Everyone heads to Las Vegas, originally, the entire movie was supposed to premiere at the Palms Casino, but due to the divorce, it was scrapped. However, the Maloofs thought it was important to have a wrap party there anyway since the travel arrangements had already been made. They all fly out, and they're also told they will receive some important information about the future of Feast while they're in Nevada.

They indulge in a bunch of food, drinks and share time together during the party. The actors arrive, as well as most of the crew, and they're just living up the life in Las Vegas for all their hard work on the film. John and his family are there, too, and they just can't believe how well things seemed to turn out.

George and Phil, the Maloofs, talk about how proud they are to be part of the film. "Seeing the movie, I love it," George admits. "I hope you all have a good time tonight." Nick takes the floor next and he speaks on behalf of Dimension. "I'm just really proud to be a part of this," he admits. "So, that being said, Bob and Harvey had amicably settled their divorce. Out of a slew of movies, they could only choose a small handful, and Feast is one of the movies they chose to bring with them." John is in awe, speechless, as are the rest of the crew and those involved. "Feast will premiere here at the Palms Casino in December."

"I've been spending three years trying to get someone to say this about a Project Greenlight project," Chris jokes. "I think we came up with a pretty cool little movie," John takes the center stage, he applauds everyone. "He's one of the great cinematographers," Clu says of John. "Nobody knows any of this, except his family."

"Our dreams are worthy," Marcus says, "I'm just really lucky we were rewarded with a chance." Nick told John's girlfriend they would work with him again. "I think he's a hero," she says of John. "This journey feels like it's been forever," John says, "It feels like I've known these guys forever. Been through a lot. Made a movie."

At the end, as the credits roll, they did a fun little spoof on how they introduce each character in Feast, and here they are:

Name: Marcus Dunstan
Job: Writer
Occupation: Chatty Cathy
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 7 years
Fun Fact: Will run a major studio by Fall

Name: Patrick Melton
Job: Writer
Occupation: Straight man
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 6 rewrites
Fun Fact: Still looking for a place to jump in to Marcus' riffing

Name: Mike Leahy
Job: Producer
Occupation: Mr. Level Head
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 99 years
Fun Fact: eBay user name "Bluto"

Name: Joel Soisson
Job: Producer
Occupation: Philosopher
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 21 years
Fun Fact: Holds the world record for most complex metaphor

Name: Nick Phillips
Job: Vice President Dimension Films
Occupation: Snappy dresser
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 22 months
Fun Fact: When getting a haircut, he asks for the "Tom Sizemore"

Name: Chris Moore
Job: Executive Producer
Occupation: Pit bull
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 12746 days
Fun Fact: This was his first trip to Vegas

Name: John Gulager
Job: Director
Occupation: Badass Filmmaker
Hollywood Life Expectancy: 4 sequels
Fun Fact: John is negotiating to have a tub on the set of his next project

Joel worries John will wake up in a nightmare worrying his film will bear the fate of the other Project Greenlight films. The next day, they all sit down together to try and figure out what to do to increase the screenings and cuts. "I was surprised by the numbers, because the movie played better than it tested," Andrew explains. Laurie, the woman running the screening results, discusses how the monsters aren't explained and that the movie has plot holes in it. The appearance of the monsters also were an issue. "The people that didn't care about it [the origin of the monsters] rated it high," Mike says. Bob and Harvey have advised that maybe they should just make the monsters aliens, that they came there, ate and left. This way it's easier to explain rather than how to explain a whole origin of species. "We have not lost any confidence in the movie," Andrew reassures them. "Bob wants to put up more money. He also talked about releasing the movie wide. He also talked about a release date."

"Go fix the monsters," Chris tells them. They have to roll their sleeves up and get some ideas on the table to get the ball rolling. "We're still kind of going over that," John says. Marcus throws out some ideas, but most aren't taken seriously. He goes every which way with his ideas. "We still haven't addressed where they're coming from and what they are," Mike says. "They're delivering pages on the hour," Joel says of the rewriting, "Soon we'll have something for Bob."

"We wrote six openings," Patrick says, "We're just giving them options." John and Mike look through them, and John doesn't know which one even works. "I don't think we like the idea of it being an alien," Patrick sighs, "That's been done before."

They hear back from Bob on the new openings, and he has one he favors. They think a coyote will find a carcass, and he's getting ready to eat it and a monster eats him. They decide to put a budget together and get the shooting back into production over the summer to get everything done. "The real future depends on the Disney/Dimension divorce," Mike says.

In New York, Matt and John meet up to talk about everything. "I beg him to come to New York," Matt Damon, "Because I'm shooting a movie." Matt talks about how Don Cheadle, while they were shooting Oceans 12, watched all the sort films that came in and how Don really liked John's short film. "The interview was a disaster, but it's not about the interview, it was about the short film," Matt explains. "They were superior to anything I've ever seen come out of that web site. You were just clearly the guy to do it." John says, "Any movie that gets done is amazing." Matt says, "I'd definitely consider working with John again. I definitely believe in John."

"Right now we are making a movie for a studio that may not exist in the next few weeks," Mike worries, "With him [Bob] leaving, we don't find ourselves in a good position with Feast. We still have no idea what the future of the film will be." Andrew calls them to say thanks for everything and before the divorce officially happens. He talks to everyone, including John, and tells him he's "a true filmmaker." He says he wishes he was there to give him a hug for all his hard work. "Andrew was very gracious and kind," John says humbly.

"There's a part of me that actually wants us to fail at this test screening next week," Joel explains, "But fail enough to know we need to fix this movie and make it better." FotoKem Film and Video crews keep editing, and we're at two days to the screening. It's getting down to the wire, and they're working day and night to get the editing down. "We're getting dangerously close to locking this puppy and putting it to bed," Mike tells them. "I think it's good." John notes there's still more to do to get it to look like "a real screening." They go to Monkeyland Studios to record more lines for the screening. They all come in and help make the sound, words and script much better. "I guess that's it," John jokes. Then, FotoKem begins to piece everything else together to get it set for the screening. "This is stuff that usually takes weeks or nine months in big movies," John says. They recolor bits and pieces of the film to make it brighter. "We're cutting it real close," Mike worries.

They have one day left now, and they're still trying to put everything else together into the screening cut. "It's quicker than normal," Mike says, "It concerns me a bunch, because Bob Weinstein is going to be there." Mixing usually takes much longer than what they're doing, and they're worried they might not be able to mix everything together, and they have less than four hours to go before it's deadline. They're now down to 20 hours before the screening, but they're still going and trying to mix everything together. "It's a time consuming process," John says. It's now half past four in the morning, and they're still mixing. They finally finish at five in the morning. "The sound is good, to do what we did with one day is insane," Mike says.

At a Pacific Theaters screening, there's about 400 people there to see it, and everyone is nervous. Everyone is anxious. "I'm going to say I think it's going to go well tonight," Mike admits. "You're going to see something that's not completely done," John says, "Hopefully, it's not too rough."

"This film will live or die based on this screening," Joel says as they cut back and forth between the audience and the film as things happen during the screening. "People are sort of responding," John says excitedly. There are people screaming, yelling and reacting. They're showing some of the scenes that were previously shot that we saw filmed live. It's interesting to see everything on the screen as people are reacting. At the end, there's applause and yelling as the rough credits roll. "I think the screening was awesome," Mike says, "It was a validation of all the hard work."

"There were two moments during the screening when they audience started applauding," Marcus says. "Seeing our film being made was a dream come true," Patrick admits. Now, the audience is filling out questionnaires about the film, and they're getting tallied so that they can work with it. Joel explains how the questionnaires work. They need a score of higher than 60 for this to be good. A woman explains the scores, and they weren't as good as it should be for a movie of its kind. Chris is crushed by the numbers, and he can't believe how bad it seemed to do.

Bob finally calls them back. "This is the call," Joel says. "This is the one we live and die on." Joel begins to listen to the call and John hears the news, coming to the door to hear it, and Bob asks that the camera crews and everyone else to step out so that he can take the call privately.

Last week we left off waiting for Bob Weinstein to weigh in on the film. Joel was on the phone with him negotiating the film. "Well, you know what, I hope you like it as much as I do," he tells him. He's supposed to watch it that day as he was at the Golden Globes the night before. They're waiting for the word from Bob through Andrew.

Bob Weinstein liked the movie. "That was good," Mike says, "That was huge." Andrew says, "There's a lot of potential in the film." He admits they picked the right script and the right director. They joke about whether or not Andrew is still going to be involved with the project because of the dissolution of Dimension Films from Disney. "Now, we're no longer under the radar," Chris says. Ben comes in and sits down, and he's very ecstatic about what Bob said.

"This reaction from a studio is unprecedented," Ben says of Project Greenlight. They decide they want to do some focus groups on the film before doing screenings for the public's reaction. They're continuing to edit things through the rough cut in the rooms. "I just hope we can whip it into shape," John says.

Forty-eight hours later, they're having a bunch of big names come in to watch the film. Kevin Smith, Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, Andrew Rona and a bunch of other industry names come in to watch the next step of the rough cut. "He's like a different guy," Ben jokes. "John is getting a further grasp at the image of a director," Joel says of the changes in John going from wallflower to the spotlight.

They watch some scenes that are put together much better than they were during the last showing. At the end, they all clap, and they seem very pleased. "See, I told you he was a good director," Matt jokes. Afterwards he fielded questions from everyone to get feedback on what he has now. "He's reminding everyone that it's not perfect, yet," Joel says. They say they might want to do a few reshoots to put in. "We're saying great job, if you want to fix it, let's do it," Andrew says. "That's a unique thing for the project for the studios to want to put more money in the film," Matt explains. "I thought he did a really good job." Kevin Smith was also very impressed and said so.

They decide they want to do a test screening with a real audience. However, they want to try to get the sound and visuals put together before they do that, even if they don't have enough time to do it. "We'll get some honest feedback," John says of the next slew of screenings. "We have a huge task in front of us," Mike says, "We have to lock the cut. We have to get the picture very pretty."

"The whole future of the film rests on that first look," Joel says and sets up the screening. "I just wanted you to weigh in and do what you wanted," Kirk tells John. Joel is worried how upset Chris is going to be because of not being invited once he finds out.

They're doing more promotional shoots now that Ben is on set to do it. "This is a lot better looking that the real Chris Moore," he jokes at Moore's prosthetic head for the particular commercial. He's shooting the promos and episode introductions for him. Chris Moore shows up on the set to see what's going on with the promo and for his part on it, too.

Ben and Chris are talking about the film. "They liked it," Chris says of some of the studio seeing it. "Yeah, they're saying they want to screen the whole movie on Thursday," Ben tells him. "Apparently, Gulager was going to show the movie to some people," Chris says, "I had not explained to them that that wasn't a greenlight in screening." He calls and asks for Mike or Joel. "I want to be in the first wave of people who see the movie," he says. He talks to Aaron, getting angrier by the moment. "I want to give you a piece of advice," he tells him, "Don't ever try to schedule anything at LivePlanet that doesn't invite me."

"It made me think they were trying to exclude me from the process," Chris explains. Aaron screwed up beyond belief, and he tells him so, before asking for someone in charge. He demands to talk to somebody who made this decision. "I really wanted to see it. I have a lot riding on this movie," he calms down a tiny bit, and he hangs up to go back to talk to Ben. "Good work!" Ben jokes before going back on set to shoot their promos.

"Right now our goal is to get a good solid cut on this movie," Joel says. "He's got to stay awake and get through it." However, in the editing room, John is clearly bored by the process and he falls asleep more than once during the day. He eventually falls out of his chair because he fell asleep, breaking the chair in the process and laughing at himself.

That night they're having their producer screening. Ben comes in to see it, and Chris also comes in to see it. It started out with just four or five people supposed to be there, and unfortunately, a bunch more people showed up. John introduces it and tells them how rough the cut is nervously, which Chris notices. "I think there's a lot of potential," Chris says, "I think there's still scenes that need to be worked on, but my general feeling was excitement. Let's stay focused on making it a better movie." Nick from Dimension was happy with it, too. Ben says he wasn't expecting much either, surprised by how polished it came off even for the first screening. "I think you did a great job," Chris says. "I think Bob is really going to like the movie," Ben tells John. He also gives him some ideas on how to fix a certain section that needs to probably be cut.

"My first instinct was to reshoot the monsters at the beginning," Ben notes, eating another slice of pizza. He talks about maybe changing the way it's edited in the beginning and end in order to make it more exciting and to make the creatures scarier, which is a big problem. "This isn't going to be a walk in the park," Joel sighs. "I just feel you were really the right choice for the movie," Ben admits. "There said very positive things which made me feel really good," John smiles the biggest smile of the whole process. They all now have to get the next screening ready for Bob Weinstein, who has the power to say yes or no as to whether the film should continue being produced and put together.

Mike calls Andrew and finds out that Bob wants to see the movie as soon as possible. "Bob has heard through the grapevine that we've started screenings and he wants to see the movie immediately," Mike explains. "So, can we show him the movie now?" Andrew inquires. "We were really hoping to set it up Monday," he replies, trying to delay the inevitable. Andrew offers to try and delay it as long as possible until he can no longer do it. "I've realized something in light of this particular project, if you want to watch something or screen something, everyone wants to see it. People are rapid to see this movie," Mike tells Joel. "This film is on his radar now. The urgency has wracked up tenfold," Joel says.

Joel tells everyone that Bob wants the film now. They have a seven o'clock deadline with the courier, so they begin working all day up until then to do what they can to edit it. Aaron reminds them that they need to get the courier, but then he goes and calls the courier to push it back a half an hour. Joel asks if they are outputting, but they aren't, and they begin to set it up so that they can tape it over to VHS to send to Bob Weinstein. Now, the machine isn't working properly, and they can't get any audio to record. Aaron tries to fix it, but he doesn't know what is wrong, and he can't figure it out. Eventually, they get the entire thing outputted and given to the courier to take to New York. "If he doesn't like it, I don't even want to think about that," John says.

Andrew discusses how important it is for this screening of the film in a mini-theater. "There reaction is going to tell us what we're going to do with the film," he says. "A lot of films have lived and died based on screenings like that. It's really the first time people get the chance to see it." He talks to many of them and gets their input on what they saw; it's very tense, "Today unfortunately Bob couldn't be there." Mike, with distribution from Dimension, said he liked it and that was good.

Joel and Mike take Andrew's call. He says that John needs to call him. "Congratulations, job well done," he says. "You'll earn your bonuses," he jokes. "Based on the screening we had in New York, he pulled it out." Bob and Harvey are going to watch it tomorrow. John and Kirk head down and they hear the news themselves. John's beaming, relieved now that he did a great job. "I think there's some pacing issues," he tells them, but he's optimistic that they can cut it down as it's too long. "I just looked at John, I know what he's feeling, you don't put 46 years of your life into something and feel nothing when it's validated," Joel beams, too, for John's good fortune. "You try to do your best and hope somebody responds," John explains.

"It doesn't matter what I think," Andrew says knowing the Weinsteins are watching it as they speak. "The future of Feast is coming out of that screening," Mike explains. Nick wants to set up a call for them to take one from Bob about what he thought of the screening. "We're going to give Bob a call," Joel says. John calls him, he gets put on hold, and then he's told the call will be returned. "One thing that's true is that you they don't find John, John finds you," Joel jokes. Chris calls to ask if they've heard anything. They keep trying to get a hold of Bob, but it's to no avail so far, and they try to set up a schedule.

Having wrapped the filming portion of Feast last week, John Gulager sits down to begin the editing process of his film during post-production. We start on day one of post-production. "We just finished shooting Feast," Joel says, "And we've just started editing." Mike notes that editing is just as fun as shooting a film to put everything together. Kirk has been putting together pieces in a way he thought they went together, but now, they will work together to finish the movie. "This is the time of the movie when the producer leaves the director alone," Mike explains.

John asks when it gets down. "I don't know if you're going to have that long," Joel tells him, when normally they get six to eight weeks to edit it, and because of the nature of the project they won't have that long. Dimension apparently wants to see it today, but unfortunately, that just isn't the case. However, Andrew or Bob Weinstein could walk in right now and tell them that they want to see it, which they will have to do whether they are done or not. "Usually we can put them off a week or two," Mike tells him. "There's nothing more depressing than the first assembly," Joel teases.

Kirk and John sit down for the first time to watch the film as it's put together now. "It's rough," Kirk says. "I'm kinda worried we didn't get all the shots we needed to make a good movie," John relates. They watch various scenes, John reclines and he looks bored. "How long was this?" John asks, it was only 95 minutes. "I have some issues with the film, but it's pretty good."

"What's our biggest problem?" Joel asks. "You're asking me that already?" John replies. "There's plenty to fix and we're going to start it." Joel teases it's the first Gulager movie that's ever been close to being really finished.

"I didn't think Navi was right for heroine," John reminisces, "And when she came back, I still really didn't feel it." He's watching footage of her, knowing it's too late to change that part of the film, and he looks distressed over some of her scenes and how they were shot. "I'm going to try my best [not to cut her]," John admits, telling Kirk to cut different parts relating to her. "When people aren't doing things that are working, you cut them out."

Michelle goes down to see some of the films. "Just chucking, chucking," John laughs. "I just stopped by to get some boxes," Michelle says, saying hello to everyone and talking about the film. "I'm not sure Navi ever wanted to be heroine," Mike tells her. "She came in twice, she's very nice, and I just got a sense, 'Why am I in this movie?'" They refer back to the fact that many people thought she wasn't right for the movie. "It bothers me that Mike had to say that to me," she says before she leaves, because it's too late to do anything about it.

Matt, Chris and Wes Craven are coming in over the weekend to see what they have done so far. They reflect back that Matt Damon was the one who really jumped for him to be the director. "I never would've known from the interview," John says. "It's a little nerve-wracking, because you never want to let anyone down. I guess we're just going to do whatever we can in the next couple of days."

On the day Matt comes on set, they all get together to shoot promos for Project Greenlight. We're shown some of Matt's commercials and cut-aways for the promotions for Bravo. During the break, he came over to the editing trailer to see some of Feast. "You always have trepidation for screening scenes that aren't ready," John says. Matt's laughing at the footage. "I'm extremely excited with the footage, he's clearly the right man for the job," Matt praises. "He really had a great understanding of how to make that movie work." He jokes it might not be glory enough, and they all laugh at it. "Great, great job!" he tells John. "I'm so proud John Gulager did a great job. I really put my ass out there for him, and I'm glad he did a good job."

John and his family spend some time together. "I guess there's only a few more months of employment here," he tells his family. They discuss bringing down a lot of his family and friends to the premiere. Diane is worried about the money running out, because they're spending everything he's making while working for Feast already. "I think that would help," she says if he gets more work. Clu offers to buy his son an Armani suit for the premiere and he tells his dad not to do it. Diane is worried he's not fielding calls from agents and doing what he needs to do to continue directing others fields not that he's been given this chance, but he's not doing it, and that worries her immensely. John reflects on his mother having passed away last year, too, and how much he loves her for what he's doing.

"We thought it would be a good idea to give some feedback from him on what he had," Mike says about showing Wes the footage. "The film was great, it was exciting, interest shots. I was very, very impressed by it," he praises, too. "I think it's all a matter of early screenings, if Bob just looks at it, he'll know. He'll get a sense." Wes says that he's made films this long gives him the stamina to work on projects well until they're finished.

Joel and Mike head down to see some of the footage. Ben Affleck wants to come and watch a "first" screening of Feast that week, and they tell him to come down and see it. "We felt our hands were tired and arranged for him to see it," Mike explains. They felt bad Chris might be left out of it, but that was the hand they were dealt. They aren't really ready for a first screening, and it's a rough cut as John says. "Houston, we have a problem," he jokes.

Joel comes in and asks who invited Ben to the screening. He's angry. Joel wants to know who told LivePlanet about the screening, and Aaron is the one who told them. "Chris might be a little bent," Joel says and Mike laughs. "We have to invite Chris," Joel says without a doubt. "It's still in a rough state," Kirk is dismayed at what is cut now. On the next day, Joel wants to get Nick in to see the first screening, because he was leaving town, too, so that he could tell Bob Weinstein the film is okay. "I'm not really sure what the right politic approach is on this," Joel tells Kirk. "Andrew is hammering Nick to see the movie," Joel explains, "I'm planning on trying to keep them at bay."

"Probably my biggest concern overall with the movie right now is Balthazar's performance. Not that it's bad, just very, very different from the original conception. I'm going to bring back in some of the humor I thought we lost," Joel explains. "I felt there was a big danger that we would get half of the character we wanted in the movie." They now set up a monitor between the two sets so he can see where they're standing in order to give input when needed. "They wanted the bozo character to be this super far out whacky guy, and I never wanted it to be that far out," John says.

"John did an excellent job directing both units. He really pulled through with us," Joel says. During lunch that day, Chris comes to explain that Dimension and Miramax is breaking up. He discusses that they may not release Feast because of the divorce between Bill and Harvey Weinstein. He's afraid the movie might just sit on a shelf and never get put on the big screen.

They do a production wrap for Clu. "I'm not involved in acting anymore, this is a nostalgic move for John," Clu says. Clu was choked up as the cast and crew applauded him and gave him due credit for his hard work on the film. Clu is at the end of his career. One of the many reasons Joh wanted to cast him in his first feature film was to not only honor his father but also to give him the chance to be in his first real film that would be shown throughout the world (hopefully). It was a fitting tribute to a man who had spent his whole life giving his son the world.

They're now in Lancaster, California to shoot all the outside shots of the bar for the setting and location for the entire film. "All our shots are night shots," Joel says. "I don't know what's here or what's not here," Ben says. They didn't bring the whole set, because of the budget, and it's almost four in the morning with nothing to shoot. The day crew that was used to shoot the set didn't bring the right part, because they hadn't been onset for the last five weeks. They only have time for one shot, and they take it, because once the sun comes up it's too late.

Davis notes that Krista comes to set tired and a bit tipsy because of her early call time. "I can't even speak right now," she says. "Hopefully, she'll be walking straight in no time," Davis says. They're moving through their schedule quickly, but they're worried about the end of the day crunch. With 40 minutes late, they call a production wrap on the film.

They give John his chair back to keep and say goodbyes. "Apparently, I just finished my first film," John smiles, speechless. Stephen is happy that everyone pulled through and everything is finished as a team as opposed to the in-fighting that happened throughout the process. "We've got a pretty good movie out of it."

This is the "all-hell-breaks-loose" scene. "This is the big scene," John says, as everybody's worried about how it will actually work out on film. "We are in the belly of the beast with the monster attacking," Mike notes. "We need to figure out how to do 183," Ben says. "We'll know before lunch if we are in trouble." This is the first day the monster comes on stage and they get to see it up close and personal live.

They began shooting the scene around nine in the morning, and things start off pretty well. They have about five departments working together at the same time. They have 19 shots in the one day, and they have to make the day or else they will be in quite a bit of trouble schedule way. Gary is trying to push a monster through a hole, but the hole is too small, and it's more than fifty pounds. He's angry that everyone seems to be having a good time except those working the monsters, because everybody else is goofing off. Joel just thinks Gary has a problem with John. "Till John sees what he doesn't like, John doesn't know what he likes," he says, "Why don't you direct me?"

