Big Mike Davidson Back on ShopNBC

After being shown the revolving door earlier this year, former ShopNBC host Mike Davidson will be back at his old stampin' grounds. You can catch Big Mike's coming out party this Sunday on the "Watch Time with Jim" show as the new Renato watch guy. Does this mean Daniel Mink is out?

But for the love of all that's home shopping, what about Charla?!?!

~

Shawn Wilsie Gets Jiggy Wit It

ShopNBC host and watch connoisseur, Shawn Wilsie, shakes what his mama gave him! How funny!

If you are obsessed with all things that go tick-tock*, you can keep up with all the latest watch news on Shawn's My Space Blog. He has a website too, ShawnWilsie.tv, but what he's gonna do with it is a bit of a mystery. This is all you see:



What a tease!

*note: unless said watch is a Rolex, then there should be no ticking or tocking going on.

Can We Talk? Cartier Sues QVC!

According to WWD, Cartier, that ubiquitous French staple of the wanna be rich and stylish, is suing QVC for selling some Joan Rivers watches that infringe on their designs.

They're kidding, right?

Cartier is threatened by Joan Rivers on the Q? Seriously???

Do they understand that us poor folk survive off these celebrity-endorsed cheap, plastic knock-offs from home shopping channels? How else are we going to look "Madison Avenue" or "Ladies Who Lunch?" Honestly!

I wonder which of her watches they are talking about. Joan needs to leak that information because you know those particular watches would start selling like haute cakes!

Aren't all watches ripoffs of other watches in some form or fashion? I'm sure all of Cartier's designs are "pure" either. If I were Joan, I would take it as a huge compliment that Cartier thinks hers are so good they're worth suing over.

I don't have any of her watches, but I do have this Steel by Design watch that is ... ahem ... Cartier inspired (it even has the blue hands). I love it and wear it almost every day. And, trust me, I wasn't debating between getting the $35 watch and the $10,000 watch!

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Suck

The HSN TS is a 2.98ct Ruby Sterling Silver "Vintage" Ring. You see, I love rubies. But I love really good rubies. The kind that are more expensive per carat than good diamonds. In light of the fact that I am not Oprah, I make due with the lab-created variety. "Real" rubies--like the kind in this ring--do nothing for me.



The QVC TSV is an Oreck Restaurant Vacuum with Floor Sweeper,Crystal Aroma & Deodorize. I haven't ever used an Oreck, but I've heard that they're great. However, can they still compete against the Dyson? I don't know. It did get the Arthritis Foundation Ease-of-Use Commendation.



Yet another in a long, long line of watch OTV's from ShopNBC. I love the watch itself, but hate the bands that come with it. They cheapen the look of the watch.

There is an online only Offerings Trunk Show. Check it out here. One of these days I'm going to actually order something from Offerings instead of just window shopping.

Don't forget to vote if this week's HOME SHOPPING CAGE MATCH!

Adrienne Arpel vs. Joan Rivers

Fashion jewelry, watches, makeup, skincare, purses, and plastic surgery ... they both do it all ... but who does it better???

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Buckle Up!

The HSN TS is a Victoria Wieck Crystal "Buckle" Leather Cuff Bracelet Watch. I love Victoria! This particular piece is a little much for me personally, but she still totally rocks. By the time I'm done watching her presentations, I'm pretty sure that all the moms at the PTA meeting are all wearing very tasteful, understated 5-carat diamond rings--give or take a carat or two.


The QVC TSV is an HP P7350 Intel Core2Duo 4GB RAM 320GBHD & 17.0" Diag. LCD laptop. Walmart has the same thing for a little more money--there wouldn't be any shipping, but no Easy Pay either. This is definitely the type of purchase where Easy Pay comes in handy!!!


The ShopNBC OTV is an Invicta Men's 100 Meter Sport Diver Quartz Chronograph Watch. I love the pink color pictured for a lady to wear. It's that big, boyfriend watch style, but it's still feminine.

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Magic Eight Ball Madness!

The ShopNBC OTV is a Charles Winston Women's Swarovski® Crystal Accent Charm Bracelet Watch. If I liked hearts, this would be kinda cute--a nice trendy piece for the fall. The strap is leather and comes in red, black, and white (well, the black is already sold out).

