Maks arguing with Carrie Ann on ‘Dancing with the Stars’: ‘It’s not a grudge thing’

Image Credit: Adam Larkey/ABCMaksim Chmerkovskiy told reporters on Tuesday that he may have verbally sparred with judge Carrie Ann Inaba during Monday’s installment of Dancing with the Stars but  he “doesn’t have anything against Carrie Ann and she doesn’t have anything against me.”

At the end of Tuesday’s telecast, Inaba took a moment to announce how she respected all the pros – an obvious attempt to mend fences after she and Chmerkovskiy argued about how it took “four 8s” for him to begin his cha cha cha on Monday with Brandy. Chmerkovskiy tried to dismiss the comment by saying “relax, don’t worry about it”  but Inaba quickly replied that ”Kurt did more dancing” so the two began to talk over one another. Brandy just stood there silent while patting her heart.

“I wasn’t looking for Carrie Ann’s apology,” Chmerkovskiy said after Tuesday’s show. “I think we all do our jobs. We are very passionate. We actually spoke when the credits rolled [Tuesday] so it was very pleasant, a very polite conversation. We are good. It’s not a grudge thing. I don’t have anything against Carrie Ann, she doesn’t have anything against me. She said what she said at the moment, and I responded like someone who has put in two and a half months in trying to make someone the best they can be. Whatever I thought, I thought, and we’re past it.

“My concern is that fans think I’m crazy and that I’m some kind of like attention hogging…whatever,” Chmerkovskiy added. “It’s not about me wanting to be in the spotlight. I want to be in the dark. I want Brandy to be in the spotlight. That was the whole point of yesterday.”

Brandy said she really didn’t know what to think of the argument. “I just wanted to stand by Maks and understand where he was coming from, which was from a good place of passion and defending me,” the actress told reporters. ”I want to win this for Maks because Maks has been to the finals so many times and he deserved to win. And he says, `baby, don’t win for me. Win for you!’ I’m like, ‘But I want to win for you, too, dude!”

“It’s actually funny,” Chmerkovskiy continued. “ Brandy says to me 10 times today, ‘I got your back!’ And I feel bad. That’s not supposed to be her job. It’s supposed to be my job to have her back. We’re actually a partnership. I don’t feel like I’m dancing with a student, I feel like I’m dancing with an equal partner.”

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CMAs 2010: Best/worst moments

Image Credit: Katherine Bomboy/ABCThe real winners were announced last night at the 44th Annual Country Music Association Awards. But here are a few more honors from the telecast that you should feel free to weigh in on:

Best Entrance: I’m going to give this to Alan Jackson, who got applause after he walked through a curtain just in time to sing his part on the Zac Brown Band tune “As She’s Walking Away” — even though (or maybe because?) we were all expecting him to walk through the curtain. He looked a bit awkward not holding his guitar, which could be why George Strait had his strapped on for his performance of “The Breath You Take” even though he didn’t actually need it.

Worst Entrance: I love Sugarland’s Jennifer Nettles, but the optical-illusion tutu and music-box figure motions during their performance of “Stuck Like Glue” came off kinda… well, crazy. The woman is fearless — see those white leggings she was rockin’ when she stepped out from behind said tutu — but every now and then, she needs to be reined in.

Best confused face: The cut to Gwyneth Paltrow, politely clapping after cohost Brad Paisley brought out Little Jimmy Dickens to inform us that Nashville’s new flood warning system is Dickens yelling when the water reaches his neck.

Worst confused face: At the end of Taylor Swift’s mesmerizing piano-set performance of “Back to December” (some gorgeous snow effects, plus a lower setting on the smoke machine than Dierks Bentley and a great shade of red lipstick), she was shown mouthing “What?” before the curtain came down. It ruined the mood, even if it shouldn’t have: Her rep tells EW she was just excited about the standing ovation (so it was a “What?!”).

Best cover: During their opening, Paisley and cohost Carrie Underwood rewrote the lyrics to The Beverly Hillbillies theme song to reflect the events of 2010. Of course, they kept the line about bubblin’ crude (oil, that is). “Thanks, BP,” Underwood said. “You’re welcome,” Paisley answered. (Honorable mention: Paisley’s brief excerpts of “Paparazzi” and “Alejandro” when telling Lady Gaga they are his favorite band. He was looking at Lady Antebellum.)

