Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga: Too much of a good thing?

Ellen DeGeneres listens to singer Justin Bieber as she holds a box containing strands of his hair. The box will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to Gentle Barn.

There are two people who have been in the news as of recently, at least more so than usual, who may be getting too much coverage for their own good: Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga. Not that it would matter to me, but I fear the pop stars risk overexposure and pretty soon people will be tossing any news of either aside. Call it the Lindsay Lohan Syndrome. Sometimes, enough is enough.

Here’s my reasoning:

Sixteen-year-old Bieber is on the fast track to take over the world, just as Gaga has done in the last few years. He’s a teen sensation who can actually sing (and play drums, guitar, piano…whatever you throw in front of him); he’s got the pretty-boy duds and he seems like a genuinely nice kid, always smiling, never getting into trouble.

But when the biggest news of the week is that the Bieb has gotten a haircut, I think we need to slow down. Websites posted this nugget as “Breaking News,” and it was on nearly every site — even mainstream news sites — as a top story. And it wasn’t just a blip on the radar. It had legs, as we say in the news biz, for the entire week. Keep in mind we have fighting in Libya and skyrocketing gas prices to contend with. The Bieb even made special appearances on “Ellen” and “Entertainment Tonight” to showcase his new locks.

It apparently isn’t enough that we see him as a musical artist. No, now he stars in his own movie, makes cameo appearances on “Saturday Night Live,” shows up as a troubled teen in episodes of “C.S.I.” and takes home the MVP trophy in the NBA’s celebrity all-star game. You’d think that much exposure would amount to saturation, but not with this kid. He’s also on product lines of nail polish (really?), dolls and bed sheets. He seems to be popping up just about everywhere.

The Bieb has been so pumped up by the media, his handlers and his legions of fans that everybody seemed to consider him a shoo-in to win the Grammy award last week for Best New Artist. When jazz-bassist Esperanza Spalding took the prize instead, the look on the Bieb’s face was one of utter disappointment, almost like he was set up.

Bieb, we get it. You can sing, dude, and I’ll admit, you are adorable with whatever hairstyle you so choose. But you’re just getting started in the biz. Slow down or you’ll be on the track to has-been teen sensation sooner, rather than later.

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I’ll admit I dig some of Lady Gaga’s music. Any girl who denies it is lying. (Heck, even the old bald guy who sits across the aisle at work thinks she’s a huge talent.) The Fame, as well as the follow-up bonus disc, The Fame Monster, brought out a new sound at a time when it was much needed in the music world. Her crazy fashions, along with her even more bizarre music videos held our attention for the last three years, and she’s earned the worldwide success that she now holds. And just as with Bieber, Gaga can actually sing and shred the piano quite well.

My problem now is, we need some breathing room. I get it, Gaga is a massive icon these days, especially with the LGBT community, but as far as her music goes, it’s too much too soon.
She just got finished with a massive tour and now her third album in three years is being released on May 23. Her newest single, “Born This Way,” was released on Feb. 11 to much anticipation, and it seems to play about every 30 minutes on the radio. In fact, I’ve had it stuck in my head for the last few days. But that’s not the point.

The point is, “Born This Way” is not nearly as good as her previous accomplishments. And her first performance of it on the Grammys wasn’t as earth-shattering as everyone assumed it would be. I was actually pretty bored during it. The whole arrive-in-an-embryo stunt took it a little too far in the creative mindset of things, and I don’t think I was the only one who was less intrigued by the stunt, more so than applauding her conceptual vision.

To couple with her mediocre hit single, which she claimed to have written in 10 minutes (best have kept that to yourself, Gaga, as it shows), “Born This Way” is in the midst of big debate on whether it resembles — or rips off, for that matter — Madonna’s “Express Yourself.” Both not only have similar beats, but similar messages. Only Madonna’s is way, way better and Gaga — as much as she portrays herself as the new-age Madonna — will never come close to Madonna-status.

What it boils down to is Gaga needs to take some time away. I could be wrong and her new album will be the most glorious thing we’ve ever heard, but I really think by the end of the year the world will have Gaga fatigue.

She’ll still have her Little Monsters making her songs #1 on the charts and buying up her concert tickets, but the majority of casual listeners — even the bald guy — will be looking for the Next Big Thing.

