End of the road for some...

Some reality shows have wrapped up their seasons and some are at least getting there.

Project Runway named it's winner: Irina Shabayeva. Too bad for Caroll Hannah who had to gut out a stomach flu. Interesting enough, the 13th look that Christopher helped her with, was judged to be the best and it was really pretty. Caroll Hannah said her main thing is dresses. No kidding. Her pants looked like leggings and she really had nothing else but dresses. At least her collection had some pretty colors. Althea's collection was supposed to be futuristic and sci/fi. Whatever. I don't know who's future she was thinking of, but good thing, not mine. Irina's collection looked like she copied her looks from the season. There was a lot of black and drab but what can you expect from a Cruella DeVille type? One reason I'm glad this installment of the show is over; I'm sick to death of seeing their stupid families. Who cares? Sew some damn clothes already.

Models of the Runway wasn't as interesting as I thought it could be. I thought they might show Kaelyn's photo shoot but noooo... I was glad to see Jaslene from ANTM in Althea's runway collection. She does have that great fierce walk. It's too bad they didn't interview some of those models. I'm hoping that next season, they'll make the designers switch models more. I couldn't believe some of the models who were chosen. Was it just me or did Tara look like Althea's little sister? The only difference was, Althea actually looked alive. Someone needs to teach the models to model when they're with their designer in front of the judges. Yeesh! Sometimes they just stood there like they were waiting for a bus. I shouted at the screen, "Stop slouching!" a lot. Koji was really good at modeling the ugly designs like she loved the clothes.

Iron Chef America chose it's new Iron Chef. Congrats to Chef Garces. I hope he makes some really good latin dishes for the competitions. Flay thinks his stuff is latin. Whatever. Flay makes Tex/Mex and that's dull as dishwater. Chef Mehta had no chance to win cuz 2 bites of food on a plate isn't really a dish, no matter how cute you dress it.

On to shows that haven't wrapped.

Top Chef finally got rid of it's last piece of chaff. Eli, the litte troll, got his come-uppance and packed his knives. The chefs were supposed to cook dishes in the style of the Bocuse D'Or. Well, they really didn't. I've seen that competition. Those chefs make meticulous art with their food by weaving strips of vegetables, making molded purees and rice dishes, etc. At the same time, the food is really good and well balanced. The dishes lacked artistry and color. Jennifer had the most colorful using greens but still, it was just greens and white. Kevin had some red with his beet. Eli had that pool of green on his meat but the judges said it didn't taste good. Hmmm... I guess you have to have both; looks good and tastes good. Well, duh! Chef Kayson pointed that out before they even started. I'm thinking, the Top Cheftastants weren't really listening. Since no-one had any real beauty to their food, the playing field was evened out and Kevin won on pure cooking skill. He'd learned from his restaurant war debacle, not to undercook the lamb. That MIT degree comes in handy ha ha ha. Jennifer finally woke up and didn't land in the bottom this time. So that's the end of the early pre-taped stuff. I love seeing the chefs come back for the end. They always look well rested and happy. Maybe Michael Volt will be less snarky. Maybe Brian Volt will be less dull and tell his brother to stuff it, once. Maybe Jennifer will pull a rabbit out of the hat and be the 2nd woman to win this thing. Unless Kevin's had a serious stroke, I'm thinking he's probably going to run away with this. Hopefully they've worked on a dessert for the finale.

On Survivor, the producers finally went back to 2 challenges. I love the way Russell keeps finding the immunity idols and the Galu members never think he has it. Intelligence certainly isn't a requirement for this show. I'm wondering why people think they have any influence on other people? First the Foa Foa guys think they can talk Monica into voting their way. Then Monica thinks she can get the Foa Foas to vote her way. The stupidity of these people makes me wonder how much they're suffering from malnutrition. Not only is Shambo not playing the game very well, but I'm not sure she's playing at all. If anything she's the one being played. When the numbers get low enough, the Foa Foas will dump her like last week's rotten garbage. The really good part of tribal council was, they had to edit out a lot of the idiotic chit chat which is usually led by the head idiot; Jeff Probst. There were 2 rounds of voting. Laura was surprised to see she wasn't as popular as she thought and was booted after the 2nd round. Shambo couldn't hide her glee. Eric made the most comments without ever saying anything. Members of the jury can't say anything but they can use sign and body language and Eric's very good at telecasting his feelings.