Worst cover: Reba McEntire still has attitude, this no one can deny. But I’m not feeling her take on Beyoncé’s “If I Were a Boy.” They lyrics are just too young for her, and when it comes to the chorus, I want someone to belt it. I kept wishing it was Underwood or Kelly Clarkson singing it. I didn’t think it deserved a standing ovation. Then again, I also didn’t think Gwyneth Paltrow deserved one for performing the title song of her upcoming movie “Country Song” with background vocalist Vince Gill competently. Being competent isn’t extraordinary, and she’s brave, yes, but she’s bravely promoting a film.

Best way to prove country stars are just like us and not “Hollywood”: You let Blake Shelton perform “All About Tonight” in the middle of the audience. (Though next time, stop the douche in the crowd behind him from doing a Gator chomp.)

Worst way to prove country stars are just like us and not “Hollywood”: ABC could’ve exploited Nicole Kidman (wife of Keith Urban) and Katherine Heigl (wife of Josh Kelley, brother of Lady A’s Charles Kelley) more than they did, so we’ll go with Rascal Flatts’ Gary LeVox wearing what looked to be a diamond-banded watch with his cowboy boots for their performance of “Why Wait.”

Best surprise: Loretta Lynn came out to join Miranda Lambert and Sheryl Crow as they sang “Coal Miner’s Daughter” to honor her 50 years in the business.

Worst surprise: It’s a tie between the director not showing Carrie Underwood trying to exit the stage in the dramatically large gown she chose to wear for her performance of “Mama’s Song” (I wanted to see that), and The Band Perry not getting to perform all of “If I Die Young.” (That song is always on the radio, and yet, I’ll still happily listen to it.)

Best use of fringe: Easy, it’s the layer over the bottom of Miranda Lambert’s dress when she performed “That’s the Way the World goes ‘Round.” (Watch.) It looked cool when she spun.

Worst use of fringe: Kid Rock’s jacket during his performance of “Born Free.” There should be a maximum length on fringe.

Best sleeves: To perform “Hello World,” Lady Antebellum’s Hillary Scott wore a brown leather jacket with forearm zippers that when open, fanned out to reveal sequined material underneath. Sparkly for the stage, but still something you could wear on the street — well done.

Worst sleeves: Kelly Clarkson joined Jason Aldean to sing their power-ballad duet “Don’t You Want to Stay” off of his new album. She sounded amazing (watch), but her sheer black Stevie Nicks sleeves were so long that one actually got caught on her mic while she was singing. I want to focus on her voice, not her fashion, honest. But she makes it difficult.

Best reasons to have Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return as cohosts (again): The man loves a dirty joke. He said after the kind of night Miranda Lambert (four wins) and fiancé Blake Shelton (two wins) were having, we should expect a baby in nine months. He and Underwood sang a ditty about 2010 being the year of infidelity that had a hook about Tiger catching some tail. After he and Underwood joked about the small size of Lambert’s diamond, and Underwood clarified that she’d actually been sent a picture of it after the proposal and it was big, beautiful, and perfect, he added, “That’s what she said.” Also, we’d be fine watching Paisley and pal Keith Urban open every country music awards ceremony playing guitar on a Carrie Underwood song.

Worst reasons to have Brad Paisley and Carrie Underwood return as cohosts (again): He’s so nice, he won’t mind if you try playing him off during his emotional Entertainer of the Year acceptance speech. Not all of her costume changes are hits (see: that yellow dress).

Your turn.

More CMA coverage:
Full winners list
Ken Tucker’s take on Gwyneth Paltrow’s country music debut
Leah Greenblatt on Taylor Swift’s performance: Strong showing, odd ending

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AMC cancels 'Rubicon' - Entertainment Weekly

Image Credit: AMCBad news for Rubicon fans (however many — or few – there may be out there): AMC announced today that it will not be renewing the original series for a second season. The drama first premiered on the cable network on Aug. 1 and was from Warner Horizon TV.

“Rubicon gave us an opportunity to tell a rich and compelling story, and we’re proud of the series,” the network said in a statement. “This was not an easy decision, but we are grateful  to have had the opportunity to work with such a phenomenally talented and dedicated team.”

The drama starred James Badge Dale, Arliss Howard and Miranda Richardson.

For more on Rubicon:
Rubicon season finale: The conspiracy will be revealed, but will you be watching?

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Kanye West on 'Today' show: Watch the interview he called 'brutal' - Entertainment Weekly

Image Credit: NBCThe Today show interview that Kanye West called “VERY BRUTAL” on Twitter yesterday aired in part today, letting the world see the exchange that made West tweet, “I feel very alone very used very tortured very forced very misunderstood very hollow very very misused.”

