My Reality TV

American Idol Finalist Didi Benami duets with Keaton Simons on new song “If I Hadn’t Forgotten” (Review)
Sasha and Marko at Celebration Event
Vote for Rockin’ Dancer of the Year
‘Supernatural,’ Season 7, Episode 7 Recap
‘Smallville’ Actor Heads to ‘Glee’
‘One Life to Live’: 4 More Actors Join Online Version
Andy Rooney Dead at 92
Kim Kardashian’s Divorce Will Not Be Made Reality
Report: Selena Gomez Has Not Split with Justin Bieber
Ratings: Chuck Hits New Low; Fringe Rises
60 Minutes to Pay Tribute to Andy Rooney
The Biz: Matt Lauer Talks "Where in the World"

American Idol Finalist Didi Benami duets with Keaton Simons on new song “If I Hadn’t Forgotten” (Review)

Posted: 06 Nov 2011 01:51 AM PDT

Keaton Simons’ new single entitled “If I Hadn’t Forgotten” features American Idol Season 9 finalist Didi Benami. It is now available to the public via iTunes and Amazon as a digital download.

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Keaton Simons is a thirty-something, multi-talented singer songwriter, and musician who has albums and EPs attached to his credential along with a degree in Ethnomusicology.

His musicality is always spot on and his voice soulful and bluesy. This was clear on the song “If I hadn’t forgotten” originally released as a single.

The song itself on first listen renders a feeling that you might have heard it before from somewhere. In its simplicity and timelessness, it could very well be placed in a movie soundtrack or perhaps a TV show.

And placed it was! ABC’s hit medical drama series “Private Practice” picked it up and put the song front and center in its November 3rd episode (EP506) entitled “If I Hadn’t Forgotten.” Not only is the episode the same as the track title, the main character Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) sings a few lines of the song!

“If I Hadn’t Forgotten” took another turn this week with a special release of a duet version. Lending the other half of this now two-tone harmony is the wistful, pulsing voice of Didi Benami.

Simons and Benami are long time friends and Didi has appeared in a number of Keaton Simons shows in Los Angeles.

While the tune could be carried fine on its own solo, we could see why Benami’s voice is the missing piece needed to perfect this song. Says producer and owner of Revolver Recordings (where the song was mixed and recorded), Mikal Blue:

“it was suggested that Didi could come and do a duet on one of (the) songs. I thought it was a great idea but I’ve no idea how amazing it was gonna sound. As soon as it got Didi’s voice into this track, the whole track took on a new vibe; it was beautiful hearing them both.”

In a post from Official American Idol site about the song release, Benami affirms:

"I’m very happy and excited about it. It’s been a long time in the works for me to get something out there, and I think the wait brought us to just the right song at just the right moment."

via officialdidibenami.com

Whether there was conscious effort to bring in Didi Benami to ‘complete’ the track, the result is sublime and universally appealing. The give and take, the push and pull, the symbiosis brought the song into a whole new tier.

Benami’s voice hooks you in, inviting you to her world as she sings about the lost love. There is longing and yearning as she profess: “And I don’t know what you’ve been dreamin’ of, if your heart is haunted by our love, and I don’t know if you’ve tried movin’ on, But I can’t get past the way we left off…” leading into the chorus blending in tastefully with Simons’ crisp vocals:

If I knew now
What I knew then
If I hadn’t forgotten
What we meant
If I’d held on
Through the hard times
If I’d done what I needed to make things right
I’d know love before I lost it
If I hadn’t forgotten

Where the two draws the connection to the song, Benami might have sentimental attachment to it from the beginning as revealed on the behind the scenes video: “When I first heard the song, I felt like it was the last relationship that I was in, and it just brought me back… to what I could have done differently… It’s a message of hope for those of us that overthink everything and for those of us that don’t…”

The track is Benami’s debut release since going on a nationwide American Idol tour in 2010. She was in New York City two months ago at the Rockwood Music Hall for an intimate showcase of what she’s been working on as far as her music goes. She is off to the Bahamas for a charity concert and dinner weekend on November 11, and she's chosen to benefit St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (www.stjude.org/musicgives).