On Dancing With the Stars, we're down to the finals and Yay! Joanna Krupa, the non-star and her dancing samoyed sidekick, Derek Hough, were ousted. Do I care she's from Poland? No. Do I care she's a swimsuit model? No. Does anybody know who the heck she is? No. She wasn't that good a dancer either. Derek Hough is just really good at making the dances showcase the best the partner can do and hiding the stuff they can't. According to Jimmy Kimmel, Krupa was on his The Man Show about 6 years ago. Do the producers really have to go to the bottom of the barrel to cast this show? I hate to say it, but I'm not too interested in Mya either but Wow! Dimitri is just too freakin' hot. I'm glad to see none of the past winning pros are in the final. I have loved Louie VanAmstel from the very first season. I'm glad to see him go to the end. Poor thing had to put up with that stupid bachelorette in his first season. For some odd reason, I can't get enough of Kelly's cursing. It just cracks me up too much. Donny Osmond has made it to the end too, despite his fatigue.

On RW/RR challenge The Ruins; the teams are getting very sparse. This usually signals we're getting near the end. Brad went berserk and had a knock down drag out fight with his friend Darrell and they were both booted from the show with Darrell's money going into the general bank. Susie is the lone female on the Champ's team and managed to win her individual challenge. I don't understand why she's playing along with the guys who don't really give a rat's butt what happens to her. Maybe she's just got a really good work ethic. Then again, maybe she wants to keep Casey on the challenger's team to weaken them. Casey is the albatross to end all albatrosses. Every week, we learn something else about Casey and it's never a good thing. I thought the air in her head would, at least, help her swim. She's no good at climbing though. I hope the end challenge is something like carrying one person over the whole course. At least Casey is lightweight. Maybe the challengers would have a chance.

The Amazing Race is finally getting more fierce. I love it when the teams aren't so nice to each other and get really competitive and cunning. Team Miss America and hubby got their taxi stolen by the gay brothers team. Those guys have really burned their bridges with everybody. The girl of the blonde couple team was trying to be nice. When you're in a race; shut up and race. The lesson learned this week is, don't take a bus instead of a taxi when you're trying to get somewhere fast. Duh! Luckily, this was a non-elimination leg and Brian and Erica are still in it. If he can lose his good guy easy going attitude and get some of Erica's competitive fire, they can really win this thing. So far, there hasn't been an eating challenge and I'm hoping there will be one cuz the people who are left don't look like good eaters. It would be soooo good.

There's a new show called, World's Strictest Parents. Bratty kids have grown to be bratty teens. Of course, it's not because their parents are too lenient or stupid or anything. So they're sent off to live with parents who have good kids and rule with iron fists. Okay, what I see is, the parents of the teens have let the kids run roughshod over them so much, the teens have no respect for them. Well, if you're going to be a wussbag, teens will treat you like a wussbag. Most of the time, the strict people aren't that strict. They just have a household with organization and structure. They also know how to follow through on discipline. The teens usually just need parenting period. Toward the end of the their stay with the strict parents, the teens get a letter from home that usually brings them to tears. The producers must think this is the money shot because I've never seen so many close-ups of people crying. That camera must be shoved right in their faces; nice. I'd like to know, how come the strict parents are almost always religious? The praying is so sappy and preachy, it's vomit inducing.

America's Next Top Model named it's winner; Nicole. At least the girls were able to wear high heels to the final judging. Nicole had the weirdest runway walk that looked like she was part of the WWE and I'm not talking about the women of the WWE either. I thought Laura was much better at the commercial and runway but I'm thinking Nicole was chosen from the beginning. She has always looked more couture throughout the season. Too bad she has the personality of a wet sponge. Oh well, Cover Girl never uses Tyra's commercial anyway so we won't have to hear Nicole talk ever again ha ha ha.

