The channel formerly known as SciFi and now known as Syfy is delivering their latest miniseries this week. Entitled Alice, the four-hour adventure is something of a re-imagining of Lewis Carroll’s classic Wonderland tales. Both fun and distinctly odd at times, the Halmi-produced event is a reminder of just how much the television landscape has changed over the course of the past decade. Ten years ago this sort of big budget, beautifully produced, all-star event would have aired on a major network during a ratings sweep. Now, it will air on the NBC-Universal owned and ever more and more popular Syfy.

Written and directed by Nick Willing (he also directed SciFi’s Tin Man in 2007), this version of Alice stars Caterina Scorsone in the lead role. Alice is no longer a young girl in England, but rather a 20-something karate instructor in the States. Photo Credit: James DittingerFollowing her kidnapped boyfriend, Jack Chase (Philip Winchester), the story rapidly finds Alice herself falling through a mirror (or, looking-glass, if you will) and into Wonderland.

Still ruled by the evil Queen of Hearts (Kathy Bates), Alice finds herself learning all about this odd land which the Queen rules by bottling the emotions of “Oysters,” which is their term for people from our world. The Queen’s evil Suits led by the White Rabbit (Allan Gray) have been kidnapping humans for years and Alice rapidly finds herself on the wrong side of the law.

Through the course of her misadventures, our Alice meets up with the Hatter (Andrew-Lee Potts), White Knight (Matt Frewer), a resistance leader named Dodo (Tim Curry), Doctors Dee and Dum (Eugene Lipinski), Caterpillar (Harry Dean Stanton), Carpenter (Timothy Webber), and the King of Hearts (Colm Meaney) among others. Or, in other words, people at least similarly named to those who figure in Lewis Carroll’s tales.

The story Willing has constructed here is an interesting one, and it is certainly well conceived, but its relationship to the Carroll stories is not always an easy one. In this Wonderland there is certainly the story of another Alice, a legendary Alice, but what exactly this Alice did is unclear. It would seem impossible – or highly improbable – that the Alice of legend had the sort of interactions in Wonderland that Carroll wrote of, particularly as a version of all those characters is present here.

Can’t wait for Sons of Anarchy Season 3 ? After the much awaited season finale of Sons of Anarchy last December 1, 2009 that ends with a bang. Until now there’s still no confirmation on the production of Sons of Anarchy Season 3 but of course lots of fans wants it. Lots of people are waiting for the confirmation of Sons of Anarchy Season 3 maybe few days or months let’s just wait because it’s hard to end a series that turns to be so good.

High energy and a 1,000-watt smile went a long way for Joseph Gordon-Levitt as he hosted “Saturday Night Live” this weekend.

His enthusiasm was obvious from his opening monologue in which the actor was literally bouncing off the walls. It wasn’t necessarily funny, but his energy sold it. The actor, who as far as I know has sung and danced in just one film, “(500) Days of Summer,” performed “Make ‘Em Laugh” while being slapped and punched by Bobby Moynihan. He also did some fabulous back flips off the walls, then crashed through a prop wall before falling to the stage floor to end the number.

JGL sang in at least three other skits, including a very funny skit in which Andy Samberg played Jack Johnson, host of “The Mellow Show.”

A barefoot Jack welcomed guests Dave Matthews (played by Bill Hader), Jason Mraz (played by JGL) and Ozzy Osborne (played by musical guest and the real Dave Matthews).

“Jason” and “Dave” did a foot-five, and all three guests sang. “Dave” sang a song called “Chicken Panini;” “Jason” performed a song about his hat, and “Ozzy” sang “I Am Tired.”

After the performance, “Jack” said, “That was not so mellow. In fact, I’m pretty sure you scared Dave Matthews.” It was the funniest skit of the night with great writing and great delivery. All the imitations were dead on.

“Bizarre” can describe my two other favorites parts of the episode: A digital short called “Two Worlds Collide” and “What Up with That?” which is becoming my favorite recurring sketch.

This time around, Kenan Thompson’s Deondre Cole welcomed guests Al Gore (the real former VP), Mindy Kaling from “The Office” and Lindsay Buckingham (played by Hader). If you’ve seen the skit before, Deondre sings “What Up with That?” with back-up singers, a choir (this time), and Jason Sudeikis in a track suit dancing strangely.

He then asks a guest a question, interrupting almost immediately to sing his song again. Tonight, he cut off Gore, who wanted to talk about the environment. JGL joined the fun tonight as Klaus Blucher (I think) playing a keytar and singing. Andy Samberg came on in clown hat and wig to dance, and Jack the Snake Roberts (played by Moynihan) soft-shoed across the stage.

“What Up with That?” is totally random and totally hilarious.

The latest digital short didn’t reach the heights of “Motherlover,” “[Bleep] in a Box” or “[Bleep] in My Pants,” but it was pretty awesome. Thompson scored again as Reba McEntire, sort of, who hooks up with Andy both in bed and to perform the song. It’s just good dirty fun. Watch “Two Worlds Collide” here and let me know what you think. (My Top 10 musical digital shorts.)

“The Playbook” is the upcoming eighth episode of the fifth season of the CBS situation comedy How I Met Your Mother and 96th episode overall. It is due to air November 16, 2009.

The Real Lorenzo Von Matterhorn (source: Wikipedia)

Lorenzo Von Matterhorn (AKA Daniel Bailey) was born somewhere in the S.N.A.S.A. headquarters in the spring of 1974. The exact date and circumstances of his birth are unknown since he was immediately placed in a basket and tossed in a river. Young Lorenzo rode the pristine Alpine glacial melt waters for hundreds of miles until a young Milanese woman discovered the basket along the banks of the river Po. Some say it was this first early journey to Milan that fueled both his love of exploration and fashion. The woman would raise Lorenzo as her own, naming him Lorenzo after her father and giving him the surname Von Matterhorn to reflect his Swiss heritage. Has a twin brother named Julio.