We wish both of these artists much success in their respective careers and we surely won’t mind another collaboration in the offing.

There is a streaming song preview on Didi Benami’s Official website. You can check out Keaton Simons official site here. You could get FREE song download from Didi’s fansite. They have a contest giveaway going on at their site as part of supporting the song and Benami.

Follow up to the minute updates from the two on their social network:

@DidiBenami on Twitter
@KeatonSimons on Twitter

Keaton’s Official Facebook | Didi’s Official Facebook

Sasha and Marko at Celebration Event

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:41 PM PDT

Marko and Sasha join Pia Toscano for a night of performances and celebrations.

The day after the So You Think You Can Dance Tour wrapped, Season 8′s runner-up and second runner-up–Sasha Mallory and Marko Germar–hopped on a plane for Rogers, Arkansas. They were invited to perform at a Walmart event called “A Celebration of Community,” to recognize individuals, businesses, and organizations that embrace and support the inclusion of diverse people in community and corporate activities, making the Northwest Arkansas community a better place to live, work, and raise a family. The event took place at the John Q. Hammons Center, and Sasha and Marko were joined by American Idol Season 10′s Pia Toscano, who also performed. You may remember Pia from her results show performance on Dance this season.

Sasha tweeted about the event: “Off to Arkansas with @D8Marko we’re Walmart dancers now”

And Marko tweeted: “In Arkansas with @SashaMallory! This is a beautiful place. Hmmmm…fresh air:):):)” and he shared this fun photo of him and Sasha flying in a private jet: “Currently in a walmart private jet with @SashaMallory Woohoo! Kinda weird but pretty cool! yfrog.com/kgiaylxj”

Relive your favorite Season 8 moments with these photos.

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Vote for Rockin’ Dancer of the Year

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:41 PM PDT

Vote for Rockin' Dancer in the first-ever Youth Rock Awards

Youth Rock Award Show 2011–a brand new award show honoring stars under 25 years old–will occur on December 7, 2011, and some of your favorite So You Think You Can Dance finalists have been nominated! The award show includes a “Rockin’ Dancer of the Year” category, and three of the five nominees are SYTYCD stars: Season 7′s Lauren Froderman, Season 7′s Alex Wong, and Season 8′s Melanie Moore!

Vote now for Melanie, Alex, and Lauren!

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‘Supernatural,’ Season 7, Episode 7 Recap

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:41 PM PDT

Filed under: Reality-Free, Stay Tuned

['Supernatural' - 'The Mentalists']

I’m not sure whether ‘The Mentalists’ will provoke the same furor that ‘The Girl Next Door’ did a few weeks ago, but this week’s episode dwelled on a lot of the same story elements, so I’m betting it’ll stir up a few of those hornet’s nests again.

In any event, some of the same writing issues that affected ‘Girl’ were on display here, and those problems have made the season as a whole frustrating and inconsistent. I don’t know about you, but the mid-episode confrontation between Sam and Dean in ‘The Mentalists’ made me almost as angry as the what Dean did at the end of ‘The Girl Next Door.’

Man, I’m really tired of this show making me dislike Dean.

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‘Smallville’ Actor Heads to ‘Glee’

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

Filed under: TV News

John Schneider Glee ‘Smallville’ and ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ veteran John Schneider has booked a guest role on ‘Glee.’

According to TVLine, Schneider will play the father of Sam Evans (returning guest star Chord Overstreet).

Last season Sam moved into a hotel after his father lost his job. In the Season 3 premiere, Overstreet’s character was written out of the popular Fox series. Sam moved away after his father found work.

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‘One Life to Live’: 4 More Actors Join Online Version

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

Filed under: TV News

One Life to Live Josh Kelly When ‘One Life to Live’ debuts online there will be many more familiar faces alongside Erika Slezak.

Actors Tuc Watkins, Josh Kelly, Florencia Lozano and Shenell Edmonds will move online with the soap opera.