Krista gets wrapped for the day and heads off. Stephen was changing the schedule and then realized they needed Krista back. He tells Colleen that, David calls her and leaves a message, but realizes they probably won't get a hold of her. "Krista was wrapped," Stephen tells Mike, "It was my fault." They keep trying to call her, but it's not working, as she's not answering her phone.

She comes back on set, angry that she was wrapped and then had to go back. They have four hours to wrap, and Krista comes on set for the sex scene. "Any time there is a sex scene, it's difficult, it doesn't matter who it's with," she explains. John shows her how he wants her. "I thought things would go smoothly," John says, "I was so wrong." She's mad because her butt is going to be in the air for the shot and how she was being portrayed in the sex scene. "It got me a little ticked off," John explains, "She doesn't want to appear in it. I think it's a thing of separating herself from the past." They shoot the sex scene with Boss Man and Tuffie and it was an easy shot. "It wasn't that big of a deal," he says of the scene, "It's just when a person says no."

They're now down to half an hour before they wrap for the day. They're no on overtime trying to get everything finished on their last shot for the day. "Our days start to spiral out of control; we're spending money everyday we're there. There's no more money coming from the studio," Ben explains why this is a problem. They're now one hour into overtime still shooting a scene, eventually they wrap shortly after, but it's still an hour over.

Around 10 o'clock they decide to show some footage from Feast so everyone can see it and see what they're working towards finishing. "The objective was to let everybody to see to bring everybody together a bit more," John notes. They show some random scenes that everyone is quite happy with, applauding and cheering afterwards. "It's absolutely perfect," Marcus beams, laughing. "I was jumping out of my skin! That was the goal to deliver something like that!" Balthazar was very pleased with the work, "The end product is going to be funny and scary." Tom praises the cut, too. "Do you think we have a movie?" Joel asks. "Yeah," John nods. Gary praises the footage, too, the next day. "If the whole film is going to be like that, it's going to kick ass."

"I think watching the movie last night made everyone excited," Mike said. "You could see it in everybody's actions." They finish shooting some scenes during the day. "It seems everybody is working well together," Krista observes, "Everybody's kind of getting the language." Even John is optimistic and upbeat about making the day. "John's coming into his own," Balthazar says.

They sent the scenes to Dimension in New York to see what they thought. "You only get one chance to impress the studio," Mike explains, "The first time they see the film is when they will embrace you or reject you." Andrew's on the phone with Nick, Mike, Patrick and Ben. "I think we made the right choice. I thought he's doing the right job. Good energy. It'll get better as he works on it," he praises. "I'm glad you liked it," Mike replies. "I think this is the little movie that can," he ends the conversation. "It's really nice to see that all of this work for John is paying off where it should," Mike says. He comes out to tell everyone what Dimensions said about the film. "I don't think anybody expected this little film directed by John Gulager to look the way it did." John beams, "We might actually have something. It's kinda creepy."

The Maloof brothers come to the set to see what's going on. They're happy with helping them out as partners. "This is the first time they've had a chance to be here in person," Mike explains. Ben welcomes them and thanks them. One of the things the Maloofs say attracted them was that they were invited to be a part of the entire process, not just writing checks. "Thanks for helping us out," Chris meets them, too. Joel gets Chris to throw a cup of blood on Jenny in a scene. He's laughing about it afterwards as the Maloofs watch on.

They're down to the last day of shooting. They have to make the day no matter what happens. "We're shooting with two crews today," Joel says. "We just have to make sure nothing falls through the cracks," Stephen explains. "It's going to be really different for John to run from both sets." They have to Directors of Photography on the set that day to help coordinate everything between the sets. Joel will be working on the second unit's set to make sure that works out well, basically directing the scenes there, too, after getting John's input.

We're on day 25 of shooting; this is their last week of filming, because they're out of money. "I'm ready to direct the film," John says, "I just have to push for it." Krista had asked for some time off, and she wasn't even in, yet, on the set. "I'm putting things into place to make this week as smooth as possible," Stephen admits. "We need the actors to show up on time," Mike explains. They talk about what they could do, but it's too late to do anything.

They begin shooting some intense scenes with choreography and special effects. They don't have a lot of time to shoot, so, they're trying to do what they can and so far it's working well. Joel explains that Balthazar's hair is growing out like insane, and now he doesn't want to cut it, because he has another movie that he needs to have long hair for the role. They discuss it with him. He wants to see if it really makes a difference on set. They basically threaten to go to his agent if he doesn't cut his hair, as Joel explained, because they need everything to go right from now on.

Krista missed her flight the day before, which is why she is late, and now she comes on from the set as if nothing has happened. "I missed my flight last night," she says, trying to convince people she shouldn't feel guilty. She's being a diva on set, telling her not to get the blood in her eye, because it burns and it happened before. She's asking for kneepads and all these other demands, as if she owns the set, and they're just sitting there shaking their heads at her. They shoot various instances of the scene until the move on with John's approval.

"I'm taking a lot of heat," John says. Krista goes back to get her hair and makeup down for the next scene. They can't make up their minds as to what she should do. "Everyone up there is saying don't take a shower," one of her makeup guys says. "The blood stains the face," she says. Stephen contradicts this and tells them that. They're over 35 minutes over and now she's wearing a different bra that is causing problems with continuity. John brings it up with her, because in some scenes they can see her nipples and they didn't really want that, but she blows it off and says she didn't change her bra. "That was really embarrassing," John laughs.

Colleen talks about how Krista didn't want to stick around, so, she changed her clothes and prepared to leave. "If they're unorganized, things can unravel pretty quickly," Mike says. Davis and Colleen headed to catch up with Krista, because they think she "wrapped" herself for the day, and tried to leave. They come up with a game plan to prevent this, because actors never wrap themselves, and they have to be wrapped by Ben on this set. Davis refuses to be her babysitter and threatens to leave. "They've made some bad mistakes," Ben says. "The primary mistakes are managing call times. We can't take those kind of hits."

Balthazar refuses to cut his hair, so, the crew all begin getting the hair shaved the same way he does to motivate him to get it cut. Even Chris Moore ended up getting his hair cut. He sees them come out of the trailer. "Once he saw all the people that got that hair cut, got in the chair, and said, 'Cut me,'" Mike explained. "He's going to follow through with that, and I was very happy with that."

They're on the set for the last shot that day, and it wraps easily. "We'll just do everything else but the glass," John notes. "Tomorrow we need to shoot scene 183, well will be the real acid test," Joel explains. "That's where we need to make it happen."

They start their fourteenth day of shooting bright and early at 5:30 A.M. with John's dead meeting him on set for the day. He thought he was suppose to be there an hour earlier, so, they get to talk for awhile before everyone else comes in. "Today is day 14, and it's a pretty ambitious day," John notes. The new Scrip Supervisor, Arthur, comes in and introduces himself to John.

John's dad was upset that people were being loud and doing their business. Stephen gets everyone to be quiet so that his dad can rehearse. "They want everyone to act in their little square," he explains, "I don't come from that at all. In fact, I hate that." John's dad thinks the director and actor are the only ones that count. He gets upset that someone tries to interrupt him for advice on the shot, and he tells him it's a horrible thing to see happening to him. They both get very upset at one another. Clu, John's dad, tells Stephen to stop interfering. He begins cursing at him, and he's so angry at Stephen for "disrespecting" John even though he's just doing his job.

Clu goes to explain to Stephen how everything should run. "It can be very upsetting if you take it personally," Stephen explains, listening to his dad and nodding along with it. "I'm just trying to help him," Clu says, "John's entire crew is based on Stephen's attitude. His attitude is one of interference." John wants to change a shot, so, it's taking even longer to get the entire shot set up correctly now that he changed how the lighting works. They begin to work on it and Stephen tries to get in a few words, but he's ignored and calls Tom "Mr. Smarty Pants" for his attitude.

"We kind of start pushing through," Stephen tells Joel about trying to make the day, even though they aren't going to do it. "They're still trying to find a working relationship," Joel says. "We need to find a way to simplify this scene to make our day," Stephen tells John on he set, but he ignores him. They have six hours to wrap, and they are far behind in their day. Ben and Joel came in to ask about the day. They have four more shots to go. John begins to change things again, and he's whispering it now, because he doesn't want everyone to get upset about it. "We have to keep this simple," Tom tells him, "Or else we aren't going to make the day."

"This is the furthest back we've been on a shooting day," Joel says, knowing they aren't going to make their day. "Everybody's scared we aren't going to make it," Tom notes the mood of the set. "Evidently everybody's pretty ticked off at me," John rolls his eyes. "How are we going to make our day?" Tom asks at a small meeting. "We just need to shoot this scene the way it's going to be any good," John tells them. "I think everybody's job should be to help the director to get what he needs, but I understand it's their job to help the producers get what he needs."

"It didn't matter what I wanted to do," he gave in, "I'll just sit this one out." He tells them, "Three directors, that's fine. Just handle it. Just do whatever you want to do," he tells them for the scene and how they want to simplify it. They try to get him to give input, but he refuses to actually care about the scene. "I'm not in this to have everybody else direct the movie, even if it's a better movie. I'm in it for myself, even if it sinks the ship."

Everyone else begins to try and set up the shot, they try to get John into the scene, but he just sits there and sips his drink. He confronts Stephen about the way that he shot the scene, because they shot it John's way after telling him they couldn't, and so he gets even more recluse. He watches, his head to the side, just drinking his drink as everybody else directs his movie. "Day 14, mutiny. Day 15, who knows?" John says.

John and his girlfriend drive home that night. "I was pretty much wiped out," he tells her. "You had a battle and you lost," she responds, angrily. "It's a job, John. That's what it is. It's not your film, it's a job." He continues to beat himself up during the drive home, and she gets more upset, and tells him otherwise. "Sometimes you're going to fight, and sometimes you're going to lose," she adds.

At dinner at the diner, Clu asks if he was fired on set today. He says, "Sorta." They talk about the "offensive" against him. "I do not like the way they are treating my son. He's a hired hand. He's not a filmmaker," Clu says. "I'm just embarrassed he sees some of the stuff on the set with me," John replies. "I think I can make a good movie. I just need people to trust me."

"It's the first day, John has actually begun the work with rehearsal," Joel says. They begin to block and also seek direction from John. It seems everyone is working together to make things great.

They're working on Scene 33, where Beer Guy gets thrown up on by the monster. "He wants it to be organize," Mike tells some of the crew, when it comes to why John doesn't rehearsal.

Some crew are making the "vomit" from scratch for the scene, which is shot on him after the heroine and bartender jump out of the way. "Help me out, man, I can't see!" he yells during the scene for part of it as he's trying to deal with being thrown up on by the monster. "I have no hope for those movie," Mike laughs. "It worked really well," Judah, Beer Guy's actor, said about the scene.

Chris Moore comes to visit the set to watch. "Nobody's in trouble," he jokes, coming to watch the footage in the HP trailer with no music or sound effects, yet. "I was into it, it moved fast, it was kinda cool. I got lost in a couple of places in the geography of the bar," he notes. "We've got ourselves a movie here, boy," Stephen admits, excited. "I think the casting is great, I think the set is great," Chris beams.

They move to Scene 74, where Beer Guy freaks out from the vomit. "You tell me to leave it alone!" he yells. He's freaking out by the after-effects of the throw up. The script adviser is there and needs to make some changes as it happens. Apparently, she's a friend of John's family, so he feels comfortable working with her and trusting her on the set. They shoot the scene again, as Beer Guy says "alien" instead of "monster," and they need to fix that. They laugh at the scene, because it's so hilarious how he freaks out, and the set is very jolly today with John's opening up and input. "I think it became clearer to John that these people are looking for him to guide him," Nike notes.

They shoot a lot more scenes, and John and his Photography Director, Tom, appear to be doing much better. "Hopefully, people will be more secure with John as director of this film," Mike says. The page counts on the script in regards to what is being filmed isn't being followed and now they've changed how the process works to do it opposite the way it normally is done. "There are differently very professional issues underlining this conflict," Joel says of the argument going on. "I just think they don't like each other."

They're on day nine of shooting and working on getting another scene done. "We need to start shooting something right away," the Director of Photography says. "There's always going to be a battle," Mike says of putting John and Tom together. "I was guessing. It was almost trial by error." Mike comes to talk to them about the previous day, "Today feels like we're back to the old grind." Joel says, "It's seems almost frothy." Nike understands how John works, but unfortunately, nobody else knows how to work with him properly through communications. "The trailer's already crashed, it's just happening in slow motion," he explains. "We should have this worked out."

That night they have a meeting in the HP trailer about what happened. Tom notes that there's too much going on by the time the shot is set up, and it ends up confusing John to the point that things slow down, which can't keep happening. "It's very strange scenario to have a Script Supervisor have that much influence over a Director," Stephen brings up. "I think we have bigger problems with Script Supervisor," Mike admits, "If it continues to be a problem, we'll take care of it."

That day during makeup Beer Guy is getting all done up for his scene where he eventually gets his eyeball plucked out. John gives him a bit of direction for it. They go to shoot it, and the first time it happens, he gets poked in the eye which defuses the scene with laughter. They go for it again, pulling out the fake eyeball slowly while Beer Guy reacts by shaking. Then, they go to shoot after the eyeball gets plucked out when the blood begins shooting out and sprays one of the girls. "She demonstrated this really neat scream," John says, "It was great." They shoot the scene, but she thought there was more blood than she thought, and she froze. "She just kept taking it in the face," Gary, the monster maker, jokes. "Obviously, there was a little miscommunication there," John laughs.

The actress gets really angry, and she heads off to her trailer, because she thinks John set her up with the blood. "So, we're not going to do it again?" Jenny asks. "Well, I want to do it the right way." She's very upset about it. "I wasn't even acting." John explains the scene. "It's just so unrealistic." John says he wanted to use that one, and he called the set to see if they had moved on, knowing they probably did. He sighs, apologizes, and says he might want to recreate the scream elsewhere to put in later.

They move on to the next scene in the bar when a character drops a glass. Stephen was hit in the head with a peanut by Jim, and some of them keep throwing them around the scene. Harri flipped out about it when she was hit with a peanut. "Stop throwing peanuts at me!" she had yelled. "Nobody was [trying to throw peanuts at her]," Stephen noted.

The prop master didn't know they needed a glass, then, when they had a glass that didn't match. "I'll just make a note," Harri says, "That it wasn't right." Stephen chastises her, because apparently she wasn't aware of what was going on, with the continuity. "You should've known it was a different glass." She brings up the peanut throwing as a way to get back at him during the argument. Stephen then ignores her when they're getting ready to shoot the next scene, and he asks, "Are you sure of this?"

Mike confronts John about Harri. "The dynamic's not working, and I think Harri will be the first one to tell you it's not been working the last ten days," Mike explains. "We just felt we'd like to try somebody different." John talks about feeling upset by being told this. "I just wanted to let you know." He thinks finding a new Script Supervisor would be better than changing other aspects of the crew.

Harris is brought outside by Mike, and he fires her. "It's just a personality dynamic that isn't working," he tells her. "There's nobody. Damned if I do, damned if I don't," she says, "I feel set-up. I keep thinking what could I have done differently." Mike relates that firing someone is a hard thing to do. She blames Stephen for her being fired, and she feels he probably was the one that nudged for her to be fired, even though that wasn't the case at all.

She goes to talk to John after talking to Mike. "I really felt I needed to talk to John." John and her hold hands, and she's on his side, which is typical. "I wish we would've talked it out first," he says, "The whole level of consultation with me just doesn't go on." Harri patronizes him, telling him everything should be his way, even though it can't be his way. "There's always this side of me that none of this would ever come up," John says, "So I just wouldn't have to deal with. I think I wish I would've never gotten anyone else involved." They say goodbye and part ways for the evening.

At eight in the morning the following day, Joel sets forth the goals of keeping John focused and getting through his schedule. "We can't do all the wide shots this way," Tom explains, "We don't have the time." Mike says John has to shoot much faster than he is doing now. They're about half an hour for a setup. "We have people asking questions they should be asking at the beginning of a shot," Ben says, "Not the middle of it." They begin to fight amongst each other, they push one another and they're just trying to get through the day even if that means not shooting the best of every shot, regardless of John's so-called incomplete vision.

Krista is complaining that it took her nine hours to shoot her last scene, the day before, and she won't deal with that again. Some of the other cast members talk about being "non-important extras" as well as just talking about getting up so early and not doing anything all day. "You can't just leave actors sitting around," Mike says. "It's very expensive," Joel says, "They get paid for every second they are sitting on set, even if they don't work." Stephen brings them out and talks to the cast and gives them a pep talk. "We're not dealing with something straight forward." The cast talks about the mood on the set. "A lot of times we're coming in and we're literally not sure what scenes we're getting done," Beer Guy notes. Stephen advises them to just ask questions as specifically as they can as soon as they come in that way they can get to work.

Jim, Joel, Tom and Mike all sit down to discuss the problems. "Look, guys, we have to get control of this," Tom says. "This is really pathetic," Joel notes. "It's almost chaos there," Jim notes. They note that Eileen has been there all day, and this is the second day she hasn't been shot, yet, again. "Only John knows how he's putting this movie together in his head, and this causes problems during the day," Tom explains. "We've still got half of our days work ahead of us. We'll finish three to four hours after we should've finished for the day." John thought he would have more time for the day, but unfortunately, he still doesn't understand how the process of filming works, and he doesn't want to work with anybody.

Tom and Mike take a walk. "I'm already tired of the drama," Tom says angrily. "It's up to Joel and Mike to lay down the law," he says. They are still shooting a scene with Diane, and they have until 8:15 P.M. to finish for the day, even though they are still way behind for the day's tasks. The shot just wasn't working, they shoot it again, and now they have the wrap for the day. "I was frustrated as well. I want a team in sync," Mike scratches his head. "I don't know why we don't have it."

They all sit down in the trailer and talk about the project. "The big thing was we didn't make our day," Stephen notes. "It looks like a basic lack of communication between all the departments," Tom says. "There's no set up for where it fits," Joel explains, "We don't have any storyboards." John says, "It's a sad day in Gulagerville." He doesn't say much at all, he just floats around in his own world. "Without a rehearsal, nobody knows what's going on," Joel says. "Everything needs to be blocked and rehearsed with department heads," Tom explains. "I do think John can get this done and get this done fast," Stephen has the confidence in it. He has to change in days though if he wants to accomplish all this.

Kirk, the editor, comes down to show some scenes that have been put together. This is the first time John has every scene something like this, and he looks very unhappy by the work that's been done. "I thought the pacing was very slow," he says, just laying his head on the sofa. Kirk asks him his thoughts, "We need to make it a little more exciting," John responds. "I just fell into a funk." He decides to go home, "I just felt I set everything in a bad direction. I'm going to have to find a way to fix it."

Diane and John head to their car. "John is not enjoying this opportunity. He feels humiliated and embarrassed," she notes. "Nobody wants you to shut down," she tells him outside their car on the set before they head home. "You can do it." He says he gets scared that he's going to fail, and that he's going to let everyone down. "I just feel my style is not cohesive right now. I'm full of self-doubt."

Later that day, around 3:30 P.M., Tom and John begin to argue about the next shot. John tries to work with John, but unfortunately, he keeps changing the shots which is frustrating for everybody involved. "People think you just move the camera, but it doesn't work that way," Tom explains. There's a lot more involved to setting up the shot, and as such, when changes are made it takes a lot of time. "When the director comes in, you have to direct your photographer," Ben says. "When changing the shots, everyone gets really upset at me," John notes, he just doesn't get that they are eating time away from the day's goals. "When he trusts somebody, he can communicate," Ben says. "You can see it as, this guy doesn't know what he wants. That's not John. John knows exactly what he wants, he just can't get it out." John talks about getting his feelings hurt, because nobody wants to trust him on set, because he just doesn't get that they are working on the schedule.

Krista Allen, who's playing Tuffy, doesn't know her direction, because John isn't talking to her about it properly. "It was a different process than I'm used to," she says. "We're also seeing he's having difficulty conveying his vision to the actors," Joel notes, which is worrying him, because they already see the break down between him and the crew. "I'm not comfortable with any human interaction," John says.

"That never happens," Joel says when Navi has to ask what's going on while something is being shot. John begins to tell her what to do, and the shot breaks down unlike anything anybody has ever seen on a movie set. However, Mike's getting worried that the other actors who have to be in the background of many of the shots, and they get bored standing around. One actor who had to take hours of makeup complains that he had to go through the whole process, and they might not get to his shot, because they are behind for the day.

With seven minutes left for the day's filming, they're still shooting a seen with Navi in the bar, and they manage to get through it and they wrap for the day. "People are starting to resent when they come in and don't get to work," Ben says. "It was apparent to talk about the gross inefficiencies. We did a great job and we also did a piss poor job." He lists his concerns that they didn't use half their cast for the day and wasted five grand for the day when they don't shoot that many cast members. "That's incredibly poor management. We shouldn't be leaving the set not knowing what we're shooting in the morning," he continues. John merely nods his head. "I had to kind of lay down the law."

"We're becoming very frustrated," Joel notes. He talks to Diane about the situation and how John is doing. She tells him that he feels that he's being artistically shunned and that it's become very personal. "I don't think they really trust him, yet," she says. "I don't think they like his way of shooting." Joel says, "Diane confirmed my worst fears. This could become an issue that compromises the movie."

The day wraps, and they make it through their schedule for the day. "We inked Eric Dane to be hero," Mike says. "We're all just a little bit nervous," Joel notes. "We made our day, where we lost time was getting all the way out to the camera set," Ben explains. He also explains how to speak up better in order to fix camera shots after the fact. "I think it's good, and I'm glad we made the day," John notes. "I don't know what everybody's problem is," he continues, not quite sure why everyone is so concerned, but he just doesn't know better.

"John made it through his first day," Joel says, "But today will be his hardest task." Today is a technical day, dealing with blood and other special effects, as well as dealing with Eric Dane as hero. "After all the back and forth that went on yesterday, we are very lucky to have Eric Dane as hero," Mike relates. Dane was previously on Gideon's Crossing, and this is the real first feature film he's starred in during his career. "We're making a monster movie here," Eric says.

They shoot a scene where hero inspires confidence in the rest of the characters, and he talks directly to the cast. Meanwhile, Chris comes to visit the set of Feast. "He can really direct," Joel tells him. "My first vibe is that everyone is having a great time. John's really confident," Chris observes. "You had to come today, I was doing good yesterday," John jokes with Chris. "It was good that he came and that he was feeling cheery."

Next comes the first technical shot, it has to work on its first try, in order to get Honey Pie cleaned up for another shot. She will have blood poured all over her during the shot. Gary is very important for the process Joel explains and then they begin the shot. Honey Pie gets blood sprayed all over her while trying to deflect it, and now she's covered in a whole vat of blood. However, the blood's begun to burn her eyes, and she has to have them flushed with water, but she's a trooper and heads back to wardrobe to get cleaned up. She hugs John before she leaves. "We finally got into the messy stuff," John jokes.

