Kaley Cuoco returns as 2013 People's Choice Awards host

*** press release courtesy of CBS ***

“THE BIG BANG THEORY’S” KALEY CUOCO TO RETURN AS HOST OF THE “PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS 2013”

 

The “People’s Choice Awards” to Air Live Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 on the CBS Television Network

CHEAT TWEET: The lovely @KaleyCuoco of @BigBang_CBS returns to host @peopleschoice awards on January 9 on CBS at 9:00 PM! http://bit.ly/VW61vI   

Kaley Cuoco, star of CBS’s THE BIG BANG THEORY, will return to host the PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS 2013, LIVE from the Nokia Theatre in Los Angeles, onWednesday, Jan. 9, 2013 (9:00-11:00 PM, live ET/delayed PT), on the CBS Television Network.  

The People’s Choice Awards is the only major awards show where fans determine the categories, nominees and winners across multiple genres of movies, music and television.  Beginning Oct. 23, fans will have the opportunity to narrow down a selection of nominees in each of more than 40 categories.  Voting will take place online at www.Peopleschoice.com/nominees until Friday, Nov. 2.

"It’s an honor to return as host of the 2013 PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARDS and kick off awards season with one of the most fun events of the year,” said Kaley Cuoco.

            "I am so thrilled that Kaley will be joining us again as host for this year's PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARDS," said executive producer Mark Burnett. "She is such an engaging performer who brings an undeniable energy and passion to our stage.  There is no doubt she will be a key part of what makes this year's show a can't-miss event."

Prior to her role as “Penny” on THE BIG BANG THEORY, winner of the 2010 People’s Choice Award for Favorite TV Comedy, Kaley Cuoco was best known to television audiences for her role as Bridget Hennesy in the series “8 Simple Rules,” winner of the 2003 People’s Choice Award for Favorite New TV Comedy.  

This year, Cuoco starred opposite Rob Lowe in the Lifetime movie “Untouchable: The Drew Peterson Story.”  She was also seen in “The Last Ride,” an independent film which tells the story of Hank Williams’s final days, and in 2011, she co-starred in the family comedy “HOP,” with James Marsden and Russell Brand.  Recently, Cuoco wrapped production on “Scribble,” an indie comedy about a group of aspiring writers.

About People’s Choice

Now in its 39th year, the People’s Choice Awards continues to be the only major awards show voted on entirely by the public for fan favorites in music, movies and television.  The People’s Choice official website at www.PeoplesChoice.com houses the voting platform where fans determine the categories, nominees and winners for the annual awards show.  Every year, potential nominees are determined by national ratings averages, box-office grosses, music sales and PeoplesChoice.com data, then vetted through EPoll Market Research.  Fred Nelson is the President of People’s Choice, and the awards show is produced by Procter & Gamble Productions, Inc. [NYSE:PG], which is represented by MediaVest Worldwide, Inc., supervisors of the production.

Upcoming guests on CBS shows

*** press releases courtesy of CBS ***

UPCOMING GUESTS ON "THE TALK" ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK, 10/10-10/12 

Monday through Friday (2:00-3:00 PM, ET; 1:00-2:00 PM, PT)

(*Denotes changes and/or additions to previous schedule, (n) Denotes new)

*Wednesday, Oct. 10	Actress Mary McCormack guest co-hosts; singer Jackie Evancho performs a song from her new album; Talk Takeaway: cost cutting tips from “America’s Cheapest Family” the Economides (n)
Thursday, Oct. 11	Actor Boris Kodjoe guest co-hosts; actress Allison Janney previews her new film; Talk Takeaway: cooking with chef Susan Feniger (n)
Friday, Oct. 12	Actor Shemar Moore guest co-hosts (CBS’s “Criminal Minds”); actress Megan Mullally; actor Zachary Knighton; Talk Takeaway: design expert Kyle Schuneman (n)

CBS’s daytime talk show features a panel of well-known news and entertainment personalities who examine current events, pop culture, contemporary issues, family, celebrity and the trending topics of the day. The daily one-hour series is co-hosted by Julie Chen, Sara

            Gilbert, Sharon Osbourne, Sheryl Underwood and Aisha Tyler. The hosts swap stories, challenge each other on issues and engage the studio audience and viewers at home about events in the headlines and their own homes. Show segments include guest interviews with entertainers and newsmakers, musical performances, how-to demos and appearances from extraordinary people with stories that engage and inform. The show was developed by Gilbert, who also serves as executive producer.

