The Block 2012 couples revealed

The Block 2012 couples revealed

Seven teams set to tackle Nine’s Reality series, The Block, have been revealed.

They include a mother and son and a father and daughter team.

They are:

SOPHIE & DALE

Newlyweds, live in Melbourne

Style: Recycled vintage

Married less than a year ago, they have hopes of fixing up a house in the country and raising a family.

"Dale will spend the days tending to our organic vegie patch while I sew clothes and illustrate children's books,'' Sophie said.

She is a graphic designer turned primary school teacher, he is a landscape gardener with a shared passion for the environment.

BRENDAN & MICHELLE

Youngest couple, married, live in Melbourne

Style: Contemporary coastal

Both 22, what these newlyweds lack in age and experience they make up for in confidence.

"Brendan's a real handyman - he picks up skills very quickly,'' Michelle says, describing her husband as a "mix of McGyver and Bear Grylls.''

She is a project support officer with the CFA and Brendan is a youth worker and part-time model.

LARRY & JESSIE

First father and daughter team on The Block, live in Brisbane

Style: Rustic elegance

Jessie, a 22-year-old full-time student originally planned to audition for the show with her mother Michelle.

Tragically, she was killed in a plane crash in March 2011, leaving her family searching for ways to get through their grief together.

"Dad knew how much she wanted to do it and could see how much I loved The Block and said he would do it with me - for my mum.''

BRETT & RANA

First mother and son team on The Block, live in Melbourne

Style: Inviting elegance

Brett, 26, is the apple of his mother's eye.

"I might be biased, but look at him ... he's cute as! And while he can be impatient, stubborn and quite bossy at times, he's also incredibly thoughtful, caring and generous,'' Rana, 46 said.

The mother of three sons wants to study interior design after selling her homewares and fashion business, while Brett, a drainer and machine operator, is currently renovating a house he bought three years ago.

BRAD & LARA

Dating, live near East Maitland

Style: TBC...they're still deciding

Met five years ago in a pub near their home town of East Maitland, bonding over a shared love of Bon Jovi, The Foo Fighters and sport.

They have jumped into renovating boots-and-all, having relocated and refurbished two houses on vacant land, as well as adding an extension to a third property.

Brad is a fitter and machinist in a local mine, while Lara is a physical education teacher at the local high school.

Under pressure is worried about his other half: "she's got great organisational skills, but can become a little erratic and emotional if things start to go wrong.''

ANDREW & MIKE

Brothers, Andrew lives in Byron, Mike in Bondi

Style: Rustic warmth with contemporary touch

Andrew, 37, is a project manager who has left love behind to join The Block. He proposed to girlfriend Emilie the same day he scored a spot on the show.

Mike, 29, lives in one of the Bondi houses he restored with his big brother, leaving Dee, his girlfriend of six years. They spend their weekends together treasure hunting.

"It's paid off, with Mike putting himself through a business degree and then music diploma on the proceeds from "restoring things I found.''

BRAD & COURTNEY

Dating, live in WA

Style: Modern with a vintage twist

After a bumpy start - meeting on a bus trip with mutual friends - the pair have been inseperable ever since.

They have big dreams to renovate their own home, but have settled for small jobs on the house they rent from her parents..

"We're fast learners and we know that we'll gain invaluable experience on The Block.''

She's a speech pathologist and he's a project manager for a commercial property provider.

Only four will make it through to being awarded a property for renovation.

The South Melbourne properties used for the series are close to completion, including exterior facades.

The show will launch after Easter.

All About Soap Awards 2012: Full winners list

All About Soap Awards 2012: Full winners list

The winners of the 2012 All About Soap Awards have been announced today - with EastEnders and Hollyoaks picking up the most prizes.

For our main article about the results - with pictures and quotes from the major winners - head over to the main news section.

Here, though, Soap Scoop presents the full winners' list.


Best Actress

EastEnders: Jo Joyner - WINNER!

Emmerdale: Chelsea Halfpenny

Hollyoaks: Claire Cooper


Best Actor

Coronation Street: Chris Gascoyne

EastEnders: Jake Wood

Emmerdale: Danny Miller

Hollyoaks: Emmett Scanlan - WINNER!


Best Episode

EastEnders: Pat's funeral

Emmerdale: Cain's attack

Hollyoaks: Halloween murder - WINNER!


Best Villain

Coronation Street: Frank Foster

EastEnders: Derek Branning

Emmerdale: Cain Dingle

Hollyoaks: Silas Blissett - WINNER!


Best Mystery

EastEnders: Who's stalking Phil?

Emmerdale: Who attacked Cain? - WINNER!

Hollyoaks: Who's the father of Mercy's baby?

Home and Away: Who attacked Bianca?


Best Dressed Soap Star

Coronation Street: Michelle Keegan - WINNER!

