A few quick hits:

PopCast Attacks Country Music

Just a reminder, you can now listen to or download a NEW episode of the PopCast As always, you can either find it here or to the side of the PopPulse main.

This week, episode 8, we tackle country music. Those of you who read PopPulse on a regular basis (hi mom!) know we can’t stand modern country music. Neither can Vrabel. Liz is in love with it. Whatever. We battle it out, Beyond Thunderdome-style. Plus, Liz likes to cry while driving, Vrabel apologizes to his bro and we insult West Virginia. The entire state. All of that and more is discussed. Really, you should listen. It’s sub-awesome.

As always, we team up with Jeff Vrabel, the editor of The Guide, and Liz Farrell, who runs the Island Packet's InCrowd blog, for this look at the absurdity of pop.

Upfront

This week was upfronts in New York, which is the time of the year when all the networks hold press conferences to talk about how great their upcoming shows will be. This is four months before the shows debut and six weeks before 93 percent of them are cancelled. So, don’t get your hopes up.

However, since we’re a sucker for heartache, we ARE excited about next year. There are a few cool looking shows. JJ Abrams and Joss Whedon are both coming to FOX for sci fi/paranormal shows. The last time FOX had a Whedon show it was Firefly ... which they botched and cancelled before it had a chance to take off. Gulp. Remind us not to buy any stock in Dollhouse.

We’re also looking forward to Do Not Disturb, a new sitcom that takes place in a hotel. We have no reason to think this will be great except that Jerry O’Connell is in it. Between his hilarious Tom Cruise impersonation in that Funny Or Die parody and Carpoolers, a great show that was cancelled, we’re on the O’Connell bandwagon.



We also want to see the Eleventh Hour, which reads like The X-Files but with science, not supernatural. Although it is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, which means it will probably play more like CSI than X-Files. Life on Mars looks good, based on the BBC series about a modern cop who gets sent back to the ‘70s. OF COURSE we we will watch the new 90210 series. And, seriously, you can’t stop us no matter how hard you try, so back off. My Own Worst Enemy is the Bourne Identity meets True Lies. Could be bad. But Christian Slater is in it, and we still have some residual affection for him left over from 1989.

We also want to see Harper’s Island, which totally gives us a Twin Peaks vibe.

You can see the fall TV grid here.

Want moving pictures instead? click here for clips of CBS’ new shows. Or visit here for shots from all of the networks.

(There was a longer trailer for Dollhouse, premiering in the spring, here. But the site seems to be having problems. Might be fixed soon, though.)

PopPulse Recommends

As always, this appears in Friday’s The Guide. At newsstands nowhere:



Welcome to hell

“Hell’s Kitchen” is in its fourth season on FOX, but it is in its first season in our hearts. We had never watched an episode before two months ago. But now, it’s like falling in love for the very first time. Ah.

The show stars chef Gordon Ramsay. Each week he berates and humiliates aspiring chefs as they try to filet a steak or make risotto. It’s a competition, of sorts, with the prize being a chance to get yelled at by Ramsay for a paycheck.

Ramsay is a whirling dervish of clever insults and curse words. He wields the F word like its a lightsaber, using it to slice and dice the egos and confidence of these mainly inexperienced chefs. See, kids, reality TV isn’t just about seeing stupid people do dumb things to be famous. It’s also about talented people pursuing their passion through trial and error ... all while having a tall, mad British guy with crazy hair and leathery skin scream curse words at you! What family can’t appreciate that?



It might sound harsh, and it is at times. But Ramsay is such a magnetic force, that he pulls it off, swagger and all. We don’t just respect him, we want to be him. We like him. We might even go to love, except we’re not sure he feels the same way about us, and if there’s one thing we’ve learned about reality TV stars, it’s better to not say IT first. Ramsay is a swaggering, testosterone-fueled cooking freak. He is born with a talent and the temperament of a half-crazy artist. He rants and raves and screams and shouts because he makes art, and he can’t abide seeing others take his art and turn it into food.

You can catch up on season four of “Hell’s Kitchen” at hulu.com.