Oprah in Australia!

Underwater marriage proposals, Gayle and Oprah cuddling with Koala bears, soaring helicopter rides over the heart of the Great Barrier Reef? Whew…what’s not to love about Oprah’s Ultimate Australian Adventures this week?

Seriously, even dyed-in-the-wool Oprah haters like my wife would have to agree that this is damn fine daytime TV. Need further proof? Well, all the stuff listed above happened in the first half of the first episode of the Oprah Winfrey Show on Tuesday. Yep, and there are still three more days of shrimp-on-the-barbie Australian awesomeness to air! Yee-haw!

So, even if you missed the first couple of episodes, set your Tivo’s now. Because this week on Oprah is gonna rock so hard that I don’t even care if I sound like a total girl gushing about it. Go, Oprah!

“The Sing Off” returns!

OK, how rad was the season-two premiere of “The Sing Off” on NBC last night?

So totally radical that Christine — who was dead-tired after helping me finish the Christmas decorating — stayed up till almost 1:00AM to watch the two-hour season premiere in its tune-filled entirety. Yep, it was that good!

No worries if you missed the first episode (the eliminated groups weren’t that great anyway) but if you love that fake-ass, studio-recorded stuff they do on “Glee” then you’ll really love watching the real thing done right in front of a live studio audience. Holy crap, some of these guys are ah-mazing!

So, please, please, do yourself a favor and check out the rest of the very short season of “The Sing Off” on NBC. And for the love of God, pray that those goofy stoners from the University of Oregon in Eugene sing at least one more Lady Gaga song before they get voted off, that shit was off the hook! WOW!

Missing Martha Stewart…

While putting up our classically cool, white-on-white Martha Stewart Christmas tree this past weekend, Christine told me that she suddenly realized that she really missed being able to watch Stewart’s daytime show “Martha” on a daily basis. I think she said “profoundly missed”, but, I could be wrong.

Either way, there is a void in our lives this holiday season and it is all due to the fact that Martha Stewart moved her show to the freaking Hallmark Channel. Urgh! No offense, Hallmark Channel, many of your made-for-television movies look awesomely bad, but, come on, why you gotta bogart the Martha?

I mean, who even gets the Hallmark Channel?? I know we don’t and I don’t think very many other cable carriers down here do, so, who is watching “Martha” in our absence? Well, according to a recent LA Times article, no one. Stewart’s show is tanking in cable obscurity and it’s just not right!

So, for the love of all things good and baked and hand-made this holiday season, ditch the Hallmark Channel while you can and come on home to network television, Martha. The holidays are so not the same without you…

“Rita Rocks” on Lifetime

OK, I know it isn’t the coolest thing I’ve ever admitted to, but, try as I might, I cannot keep quiet about my latest TV obsession. And that’s because Lifetime’s new original sitcom “Rita Rocks”, well…rocks! Yes, I said Lifetime, as in, “Television for Women”, but if loving this sweet, classically-funny sitcom makes me a lady, then, braid my hair and call me Sally, because I love it!

“Rita Rocks” isn’t exactly revolutionary by TV standards, but it is a great, laugh-out-loud, working-class sitcom, and seeing as there hasn’t been a decent one of those on the airwaves since “Rosanne”, this show is like a breath of fresh air.

The concept here is simple. Rita, (played by former “Mad TV” regular, Nicole Sullivan) fronted a Bangles cover band in her youth and gave it all up to be a wife and mom. And then one day, while folding towels at the Bed, Bath and Beyond-ish superstore she works at, Rita realizes something is missing from her life and decides to get back into her music.

So, with the grudging support of her two daughters (a pitch-perfect Natalie Dreyfuss and Kelly Gould) and goofy, sitcom-perfect husband (Richard Ruccolo), Rita forms a garage band. And with Rita on guitar, her postal carrier best friend, Patty (played by former “Martin” hottie, Tisha Campbell-Martin), on keys, unemployed next door neighbor, Owen (Ian Gomez), on cello, and her daughter’s boyfriend, Kip (Ricky Ullman) on drums, the band takes flight.

I know, it sounds like a cutsey premise, and, well, maybe it is. But the characters are real, warm and very funny and the show is kinda awesome because of it. And on top of all that, the band actually sounds really good together when they play. I mean, I always thought Sullivan and Campbell were hilarious, but who knew they could sing too? Whoa…

Like I said, this isn’t exactly “Twin Peaks” or anything, but “Rita Rocks” is the kind of good, old-fashioned sitcom the major networks used to excel at. The fact that “Rita” airs on cable just shows you how far the mighty networks have fallen in my book. But, hey, if I have to watch Lifetime to get my sitcom fix, so be it.

So, if you find yourself hankering for a fun, well-written show with a rocking-good cast, check out “Rita Rocks” Monday nights at 8:30PM on Lifetime. And if you wanna really channel your inner girlie man, stick around for the Lifetime movies afterwards…they’re fabulous!