CBS Daytime has been #1 in the daypart for 26 consecutive years, featuring a lineup that is a balance of dramas, game shows and talk. In addition to THE TALK, the Network’s daytime line-up includes the #1 daytime drama THE YOUNG AND THE RESTLESS, as well as THE BOLD AND THE BEAUTIFUL, television’s longest-running game show THE PRICE IS RIGHT, and LET’S MAKE A DEAL. 

RATING: TV14-DL (Rating may change on day of broadcast due to specific subject matter.)

************************************************************

UPCOMING GUESTS ON THE "LATE SHOW with DAVID LETTERMAN" ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK, 10/9-10/23 

Monday through Friday, 11:35 PM-12:37 AM, ET/PT

(*Denotes changes and/or additions to previous schedule

(n) Denotes new broadcast)

Tuesday, Oct. 9       Actor Kevin James; comedian Chris Elliott; musical guest Miguel (n)

*Wednesday, Oct. 10 Actress Salma Hayek Pinault; actor Nick Offerman; musical guests KISS (n)

*Thursday, Oct. 11  Actress Lucy Liu from the CBS drama series “Elementary”; musical guests Daughter (n)

Friday, Oct. 12         Actor John Goodman; comedian Jeff Altman; musical guests Jamey Johnson with Alison Krauss (n)

Monday, Oct. 15      Actress Kaley Cuoco from the CBS comedy series “The Big Bang Theory”; Stupid Human Tricks; musical guests The Whigs

Tuesday, Oct. 16      Actor Steve Martin; musical guest Gotye

Wednesday, Oct. 17 Talk show host Stephen Colbert; medium/reality television star Theresa Caputo; musical guest Martha Wash

Thursday, Oct. 18      President Barack Obama

Friday, Oct. 19          Actress Tina Fey; former Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum

*Monday, Oct. 22     Actor Tom Hanks; musical guest Tony Bennett (n)

*Tuesday, Oct. 23    Musician Taylor Swift (n)

RATING: TV-PG (Rating may change on day of broadcast due to specific subject matter.)

***************************************************************

UPCOMING GUESTS ON "THE LATE LATE SHOW with CRAIG FERGUSON" ON THE CBS TELEVISION NETWORK, 10/9 – 10/19

(Monday through Friday, 12:37-1:37 AM, ET/PT,

Following Broadcasts of the "Late Show with David Letterman")

(*Denotes changes and/or additions to previous schedule, (n) Denotes new broadcast)

Tuesday, Oct. 9           Actor Jeremy Irons; actress Monica Potter

Wednesday, Oct. 10    Actress Nikki Reed; author Mitch Albom

Thursday, Oct. 11        Actor Neil Patrick Harris from the CBS comedy “How I Met Your Mother”; comedy by Gerry Dee

Friday, Oct. 12            Actor Dennis Quaid from the CBS drama “Vegas”; actress Ellie Kemper

*Monday, Oct. 15       Actor Jeff Goldblum; actress Sarah Paulson (n)

*Tuesday, Oct. 16      Actress Lauren Graham; author James Patterson; music by Michael Kiwanuka (n)

*Wednesday, Oct. 17 Football analyst Kay Adams (n)

*Thursday, Oct. 18     Actor Kelsey Grammer; actress Casey Wilson; comedy by Nina Conti (n)

*Friday, Oct. 19         TV host Chelsea Handler; music by Allen Stone (n)

On the Web:  http://www.cbs.com/shows/late_late_show/

RATING:  TV-14-D (Rating may change on day of broadcast due to specific subject matter.)