So step back Bieber, re-evaluate yourself Gaga, let us breathe and give us some room to appreciate your talent, rather than making you an easy target for the butt of every joke.

The Grammys: A night of pure entertainment

Ah the Grammys… one of the few instances in a year where I let myself wander outside my comfort zone and take a listen to what the majority of others are listening to on a daily basis: Top 40 Radio.

The Grammys are a place where the Gagas, the Biebers and the Eminems of the world, along with many others in every respective musical genre, come together once a year for a night of pure entertainment.

The Grammys are simply a celebration of music, and I respect that. Plus, the Grammys like to mix it up by throwing a few legendary acts in with the performers of today. Last year Elton John, Stevie Nicks and Jeff Beck graced the stage. This year we were rewarded with Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand and Mick Jagger.

As Forrest Gump would say, you never know what you’re gonna get. And this year was no different: I mean, Lady Gaga showed up in a giant egg, for Pete’s sake.

Here’s a rundown of some of my favorite performances of the night:

• Christina Aguilera: Aguilera redeemed herself from her Super Bowl foul with a powerful performance of Aretha Franklin’s “Ain’t No Way.” In a tribute to Franklin, Aguilera was joined by Jennifer Hudson, Florence Welch (from Florence & The Machine), Martina McBride and gospel singer Yolanda Adams. The quartet did Aretha proud with a 10-minute mash-up tribute to the diva with such songs as “Respect,” “Spirit in the Dark” and “Sisters Are Doin’ It For Themselves.” But it was Aguilera who truly stood out. We all know Aguilera’s got the chops, but it’s soulful songs such as Aretha’s where her powerhouse vocals really shine.

• Bruno Mars: Mars started out the performance accompanying rapper B.O.B. and Janelle Monae. All three artists complemented each other nicely during renditions of B.O.B.’s “Nothin’ On You” and Monae’s “Cold War.” But it was Mars who broke away from the pack with a ’50s style take on his hit song “Grenade,” equipped with the dance moves and black and white screening to go with it. Classy, real classy.

• Jaden Smith: Coming out of nowhere, the 12-year-old tyke bred from Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, busted out some rhymes alongside teen sensation Justin Bieber during a performance of the latter’s “Never Say Never.” Surprisingly, Jaden’s raps flowed smoothly and he seemed comfortable on stage. Perhaps Jaden has inherited his father’s famous rapping chops. Let’s hope this lead’s to a cover of “Parents Just Don’t Understand.”

• Skylar Grey: She may be the breakthrough artist of the night, performing on Eminem’s “I Need a Doctor” alongside Dr. Dre. Grey only sings the chorus of that song, but the words and vocals hit hard and it complements the edgy rap side of things that Eminem and Dre provide. The entire song is hard-hitting, but low-key all in the same. It’s a nice pairing.

• Mumford & Sons, the Avett Brothers and Bob Dylan: Mumford & Sons, and the Avett Brothers prove that there is still good ol’ authentic bluegrass music out there. Mumford & Sons performed “The Cave” with two horn players backing up their four-piece band, then segued into the Avett Brothers’ strong-headed performance of “Head Full of Doubt, Road Full of Promise.” And then in one big culmination, the bands backed up legend Bob Dylan, as he performed “Maggie’s Farm.” Dylan may be getting a little raspy in his old age, and the back-up bands may have been shouting over him, but Dylan gave it his all and deserved the standing ovation he received from the audience.

• Cee Lo Green: Cee Lo Green, along with his partner-in-crime Danger Mouse, always enjoy dressing up as famous pairings as part of their band Gnarls Barkley. So it’s no surprise that even as he took to the stage solo to perform “[The Song Otherwise Known As] Forget You” that he looked like a new-age Elton John, dressed in colorful feathers resembling those of a peacock and a bedazzled head covering and glasses, rocking out on the piano. To couple with his costume was a fun set full of rocket ships…and puppets singing and dancing along. Yeah, that’s right…puppets. Oh, and for what’s it’s worth, Gwyneth Paltrow was there too.

• Muse’s performance of “Resistance:” Progressive space rock is what Muse is, and they put on quite a show for us Americans… they’re from England. With towers of TV screens made to look as if they come crashing down on us, along with actors pretending to riot and destroy said TV screens, the performance definitely defined the title of the song.