The four actors join the previously announced Slezak, Michael Easton, Ted King, Kassie DePaiva, Melissa Archer, Kelley Missal, Sean Ringgold, Andrew Trischitta and Jerry VerDorn.

‘One Life to Live’ leaves ABC in January 2012 and it is set to join ‘All My Children’ on Prospect Park’s The Online Network. The original plans were to have both soap operas move online following ‘OLTL’s’ ABC finale, but according to a new report, those plans may be in jeopardy.

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Andy Rooney Dead at 92

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

After retiring from his 33 years on “60 Minutes” just last month, TV writer Andy Rooney died Friday night in a New York City hospital. He was 92.

Rooney was hospitalized after developing serious complications after minor surgery. Two weeks before his hospitalization, Rooney taped his final show on October 2, delivering his 1,097th televised commentary. He appeared on the CBS show from 1978 to 2011.

“Andy always said he wanted to work until the day he died, and he managed to do it, save the last few weeks in the hospital,” said his “60 Minutes” colleague, correspondent Steve Kroft.

On the long-running show, Andy typically addressed satire on trivial, everyday issues, such as the cost of groceries, annoying relatives, or why flying is unpleasant. The TV veteran won four Emmys, including a piece on whether there is a real Mrs. Smith, who made Mrs. Smith’s pies. As it turned out, there was no Mrs. Smith.

Rooney began his career in newspapers while in the Army and in 1942 he began writing for Stars and Stripes in London during World War II.

Andy was a freelance writer in 1949 when he ran into CBS radio star Arthur Godfrey in an elevator and bluntly told him how his show could improve with better writing. Godfrey hired him four years later and when he made his move to TV, Rooney was his only writer.

Rooney ended up leaving CBS in 1970 when they refused to air his heated essay about the Vietnam War. He appeared on TV for the first time on PBS — reading the piece and winning a Writers Guild of America Award for it.

Andy’s wry style and direct attitude sometimes landed him in hot water. CBS suspended him in 1990 for making racist remarks during an interview — which he denied. He ticked off gay rights groups during the AIDS epidemic when he spoke of homosexual unions, saying, “many of the ills which kill us are self-induced.” Native Americans were upset when Rooney suggested they weren’t doing enough to help their own people.

Rooney strongly opposed the war in Iraq and after the fall of Baghdad in 2003, he pointed out that he never regretted his “60 Minutes” commentaries on the war. At the time, Andy said, “I’m in a position of feeling secure enough so that I can say what I think is right and if so many people think it’s wrong that I get fired, well, I’ve got enough to eat.”

Andrew Aitken Rooney was born in Albany, New York on January 14 to Walter Scott Rooney and Ellinor Rooney. He attended The Albany Academy and later attended Colgate University in Hamilton in Upstate New York, and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1941.

Rooney and his wife, Marguerite, were married for 62 years before she died of heart failure in 2004. They had four children together — daughter Emily Rooney is a former executive producer for ABC’s “World News Tonight,” and son Brian Rooney is a longtime ABC correspondent. Emily’s twin, Martha, is Chief of the Public Services Division at the National Library of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland and Rooney’s third daughter, Ellen, is a photographer based in London.

Services will be private, and CBS will most likely hold a public memorial later, according to Brian Rooney.

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Kim Kardashian’s Divorce Will Not Be Made Reality

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

Although she was happy to capture her elaborate Montecito wedding to Kris Humphries in a two-part special on E!, Kim Kardashian does not want her divorce to be documented on the show.

According to TMZ, the reality vixen instructed the show to shut down the cameras during the emotional and private moments behind her divorce.

A source said the 31-year-old will not be shooting any footage for “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” until the beginning of next year, explaining she does not want to exploit the candid moments for her TV audience.

When the season picks up, Kardashian will acknowledge the breakup… but that’s about it.

So much for reality!