From the 1939 movie “The Wizard Of Oz”

Once there was a wicked witch in the lovely land of Oz,
And a wickeder, wickeder, wickeder witch there never, never was.
She filled the folks in Munchkin Land with terror and with dread,
Till one fine day from Kansas way
A cyclone caught a house that brought
The wicked, wicked witch her doom
As she was flying on her broom,
For the house fell on her head,
And the coroner pronounced her dead,
And through the town the joyous news was spread:

Ding-dong, the witch is dead!
Which old witch? The wicked witch.Ding-dong, the wicked witch is dead!
Wake up, you sleepy head!
Rub your eyes, get out of bed!*
Wake up, the wicked witch is dead! Shes gone where the goblins go,
Below, below, below. Yo-ho!
Lets open up and sing
And ring the bells out:

Hi-ho, the merry-o!
Sing it high, sing it low,
Let them know the wicked witch is dead!

Looking for “The Vampire Diaries” episode 10 spoilers? Well look no further! Next week’s episode titled “The Turning Point” will have the town of Mystic Falls in fear once again when the people learn that there’s a new vampire in town! Stefan and Elena will rekindle their broken relationship, but she makes a devestating discovery that could once again tear them apart. Damon offers Sheriff Forbes his help in tracking down the latest vampire to move into Mystic Falls. All this and much more on next week’s episode of The CW’s “The Vampire Diaries”. Read on to check out a preview!

CNN Invites Online Users to Test Their Knowledge with the CNN Challenge

In conjunction with the launch of the new CNN.com, the No. 1 news and information site has debuted the CNN Challenge, an interactive online news trivia quiz. Found at www.CNNChallenge.com, the quiz – focused on both historical news events and the top stories of the week – is guided by various CNN, HLN and CNN International anchors, including Larry King, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Robin Meade and Christiane Amanpour.

CNN Challenge users are encouraged to return frequently as new quizzes are published weekly. New quizzes about historical events are available each Tuesday and Wednesday, and a new current news quiz is available every Thursday.

“The CNN Challenge offers CNN.com’s users the ability to expand their knowledge of the news and current events in a fun and engaging way,” said KC Estenson, senior vice president and general manager of CNN.com. “At its core, the CNN Challenge is another example of how we are leveraging interactivity and the social nature of the web to create a unique online experience for news enthusiasts across the globe.”

Dexter is one of the excellent television shows that comprise suspense, mystery and crime. I’m sure you must have enjoyed the last episode of it and the suspense continues with the upcoming show. Dexter Season 4 Episode 6 is set to air on Sunday November 1 2009 at 9:00 PM on Showtime. “If I Had a Hammer” is the title given to Dexter season 4 episode 6, wow, isn’t it interesting? Of course it is, so make sure you catch the episode to know why there was a need for Hammer.

Dexter season 4 episode 6 – Synopsis

In Dexter season 4 episode 6, Dexter works to stay ahead of Trinity investigation. In the meantime an unexpected source offers suggestion on the rasping between Rita and Dexter. There is lot more fun waiting on the actual episode “If I Had a Hammer”, so it is a must watch for all the Dexter fans!

With Halloween around, people’s interest has multiplied in paranormal or ghostly programs that may give shiver under the spine. From Vampires to Ghost Hunters on Syfy channel was not enough we have Ghost Adventure going live on Travel Channel.

The SyFy Channel in America has given the green-light to a 13-part remake of BBC Three’s comedy-SyFydrama series Being Human. The hugely popular series originally debuted on BBC Three as one of six pilot episodes for possible full series’ but it was the only one to be picked up and actually make it to a full series – Phoo Action was also picked up for a series on BBC Three but was later cancelled before it was aired. Following the pilot episode a slight creative regig saw several characters recast with only actor Russell Tovey remaining onboard the series. The first series enjoyed ratings success on BBC Three earlier this year and was subsequently repeated on BBC One and a second series has been commissioned.

The American remake, for the SyFy Channel, will produced by RDF Media USA and one of the executive producers will be Rob Pursey who has the same role for the British series. Being Human has already aired in America on the BBC America channel where it gained a lot of interest from other broadcasters but it’s the SyFy Channel who will be airing the remake. It’s thought to be the first time a remake of a British series will be made entirely but an Independent production company and not co-produced with a big US studio.

Sometimes one thing that amazes me is the thought that how despite being such scientific and technological advanced society, we still love to see ghost and vampires haunting us.

Notwithstanding that the show is a midnight weekly, many people keep awake simply to watch the show till midnight.

It is one of the scariest shows and people loving paranormal shows would never miss a single episode of it.

Ghost Hunters is an American paranormal reality television series that premiered on October 6, 2004 on the SciFi (Syfy) Channel.

The program features paranormal investigators Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson who investigate places that are reported to be haunted. The two originally worked as plumbers for Roto-Rooter as a day job while investigating locations at night. Since the show’s success, the series now takes precedence in their lives, but they are still honorary employees with the company and continue to do jobs for them if time permits.

From 8 PM to 3 AM E/P on Friday, Oct. 30, the Ghost Adventures crew — Zak, Nick and Aaron — will lock themselves into the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum in Weston, WV, for the most ambitious paranormal investigation ever attempted. During this 7-hour live event, they will examine the reported hauntings and ghostly activity at this legendary landmark.

There are also moments like the episode in which they are locked-in at Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine, FL, where the crew walk around with an audio device connected to a database of words, which is designed to interpret the “talking” of ghosts, based on the noises it senses. Every few seconds, this “ghost translator” is going off in a creepy text-to-speech voice, saying cryptic words that freak out the crew. It’s absolutely priceless.