The Awards:

Grammys are awarded in 109 categories, including Best Spoken Word Album, Best Tropical Latin Album, Best Banda Album and Best Comedy Album. Here are some of the winners in the more traditional, popular categories.

Record of the Year: “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum
Album of the Year: The Suburbs by Arcade Fire
Song of the Year: “Need You Now” by Lady Antebellum
Best New Artist: Esperanza Spaulding
Best Female Pop Vocal Performance: “Bad Romance” by Lady Gaga
Best Male Pop Vocal Performance: “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars
Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals: “Hey, Soul Sister (Live)” by Train
Best Pop Vocal Album: The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga
Best Rock Performance by A Duo or Group with Vocals: “Tighten Up” by The Black Keys
Best Alternative Music Album: Brothers by The Black Keys
Best Rock Album: The Resistance by Muse
Best R&B Album: Wake Up! by John Legend & The Roots
Best Rap Solo Performance: “Not Afraid” by Eminem
Best Rap Song: “Empire State of Mind” by Jay-Z featuring Alicia Keys
Best Rap Album: Recovery by Eminem
Best Female Country Vocal Performance: “The House That Built Me” by Miranda Lambert
Best Male Country Vocal Performance: “ ‘Til Summer Comes Around” by Keith Urban
Best Country Album: Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Tarantino’s ‘True Romance’ not your typical love story

"People have asked me:
‘So would you ever do a romance movie?’
Like that’s so not what I would do.
‘Well, I did a romantic movie, True Romance.’
‘No, No, I mean like a real romantic movie.’
‘Well, that is a real romantic movie.’
‘No, like one without violence?’
‘Well, there’ll be a lot of things in any movie I do that will be contradictory,

but anybody who’s a fan of the movie can tell you,

the title — True Romance — is not ironic… this is True Romance.”
— Quentin Tarantino

And Tarantino is right at that. “True Romance” may contain more violence, more blood and more F-bombs than your typical Jennifer Aniston romantic comedy, but it is the epitome of romance — and it begs the question: How far would you go for the one you love?

Directed by Tony Scott, and the first major screenplay out of Mr. Tarantino’s handbook, “True Romance” takes you on a ride you’ll never forget — and it may leave you saying “What the heck” more than “Awww.”

“True Romance” tells the story of Clarence (Christian Slater), a lonely comic book store clerk, who on his birthday meets a lovely lady named Alabama (Patricia Arquette) at a movie double-feature. They have a grand ol’ time together that night and are quickly head-over-heels in love. Later that night, Alabama’s conscious comes into play and she admits to Clarence that she’s a call girl that Clarence’s boss hired for his birthday.

Though upset and frustrated, Clarence can’t deny that he loves Alabama, and they marry the next day. Now arises the problem of Alabama getting out of her ‘contract’ with her crazy-eyed, dread-head pimp, Drexl (played wonderfully by Gary Oldman, who makes the most out of his 10-minute scene). The problem is solved when Clarence kills Drexl, (an act Alabama deems “so romantic”) but instead of grabbing her bag of clothes, he grabs a bag of cocaine. They realize their mistake and hatch a plan to make the best of it by profiting off of the sale of the drugs and escaping to Cancun together, to live happily every after.

Of course, it’s not that simple. Unlike the typical rom-com, Clarence and Alabama have to work hard to stay together — they flee to L.A., are confronted by gangsters, make drug deals and find themselves in the middle of massive shootouts — all in the name of love.

And it’s well worth it, as Clarence and Alabama are truly meant for each other. Alabama is a woman who fights with her heart — just wait until a scene where she’s caputured by a henchman, played by James Gandolfini (aka Tony Soprano). She’s may be sweet, but she’s also in love and nobody — not even a 300-pound henchman — will stand in her way.

And Clarence is happy to have such a beautiful lady in his lonely life. Christian Slater is perfect to play such a nice guy turned reckless fighter. His leading man looks may not be the conventional Brad Pitt type (who, by the way, also has a small, but wonderful role in the film), but he’s got heart, which brings out a bit of psychotic in him, and he’ll do anything for Alabama.