"I wanted to go very fun, very commercial, over the top," Chris jokes, blood on his face, too, as they pose for pictures and other promotional shots, "I think in general, John has made a good director. He's taken all the hard parts in stride." John says, "I just hope it all comes together." Chris heads off for the day, praising John's work.

Jules Sylvester brings maggots to the set for a scene. He discusses how to take care of the maggots and what it takes to deal with them. Beer Guy comes out to see them and he slowly decomposes through the whole movie, so, eventually the maggots begin to consume him. Today, they are shooting some of the decomposing scenes for throughout the movie. First and foremost, the scene today is being shot so that Beer Guy would shoot a maggot out of his nose to hit the camera lens and startle the audience. However, many are very skeptical, because John never plans these things; he just announces them and expects them to work. This shot could take away. "Anything John brings up that's new to the team, it slows down the day," Mike says, "Whatever he announces, it slows down Tom, the D.P." Joel notes they don't connect at all and it's going to cause tension on the set, because they don't work well together, and neither trusts the other to do a great job. "The maggot scene really screws up today," Mike says as they call for lunch. Mike discusses Tom to John and the relationship between the two. "It's just not [working]," he says.

Stephen, the Assistant Director, makes sure the cast arrives and the day's work gets finished. Diane, John's girlfriend, is in the first shot. They are shooting a scene where Harley Mom is going to rob the bar. John is talking about wanting to shoot a scene involving drugs, but unfortunately, they don't have time to put a crack pipe into the scene. "It's not something you want to drop on production on day one," Joel says, "Make sure we can just swap it in." Joel warns John not to mess up any shots on purpose just to get his way. He's very worried that John won't want to change scenes, and he won't listen to direction and assistance.

Right now, they still don't have a hero character, and they're still pursuing Mark Wahlberg. They have a backup choice, Eric Dane, but Joel isn't behind him at all. They have to shoot the part in less than 24 hours. Mike says, "We needed a hero four days ago." They are making costumes on a dummy body, because they need to have everything ready to go when they find someone. They begin shooting the scene with John's girlfriend dropping a gun on the bathroom floor; it's perfect, and they move on. "Diane, good!" he hollers.

Back to finding a hero, Michelle relates that Eric is upset that he found out that Mark Wahlberg is being sought after and now he doesn't want to be in the role. Michelle screwed up and thought she was supposed to offer the role to Eric, which she wasn't supposed to do, yet. He was their backup, and now they don't even have that. "We have no one," Mike sighs.

Now, shooting again in the bar, various scenes and they cut for lunch. They go back and forth on whether or not they are ahead or behind. "It's surreal," Marcus smiles. "It's his vision now," Patrick says. "Things change every time," Joel explains, "If you don't have the writers on hand, you could be shooting yourself into a big, big disaster." Mike calls Michelle back and confirms that Mark Wahlberg will not do Feast. Mike looks dejected and defeated. He says he'll call her back once they get a game plan.

"Once the D.P. sets up a shot, even the tiniest of change the entire shot," Joel tells the cameras as he notes that John wants to continue to change shots after they are set up. Josh Duhamel, from Las Vegas is pursued depending on his schedule, as to whether or not he will star in the movie; his people said if he does do it, he will be on set tomorrow no matter what, so, now it's just a waiting game. "Josh is worth the wait," Mike says, but he finds out that he can't do it because of his commitment to the NBC show. "This is a business, people are busy." Mike is now going back to Eric Dane. "We want to officially honor our offer to Eric and get him out tomorrow," Mike tells his manager. They are still worried he might not join the cast, because they waited too long to officially ask him.

"We're at that very critical point," Joel says, where the table read begins with everyone involved. "It's a very important part of the movie." Then, a green package has been found on the set and everyone is evacuated with the bomb squad comes in to check it out. He jokes that he's being Punk'd by Ashton Kutcher. "I don't know how long we're going to stand out here," John is bummed. Joel is very concerned, because now he has no time to rehearse with the cast, because the day is lost and shooting begins, even without the role of hero.

They are still working on casting hero, and they think Mark Wahlberg will take on the role as he dug the script. "It's just so overwhelming," John says, "That you stop being nervous." He's taken home video of the set as well as the process for his own records. "It feels like it's been so long since the contest. Here I am on the set, and it's pretty exciting. It's actually taken a long time for this to actually sink in."

It's 1 A.M., and he's still not asleep. "I think we've done everything to support John's vision of Feast," Mike says, "Will he survive the first week [of shooting]? I don't know." Joel explains that many things could go wrong and the movie could bomb if all the circumstances go the way of Murphy's Law. "We could have meltdowns on several different fronts," Joel points out.

Last week, after casting arguments and other pitfalls, we found John staying up late into the night the day before his first official filming of Feast. Against the advise of all those involved, he roamed the set with his girlfriend, anticipating the next day's events and looking forward to showing his skills behind the camera to those waiting to see whether or not he can do it or not. If you'll keep in mind from last week, John hasn't had the chance to rehearse with his cast, because a bomb scare cleared the set during their only opportunity to get together.

On the first day of production, John wakes up early. "Everything's been leading to this day," he says. "I'm going to learn everything the first day. Kind of like the first day of school." He contemplates whether or not the script can be shot in twenty-five days. "All eyes turn to John Gulager," Mike explains.

It's close to 15 minutes to the first shot of the day. "I did feel the weight of how much work it's going to be," John says. Joel comes to shake John's hand. "We're up against this unreasonable schedule," Chris explains, "My fear is he isn't use to working on deadlines." Ben, the Line Producer, is the one who keeps track of what work needs to be done each day. "One of the things that is nerve-wracking for the first day is knowing you are the guy they [cast] is looking to as a leader," Joel continues.

The next day, Michelle comes in to take to Mike and asks, "Are you going to talk to me today?" "She didn't consider my desires," Mike admits, "You made Navi." They get into a discussion about Navi. "I think you guys felt a little backdoored by it. I am friendly with some actors," Michelle explains, "I know she can do it." She talks about being proud of the cast, because they're with her name, and says that people will judge her in the future based on who her name is associated with in this film. "I feel like I've got what I wanted," she smirks, and that's the end of it. "Besides me pushing, she totally earned it," she tells a friend over the phone. She told Navi, "I can't wait until you prove me right and everyone else wrong."

John and Michelle discuss the role of hero, and they both are short with one another. "I'm just stewing about everything that'd happen over the week," John says. "It's so unfair," Michelle whines. "You undermined me," John rebukes. Michelle begins defending herself. "I, for not one minute, misrepresented myself or you," she argues. "She's supposed to fight for my opinions," John explains where he's coming from to the cameras. "If you want to believe I was malicious, I'm really sorry for that," she continues to whine about how he was upset about it and how he handled it. "I'm sorry it's different than what you thought it was going to be." She whines more, "I shouldn't have to deal with people's moods and attitudes. How old are we? It's just ridiculous."

A few days later, they go through the script to discuss his vision for specific parts of the film. There cast has really come together and John's girlfriend and father will be playing two roles in Feast, Harley Mom and the Bartender, respectively. They show his dad in the bar learning his role to "make it his own," John notes. "I think a lot of people can learn something from that." They cut to his father and the camera, "He wants his father to be in his first film had he wanted his mother in his first film," Clu – his father – says. "It lightens the load of this crummy life."

They still don't have the hero role cast, and they want to talk to Jean-Claude van Damme, but some aren't that convinced he will work. Since they have nothing to go on right now, they're strapped for time. Mark Wahlberg's name is thrown around as well.

They go to Panavision to do a monster screen test and see what they will look like on camera. "I have to say I felt a wave of relief. It just looked really good. Gary did a really good job," John is relieved. He gives some feedback on what he wants to see and what he wants to see more of as well.

One week to go and the sets are almost done as is the script; they are now moving their offices to the set. "We saw the next script and there were changes made that we didn't make," Marcus says, angrily. They want to work on one important scene, scene 74, which is an ensemble scene with the entire cast. "These are the scenes they [audience] get bored with," John admits, "We kind of decided to cut it." However, before they cut it, John and the writers sit down to try and fix it.

The Maloofs have decided to sign on and become partners for Feast which means they will now get the additional funding to be able to pull off the full spectrum of the film. "Thank goodness for the Maloofs, we think we have a fighting chance to make this film," Mike says. "We got an extra week for the show," Joel says. "Starting Monday we're a real movie."

They take a trip to the actual set, where it's being built, and three weeks prior to filming. "I walked in, and I got goosebumps," John says. "It was pretty bitching." Mike discusses how amazing it was to watch John on his first real set. "First time I've been on my set, ever," John smiles as he walks around and talks with the workers to evaluate their work. Wes Craven joins them and talks about the script. Craven invites him over to his set to watch him work on a scene for his upcoming film. "I just don't be able to take the time and care that they're taking on Wes' set," he says about his own film.

Next, they take a trip to see the monsters and how they've progressed. "This is kind of a case to get the producers and directors to go with what I want," Gary says. Now, they see this "monster genitalia," as Mike calls it, about the monster sex scene that occurs in the film. They are all silent, and to be honest, it's not impressive. Then, they all burst out laughing. "It's just a giant monster package," John laughs, showing you have big it is with his hands. "You're always worried about the rating of your film," Mike says, "I don't think that [genitalia] is going to end up in our movie."

With two weeks to go, Dimension gave the thumbs up for the cast. Michelle admits she's taken more liberty than she normally would on a film. "For me, it's good news," Michelle smiles about Navi being approved. "I had no idea she [Navi] was still on the list," Mike admitted. Mike is definitely not happy. "We didn't even know Michelle had submitted it to Dimension," Joel says. "We felt like we were casting a movie that didn't please the producers or the director," Mike sighs. "I felt Michelle was gaming the system a bit, I think she might have gone through some back channels to get that done," Joel explains. They go to watch her second audition tape, and they're still unimpressed. "If she ramped it up 20 percent," Joel sighs. "She's gets there with a good director," Michelle tells her. Now, they head off to tell John.

Chris comes in to visit in the middle of the casting debacle. Michelle explains the history and casting to Chris when he has questions about Krista Allen. "I was pretty shocked," John can't believe. "I'm a little perturbed," Mike says, "I feel like I've lost. Even though I don't want Navi in the movie, the studio's behind her, so, she's going to be in the movie."

So, the casting is set with the exception of Hero:
Navi Rawat, Heroine
Henry Rollins, Coach
Duane Whitaker, Boss Man
Balthazar Getty, Bozo
Jenny Wade, Honey Pie
Krista Allen, Tuffy
Anthony Criss, Vet
Judah Friedlander, Beer Guy
Diane Goldner, Harley Mama
Clu Gulager, Bartender
Somah Haaland, Charlie Tyler
Patrick Jones, Cody
Jason Mewes, Edgy Cat
Eileen Ryan, Grandma
Josh Zuckerman, Hot Wheels

Last time, we saw the debacle of Jon wanting to cast his entire family in Feast which caused Chris Moore to threaten to fire him if it was ever brought up again by his fellow producers. "It just sort of encapsulated all my fears from when John won the contest," Moore said, "I just want to fire him and get a director who won't be insane." He comes back and talks to John about the situation; John tries to justify this by citing other directors that did what he wants to do, but unfortunately he's unknown, and these comparisons don't work for him. "You are putting the desire of putting your people in above [the film]," Chris tells him; John tries to rebuttal, but he can't. "If I really wanted to fire you, I can fire you." He promised not use the "f" word anymore when talking to John, it's just he was very angry. Chris explains that many directors want to hire people they know, because it will help them feel comfortable. "I really didn't think he was going to fire me," John smiles, and they leave on good terms, with the director feeling a bit overwhelmed.

John and the writers head over to Live Planet for a meeting. They are given three new cars so that they can be ensured to get to the set during production. They're hybrid cars that run on electric and gas, and they all hop in and drive off. "Due, you can't tell when the car is on, it's so quiet," John's amazement is shown.

With six weeks until shooting begins, sets are being built and casting is still a problem. Ricki Lake auditions for the movie and sits down to read. Michelle believes that John understands the casting process a bit more and praises him for changing his attitude. He gives feedback to the actors as well as to Michelle. They discuss the importance of finding the hero of the movie, that it has to be someone with a name, and it's the most important role. They're looking to read Ben Affleck, Sean Penn and Matthew McConaughey for the role. They bring Navi back in to read for the heroine, because Michelle really feels she is the actress for the role; she gives Navi some tips for the reading as well as telling her to ask for direction and guidance from both her and John.

John, however, feels that she came to the second audition with the same attitude as the first one, which doesn't impress him. (In all honesty, she sucks, she shouldn't do horror. Stick to the O.C., lady.) "I just really wasn't sold by her... on the Navi thing," John admits to Michelle, who disagrees. "I have a different view of heroine," she says, "I could see her doing it." She decided to go behind John's back to get the tape to be seen by Andrew, without telling anybody involved with the project, this way she can not only cast the roles in the best way possible, but also get Dimension's approval for the cast quicker.

Now, they're auditioning the roll of the heroine, which is the central role of the Feast. John wants a strong woman who can kick some butt, as he says, but so far he doesn't seem to really like anybody. One of the girls from the O.C., Navi Rawat, comes in to audition for the role and blows everyone away, except John, who is still skeptical.

In a final budget meeting, Rona confirms that only three million dollars plus all the fees, is the final number. "We aren't going to tell you what to do," Rona says, but he refuses to give more money. Leahy makes a pitch to go to another studio and get one to come in as a partner, and Rona gives the thumbs up for the attempt, saying that's what makes him a good producer. We see Gulager was listening in on the meeting, unbeknownst to anybody by hiding outside the room. Soisson believes by dropping a week out of the film will make it horrible, but unfortunately, it's the only thing they can do to make the entire film be it good, bad or ugly.

They begin to cut down the cost of the movie. They first decided to make grandma the bartender. Then, they approach Tunnicliffe about the monsters, which have lost much money. "We want to salvage what we can of the two major parts of the movie, the set and the monsters," Soisson says.

Leahy called a radio station and heard that the owners of the Sacramento Kings were on and wanted to get into the movie industry. So, he calls the radio station and gets through to talk to them, and tries to get them to sign on to finance the film. Then, they just hung up on them and made fun of the fact that people ask them for money. He doesn’t think they realized who they were talking to and calls them for real from the studio again.

Wes Craven and John go out to dinner one night, at a private table. Craven wants to give him all his experience in one night, if possible, to help him out to make the best film he can for his first film. "John's really going to have his hands full," Craven says.

That night, Gulager's girlfriend reads a script with him, because he wants to cast her as the role of Tuffy. She was in his submission for Project Greenlight and did a great job, but the casting director isn't going to be happy about this, nor will anybody else involved in the project. John and Michelle joke about casting their family members, but they seem to be getting along a bit. "I really want this role as Tuffy," Diane, his girlfriend, muses. Nobody seems to be that impressed at first, but when she does the angry scene shot, Michelle is actually really impressed. "She was actually very good," Michelle notes. "Do I still think they're going to fight it? Yes."

Krista Allen came in to audition for Tuffy, too. They are really excited about her being there, as she's highly desirable for the role. She's very much into the process, asking for feedback, and direction. John seemed impressed, but they are worried he will still want to cast his girlfriend, even if she isn't the best actress. "I still like Diane," he says.

Rona comes into a conference over the phone and talks about the casting. Soisson said, "It should be whoever is best for the role." However, "I want these guys in the film. When I like someone, it doesn't matter, is that the deal?" he asks. He keeps debating this nepotism ideal, because he believes in it, even though it'll look horrible for the studio. "Your credibility is shot," Soisson explains. "Rona looked at all the tapes." Then, tells him he didn't like any of his family and that he wouldn't approve any of them. "Why did they pick me?" John asks. "If they don't think the director should be involved in casting, that's just asinine." John continues to defend himself, but he's clearly outnumbered. He just doesn't get how casting works and Soisson gets very angry about it. He feels he is serving his own interests, which he shouldn't be as a first-time director, instead of serving the movie. As a temper tantrum, he begins to rip down his family's pictures from his wall. "The Gulagers don't have to do this, and I can do this alone. If they think it'll make it easier for me, if they think it'll make the project better, they're probably wrong," he whines.

John goes out with his family for dinner. He claims those working with him don't respect him. His father tells him that that's just the way it is in the industry. They discuss nepotism, his father even taking notes, and they overall don't get it. John won't back down though, and he thinks it's personal, but it isn't. He comes back to the studio, and tells Leahy that he wants to file to Los Angeles to meet Bob and Harvey Weinstein "owners of Dimension" to plea for his family to be in the movie. "I want you to direct this movie if those people aren't in it," Leahy says.

Rona is called and told about the plan. Soisson can barely get it out, it's ridiculous. "There's just no way this is happening," Rona laughs. Gulager comes in, the producers are laughing. Rona says if Gulager leaves New York, Dimension will shut down the production permanently.

Leahy goes to meet the Maloof brothers to see if they will become partners for Feast. They sit down with them and pitch the movie for real this time. Sean Bailet, who works for Live Planet, has an established relationship with the brothers and introduced Chris Moore and the rest of the team to the project. They all work hard to pitch the film. "We're trying to shoot a forty day project in twenty days," Leahy notes. "I was very encouraged by the meeting. If we can get Maloof Motion Pictures involved with Feast, it could be huge."

Chris Moore, Joel Soisson and Mike Leahy go out to lunch and joke about how they finally sat down with the Maloof brothers. They then discussed the casting issue with John's family and flying out to meet the studio executives. Moore can't believe that John wants to do that, and tells them that if they ever repeat the conversation or bring it up again, he will fire Gulager on the spot.

Nine weeks until production begins, and they're still working on getting a budget. Rona comes to visit them in New York for a face-to-face meeting and unfortunately, he's just not ready to commit more than three million dollars. Leahy thinks it's impossible. "We aren't going to spend five million dollars on this movie," Rona tells them how it is for this film. Dimension is not ready to commit to the project for many factors. Gulager is up for the challenge, even if nobody has the confidence in him to do it. "In the past, Dimension has stepped up," Leahy explains, keeping his hopes up.

Chris Moore and Gulager go out to lunch for the day. "I was taking him to lunch to really try to convince him to share his vision with the rest of the people in the movie," Moore advises him. "Figuring how to talk in a group is a skill," he says, and he offers to help Gulager learn the skills to talk in a group. He wants to help him in any way he can, and he lets John knows this. "That is not good for the marketing of the movie," Moore says of the nepotism involved. "I'm still the contest guy," Gulager laughs. "I want to be the first guy who makes movie on Project Greenlight."

With eight weeks to go, and another draft of the script, Rona calls in to discuss it. "The more he knows the vision, the more money we'll get," Leahy notes. Rona was advised to watch some movies by Melton and Dunstan, and he did, which gave him more of vision of what the film will be. Gulager even takes part, gaining some confidence, and talking to Rona about the film. "I got my balls busted in the last meeting," John says. This meeting, however, he steps up to the plate and shows he can lead. All the producers are smiling, and it's a much better view of them and their confidence in him as a director, a contrast to the last meeting with Rona on the speakerphone. "Right now, John Gulager isn't the concern of Andrew Rona," Leahy says.

Now, we're done to seven weeks until shooting begins, and they're still working on casting. They are working on picking a Director of Photography and Production Designer, along with a First Assistant Director. He has to go around and interview a bunch of people to find the best people to work with him on his vision for Feast. Casting is still up in the air, though.

"I'm not sure John and Michelle are clicking. They have very different approaches," Leahy explains. John believes Michelle has already casted the film behind his back, without his approval, and he's a bit upset about it. He still wants his family in it, despite the misgivings of the entire cast. "They should just run everything by me before contacting someone," he says, "They just don't do that."

"I sort of get John," Michelle explains, "I'm giving him as much information as he can take." She tells her assistant to give him anything he wants, to inundate him as much as possible so that he possibly gets it.

Dunstan and Melton go meet with some agents at ICM. "I've never seen two first time screenwriters step into the process with more confidence," Soisson jokes. They have the biggest egos, and Soisson notes that. Gulager hasn't had anything change, even though the screenwriter's lives have changed significantly. He picks up his paycheck and ends up using most of it to go pay his bills and pay back debts. Gulager takes his family out to eat and gives them the rest of his three thousand dollar paycheck.

"The anti-Gulagers," as Soisson dubs the screenwriters, are having lunch at Le Dome with their lawyers. They're eating up the Hollywood spotlight, as opposed to their director, who is now showing off his cashed check. Michelle Gertz, the Casting Director for the film, meets with the screenwriters and Gulager to discuss casting. The writers were displaced for casting, and they had to go and share offices with others for the pre-production portion of Feast. "They just want name recognition," Ben Affleck explains about the casting.

They had people come in and read for them, to see what they can find in the way of casting. Gertz and Gulager weren't impressed at all by who showed up and what they showed in front of the camera. Gertz is frustrated by the lack of knowledge and feedback Gulager had when dealing with the potential actors and actresses. "They really crave direction and feedback from you," she tells him. She flips when he tells her he wants his family in the film; she tells him that he can't necessarily do that. "The director usually gets to cast people he wants in there," he says. "Ideally, I don't want to bring anybody in for any of the roles." Gertz holds her ground to tell him how the casting actually works. She's very frustrated with him. "I think he still has his plan, there is some friction," she says.

Rona makes a call and tells everyone the creatures look horrible. He doesn't want them to be aliens; he wants them to be better than that. Tunnicliffe is floored, and he doesn't know what to do, and he wants to make whoever he can happy. "I'm not designing them for John Gulager," he muses. He comes back with better drawings, and everyone sits around, not sure what to make of the picture. Ten weeks closer to production, and they don't have a budget or creatures.

"I'm not getting great feedback from their meetings with them," Gertz talks to Leahy about the casting process. So far, nobody wants to come in and audition, because of his lack of confidence. "It's with everyone," she says, nobody has confidence in his ability behind the camera and because of that nobody wants to come in and audition for Feast. Later that day, Gulager's family comes in and reads for various parts. Basically, he wants to get his family into the spotlight and break into the big time, too. As Gertz tries to work with his family, she gets them to do things that Gulager doesn't necessarily want them to do, because he is close to them. She gives him the benefit of the doubt, but it doesn't hold much wait. "What do you feel about nepotism?" Soisson asks. Gulager tries to use other director's as example as to why he should be allowed to hire his family members, but Soisson tells him he's going to have to deal with hiring people who aren't his family.

Ben Ormand, the line producer, comes in to discuss the budget. Rona was going to give them range. Even though reductions to the script, for five million dollars, was too much for a film of this caliber. Out of a $5.3 million budget, it still has to be slashed down by one-third, as said by Soisson. He advises a one week major restructure, he's coming to Los Angeles the next day and have a conversation face-to-face to discuss the project.

At another casting meeting, Gulager gives little feedback. Gertz confronts him about his brother for the "beer guy character." "Usually, you submit a number of actors to a studio for a role," Leahy says, "That's going to be problem with the studio." Gulager sticks to his guns, but nobody is happy about it. He then confronts her based on her audition skills, and she goes back at him for bringing it up three days later. "So, if you don't get your brother where are we going to be with beer guy?" she asks. "I don't know," he shrugs. They tell him he can't do this, but he doesn't want to listen to anybody.