****************************************************************

CBS has at least 2 hits in their new series

Well in my humble opinion, CBS has scored at least 2 hits among the new shows that they have debuted this fall.  I really like both of these and hope that they do well.  So have a look at my two new favorites:

Made In Jersey

show info on CBS website

show info on internet movie database website

The show is about a working class woman, from an ordinary family, who is just starting out with a big law firm.  And she's doing it her way.  It's great.

Yeah, yeah, I know; there have been a lot of lawyer shows on.  But this one is refreshingly different.  I watched the premiere episode via On Demand  and loved it.  This is definitely a show I will be watching again.

The whole cast is great, and seem to have a real chemistry with each other.  And starting out, she has two definite circles laid out - her family circle, and her work circle.  I look forward to what they do in the season.

Elementary

show info on CBS website

show info on imdb.com

Let me begin by saying that I have been a Sherlock Holmes fan since childhood, quite literally.  So I am the perfect person to comment on this new show.  I have read the books.  Watched the other shows and movies.

About Arthur Conan Doyle on wiki

About the Sherlock Holmes on wiki

Now just recently, Robert Downey Jr. did a theater/big screen Sherlock Holmes movie.  I didn't like it, and have watched very little of it.  He just didn't pull off Sherlock Holmes to me.  But in this new tv series, Jonny Lee Miller, does an excellent job of playing Sherlock Holmes.  I would put him up there with my other favorite Holmes actor, Basil Rathbone.  I love Miller's Sherlock Holmes.

And in this version of Holmes, they throw in a twist that I think is nothing short of brilliant - Watson is a woman!  Lucy Liu gives an excellent performance as Dr. Joan Watson, the person that Sherlock's father has hired to be his sober companion.     

This Sherlock has moved to New York City, from London, where he had some problems.  One of these problems landed him in rehab, and the series premiere picks up with Sherlock having escaped from rehab on the day he was to be released.  Watson arrives to begin her job as a hooker leaves.  Now all this fits in perfectly with the character that Conan Doyle created.  Anyone who has read the many novels about Holmes will see this.  As for the rehab thing, I refer you to a book I read many years ago, called 'The Seven-Per-Cent Solution' by Nicholas Meyer.  

I just love this new updating of Sherlock Holmes.  It is classic Holmes, brought into the 21st century.  Once again he is found working as a police consultant, this time in New York City.  I highly recommend it to you.  

Imagine, Holmes with today's technology.  Well you don't have to imagine it.  You can watch it.  I will be.

-- jd --

ebook review - Blue Plague The Fall by Thomas A. Watson

Today I am reviewing the ebook - 

Blue Plague The Fall by Thomas A. Watson

Where to get the book?

Kindle - $3.95

Paperback - $15.99

Book group on facebook

Suppose . . . just suppose . . . in the dark of the night . . . you suddenly feel something . . .

biting you! 

'Biting you?', you might ask.  Well, that’s just what happens in Thomas A. Watson’s book, Blue Plague.  It all starts in the Congo, with 3 American volunteers and 2 native guides.  If only they hadn't gotten out of the Congo.  But then, we wouldn't have this great book to read, now would we!

It's a virus that kills people, but not quite.  Ah, that is to say, they just don't stay dead.  Actually they come back to life and turn blue, and then the fun really begins.  The infected ones like to bite people.  Not to eat mind you, just to bite.  When they get hungry for a snack, they want animals for that.  Let me tease you with a quote from the book:

“They might as well be zombies. You have to shoot them in the head. Enough of the infected are speed demons that they scare the shit out of me,” Bruce told Mike, looking at him eating. 

“They have a heartbeat and do breathe. You saw that at the hospital on the one that turned while he was on the cardiac monitor. They are not zombies, and if you don’t think they scare me, then you are crazy as a shithouse rat,” Mike told Bruce as he stopped eating and stared back at him.

** Watson, Thomas A. (2012-08-21). Blue Plague The Fall Kindle Edition. **

So there you have it, they aren't zombies.  But they aren't someone you want to run into in a dark alley at midnight either.   And my note to the readers:  don’t read this at night when you’re home alone.  Read it during the daytime, with a house full of people.  And after you read it, don’t panic and off any smurfs.