Everything about “True Romance” is superb: the writing, the characters, the editing and the music (score by Hans Zimmer) all fuse together nicely. It may not have made any money at the box office ($11.5 million in 1993), but it has gone on to be a huge cult favorite.

Add to the mix a top-notch supporting cast, and you can’t go wrong: The already mentioned Gandolfini, Pitt and Oldman, along with Dennis Hopper, Christopher Walken, Michael Rapaport, Val Kilmer, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn and Tom Sizemore, work their magic and put on a great show for us.

In one of the best scenes of the movie, Hopper, who plays Clarence’s police officer dad, is confronted by a gangster (Walken) about the whereabouts of Clarence. They exchange racially-slurred jabs at one another in a somewhat comical way — all the while, Clarence’s dad knows that he’ll be killed for not dispensing any information — but by getting in that one last insult, he wins and can die a happy man.

Clarence and Alabama’s relationship may have been born in a destructive environment (maybe not as destructive as, say, Sid and Nancy) but it’s a relationship full of love all the same. They get their fairy tale ending just as the rom-com couples do — only theirs come with a few more bruises, scrapes and bullet wounds — but it’s a fairy tale ending all the same.

So if you’re looking for something a little-less cookie cutter when it comes to romance flicks, go back a couple decades and discover this hidden Tarantino gem to see what true love is all about.

‘Storm of the Century’: A Stephen King film that still gives me the chills

Given the weather yesterday, I was reminded of a favorite made-for-TV movie that appeared back in the day that has always been one of my faves: Stephen King’s “Storm of the Century.”

King decided he would write a fresh screenplay for the TV screen — not based on any of his books — that would air in February of 1999, on ABC, in a three-part series. It was the first time King had decided to go this route. Ironically, the screenplay would later be turned into a book. But anyhow, “Storm of the Century” took the TV airwaves by storm, literally.

“Storm of the Century” takes place on a little island in Maine where a powerful storm blocks all travel on and off the island. The main character, town Sheriff Mike Anderson (Tim Daly of “Wings” fame; more recently “Private Practice”) manages to keep the townspeople safe and everything and everyone under control. That is, until a stranger shows up.

Andre Linoge (Colm Feore) seems to know all of the town’s secrets — ranging from abortion to who’s growing marijuana. He’s a menacing character with a gift for instantly getting under everyone’s skin. It probably helps that Feore has a perfect deadpan stare. Throw in an all-around creepy aura that seems to extend beyond the TV screen and you’ve got the makings of a first-class villain.

Soon, Linoge is put in jail for killing one of the town’s residents, but somehow, someway, he is able to get people to kill themselves and others (though not in that order) while he is behind bars. All the while repeating, “Give me what I want and I’ll go away.”

I was 13 when “Storm of the Century” first aired, the perfect age to be thoroughly creeped out by scary movies — and it sure did — or does — I still have a hard time sleeping without a light on every time I watch this film.

Obviously, being a made-for-TV movie, there wasn’t much blood and gore, but King has made a career out of keeping people scared with an eerie, drawn-out storyline that keeps the tension alive. And being a mini-series, it was the perfect way to keep viewers coming back each night. At some points it does fall flat, but it’s a movie that gets to you — imagine, getting stuck on an island, being held hostage by Mother Nature alone, not able to escape the grips of a dangerous man.

The conclusion of the film finds the town realizing that Linoge is a demon who requires an heir to take over for him, as he is not immortal. He wants one of the eight children of the island to be his heir, and if the town refuses, Linoge will kill everyone on the island.

The town agrees to forfeit a child — everyone except for Mike, the sheriff. In the end, stones are drawn from a bag by each parent of the children, and Sheriff Mike’s kid is chosen to be taken away.

Everybody loves a Stephen King movie, although some may be cheesy (“Maximum Overdrive”; “Pet Semetary”); you can’t deny that he can write. And I applaud the man for trying something new that worked out well. He would succeed again with “Rose Red” in 2002, and “Kingdom Hospital” in 2004.

If you’re a big fan of suspense, next snow storm (probably next week at the rate we’re going) cuddle up and watch this four-hour feat of a movie. If nothing else, you’ll be glad you don’t live on an island.

'Frozen' will have you glued to your seat

With the recent news of skiers having to be rescued from stalled chair lifts at two resorts, coupled with the frigid temperatures we’ve been getting this week, why not watch a movie called “Frozen,” where three college-age kids get left on a ski lift to either A) Freeze to death, or B) Make some painful decisions in order to survive.