Back at Neo Art and Logic, with thirteen weeks until production, Mike Leahy (one of the producers come in). They have budget meeting to sit down and discuss the realities of the film. "This is the most important part of the producer's project," Joel Soisson says. They have a script that's worth $20 million, and they have to whittle it down to two million dollars "If we go and do the three million dollar Feast, let's not make line cuts, let's use a machete," Soisson jokes. "It's going to be gutted."

They want to get the script in shape, first, before being able to go in and try to get all the money needed to make it a great film. It's a better way to go about it to get the money than to do it the opposite way demanding money.

At the first script meeting, Soisson went in with an agenda from the budget side and creative side. They want to decrease the amount of creatures to decrease the price. Gulager's asked a question, and he flounders, with his creative vision. "John by no means inspires confidence," Soisson sighs. There's three weeks to do script rewrites and not a minute more, because they have to convince the studio to still back it.

Melton and Dunstan work twenty-four hours a day on their script in shifts. Where one of them will work for 12 to 14 hours, then pass it on to the other for another 12 to 14 hours shift; this is a consistent 24 hours of scriptwriting, which can be a bit confusing but is most effective if they want to get their script done in the three weeks allowed for pre-production.

Gary Tunnicliffe is going to create the monsters for Feast and has visions of what will be in the movie. However, when Gulager had another vision and saw Tunnicliffe's vision as alien-based. "Less of the alien-thing," Dunstan jokes to him. "Everybody has a different take on it," Gulager explains. "Today's meeting was good," Tunnicliffe says, planning to get it to look like what he wants rather than what they are trying to do, because they merely think it'll look good on screen.

Another meeting is discussed about the rewrite. Rona and Moore were on hand. "Without Andrew, it'll be hard to get the money for the film," Moore says. "Every step of this line we're walking a thin line between comedy and horror," Rona bursts there bubble, "This is a scary movie with comedy in it. You're making a horror film." Gulager compares Feast to Jurassic Park, but he isn't giving anybody a clear vision of where the film is going. Thus, everybody is waiting for Gulager to step up and give a vision of what the point of this film will be. Again, he flounders, "You want me to say something?" Rona ends up hanging up, angered by the lack of an actual meeting or Gulager's input.

Melton and Dunstan talk about how Gulager isn't being a leader. They find it frustrating, because they feel they had the answers Rona wanted, and it makes them all look bad. He talks to Gulager, who didn't really understand what the big fuss is, and again, makes excuses for his lack of leadership. He also tries to pin the blame on his fear of "suits" and people who don’t understand him.

Two hours later, Gulager is advised to call Rona and talk to him. Gulager tries to get someone else to call him; he's given Rona's number, but decides not to call today. He says he'll call tomorrow but doesn't seem so confident and we watch as the days go by and he doesn't call him. "I still have the phone number in front of me, and I'll probably call him Monday," he deflects.

Last week, John Gulager was picked as the Director of Feast, much to the dissatisfaction of many involved. Feast also wasn't a thrill among Dimension studio executives who are weary of the budget constrictions involved.

We start off at the celebration where Gulager was picked as Director. "We're going to have to make a funny as hell scary ass movie," he muses. Chris Moore believes they are going to ruin the Project Greenlight, even though Ben Affleck and Matt Damon think he's going to save it. Affleck confronts Moore about it, angered. Craven listens and stands by without adding anything. "We're going out in a blazing of glory," Moore says.

"Filmmaker is basically the only thing I know how to do," Gulager explains. "It's taking me 35 years to get here. It's the biggest opportunity I have." He goes on to explain his family background in television and movies; his mother passed away last year, while his father still helps him produce films. He's done a lot of B-rated movie and on the side, he shoots wedding videos to make a living when not directing.

"There's so many e-mails and phone calls," Marcus Dunstan laughs. He puts some of the calls of speakerphone for the cameras. "This is an uncommon opportunity," he says. "Finally, the weird boy gets to do something that people can see."

We're then cut to Gulager and his girlfriend, who have been together for twenty years, in a bathtub going over the script. "As a director, I'd like all the help I can get," he says about getting his family to act in the movie. "I've never really had a boss. I do everything myself, and this is completely new to me."

At Neo Art and Logic, home to the Feast production, everyone gathers for their first meeting of the project. Patrick Melton and Dunstan join him. They get new laptops and other tools to help them out with production.

Later that day at Dimension Films, they met with Andrew Rona. He's Head of Dimension in New York. "A lot of what I say will be influencing your lives for the next year," he jokes. He notes the concerns of Gulager, such as not being able to speak up and speak his mind. "That's what the director does." Gulager was upset a bit by it. "We're making a movie, and we'll do what we can to protect our interests." Then, he looks to the scriptwriters, and tells them they need $20 million to make it; it looks like a marketable idea, which is why it was picked. "It's going to be difficult for you guys. You're going to have to make major changes."

They threaten to have the script rewritten because it's so horrible. If they can't do it themselves, Dimension will bring in the people that can make them look good. "Can you fire us?" Gulager asks. "Yes," Rona says in all seriousness. "Is it over?" Gulager looks around, laughing. Rona threatens to bring in someone else to do it if they can't do it.

The screenwriter's come down to meet with everyone and are met with a pep talk. Feast is chosen as what will be made. The others call their families and friends to let on to the disappointment, while Dunstan and Melton are ecstatic. Soisson notes, "This is going to make our lives a living hell," on the movie.

Scott Smith, from Chicago, believes he's the perfect directing candidate because he knows he can make a successful " not necessarily good " movie. James Ryan, from Los Angeles, has a hilarious video making fun of Project Greenlight.

John Gulager is weird. He grew up surrounded by film, he's older " 46 years old " and things just don't really go right for him. "It would just be freaking crazy," he says of possibly winning the position.

Now, the interviews for director candidates begin, starting with James Ryan. Moore really liked his individual scene. Ryan thinks they need to create amazing sound techniques with the monsters from Feast. Affleck says he "sold it." Ryan is very into sound aspects, going so far as to even act out the onomatopoeia.

Smith is ushered in to the room. His scene was funny, entertaining and Moore believes comedy would suit him. Phillips sees his background as an advertiser would help with vision. Smith focuses on the tone of the movie, believing it should be a "horoedy" combining horror and comedy. He definitely didn't seem to have much of his own vision for the film. Damon believed he had ideas that would make the movie better than what it is with his ideas.

Gulager is the last to come in, but Moore still feels Ryan is the best choice with Scott lacking vision. However, Moore believes Gulager is the one to take on this project. Damon believes so, too. John starts out by noting he picked at the script he wanted to do, notes he is a horrible salesman and it shows. "I just wanted to make a monster movie," he says, smiling. "I dig that kind of stuff." He shares a painting, thinking it's an inspiration for Feast. Affleck notes he has idiosyncrancies, is quiet and isn't much for selling himself to Dimension. "I'm worried about communication and getting across what movie he wants to make," Moore. Damon says he knows director's that may not be able to sell themselves but they are still great filmmakers. Dimension's studio executives don't like him much at all because of that.

Damon and Affleck made effort to try to get their director picks in since they didn't get their screenwriter pick. Dimension doesn't like Gulager, they like Ryan. Craven doesn't think Gulager would be a good director because of his quarks, it's a big risk to take.

That night they have a big premiere and party to announce the winner of the director search. The candidates and their wives join them and wait out the night for the announcement.

Ben Affleck explains the process and shares time with Matt Damon to read the script while bits of the scenes shot were shown to the audience.

Wes Craven announces the director of Feast to be John Gulager. Gulager just sits there, stunned, while the others do their best "damn-it-I-lost-the-Oscar" smile. Gulager jokes that he called everyone last night to tell them he had lost. "If John does a good job on the film, it's going to be the biggest opportunity in his career," Damon explains. The other candidates still want to be directors and they are still going to truck on.

Leahy and Soisson were approached by Gulager's friend who warned them of his temper tantrums and other on-set troubles. They both believe this choice will backfire in the end and ruin Project Greenlight.

Project Greenlight began as an idea of Matt Damon and Ben Affleck inspired by their own story. Tired of roles that did nothing for their careers, they wrote their own script " anybody remember Good Will Hunting? " and went on to not only box office success but Oscar gold. This is the breading ground for Project Greenlight.

"A lot of people asked how we can do that?" Ben Affleck explains.

The first Project Greenlight began in the fall of 2000. More than 7000 entries came pouring in and managed to get that number down to 10 wannabe directors who had the chance to shoot one scene from their script. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon and Chris Moore then spent three days interviewing the final three to pick the big winner: Stolen Summer by Pete Jones who starred Bonnie Hunt and Aidan Quinn.

While the first season focused on director's who wrote their own screenplay, the second season attempted to pair together a screenwriter and a director. Erica Beeney and Kyle Rankin won for their screenplay, The Battle of Shaker Heights with directing to be done by Efram Potelle.

For the third installment, however, Affleck and Damon have brought in Wes Craven to produce a horror film from an up-and-coming director and screenwriter.

"Making a first movie is so hard," Chris Moore smiles.

"Feast" begins with the final screening meeting. They decided to do a genre film with Dimension. It's a separate division of Miramax, producing high quality genre films, such as horror movies which this contest is focusing on. "We're continuing this tradition with Project Greenlight," Nick Phillips, Vice President of Dimension.

The contest begins with screening contestants for screenwriting and director through video submissions. Scripts were all posted on the Project Greenlight team. Three of each needed to be chosen, so Wes Craven was brought in to help out. "This year is really about making a movie that people are going to go and see," Chris Moore laughs. He doesn't think the show will get funded again if they don't make a profit.

The first script to be looked at is Wildcard . However, only Affleck thinks it's worthwhile.

Feast, another film which many agree on. "You read it and you think, 'Is this just dog crap?'" Affleck asks. Craven doesn't think they can make this movie without a lot of studio backing. Phillps doesn't think it should be scrapped because Dimension would be willing to back it. Joel Soisson, a producer for the show, says the writer of Hanz Guberstein is a genius and it fits into all categories.

They decide to put together Wildcard, Feast and Hanz Guberstein as the final three.

The ten director finalists were all given a simple script that they have to produce on their own with a vision, creativity and other aspects that make them a unique director.

James Ryan and John Gulager are on everyone's lists. There videos are creative, appealing and approach their scenes very well. Gulager is a point of debate, because some believe he's not worth it while others think he needs to be tested in person.

They call the screenwriter's to let them know as well as the director's candidates. Ben Affleck jokes to Gulager that he should shoot his wedding, as the would-be director moonlights as a wedding video director.

Marshall Moesley, who wrote Wildcard works for a computer company. Rick Carr, the screenwriter behind Hanz Guberstein, is a customer service representative and brings his mom with him to the final screening. Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton wrote "Feast" together and came out to "take their chances," as Dunstan says. Overall, they have a good plethora of stories to tell.

Next comes the individual interviews with all producers and big shots on the project. Moesley is the first one to be interviewed. "It's an adult thriller," Moore adds. Craven says he was impressed by the writing. "It's the most different with the adultness of it," he says. The producers explain that they believe Wildcard needs more than Project Greenlight to make it. "I really appreciate what you've done," he says at the end of the process.

Next, Rick Carr, writer of Hanz Guberstein. Affleck says it's the most "creative and unique" of all the scripts they received. The idea came from being able to rewrite one's own existence; it was inspired by Stephen Hawkings A Brief History of Time. Affleck says it looks like it was written for Star Trek than for the project. He doesn't understand how he made it comedy, when the guy clearly is very intelligent and interesting. Moore was amazed he wasn't that funny in real life.

Finally, "Feast" screenwriters Marcus Dunstan and Patrick Melton come in for their interview. Craven believes the script takes on way too much and didn't think it was that great because it took on way too much too soon. These guys are clearly funny, laughing at their own jokes and trying to lighten the mood. Phillips notes these guys know what they are talking about as they are a byproduct of the generation of "velocity and ferocity," as Dunstan puts it. They even came together with a package, something Dimension would love; the studio wanted to take them on, even though the budget was of concern.

Craven believes Wildcard is the top of the crop whereas Moore points out that they need to make a profit. Soisson does point out that this isn't about picking the best script, but picking the best overall film from start to finish. Affleck really still loves Hanz Guberstein but Dimension is brought up that Feast is the one that they want. They believe the studio will jump on, that they are willing to make a small profit. "Not the reason I got into Greenlight," Damon rebukes Dimension's stand. The debate erupts that Feast and Damon gets very angry about it. He says he hates that Dimension feels like just making a profit because that's what the project needs this year or it may not be back for another reason. "I've never done a movie based on marketing skills."

"I would probably have to work hard to make it work for me," Craven admits on Feast Damon tells the studio that if Craven thinks it suck, doesn't that mean it sucks? "Basically, we're helpless," Damon sighs.

One of the most confusing aspects of buying DVDs on the World Wide Web is the fact that you must make sure you purchase the proper region DVD. If you don't, you won't be able to play the DVD on your DVD player. Why are DVDs made by the region? It's simple. Most areas of the world have different ways of recording and playing back data, thus, they require different versions of DVDs to be created to accommodate their particular way of playing back data.

The world is broken up into nine regions numbered zero to eight. Zero region means that a DVD is playable in all regions. One refers to Bermuda, Canada, the United States and all U.S. territories. Two refers to the Middle East, Europe, Egypt, Greenland, Japan, Lesotho, South Africa and Swaziland. Three refers to Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Macau, South Korea and Taiwan. Four refers to Central America, Oceania, South America and Mexico. Five refers to most of Africa, parts of Eastern Europe, the Indian subcontinent, Mongolia, North Korea and Russia. Six refers to China. Seven has yet to be assigned, yet, and eight is used for international venues like airplanes and cruise ships.

Now, there are four varieties of encoding for region two, D1 through D4. D1 is a UK-only release. D2 and D3 are DVDs that are not sold in the United Kingdom but also released elsewhere in Europe. D4 are DVDs that are distributed on the entire continent. All DVDs are clearly marked what region and what level of distribution they belong to so that consumers purchase the proper DVDs for their DVD player. Europe is the only place in the world that has done this so far, so, when you buy DVDs there, make sure you're getting the right region and sub-division.

One nifty feature of DVD encoding is that multiple region versions can be applied to a single disc. This means that more than one region can play the same DVD on their DVD player, which can come in handy if you are traveling between regions and want to watch your favorite DVD on the trip. Normally, these DVDs are labeled as region zero on the packaging. However, in some cases DVDs are only released in very specific regions, which will lead to them only being played in those specific regions. Such packaging for a DVD in two regions would read 1/2 as opposed to zero, for example.

Since we're talking about region zero DVDs, there is also such a thing as a region zero DVD player. This DVD player is capable of reading all DVD region versions. Of course, this DVD player also will cost you an arm and a leg if you decide to purchase one. It's often cheaper to just buy region zero DVDs if you're looking for international releases and the like. Studios have fought back against region zero DVD players in many cases by encoding their DVDs so they only play in the region specified as opposed to the given region and region zero.

One of the greatest byproducts of high-definition televisions is the emergence of widescreen television formats. Now, don't get me wrong, I was used to fullscreen for most of my life that the leap to widescreen sort of disillusioned me. I was so used to fullscreen that I often wondered how I ever lived with those black bars at the top and bottom of my television screen. It took many months to get used to, but looking back on it, I wouldn't change that conversion from fullscreen fan to widescreen fan for nothing. I love widescreen, let me tell you why.

First off, when television studios are filming a particular show, they often shoot it widescreen. Why's that? It's simple, really. More action takes place on the left or right of the subject of focus rather than above or below it. Of course, there are exceptions, but they are rare and they are often only found in films. Televisions focus on the panoramic view on set as opposed to the overall view. Thus, by taking out the top and bottom of the picture, you aren't actually missing very much. You're missing more by viewing the top and bottom in fullscreen, because you're missing all the action taking place on the sides of your screen in widescreen format.

In many films, however, the use of all four directions is crucial. Some films are just better viewed in fullscreen because of this. However, many directors and film editors are now focusing on bringing their films to life on widescreen. Widescreen has become so popular, it's slowly phasing out fullscreen to become the dominant type of picture on television and the bigscreen.

More television stations are broadcasting in both high-definition and widescreen, most notably NBC, who has begun to develop an even better version of high-definition for the future of television. While many home audience members won't be able to view high-definition on their standard television sets and have to buy a new one. This isn't easily accesible to everyone, but in time as it becomes the standard, it will become more available to every household.

Most films are now released in fullscreen and widescreen formats. This is a relatively new phenomenom. Most companies released just one or another, the one they preferred ultimately being what type of footage they had and with advisement from the movie's director. Now, due to popular demand, both versions are released. Some companies even release both versions on the same disc to make it easier for the consumer to have what they want. Of course, this costs more, but movie lovers are more than happy to spend the extra money for their preference.

Widescreen is the way to the future. It allows the audience viewer to take part in the entire scene as opposed to just part of the seen. By having that wrap-around effect on your television, you get the chance to see everything going on in the scene, not just what is transpiring between the main characters. This allows for greater viewing pleasure and a better understanding of what the director intended. Widescreen is an amazing way to take part in your favorite television show. Enjoy it! It can only get better from here!

Getting the answers you need from your cable television provider isn't always easy. Most of the time, the technical knowledge they possess far surpasses your own. This often leads to miscommunication and a misunderstanding of what exactly a cable television customer has to do to fix the problem at hand whether it has to do with their bill, their service or any other number of problems that might pop up. These simple steps will help you get the most help from your cable television provider.

First, when you realize there's a problem with an aspect of your cable television service, write down what the problem is on a piece of paper as clearly as possible. Try and list all the problems, why they are problems and any steps you've taken to try and correct the problem before you call your cable television provider. This will ensure that you have covered all bases on your end as well as give you ample opportunity to alert your customer service representative to exactly what the problem is. The more specific you are, the easier it will be to get the help you need.

Now, before you call, make sure you have your latest billing statement in front of you. This statement provides crucial information that you will need to give your customer service representative. Such information as your customer number, your service and your exact location within your building and area is vital for them to pinpoint problems and possible solutions. Plus, it helps make it easier to verify that you are indeed the customer at that particular place of service.

Next, place the call and make sure that you have some paper and a writing utensil handy. Verify your account, discuss the problem and make sure you write down who you are talking to in the event that you need to refer to them later. Just ask them for their employee ID number and first and last name, generally, most representatives are more than happy to hand over the information. If a representative is being less than forthcoming, ask to speak to somebody who will divulge who they are. This allows you to protect yourself in the event that somebody else tries to change a prior agreement you had with one representative. This also allows you alert someone else in the chain of command should something go wrong with the call.

During the phone call itself, write down anything of importance you feel is necessary. Any steps to take, any numbers to call, anything you feel that relates to your problem. If you don't understand something, ask questions. Ask until you're blue in the face. These customer service representatives are there to make you happy. If you aren't happy, find someone who will answer your questions in a way you are satisfied with.

Finally, when the call is through, you will have a thorough record of what transpired should you need further assistance. Following these steps is a surefire way to get what you need from your cable television provider without feeling as though you are in over your head.

Then, there's Eden and the men of Pine Valley, starting with her on-screen uncle Walt Willey. How many times did Jack comfort Bianca and make the world disappear for both? I've lost count, to be honest, and Walt did a fantastic job when he felt hurt, pain or anguish for his niece.

We also can't forget her relationship with Josh Duhamel either, which I feel is pretty much self-explanatory. Leo was Bianca's rock when she came back to Pine Valley. He was her knight in shining armor, and they adored one another, which came across loud and clear. When Bianca asked Leo to sleep with her to find out if she was really gay, the exchange of looks between the two is just breathtaking.

Maybe I'm the only one who noticed this, but Eden had amazing chemistry with Wil de Vry, too, which shone through most brightly during the intensity of the rape. I read an interview at Soap Opera Digest where she talked about how they worked together to bring out both characters vividly in the scene and how she said, "I really was scared, which is a compliment to Wil."

The way they played off each other really did make it more believable than some of the other types of stories being drawn out on soaps in today's day and age. The interaction, the level of intensity, just the way they looked at each.. it was like you really had to take a step back and just ask yourself how both found themselves in those positions. Part of you really though Bianca could convince Michael to let her go, the way they looked at each, the way they both spoke...it was just...wow.

I have a theory about why Eden is so chemically compatible on screen with her costars, but it would have to be addressed by her to have any type of merit whatsoever. It's just mere speculation, because I have way too much time on my hands and I just love Eden so damn much.

I think what makes Eden so compatible is the fact that she cares so much about the people around her. She takes a genuine interest in them, and this type of interaction and attention brings out the best in both. I've heard many stories from fans here as well as elsewhere who have said that when she talks to you, she really is listening to you, and I do think this is a major factor as to why she is able to interact so well with so many varied people.

When you are able to pay that much attention to a person that you make them feel at ease, it's easier to work together with that person to achieve a desired result. It's in this comfort zone that actors are able to perform to the best of their ability. After all, if you're working with somebody who doesn't give a hoot how you perform, are you really going to give it your all or are you just going to get it done?

Of course, I'm sure I could sit here and analyze her interaction with every major player on AMC, but I think I've made my point. I don't think a single other actor or actress, even Susan herself, could be that compatible with everyone she shares screen time with. That's a talent, a gift and just an amazing ability to share with those you work with.

This is just one more of the many reasons I love Eden Riegel and why she is such a blessing to Hollywood and all those that work with her and have the chance to interact with her.

Instead of working this morning, I began thinking about The Bianca & Co Thread and a light bulb went off in my head: Have you ever seen one actress have chemistry with so many other actors and actresses?

One of the main reasons I only have ever watched All My Children is that I feel the show makes an effort to pair up actors and actresses who have chemistry as opposed to just throwing together two hot bodies for a scene. The more I think about this, though, the more I come to the conclusion that Eden Riegel perhaps shares more chemistry with her co-stars than I've ever seen anywhere on television or the big screen.

The entire Kane family on the show "Susan Lucci, Alicia Minshew and Eden Riegel" work together so well you can't imagine any other actress portraying each character in such a way that it would work quite as well. (Of course, something has to be said about the fact that both Eden and Alicia bare a good resemblance to Susan herself, this helps).

Break down the interaction between just Eden and Susan. From day one, Eden stole scenes from Susan in such a fashion that hadn't been scene on the show since Sarah Michelle Gellar portrayed Kendall Hart. Eden not only held her own against Susan, but did so in such a way that it really tugged at your heart when Erica refused to accept Bianca's coming out. Just the way Susan would look at Eden and vice versa, you could tell they were family. I can understand why Eden calls Susan a "second mom."

Moving on to Eden and Alicia. I must admit, I never saw Bianca and Kendall becoming close, but the chemistry between their portrayals changed my mind and changed the storyline. When Bianca meets Frankie for the first time, and Kendall comforts her, you forget they're just characters. Alicia and Eden brought out the best in each other playing half-sisters; the way they play off one another is phenomenal, and I doubt you can name one other sisterly pairing anywhere on television that is more believable because of the time and dedication Eden and Alicia brought to that relationship on-screen.