Bravo has a new show called; Chef Academy. Take one hoity toity French Chef, his busty girlfriend, his judgy sidekick and a bunch of dimwitted wanna be chefs and you've got one lukewarm show. None of them could cook an egg in 10 minutes and are they all sharing one brain? So far, I'm not impressed by the French Chef's cooking and I'm hoping he takes a shower before the next episode. Actually, this week was the 2nd episode, but the first one wasn't that exciting and I fast-forwarded through a lot of the guy's personal bragging. Whatever. You're French, you cook, you're engaged, expecting a baby and opening a cooking school. We got it; Next! In the 2nd episode, the french student turned out to be a porn star. This is the 2000s. We're not prudish and don't care. If you're going to make a big deal of it, at least show us his backside. I love his propensity for tardiness and how much it ticks off the teacher. In this episode, the head guy made a chocolate Pot De Creme. He made it look difficult. I wasn't impressed because Ina Garten makes it look easy. The students had to recreate it and most failed. How dumb are they? The guy gave you the recipe. Top Chef, this show isn't.

Well, that's all for now. C-ya next week.

Wrap up time for reality...

Most of the reality shows are wrapping up their seasons.

On Survivor, we're far from done. I'm getting more and more impressed by evil Russel's ability to find those hidden immunity idols while still not able to earn one. I thought Foa Foa was weak as a tribe but as individuals, they're proving to be weak at challenges too. Maybe it was all about luck. I love the way they edit these shows to make characters sympathetic or evil. Now Laura seems mean and Russel cool and picked on. I had to rewatch the first episode to realize I've been stupidly manipulated by the editors this whole time. The blind side was more blind to the contestants than the viewers and it seemed Kelly came from nowhere. Everybody was asking, "Who's Kelly?" It was too bad she was so immemorable. This time evil Russel used his idol perfectly. He may save his tribe after all.

On the Amazing Race, there were 6 teams left. Pinky and the Dad team were even more stupid on this leg and totally wasted the non-elimination leg. I think the poker girls could've made it through. Pinky's ear guages were totally grossing me out. I thought the Globetrotters could probably shoot hoops through those earholes of his. I love the perseverance of Brian and Erica, the Miss America and hubby team. He still looks like a skinny Brian Cranston to me. Brian is too nice and is nicely balanced by his very competitive wife. Those beauty queens can be wickedly competitive. I think she's totally the type to trip a girl in a pageant to win it. The gay brothers are showing their whiny ugly sides. We're liking the Globetrotters even more ha ha ha. Talk about a good trip. The Flighttime did a great take-down of the gay brother and the editors of the show were nice enough to replay it about 3 or 4 times. It was funnier each time. So to sum up, Pinky and the Dad came in last and the blonde athletic couple came in first. For some reason, it's not as much fun to see that couple come in first. It's like watching the golden child succeed *yawn*.

On Project Runway, they've split the finale into 2 episodes. Poor Carrol Hannah has the stomach flu but is gutting it out. It seems most of the clothes are black and Irina has the most boring black line of fashions I've seen in a long time. I can't wait to see what Chris has to say about it on his blog. In my opinion, the most uninteresting part of the finales is when Tim Gunn meets the families. Maybe it's because I don't give a rat's ass but it seems my friends like this part so I guess it goes over well with everyone else. Whatever. It was pretty fun to see Tim Gunn in the apron. Kudos to Mr. Gunn. He does anything in his suits: walk on the beach, make biscuits, or dig through trash. Once again, they're making the designers make an extra piece at the last moment. Was this a surprise? I would think those designers would know the show well enough by now that they would've had a half finished one stuffed in the corner of their luggage this time. I was disappointed that they only brought back the last 3 eliminated contestants to choose from. I was glad to see Carrol Hannah in the next episode preview. It seems she does make it to fashion week.

On Models of the Runway, it was pretty funny to see the models have to choose a model. Now they know what they need to do on a go see. I loved Tanisha's reaction to a model with a pendulum arm during her walk. It was pretty bad. I'm hoping to see the photo shoot in the last episode. We'll see.