Released last February, to a limited release, “Frozen” is a movie that totally puts you in the mood...to not ever want to go skiing or snowboarding again. If you were ever hesitant about jumping on a chair lift before, “Frozen” will be sure to keep you off them for good, or at least make you think twice about getting in that last run.

To summarize what little plot there is to “Frozen,” we have best buds Joe (Shawn Ashmore — best known as Iceman in the X-Men movie reboots — how ironic) and Dan (Kevin Zegers, Damian from “Gossip Girl”), along with Dan’s girlfriend, Parker (Emma Bell, most recently seen on “The Walking Dead”), who decides to tag along.

Instead of buying lift tickets like everyone else, they decide to bribe the lift operator with cash money and a little flirtation on Parker’s part. It works. They have their fun and before the night is over, they once again work their persuasion magic and get the lift operator to allow them one last run (such a reliant operator that guy is).

Through a series of miscommunications, Joe, Dan and Parker get stuck on the lift by themselves, in the dark — with no one to save them for a week, as the mountain is only open Friday through Sunday. Oh no! What ever will they do?!

Catch my mocking tone? Karma… that’s all I can say.

Being the smart nuggets these three are, rather than freeze to death, they decide to do something about it. Dan jumps off the lift, feet first, and snaps both his legs at the ankles (not a good scene to watch for the squeamish). Meanwhile, Parker starts to develop frostbite on her face, and Joe is just chill, hanging out, not really doing much to help his best friend out.

As you can guess, Dan dies (I won’t say how, but some would say it’s quite predictable, given his situation). Joe and Parker hang out for another day or so, making light of their situation and discussing memories of Dan, all the while thinking of plans to get down. Sooner or later, one of the two dies (Again, I won’t say how — I don’t want to spoil such a great movie for ya’ll) and the lone member survives after a treacherous journey to safety.

As much as I trash such a movie, it was pretty intense to watch. For one, it’s a single-setting movie. It’s as if we’re stuck on the chairlift with them, trying to come up with our own solutions. That’s what makes it scary — the realism of the situation. And although one too many of their decisions may not have been well thought out, I’m sure if I were freezing to death, knowing that no help would make its way up the mountain, I might go to extremes and make stupid mistakes myself — just saying, you never know.

And despite an ending that I felt was unfulfilling, a story line that could have been a bit more developed and a need for slightly better acting, “Frozen” held my attention, made me cringe during certain scenes and also had me yelling at the screen — all the makings for a decent, scary movie — and much more believable than some crazy dream stalker who loves to don fedora hats and sport red-and-green-striped sweaters, am I right?

Recapping the Golden Globes

Feel free to sing along:
It’s the most, wonderful time of the year!

Awards season is here! And as I said in the fall when the Emmys aired, I’m a sucker for awards shows. And there were two just this last week alone: Glorious! The Critic’s Choice Awards aired Friday and the Golden Globes aired Sunday.

And although there may be more pressing matters to write about this week — “American Idol” is back without Simon, and Regis is retiring — they’ll just have to wait while I recap what went down at this year’s Golden Globe Awards.

In what is dubbed the “fun, party” awards show — it’s the only one where alcohol is served — according to some, the fun was sucked right out of the show when Ricky Gervais, the evening’s host for the second year in a row started to bash on celebrities with some harsh, deep-cutting jokes. So much so, in fact, that he was not asked back next year.

I, on the other hand, thought the jokes were honest — and funny. In a span of five-minutes, topics included: Charlie Sheen; ‘The Tourist’ starring Jonny Depp and Angelina Jolie (“It seems like everything this year was in 3-D; except the characters in ‘The Tourist’ ”); Cher (“Do you want to go see Cher? No. Why? Cause it’s not 1975.”); Hugh Hefner and his new fiancé; and the age of the cast of “Sex and the City 2” (“I was sure the Golden Globe for special effects would go to the team that airbrushed that poster.”)

In his most controversial joke, Gervais nabbed on two famous scientologists (most likely John Travolta and Tom Cruise) — “ ‘I love you Phillip Morris’ didn’t get nominated either. It stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor, two heterosexuals pretending to be gay; the complete opposite of two famous scientologists we know... My lawyers helped with the wording of that joke” — all to a sea of shocked faces and booing.

