Papi Chulo's BLOG

Survivor: South Pacific Cast Announced

Sixteen new contestants compete for a million dollars when Survivor: South Pacific launches on Wednesday, September 14 on CBS. This season's contestants include a former Miss America contestant, a country music singer, a Lingerie Football League player and a medical marijuana dispensary owner (as well as two returning players in Benjamin "Coach" Wade and Oscar "Ozzy" Lusth).

Filmed in Samoa (the same location for seasons 19 and 20), Survivor: South Pacific will also feature a couple new twists. The first involves the hidden immunity idols.

Jeff Probst (Survivor host): "This year with hidden immunity idols, we're hiding the clue. No clue as to where the clue is. Once you find the clue, then you have to find the idol."

The "Redemption Island" twist is back, but with one major change to it. Group duels have been eliminated.

Here's the new cast of Survivor: South Pacific:

Albert Destrade
Baseball/Dating Coach
Plantation, Fla.; Age: 26

Brandon Hantz
Oil Tanker Crewman
Katy, Texas; Age: 19

Christine Shields Markoski
Teacher
Merrick, NY; Age: 39

Dawn Meehan
English Professor
South Jordan, Utah; Age: 41

Edna Ma
Anesthesiologist
Los Angeles, Calif.; Age: 35

Elyse Umemoto
Dance Team Manager
Las Vegas, Nev.; Age: 27

Jim Rice
Medical Marijuana Dispenser
Denver, Colo.; Age: 35

John Cochran
Harvard Law Student
Washington, D.C..; Age: 24

Keith Tollefson
Water Treatment Tech
San Diego, Calif.; Age:26

Mark-Anthony Caruso
Retired NYPD Detective
Forest Hills, NY; Age: 48

Mikayla Wingle
Lingerie Football Player
Tampa, Fla.; Age: 22

Rick Nelson
Rancher
Aurora, Utah; Age: 51

Semhar Tadesse
Spoken Work Artist
Los Angeles, Calif; Age: 24

Sophie Clarke
Medical Student
Willsboro, NY; Age: 22

Stacey Powell
Mortician
Grand Prairie, Texas; Age: 44

Whitney Duncan
Country Music Singer
Nashville, Tenn.; Age: 27

~Papi Chulo~

President Obama's Speech on Osama bin Laden Outdraws Royal Wedding, Recent Policy Addresses

President Barack Obama's speech Sunday night announcing the death of Osama bin Laden drew twice as many viewers as last week's Royal Wedding and outpaced his recent policy addresses.

Despite being announced at a late hour on the East Coast, the President's telecast was watched by 56.5 million viewers.

That's more than Obama's recent scheduled and promoted primetime addresses, such as March 28's speech on Libya (25.6 million) and his August speech on Iraq (29.2 million), as well as more than doubling the audience of the Royal Wedding (22.8 million).

The networks carrying the address included ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, CNN, Fox News Channel, HLN and MSNBC.

In related news... President Obama will sit down with CBS' 60 Minutes on Sunday, May 8 for his first interview after announcing Osama bin Laden's death.

~Papi Chulo~

Millions Watch Royal Wedding: William & Kate Outdraws Charles & Diana in US

Despite a 6am start time on Friday, the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton drew a king-size US audience.

The wedding coverage was carried live from about 6am to 7:15am on 11 networks and drew 22.8 million viewers and 18.6 million households.

That's a larger number of households than watched Prince Charles wed Lady Diana in 1981 (which drew 14.2 million households, with no viewership numbers available). By comparison, about the same number of people watched American Idol's performance show this week (22 million), and 28.9 million watched President Obama's inauguration.

The ceremony from Westminster Abbey was carried by ABC, CBS, NBC, Telemundo, Univision, BBCA, CNN, E!, FOXNC, MSNBC and TLC.

Across the pond, however, Charles and Diana still rule. Nearly 27 million viewers in the UK watched Kate trade vows with William on BBC, ITV or Sky News, compared to the 28.4 million who tuned in for the royal wedding 30 years ago. Friday's ceremony also ranked behind UK coverage of Princess Diana's 1997 funeral.

~Papi Chulo~

RATINGS REPORT :: Fall Winners and Losers

The fall television season has already seen five freshman series casualties (Lone Star, My Generation, The Whole Truth, Undercovers and Outlaw) and the departure of some old favorites (Medium and Life Unexpected).

Here are the Top 25 shows from September 20 to November 28:

1. NCIS (CBS) 21.3 million
2. Dancing With the Stars (ABC) 21.2 million
3. NFL Sunday (NBC) 20.2 million
4. Dancing With the Stars: The Results (ABC) 18.5 million
5. NCIS: LA (CBS) 17.4 million
6. The Mentalist (CBS) 17.3 million
7. Criminal Minds (CBS) 16.2 million
8. CSI (CBS) 15.9 million
9. Two and A Half Men (CBS) 15.5 million
10. NFL Sunday pre-kickoff (NBC) 15.2 million
11. The Big Bang Theory (CBS) 15 million
12. Modern Family (ABC) 14.7 million
13. Grey's Anatomy (ABC) 14.6 million
14. Hawaii Five-0 (CBS) 14 million
15. 60 Minutes (CBS) 13.9 million
16. The Good Wife (CBS) 13.7 million
17. Survivor: Nicaragua (CBS) 13.3 million
18. Blue Bloods (CBS) 13.25 million
19. Desperate Housewives (ABC) 13.22 million
20. Castle (ABC) 13 million
21. Undercover Boss (CBS) 12.8 million
22. Glee (Fox) 12.7 million
23. Mike & Molly (CBS) 12.6 million
24. The OT (Fox) 11.9 million
25. The Amazing Race (CBS) 11.7 million

~Papi Chulo~

53rd Annual Grammy Award Nominees Announced

Nominations for the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards were announced last night on a live CBS television special hosted by LL Cool J. Eminem received the most honors with 10 nominations in categories including Album of the Year, Record of the Year and Song of the Year. Singer-songwriter Bruno Mars came in next with seven nominations. Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga each received six nominations.

