I just saw. Really, it made no sense. There were PIECES of the story. But it was all over the place.

However, it did manage to shock me.  It did manage to be repulsive. (I wanted to gag at one point!)

Ryan Murphy said in an interview that, unlike Glee's feel-good moments, American Horror Story was gonna be a "feel-bad" show.  They had plan on it being disgusting. They thought of putting everything scary, so that the show appears scary --- from bothersome images, to eerie sound effects and disturbing camera-work, to the location (a haunted house, so cliche!).

Somewhere inside my head, a voice was begging me to just stop watching.

And yet I could not.

And I don't know why.

It certainly wasn't the plot that was holding me. Because, as mentioned, its story line and writing? Paper thin.

It certainly wasn't all those images. Because I scare easy and I hate those. Although the mood of the show reminded me of stuff TV people do to Stephen King novels, or that movie The Others.

Why could I not stop watching?

Maybe it's Connie Britton. She instantly had a her shining moment here and my admiration for her grew ten-folds more. It was not easy to see this amazing actress go from Friday Night Lights to this show. But because she's awesome, I think she can carry this to a full season.

Maybe it's Jessica Lange. Or Frances Conroy. They can be so creepy, these old women. Or maybe it's Alexandra Breckenridge, who I kinda loved watching on The Ex List and Life Unexpected. American Horror Story has a solid cast of women. Including that kid who plays Britton's daughter.

And once again, I'm conflicted.

 Because I don't know how far these talented women can go, with what little story they are given to deliver.  A shame if, judging by the creators' track record, this would all go to waste.

But the scariest thing is...you know what? I'm gonna watch again next week!!!

American Horror Story's official synopsis:

American Horror Story, co-created by former Nip/Tuck executive producers and current Glee co-creators/executive producers Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, revolves around The Harmons, a family of three who move from Boston to Los Angeles as a means to reconcile past anguish. The All Star cast features Dylan McDermott (The Practice) as "Ben Harmon," a psychiatrist; Connie Britton (Friday Night Lights) as "Vivien Harmon," Ben's wife; Taissa Farmiga as "Violet," the Harmon's teenage daughter; Jessica Lange (Tootsie, Blue Sky, Grey Gardens) in her first-ever regular series TV role as "Constance," the Harmon's neighbor; Evan Peters (One Tree Hill) plays "Tate Langdon," one of Ben's patients; and Denis O'Hare (The Good Wife) as "Larry Harvey." Guest stars for the series include Frances Conroy (Six Feet Under) as the Harmon's housekeeper; Alexandra Breckenridge (Dirt) as the Harmon's housekeeper; and Jamie Brewer as Constance's daughter.

The show is aired on cable channel FX.

10 Reasons People Say Is Why The Playboy Club Was Cancelled

After three episodes and a poor ratings performance, NBC has decided to pull The Playboy Club off the air. Going around fan communities, I gathered some of the reasons why this show never quite made it past November sweeps, at least.

10 Reasons People Say Is Why The Playboy Club Was Cancelled:

1. Because no one took their clothes off all the way. I said this haha!

2. Because this should just have been The Laura Benanti Show. Some dude would rather watch her sing over and over. Was that really her singing?

3. Because people think this is Eddie Cibrian's karma. I don't like the guy too but MOVE ON, Folks!

4. Because it's actually just a glorified crime series. They should have brought the CSI, CSI Miami, CSI New York teams over. Word.

5. Because it's marred by bad writing. I didn't think it was that bad. But then again, I'm the one who keeps watching shows like Pretty Little Liars, so...What? Pretty Little Liars is a fun show!! :P

6. Because Nick Dalton is a Don Draper clone and can never really measure. Yeah. That. He even sounds like him. Try rewatching and close your eyes.

7. Because the Parents TV Council said so.
8. Because 7 major advertisers pulled out when the Parents TV Council said so.
So says the Parents TV Council.

9. Because it was projected to fail. True dat. The show was not yet on air and it was already being panned.

10. Because its sexy blonde bombshell of a bunny, Amber Heard, is really a lesbian.

Amber Heard with girlfriend