But it wasn’t until after taking a jab at the president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that Gervais slowly dwindled away from the show. After an hour-length gap with no host, Gervais reappeared sporadically and with only modest jokes.

NBC hired the host and should have known what they were getting themselves in for. Comedians don’t change their style just for some fancy-dancy award show. And I say Cheers to Gervais for a job well done.

But anywho, on to the winners.

Pleasant surprises: Katey Sagal winning Best Actress for a TV Series— Drama, for her role in “Sons of Anarchy.” I haven’t watched the show, but I’ve heard very good things about her performance. To transform her image of Peggy Bundy from “Married With Children” into a hardcore biker chick is hard to do, and I’m glad the academy recognized it.

Steve Buscemi wins Best Actor for a TV Series — Drama, for “Boardwalk Empire.” He’s one of the creepiest-looking actors out there, but I love every role he does. Nucky Thompson is no different. And Buscemi had a very humble acceptance speech.

Unpleasant surprise: The three awards that “Glee” took home: Best TV series — Comedy or Musical; Jane Lynch for Best Supporting Actress; and Chris Colfer for Best Supporting Actor.

I still don’t get what all the fuss is about “Glee,” and I refuse to think that “Glee” is better than “Modern Family” or that Chris Colfer is better than Eric Stonestreet, David Strathairn or Chris Noth, some of his fellow nominees. Jane Lynch I can live with — she’s quite funny — although Julia Stiles put up one heck of a performance in this season’s “Dexter,” so I wished she had taken the cake.

Funniest presenter: Robert Downey Jr. tackles the category of Best Actress — Comedy or Musical, with quick-wit and humor, as only Downey Jr. can do. Some exerpts of his speech: “I consider myself a veteran of sorts. And I have made some sort of study of this, tell me if I’m wrong. I don’t know if an actress can do her best work, until I’ve slept with her, Julianne,” he said, as he motioned toward Julianne Moore, nominated for “The Kids Are All Right.” And so on and so forth, with each nominee.

Downey then agreed that the nominees might be the exception that broke the rule, since they all put on great performances without ever having slept with him.

No surprise there: “The Social Network” took home the most awards of the night with four, including Best Motion Picture. There are a few haters out there who think “The Social Network” is getting way too much praise for a mediocre movie, but I’m not one of them. This movie deserves the title of Best Movie of the Year, and both Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher were worthy of their wins for Best Screenplay and Best Director, as well.

“Toy Story 3” won for Best Animated Feature, raising the question: When was the last time a non-Pixar film has won this category? (Answer: Never. The category has only existed since 2006, and “Cars,” “Ratatouille,” “WALL-E” and “Up” all took home the award). And because it’s “Toy Story” — the first of its kind — the other contenders didn’t stand a chance.

Well-deserved awards: It’s about time Natalie Portman (Best Actress — Drama for “The Black Swan”), Christian Bale (Best Supporting Actor — Drama for “The Fighter”), Melissa Leo (Best Supporting Actress — Drama for “The Fighter”) and Colin Firth (Best Actor — Drama for “The King’s Speech”) snagged a win for their acting efforts. All are phenomenal actors, and I’m glad to see this was the year they finally got recognized.

You talkin’ to me? Robert De Niro picked up the Cecil B. DeMille award. And despite his rehearsed and trying-too-hard-to-be-funny speech, De Niro will always be good in my book.

Mark your calendars: Award shows coming up soon include the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on Sunday, Jan. 30; the Grammys on Sunday, Feb. 13; and the Academy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 27. The latter is hosted by Anne Hatheway and James Franco.

Winter TV Preview

Winter is such a good time to curl up after a long day of work (especially after this week’s storm). It’s nice to just plop yourself down in front of the TV and enjoy whatever caters to your needs. And this winter, there are a new crop of shows that are sure to please just about everyone’s likings.

Reality shows: Check. “The Bachelor,” “Survivor: Redemption Island,” “Teen Mom 2,” “Jersey Shore” and “The Celebrity Apprentice” all return to feed your guilty-pleasure needs.