After introducing the segment this morning, Today host Matt Lauer played West’s remarks about accusing George W. Bush of racism after Hurricane Katrina in 2005. “As far as it being the worst moment of his presidency, you know, I can’t really speak to that,” the rapper said. “But his take, his explanation, I completely agree with and I empathize with totally.”

The trouble in their interview began a moment later, when the Today show cued footage of Lauer’s recent interview with Bush. “I didn’t need you guys to show me the tape in order to prompt my emotions or whatever,” West said in an annoyed tone. “I don’t need all the jazz…Can we be quiet for a second?”

Pressed by Lauer to further explain his thoughts on the Bush incident, West went back on message. “I want to give it the exact perfect wording, because everything I say gets taken and drawn into headlines,” he noted. “I’m here to man up to different mistakes that I made, and speak to the moment when I pegged George Bush as a racist. I came here to say that I made mistakes and I’ve grown as a person.”

But when Today cued another clip of West interrupting Taylor Swift at the 2009 VMAs, he complained again. “Yo, how am I supposed to talk if you’re going to run the thing in the middle while I’m talking?…Please don’t let that happen again. It’s ridiculous.”

In this morning’s segment, Lauer defended the practice of showing old footage during interviews as standard. Watch the interview after the jump and let us know what you think: Was West right to be bothered by Lauer’s interviewing technique?

(Follow the Music Mix on Twitter: @EWMusicMix.)

More from EW.com:
Kanye West responds to George W. Bush about Katrina controversy: “I definitely can understand the way he feels”
George Bush really does not “appreciate” Kanye West’s Katrina criticism: “The worst moment of my presidency”

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‘Fringe’: Insight and intel about tonight’s Peter/Olivia/BOlivia love triangle episode

As you might expect, romance on Fringe can be a very odd thing. In this peculiar sci-fi world, when you can’t get a hunky guy out of your head because you dig his cheese so much, you really can’t get him out of your head, because he is literally in your head. This was the perplexing plight of FBI agent Olivia Dunham (Anna Torv) in season 1; after the death of her FBI agent boyfriend/fiancé John Scott (Mark Valley of The Human Target), Olivia realized that her dearly departed’s consciousness had somehow lodged inside her brain. (Or something like that. It was a cool idea, but kinda confusing, too.) She had to spend an epic session inside what’s become her private “Me time” place — Walter Bishop’s sensory deprivation (think) tank — to evict her not-necessarily-unwelcome psychic squatter. Basically, it was Fantastic Voyage meets Love Story meets The Exorcist, without the barfing and the crucifix and the priest and the Satan and actually pretty much all of The Exorcist except the exorcising part. Again: I think.

Of course, the defining romance of Fringe has become the relationship between Olivia and Peter Bishop (Joshua Jackson), the genius, sardonic son of the even more genius-ish and extravagantly quirky Walter (John Noble), whose envelope-pushing experiments from long ago have been the cause of so much strangeness in the Fringe world. Olivia and Peter started becoming close early last season as the trio began to gel as more than just a sci-fi crime-fighting unit, but as something of a family. After Olivia returned from a life-threatening jaunt “over there,” i.e. into Fringe’s parallel world, Peter realized he had stronger feelings for her than he had been allowing himself to feel. Over the course of the second season, Olivia realized: Ditto. To be honest, I was among the many Fringe fans who, at the beginning of the series and even into the second season, hoped the show would resist having Peter and Olivia pull a hooking-up Mulder and Scully, only because it seemed so cliché. And yet, two seasons later, I’ve been converted: I find their relationship to be winning and I’m rooting for it to succeed. Via email, I asked exec producers Jeff Pinkner and J.H. Wyman if it was always their intention to bring Peter and Olivia together. “Yes, we were thinking so,” they say, “but we never wanted to force the issue. We wanted the relationship to evolve over time, organically. These are two characters who, for many reasons, needed to FIND each other. Forcing them together quickly would have rung false.” The take-it-slow approach has made the difference — as well as the performances by Torv and Jackson.