But when the world went to hell in a hand basket, two families had been preparing for that for a while.  As it turns out, it was a good thing.  The families are that of Bruce and Mike.  One is a nurse and the other is a doctor, and their two families are more like one.  They share a house, and they share their lives together.  Two couples who are close friends.  These are the people who really make the book, Bruce and Mike and their wives and their kids.  To say that people get their Rambo on in this book is putting it mildly.  Bruce and Mike are both at the hospital working when the shit really hits the fan.  And then they have to fight their way through a world gone mad to get back to their families and home.  And they make a few friends along the way.  Check out another quote from the book:

“You are going through this land helping those you can and taking them to your home. That is what you are providing us. Hope. We have heard on the CB all the violence out there and not from just the crazy sick blue people. Let us provide for you,” she told him.

** Watson, Thomas A. (2012-08-21). Blue Plague The Fall Kindle Edition. **

And there is humor in the book too.  Just read this last quote from the book, and tell me it doesn't make you smile:

“I can’t cook, son. The dogs don’t like what I cook,” Debbie said. 

“I love your cooking,” Steve said in an injured tone.

“Thank you, baby, that’s why you were first to make me feel better, but you will eat anything that does not eat you first,” Debbie said. 

** Watson, Thomas A. (2012-08-21). Blue Plague The Fall,  Kindle Edition. **

I love that one, and it will always make me smile.

Thomas A. Watson is a great writer, and he has masterfully woven a fantastic tale here in this book.  If I were to classify it, I would put it in the thriller genre.  And I will warn you, this book isn't for the squeamish either.

But it's a great book!  And if you don't read it, you are really missing out.  This is one of those books that you won't want to put down until you reach the last page.  If you only buy a few books, make this one of them.  I don't think you will regret it.

Happy reading!
-- jd --

ebook review - Hot and Spicy: De La Cruz Saga

Today I am reviewing the ebook - 

Hot and Spicy:  De La Cruz Saga
by P.T. Macias

Where to get the book?  Follow this link:

Hot & Spicy - available in ebook and paperback

Prices:
Kindle - $3.51
Paperback - $19.05



In most romance novels, most of the book is spent getting the girl and the guy together; then too often they up and end the book, leaving you wanting more.  But in this one, the author gets the girl and the guy together right off the bat; then the problems and the fun begin.

Jose Enrique needs a girlfriend for a special event.  The girlfriend he has been telling his family he has.  The girlfriend he never got around to getting.  So his sister Paty sets him up with a friend of hers.  This friend, Jessy, is the girl who was around years ago; and is the girl that he never noticed, but who has always had a crush on him.  And so we go from there.

The sparks between the two of them are immediate and intense, which sets off a whole chain of romance among the other single family members.  Which prompts several elopements.

This is a wonderful book from a talented writer that will hold on to your attention from beginning to end.  Oh, did I mention, in addition to all the engagements and elopements and weddings - the book also includes CIA agents, FBI agents, Navy Seals, and a Mexican drug lord.

Now you know you gotta read this one!

Note - Throughout the book, the author uses a lot of spanish words intermingled with the english.  If you are familiar with spanish, this won't be a problem.  If not, then you might want to do like me and keep Google translate handy when you read it.

Google translate

Take care, and happy reading,
-- jd --

ebook review - St. Anne's Day

Today I am reviewing the ebook - 
St. Anne's Day
by Janice Lane Palko

Where to get the book?  Follow this link:

St. Anne's Day [Kindle Edition] by Janice Lane Palko

Kindle price - $0.99



Well, I got my book free, a gift from the author who I am friends with on facebook.  But it is a book well worth a mere 99 cents; and it is a great read.  I highly recommend this book.

Now in this day and age, I suspect we are all familiar with home-care nurses.  That is, nurses who care for patients in their homes.  These people are a great help to the patients they care for.