Cops, doctors and lawyers: Check. What would TV be without them. Newbies “The Chicago Code,” “Body of Proof,” and “Harry’s Law” are here to help. The later features Kathy Bates in her first role as the headliner of a TV series, and I’m sure she’ll take to the character of a recently-fired lawyer who starts up her own practice quite well.

There’s also a slew of everything in between, from returning FX drama “Justified,” to a gladiator-eske newbie “Spartacus: Gods of the Arena” on Starz.

Here are six other newbies I’ll be taking a chance on this winter while I wait for the snow to melt.

“Bob’s Burgers” (FOX — Sun. Jan 9 — 8:30 p.m.)

An animated comedy that premiered Sunday about a man who runs a burger joint with his wife and three kids. He may not be smartest guy when it comes to running his place, but he’s got heart. On the comedic side, it may not bring in as many random pop-culture references as “Family Guy” or “The Simpsons” but it’s a dry, subtle humor that makes it work, especially when delivered from Bob, voiced by H. Jon Benjamin, of FX’s “Archer.”

“Being Human” (Syfy —
Mon. Jan. 17 — 9 p.m.)
A ghost, a vampire and a werewolf — the three main characters of this show — are roommates together, just trying to live a normal life. Not quite as teen-friendly as “Twilight,” but not quite as adult-only as “True Blood.” I’m not a huge fan of the vampire/werewolf craze, but with decent actors (Sam Huntington as the wolf, Sam Witwer as the vamp and Meaghan Rath as the invisible ghost) the show seems it could take on a life of its own.

“Mr. Sunshine” (ABC — Wed. Feb. 9 — 9:30 p.m.)
Matthew Perry (“Friends”) and Allison Janney team up as Ben and Crystal, manager and owner of a mid-size sports arena. Ben has just turned the big 4-0 and feels he may want to settle down and change the direction of his life. Add attractive marketing director Alice (Andrea Anders) and newbie employee Roman (Nate Torrence), who also happens to be the son of Crystal, and you get a comedic ensemble I think will be worth your time. Judging from the clips I’ve seen, the punchlines are decent and with such a great cast I think “Mr. Sunshine” will stay bright for awhile.

“Lights Out” (FX — Tues. Jan. 11 — 10 p.m.)
“Lights Out” premiered Tuesday and follows Patrick “Lights” Leary, a former boxing champ who struggles to support his family. As the money runs out he faces a choice between getting back in the ring (which his wife highly disapproves of) for some easy money or take a regular job that will barely make ends meet for his wife and three daughters. The premier was good; a bit slow at times, but it was setting the premise, so I think it’ll pick up. FX shows rarely disappoint, so “Lights Out” will surely be a knockout hit soon enough. Holt McCallany does a great job as boxer Leary and Stacy Keach has a supporting role as his father.

“Skins” (MTV — Mon. Jan. 17 — 10 p.m.)
A teen show focusing on sex, drugs and drinking. So what differentiates “Skins” from any other teen drama? For starters, it stars teens playing teens — so it brings a more realistic feel to it. And it’s also a bit more scandalous and hard-hitting, as it focuses on some pretty intense subject matters and some scenes look as if they should be on premium cable. It looks like it could be an interesting take on how out-of-control the direction of teenager’s lives seem to be heading these days.

“Shameless” (Showtime —
Sun. Jan. 9 — 10 p.m.)
William H. Macy plays an alcoholic, single dad with a herd of kids (six, to be exact). The first episode of “Shameless” was Sunday, but I haven’t had time to give it a shot yet. It’s a role not befitting of Macy, so I’m curious as to how he’ll do. The six kids could easily carry the show, as they all seem to be interesting, independent characters all on their own.

Looking ahead to Spring:
“The Killing” (AMC — Sun. April 3 — 10 p.m.)

“The Killing” doesn’t premier until April, but I think it’s going to be a really gripping show that you should keep an eye out for. It follows the aftermath of a young girl’s murder and the people involved — police detectives, the parents, the suspects and even the mayor of the town — all revealing to us that not everything is as it seems; everyone has a secret. Each episode is played out in real time, so one episode is equal to one day. Right now there are scant clips out about the show, but from what little there are “The Killing” seems to be captivating and intense — which I would expect from the network that has brought us “Mad Men,” “Breaking Bad” and “The Walking Dead.”