On Top Chef, the chefs first made breakfast in bed for Padma and Nigella Lawson. One good thing about Nigella, she'll eat anything and she can eat a lot. Eli finally made something a little sophisticated and won the quickfire. I was happy to see Jennifer didn't land on the bottom this time. Then they had to make a dish inspired by a casino. Oh boy, talk about promoting Vegas. For some odd reason, I was thinking someone would make silver dollar pancakes but noooo.... Eli got the least inspiration and Robin got the dumbest. There are a lot of ways to mimic colored blown glass but she decided to try food she didn't know how to make. Hey Robin, you're in a competition. Now is not the time to try new dishes. Jennifer was inspired to make the sword in the stone from her tour of The Excaliber. Her meat was quite stoney, according to Nigella. Eli had a bad attitude about Circus Circus and didn't make fun food like he should've. I'm thinking, he was one of those geeky kids who was a real party pooper. His dish reflected his attitude and Nigella and Toby declared it inedible. Once again, Kevin and the Volt brothers were top 3 with Michael wowing the judges with his innovative take on buffalo wings. Robin finally wore the judges out and packed her knives. I can't believe she survived that spoiled shrimp dish a month ago. People are questioning how much the producers influence the decisions. Hmmm...

On America's Next Top Model, they had a double elimination. Erin finally got booted after dodging the bullet for the last 3 weeks. The oriental girl was booted too. I was disappointed 3 models wouldn't get to try the commercial but I guess it's just going to be the final 2. Hawaii must be way more expensive than foreign countries because the producers are wrapping up the show quickly. I'm still wondering when Tyra's going to let these poor short models wear high heels at judging. Maybe at the final judging. Let's hope so. During the photo shoot, I kept thinking Laura looked like Rachel Hunter and Tyra said so too. I can't wait to hear her during her commercial with that thick southern accent. It should be good.

The Real World, Road Rules Challenge is getting down to the wire. Everyone is showing their greedy teeth and poor Cohutta's luck ran out. The champions don't seem to care that they're down to one girl. Meanwhile, the challengers are still stuck with Casey who's best efforts are too pathetic for words. The team challenge was so funny with everyone rolling downhill in a huge tire and squealing when they hit the bumps. It was fun for all hee hee hee.

My recent favorite reality show is Bank of Mom and Dad. It's hilarious how these pampered women have been so spoiled. They're all in huge debt and the funniest part is, the parents don't realize they've kind of been enablers in the whole thing. Now they're sick of bailing out the girl and have decided a reality show to shame the daughter might do the trick. I think the cooperation we see is all for the cameras and the pampered girls will probably go back to their evil ways. It's hilarious to see their faces when the credit cards are run through the debtonator (shredder). I don't know why the girls are so sad or shocked. The credit card companies have already cut them off anyway. The best part of the show is the daughter having to live with her parents again. If you notice, I've said women and daughters. So far, all the episodes have shown only women as the people in debt. There have to be total loser guys out there too. I guess Soapnet doesn't find it's contestants at the same place as VH1 ha ha ha.

Is it just me or are the Duggars the hot reality family of the year? I love 18 Kids and Counting. I wonder if they'll change the name of the show again when she has her baby. I admire this family. They haven't changed their ways or style. Did I mention Michelle (the mother) didn't have most of her kids all at once like other large families on tv? That's admirable too and you know there are no nannies in sight.

So anyway, the finales are coming and it'll be interesting to see what shows take their place. I can't wait to see who wins in each show.

and the reality tv goes on...

A lot of the reality shows are winding up in time for the oncoming Christmas holiday season. God forbid anyone should be pre-empted for those holiday re-run movies.

The Amazing Race is still going and last week, the poker women faced an impossible task. They found they couldn't ring the bell at the hammer the bell place and then they couldn't make par on the field golf. I don't understand why they couldn't have a man help them with that hammer thing. I understand there are rules to the game but maybe they should've just taken a chance at breaking the rules once and taking a penalty. They are poker players. Little did they know that not only would the Miss America and hubby team walk instead of taking a bicycle and incur a half an hour penalty for it too. *Sigh* Bye girls. This week, the pink haired guy and his Dad team had terrible luck and then the producers sent everybody to Sweden to do that haybail unrolling task. This time everybody found the flag and thank goodness it was a non-elimination leg. I found, nobody even missed those poker girls. Oh well, at least the Globetrotters are still in the game. Wasn't it nice for the producers to secure the rights to the Globetrotters theme for the show?