Well here in this novel, Ms. Palko wraps a home-care nurse up in a delicious romance novel that is gripping, can't stop reading from beginning to end.  I mean, picture it:  here we have Anne Lyons, home care nurse, starting a new job.  And this is a new job that she can't afford to mess up, because she got fired from her last one due to a temper outburst.

So here is nurse Anne, heading to her new job, feeling anxious and wanting to do good; frustrated with the hassles of getting there to a new place.  I mean, you've been there and done that, right?  When she gets to the address, it is . . . . a bar.  She thinks that surely they have gotten the address wrong, and she goes inside hoping to get some info and some help.  But she runs smack-dab into Mac McMaster, who decides to have a bit of fun at Anne's expense.  And the sparks start to fly, and they keep flying throughout the whole book.  The book starts out with Anne losing her temper and trying to sock Mac, before she finds out that he is the one who employed her.

Anne's patient is Mac's mother, Peg, who is a dear of a character that you will adore.  Somewhere in the midst of Anne caring for Peg, Peg decides that Anne is the girl for her son; and the matchmaking begins as well.

It's a rip-roaring time in this book, from beginning to end.  I think you will love it.  I know I did.  Along with Anne, Mac, and Peg, there are other characters who help fill out the story; and who are as adorable as the other three.  Plus there's a bit of danger towards the end of the book as well.

It's an excellent read.

Do I recommend it - definitely yes!

Happy reading -
jd

Guest Movie Review - The Brave One

Hello!  And welcome to my newly revamped and re-titled blog, which is now called:  JD's Leisure Zone.  And we begin with a movie review by a writer friend of mine, Bill Elliott.

Movie Review - The Brave One
by William K. Elliott
www.WilliamKElliott.com


If you spend a few extra minutes searching through the DVDs and BluRays on the shelves of your local video rental establishment, or if you do the same with your online rental provider’s catalog, you might find something a bit unusual. Mixed in among all the shoot-em-up and drama-for-drama’s-sake movies, if you peruse carefully, there is a class of movie frequently missing from your local theater’s marque. These are flicks with a twist, as different as a man dressed in a bright purple suit with a yellow tie and a pink Panama hat. At a funeral.

I am talking about a movie with a plot.

No, it’s true. Not only are there movies that have these seemingly archaic devices, some of them have even been filmed in the years after Ike stopped playing golf.

Which leads me to the film my wife and I sat down to watch over the weekend. At first we found it to be a little odd. This wasn’t because the aforementioned man in slightly-too-bright clothing was one of the main characters. Instead, it was because the characters were… well… characters. By the time you were fifteen minutes into the movie, you felt a real connection to them—you felt like you really knew them. You even, dare I say it, liked them.

This wasn’t any blockbuster of course. Such movies rarely are. But “The Brave One” starring Jodie Foster and Terrence Howard (www.imdb.com/title/tt0476964/) is most definitely a movie worth seeing. The plot is summarized on the cover as “A woman struggles to recover from a brutal attack by setting out on a mission for revenge.” But don’t let that fool you; revenge is only a small part of the movie. Instead, you watch Erica Bain (played by Foster) as she sets out to deal with the fact that everything she assumed about her safe little life is an illusion. Yes, she buys a gun, and yes, she does become a vigilante—but through Foster’s fantastic portrayal of Erica, you come to empathize with her real motive: to be safe again.

I won’t spoil it by telling you how it all ends, but I will say that Terrence Howard (playing Detective Mercer, the cop that eventually solves the vigilante cases), does a superb job of depicting his character’s mixed emotions. As with Foster’s Erica, Howard’s Det. Mercer is a believable and complex character.  

“The Brave One” is rated “R” for a fair bit of graphic violence, and a little nudity. There is also some foul language. But none of it seems over the top to me, and is instead indicative of what feels like a real-life story. Check it out; I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

William K Elliott

William K Elliott is an author currently working on his first novel, “In The Company of Devils,” about a man who thinks he understands the world. Until he witnesses a gang hit… Check out William’s blog, as well as the development of his book at www.WilliamKElliott.com

*** Does this inspire you to want to do a guest post?  If so, contact me at:

rcandfood@yahoo.com

-- jd --