Next week, casting producers will be in town looking for families to be on ABC's Supernanny. The press release for the casting event says that for the upcoming fifth season the producers are looking for "families with unique interests; parents who have ordinary and extraordinary circumstances; teen moms; parents with mean girls or bullying boys, culturally diverse parents, and blended families where both sides are seeking help."...

It was announced yesterday that ABC will set up multimedia bureaus at five different college campuses, and the UT School of Journalism is one of them (the other bureaus will be at Arizona State, Syracuse, UNC at Chapel Hill, and the University of Florida). This new program will allow students the opportunity to create stories on local issues and produce content for "Nightline", "World News with Charles Gibson", mtvU, abcnews.com and more under the ABC News umbrella....

Photo by StuSeeger on flickr#13 Texas (9-2) vs. Texas A&M (6-5) Time: 2:30 pm, Friday, Nov. 23 Location: College Station, Texas; Kyle Field TV: ABC Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) Maybe it is true that good things come to those who wait. After back-to-back losses to open conference play, the Texas Longhorns have waited -- through nail-biting finishes and devastating injuries -- and now stand on the verge of what is most definitely a......

Photo by Ken Mau on flickr#15 Texas (8-2) vs. Texas Tech (7-3) Time: 2:30 pm, Saturday, Nov. 10 Location: Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium TV: ABC Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) Critics complained early in the season that the Texas Longhorns had no "identity". Were they a passing team that threw it all over the field? A run-first team that ground you into the dirt? A blitzing, hard-hitting defense? Over the last two games,......

Logo from Austin Jewish Book Fair Keynote Lecture: "Iraq, Al Qaeda, and the Future of Israel" with Jeffrey Goldberg and Lawrence WrightSunday, November 11Jewish Community Association of Austin (7300 Hart Lane)7:30pm, $12 Gen Ad, $10 Students/Seniors/JCC Members[info] | [tickets] Austin Graphics and Comics Night with Paul Benjamin and Terry and Patty LaBanThursday, November 8Barnes and Noble Westlake (701 S. Capital of Texas)7:30pm, Free[info]Less than four days are left in the 2007 Austin Jewish Book Fair,......

Image from RCIS.org Solar Austin Happy HourTuesday, November 6Artz Rib House [map]6:30-8:30pm[info]Solar Austin gathers for their monthly happy hour Tuesday at Artz Rib House. Renowned science fiction author and founder of Viridian Design Movement, Bruce Sterling, will be the featured and the topic will be Future Trends in Solar. Best known for his eight science fiction novels, Mr. Sterling is also a contributing editor of WIRED magazine and a columnist for MAKE magazine. He has......

#14 Texas (7-2) vs. Oklahoma State (5-3) Time: 2:30 pm, Saturday, Nov. 3 Location: Boone Pickens Stadium, Stillwater, Oklahoma TV: ABC Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) With three games remaining in the regular season, the Texas Longhorns are as much as a mystery as they were before the season started. Currently ranked No. 14 in the country with games remaining against unranked teams (Oklahoma State, Texas Tech, and Texas A&M), the Longhorns seem......

#17 Texas (6-2) vs. Nebraska (4-4) Time: 2:30 pm, Saturday, Oct. 27 Location: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium TV: ABC Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) The Texas-Nebraska game on Saturday highlights the clash of history and reality. Historically, both are among the premier programs in college football, and the numbers prove it. The schools have combined for more than 1,600 victories, nine national championships, 90 bowl appearances, and five Heisman Trophy winners. But in......

#19 Texas (4-1) vs. #10 Oklahoma (4-1) Time: 2:30 pm, Saturday, Oct. 6 Location: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas TV: KVUE (ABC) Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) One of the realities of college football is that a single loss, particularly at the wrong time, effectively ends your season. Teams that begin the season with a hope of winning the national championship can see those hopes vanish in the span of four hours on a......

