Idea for TV Movie of the Week: The Johnny Holly, Jr. Story

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Johnny Holly, Jr.

In Alabama, Johnny Holly, Jr. has been freed after serving 30 years of a sentence of life without parole. His crime: he stole a toolbox. His sentence was the result of a three-strikes law.

How did he get free?

He is free today only because the Legislature changed the repeat-offender law early this decade. The change in the law allowed for the possibility of parole. Even so, it took him several years to be resentenced and to get out.

Who helped him ? The prosecutor and a host of prison guards. Continue reading →

Dancing With The Stars: Final Competition

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Melissa Rycroft

It’s the final competition on Dancing With The Stars. All of the three finalists are incredible tonight. My favorite is Melissa, but Shawn and Mark’s free-style was incredible — and Gilles is really good. The judges didn’t love her free-style but they still gave her “9”‘s. So she’s still in the running.

This seems like it will be the closest year ever. Considering Melissa only joined the show four days before it began airing, just getting to the finals is such an accomplishment for her.

Here’s an interview today with Melissa and Tony.

Bachelorette Jillian: Episode One

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Jillian Harris

Spoiler Alert: My primary interest in The Bachelorette is in the sleuthing… using clues from screencaps and other sources to figure out who’s going home and when, and who makes it to the final four and further, before the episodes air. So if you want surprises, stop reading PopLeft’s Bachelorette threads.

The season opens tonight with Jillian Harris doing a “meet and greet” with 30 bachelors. You can see their pictures here. 10 will get sent home. Who are the ones we won’t be seeing again? For full sleuthing details, head on over to Fans of Reality TV, aka FORT. They are the best. Also check out Joker’s Updates who are first up with screencaps (which fuels a lot of the sleuthing). If you don’t have time to surf through hundreds of comments, here’s the skinny:

Bets are on: Adam, Bryan,Bryce,Caleb,Greg,John H,John P, Josh, Kyle and Stephen to be sent packing. Look for Robby, Jesse, David, and Jake to make it to a date in Canada. Who may go even farther? Reid, Jake, Kip, Wes and Sasha/Alex. The full list is below. Continue reading →

J.T. Wins Survivor Tocantins

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J.T. of Survivor

“J.T.” Thomas, a 24 year old, adorable cattle rancher from Alabama won Survivor — by a unanimous jury vote. It wasn’t much of a surprise, he was the best-liked, most personable and cutest contestant.

I didn’t much care for the other contestants — or for the rainy, buggy Brazilian locale they competed in. I think I only kept watching to finally see Coach get his due. But, the last several episodes were interesting for the game-playing and strategic moves. I also got to like Stephen more as the show winded down but it was a no-brainer J.T. would win with the jury.

More on the goings on this season here. Next season, Survivor is off to Samoa where the show will have a treasure island theme. I also hope it has more likable contestants.

Reactions to “Farrah’s Story”

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Farrah's Story

I wasn’t going to watch “Farrah’s Story” last night, but then I did, all two hours of it. It made for a fitful night’s sleep and every time I woke up I was thinking about it and how horrible and tragic and hopeless her situation is.

I wasn’t going to write about it but this review in the New York Times made me angry. The comments by readers are across the board. Continue reading →

Welcome to PopLeft

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Welcome to PopLeft. After months of putting late-night TV posts on TalkLeft, which are far afield of its crime and politics theme, I decided to give the posts a home of their own.

In addition to reality tv, there will be posts on the other shows I watch, music, films, and interesting news tidbits about them.

With all the shows doing finales this week, the site may not really get active until next season. But I’m launching it now because the new Bachelorette starts Monday night. The best part of the Bachelor/Bachelorette is figuring out the spoilers… you’ll find links to the best spoiler sites on the right under “Forums.”

If you follow any of these shows or topics, feel free to comment. You do need to register, so the site doesn’t become overcome with spam, but it’s free and easy.