News

A Pennsylvania mom who drowned her two young sons in a bathtub in 2014 was sentenced Wednesday to 30 to 80 years in prison, according to multiple reports.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Laurel Michelle Schlemmer, 44, was sentenced to 15 to 40 years in prison for each child: Luke, 3 and Daniel 6. The sentences will run consecutively.

“The sentence that will be imposed is a de facto life sentence — as it should be for the taking of two innocent lives,” Judge Jeffrey A. Manning said.

Manning had delayed Schlemmer’s sentencing for a month because he was concerned about her mental competency, according to the Toronto Sun.

This week Obsession: Dark Desires, examines the case of Katie Call who was stalked and shot by her crazy ex-boyfriend Michael Todd Ray. In an episode titled Texts, Lies, and Videotape, the show looks at how an obsessive ex-boyfriend went to extreme lengths to keep tabs on his old girlfriend only to not like what he saw. In 2003 Katie Call broke up with Ray, but he was not a man to take no for an answer. He kept visiting her house and she was forced to change the locks on her hours several times after he’d broken in and put...read more...

A Pennsylvania mother has been convicted of drowning her two youngest sons in a bathtub in 2014, but a judge says that she is mentally ill.

Laurel Michelle Schlemmer was on trial for drowning sons Luke, 3, and Daniel, 6. The prosecution had argued that she had previously tried to kill them a year earlier by tying them up and running them over with her minivan.

According to prosecutors, Schlemmer’s husband went to work on April 1, 2014. Then, they said, she walked her oldest son, Joshua, to his school bus stop. When she returned home, she drowned the two boys in the bathtub.

A Pennsylvania mom-of-three on trial for allegedly drowning her two youngest sons in 2014 tried to kill them a year earlier by tying them up and running them over with her minivan, a prosecutor alleged Wednesday in her opening statement.

By allegedly drowning sons Luke, 3, and Daniel, 6, on April 1, 2014, mom Laurel Michelle Schlemmer “succeeded in what she’d been trying to do all those years,” Assistant District Attorney Lisa Pellegrini said in court, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“She thought she’d be a better mother to Joshua” — her eldest child — “if her other two children would go to heaven,” Pelligrini said.

Even if AMC’s new reality series, Freakshow, wasn’t premiering on Valentine’s Day (at 9:30/8:30c), chances are, you’d still fall in love with “characters” like Brianna.

Since joining Todd Ray’s Venice Beach troupe of oddballs, the tatted-up world record-holder for sword-swallowing has known “family” for the first time, she says. And — as an added bonus — she doesn’t “even use the world normal anymore.”

Sounds… different, right? Well, it is. But check out this exclusive first look below, and see if you don’t agree: There’s nothing wrong with different. And, in fact,...

AMC is increasing its investment in unscripted programming -- so much so that it's added a new night of originals to its schedule. The network announced Wednesday that three unscripted ventures will air on Thursdays, starting Feb. 14. Furthermore, it's ordered eight episodes of another unscripted project, Owner's Manual. AMC's unscripted block will kick off with the second season of Comic Book Men, airing at 9 p.m. At 9:30 p.m., the previously announced Freakshow (from Greg Johnston from Endemol USA and Todd Ray from Living Wonders) will follow the family behind the Venice Beach Boardwalk's titular tourist attraction. Taxidermy

read more...

AMC is currently the home to zombies, meth dealers and "Mad Men." But they'll soon have to make room for taxidermists and freaks. The cable network has just announced two new unscripted original series. The first, “Untitled Taxidermy Series” is a hosted competition series in which contestants will compete to see who can create the best artwork using the craft of taxidermy. Go Go Luckey Entertainment ("Laguna Beach") is executive producing. The other new show, “Venice Beach Freakshow" (working title) centers on former music producer Todd Ray as he and his family attempt to start a modern day "Freakshow' on the...

AMC is deepening its commitment to unscripted fare with a pair of new reality series revolving around Southern California's Venice Beach and the world of taxidermy, the network said Thursday. The former, which currently bears the working title "Venice Beach Freakshow," is "a family drama" that focuses on former music producer Todd Ray's attempt to launch his own freakshow on the boardwalk of Los Angeles' famously eccentric Venice Beach. Ray will executive produce, along with Greg Johnston from Endemol USA. The eight-episode series is slated to premiere in the first quarter...

A pair of ABC series are recasting familiar faces for their sophomore runs.

First up is Revenge: Emily’s silent-but-scrupulous mentor Takeda will now be played by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa (Hawaii Five-0, Heroes), since the character’s original portrayer, Hiroyuki Sanada (Lost), is busy with a packed overseas film schedule.

But fret not, Revenge producer Melissa Loy assures TV Guide Magazine, which first reported the news, Tagawa has been “fantastic” in the role.

Related | Revenge Exclusive: Meet Declan’s New [Spoiler]

Elsewhere, the ABC comedy Last Man Standing has cast Greek‘s Jordan Masterson as Kristin’s baby daddy — a role...