#7 Texas (4-0) vs. Kansas State (2-1) Time: 2:30 pm, Saturday, Sept. 29 Location: Darrell K. Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium TV: KVUE (ABC) Radio: KVET (98.1 FM, 1300 AM) As the Kansas State Wildcats come to town this week, the Texas Longhorns insist they don't have revenge on their minds, but it would be easy to allow them that sentiment. When the two teams met last year in Manhattan, Kansas, Texas was on top of the......

The start of the fall season on network television used to be a bigger deal before cable's summer original fare became so juicy and good. We admit we still get a little excited when we read about original ideas heading our way on the big networks. The crop of new shows starting this fall seems like more of the same (sadly), but there are some that don't follow type and deserve recommendation. Pushing Daisies, ABC,......

Austinite Brad Womack has been announced as the new Bachelor for ABC's tired reality show, The Bachelor. Womack is one of the owners of local establishments Chuggin' Monkey and Dizzy Rooster. Apparently Womack is ready to find a woman and settle down . . . never mind that none of the couples on that show have ever stayed together (Trista and Ryan don't count, since that was The Bachelorette). ABC is referring to him as......

No, this isn't a plot for the pilot of a new Sci-Fi Channel original series, it's a real life epidemic that has forced the University of Texas to temporarily dim the lights of its most revered building on campus, The UT Tower. The University has sent out this e-mail: "As some of you may have noticed, there is a cricket infestation on campus particularly affecting the area of the Main Building and UT Tower.......

We knew that local tennis star Andy Roddick kept himself in good shape, but we were still taken aback when we first came across this cover photo on the latest issue of Men's Fitness: the Austin Java fan and budding philanthropist looks like he's fixin' to hulk out of his burnt orange tee. Said bulging biceps turned out to be yet another case of crafty airbrush work, as ABC News points out in their Doctored......

When Grey's Anatomy first started, we were instantly drawn in. The Seattle-based show had an indie soundtrack, a female creator, a multiracial cast, our pre-teen crush Patrick Dempsey and the excellent Sandra Oh. The show seemed so fresh and new. Since then, Meredith's whiny tone has become an annoying recurrence, Sandra Oh's depiction of Cristina isn't as enthralling as it once was, the George/Izzie coupling is just disturbing, and the drama outside of the show......

While this writer may be of mixed minds about the show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on ABC, it is worth noting that this Sunday night the show will focus on the construction of a home in Austin. Ty Pennington and crew worked on the house in Northwest Austin in December. The Austin family benefited is currently the only family in the nation with five biological children with autism. The episode will feature an appearance by......

Thanksgiving: a time for celebrating family, eating food, and of course, watching TV. Well, we're here to recommend some options: The given: "Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade", 9am, NBC/KXAN. The random: Twelve hours of Doris Day films on TCM, starting at 5am. Pigs at Thanksgiving?: Babe on NBC/KXAN, 2pm. Katie pre-TomKat: One of our favorite Thanksgiving films, Pieces of April, is on IFC at 4:15pm. What Not to Wear on Thanksgiving: What Not to Wear......

#1 Ohio State vs #2 Texas Darrell K Royal-Texas Memorial Stadium Austin, Texas 7:00pm on ABC Enjoy!......

We just got word that ABC show Extreme Makeover: Home Edition will be doing a show in Austin and is currently in the process of searching for a local worthy family. To be honest, we've never seen that show except for tiny snippets at the end while we were waiting for Desperate Housewives to start. But from what we've seen, it appears that they give seriously kick-ass makeovers to the homes of really inspiring......

After reading all the blog-hype this summer and viewing whatever clips/pilots we could find on YouTube, we’ve got our picks for new shows that seem the most interesting/original/well-made/least lame. Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, NBC, Monday @ 9pm. On September 18, you can see the pilot. We caught it in early August when it was on YouTube (before NBC took it down), but if you can’t wait a couple of weeks, Netflix has......

TUESDAY [15] art • Opening Reception for "Dogs Among Men" at Gallery Lombardi (7pm) ® film • Oh Brother, Where Art Thou at Jo's Coffee (7pm) film • Zoom Lost & Found Show with Tommy White Live at Alamo Downtown (7pm, $8) film • Maltese Falcon at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • Three Black Panthers and the Last Slave Plantation benefiting ABC Legal Services and the National Angola-3 Coalition at MonkeyWrench Books (8pm,......