But this is Fringe, and so this season has thrown a patently freaky complication into the budding Olivia-Peter relationship in the form of another a woman — specifically, the “Over There” Olivia, dubbed “BOlivia” by fans. Olivia and BOlivia have swapped places this season, with BOlivia serving as an undercover agent helping to advance Walternate’s cause to save the deteriorating “Over There” world” via mysterious, possibly catastrophic means. As part of her subterfuge, BOlivia — who is happily married in her “Over There” life — has had no choice but to play out the evolving Peter-Olivia romance, which went to a new level of intimacy the last time we visited this storyline wayyy back in the days when the San Francisco Giants were still a bunch of scrappy ballplayers that had never won a World Series as a franchise in more than 50 years. (Or: Not since Oct. 14. Nearly a month ago!) Yep: Peter and BOlivia knocked boots. How will Peter realize that the woman he thinks is Olivia is actually her nicknamed-after-a-country doppelgänger? And as for BOlivia, will this Vertigo-meets-Casino Royale loony love affair spark a change of loyalty within her secret agent’s cloaked heart? And can I ever write a sentence without pop culture allusions that I will never really explain? All questions, TBD.

Tonight’s episode is entitled “695 kHz.” Here’s the Fox synopsis:

“Back ‘Over Here,’ the Fringe Division investigates a bizarre phenomenon when 15 people up and down the Eastern Seaboard all suffer retrograde amnesia from listening to their shortwave radios on the same frequency. Much to Walter’s dismay, Peter presses on with piecing together the mass destruction device. Just as alternate Olivia and Peter’s chemistry deepens, the anticipation of Olivia’s return escalates.”

I asked Pinkner and Wyman for a little more intel. They told me that the mind-wiping strangeness “may hold important clues” to the future of our heroes, and that BOlivia’s relationship with Peter does begin to cast this world in a new light: “As BOlivia gets to know our team better (and Peter), she starts to wonder whether they are quite the “monsters” that she was led to believe.” All of this is leading up to the show’s winter finale in early December, which I’m hearing is going to be a Must Watch Fringe event. What’s at stake here during the build-up? “BOlivia’s subterfuge is putting our team in jeopardy — and, possibly our entire world… while Over There Olivia, who now knows exactly WHO she really is, has to figure out a way to get home.”

OUR “WHAT’S WALTER READING?” CONTEST: THE RESULTS SHOW!
Yesterday, we posted a sneak peek image of tonight’s episode that had Walter and Nina Sharpe (Blaire Brown) sitting on a bench and reading a note that couldn’t be seen from our angle. I asked you to guess what was on the note and offered six options. We polled you (and we know how painful that can be) (a little David Letterman for you), you voted, and here’s how it broke down:

A. It’s a love letter between Olivia and Peter: 2.1%
B. A disconcerting note from William Bell’s will: 49.37%
C. It’s a drawing, from the Observer: 39.72%
D. It’s Walter’s favorite cake recipe: 4.34%
E. It’s a prescription for medical marijuana: 4.48%

As you can see, our guessing game wound up being a close race between the most plausible of choices — but the biggest vote-getter is actually INCORRECT! The correct answer is indeed C — but (surprise twist and SPOILER alert!) I have it on good authority that you just may see elements and shades of all the incorrect answers throughout the episode.

I also asked you guys to humor me with some Fringe comedy by writing a caption for the photo that finished the sentence: “The note says… [Fill in the blank.]” Reader “Mike” posted a killer response that hit me in the sweet spot — which is to say, he made a Lost reference. “The note says, ‘Not Olivia’s boat.’” How can I NOT declare that entry the winner! And so I shall…

But I must also applaud this more on-the-nose Fringe quip from “Jeff,” who, for the record, is neither me nor my “Over There” alternate: “It’s a note from Bell saying, ‘Walter, if you’re ever in need of any assistance, Nina will give you a hand. Oops, sorry, my apologies, that came out wrong.’”

I also like this Star Trek-inspired line from “Leithen”: “The note says, ‘Dear Walter, I am, and ever shall be, your friend. In that regard, I must protest your preference for Twizzlers over Red Vines. In any universe, that is wrong. — Belly’”

And finally, “Tracy Bluth” thought she could take the competition by flooding me with multiple entries — an ambitious ploy that strikes me more of a Tracy Flick move than a Tracy Bluth maneuver. (Maybe if it came with a bottle of booze…) Still: I was amused enough — and appreciated the effort enough — to post my favorite of the three entries: “The note says, ‘I wish you had believed me. –JL’” Ah, it feels good to be known…

We’ll finally get to reader mail/theories next week. Ken Tucker’s recap of tonight’s episode posts tomorrow morning. And are you watching The Walking Dead? If so, make sure you join Dan Snierson and me for our recap of Sunday’s (awesome) episode (yep we’ve seen it) on Monday.

Twitter: @ewdocjensen
Email: docjensenew@gmail.com

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