The 2011 Grammy Awards will be broadcast live on Sunday, February 13, 2011 @ 8pm on CBS.

Here is the complete list of nominees:

Album of the Year

* The Suburbs, Arcade Fire
* Recovery, Eminem
* Need You Now, Lady Antebellum
* The Fame Monster, Lady Gaga
* Teenage Dream, Katy Perry

Record of the Year

* "Nothing on You," B.O.B featuring Bruno Mars
* "Love the Way You Lie," Eminem featuring Rihanna
* "Fuck You! (Forget You!)," Cee Lo Green
* "Empire State," Jay-Z and Alicia Keys
* "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum

Song of the Year

* "Beg, Steal or Borrow," Ray LaMontagne and the Pariah Dogs (Writer: Ray LaMontagne)
* "Fuck You! (Forget You!)," Cee Lo Green (Writers: Cee Lo Green, Philip Lawrence, Bruno Mars)
* "The House That Built Me," Miranda Lambert (Writers: Tom Douglas, Allen Shamblin)
* "Love the Way You Lie," Eminem featuring Rihanna (Writers: Alexander Grant, Holly Hafferman and Marshall Mathers)
* "Need You Now," Lady Antebellum (Writers: Dave Haywood, Josh Kear, Charles Kelly, Hillary Scott)

Best New Artist

* Justin Bieber
* Drake
* Florence and the Machine
* Mumford & Sons
* Esperanza Spalding

CBS Cancels Medium

CBS has canceled Medium.

The supernatural drama's fate was pretty much sealed last month when the eye network cut the series' seventh season episode order from 22 to 13.

Glenn Gordon Caron (series creator): "It's true. Allison Dubois will dream her last dream on Medium Friday, January 21st. In what we believe will be a series defining episode, Allison and her family will stare destiny in the eye. And destiny will not blink."

~Papi Chulo~

RATINGS REPORT :: DWTS Remains on Top!

Dancing With the Stars remains the top series. It's performance show captured the top spot with 20 million viewers, while the results show landed in third place with 17 million.

Here's the Top 10 shows—excluding football games, football pregames and football postgames—for the week ending Sunday:

1. Dancing With the Stars, 20 million viewers
2. NCIS, 19.9 million viewers
3. Dancing With the Stars: The Results, 17 million viewers
4. 44th annual Country Music Awards, 16.5 million viewers
5. NCIS: Los Angeles, 15.6 million viewers
6. The Mentalist, 13.8 million viewers
7. Two and a Half Men, 13.6 million viewers
8. The Big Bang Theory, 13.1 million viewers
9. CSI, 13 million viewers
10. Criminal Minds, 12.6 million viewers

~Papi Chulo~

RATINGS REPORT :: DWTS Is Tops!

Dancing With the Stars was the top comedy, drama or reality program for the week with 20.4 million viewers tuning in.

The Halloween- night premiere of AMC's The Walking Dead (5.3 million viewers) was the highest-rated program of the week among all cable series.

Here are the Top 10 shows (focusing on comedy, drama and reality programs) for the week ending Sunday:

1. Dancing With the Stars, 20.4 million viewers
2. NCIS, 20.2 million
3. NCIS: Los Angeles, 16 million
4. Dancing With the Stars: The Results, 15.9 million
5. The Mentalist, 14.8 million
6. CSI, 14.3 million
7. Criminal Minds, 14 million
8. Two and a Half Men, 13.8 million
9. Modern Family, 13.1 million
10. The Big Bang Theory, 13 million

~Papi Chulo~

Paula Abdul's Live to Dance Gets Premiere Date (Opposite American Idol)

CBS' Live to Dance, the new Paula Abdul starring dance reality competition, will debut with a two-hour episode on Tuesday, January 4, 2011. And then, air Wednesday nights against FOX's American Idol.

The series moves into its Wednesday night home on Wednesday, January 5. The show will broadcast live starting Wednesday, January 12.

Live to Dance features 18 dancers from all styles, backgrounds and ages competing for a $500,000 prize.

Abdul, Travis Payne and Kimberly Wyatt will serve as the panel of experts. Andrew Günsberg will host.

~Papi Chulo~

RATINGS REPORT :: Sunday Night Football Tops the Week

NBC's Sunday Night Football was the week's highest-rated broadcast with 25.7 million viewers tuning in. Brett Favre's reputed texting habits be damned, he helped lead Sunday Night Football to the franchise's biggest-ever audience.

Jersey Shore wrapped its second season before 6.1 million.

Keeping Up with the Kardashians wrapped its fifth season before 4.1 million.

The premiere week of CBS' The Talk didn't unseat The View. The ABC chatfest averaged 3.4 million versus The Talk's solid 2.2 million.

Here are the Top 10 shows for the week ending Sunday:

1. Sunday Night Football, 25.7 million
2. NCIS, 19.4 million
3. Sunday Night Football pregame, 19.34 million
4. Dancing With the Stars, 19.3 million
5. NCIS: Los Angeles, 16 million
6. 60 Minutes, 15.8 million
7. Dancing With the Stars: The Results, 15.5 million
8. CSI, 15 million
9. Criminal Minds, 14.5 million
10. The Mentalist, 14.4 million

~Papi Chulo~