The X Factor: Stacey Solomon & Lucie Jones

I don't know what I like most about X Factor finalists Stacey Solomon (19 yrs) & Lucie Jones (18 yrs): the fact that they don't feel a need to truss themselves up in high heels and porno outfits, or that when asked asked what they wanted from the competition, they both (separately) replied, "to make everyone proud".

Stacey, in particular, won my vote with: "Wouldn't it be nice to just be good at something and make everyone proud of you and be in a position where you can make everyone happy round you?"

Here's Stacey's make or break song, which put her in the final twelve of the competition:


(Do check out Kylie's face: it's amazing just how much expression you can iron out with Botox.)

X Factor (another talent show from Simon Cowell) is my weekend guilty pleasure: I know that all my friends & family are watching back in England, and I love that I can watch it all on You Tube on the same day. It makes me feel a bit more connected to them all.

Am I allowed to be smug that the four people (Olly Murs, Lucie Jones, Jamie Archer & Stacey) that I liked best at the first round of auditions are part of the twelve contestants through to the live finals? All four of them apparently lack the assured bumptiousness, sense of entitlement & desire to be a celebrity of so many of the contestants so far. Equally none of them seem to know just how good they really are, so watching them develop in the live finals will make great television.

But my money is on Stacey.

Here's Stacey's first audition (Loving her, her outfit, her charm):

My new favourite TV show: Glee

Described by one reviewer as, "if High School Musical had been punched in the stomach and had its lunch money stolen", it focuses on a high school show choir, (the glee club), in Lima, Ohio.

Last week's episode (playing on Hulu now in the US), featured teeny tiny camp Kurt. He describes himself as a fashion iconoclast, & usually ends up being chucked in a dumpster by the football team (although they do let him take his Marc jacket off first).

This is Kurt's redemption scene: he makes the football team, and they all end up dancing to Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It). Utterly brilliant. (Make sure you watch to the end.)

There's nothing like a good costume drama...

Oh the bliss! I flicked on the telly just now and was gobsmacked to see Jennifer Ehle in full Regency fig as Elizabeth Bennett in the BBC's classic version of Pride & Prejudice. Even better, it was as they arrived at Pemberley and Mr Darcy (Colin Firth) appeared dripping wet, burning up the screen.

Be still my beating heart.

(Turns out it's Jane Austen season on PBS. That's my evenings sorted then. It's the Andrew Davies Sense & Sensibility next.)

TYRA BANKS IN NEW FASHION REALITY SHOW

WGSN reports that talk show host and former supermodel Tyra Banks is set to present a new reality TV show that's out to find a fashion magazine editor.

IMDB reveals that the show is being dubbed "The Apprentice meets The Devil Wears Prada. Producer Ken Mok says: "It is a competition show about aspiring assistants looking to become assistant editors at a fashion magazine."

Bosses are said to be looking for a magazine to participate with the series, which is set to air on US network, CW, this spring.

Now I know how professional musicians feel about Pop & American Idol.

Lovely Doctor Who

I ADORE Doctor Who. It's by far and away my favourite-est ever telly prog. I love it more than CSI AND House put together. I love David Tennant quite a lot too. Yum. And I lust after the Daleks in Forbidden Planet up at Union Square, but can't quite bring myself to buy one. They are a little bit expensive for a very self-indulgent, self-gifted present. (It's not like shoes: at least you can wear them, even if I have been known to display a particularly beautous pair on my living room shelves.)

I am rather unhappy at present as I fly back tomorrow at 8am, very much against my will, for an op on Tuesday and, instead of spending next week being festive in Manhattan will be flat on my back in darkest North London unable to walk for a week. Therefore I am very happy to discover that there is an hour long Doctor Who Christmas special on the Beeb, with special guest Kylie. Bliss. There are always chinks in the darkness.

And this fabulous piece by the lovely Caitlin Moran in today's Times tells you all about it.

Guilty Pleasure: Gossip Girl

If you are female, under 35 and live in Manhattan, chances are that you watch television's newest vice: Gossip Girl. It's a sherbet light froth, more believable than The OC, & as addictive as 90210 in its heyday. (Now I'm showing my age), Set on in the world of private schools, & millionaire parents, these High School-ers exist on cocktails & thin air, shag for, well, Manhattan, & party for America. It's no wonder it's become so popular: it's executive producer is Josh Schwartz, who conceived The OC.

I may be (sometimes) a proper grown up with a serious job in the fashion world, but this is my weekly dose of escapism. All my girlfriends here are equally obsessed - and we are in our 30's and, I suppose, could be said to know better. But sod it, I like fluff as much as I do more cerebral pursuits, and I'm happy to say so.

Gossip Girl is based on the popular novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar, which shines a spotlight on the lives of six teenagers attending private school on Manhattan's Upper East Side.


Blair and sidekicks.

Serena van der Woodsen (Blake Lively) and best friend Blair Waldorf (Leighton Meester) are the two key female leads, and slated to be the Mischa Bartons of their generation. Blair's boyfriend Nate Archibald (Chace Crawford), trust funder Chuck Bass -(played by you'd-never-guess-it-but-he's-English Ed Westwick) and the outsider Humphrey siblings from hipster Williamsburg Dan (Penn Badgley) and Jenny (Taylor Momsen) complete the key characters. The series is narrated by "Gossip Girl" (the voice of Kristen Bell), who writes an onlooker's blog which continually stirs up trouble.



Serena, Dan, Nate & Chuck.

The costumes rock too, less costume-y than Sex & The City, which went beyond parody in the last couple of series, generally making guys of the actresses. The designer is Eric Daman, who was an assistant designer on SATC, and also styles for i-D. Although I've yet to meet a schoolgirl who wears $900 Clergerie boots or $500 sequin Tory Burch frocks, they look hot enough on Blake Lively aka Serena van der Woodsen to make me seriously consider some copy-cat retail.

And it's not just the clothes that rock, the music does too. In the same way that she broke niche bands on The OC to a wider audience (Death Cab for Cutie, the Shins), Gossip Girl's music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, has picked up on new NYC bands like The Virgins, who she mixes in with acts like The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Amy Winehouse, Feist, Air & The Bravery.

It certainly has its ridiculous side: all the mothers look about five years older than their daughters, which isn't surprising considering that Serena & Blair both look 25 rather than seventeen. All the teens drinks like fishes, and have no problems getting into bars & clubs where they suck down martinis like Kool-Aid.



Serena: Seventeen, going on thirty.

Rumour has it that Gossip Girl's been bought by ITV2. Every time I try to describe it to my London-based girlfriends, all I have to do is say , "better than 90210" and I have instant converts: I predict the next UK cult show. (Let's just hope the Writers' Strike is resolved soon - they've only shot 12 out of the 22 episodes slated for this season.)

Clarification

This, my friends, is a Dalek.



And this is David Tennant

Daleks ahoy!

This is a bloody brilliant interview with David Tennant et al by Caitlin Moran in The Times about the new series of Doctor Who, for which I have a passion bordering on the mildly joyful, (or am I confusing that with my passion for David Tennant?). Hmm.