It's almost pointless to say Liz and Eden have chemistry, since that chemistry is not only what brought Liz back to the show, but it's also what drove the entire tumultuous relationship between the characters. Where would BAM be if Liz and Eden didn't just combust when they were on-screen? When Maggie looks at Bianca, and vice versa, I can't even explain it. I think any BAM fan understands what I'm talking about. It's like they could yell "cut" and Eden and Liz would walk off set hand-in-hand in love.

As for Olga, who I love, and who was a great asset to the show... while I agree Eden and her had chemistry, I don't believe it always came across on-screen. Nevertheless, what made Lena such a great love interest for Bianca was the way they looked each other. That wasn't the characters, that was the actresses, and Olga and Eden convinced you beyond a doubt that they were head-over-heels in love with one another. Just look at the screen caps, most of us have never been looked at like that in our lives, and that's just a fictional look of love on a television show!

This is the final part of the details of my experience at a midnight showing. This post contains spoilers for the movie, you have been warned.

Now, the greatest moment is when Anakin and Obi-Wan fight, and Anakin finally assumes the role we've all learned to love: Darth Vader. However, the fight that leaves him legless, limbless and charred to death on Mustafar. Obi-Wan leaves him there, after calling him his brother and taking his lightsaber to give to Luke. Sidious collects the burning Anakin in a medical capsule and takes him to a ship, from there, droids work on him as he screams in agony and becomes the mechnical machine we know in the original trilogy. When Darth Vader takes his first breath through the mask, the familiar gasp, was breath-taking for everyone. This was the moment he was reborn and as he rises as the Imperal March plays in the background, you just sit there in awe in a mixture of pride, sadness and forlonging. You know his fate, yet, his fate has not yet been set. Irony is a wonderful tool in film.

The very end, when the twins are born, Padme dies and is taking back to Naboo is so sad. They make Padme appear still pregnant during the burial, that way Darth Vader will not know that the twins - of which he only knows of Luke - were born and hidden. It's so sad that she dies, though, she dies of a broken heart, and it's such a shame. Jar Jar Binks makes his final appearance in a Star Wars film (much to the happiness of many Star Wars fans, not me though, I'm a Jar Jar fan). You heard people yell when they saw his face, as a pallbearer, carrying Padme to her vigil.

Of course, there are many other scenes that just rocked. A battle scene between Yoda and Sidious in the Galactic Senate chambers was just awesome as they're throwing Senate docks at each other. Yoda truly could've defeated Sidious, but he just wasn't strong enough. The end, where they say that Qui Gon has become one with the Force in ways only imagined, and how Obi-Wan and Yoda will go train under him was a bit of a conundrum, but it felt well for later when Obi-Wan is killed by Darth Vader and disappears. It shows you that he truly did learn to become one with the Force.

There were just so many scenes that also tugged at your heart... such as when the Jedi are exterminated by the Clone troops they are fighting with once Palpatine changes their mission objective and declares all Jedi enemies of the Galactic Republic. Also, another very sad moment (and most likely the sole reason for the PG-13 rating) came when Anakin - now as Darth Vader in name only - storms the Jedi Temple and enters the council room to find the Younglings hiding. One comes out and asks what they are to do, because they are being slaughtered by troops, and Anakin merely turns on his lightsaber. Then, it fades to black. Very sad especially when Obi-Wan later learns it is Anakin who has turned to the Dark Side that murdered the Younglings.

I must give props to Jimmy Smitts and his role as Senator Organa. He did a brillant job potraying him in a light I always thought him to be held in. Very impressed by his performance as well as Sam Jackson as Mace Windu. I always liked Mace Windu and Jackson as him cemented my view of his importance in the Star Wars universe.

Overall, I truly feel this is the best film in the Star Wars saga. I could go on forever, see it yourself, and you'll understand why I want to see it 20+ more times.

The only bit I want to say about this game is about the second ending. When you beat all sixteen stages, you have the choice to fight as Anakin during the final battle. Take this chance to see the biggest "what-if" in the Star Wars universe. At the end, Anakin kills Obi-Wan and assumes his role of Darth Vader, without the mechanical body, by the side of Sidious. However, when he meets Sidious, gets his new red lightsaber, he kills him with it and takes control of the univerise. Talk about a kink in the entire series!

Revenge of the Sith will be released on DVD on November 1, 2005. Make sure to catch it then if you didn't get a chance to catch it in the theater!

I highly recommend that everybody go and see this, even if you aren't a Star Wars fan, as it's definitely the best movie in the entire six-set series. I'm going to see it again next weekend, in fact! This is a continuation of my experience seeing Revenge of the Sith at a midnight showing in my home town of Lancaster.

After beating the video game and reading the script, I pretty much knew what was going to happen ahead of time. However, I must say, the movie surprised me in ways and means I had no idea it would. I was so thoroughly impressed by just about everything from cinematography to choreography to character development.

One of the most amazing sequences of events is the opening of the film when they are fighting above Courscant after Supreme Chancellor Palpatine is kidnapped by General Grieveous. They have Anakin and Obi-Wan in Jedi fighters trying to find their way into where the Palpatine is being held. It's so amazing to watch it, especially the overhead shots, where it feels like you just might fall out of your seat down onto the planet like the fallen ships. It was so life-like, so realistic, it actually felt as though you were above everything watching the battle take place.

From start-to-finish, ROTS just kept going on, it truly was one of the only Star Wars movies that went from action scene to action scene with very little filler in between. It just kept going, and you never knew where it was going, because the cuts between scenes/acts/etc. were so seamless and fit together in a melody. The interjection of music, some old and some new, also brought the audience closer to the path to the Dark Side that Anakin takes to save Padme from certain death.

There were several moments in the film when I had to hold my breath. The first part was when Mace Windu confronts Palpatine/Darth Sidious; this is the final turning point for Anakin, as Windu is killing Sidious to rid the world of the Sith, Anakin stops him - thinking Sidious can teach him how to stop death and save Padme - and Sidious cuts off both hands before sending him flying into the Courscant night sky. (There's an even more awesome part to this when the glass breaks, you'd have to be there watching it on the big screen to understand the chills that action makes.) This is also where Sidious gets his deformation, as the dark lightning is being reflected back at him through deflection of Windu's lightsaber, which Sidious allows so that Anakin will make the choice.

Another great scene is when you find out that General Grieveous is half-human, half-robot during the fight between him and Obi-Wan. It's just like, "Woah." The fight is awesome, as Grievious fights with four lightsabers, but Obi-Wan's single lightsaber is more than enough to defeat him after a chase through the entire Separatist structure. Again, this is another scene you just hold your breath through and need to see on the big screen.

This series will attempt to adequately describe my experiences seeing Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith in the theater, opening day, at a midnight showing.

We left the apartment around 10-ish, after we finished taking showers after watching the first two Star Wars movies (The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones) which we bought a few days before along with the ROTS video game for PS/2.

So, after we left, we were excited as we walked to the Regal about 10 - 12 minutes from our place. We wondered how many people would be in line and whether or not they'd even let anybody in earlier than an hour before the 12:01 AM showing. Well, we got there, and the only people in line were those hoping to get tickets to the five sold out shows. There local pop radio station was out, probably giving out tickets, but we didn't stop to find out.

Instead, we went inside to see if they were letting people in. When we went in, you had kids dressed up as Jedi, Sith and Darth Maul. There were light sabers everywhere - I wish I would've brought mine! - and people were even fighting with them while waiting the two hours for the movie to start. We found seats, five rows from the screen, and in the center. (I don't sit anywhere but center, no matter what row it is in.)

When we took our seats, we were so bored, because we didn't think they'd let us in so early. We thought we'd have to wait in line, which would've been far more exciting than sitting there doing absolutely nothing. We ended up talking to older boys about the movie, computers and living at Millersville. They were very nice and it kept us entertained for most of the two hour wait.

At midnight, everybody started getting antsy, and the theater was packed by now. People began to yell, shout, especially at 15 after when the movie still hadn't started. Regal was auctioning off a ROTS poster, and they were doing the drawings, so, they wanted to start all the showings at the same time. We were one of the first two screens to show the movie, so, of course, they chose to do our auctions last even though we were on the big screens. So, at about 20 after, they finally started the film even after people yelled at Regal to start it before that.

Every time the previews started, most of the theater was in an uproar. People were yelling "Regal sucks," "fast forward," etc. We saw previews for Mr. and Mrs. Smith (which looks awesome! Angelina is so hot. She makes me drool!), War of the Worlds (which is just going to be cool on the big screen with Tom Cruise) and Fantastic Four (which even though everyone said it would bomb, it looked very well-put together AND Julian McMahon is in it.) So, overall, the previews were well spent even if we had to watch another 20 minutes of them before the movie actually started!

They cut right into where it says "LucasFilmLTD" plastered on the screen in its familiar green-colors. Everybody started yelling, appluading, it was so surreal. It was so much better than the midnight showings of Lord of the Rings I went to... in fact, it was even better than the midnight showings of the previous two Star Wars movies I saw in the theaters.

As I sit here writing, I am distracted by my television because I just discovered that Comedy Central is airing The Kids in the Hall from 3 a.m. to 4 a.m. It's one of my all-time favorite shows, and it has led me to ponder the topic of sketch comedy shows.

Sketch comedy shows are programs that feature short sketches instead of the developed story line of a sitcom. Some rely on physical comedy and gags while others rely more on satire and topical humor. While there will be a variety of sketches in each individual episode, sometimes the actors will develop recurring characters. If you've never seen a show before, you can usually tell when a recurring character enters the stage from the audience's wild applause.

Of course Saturday Night Live on NBC is the classic sketch comedy show. It's been on the air for 30 years and through those years there have been hits and misses, but it's still a Saturday night comedy destination for many. Saturday Night Live is the place to go for the most topical humor, especially with their "Weekend Update" segment, a fake newscast that provides a humorous look at the week's news stories.

Saturday Night Live is perhaps best known for its famous alumni. From Jim Belushi to Jimmy Fallon, many famous comic actors have gotten their start on Saturday Night Live.

As its name implies, the show is filmed live, which adds an air of unexpectedness to the show. If someone messes up a line or almost starts laughing in the middle of a sketch, there are no retakes. The show is currently 90 minutes long. A celebrity host has a short monologue at the beginning and then takes part in the night's sketches. There is also a musical guest each week.

Mad TV is a newer but no less popular sketch comedy show. Its Mad Magazine roots were more apparent in earlier seasons when it featured "Spy vs. Spy" cartoons and Alfred E. Newman graphics on title screens. It's broadcast by Fox on Saturday nights and is an hour long. There is no host to the show, but there will be occasional guest stars and musical guests. In recent years, as Saturday Night Live went through a creative slump, Mad TV was often the preferred show of the two. And while Mad TV hasn't produced Saturday Night Live's level of big name actor, its stars have moved on to other popular projects.

While you can find these two shows every Saturday night, thanks to Comedy Central, you can also watch them countless times during the week. Saturday Night Live episodes are usually condensed to an hour so that they fit the programming schedule better, which means that one of the musical guest's performances is cut and a few sketches that have been lost to time. Along with The Kids in the Hall, these shows have been a Comedy Central staple for years, providing you with a classic sketch comedy fix at all hours of the day or night.

When I used to think of Spanish language programming, Univision and Telemundo were the only options out there. I'm not a native speaker of Spanish, but as a student of the language, I was intrigued by the idea. Alas, our local cable outlet didn't offer either station in my town, so I never got to sample everyday Spanish programming. I got a small taste from a teacher who would tape blocks of commercials and play them in the background of our advanced Spanish class when we were working independently. It was interesting, but a bit disheartening to hear so much I couldn't understand after numerous years of Spanish. I also felt a bit cheated that I was seeing the promos for so many shows that I would never get to see mixed in with commercials for soap and toothpaste. I've since learned the Mexican telenovela (a form of soap opera that's generally even more dramatic and over the top than U.S. soap operas) isn't for me, so I wasn't really missing much.

Over the years, as I've moved from high school to college and into an apartment of my own, I've had a chance to experience various Spanish language channels. In bigger cities it's common to find at least one of these channels as part of even the most basic cable programming package. As the Latino population grows, so too do the opportunities to watch television in Spanish. The best selection of Spanish language channels can be found on satellite. Both Dish Network and DirecTV offer packages with dozens of Spanish channels. They are a mix of channels based in the United States and feeds from South and Central America. Some are even Spanish versions of powerhouse cable/satellite channels like ESPN or HBO.

HBO Latino, for instance, primarily plays the same programming as HBO with a Spanish language track. At the same time, they also show exclusive Spanish language movies from around the world. ESPN Deportes is soccer (or futbol) heavy in its programming. There are even Pay Per View channels that offer American movies dubbed in Spanish and movies from the Spanish speaking world, much like HBO Latino. Galavision is another generic channel that has joined the ranks of Univision and Telemundo. MTV is another station that offers a channel that is not only broadcast in Spanish, but also features Latin American artists beyond Ricky Martin and Shakira.

If you want to hear television programs in Spanish but aren't in the mood for some of the telenovelas and variety shows that Univision features, another option is to utilize alternate audio on your television. Perhaps you've seen the SAP logo of "alternate audio available" flash on the screen at the beginning of a show. This means that alternate audio streams are being broadcast in other languages, most often Spanish. Turning on alternate audio is a setting in your television or through your digital cable/satellite box. Your instruction manual can take you through the steps of turning on this handy feature.

So whether you're a student of the language or a native speaker of Spanish, your options for watching Spanish language programming have never been greater. Make the most of the opportunity!

If you grew up in the 70's, you may have some fond memories of the awesome Saturday morning cartoon lineup we had back then. The unusual shows created by producers Sid and Marty Krofft were some of the most popular programs to watch on a Saturday morning. Known for their wacky storylines and outrageously colorful characters, the shows featured wild puppets that were a far cry from the Sesame Street Muppets. In the 1970's, kids flew out of their beds at the crack of dawn to make sure they didn't miss the Saturday morning Krofft television lineup. The lineup changed over the years, but for most of the 1970's there were several great Krofft shows on the air during any given season.

If you were one of those 70's kids, with your bowl of Froot Loops in tow, you undoubtedly watched at least some of these classic shows:

H.R. Puf N Stuf. This was a live action show that combined a human character named Jimmy (played by Jack Wild) with some big puppets. The town witch, named Witchiepoo (played to perfection by the great Billie Hayes), was after Jimmy's magical talking flute. Enter H.R. Puf N Stuf who saved Jimmy from Witchie. There were plenty of freaky things on this show--- talking trees and whatnot. If you think it all sounds a little psychedelic (a magical talking flute?) keep in mind that this was the 70's.

The Bugaloos. This show was about a rock band-- a rock band that dressed like flying insects. They were sort of a goody two shoes band, much to the dismay of the evil doers in town. Joy, Harmony, Courage and I.Q. were the Bugaloos and this was definitely a feel good show.

Land of the Lost. This was another live action show that featured some puppets. A father and his two children, Holly and Will, find themselves lost in a mysterious jungle, complete with monsters and other oddities. They befriend a member of the ruling tribe of the land, a really strange looking creature named Chaka. There were also some scary creatures called the Sleestacks. This show was rather complicated to follow if you didn't watch it from the beginning. Luckily, I never missed an episode.

Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. My all time favorite Saturday morning show, this one starred child actor Johnny Whitaker (Jody from the show "Family Affair"). Two brothers, Johnny and Scott, befriend Sigmund, a kind Sea Monster. Sigmund is alienated from the other sea monsters because he doesn't like to be mean and scare people. Plus he's kind of goofy. I can still remember the theme song to this show word for word.

Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. I often wonder if Carmen Electra got her name from this show. Two attractive newspaper reporters double as the coolest female superheroes since Wonder woman. This show starred Deidre Hall and Judy Strangis. Hall, better known as Marlena Evans on the popular soap opera Days of Our Lives, had a big year in 1976-- she starred in this campy Krofft series and she also signed on to star in "Days".

For many years when I was a kid, I knew that Christmas was getting close because the Christmas specials started appearing on television. I even remember that the first one every year was usually Rudolph and it was shown soon after Thanksgiving. If I hadn't "turned in" a wish list yet by that time, I really needed to scurry!

It wasn't that I didn't have enough ideas for my list because I had the Christmas catalogs. They arrived a few days after the first day of school. When I went to school, that was always in the beginning of September. It was a race home from school those first few days to see if the Christmas catalogs had arrived. I needed to get to them before my sister did!

After Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer appeared on television it was never very long before the others started. How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, and all the others were shown like clockwork year after year and I always wanted to watch most of them. I am amazed that a few of those classics are still being shown annually for a whole new generation of wide-eyed children who know that when the holiday specials begin, Christmas can't be very far off.

It wasn't until after I was an adult that a couple of my all-time favorite movies started appearing on television. They both happen to be Christmas movies and I still watch them every year and enjoy them just as much as always. One is It's a Wonderful Life and that truly has to be one of the most meaningful movies ever written and produced. Jimmy Stewart and Donna Reed were perfect casts for the movie and it has become one of my all-time favorite movies, Christmas or otherwise.

No matter how many times I see it, it always ends the same for me. I can get through many parts of it without tears . . . sometimes even until the very end, but when Auld Lang Syne starts playing, I'm a blubbering mess. I think it should be required viewing for everyone in the country at least once and the way to do that most effectively would probably be from within a schoolroom setting. Most of us had to read Romeo and Juliet, why couldn't this be part of required reading/viewing? The message that each life is meaningful and touches other lives and causes good things to happen all throughout one's life is one that should be heard a lot more often than it is currently heard.

The other holiday movie I really enjoy is Miracle on 34th Street. I'm sure the remakes are great in their own way and I know many people enjoy remakes of movies, but for me it's the original all the way. There's no Santa Claus but Edmund Gwenn and no little girl but Natalie Wood for this movie as far as this viewer is concerned. Many years after I first saw it, I was with a realtor looking at a house that would end up being mine. He mentioned that it reminded him of the Miracle on 34th Street house they found at the end, and so it did. And yes, the first thing I did when walking in was to check for a cane in the corner.

In this age of Lifetime Original movies, it may be hard to believe that there was once a time that made for TV movies was a new concept. In the early 1970's, ABC introduced their "Movie of the Week" concept. These movies were highly anticipated and often garnered huge ratings for the network. Here is a rundown of some of the best made for TV movies:

The Boy in The Plastic Bubble . This movie starred a young John Travolta as a teenager who, due to a compromised immune system, had to live in a germ free environment. 70's teen queen Glynnis O'Connor starred as the curious girl next door and the object of Travolta's affections. The Brady Bunch's Robert Reed played Travolta's father.

Bad Ronald. This movie scared me to death in the 70's! It was about a family who didn't realize that their new house had a secret room. Another thing they didn't know? Well, a crazed killer lived in the room! Scott Jacoby starred as the psychotic Ronald. Very creepy movie that I watched over and over again.

The Miracle Worker. Patty Duke and Little House on the Prairie's Melissa Gilbert starred in this story about Helen Keller and her teacher.

Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway. Eve Plumb (Jan from The Brady Bunch) starred as a teenaged prostitute. It sure was a far cry from her role as prissy Jan Brady!

The Gathering. Ed Asner starred in this Emmy award winning movie as a father trying to reunite his family before his death. Maureen Stapleton starred as his estranged wife.

James at 15. This movie was the pilot for the Lance Kerwin series of the same name, about the struggles of a teenaged boy.

Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman. Cicely Tyson starred as Pittman in this highly acclaimed drama.

Young Love First Love. In the midst of her One Day at a Time fame, a teenaged Bertinelli (who later went on to be the queen of Lifetime movies), starred as a young girl in love.

The Legend of Lizzie Borden. Bewitched star Elizabeth Montgomery put away her broom to star as a woman accused of murdering her father and stepmother.

The Homecoming. This was the original Walton's and most of the cast from the television n series first appeared in this pilot movie. The most notable change? Patricia Neal starred as Mama Walton ion this made for TV movie that detailed a Christmas Eve story.

Sybil. Sally Field received rave reviews for her portrayal of a woman with multiple personalities in this Emmy winning movie.

Jesus of Nazareth. Controversial at the time and still popular today, this movie starred Robert Powell as Jesus.

Brian's Song. Who could forget this movie starring Billy Dee Williams? It was about pro football players Brian Piccolo and his battle with cancer. A major tearjerker, so have the tissues ready!

Kung Fu. Another made for TV movie that doubled as a series pilot, this one starred David Carradine

Helter Skelter. The scariest of all of the made for TV movies, this movie starred Steve Railsback as Charles Manson. Even today, it's too scary for me to watch!

When MTV changed from an all-music format to a (practically) all-reality format, I knew there would be repercussions. Finding even modern day music videos is hard enough amidst all the practical joke and "Challenge" programs, but it has recently occurred to me that there are also many classic music videos that I'll probably never lay eyes on again. Do you remember any of these gems?

Jenny Jenny 8675309 (Tommy Tutone). I hear this one on the radio every so often, but I haven't seen the video in years. Oh how I wish I could remember hat Tommy Tutone even looks like!

The Breakup Song (The Greg Kihn Band). This song is so high school, but I used to love the video. These one hit wonder videos could possibly turn up on a VH1 retrospective, but I'm not holding my breath.

Working Girl (The Members). This was an early MTV video, I'm sure considered rare at this point. I wonder if MTV even has it in their archives any more.

Oh Father (Madonna). This is one of my favorite Madonna songs, and the video was spine tingling. Still, it wasn't the Material One's biggest hit, so I'm sure the video is in a vault somewhere never to be heard from again.

Shadows of the Night (Pat Benatar). Early Benatar, full of 1940's imagery. This was back when videos actually told a story-- often a story that had nothing to do with the song. Still, this one is classic video making at its best.

Need You Tonight/Mediate (INXS). Even amidst the current INXS reality show, I doubt this video will ever make it to the airwaves again. Featuring a sultry Michael Hutchence, this is one of my all time favorite videos. Maybe a remake will be done starring the winner of the INXS reality show, but it won't be be the same.

In My Dreams (Dokken). Don't laugh, because I know I'm not the only Dokken fan out there. They sold millions of albums so somebody must have liked them beside me. I highly doubt that any Dokken video will ever be on MTV again and I'm saddened by the thought.

She Blinded Me With Science (Thomas Dolby). Totally 80's, early video. I would love to see this one again. Just once.

Parents Just Don't Understand (DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince). It's fun to see the wacky things today's stars did in their youth, and this video starring superstar Will Smith is no exception. As his breakthrough video, this clip earned him his own television show (The Fresh Prince of Bel Air). Plus it's just funny.

18 and Life (Skid Row). I know, I know another hair band. When this video was first released, I was madly in love with lead singer, Sebastian Bach. Times have changed and Bach has gotten older and put on a few pounds (not to mention cut his long blonde locks). I'd love to see this again to refresh my memory on what a skinny Sebastian looked like.

Round and Round (Ratt). Okay, I may be wrong about this one and I hope I am. This classic video featured a cameo of the one and only Milton Berle. It was a howl seeing him play dual roles as a man and a woman at a rat infested dinner party. They need to bring this one back immediately!

One of my favorite things about my digital cable package is the "On Demand" feature. If you are not familiar with this feature, and if it is offered in your area, you should seriously consider using it.