EastEnders: Jacqueline Jossa

Emmerdale: Natalie Anderson

Hollyoaks: Jorgie Porter


Best Comeback

EastEnders: David Wicks - WINNER!

Hollyoaks: Steph Roach

Neighbours: Mal Kennedy


Best Couple

EastEnders: Max and Tanya - WINNER!

EastEnders: Zainab and Masood

Home and Away: Brax and Charlie

Ratings: Fringe and Supernatural Fall, CBS Wins with March Madness

Ratings: Fringe and Supernatural Fall, CBS Wins with March Madness

Fringe couldn't compete with CBS' March Madness coverage, hitting a season low in its spring return.

The sci-fi series grabbed 2.88 million viewers and a season-low 0.9 rating in the adults ages 18-49 demographic for its first of eight new episodes.  Supernatural also fell to 1.57 million viewers, but Nikita rose to 1.56 million viewers.

Fringe finally answers to the season-long question of how Peter will get home

CBS' March Madness coverage easily won the night with 6.53 million viewers and a 2.2 rating.

8 p.m.
CBS: NCAA Basketball 6.5 million viewers (2.2 demo rating)
ABC: Shark Tank 5.9 million (1.5)
Fox: Kitchen Nightmares 3.06 million (1.0)
NBC: Who Do You Think You Are? 5.7 million (1.0)
CW: Nikita 1.5 million (0.5)

9 p.m.
ABC: Primetime What Would You Do? 5.1 million (1.6)

FOX: Fringe 2.8 million (.9)
NBC: Grimm (R) 3.3 million (.7)
CW: Supernatural 1.5 million (0.6)

10 p.m.
ABC: 20/20 5.4 million (1.6)
NBC: Dateline 4.3 million (.9)

Alcatraz Scoop: Tommy vs. Rebecca and 6 More Spoilers from the Season Finale

Alcatraz Scoop: Tommy vs. Rebecca and 6 More Spoilers from the Season Finale

Spectacular. Kinetic. Breathtaking. These are just a few of the words that the cast and creative minds of Alcatraz used to describe the two-hour season finale of the Fox mystery series, airing Monday at 8/7c. The season-ender finds Rebecca (Sarah Jones) finally confronting Tommy (David Hoflin), while the team comes one step closer to discovering who's behind the mass disappearance that sent more than 300 guards and prisoners from 1963 into the future. Get the scoop on the finale below:

1. Tommy vs. Rebecca: Rebecca and her ageless grandfather will finally come face-to-face after a spectacular car chase — said to pay homage to Steve McQueen's Bullitt. Before that though, "We find out a little more about Tommy's involvement in the big picture that makes us go, 'Wait a minute,' and that leads to the hunt down," Jorge Garcia says. (Though Tommy seems to be on the losing end in this promo, Rebecca looks way worse for wear here.)

2. The mystery door: As TVGuide.com first reported, Crimson Tide's Matt Craven will play a new character who happens to be behind the mysterious door downstairs. Whether he's actually the Warden's boss remains to be seen. "The interesting part between the warden and that person is who truly has the power," co-creator Steven Lilien says. "It's their own power struggle for what may be happening. He actually will provide us with some really big answers, which will launch us into Season 2." The good news: The door will be opened in the season finale. The bad news: There's also a third power player in the game.

3. The '63s' return: "They're not coming back at the same time, and I think they all expected to come back together," teases executive producer Daniel Pyne. "They didn't really know how it was going to work, and the way it worked was they've come back at different times. If they couldn't predict how they were going to come back, then they can't really predict a lot of other things about coming back and what happens." Also, look for the final hour to reveal the origins of the mysterious blood and the colloidal silver.

4. Doc's inadequacies: After believing that he knew everything about the Rock, Diego has spent much of the season discovering, well, that he didn't really know anything. "He's dealing with it," Garcia says. "I have a great moment in the two-hour finale where he's resigned to the fact that, 'Of course something's going to happen contrary to anything that I know about because everything that's happening to me, I'm discovering, is contrary to everything I thought was true.'"

5. The '63s' mission: Some of the '63s have returned intending to carry out certain missions, like Jack Sylvane (Jeffrey Pierce) hunting down the silver key and Ernest Cobb (Joe Egender) shooting Lucy (Parminder Nagra). "You'll start to understand there are people helping them," co-creator Bryan Wynbrandt says. "The final two episodes will answer the questions of why they're coming back and doing the things they're doing, what is at stake and what's behind all of their actions thus far. Some of them come back with specific instructions and some don't." Adds Lilien: "Some '63s are chosen very specifically, and we'll see that with Tommy Madsen."

6. Hauser (Sam Neill) and Lucy's reunion: Now that Lucy has awoken from her coma, the star-crossed lovers will finally reunite, but don't expect the two-hour finale to showcase their first reunion after the mass disappearance — that's something the producers are planning for later, should the series get renewed. "We talk about it a lot, and how it happened," executive producer Jennifer Johnson says. "Them reuniting in the present day, which would probably be about six to eight months ago, we'll hear the story at some point."