I love the quote from Charles Winston about this: "Here is the perfect gift for any woman, from the very young, to the very sophisticated.”

Remember chickadees, we aren't old, we're sophisticated ... or very sophisticated ... possibly more sophisticated than dirt. :-)


The QVC TSV is a Modern Soul NewStretch Shawl Collar Jacket & Wide Leg Pants. I like the idea of this--a comfy pant suit that looks more dressed up than it feels. However, the pants have an elastic waist (no thank you) and the pants also only come in one length. Being vertically challenged, I know this would not work for me. But the worst part is that you have to hand wash and dry flat. Queen Bea doesn't hand wash or dry flat!!!

The Q is going 8/8/08 nuts today! There is easy pay on all kitchen clearance here. And there's Crazy Eights Offers all day here. And easy pay on all home theater systems here (do NOT tell Mr. Queen Bea! Ugh!)




The HSN TS is a Lexmark Photo Printer, Copier, Scanner and Fax with 1GB SD Card. From what I saw on Google, $88.08 (the 8/8/08 madness will never end!!!) seems to be a good price. If you're considering buying this, check out the reviews for this here.


Jewelry Television has free shipping on customer favorites. Check it out here.

Today's Blue Plate Special ... Shady Pines

QVC's TSV is a Motto Stretch Denim 3/4 Sleeve Jacket with Yoke Detail. Ummm ... two words ... Mom Jeans. Yuck.



I can't wait for tonight!!! Ann King has the TSV and it's Silver Designer Day ... my favorite special day that the Q does all year! It's a Major Award!!!



"Tonight! Tonight! It's coming Tonight! Tonight! Tonight! Tonight! Hot Damn, Tonight!"



The HSN TS is an Antthony Asymmetrical Tunic and Pants 2-piece Set. I don't like this. Not that I don't enjoy listening to Antthony, but this is Bea Arthur-esque (I loooves me some Golden Girls, chickadees!) Plus you would have to be as tall as Bea to pull it off.

The ShopNBC OTV is another watch--Invicta Men's Swiss Russian Diver Retrograde Bracelet Watch. What is with ShopNBC and the watches? I do like this one, but not all men could pull it off something so bold and trendy.

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Flaming Hot!

The QVC TSV is a Candle Impressions Indoor/Outdoor Lantern with Candle & Timer. Oh, how I loooooove flameless candles. Not that I don't like the flaming kind, but they are a tad dangerous around cats, dogs, kids, and especially husbands! In fact, I was just telling Mr. Queen Bea how I needed a truckload or two of flameless candles for the new place. Queen Bea's credit card will be smoking today, chickadees!


The HSN TS is the Wei East Restore Resurface and Renew with Golden Root collection. I know that Wei has a bit of a cult following, but I've never personally tried her products. Her Eyes Alive is on my list to try though! I checked out her Wei East Golden Root Renewal Daily Restoration Wear and discovered that it had a 4.6 rating with 86 reviews. That's Holy Grail Fountain of Youth Magic Potion good. Wow!

The ShopNBC OTV is a pair of 14K White Gold 0.50ct Diamond Hoop Earrings. For about $200, these are ok, but they aren't doing it for me. I don't like all the cutouts on the back. I realize that they want to make the earrings lighter and use less gold to keep the price down, but the design makes it look like another another pair of earrings entirely.

There is a 15% off online only sale on Croton and Invicta watches that ends today and $1.99 shipping on gems and silver.

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Oompa-Loompa Strikes Back!

The QVC TSV is a Sterling Turquoise Nugget Stretch Bracelet with Heart Charm. Considering that I don't much care for turquoise, hearts, or stretch bracelets, this isn't really the piece for me.

If you're a gold girl, make sure you check out the Last Chance Eternagold. With gold getting more and more expensive, it's been a sad state of affairs lately for gold lovers. I'm guessing that since QVC has a policy of not raising the price past the QVC price, they have to retire a big chunk of the Eternagold line and bring in similar items at a higher price. This would be the time to grab them!



The HSN TS is TanTowels Tinted On the Glow. So I looked through the reviews for other TanTowel products and they were b-a-d. Really bad. Even people who used to like them, now say that the new ones are terrible. I don't think that we should encourage the hosts to get any more Oompa-Loompa anyway.