What is On Demand? Quite simply, it is an archive of hundreds of television shows, movies, sporting events and specials that you can watch any time you want-- on demand. On Demand contains a vast queue of programs to choose from-- everything from the local news to your favorite music videos. Most of the shows are free to watch, although there is an additional charge for special Pay for View events and certain movies. Still, in our household we enjoy using On Demand on a daily basis. Here are some of the highlights (this is only a small sampling of what's available) .

HBO On Demand-- If you already subscribe to a premium cable channel, the On Demand feature will allow you to choose from an archive of shows and movies whenever you want. I enjoy watching "Sex and the City" episodes whenever I want, while my husband selects his favorite movies.

Tube Time-- For any fan of classic television, this channel is the ultimate. This month Tube Time features episodes of SWAT, Maude, Diff'rent Strokes and several more classic shows. Once again, you watch all of them on your timetable.

Nick Jr. On Demand-- This is a favorite in our house. All of our favorite kid's shows-- everything from Blue's Clues to Dora the Explorer is on this channel. They even offer special episodes of new programs-- the "Let's Build" and "Let's Farm" segments are favorites of my preschoolers.

MTV On Demand-- If you are fan of the MTV "Real World" and "Challenge" programs, this is a great place to catch up on missed episodes. They are currently airing "The Inferno Challenge" series in its entirety.

Food Network on Demand-- This is another one of my favorites, especially around the holidays when they air all of the Christmas cookery shows. I can watch my favorite cooking shows, "The Barefoot Contessa" and "Emeril Live" whenever I feel like it. You've got to love that!

Fitness on Demand-- That's right, there is a special fitness section chock full of workouts that you can do whenever you want in the convenience of your own home. Hey, it beats going to the gym!

Real Estate on Demand-- My package offers virtual tours of local real estate that is for sale. If you're in the market for a new home, you don't even have to leave your couch to take a walk through some beautiful homes.

Free Movies on Demand-- Every month there are dozens of free movies offered, in addition to the Pay Per View selections. In fact, there are so many great movies offered that I rarely use Pay Per View, as I can always find something free to watch.

Finally, if On Demand isn't available in your area, consider calling your local cable company to request that they add it to their lineup. It requires a digital cable box and a monthly digital package premium, but it is well worth it if you want to watch your favorite shows any time you want.

As a parent, you may be concerned about the amount of television your young child watches. Most pediatricians agree that very young children should not watch an excess of television, and some even feel that children under the age of two should not watch any TV at all. Unfortunately, that may be an unrealistic expectation for many of us, especially if there are older preschoolers in the house. For most families, occasional viewing a few favorite programs is nothing to be concerned about.

Since you should only allow your toddler to watch a few programs, you should make sure that they are high quality, educational programs that can help your child to grow. There are some wonderful children's television programs on the air today, most of them airing on PBS, Noggin, Nick Jr. and the Disney Channel. Some examples of great, educational children's programs include Sesame Street, Blue's Clues, The Backyardigans, Bear in the Big Blue House, Dora the Explorer, Reading Rainbow, Mister Rogers and yes, Barney.

Unfortunately, just about every children's program has a huge merchandising department behind it, so even if you watch only commercial free children's programs, don't be surprised if your child points frantically at all of the Blue's Clues or Dora the Explorer toys next time you're at the toy store. Toddlers will instantly recognize their television heroes and they will want to own any and every thing that has their likeness on them.

Many parents who don't allow their children to watch television will instead let their kids watch DVDs. I don't see the point in allowing a toddler to watch a 90 minute kiddie DVD movie-- that's worse than television in my opinion. Of course there are some exceptions, but even G-rated movies may contain scenes that aren't suitable for young children. Still, most children's educational programs also have DVD versions of their shows available-- great if you don't have cable or are never home when these programs come on. The Sesame Street "Elmo" DVD series is highly recommended, as are the Blue's Clues and Dora DVDs. For the youngest children, you can't go wrong with the Baby Einstein DVD series. As for movies, view them privately in their entirety before you allow your toddler to watch them-- and then only let them watch them occasionally. If the child gets bored, turn the DVD off.

Shows that toddlers should definitely not watch? Spongebob Squarepants is not suitable for very young children, as are most of the shows that air on the Cartoon Network (some shows, like Scooby Doo, feature scary or complicated themes). Most superhero themed shows have too much violence as do the old classics like Tom and Jerry. When in doubt, it's best to stick to network programming that is devoted to preschoolers-- there will be plenty of time for your kids to catch these other popular shows when they are a little older.

So is it bad to let your toddler watch TV? It's only bad if you rely on television as a "babysitter" or if you park your child in front of the set all day long. Otherwise, as with most everything else, moderation is the key.

VH1's Sunday night "Celebreality" lineup is an interesting concept-- it's a series of reality shows that feature celebrities. The newest show that has been added to the VH1 lineup is "Hogan Knows Best".

When I first heard about this show, I wasn't all that interested. It stars former WWF wrestler Hulk Hogan, and while he' big and tough and cool and all that, I was never really a fan. Plus, I had read some review of the show before it aired-- reviews that compared the show to MTV's hit show "The Osbournes". I wasn't in the mood to watch another show where foul mouthed kids berate their parents.

Still, curiosity got the best of me (as always) so I tuned into "Hogan Knows Best" last weekend to give it a fair try. Boy, I'm glad I did. Out of all of the reality shows out there, this one actually has a fresh twist. Sure, it's a show about a family that is fronted by a famous dad-- yes, we've seen that before. But unlike the dysfunctional Osbourne household, the Hogan house is headed by a dad that is really on top of things. With all due respect to Ozzy, he seemed to be in somewhat of a fog during most of his series. Not true for Terry "Hulk" Hogan.

The Hogan kids, 16 year old Brooke and 14 year old Nick, don't curse at their parents and they also don't get away with much. Papa Hulk knows their every move. In this day in age, and especially when it comes to rich kids, I don't think it's a bad thing to protect your children no matter what the extremes. And Hulk sure does go to extremes.

When 16 year old Brooke goes out on a date with an older guy, Hogan gets a GPS tracking system installed in her car without her knowledge. Then he spends the night on the computer, making sure she is going where she says she is going. Would Hogan have done this same stunt had there not been a camera crew filming him? That I don't know for sure. But something tells me he probably would have.

On the latest episode, 14 year old Nick is getting a little too serious with his girlfriend. Hulk is on top of that one too, scheduling time to hang out and have some "guy time' with his son, and forbidding the boy to hang out in his bedroom with the girl. He even tries to sabotage one of Nick's dates in a playful way-- arranging for Nick's favorite model to interrupt things (and it works-- Nick's girlfriend is furious about it). Hogan's wife Linda is around, too, although the show is centered mostly on Hulk and the kids. Still, Hulk and Linda try to stay on the same page when it comes to raising their kids.

Considering they live in a sprawling mansion, these kids seem amazingly well balanced and down to earth. They're open to talking to their parents-- even about embarrassing topics--without giving them any lip. They seem like good, wholesome, respectful kids. They couldn't be further from the Osbournes.

And with all due respect to the Osbourne family, I highly doubt that either of the Hogan kids will ever end up in a rehab. Not with a dad like Hulk Hogan tracking their every move.

I sometimes wonder how we ever survived before the Internet. With the Internet, you can research just about anything. These days, before I watch any movie, my new favorite hobby is to do an Internet check on one of the many movie websites that are out there. A check for what, you ask? I check for movie blunders or bloopers-- mistakes, or whatever else you want to call them. Things that made it into the film that shouldn't have. Things that the director overlooked in the final cut. Yes, my husband and I have become pros on what movie faux pas to look for and when. Here are a few of our favorite movie blunders. Look for them next time you watch these flicks:

-- Last of the Mohicans (1992). This epic film starring Daniel Day Lewis has several great blunders within it. One of my favorites is a scene near the beginning of the movie where one of the characters is about to shoot an elk. You can see a stagehand in a red baseball cap in the woods, shooing the elk out of the woods. In another scene, as the English guys are about to surrender their fort, you can see a large Greyhound style bus in the background. Keep in mind this film is set in the 1700's, long before baseball caps and buses were in vogue.

-- Fatal Attraction (1987). Glenn Close starred in this film as a terrifying psychopath out to get revenge on her married lover. During the famous bunny boiling scene, you can see the cameraman's reflection prominently in one of the windows.

-- It's A Wonderful Life (1946). The wonderful Jimmy Stewart starred in this classic holiday movie, but it wasn't without its blunders. The most noticeable mistake? In the scene that takes place the day before Christmas, as George Bailey (Stewart) cheerfully goes into the Bailey Building and Loan, he is carrying a Christmas wreath. He takes the wreath off of his arm and puts it down to use the telephone. You then see the wreath still on his arm while he is talking on the phone.

-- A Christmas Story (1983). This wonderful film, written and narrated by the great Jean Shephard, is set in the 1940's. What's funny is how modern day (1980's) cars are clearly seen out on the road in one scene.

-- Jerry Maguire (1996). Tom Cruise starred in this movie as a down on his luck sports agent. In one scene, when he goes to visit one of his clients, Jerry (Cruise) is driving a Dodge brand car. Yet when he leaves his client's house, he is driving another type of car.

Tips for spotting movie blunders: Pay attention to details. Look in the background for people or vehicles that shouldn't be there. Look for props and signs that aren't in synch with the time period that the movie is set in. Look for random camera people who make it into the film. Just about every film has a blunder or two.

When the reality series, "The Surreal Life" was first introduced in 2003 I thought it was an interesting concept. A half dozen celebrities (most of whom had seen better days) all moved into a house together and their lives were taped ala "The Real World" style.

The first season of misfits included former child star Corey Feldman, Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil and rapper turned preacher M.C. Hammer. Oh, and then there was "Survivor" alum Jerri Manthey, who most of the other houseguests had never heard of. I watched the first season out of curiosity (as I do with most reality fare) and my final verdict was that it was sort of depressing. I don't like to call these celebrities has-beens, but it's obvious their careers were in a slump and today's quick fix for that is a reality show. Unfortunately, I don't think "The Surreal Life" put any of these guys back on the radar and in fact it created sort of a stigma for these celebs ('Surreal Life" = has been). Still, "The Surreal Life" plowed ahead, producing subsequent seasons that included "stars" such as Vanilla ice, Flavor Flav, Brigette Nielsen, Charo, Erik Estrada, Christopher Knight, Emmanuel Lewis and Tammy Faye Bakker. I watched intermittently.

Fast forward to 2005, where the fifth season of "The Surreal Life 5" is now airing on VH1. "The Surreal life 5" may host the most "unfamous" cast yet, as no one stands out as a really big former superstar. Famous, yes, but there's no former heartthrobs like Erik Estrada or Chris Knight.

No, the latest "Surreal" cast consists of "the first supermodel" Janice Dickinson (hey, I follow fashion and I've never heard of her); Carey Hart (known mostly for being the boyfriend of pop star Pink); Caprice (I don't have a clue); Pepa from the rap/pop duo Salt and Pepa; Bronson Pinchot (Balki from 80's sitcom "Perfect Strangers"); former steroid-using baseball player Jose Canseco; and Omarosa, resident troublemaker from "The Apprentice".

From the first episode there are fireworks between the housemates, mostly caused by Janice Dickinson who clearly wants to be the star of the show. Dickinson prances about in her best aging model form, causing drama, letting the tears flow and cursing out anyone that dares to come near her. Judging by the previews for the upcoming episodes, it only gets worse. Doesn't look like Dickinson and Omarosa get along too well-- in fact it looks like they despise each other. I don't find it entertaining to see grown women calling each other offensive names and cursing-- if I want to see that I'll watch "Jerry Springer". And Canseco, although he is a massively big guy, has an unbelievably immature manner about him. PInchot seems like a dirty old man and Caprice just sort of blends in. The most mature one seems to be the young, tattoo covered Carey Hart.

This season the "Surreal Life" has a circus theme. I'm not sure what that means, but there is a 3-legged dog that occupies the house. His name is Lucky, and I guess he's hoping, like the rest of his housemates, that "The Surreal Life 5" will be his lucky break as well.

I am not what you would call a "smart shopper." I give in to impulse purchases more often than I would like to admit, and I usually rely on a particular brand's reputation rather than the quality of their products within a specific field. Sometimes this can get me into trouble. For example, I once purchased a mid-range Sony digital camera. I didn't research the performance features of the camera. Instead, I went with the Sony name because I have trusted that brand for electronics purchases for many years. That turned out to be a mistake, however, as I later discovered that the particular camera model I chose had several problems associated with it. If I had simply spent an hour or so scouring the Internet, I would have been able to read reviews from past customers.

Don't let this happen to you, especially when you are thinking about buying something big. These days, televisions can probably be considered major purchases. While you can still get a variety of TVs for less than $1000, plasma televisions, which are all the rage right now, easily cost $4000 or more. This is a significant amount of money for most people, so before purchasing a television, you should spend some time researching your options.

I personally don't like to go to the electronics store and ask the sales reps for advice about television purchases. For one thing, most of the employees that you find in national chain stores are not experts on the products in their departments. Don't get me wrong; I'm sure you can find employees that are the exception to this rule. But for the most part, you are likely going to be dealing with people who don't know any more about a particular product than you do. Plus, the sales staff of some stores work on commission. So they are more interested in telling you what you want to hear in order to close the deal than on giving you solid information.

The best way to research a television purchase is by checking a magazine such as Consumer Reports, or by visiting their website at www. consumerreports.com. The information in the magazine and on the website is gathered by an independent, nonprofit group called Consumer Union. They offer unbiased testing and reviews of thousands of products in 7 major categories. On the website, you can get lots of general information for free, but if you want detailed reports about specific products, you need to pay for a subscription.

Another way to check out a prospective television is to search for a particular model in a search engine like Google or Yahoo and include the words "reviews" and "rating". The search results will yield independent websites containing reviews from regular people like you and me who have actually purchased the TV. These reviews aren't going to be scientific like the reviews on Consumer Reports, but if many people complain about the same problems or rave about the same features, then you can get a general idea of what to expect from the television.

Whichever route you choose, just remember that the final decision is always yours. Spend your money wisely!

Believe me when I tell you, I had no intention of ever watching CBS and Mark Burnett's latest reality series, "Rock Star INXS" for a several reasons. For one, I don't like "American Idol" style reality show-- shows featuring bad singing and cheesy pop songs. Two, I thought the premise was just plain icky: a nationwide talent search to replace the deceased frontman of a popular rock band? And last of all, I just didn't want to get sucked into yet another reality series.

But last night, I fell asleep during the commercial break of "The King of Queens" (one of my favorite shows) and I woke up to the beginning of "Rock Star INXS" and a gorgeous young singer belting out his rendition of the Mama's and the Papa's classic "California Dreaming". Suddenly I was wide awake. This guy was awesome-- he had the voice, the look of a rock star. This guy was rocking and there wasn't any cheesiness involved. Suddenly I was very intrigued.

In 1997, INXS front man, Michael Hutchence, tragically ended his life in a hotel room in Australia. The band has been understandably quiet since then, but now they are back in search of a new lead singer. Enter Burnett and "Rock Star INXS". It's an ingenious concept, to say the least, as it is drawing massive attention to a band that hasn't had a hit single in years.

The hosts of the show are Brooke Burke (of E Entertainment Television's Wild On) and rock god Dave Navarro (of Jane's Addiction and Red Hot Chili Pepper fame). Just having Navarro on this show gives it some credibility, as he is too cool to be on anything tacky (okay, I take that back-- he did star in his own wedding-planning-style MTV reality series with wife Carmen Electra) . Burke is what she is-- pretty and perky, perfect reality show fare, and at first I mistook her for Navarro's wife, Carmen Electra (they sure look alike).

The remaining members of the rock group INXS were there as well, as they would be the final decision makers on who would get kicked off the show last night. Yes, America does do some voting as well, but the INXS guys get the final say on who gets the boot.

So the three contestants with the lowest number of votes each had to get up and sing another song. But here's the best part-- they didn't sing tired old pop tunes like they do on "American Idol". Instead, each of them were assigned a classic INXS song (that's right-- real rock songs): "New Sensation", "I Need You Tonight" and "Never Tear Us Apart", respectively.

After each contestant sang their song, the INXS guys huddled to make their vote. They ended up voting off a guy named Will, who had a decent voice but not much stage presence. I personally thought he tried to hard to sing like Michael Hutchence-- and INXS probably doesn't want a Michael Hutchence clone.

All in all, I was pleasantly surprised by "Rock Star INXS". The singing was actually enjoyable to watch and now I'm curious to see how it all pans out. It's a great-- if somewhat morbid-- twist on the whole reality singing star theme. Yes, "American Idol"-- be afraid. Be very afraid.

Every year I swear I'm not going to watch it and every year I somehow get sucked in. I'm talking about CBS' "Big Brother", the pointless reality series that I have come to rely on to get me through the summer rerun season.

"Big Brother" has not improved with age. The first season aired in 2000. Host Julie Chen has been a permanent fixture since the show's inception, which I think is part of the problem. It's not that I dislike Chen-- she's attractive and pleasant enough. It's just that I think it's a little odd to have a network news personality hosting a reality show (Chen is co-host on CBS' "The Early Show"). I'm really surprised that "Big Brother" hasn't replaced Chen with someone a little younger and more hip (the cast sure is). Could it be family ties that keeps Chen in the "Big Brother" hostess role? (she's married to CBS president Les Moonves). Or do the "Big Brother' producers think that Chen lends some credibility to the show? Who knows!

If you're not familiar with the show, here's the premise in a nutshell: 14 people are holed up in the "Big Brother" house for the entire summer. They have no access to phones, TV, computers or the outside world. Each week the cast will vote someone out of the house (2 nominees are chosen by the Head of Household). The last man standing wins $500,000.

Of course there are a few twists and turns along the way-- but barely. Nominees have the chance to win the Golden Power of Veto so they can take themselves off of the chopping block. Sometimes evicted houseguests return. And there's always a bizarre twist like last year's creepy Project DNA twist (two cast mates had the same father, unbeknownst to them).

This year is dubbed "The Summer of Secrets". The biggest secret? Each cast mate has a secret "alliance"-- a fellow cast mate that they knew before going on the show. Each pair thinks that they are the only secret pair. If an alliance pair can remain the last two standing, they win double the usual prize money. But I find this to be the lamest twist ever.

Two years ago, "Big Brother" had a twist called the Ex factor. Ex boyfriends and girlfriends were placed together in the house. Sure, the sparks flew. But I think any cast mate who has watched "Big Brother" in the past probably already suspects that they aren't the only secret pair. I think it will be easily figured out.

There is also a secret bedroom this year, which the cast mates discovered on the second episode. Not all that exciting so far.

This year's cast is "Big Brother's" youngest yet. There is no one that is really likeable, at least not yet. Most of the cast seem shallow and a little vain. They are all very attractive. There's the token Personal Shopper and Fireman. Several of them look like models.

The houseguests have to compete for things like food-- if they lose they live on peanut butter and jelly for a week. That's sure to make them cranky. But most of the show is devoted to watching the housemates talk about who should be voted off.

And if you can't get enough "excitement" via the thrice weekly airings of "Big Brother", you can shell out the bucks to watch the live Internet feeds of the housemates, because-- oh yeah-- there are cameras in every room of the house (even the bathroom).

Here's hoping the show gets a little more exciting as it progresses. But, based on the past seasons of "Big Brother", I'm not holding my breath.

Television has come to be much more than a source of entertainment in the lives of Americans and the rest of the world. We use our televisions to open our lives each morning to what is going on in the news, the latest fashion trends, ideas about what we'll have for dinner that evening, and the newest health and fitness suggestions. Often we will fall into the routine of watching our morning news programs, laughing along with the cheerful, smiling host and hostess, musing at the weather, furrowing our brow at the sad headlines, and wiping away tears after hearing the human interest stories. Sometimes we have the TV playing in the background, half-listening to what is going on in the world, a bit jaded to the latest talk about Israel, Iraq or Afghanistan; until something like September 11 happens. On September 11, 2001, we all sat up and noticed; we all stopped what we were doing, ignored whatever the equally shocked commentators were saying about the events, and simply stared.

Now, nearly four years later, we've had another such shock. On July 7, 2005, London was attacked by the same cowardly terrorist group that attacked the United States in 2001. Once again it was a vicious yet cowardly attack by individuals and a group that has no regard for the innocent, no regard for human life, and apparently, no regard for themselves or their honor, as they won't fight fair. Although I vehemently disagree with anything remotely related to Al Queda, common sense tells me these people have a right to their views and opinions; severely misguided as they may be. But they lose all credibility, even among themselves when they display such acts of cowardice. One has to wonder, do they really think they'll get what they want by blowing up innocent citizens of a country far from their own? Do they think the people of the free world will cater to their demands and bow to their so-called power? Do they think at all?

On July 7, we once again disregarded the rest of the news and the rest of the world's events. We sat glued to our televisions, horrified once more at the shock of seeing blood on the outside of people's bodies, smoking billowing and debris scattered everywhere. Perhaps, like seeing the towers fall on September 11, we will never forget the scene of the double-decker bus in London, split open as if with a can opener. Once again we were stopped in our tracks by what we saw on our televisions and, like the discussions at the G-8 summit and the talk by the news people, we were thrust back into survival mode and focused on what is really important. At times of tragedy like that, when we see such horror brought into our homes by means of the television, we forget the trivial; petty arguments, annoying politicians, minor disagreements. Instead, we are instantly reminded that the only things that really matter are our families, the people we love, and our faith in God. All the rest just melts away into TV land.

Although I am a fan of most reality TV, I am the first to admit that some reality programming is just plain bad. I thought "Fear factor" was the worst, but lately I am seeing reality television sinking to new lows. Case in point?

-- Celebrity Fit Club 2 (VH1). I only caught the tail end of the first go round of this series, so I tuned in this past Sunday for the premier of season 2. I wish I didn't. The host is some guy named Ant. The cast consists of a bunch of celebrities who have seen better days (I hate to say the word has-beens). Besides the fact that their careers are in a slump, these celebs have an even bigger problem-- they have all packed on a few pounds since their heyday. Some have packed on a lot more than a few pounds. The cast of Celebrity Fit club is:

Gary Busey ("The Buddy Holly Story")
Victoria Jackson ("Saturday Night Live")
Willie Ames ("Eight is Enough", "Charles in Charge")
Jani Lane (lead singer of big-haired heavy metal band, Warrant)
Phil Margera ("Viva La Bam")
Toccara Jones ('America's Next Top Model")
Jackee Harry ("227", "Sister Sister")
Wendy Kaufman, aka the Snapple Lady

What do I find most sad bout this show? Well, the weigh-in, to start. IN the first episode, each cast member had to get on a giant scale for a formal weigh-in-- in front of everybody. They were then berated by some fitness guru named Harvey (and Harv sure didn't mince words-- in fact he was downright cruel in a few cases). Not only that, but each celeb's vital statistics were plastered on the screen for the world to see (height, weight, body fat percentage, etc).

I'm not sure how many weeks the series runs for, but some of the celebrities were told they are expected to lose 50 pounds by the end of the show (Phil Margera is expected to lose 80 pounds). Now, I'm not a weight loss expert, but I always thought that for safe, healthy weight loss you should aim to lose no more than 1 to 2 pound per week. So, does that mean the series will run for 6 months (26 weeks X 2 pounds a week)? It's my experience that most reality shows, especially shows that involve celebrities, only film for a few weeks .