7. Rebecca's past: The mystery of what happened to her parents will be touched upon in the finale. Interestingly enough, Tommy will be the one who broaches the subject. "You'll definitely get some information about Rebecca's parents," Wynbrandt says. "It's an interesting question that asks bigger questions."

The two-hour season finale of Alcatraz airs Monday at 8/7c on Fox.

Dancing's Cheryl Burke: The Crowd Reaction "Blew Us Away"

Dancing's Cheryl Burke: The Crowd Reaction "Blew Us Away"

Cheryl Burke is pretty sure she's gotten her hearing back. When Tom Bergeron merely mentioned her partner's name, telenovela star William Levy, on the Dancing with the Stars season premiere, the crowd erupted in eardrum-bursting screams usually reserved for the likes of Justin Bieber — and they continued throughout their rehearsal package, their routine, critique and judges' scores. "Oh my God! The screams were so insane!" Burke tells TVGuide.com. "I thought I was gonna go deaf. I probably did for a second." The adoring shrieks were a welcome surprise for Burke, who wasn't sure how the audience would react to her ostensibly unknown partner. See what else she has to say about Levy, why he's a rule-breaker and if he's the next Gilles Marini.

Have you ever heard such loud screams before?
Cheryl Burke: Uh, definitely not on the show for one of my partners. [Laughs] That was wild. I couldn't believe it. And it wasn't just once — it was constant.

Tom told me that a lot of ladies on staff were ogling him, so did you have any inkling that he would trigger this type of reaction?
Burke: No. I didn't really know what to expect. I knew he is very popular in the Latin market, but I didn't know how they were gonna react when they saw him here. And our show is obviously in the U.S. I was a little bit surprised. I didn't think no one was gonna cheer for him or everyone was gonna cheer for him, but I was more like, "We're just gonna go out and dance." So having that support blew us away and I think really made us dance ever better.

You guys did great for rehearsing for only two weeks.
Burke: Actually it was only 10 days. I think they had been wanting him to come on the show and this time he said, "OK, I can do it, but I can't start rehearsals when everyone else is" because he was finishing up his contract. We started later than everyone else. I was a little nervous. First of all, I didn't know who he was. [Laughs] I just knew he was Latin and was thinking that hopefully he'll have some natural rhythm and musicality. And thank God he did! If he didn't, we probably would've looked like a disaster.

You always get partners you don't know, but I don't think you were the only one in this case.
Burke: [Laughs] Yeah. Well, I don't know anybody. I had to Google Emmitt Smith! I basically Google every one of my partners. I think when I was a kid, I just always danced and never really watched much TV. When it comes to pop culture and who's famous and not famous, I have no idea.

A lot of fans took issue with not having enough big names in the cast too.
Burke: Right. I actually was nervous about that too. It was like, "Oh my gosh! Is this gonna be the season where ratings are not great?" And it turns out that everyone is incredible and there's more excitement about this cast than ever. We may not have the biggest celebrities this season, but what makes this show so great is that you grow to love everybody, even if they might not be big star. You grow to love their personality and their journey. We've never had a season like this where the first week everyone is fantastic. I was gonna be happy with three 7s and for us to get three 8s across the board was pretty amazing.

Everyone's saying William could be the next Gilles Marini. Do you think so?
Burke: I definitely think he has the same type of charisma and the same type of passion that Gilles does, and the ladies love him too. It's too soon to really say anything right now, and everyone's different. I'm trying to make him the best possible dancer he can be. Obviously, it doesn't hurt that he's good-looking! I think what would be easiest for him is that he could characterize each dance because he's an actor. He'll be able to get a feel for each dance.

How's the quickstep coming along?
Burke: We're working on it. It's tough because everyone started earlier on their second dances too because they had the full three weeks, so we're really working hard on this quickstep to make sure it's as perfect as can be.

Have you adjusted your teaching method because of the reduced rehearsal time?
Burke: Not really. Right now, we're concentrating on his technique. He doesn't like rules when he dances. [Laughs] I don't think anyone does, but in ballroom, there are rules. I think everyone knows he can do the Latin dances and move his hips, but this week is the quickstep and he needs to be able to do both styles of dances. ... I think this week will be crucial for everyone. I think some people may be better in Latin than ballroom and vice versa, and some might be good in both. Everyone has their own edge and that's what makes the season so interesting. Normally, you know the first few who might go, but we have no idea this season. Tuesday's gonna be so nerve-wracking. No one scored lower than a 6. That's crazy! Usually we only get 6s and 7s.