On RW/RR the Ruins, Veronica didn't survive the challenge. Okay, so the challengers really need to unload Casey. She's a total chicken, wuss and very weak at any task. I just thought she was physically weak. Nobody really knew she's pretty stupid as well. For the Champs, she's their ace in the hole and they know it. Evan is looking pretty slimy and Johnny Bananas better not pick on someone who is totally capable of beating him up. I ask again, when are the challengers going to pull their fingers out and win a team challenge already? There don't seem to be anymore weak players to be weeded out on the champions team.

On Survivor, the merge finally happened. Russell played a really chancey game by showing a bunch of people from the other tribe, his immunity idol. Then the guy who thought he was running the show for the Galu tribe bullied people to vote certain ways. It ticked everybody off and he was voted out with an immunity idol in his pocket. Poor Shambo, she was totally in the dark and still is. I have a feeling, she's going to be the sacrificial lamb for Galu at some point. Meanwhile, Foa Foa members are sticking together in their vote. Russell didn't trust anybody and played his immunity idol. I'm betting he just finds it again. He knows the producers will just hide them again. At least the people got fed. That makes up for nobody winning pizza 2 weeks ago. The real problem is, there are a lot of people having to live together again. We'll see who gets really testy hee hee hee.

On the crying fatties (Biggest Loser), everybody went to Washington DC. I think the tourism board sponsored this one. I'm still amazed that some people only lost 80 pounds in 8 weeks. For crying out loud, losing weight is your only job and there doesn't seem to be anything else to do on that ranch. Maybe Activia needs to sponsor this show so people empty their guts once or twice a week. Yeesh!

Dancing with the Stars was disappointing. Double eliminations didn't help to get the no-names out at all. Who's voting? I have a feeling that people actually vote for the pros now. Len must be taking Prozac or something because he's become the "nice" judge. Meanwhile, Bruno seems to OD on Redbull before the shows and has resorted to dancing on the table. I'm still rooting for Donny Osmond. I don't care how good you are. If you're not a star, you need to go. For crying out loud, it's called Dancing With the Stars. The pros aren't supposed to count as the stars.

Top Chef didn't show a Las Vegas episode. Instead, we had an reunion dinner with 2 or 3 contestants from past seasons and hosted by Fabio Viviani. I love Fabio's accent so anything that comes out of his mouth is great. There really was no competing but chefs are chefs who want to make food admired by everyone else so it was fun to see them shop and cook, then eat. Sure they dredged up bad memories of the show but hey, did you really expect them to have those people on and not bring up the, "I'm not your bitch, bitch." and the near head shaving incident? Fabio took the time to tell everyone, you agreed to play, so play (or so to speak). The food looked great and the people were cool. It was actually a fun show.

Project Runway had it's last challenge before the fashion week episode. This time, they ousted 2 contestants and really, the writing was on the wall. Jordana made the best dress but was still out. What? I guess history decides their fate cuz what a hot mess Althea made. Christopher really needs to go to design school to learn to make something else besides halter tops and poofy skirts. The real lesson? Don't make cheap looking stuff and make sure your stuff is well made. Then again, how did Althea make it through this episode? Her dress looked like paper towels on top and a winter coat attacked on the bottom. Also, why did they think Irina's dress was so good? It looked like something I could do and I can't sew. It was a bunch of fabric held up with strings. Hmmm... Well, the winner of the show will definitely be a woman this time.

Models of the Runway was predictable. The girls knew it too. Poor Katie, she was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. I guess it's in their contract that they have to stay and face the choosing part of the show. That's kind of crappy and the episode was pretty depressing. Maybe next season's models will learn to make friends with every designer and walk fiercely. I also notice, they don't model the clothes well when standing in front of the judges. They should have pageant lessons. The need to convince the judges they love the piece of crap the designer has sewn onto their bodies. So the last 3 girls are: Tanisha, Kaylin, and Lisa.

Halloween has come and gone but some of the talk shows had the most hilarious costumes this year. Kate Gosselin was a popular choice. When you become a halloween costume, maybe you're too well known and it might not be in a good way. I loved the Ewoks on the Today show. OMG, I'll never forget that Ewok humping Al's leg. Were those little people or children? Either way, it was hilarious how they kept trying to get at the alcoholic beverages.

Well, that's all for now. C U next week.