What else bothers me about this show?

-- Seeing these former stars stooping to this level to get their careers going again.

-- The giant scale for the group weigh-in (this will be done each week to see which "team" loses the most weight).

-- And finally, the humiliating beratings by Harvey, who, while he's undoubtedly a talented fitness instructor, is clearly part of the cast purely for entertainment reasons (think of him as this show's Simon Cowell).

Will I tune in again next week? Every fiber of my being tells me not to, but I may peek in for review purposes and out of curiosity to see if anyone met their weekly weight loss goal.

And as for me, "Celebrity Fit Club 2" will probably help me to lose a few pounds-- the mere thought of this tasteless show makes me lose my appetite.

For some reason, it seems that many of my memories from when I was a teenager center around the television set. My very first memories of it are from my grandmother's living room back when they still lived on a farm. It was one of those old "box" styles and the reception, as I recall, was very lousy.

It always fascinated me that she watched a soap opera in the afternoon. It just didn't seem like something my grandmother would do, but she enjoyed it and told me about some of the people on the show. I wasn't interested, but still I wondered what made her enjoy something like that.

I didn't really like the upstairs of the farm. It scared me when I was a kid and I tried everything in my power when I stayed with them overnight to be allowed to stay up until they retired for the night. That wasn't to be for a little girl, though, and I had to go to bed early. They enjoyed staying up for the 11 p.m. news and I just would not be able to stay awake that long. So instead I lay in the spare room upstairs and terrorized myself with thoughts of the devil or some other form of monster jumping out of the attic door and coming into that room.

I didn't do the overnight stays too often, so most of my television memories are from the home in which I grew up. Sunday nights, of course, were used to watch the Wonderful World of Disney. I could never miss that little Tinkerbell fairy touching her magic wand to the castle to make the "fireworks." It was always quite a disappointment if the movie that was offered for the week turned out to be something I would not enjoy.

Sometime during those very "old days" I started making a habit out of not missing Gilligan's Island on Saturday nights. Gilligan's Island and a bowl of potato chips started many Saturday nights for me. I have to smile now to realize I was too young to question why all of those people took so many things along for just a three hour tour. I never questioned why Mr. Howell had trunks of money along with him, or Ginger had so many gowns on that short tour. Today I'd have to question if they actually planned to get shipwrecked and tried to escape the real world, but not back then, no way, never occurred to me.

After school is another memory. A lot of my friends had figured out that if homework was done immediately after getting home, the rest of the night was free. Not I! The most important thing when arriving home was trying to get to the television dial before any of my siblings got there. No remotes to lose or fight over back then!

Saturday morning, of course, was cartoon time for my younger siblings. I was usually the first one awake but by the time I got the television turned on, they heard it and were right there with me. Luckily we liked the same cartoons and I didn't mind watching that programming with them.

When the cable channel HBO first appeared in my home about 20 years ago, I was extremely excited. I would be able to watch movies all day, every day. They were, after all, called the Home Box Office for a reason. Every time I turned on the TV and flipped the dial (no remote control for the cable box back then) to HBO, I was sure to catch a movie in progress or about to start. I was in heaven! Then HBO gradually started changing their programming. Instead of just showing movies, they started showing sports. I admit that my memory is a bit spotty, but I believe that Wimbledon used to be broadcast on HBO back in the day. Sometimes a change in programming causes a network to lose viewers or become the butt of cultural jokes ("Remember when they used to show videos on MTV?"). Sometimes, however, a change in programming works. For HBO, the latter is definitely true.

HBO now shows many original comedy and drama series. If you've ever heard of The Sopranos, Sex and the City, Deadwood, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Six Feet Under, or Entourage, then you know what kind of great shows HBO puts out there. Almost every single one of these shows has been nominated for various industry awards, including Emmys. Several of the shows and individual actors have won Emmys, Golden Globes, and other awards in recent years. These days, we expect HBO to lead all other networks in Emmy Award nominations.

So what's the secret? How is it that a cable channel can be so dominating year after year? I think it's because HBO is not subject to the same censorship and restrictions as the free networks. This obviously gives the writers for HBO shows a lot of flexibility with their scripts. They can be more original because they aren't expected to conform to the same standards as the shows on the "big 4" networks.

For example, a big part of the show The Sopranos deals with a dysfunctional home life. Of course we've seen dysfunctional families on TV for a long time, so it seems like there's no new angle to pursue there. We would expect to see tired, cliched problems that get resolved before the final credits roll. But that's not the case. The head of the Soprano family just happens to also be the head of the New Jersey mafia. So the problems he faces "on the job" and the problems he faces at home are not the same problems that you would see cropping up on regular network shows. Plus, the dialogue sounds much closer to reality since the characters are allowed to curse and say things that you or your friends would say.

I love HBO programming. These are basically the only television series I watch now because I know I will get to see fresh, original scenes that I haven't seen a hundred times already. I just wish other cable shows would follow in HBO's footsteps.

There were many television programs in the late 1960s and early 1970s that became part of the fabric which made up the lives of the children growing up during those times. Among the favorites were Sesame Street, Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo and Romper Room. While today there are an abundance of children's programs from reality TV to cartoons to puppets and computer animation, back then the shoes were real; with real people, real issues, and real fun! One of the favorites of smaller children, sort of the Barney and Friends of yester-year, was the lovable Romper Room.

The small town in which I grew up had a local Romper Room at the TV station downtown, with a tall, pretty, model-like hostess named Miss Susan. From the time I was about three or four years old, I distinctly remember Miss Susan looking out of our television set and right into my innocent brown eyes. She told me how special I was and then she looked into her magic mirror and recited the names of several children she could see. I longed for her to say my name on TV. My name wasn't unusual, but neither was it very common. Of course, at the time I didn't know this; I simply waited for her to see ME.

When I turned five, my mother arranged for me to be on the Romper Room show for a week. Apparently children from around the area could sign up for a week on the show and the show would be taped and aired the next week. Sadly, this was back in the days before video recordings, so we didn't get to tape the show, but I was on the Romper Room show for those five weekdays. There were five of us on the show and each day we were told to bring something into the studio that would be discussed. One day our task was to bring in various types of shoes. I had a little shoe bag in which I kept my ballet and tap shoes for my dancing class. We put the ballet and tap shoes into the bag, as well as a pair of ski boots, hiking boots, and sandals. I arrived at Romper Room that day with more shoes than anyone else and Miss Susan was so pleased. The rest of the week was mostly a blur and I stared at the giant camera and wondered why it didn't feel the same way it felt when I watched it on TV.

At the end of the show each day, Miss Susan still looked into her magic mirror and recited the names. I wondered where the children were out there in TV land, and if she could really see them. I certainly couldn't. Her mirror really must have been magic.

The next week my mom and baby brother and I sat on the sofa and watched each morning as I was on Romper Room. We laughed about all the shoes and marveled that I was on TV. On the Friday of that week, the last day I was on the show, Miss Susan did something that somehow I had missed during the taping. She looked into her magic mirror and she said she saw ME. At first I thought I'd heard wrong, but my mom started cheering and I knew she had heard it too. Somehow, someway, Miss Susan had seen me in her Romper Room magic mirror. Ah, the magic of television!

Do you remember the After School Special? Back in the days when television didn't start up until sunrise and it always ended at midnight each night with the Star Spangled Banner and the American flag on the screen? In those days, television held a sort of mystique, offering things to us that could be found no place else. This was in the days before video recording, cable TV and re-runs. If we were fortunate enough to come across the latest TV Guide or if we happened to catch an advertisement about an upcoming movie or show, we could schedule it into our lives. Somehow we weren't as busy then; not as many after school sports and activities programs to tie up our schedules. The occasional After School Special was just that - after school, and special. It was something that only came around once in a while and it was always a clean, heartfelt story. If we missed it, it was assumably lost forever, though all the shows can probably be bought somewhere now on DVD; and that fact does take away some of the mystique, doesn't it?

The After School Special in our home was revered. We knew it was coming and we built our week around it. If it was in winter and the snow sledding hills beckoned, we left our sleds and came inside to watch the show. In the summer months, we came in early from our day at the pool and curled up around a bowl of Jiffy-Pop popcorn to enjoy the special.

My favorite After School Special was one that I've never forgotten. It didn't have the best actors; I scarcely remember what the individuals looked like. But I remember the story. I remember it because years later the same story became a hit movie. The story was about a little girl in present day times (which then, was in the 1970s). I don't remember all the details, but she was frustrated with her mother about something, and she ultimately traveled back in time to the 1950s and met her mother when she was a little girl. The concept fascinated me. I didn't have the best relationship with my mother. She was a bit overbearing and difficult and I fantasized about traveling back in time and meeting her when she was just a girl, like me. In the end, the girl came back to her present day, 1970s life and was able to see her mom in a different light.

Years later, the hit movie, "Back to the Future," came out with a bang and enjoyed instant popularity. To my knowledge, no one ever said anything about the similarities with that once-seen obscure After School Special. I've often wondered if they got the idea from that story, because they were so similar, or if it was just a coincidence. Either way, it was a wonderful story about looking at people from a more objective stance and trying to understand where they're coming from. It would benefit us all if we could relate to others in this way; getting into their history and their space long enough to know them and know where they're coming from. All this wonderful amateur psychology right from my television, when I was a little girl.

When I was a kid, staying home from school on a sick day or snow day meant the thrills of daytime TV; a few thrills, anyway. Sick days were rare, but during my childhood days in Colorado, snow days were a part of life. We could count on at least a few each year, and sometimes we were fortunate enough to get three or four in a row during a big blizzard. It was on those days that I got to see the sought after television shows that we children missed while we were in school. Of course, we only had three channels, as these were the days prior to cable television, but it was enough. I looked forward to watching Bob Barker on The Price is Right (wow, he's still doing that show!) and many of the other game shows: Hollywood Squares, Joker's Wild, Family Feud, and the 20,000 Dollar Pyramid. The afternoons brought soap operas on two channels, which held no interest for me, but the third channel had a show called Dialing for Dollars.

Dialing for Dollars was a live show on which movies were shown. This of course was before HBO and all the 24 hour movie channels we have today. The only TV movies we could look forward to when I was a child were on occasional Sunday evenings and during Dialing for Dollars, which was on while I was in school. On Dialing for Dollars, the hostess sat at a desk with a telephone and a big paper tumbler filled with local phone numbers. She announced the movie to be shown and then on each commercial break she pulled a number out of the tumbler, dialed the number on her traditional dialed telephone, and if the person on the other end answered, they had the chance to name the movie being shown that day and possibly win the jackpot.

The show later went on to be a late night success and was spoofed on the comedy channel, SCTV. But during the early years, my mom was a faithful viewer, as was I on those rare wonderful days when I stayed home from school. Often the movie held no interest for me, but I sat faithfully next to the TV, coloring or reading, waiting for the phone to ring. A few times over the years, the phone actually rang while the hostess of Dialing for Dollars was trying to call someone. In a panic, I picked up the phone, only to find that it wasn't her.

The Dialing for Dollars lady never did call our number; or if she did, we weren't home and had missed the movie that day. Come to think of it, I never knew anyone who won the jackpot or even got a phone call from her. I wonder if the show was real or if it was a scam to simply get people to watch the movie and obviously tune in to the sponsored advertisements being shown. The world may never know, but I often think about sitting by the phone from 1:00 to 3:00 pm on those snow days and sick days, hoping to win thousands.

For as long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a Nielsen family. You know what I'm talking about-- one of those families that are picked to keep a log of their television viewing habits. I often wonder how television ratings are accurately tracked-- just because the "Nielsen's" down the street watch "Two and a Half Men" doesn't mean my family does (and we don't).

My family would be a perfect Nielsen family because, between me, my husband and our children we watch a lot of television-- and quite a variety of programs, to boot. In fact, I'd like to volunteer to be a Nielsen but they don't accept volunteers. Your family has to be randomly selected. So I wait, patiently, for a postcard in the mail asking me to participate.

If I were a Nielsen, I think I would find that the viewing habits in our household are more indicative of "real" viewing habits than the usual Nielsen 10 is. Most people I know watch the same shows my family does, yet many of those shows never make the Nielsen top 10.

A typical TV viewing day in our household goes something like this:

6:00 AM: The local news. We flip back and forth between two channels because we like the news anchors on one channel and the weather personality and traffic guy on another channel.

6:30 AM: ESPN or some other sports network. This is my husband's doing-- while he gets ready for work he has to have the sports news on.

Meanwhile, downstairs on our other TV set:

6:30 AM until 8:00 AM: While I make breakfast my kids start to emerge from upstairs at varying times. So this is when we have the "Noggin" network on. My daughter likes to watch "Max and Ruby' and "Maggie and the Ferocious Beast' while she eats her Cheerios. My kids also like "Sesame Street" and "Caillou".

Later, while I'm getting dressed ...

9:00 AM: "Live with Regis and Kelly". I usually have this while I take my shower and getting dressed. Mid-way through "Live" is when we usually turn off the TV for a few hours and go do some other things. The exception, of course, is if the weather is bad or if someone is sick. If we stay in, we will usually have "Noggin" or "Nick Jr" on. If "Blue's Clues" is on we always watch that. Sometimes I will switch to "The Tony Danza Show" or "The View" if they have good guests on. No matter what the day, we always turn off the TV around lunch time.

1:00 PM: After lunch is nap time for my kids, so sometimes I'll sneak a peak at "All My Children" while I'm doing something mundane like folding laundry.

3:00 PM: Mid-afternoon (after naptime) my kids like to play in their playroom. I sometimes hop on the treadmill and watch "The Ellen DeGeneres Show".

4:00 PM: I watch "The Oprah Winfrey Show" every day, no exceptions. After "Oprah" we eat dinner and the TV is off until 7:00 PM. The only exception is on Monday, when the Food Network usually broadcasts back to back episodes of my favorite cooking show, "The Barefoot Contessa" at 5:00.

7:00 PM: My husband and I watch the syndicated "The King of Queens". It's our favorite comedy.

7:30: I sometimes watch "The Insider" if I'm looking for some good celebrity gossip. My husband hates that stuff so he will usually play with the kids until it is time to get them ready for bed.

8:00 PM: Bath time, tucking kids into bed, reading stories. My husband usually watches "Nancy Grace" once the kids are in bed.

9:00 PM: "Larry King Live" or "The Big Idea with Donnie Deutsch" if the guests are good. If it's a Sunday night it's "Desperate Housewives" followed by "Grey's Anatomy". Other nights it might be whatever is on "E" or "VH1".

10:00 PM: I confess that most nights I watch MTV at this time. I like most of their "10 Spot" shows. Sorry. On Wednesday nights it's "Sex and the City" reruns on TBS (I miss that show).

11:00 PM: The local news and then Letterman or Leno.

Late night: If I am up really late, I usually watch classic late night TV on "TV Land" or "Nick at Nite" (shows like "All in the Family", "Three's Company" and "Roseanne"). If my husband controls the remote, he tries to put or CNN or news shows, but I don't like hearing bad news right before I go to sleep. It makes me worry and it keeps me awake.

Of course this list is subject to change. As new reality shows come and go we watch them. When the new fall lineup starts up, we watch other things as well. But, as you can see, with the exception of "Desperate Housewives", most of the shows we watch in our household don't make the Nielsen top 10. So who is watching all of those other shows?

Oh, if only I were a Nielsen ....

by Victoria Miller

Summer used to be the time of endless television reruns, but ever since the reality TV boom kicked in that has not been the case. In fact, summer is the peak season for fresh new reality shows. And while some are virtually unwatchable, others may actually keep you entertained until the new season of "Lost" starts back up again in the fall. Here's a sampling of some of the latest summer reality shows.

-- "The Real World Austin" (MTV). MTV's latest installment of this long running reality season features another drop-dead gorgeous cast, an arrest on the premiere episode, and the usual antics involving alcohol and sex. If you're a fan of the series, you may think you're watching reruns of last season, but rest assured it's a whole new cast and a new town. Although it airs on MTV, this show is not for kids, that's for sure.

-- "I Want to be a Hilton" (NBC). Paris and Nicky Hilton's mom, Kathy, is the head honcho on this Apprentice-like series. Contestants compete in a variety of uppity challenges, vying for the ultimate prize-- the chance to win a lifestyle just like the Hilton's (okay, it's more like a prize package and a trust fund worth 200 grand). Still, it beats working for The Donald. Repeats of the series air on Bravo.

-- "Average Joe: the Joe's Strike Back" (NBC). I thought this series was cruel the first time around. Ugly duckling "Joe's" compete to win the heart of a gorgeous woman (this time her name is Anna), a woman who is clearly out of their league. Just as the confidence of the Joe's build up, in storm the hunks that will also join the competition. There's always at least one Joe with a heart of gold, and most of the hunks are usually vain and cocky. Now who do you think the gorgeous Anna will pick? My money is on any one of those shallow hunks.

-- "Big Brother 6" (CBS). CBS promises tons of twists and turns on the newest edition of this show. Of course they said that last year, too. The premise of this show is simple-- contestants are holed up together in a house for the entire summer, voting one person out each week. The grand prize for the last man or woman standing is a half million dollars. This year, the secret "twist" is that each house guest will have a secret partner (read: alliance) that they will enter the house with. The real "twist" is that each couple thinks that they are the only secret couple. Well, after last year's bizarre Project DNA twist, how long do you think it will take these people to figure this lame twist out? I hope they have some juicer secrets planned. As usual, the cast looks like a bunch of models. Julie Chen is the host and you can expect a live segment every Thursday night.

-- "Dancing with the Stars" (ABC). Okay, maybe it's just me but I just don't get this series. C-list celebrities (actually, wasn't Trista Rehn a contestant at one point? Better make that D-list celebrities). Bad dancing. Cheesy music. It all adds up to-- summer reality television. Hey, who could ask for more?

I remember the day a few months ago when Martha Stewart was released from prison. The news media was on her tail her throughout the day, documenting her entry onto the airplane that would take her home and following her on her walk through her property once she finally got there. Some of the all news channels were staked out across the street from her home, watching her every move all day long. As I flipped through the television channels that day, trying to find something else to watch besides Martha, I remember thinking to myself, "It must be a slow news day." Indeed it was.

On the morning of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, I was babysitting for my sister's two children. They were watching an early morning children's program, when I suddenly said to them, "Let me just change channels for a second to see who's on Regis and Kelly today". It was strange that I did that, as I normally would never change the channel while they were in the middle of watching a show, but for some reason on that morning I was compelled to switch channels. I saw the image of the World Trade Center on fire and I called upstairs to alert my husband, who flipped on the TV in our bedroom. I heard him shout from upstairs, "Did you see that?" as the second building caught fire. As you can imagine, within minutes all of the TV networks devoted coverage to the tragedy. Millions of viewers watched live as the Twin Towers toppled to the ground. By days end, regular broadcasting was preempted on every channel-- even cable stations that normally didn't cover national news. Some stations even shut down completely, airing just a respectful banner message. Sadly, there was way too much news that day.

While we all like to keep informed, the fact of the matter is that we live in a time where there is just too much bad news. A day doesn't go by that we don't hear about the war in Iraq, or of a missing child, or a celebrity murder trial, or a convicted sex offender that has struck again. It's enough to make your head spin. It's enough to make you sick. Regular programming is often interrupted for breaking news stories. My heart always skips a beat when I hear those words, "We interrupt this program", because the news is never good. Sometimes I think the only way to truly get away from it all is to put on a DVD and disconnect yourself from the world. At least DVD's don't get interrupted by breaking news.

That is why I have come to appreciate all of the "fluff" or "filler" news segments. The Martha Stewart prison release (which was really a happy day for Ms. Stewart and her fans). The American Idol voting scandal. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie's secret vacation getaway (at least they included Jolie's son, Maddox in the festivities). When any of these topics are the top news story of the day, then you can be assured that there aren't any real tragedies going on. At least for the moment.

Written by James Fohl

Following the success of Spider-man 2 and X2, the sequel to the original X-Men movie, Marvel Comics again are believed
to be making money once again as they are taking yet another popular comic book franchise and taking it into movie land.
This time, the comic is the Fantastic Four, a comic strip that was created by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby back in the early
1960's (1961).

The Fantastic Four is a group of four individuals that gained their powers back in the 1961 by being exposed to cosmic
rays, however this is due to change for the upcoming movie. The group consists of the team leader, Mr. Fantastic, The
Invisible Woman, The Torch, and The Thing. Believe me when I say that while they do not have the most creative names
ever, neither do their enemies.

Each member of the Fantastic Four has a specific special power. Mr. Fantastic has the ability to stretch. The Invisible
Woman has the power.. well to be invisible, and can also build invisible force fields. The Torch has the ability to set
himself upon fire, while The Thing is a guy that looks like he's made out of dirt, and thus has superhuman strength.


As mentioned previously, if you think the Fantastic Four group members have some very unoriginal names, then you will
most likely be very amused with the Fantastic Four's enemies. The main guy, Doctor Doom looks very evil and wears
a cast iron mask to prevent people from seeing the scars he had received on his face in a previous experiment that had
gone wrong. Other villains that the Fantastic Four have run into include the horrible Mole Man, the Dragonman, and
of course the Mad Thinker.

While the Fantastic Four brought a lot of attention back in the early sixties with their introduction, other attempts at
bringing them to the media in recent years have failed miserably. Eleven years ago, back in 1994, a live action Fantastic Four movie
was made under a budget of two million dollars. He turned out to be such a disaster that the movie was never released, and even
the creator of the comic books, Stan Lee was noted by saying that the movie was created with no intentions of actually being
released. Even today, eleven years later the movie has yet to have an official release.

With the new Fantastic Four movie coming out on July 8th, 2005 fans of Marvel's comic book franchise are eagerly waiting to see
how the movie plays out. A large variety of merchandise has been released for the movie, including video games and action figures,
but still no where near the amount of merchandise that was available for Spider-man 2. Hopefully the movie does well, and although
it is no Spider-man 3, bring in Marvel some extra cash. After all, not all comic book movies are smash hits. While Spider-man and
X-men bring in some cash, movies such as The Incredible Hulk and The Punisher have failed.

Written by James Fohl

After a long hard day, most Americans find themselves on a nice comfy couch or chair in front of the television set watching some what of entertainment. For a lot of guys, it is usually a sports program that recaps what had happened in sports during that particular day. While many television shows dedicated to sports exist, only a few television stations are completely dedicated to sports. Among them is perhaps the most popular sports channel, ESPN.

ESPN stands for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and is a cable television station that was launched on September 7th, 1979 by two father and son pairs; Bill and Scott Rasmussen and Donny and Cardell Stanley. ESPN is based in the state of Connecticut (Bristol), and is viewable in over seventy seven million homes across the United States of America.

ESPN started its infancy in the early 1980's by airing a variety of sports that viewers could not see anywhere else. Examples of such broadcasts included tractor pulls, Australian football, and the United States Football league. ESPN really was not considered to be a big player in the sports department until they were given a contract that allowed them to air NFL football games on Sunday nights, starting in 1987.