MONDAY [14] film • Excellent Cadavers, the story of the Italian Mafia, at Alamo Downtown (7pm) ® film • Touches Pas Au Grusbi at Paramount Theatre (7:15pm) film • Brick at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) film • Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels at Austin Java (8pm, Free) film • Bukowski: Born into This at Café Mundi (8:30pm, FREE) film • Classe Tous Risques at Paramount Theatre (9:15pm) ® music • Horns of Happiness,......

Standing before thousands of screaming geeks at this weekend's 2006 San Diego Comic Con International, Quentin Tarantino announced the cast "Death Proof," one-half of a double-feature collaborative project entitled "Grindhouse" that he'll be working on with Austin director Robert Rodriquez. From wiki: A "grindhouse" is an American term for a theater that showed exploitation films; it is also used as an adjective to describe the genre of films that played in such theatres. While just......

The greatest sporting event in the world begins tomorrow, so it’s time to think about where to watch all of this year’s World Cup games. Contacting a friend with a high definition television is a good idea, as all 64 games will be shown live in HD. If you don’t have HD, not to worry, as all the games will also be shown live on ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC. The opening match, between Germany and......

Tonight we bid a sad adieu to one of our favorite shows, Alias. We've been watching since the second episode (we forgot to catch the pilot). We were instantly sucked in by Michael Vartan, the great acting, the interesting family dynamics, the quirky castmembers, and did we mention Michael Vartan? We must admit that he's the reason we started watching the show. We had a slight crush on him leftover from Never Been Kissed.......

MONDAY [22] [film] Letters from the Other Side at Congregational Church of Austin (7pm, Free) [link] [film] Hands on a Hard Body at Austin Java (8pm, Free) [link] [film] Jarhead at Cafe Mundi (8pm, Free) [link] [film] True Stories at Rounders Pizzeria (8pm, Free) [link] [film] Salt of the Earth at MonkeyWrench Books (8pm, $5) [link] [film] Anime Monday at Ventana del Sol (7:30pm) [link] [tv] 24 Season Finale at Alamo Downtown (7pm, Free) [link]......

Holy smokes. Anyone watching Sunday's breathtaking Game 1 simply can't wait for the next battle in the Spurs/Mavericks showdown: everyone, that is, except for fans of either team, who all had heart attacks and keeled over from the intensity. To recap: Tim Duncan dropped 31 points, Bruce Bowen played great defense on Dirk, and the Spurs pulled off an (extremely) narrow 87-85 victory when Jerry Stackhouse airballed on the final possession. The Mavs led......

*This post comes from Austinist Special World Cup Correspondent Ben Gardner, Co-Host of KOOP’s SoccerMad, who will be traveling to Germany for this year’s Cup.* Elvis and Liz Taylor are dancing the tango. The Merry Pranksters stop at the Fillmore to catch Jefferson Airplane. Dr. Zhivago hits the screens, and “The Newlywed Game” premieres on ABC. The year is 1966 and the Beatles are more famous than Jesus. It has been forty years since England,......

With national gas prices soaring past that dreadful $3-per-gallon mark, most of us at Austinist have had to rework our upcoming roadtrip plans. But what about our city's vast legions of musicians? Summer's a great opportunity for bands to get out for a bit of stateside touring, but it's hard enough for most indepedent artists simply break even -- especially when you've rented a jalopy of a gas-guzzling touring van to house all those damned......

There are two new (and very different) shows premiering tonight at 8pm. The one we will probably try to catch is The Unit (KEYE/CBS). Dennis Haysbert ("24") and Scott Foley (or as we think of him, Jennifer Garner's ex) star in this secret agent/military drama. We are intrigued enough to check it out because a) David Mamet is one of the producers, and b) Regina Taylor plays Mr. Haysbert's wife. We have fond memories......