Were you surprised by the high scores? Do you feel more pressure now? They usually do give you room to grow.
Burke: When you start out so high, it's more pressure on us because you constantly have to live up to that. There's only one way to go, which is down. [Laughs] I don't think William is thinking too much about that. He's just focusing on the quickstep. There are more rules in the quickstep than cha-cha, so he really has to train his body and his muscles to do them. He's a quick learner. I don't think he ever expected the show to be as intense as it is. I don't think he's ever seen a full show before and I don't think he realizes how much goes into the show. He's exhausted. He's like, "I'm tired. I'm tired." I'm like, "I know, but we've gotta get through this." The quickstep's made him even more tired because he's jumping around for four hours a day. On top of that, everyone wants to get to know him. No one knows him, so I'm sure the press he's doing is insane right now, but I think he will figure out how to manage it all.

You're pretty busy too. How are your studios?
Burke: Studios are still doing great. I have two in the Bay Area. I also just partnered with Veet, a hair removal product and I just signed a new deal with Macy's. I'm their face of their new fitness line called Ideology, so yes, I've got my plate full too!

Japan's Yoshimoto Kogyo Partners With Taiwan's Azio on New Pan-Asia Cable TV Channel

Japan's Yoshimoto Kogyo Partners With Taiwan's Azio on New Pan-Asia Cable TV Channel

Yoshimoto Kogyo is to provide content to the new channel, which will initially reach 13 mil households in China.

Japanese talent agency powerhouse Yoshimoto Kogyo is to continue its aggressive overseas expansion with a tie-up on a new cable/satellite channel with Taiwan's AZIO, the two companies announced at the Okinawa Intl Movie Festival on Sunday.

The new channel, Yoshimoto AZIO TV, will begin broadcasting on April 1 in China, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore, as well as in limited distribution in other Asian territories, Europe and North America. Total initial audience will be over 15 million households.  

The headquarters of the new venture will be in Hong Kong, with Yoshimoto Kogyo providing as yet unspecified content for the channel, which will run variety, comedy, food/travel shows, music, award shows and other entertainment-related content.

“The producers from the other Asian countries involved want to learn from the Japanese TV productions. We'd also like to see a lot of Yoshimoto's comedy programs and comedians on the channel,” said Grace Ko, president of Azio, in response of to a question about what Yoshimoto would bring to the table for the new channel.

Hiroshi Osaki, CEO of Yoshimoto Kogyo, said he was interested to see how the 'manzai' style of straight man/sidekick double act, which Yoshimoto was instrumental in turning into the dominant comedy form in Japan, would translate to the rest of Asia. Many of Yoshimoto's comedians have used their manzai acts as a springboard into careers in television presenting, acting and other fields.  

“On Yoshimoto Kogyo's 100th anniversary year we are are excited to both collaborate on the new channel but also do what we can to cheer up the whole of Japan after the recent difficult times,” said Ryutaro Ko, Yoshimoto's head of Asia. 

The press conference at the festival, which is organized by Yoshimoto, concluded with a contract-signing ceremony between the two companies.

MSNBC Commentator Mocks Geraldo Rivera’s Hoodie Comments, Advises Black Men to Dress Like Steve Urkel

MSNBC Commentator Mocks Geraldo Rivera’s Hoodie Comments, Advises Black Men to Dress Like Steve Urkel

Melissa Harris-Perry unveiled her “Dress Code for Black Safety,” saying it would protect black men from being attacked by strangers.

After Fox News commentator Geraldo Rivera was ridiculed for blaming a hoodie for the death of Florida teen Trayvon Martin, MSNBC’s Melissa Harris-Perry ran with Rivera's theory, and came up with a safety tip for black men of her own: dress like Steve Urkel.

Harris-Perry unveiled the "MHP Dress Code for Black Safety," during her MSNBC morning show, “because clearly, we need one,” she said. She kicked off the segment with a picture of Steve Urkel, the famed nerd from the 1990s sitcom Family Matters.

Harris-Perry took on real-life legislation banning excessively saggy pants, and suggested black men dress like Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. if they wished to be kept safe from undeserved persecution. She then showed a 2009 picture of Gates being arrested for trying to get into his own home.

Harris-Perry noted that in the 1980s, black men were supposed to avoid wearing red and blue, because they were gang colors, and said hoodies were dangerous, because “Geraldo Rivera thinks so.”

The dig at Rivera came hours after he reaffirmed earlier statements speculating that Martin’s hoodie made the teen a target for George Zimmerman, the Florida man who shot him to death.

Friday night on Fox News’ The O’Reilly Factor, Rivera advised parents of black and Latino children to stop letting their kids wear “these damn hoodies.”

"They could attract the attention not only of the cops but of nutjobs apparently like this George Zimmerman," Rivera said "And when they see and respond, it is a stereotype, it is repugnant, it is all the things that offend us, but it is real life. It is reality."

Rivera received public criticism for his hoodie talk, including from his own son and comedian Azis Ansari.