The ShopNBC TS is Invicta Women's Pro Diver Swiss Quartz Stainless Steel Watch. ANOTHER WATCH!!! How many watches does a person need? I refuse on principle to discuss another watch OTV. Hmph.

I will, however, mention that there is a big clearance on watches going on at Jewelry Televisio, which includes free shipping! Check it out here.

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Shopping in High Def

The HSN TS is a Gateway 22" HD LCD Dual Core, 1GB RAM, 160GB HD Desktop Computer with TV Tuner. Does this mean I can watch TV on my computer? Will my Tivo hook up to it too? Queen Bea loooves her Tivo! I'm guessing that there will be lots of high definition deals on HSN since they are launching HSN HD in 2009 (and they've spent "multimillions" on the necessary upgrades).

As to Gateway ... well, I've heard that they brought all their customer service jobs back to America, which it great, but I've also heard terrible things about dealing with that very customer service. I don't know, chickadees!

The ShopNBC OTV is ... guess what? Another watch! Again. What's with all the watches ShopNBC Powers That Be??? That being said, I actually kinda like the Invicta Women's Limited Edition Glitter Glam Baby Lupah Watch Set. For $80, you're getting a decent quality watch with four different leather straps, which are supposed to be easy change.

The QVC TSV is a Haier 19" Widescreen High-Definition LCD TV w/ DVD Player. Since QVC HD launched earlier this year, be expecting many, many HDTV's being pushed on us. This TV seems fine enough, but I don't see how it's a TSV. I found it cheaper here and here and here and here (the first two had much cheaper shipping too!

The point being is that the Q needs to pay attention to their name and offer a little extra Value--like including that 2-year Premium Product Protection for free instead of charging $46.84 or maybe not charging $22 for shipping.


And don't forget to vote for your favorite jewelry design at Jewelry Television. Today's the last day. Vote here.

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Caution! Crashing Computers!

QVC's TSV is a Click Free Automatic Backup 160GB External Hard Drive. I'm guessing today we will be regaled with many tales of computer crashing woe. If only, if only, they would have had an external hard drive all those precious family pictures wouldn't all be lost forever. Forever!

This one is supposed to be for the technically impaired *cough*queen bea*cough* and somewhat idiot proof (no comments from the peanut gallery, chickadees!) Seriously though, Mr. Queen Bea--who is much more technically savvy--wants me to let y'all know that this is a "heck of a deal!"



HSN's TS is an Esteban Celebration Fireworks 30-piece Guitar Collection. There's all sorts of controversy on the Interenet about Esteban. Is he what he claims to be or is he a made up character used to sell cheap guitars? I don't know. I do know that I don't like the fireworks design on this particular guitar and I'll leave it at that.

Check out the presale on the Vivitar 5MP Digital Video Camera with 1GB SD Card and Case and there's also free shipping on most sewing machines.


The ShopNBC OTV is an Android Men's or Women's Black Abyss Ultra-Thin Quartz Ceramic Watch. Surprise, surprise ... another watch! ShopNBC has been all over this ceramic watch trend. At about $167, this isn't too bad for a water-resistant watch with a ceramic band, mother-of-pearl face, and sapphire crystal. This watch might be good if you're hard on your watches, but still want to look all fancy (here's your red dress, Fancy don't let me down! sorry ... Queen Bea just had a Reba moment).

Jewelry Television All Grown Up

Our little Jewelry Television is growing up! I don’t know why, but JTV has been fighting against the home shopping norm—no our-top-today’s-special value and no value-flex-easy pays either. And while they are still stuck on those silly Top of the Hour specials, they are finally dipping their toes into the spread-out-the-payments pool.

Oh yes, chickadees, they are now offering … drum roll please … Stretch Pay! Queen Bea is so proud. So far this seems to be isolated just to the watches. But it’s a start! I have no doubt that the stretch pays will spread like wild fire.

If you're looking for a good watch, check out JTV's Super Saturday Night--there's supposed to be some good specials, FREE shipping (my favorite!), and--of course--Stretch Pay!

Today's Blue Plate Specials ... Diamonds and Rubies and Emeralds, Oh My!

It's Gem Day at the Q! You know, if they combined Gem Day with EZ Pay Day, there would be some sort of home shopping cosmic implosion. Anyway, the TSV is a big honkin' Sterling 23.00 ct tw Multi-gemstone Hinged Cuff.

