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"Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual" and yet, endearingly familiar

It was just a matter of time before Cyndi Lauper got a reality show. Not just because nearly everyone else has one, but because she's a character. And as we've learned from watching Ozzy Osbourne and the Osbourne family, watching characters be themselves in their real lives is pretty entertaining.

I won't say "Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual" (9 tonight, WeTV) is quite the wackadoo wonder that "The Osbournes" was, but it's just as charming and awfully sweet. And if you're tired of the reality shows with women fighting or the reality shows featuring people famous soley because they're on reality shows, this is a nice place to land.

The half-hour episodes take you through the busy schedule of Lauper. You meet her husband David Thornton -- they've been married 20 years -- an actor who stays home with their 14-year-old Declan.

Naturally, Lauper isn't your typical mom and yet she is. Like all working moms, she's trying to find a work/life balance. She thinks she's missed too much of Declan's childhood and she feels guilty.

In the first episode, Lauper's preparing for an appearance on 'The Voice'; it's an opportunity to sing in front of 12 million viewers and it's surprising to see how nervous Lauper still gets; it's also interesting to see how serious Lauper is about her voice. The next episode shows a somewhat ill-fated visit to the Kentucky Derby.

Through it all, Lauper is endearingly goofy and delightfully down to earth. She and Thornton are like an old married couple; they tease and laugh easily. He knows when she's in a mood and how to diffuse the tension. He's supportive and she's attentive. And this: Lauper doesn't take his calls, but immediately picks up for Declan, and he understands.

"Cyndi Lauper: Still So Unusual" shows that what's really unusual is that, unlike other reality show types, Lauper works hard, hones her craft and has a stable home life.

"L.A. Hair" weaves the usual mix of salon attitude & bad behavior

The hair salon has become TV short hand for diva attitude, gossip, fighting, and transformation. It's the reason why the reality genre keeps returning to there, and the reason why my favorite show typically centered on hair salons is Bravo's "Tabatha Takes On." If you're not familiar, Tabatha Coffey's mission is to remove all those characteristics and turn hair salons (and now other places) into place where work takes place.

I think Coffey would like to get her hands on the Kimble Hair Salon featured on "L.A. Hair," (9 tonight, WeTV) a high-end salon featuring stylist Kim Kimble who has done the tresses of folks like Kelly Rowland, Brandy, Mary Mary, and Omarosa. Kimble herself gets that she is supposed to be running a professional high-end salon. Her staff, not so much.

"Family Restaurant" serves up the wacky with the egg rolls

I'm always intrigued by the inner workings of an entity; in part, wondering 'how they do that' landed me in the world of journalism.

Chinese restaurants aren't a complete mystery. Reading "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles" by Jennifer 8. Lee and "A Free Life" by Ha Jin have given me non-fictional and fictional insight. Now there's "Family Restaurant" (WeTV, 10 tonight), which this season focuses on the Quan's, a Chinese family who run a successful 60-year-old restaurant in Edmonton, Alberta. 
 
Apparently, the show was a hit in Canada, which makes sense. There's plenty of wackiness in the Quan clan and, thank goodness, no real nastiness. It basically focuses on the culture clash between the westernized kids and the immigrant parents.

'The Locator' works to reunite broken families

"The Locator" looks good tonight. Check out the clips below taken from tonight's two new episodes (every episode is a guaranteed tear-jerker). "The Locator" airs at 10pm and 10:30pm on WeTV.

In the first clip, Carina looks for her mom, who abandoned her when she was a toddler:

Click below for a second clip, from an episode in which a young man fulfills his late mother's wish by looking for his long-lost sister.

For Rue, "Golden Girls" marathon on WeTV

WeTV is paying tribute to Rue McClanahan in the best way possible: They're laying a "Golden Girls" marathon on us tomorrow (Friday, June 4).

So set your dvrs before you leave for work in the morning, because the marathon starts at 4pm and runs until 1am. Fair warning, though. After nine hours of Blanche Devereaux, your friends may need to hide their husbands from you. 

WeTV airs locally on channel 61 on Time Warner Cable. 

"The Locator" helps Cary woman find her brother

Troy Dunn has made it his life's mission to reunite loved ones and mend broken families. In an episode of "The Locator" airing tonight on WeTV, Dunn helps a Cary woman find a brother she's never even met.

Whitney from Cary, along with her sister Brittany, asked Dunn to help locate the son her mother gave up for adoption when she was an unwed teenager. Her mother, Patricia, moved out of her home as a teen to escape a bad relationship with her father. She became pregnant and wasn't able to care for the baby, but didn't feel it was safe to return home. She kept her pregnancy a secret from her father and gave the baby up for adoption. 

"The Locator" takes your questions

Troy Dunn, aka "The Locator," is returning with a new season on March 3, and he has agreed to take some questions from WarmTV readers.

Dunn travels all over the country tracking folks down for the purpose of reuniting loved ones and healing broken families. His motto is "You can't find peace till you find all the pieces."

It's a great show, and several episodes, which air on the WEtv network, have focused on families in North Carolina. Dunn has also appeared on national talkshows, including "The View" and a recent "Oprah Winfrey Show."

"The Locator" reunites North Carolina family

Troy Dunn is a man with a mission, and in tonight's episode of "The Locator," that mission to reunite loved ones and heal broken families once again brings him to North Carolina.

Dunn has been locating people professionally for going on 20 years, ever since he helped his own mother track down her birth mother. He knew then that helping people obtain closure -- for better or worse -- was the work he was meant to do. And for the past few years, that work has been chronicled on the emotional and inspirational WeTV show, "The Locator."

 

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