Kim Kardashian’s Boy Toys

Damon Thomas

Kim was previously married to record producer Damon Thomas.
In 2000, 20-year-old Kim married Thomas in a quickie Las Vegas wedding.
After three years, the couple divorced but not before some nasty allegations. In divorce papers that leaked in 2010, she accused Thomas of physical and emotional abuse.
Thomas denied the allegations and accused his ex-wife of being "obsessed with fame.”

Ray J

Kim’s relationship with Ray J — who is the younger brother singer Brandy, indirectly helped launch her career.
The two began dating in 2006, but in February 2007 a sex tape featuring the couple “leaked,” and was bought by Vivid Entertainment for $1 million.
Kardashian sued for invasion of privacy and received a $5 million settlement.
By the end of the year, the couple had split, but by then E! had begun airing “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.” And the rest is history!

Nick Cannon

Before he said “I do” to Mariah Carey, Nick Cannon dated Kim.
The two had an on-and-off relationship for years, but reportedly broke up after Cannon found out she had been seeing another Nick (Lachey).
The pair reconciled, but only briefly. He ended the relationship after her relationship (and sex tape) with Ray J became public.

Nick Lachey

Kim and Nick Lachey were set up by former USC quarterback Matt Leinart (who would later introduce Kardashian to his former teammate Reggie Bush).
The pair briefly dated before ending things when Lachey started dating Vanessa Minillo, who became the second Mrs. Lachey in July 2011.

Reggie Bush

Kim and football player Reggie Bush dated on and off for about three years.
Their relationship was documented on her E! reality show “Keeping Up with the Kardashians.”

Cristiano Ronaldo

In April 2010, in between Reggie Bush and Miles Austin, Kim Kardashian found went on a few dates with Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo.
The two were spotted having dinner and making out in Spain, but it didn’t last long.

Miles Austin

It’s no secret Ms. Kardashian has a thing for pro athletes. Kim dated Dallas Cowboys star Miles Austin in the summer of 2010.

Michael Copon

Kim was rumored to have briefly dated “One Tree Hill” star Michael Copon in October of 2010.

Gabriel Aubry

After Gabriel Aubry and Halle Berry announced their split in April 2010, the handsome hunk was spotted on the Lakers court with Kim.
Less than a month later, Kim was introduced to future husband Kris Humphries.

Kris Humphries

After getting hitched on TV in an elaborate wedding to NBA star Kris Humphries on August 20, 2011, Kim filed for divorce 72 days later. She cited “irreconcilable differences.”
Many are speculating the split was partly due to where the couple was going to live-Kris wanted to eventually settle down in Minnesota, and Kim wanted to stay in L.A. for her career and family.

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Report: Selena Gomez Has Not Split with Justin Bieber

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

It looks like actress/singer Selena Gomez is standing by boyfriend Justin Bieber in the wake of a paternity lawsuit filed against the teen idol.

RadarOnline reported Friday that Gomez broke up with Bieber, but a rep for Bieber told “Extra,” “There’s no truth” to the report.

The Disney starlet is in Belfast for the MTV European Music Awards this Sunday and retweeted Thursday, “Justin hit 14 million followers & Selena hits 8 million followers what a great day for jelena:D.”

A 20-year-old woman, Mariah Yeater, is asking a California court to force Bieber to “undergo a paternity test to scientifically confirm that he is in fact that father of my baby” and “provide adequate support” for her 3-month-old child.

Bieber’s camp has called the allegations false, and the singer himself told “Today” he has never met the woman.

Meanwhile, Gomez is dealing with a stalker, who pleaded not guilty to the charges on Thursday. According to LAPD Detective Jose Viramontes and TMZ, the man in question, Thomas Brodnicki, has made repeated threats to kill Gomez and poses a “serious threat” to the 19-year-old performer. A civil judge will oversee the case.

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Ratings: Chuck Hits New Low; Fringe Rises

Posted: 05 Nov 2011 09:40 PM PDT

Maybe baseball isn’t to blame.

A week after kicking off its fifth and final season against Game 7 of the World Series, Chuck spied a series low in the 18-to-49 demographic Friday, sliding 20 percent to a 0.8 rating. It was also down 10 percent in viewership with only …