As the years progresses, ESPN was getting bigger, better, and started to expand. In October of 1993, the second ESPN television station was launched. Titled ESPN 2, this television sports station was targeted towards young adults with its extreme sports related lineup. Unfortunately, the station did not initially do as well as it had hoped, and eventually its extreme sport lineup was replaced with content similar to the original ESPN station. As a result, today ESPN 2 is viewable in more than sixty three million homes across the United States of America.

The expansion did not stop with ESPN 2. As ESPN became more popular through the 1990's, they gained more cash revenue, much of which they recycled back into their programming line up. ESPNEWS was launched in early November of 1996, and was basically a 24/7 news channel for sports. The following year, ESPN launched its ESPN Classics sports channel which broadcast ed a variety of memorable sporting events.

Things were quiet for a few years before ESPN launched a Spanish version of its popular ESPN channel entitled ESPN Deportes on January 7th, 2004. Later that year, ESPN also launched its high definition station, ESPN HD, which broadcast the same programs as ESPN, only in high definition.

Not only does ESPN have a large variety of sports television stations, but it also has a variety of radio stations, known as ESPN Radio which launched in January 1992. ESPN also has managed to get into other forms of media with its publication, ESPN Magazine.

ESPN was once just a single television station that had shown a variety of programs that could not be seen anywhere else. Today however ESPN is one of the top names in sports, as the company has managed to overtake sports television with several different stations, as well as its other media outlets.

Channel One has been broadcast in America's schools for at least a decade. If you're unfamiliar with the concept, Channel One is a daily news broadcast created with a teen audience in mind. Every night it is broadcast by satellite to secondary schools throughout the nation. Schools can then show the program at any time during the day. The show is about twelve minutes long, so it's usually shown during homeroom or during an extended class period.

So what convinced schools to show Channel One? Of course the chance to have their students become better educated in current events was a lure. But let's be honest, a newspaper subscription could do the same thing. What really got schools interested was that whenever a school first signs up to show Channel One to its students, the company gives them a television for every classroom and the technology to broadcast a single program to all those classrooms. Another feature that few people know about is that the same satellite that brings Channel One to the school also brings other educational programming that teachers can tape and use at their leisure.

Despite its educational purpose, Channel One has always been controversial because it includes two minutes of commercials in each show. Opponents claim that such advertising has no place in school, especially since the students are a captive audience. They feel that schools have sold their souls for some expensive electronic equipment. While I can understand their concern, I feel that students receive many more commercial messages from media in their everyday life than they see during that small break in the show.

For the most part, Channel One is a quality news broadcast expertly designed for the youth demographic. They try to see the issues of the day from a student perspective and include comments from teens whenever possible. They use popular songs in their soundtrack and eye-catching graphics. The hosts are young yet knowledgeable. In fact, a few have even gone on to successful careers in other news venues. Anderson Cooper began his news career with Channel One, as did Lisa Ling and Tabitha Soren. They were later seen on more widely broadcast programs like ABC News, The View and MTV News.

While Channel One provides the highlights of the day's news, they also produce special reports on issues of importance to students like teen drinking or date rape. These give students a chance to learn about topics that aren't always discussed in school and may lead to more candid discussions with teachers in later classes.

Channel One has also done a good job of introducing interactivity into its show. Students are regularly encouraged to log on to ChannelOne.com to answer a Question of the Day or to find out more about a particular news story. The show has also realized that many high school students have cell phones, so they'll ask students to leave text or voicemail messages in response to stories. It's all designed to get students to take a more personal interest in the news.

For many years of my young life, I knew nothing of pop music. I didn't have any older siblings to share their tapes and CDs with me, so I only ever listened to the country and oldies songs my parents preferred. When I finally discovered the world of modern music, it wasn't because of friends or a favorite radio station. I owe my matured music tastes almost entirely to music videos.

I never paid much attention to MTV when I was young, partly because it just wasn't music I listened to, but largely because my parents has let me know that they thought it was inappropriate. I don't think they ever actually watched the channel, but they heard about its sometimes racy content and became concerned. Surprisingly, I didn't become more interested in watching it just because my parents forbade it, and I just didn't think about it much for several years.

But then one day in high school, I was flipping through the channels and the bright colors and dancing of a music video lured me in. I was instantly hooked. I've enjoyed music videos and by extension the songs that they present ever since. In fact, I have music videos on in the background as I write this.

The best music videos tell a story. A classic example of this is Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. The song was always catchy, but it became iconic once the director added a zombie story to it. Guns'n'Roses' "November Rain" is another epic video, but this one focuses on a love story rather than a tale of horror. In fact a well-made video can be a mini-movie that transcends the music.

Other videos can catch your interest through synchronized dance routines. Janet Jackson and boy bands like N'Sync were always good for this style of video. I suppose it's due to my dance background, but I'm a sucker for good choreography. Other videos combine lush visuals for a more artistic feel. Many modern rock and alternative artists have taken this route.

I have to say that my least favorite type of video is the kind where they simply film the band performing the song and add nothing more than some special lighting. It seems a shame to create something so basic when a video can be a unique chance to let your artistic vision shine while adding depth and meaning to your song.

So if I've piqued your interest in music videos, where can you find them? The music video world has expanded since the early days of MTV. Now you can also watch videos on MTV2, Fuse, VH1, VH1 Classic, CMT, IMF (a new channel called the International Music Feed), BET and several other specialty channels. It's rare for music channels to only play videos, so your best bet for a solid block of videos is late at night or early in the morning. You're most likely to find countdown shows and specialty shows in the early evening and primetime. You'll just need to keep an eye on your programming listings to get a feel for when you're likely to find the most videos.

There used to be a time when watching the evening news was a ritual that millions of people performed on a daily basis. That was the time to catch up on the day's events in our own cities, or across the nation and around the world. Television news anchors became trusted conveyors of "just the facts," and Peter Jennings, Tom Brokaw, and Dan Rather became household names. When the compelling stories of the '80s and '90s were unfolding, we were huddled around our televisions to witness the real-life drama. We saw an attempt on President Reagan's life; we saw the space shuttle Challenger disaster; and we saw the Berlin Wall come toppling down. I don't know about you, but those images will be seared in my memory for a long time to come.

But all that is changing now. Fewer people are tuning into the nightly news programs because technology makes the wait unnecessary. Now we can look on the Internet for news 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Internet news sites are updated very frequently. Unlike television news programs, which must take the time to interview sources and verify facts, Internet sites don't worry about getting the whole story the first time around. They will often post what they have, and then make changes as more information is uncovered. You can even watch video feeds of news broadcasts online. So if you still feel the need to watch your news, you can do so on your computer.

Web logs, or blogs, are another source of news information these days. Network news, while it bills itself as objective, does have corporate sponsors. This means they invariably have to toe the company line at some point. Bloggers, on the other hand, who sometimes call themselves "citizen journalists," usually don't have anyone to answer to. They are free to give us the straight dope, and a no-holds-barred style of analysis, which can be a refreshing change from regular news outlets. It must be noted that bloggers are starting to be held accountable for what they post, and some lawmakers are pushing to make bloggers accountable in the same way that professional journalists are.

You can even get news subscription services on your cell phone. This is a free service (from my provider, anyway) that delivers news briefs as text messages to my cell phone every 30 minutes. If I see a story that sounds interesting or that I want to read more about, I can use my cell phone to access the Internet and find out more. This means people no longer have to wait for news broadcasts to come on, and they don't even have to be near a television or computer to get information.

In light of these alternative news sources, are television news programs still relevant? For me, the answer is no. I am on my computer for almost 12 hours every day. It's much easier for me to check the news online than to free up a 30-minute block of time at 6 o'clock. And I think the relevance of TV news will continue to diminish in the near future.

While many people point to TV watching as an easy way to get fat and lazy, I've found my television to be an indispensable piece of exercise equipment.

Probably not surprisingly, the main way I've used my TV to keep in shape is through exercise videos and DVDs. I bought my first aerobics video seven or eight years ago. At the time, I was in college and attended aerobics classes at the intramural sports facility every week. I wanted a way to continue my aerobics while I was at home during the summer and a video seemed to fit the bill.

Once I was working out using the video I actually discovered that I preferred the video over face-to-face instruction. I could do the exercises any time I wanted to, I didn't need to fight to see the instructor at the front of the room, and I didn't have to feel silly or self-conscious if I couldn't keep up or didn't understand a new move. I also felt like I was getting a better workout as I learned the moves through repetition and could perform the entire routine smoothly.

The downside of repetition is that eventually you get tired of doing the same moves time after time. One way to avoid boredom is to purchase several different videos and rotate between them. Another good way to add variety to your workout is to rent exercise videos or check them out from your library. This is also a good way to try out a new video or DVD to see if you like it before committing to a purchase. I've tried out several new trends like pilates this way to see if they were for me before I spent a lot of money on a new workout. Whether you're a beginner or an exercise guru consider picking up a few workout videos to help you get in shape in the comfort of your own home.

Another way that I've used my television to stay in shape also required the help of a video game console. Again, not something that you normally hear associated with fitness. I have been playing the game Dance Dance Revolution for several months and it's a fun and challenging game that also gets your heart pumping. Dance Dance Revolution started out as an arcade attraction. You stand on a dance pad with directional arrows. Then arrows appear on the game screen, and you must step on the corresponding arrows on your dance pad at the correct time. Now you can bring the arcade experience into your own home, with games for the Playstation, Playstation 2 and Xbox systems. You use a dance pad instead of a controller. A basic pad is typically included with the purchase of a game, but you can also buy nicer ones, including a metal surface that's just like the dance pads you'd find in arcades. As an added advantage, Dance Dance Revolution is so much fun, you won't even realize you're getting a great workout. It can also be fun to break out with a group of friends. When was the last time you got any exercise while just hanging out with friends?

I generally find reality programming repulsive. I have a few friends who will watch any reality series Fox produces and even went so far as to watch the especially tawdry Paradise Hotel. But for the most part, I find reality programming manipulative and intrusive. I don't wish to be a party to exploiting others' pain. And when you get right down to it, I find most of the programming to be downright boring. I often feel like I'm in the minority, though, and have had to bow out of many a water cooler conversation because I just didn't know a thing about last night's tribal council or American Idol vote.

There are a few exceptions to my typical avoidance of reality programming, though. Years ago, long before the all-pervasiveness of today's reality television, I would occasionally catch MTV's Real World. They showed enough weekend marathons of the show that it was sometimes hard to avoid, and I kept watching past my initial trepidation. It was really a pioneering program in voyeuristic viewing. I distinctly remember the San Francisco season when Puck proved so annoying that he was voted out of the house. The season I watched the most was London, and I later heard it described as the least interesting season ever, but I found the international cast and locale intriguing. And of course, once the Real World was over, you could always catch former cast members on a Real World/Road Rules challenge where you could see them performing thrilling physical challenges and other stunts.

More recently, I never miss the opening episodes of American Idol. Once the season gets into full swing with the final roster of competitors, then I lose interest. I just don't care to hear twelve people sing Barry Manilow songs in one night. I also hate the producers' way of dragging out each week's singing and decision making as much as possible. It's genius television production, but highly annoying to have to sit through one more commercial break before you find out who the last contestant voted off was. But for the first few weeks, I wouldn't miss a minute of the singing and dancing and the judges' commentary. Especially the judges' commentary, let by the caustic observations of Simon Cowell, of course.

Another reality program I actually enjoyed was the first season of The Apprentice. I haven't followed it much lately, but I appreciated the complex tasks the groups were asked to perform and the way those tasks brought out the dynamics of the group. And who can forget the drama of the boardroom? I was hooked.

The most recent reality program that has caught my attention is Hell's Kitchen. It's amazing to me how poorly the contestants are performing and the head chef's no-nonsense attitude leads to lots of drama. I also think the construct of the new restaurant makes for an interesting test since there are real customers there to pass judgment on the contestants' efforts.

So if you're like me and proclaim to hate reality shows, never say never because you just might find an addictive new show the next time you turn on the TV.

I must admit that I'm a big fan of Cartoon Network's Adult Swim television line-up. They have created a unique niche of adult-oriented animation. I've long believed that cartoons aren't just for kids and watch several shows outside of this programming block. But despite the long-running success of The Simpsons and the popularity in some circles of anime, Japanese animation, animated programs in general have not garnered a wide following.

Adult Swim began airing other network's failed animated comedies such as Family Guy and Baby Blues along with a few new programs like Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law and also included Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, an old favorite that never quite fit in with other cartoon shows. Adult Swim was only on a few nights a week. It found a small but loyal audience that grew bit by bit.

Just a few years later, Adult Swim is a growing phenomenon. Its programs air from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. six nights a week, although they do repeat several programs within that time frame. In the past few months, Adult Swim has separated from Cartoon Network for the sake of reporting ratings and it ranks especially high with the key young adult demographic, often winning its time slot. One interesting effect of Adult Swim's popularity can be seen with Family Guy. This show aired several years ago on Fox to lukewarm ratings and never quite found an audience. After appearing on Adult Swim and being released on DVD, there was so much interest in the series that Fox brought it back for a new season.

Much of Adult Swim's original programming appeals to a certain warped sense of humor. For instance, the joke of Sealab 2021 is that they've taken footage from a 1970s undersea action cartoon and made the characters talks about random unrelated topics like robots taking over the world. Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Robot Chicken are two more popular original shows that aren't for everyone and may be an acquired taste. In the first, a meatball, a take-out shake cup and a carton of fries live in the ghetto while dealing with alien invaders and their angry neighbor Carl. Robot Chicken was created by Seth Green and a friend, and they created short sketches with action figures that include adult humor, pop culture references and inspired weirdness. One interesting thing about these original shows is that they're fifteen minutes long. That way you can fit even more shows into a night of programming.

Cartoon Network has also been instrumental in bringing anime to television. They first started showing programs like Gundam Wing and Tenchi Muyo under the Toonami banner. DragonballZ remains on the network to this day. But many anime series are intended for a more adult audience. And this is where Adult Swim comes in with a venue for these shows like Cowboy Bebop and Paranoia Agent. Hardcore anime fans were the first to find these shows, but others who came for Family Guy and Futurama were soon drawn into the antics of Lupin III or Vash the Stampede from Trigun.

by Melissa Popp

All-in-one remotes serve a great purpose. They replace the television, the DVD, the VCR, the cable box and any number of other electronics you need to enjoy watching a show or a movie. Instead of fumbling around with three or more remotes, you only need to use one which has the functions and features of the rest of them combined. It makes life easier, it makes life simpler and it saves a lot of headache when trying to get comfortable before turning on the television.

Or does it?

Often all-in-one remotes tend to be more trouble than they are worth. Since you have to set-up your controller to interact with your television and other devices, it can take some time to get everything responding in the way you want it to do so. In many cases, some devices aren't compatible with the type of controller you are using or you just don't know how to set it up so that it does work properly. Sometimes you don't have the right codes to use set-up the controller. This often is the fault of the device maker.

What company would want you to use a product outside its own production scope? After all, your television makers and others are trying to make a profit. If you don't use their controller, then, you are turning to another company who is making a profit off of their own devices. This is why when you buy a new DVD player or a VCR, you don't get the codes you need for the electronic signal to be picked up by a non-standard remote. Since you need these codes to set-up your all-in-one remote, you are often out of luck.

Never fear! Help is here! If you are insistent about using an all-in-one remote, you can often find the right code on the world wide web. Some web sites have come together to produce massive lists of codes and combinations you can use to get your product to work on an all-in-one remote. Sometimes even this can be a laborious task, because you have to find the right code to use. This can take time, energy and patience. If you're lucky, you'll find the right code within the first few tries, but then again, it make take you all day.

Once you find the code, you should be able to use the all-in-one remote like you'd use any other remote. In many cases, an all-in-one remote will ease the trouble of using three remotes to watch a movie with surround sound. This makes it easier on you in the long run but trying to get the remote to work in the first place can be a headache-inducing experience. If you feel it is worth your time, go for it, otherwise you might find yourself better off fumbling around with a bunch of controllers you're already comfortable fumbling around with.

Finding a system that works for you is the most important thing about choosing to use an all-in-one remote. While it might be worth it, make sure you have the time to figure out how to use it before you begin to program it for your particular set-up.

Written by James Fohl

Have you ever looked on the back of your television set, or perhaps the side of your television
set and saw a weird connector that looked much like a computer mouse port? This weird connector
has been placed on high end television sets for quite a while now, and is just starting to gain
popularity now.

It is known as a s-video connector, and started popping up in the 1980's. While s-video has had
several names over the years, including Y/C, SVHS, and SCART, s-video seems to be the name that has
survived since its creation. It is believed that the "s" refers to super, as in super video, since s-video
is far more better than composite RCA video plugs that have been commonly used in the past.

Apple Computer Users May Recognize S-Video, As The Same Type Of Connector Has Been Used On Apple
Computers For Several Years

S-Video delivers an analog video signal through a four pin mini-DIN connector. Computer
users who have owned an older Apple computer will recognize the S-Video port, as it is identical
to the ADB (Apple Desktop Bus) ports on the computers which connected keyboards, mice, and other
accessories to the Apple computers.

The very first widespread usage of S-Video came in the early 1980's, when the Commodore 64 home
computer system used S-Video for its display. Today, many high end computer graphics cards also
have the ability to display on television sets via S-Video cables.

S-video Is Gaining Popularity, Due To Users Wanting Crisp Displays Of Their High End Electronic
Equipment

While composite video and audio plugs (those yellow, red, and white plugs) were the main means
of connecting VCRs and video game systems to television sets during the 1980's and 1990's, today
S-Video is appearing as the number one choice to connect video game systems and DVD players to
television sets. This is most notably due to the fact that S-Video delivers a much more crisp
picture than composite video cables could ever accomplish.

S-video is for video only, hence its name. Because of this fact, many people believe audio is
being ignored since even though composite video has been replaced with s-video, composite audio (
white and red cables) are still being utilized for audio connections to video game consoles and
DVD players.

Composite cables however were made for audio, not video initially, and because of this composite
audio plugs are the most efficient as well as cheapest audio solution, as both channels of stereo
audio are given their own audio cable.

As more and more DVD players and new video game systems, as well as S-Video equipped television sets
are being sold, the usage of s-video is on a dramatic climb. While all DVD manufacturers used to
ship regular composite cables to connect DVD players with, now many DVD manufacturers are including
s-video connection cables with their DVD players so that the end user is experiencing S-video output
without having to go out and purchase an s-video cable.

Written by James Fohl

After a very impressive and amusing career in wrestling, actor Dwayne Johnson, better
known as "The Rock" has launched himself into the world of acting. After a brief
appearance in the The Mummy Returns, Dwayne now credited as The Rock is his movie appearances
was given the starring role in the movie "The Scorpion King", which brought in over
ninety million dollars, and gave him a record breaking $5.5 million dollar salary for the movie.

Shortly after the blockbuster, "The Scorpion King", The Rock starred in another movie called
"The Rundown", which placed The Rock with Seann William Scott in another action flick. The movie
was really successful, and put The Rock on the favorite actor list of many action movie
buffs. Following The Rundown, The Rock starred in a remake of a movie entitled "Walking Tall"
along with Johnny Knoxville. Although the movie has a lot of fans, it has been criticized
because of its very short leg nth ( eighty six minutes), and because the movie is more
focused upon the action elements in the movie instead of character development.

Even With Critics Bashing His Movies Left And Right, The Rock Still Manages To Sign Onto A
Variety Of Different Movie Projects Stated To Be Released In The Coming Years

Despite the above criticism about "Walking Tall", The Rock has signed onto a variety of projects in the past year, most
notably because every movie he has starred in has brought in a nice chunk of change. In 2005,
movie goers will be able to see him in the comedy "Be Cool" as well as the horror movie, "Doom"
which is based on the popular id Software video game series.

While he only has two movies due in 2005, 2006 seems to be a fairly busy year for The Rock, as
he has several movie projects going on. Of all the movies on the list, another is a movie
based on a video game, this time the video game is the 1980's arcade classic "Spy Hunter". Another
popular franchise that The Rock hopes to take onto the big screen is a live action version
of Cartoon Network's popular "Johnny Bravo" cartoon.

The Future Looks Quite Bright For This Former Wrestling Champion And Future Acclaimed Actor

It seems that after nearly five years of being an actor rather than a wrestler is starting to pay off.
There is no doubt that while he was a professional wrestler for the WWE (formerly the WWF) he was one
of the most popular wrestlers, and is credited with the large amount of success the WWE had obtained
during the second half of the nineties. Now, he is quickly gaining attention on the big screen, most
notably with action flicks, although he has appeared in a comedy role (Be Cool). As every movie he
stars in gains him more attention from the media, hopefully he will build on his acting skills instead
of going the opposite direction towards a lineup of awful movies as many actors have done in the past.

I remember watching Sesame Street as a child. I went to public school in our little Colorado town; a big yellow school bus took us 7 or 8 miles out into the country where our school sat on the high prairie with a stunning view of the mountains. There were no other buildings around for miles. When the bus brought me back home each day around 3:00 in the afternoon, my mom always gave me a snack and then after playing outside for a while, I raced inside to watch Sesame Street at 4:00. Even when I was 9 or 10, I still enjoyed the show, being transported for that hour from the sunny foothills of Colorado to the inner-city streets of New York City and the apartments of singing city workers and lovable puppets (muppets).

I was only 2-years-old when Sesame Street first aired in 1969. I don't remember the first time I saw it, but it soon became just a part of my childhood, like Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo, bicycles and ponies, roller skates and jumping rope. I always sat on the floor of my parents' bedroom and watched their tiny color TV. I absentmindedly played with the strands from the thick shag carpet on the floor as I watched Big Bird try, unsuccessfully, to convince the rest of the world that Mr. Snuffleupagus was a real friend, not an imaginary one. It was fascinating to me how the lumbering elephant-like Snuffleupagus managed to disappear into the shadows as soon as anyone else arrived on the scene, leaving Big Bird sputtering and frustrated that he couldn't prove the existence of his friend.

I used to laugh with Ernie as he breezed through life laughing and chuckling, while his uptight roommate, Bert, let everything bother him. It wasn't long before I knew all the songs on the show from the initial sesame street song where the viewer sees a group of children running and playing throughout the city, to the counting songs, Spanish songs, learning songs, friendship and silly songs. I cheered for the lovable cookie monster as he always managed to eat the cookies he wasn't supposed to eat, as well as the plate they were sitting on and the box they came in. Perhaps my favorite was Mr. Hooper, the smiling old shopkeeper who was kind to everyone and always helped iron out any problems with the characters.

By the time my children began watching Sesame Street, some 20+ years later, much had changed. Mr. Hooper had died, Bob and Maria were looking older (but amazingly still there) and there were many new characters, including the adorable Elmo, whom my son took to right away. The opening song had been jazzed up a bit and there were modern graphics and colors, rather than the kids simply running through the city. I was disappointed to see that Mr. Snuffleupagus was no longer a secret; somewhere along the way when I was growing up and no longer watching, his presence had obviously been made known and he was now a regular character. Even Big Bird was a bit whinier than before; or maybe I had just grown up. Often progress means things get better and we benefit, but in the case of children's television, sometimes I think they should have just left well enough alone.