Speechless Without Writers

Here's one of the clever videos from speechlesswithoutwriters.com, which is affiliated with United Hollywood. Fear not, I am still watching non-strike related entertainment. 30 Rock is rocking my world, Jeremy Darling is my new TV boyfriend, Friday Night Lights keeps breaking my heart in the best possible ways (Buddy and Santiago under one roof? I can barely stand how much I love and fear the possibilities) and Grey's Anatomy has worked its way back into my good graces.

Speaking of Grey's... What's with all of ABC's amnesiacs? Karev's Ava, Samantha Who?, Patrick on Men in Trees, Alexis on Ugly Betty. And last season, Desperate Housewives' sexy plumber had a case of the who-the-hell-am-I's. If you jump networks, you've got Milo Ventimiglia doing his blank slate schtick on Heroes and Joss Whedon's upcoming Dollhouse with a perpetually mind-wiped Eliza Dushku. Massive brain traumas are hella prevalent, y'all.

On Strike. Shut 'em down. Hollywood's a union town.

Makes sense to me.

Kaya: the new Instant Star

I’m not sure how Kaya, MTV’s new “scripted drama” (I love that they have to advertise that now since EVERYTHING else is a Laguna Beach spin-off), has not incited a lawsuit from the folks over at Instant Star. My guess is that MTV and The N being under the same corporate umbrella helps.

In addition to the similar premise (young girl becomes overnight rockstar), Kaya’s got an aspiring fashion designer BFF named Kat… er, Nat, an overly involved dad, an absentee mom, and a hardheaded music producer named Tommy… er, T. But it’s not like she and T have any sexual tension now that they’ve slept together.

The fact that she went ahead and had sex with the inappropriately older producer is what kind of sold me on the show. It’s like Instant Star with more grit and drugs and dead sisters talking from beyond the grave. Wait, I kind of loathe that last part. But I do like that the stakes seem astronomically higher for Kaya as she and her band yell their way through No Doubt-like tension and deal with bottom line-loving music execs in an attempt to make it beyond one hit wonder status.

I also like the flashbacks to the days when the band first got together. It’s nice to see their youthful exuberance juxtaposed with the jaded anger and resentment that came with making it big. And the music? Pretty damn catchy*. Check out the official video below. It’s been stuck in my head all day.

*Full disclosure requires me to admit that Alexz Johnson (AKA Instant Star’s Jude) is the most played artist on my iTunes playlist and that I recently purchased an import of Season 3’s soundtrack because I couldn’t wait until it was made available in the States. Please feel free to judge or commiserate as you see fit.