And you know what? It's not half bad ... not Queen Bea's style (I'm not one for the multi-gem rainbow look), but it looks like it's well-made and the stones seem to be decent quality. I'm sooooooo glad that they didn't try to put "diamond accents" in the silver bead work because that would have really cheapened the whole thing.

It's going quick though--the small is already on wait list. Lisa "Madison Avenue" Robinson kicked it off last night and just blew it out of the water (Didn't she look devine in that blue dress? She just doesn't need to lose any more weight ... no sprinkles for Lisa!)

HSN has some Debbie Meyer GreenBoxes as their TS. I need something like this to keep my salad from rotting in one day (especially considering how much those little bags of pre-washed salad costs!), but it's not Lock & Lock! Queen Bea *hearts* Lock & Lock. If GreenBoxes and Lock & Lock had a baby, I'd be all over that.




ShopNBC has another ceramic watch as their OTV. They just did one not long ago--I wrote about it here. I guess the difference if that this one is Invicta and the last one was Croton? I don't know, seems a tad redundant to me.



And don't forget to pick up a pair of these totally awesome Invicta flip flops! WTH???

Blue Plate Special Daily Round Up

QVC's TSV are some practical (i.e. hideous) old-lady Clark's sandals. I'm sure it's very comfortable. I can't think of anything else nice to say about it ... oh wait! It looks as durable as a Lock & Lock container. I bet you could run a truck over it and still wear it to Sunday school. Ahem. Anyway, I'm just going to close my eyes and pretend that Adi Paz has the TSV today--it is their first anniversary, you know! (BTW, search for the secret word "gemdrops" on the QVC site!)

ShopNBC has a Croton watch as their OTV. It's made out of tungsten and ceramic, so it's very trendy. Not bad. Not bad. They should have done this before Father's Day so they could attract those ladies wanting to buy for all the men in their lives (and get one for themselves while their at it, of course), instead of those no-good wham! bam! thank you, ma'am (buy one item and never call again) men that they've been getting lately.

HSN has the infamous no! no! hair removal kit for their TS. I've heard so many differing reviews on this that my head is spinning! spinning! So let me put this as plainly as I can: I hate to shave. I really hate to shave. And if this really worked--really, truly, honest-to-God made it so I wouldn't have to shave anymore--I wouldn't care if it hurt like hell fire and damnation and I wouldn't care if I had to spend a long time doing it (while being certain to carefully hold the no!no! at the precise angle).

I would suffer just to not have to shave again. Honestly, it would totally be worth it. Totally. But--and this is a big butt like mine!--I will not spend hundreds of dollars to spend hundreds of hours suffering only to have those hairs sprouting up again, needing to be shaved again. No! No! I won't! I won't! Jury is still out on this one, chickadees!

BTW, use the code NEIGHBOR on the MAC website today for 15% off!

The (real) Fur is Flying: Two QVC Designers Win Awards

QVC’s Dennis Basso and Judith Ripka will be honored at Fashion Group International Chicago's "Night of Stars" on Thursday (otherwise known as the Chicago Fashion Awards). The event raises money for the group's scholarship fund—and at $350 per ticket, it better!

Seriously doubt their association with QVC will be mentioned at such a swanky affair. Whatever, I actually prefer Basso's fake fur collection at the Q since I don't like to wear real fur. Besides, the faux fur compliments my faux diamonds!

Awsome deal for all you Dennis Basso chickadees:

Item# A158057

"As Is" Dennis Basso Fully Lined Water Resist. Coat w/Pat.Trim

Normally $62.00, now on sale for $33.44

Sizes XS through 3X still available in black with limited sizes in white.

The reviews are five stars across the board ... this coat is hawt, hawt, hawt!

And lest we forget the Ripka girls:

"As Is" Judith Ripka Sterling & DMQ Etched Sub-Dial Watch

Item# J133749

QVC price $140.00, introductory price $127.20 (Item# J23412), now on sale for $72.50.

This former TSV is super popular and has about a 70% review rating on the non-as-is version. I can't say that I like it since it's covered in hearts and I can't stand hearts on my jewelry. Queen Bea is heartless, y'all!