~ Craig Detweiler ~Is it just me or has American Idol lost its mojo? Maybe the altering of the judges booth tipped a rather fragile balance. For all her loopiness, perhaps Paula Abdul was the perfect foil for Simon Cowell’s scowl. Despite her alleged expertise, Karla Diogardi has never struck my fancy. (And isn’t a bit too early in the celebrity cycle to already sell herself out by posing naked for Allure?) While Ellen DeGeneres is a delightful person, as a judge, ...

~ by Travis and Laura Stewart ~JJ Heller, an independent artist who writes and performs with her husband Dave, experienced a dramatic increase in exposure this past year when their song "Your Hands" was used by dancer Diana Drexler on the TV show "So You Think You Can Dance?" and suddenly found their music at the top of the singer/songwriter charts on iTunes. Along with my daughter 12 year-old daughter Laura, I had the chance to interview JJ for our viaRenovo artist ...

~ by Craig Detweiler ~ How strange to see the battle over a comedy show devolve into tragedy. Yet the Leno versus Conan debate reflects an underexplored generation gap. One more baby boomer refusing to retire, blocking the path to a patient (but ultimately frustrated) Gen Xer. NBC’s late night talk show drama has echoes of royal succession plans (with all the accompanying skullduggery). Only five hosts have occupied The Tonight Show throne. When Johnny Carson was tapped to replace Jack Paar, he was under contract with ABC. It took a couple of months to make room for Carson, who ...

Many people consider TV shows and movies good bad based on the amount of violence, sex or language present. In recent years several films have challenged this notion. The Passion of the Christ was embraced by many Christians despite its R rating while the Harry Potter films (rated PG) were rejected due to perceptions of occult material. Can we judge entertainment so easily? I don't think so. I believe we need to develop skills of discernment and eyes to see beyond the surface issues. In this article (thanks to Craig Dunham for finding this) in Time magazine author Nancy Gibbs provides ...