TV Bulletin Board (Tues., March 23) -- Mentor Miley for Idol
03/23/10 10:50
By ED BARK
Wizened Miley Cyrus, all of 17, will be the the first "mentor" on this season's American Idol.
The remaining 11 contestants, only one of them younger than Cyrus, will be schooled in the art of singing a No. 1 Billboard hit on the Tuesday, March 23rd edition. Cyrus then will do "When I Look at You" before one of them is sent home Wednesday night.
Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato (he and his brothers own a home in North Texas; her mother was a Dallas Cowboys cheerleader) are also scheduled to perform on Wednesday's eviction hour.
Previous Idol mentors have included Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Rod Stewart and Dolly Parton, all of them old enough to be Miley's grandparents.
In contrast, one of this season's remaining competitors, Fort Worth's 27-year-old Casey James, is almost old enough to have fathered Miley. The show's only two remaining teens are Aaron Kelly, 16, and Katie Stevens, 17.
***HBO and Showtime have set new season premiere dates for two of their top attractions.
HBO's True Blood will launch its third season on Sunday, June 13th. The fourth and final season of Showtime's The Tudors will start on Sunday, April 11th.
***From some of the creative team behind The Tudors, here comes the new Starz series Camelot, due sometime in 2011.
There's no casting yet for Camelot, which is being adapted from the 15th century book Le Morte d-Arthur, by Thomas Mallory. It will be shot in Ireland.
Starz currently is enjoying ratings success with its bloody well done Spartacus: Blood and Sand series, where graphic violence and nudity come to play on a weekly basis.
***Here comes Jerry Springer again, this time as the host of GSN's new dating game show Baggage.
The network says it's "filled with laughs, romance and startling secrets." The premiere date is Monday, April 19th.