Wednesday, January 13, 2010

The new year!

The holidays are over and the new year is here with it's new shows.

I'm sorry I haven't done the blog for a few weeks but I'll catch you up on what's going on.

On Chef Academy, Chef Novelli keeps playing jokes with his students every week. One week, he hosted a dinner with Tracey attending. For her birthday, he had Emanuelle (the hot french student) serve her dessert wearing only a chef's apron. It was kind of like a mullet. Business in the front. Party in the back. She took the opportunity to feel his buns. Most of the students graduated after cooking for elite dinner guests. Susanne, the desperate housewife, flunked before the final exam but god forbid she not be included in every episode. Novelli had her host the dinner. Good Lord! Is there no respite? All I can say is, I'm glad this series didn't go on too long. Since there really wasn't eliminations, we had to put up with the same annoying people all season. I still don't think they're real chefs. All they did was cook Novelli's recipes.

Launch My Line is still going. The designers rejected by Project Runway are showing why they were rejected. They either have no personality or really annoying ones. Also, they don't have enough talent to overcome the personality problem. Even though Leann was boring, she at least made awesome clothes. Some of the booted people have been very surprising. So far, I only really loved Merle's gown that changed into a cocktail dress. Most of the clothes look like things from a hooker sale rack or a desperate housewife's closet and I don't mean the show. In the meantime, the D Squared twins still look like they've vacationed in Somalia. Eat a sandwich guys! And don't share one between the 2 of you either. The Greek designer is still giving Patrick fits and turning out scary stuff. Whatever.

Survivor ended with one of Russel's dumb girl alliance winning instead of him. It was great! He did put up a valiant fight. I can't wait for the new Heroes vs. Villains season. I see Tom the fireman is in it and that's enough for me. They should have 3 teams: heroes, villains and who the heck are they again?

The new season of crying fatties (Biggest Loser) is on. It seems Bob and Jillian are hogging even more camera time. Really? We needed more Bob and Jillian? What happened to those cool puking and passing out shots? This season, the people are really really big. They doubled the humility by having their initial weigh-ins in front of their hometown people. Yeesh! There's a guy over 500 pounds and twins who are only 20 pounds shy of 500 each. These people aren't as whiny as we've seen in the past but very diverse, hardworking and interesting too. Most are good looking in the face. All the women over 45 need to cut their stupid hair. I love the bouncing body footage. If they would only include boink boink sound effects, it would be even funnier. Maybe we're seeing less puking and whining because Bob and Jillian are having more philosophical expose's on camera. That stupid blather makes me want to puke. Hey, maybe I'll lose weight watching the show this season. At least we can count on Ali Sweeney being her upbeat self. It seems the contestants are planning on playing nice this season and have so far, sent home people who asked to go home over their teammates. How sweet. Warning; there's a lot of advertising during the show from Subway sandwiches to gum to jello snacks.

The Simpsons has proved why it's a keeper. They had their 450th episode and it was just as funny as ever. Why is it so great? They're irreverent, quick witted, wry, the kids never grow up and Homer never learns. I don't know how they do it, but they keep coming up with fresh stuff. After 20 years, that's quite a feat. I hope this show can keep it up for another 20 years. Thank you Fox for letting it be itself.

Modern Family is getting raves from the critics and rightly so. Because it doesn't dwell on one family too long, it's very quick and nothing has a chance to plod along. They focus on the adults. I'm not sure if we'll even notice if they recast the kids. They certainly do show today's modern families; the typical suburbanites, the interracial May-December couple and the gay adopting couple. It's very cool to see we don't buckle to the religious right anymore. The comedy is quick, irreverent and funny. The actors are all very good and well casted. I'm wishing Vergara will do more rants in spanish. It's just as hilarious as when Ricky Ricardo did it.

The Big Bang Theory is into it's new season and it's still great. I'm seeing a lot more Hindi people on tv but this ensemble really works. Even the recurring characters are great. I especially love the scientist with the Elmer Fudd speech impediment and the mothers of Sheldon and Leonard. Christine Baransky and Laurie Metcalf are great! Kaley Cuoco balances out the cast by keeping it real. If it weren't for the Penny character, it wouldn't be believable. It's the same reason Marilyn was a normal person in the Munsters.

Scrubs is back. I'm not sure if I really like it. I miss Carla, J.D. and the janitor. Now they have too many snarky people and the nice innocent schlub is a girl and just seems to be a blonde twit. They're starting to rehash old plots. Okay, how many cool things can you think of for patients to have wrong with them? So far, they've kept things fluffy and not shown the crazy murderous druggie, the fat cat non-medical administrator, or the whiny person who comes to the hospital on a twice weekly basis. We also haven't seen the Munchausen by proxy parent who makes their kid sick for the attention. What's the matter people? The real stuff too gritty? Maybe this show needs bite in more than it's characters.

Chuck has finally come back and it's better than ever. One critic bashed the Nerd Herd side stories but that's the really funny part of the show. This season, Chuck and Sarah have broken up. Awww... whatever. The chemistry is still there. Who doesn't believe they'll get together again? What? No hands? Ossum and Chuck's sister know he's a spy so they can be in on some of the action. Adam Baldwin's character is still just as badass and great as ever. He's just enough crazy and daring to be a real hero but not so mean as to be unlikeable.

So that's enough for now. The new season of Project Runway and Models of the Runway starts tomorrow. I can't wait.