End of Seasons

Well, it's the time of year when series shows and reality shows are winding up for the year. Luckily, TV never quits so some reality shows are still going for a few weeks and some will be starting new seasons soon.

I want to commend The Big Bang Theory for keeping it funny. This show is a stand out for being different, quirky, and real at the same time. The ensemble of 5 is outstanding and now that Leonard and Penny are broken up again, it can focus on the funny. The audience doesn't feel like voyeurs. The guest appearances are amazing which shows how much respect this show has. Do you have to be brilliant to understand the humor? No, but it helps.

The Biggest Loser had it's last episode before the live season finale. The final four contestants go home for a month and then we see how they do. Why is Koli in Vegas especially to train? Is he going to live that way all his life? Of course not. They had to show Bob and Jillian meeting up with each contestant at their locations. Why? On to the challenge. The grueling marathon. I really felt sorry for Michael because even though he may be less fat and more fit, he's still obese. 26 miles of running can't be fun on the joints and feet. During the marathon, they brought out past contestants. I'm wondering why past winners Michelle and Danny didn't show up? It makes you wonder if Michelle gained her weight back and they don't want to show her. Oh well. Darius showed how strong he was by winning the marathon in the best time ever. Then they all came together to weigh in. This time, there wasn't an elimination cuz America gets to vote who stays in the top 3 for the finale. I never think this is very fair cuz it's most likely that 4th person is going to win the at home weight loss prize since they thought they might be in the final 3. But I digress. The weigh in was shocking with Darius gaining 2 pounds but looking great. He gave a lame excuse of training for the marathon. Oh hello. You're supposed to carbo load the day before the marathon not everyday of the month before. Bob and Jillian didn't buy it. I like it that Jillian tells people right out what a bunch of bullshit they're giving. Once again, I have to say, these people need to remember to poop before the weigh in. Oh well, on to the finale next week. I'm expecting to see some really amazing results.

Dancing with the (non)Stars was the same old stuff. I only watch the results show now and only because I can't write this without knowing who gets booted. The results show was boring and old. They did have the college teams compete and that Utah University team was so much better than the other team, the other team seemed downright geriatric. It seemed quite unfair when you consider the first team was a brand new team and the Utah team was full of people who were majoring in ball room dance. When the Utah team won, it was a real Duh moment. So, in the end, Chad Ochocinco was eliminated along with his partner Cheryl. I thought they were supposed to be on Jimmy Kimmel, but they never showed up and there was no mention of them on his show. Very curious. Oh well. If Nicole Scherzinger doesn't win this competition, I'll know America really does have an influence. She has 3 big advantages in the finale with her free dance. Her partner is a great choreographer, she has the experience and talent to do that complicated choreography and they don't have to do the dance in hold. So big yawn for the upcoming finale. I do want to say, Brooke had the ugliest dress I've ever seen on the show. It literally looked like a potato sack prom dress with potatoes in it.

Top Chef Masters is still going great. It's because they have a good formula and stick with it. This season, there's not as much friendly camaraderie as last year. The quickfire had the chefs making a dish for an olympic swimming champ and Judge Raynor, out of legs of animals (crab, chicken, frog, octopus). I found out through his blog, he was a last minute fill in for a no show who I'm guessing was probably also an athlete. Jay Raynor was very grumpy and had nothing really good to say about any of the dishes. Susan Fenniger won with her chicken dish. I'm thinking she's probably the chef to beat in this competition. She cooks her style and knows what people like to eat. The elimination challenge was a tailgating party. I also found from the blog, it wasn't real but set up solely for this show. Whatever. The only advantage Susan got was a USC cap and apron. Really? Poor Susar Lee; he keeps getting caught in challenges that are really Americana culture and unknown to him. I like his style. He sees what he has to work with and just dives in and makes great food. The judges hated his European semolina dumpling but loved his Korean Beef. Watch out with fusing cuisines. Some really don't work well together. Marcus Samuelsson saved himself with sliders. Chef Mantiano made pizzas on the grill. The judges knocked him for having too crisp crust. Huh? That's what you want in a pizza and the grill does it really great. In the end, Mantiano was sent home but it's the part in the competition where everybody's great and it's not who made the worst dish but who made the least great dish who gets booted. Chef Waxman is looking tired and over the whole competition. I'm thinking he's going to go soon too. Susan Fenniger won this elimination too making her the highest money earner in the competition.

The Challenge: Fresh Meat is really heating up. Wes's alliance has fallen apart from too much betrayal and manipulation. It doesn't matter how friendly you are to people, if you bite them in the butt, they won't ever trust you again and tend to resent it too. Kenny has taken advantage of this situation by picking up the loose pieces and actually being nice to people. The challenge was more fair. The teams had to swim out to a picture of a puzzle, swim to shore and then put huge pieces in place to match the picture. The other people couldn't see the picture or the people working on it so it was totally no advantage to go last. Also, it was a contest to see who could think straight after all that swimming. I love Landon. He's totally cute and smart too. He and Carly won. She's proving to be smarter than she looks. Landon proved his smarts too by going against Wes who betrayed him. Wes and his partner and Evelyn and her partner were sent to the Exile challenge. This time Wes was the block of cement with his partner shouting at him to keep going. In the end, Wes and his partner lost and were sent home. Now it's just Evelyn who should learn her lesson about being bitchy and controlling to people.

I was right about America's Next Top Model. The final 2 girls had to do a commercial, beauty shot photo shoot, magazine cover photo shoot and a runway show which seemed all in one day. My model friend says this is typical except she'd probably have a couple of fittings and go sees thrown in too. Tyra had to prove she's not just a model and did the photography for family photo shots with the 2 finalists. Where was Raina's mother? The runway show was for Anna Sui and had other girls from the season walking in it too. I have to say, this was the ugliest collection of clothes I've ever seen from this designer. It looked like Pippi Longstocking on crack in muted colors. Next time Ms. Sui, wear your glasses when you design clothes. Luckily, these models can make a pile of shit look good. Even though Christa's Cover Girl shot was terrible, she still won. Yeah, in her photo, she looked bored, half asleep and old. It was interesting to note that when they showed her as the winner, her Cover Girl photo wasn't used. I'm thinking, they're probably going to reshoot it. Raina took the loss really well and I was glad to see she finally learned to do a good walk.

Finally, The Celebrity Apprentice had it's finale. I was wondering if Brett Michaels would actually appear and how he'd look if he did. I have to say, the producers did a good job on this finale. They jumped from short scenes with Donald asking dumb questions to showing the ongoing final project to introducing the past contestants enough that it wasn't too stupid. The only things I objected to were letting Blagojevich talk cuz he's an idiot and letting Cyndi Lauper sing. I know it sounds crazy, but I hate watching people sing. It reminds me of those boring recitals I had to attend in school. I have to ask, who did Cyndi Lauper's hair? It looked like they styled her hair with a mixer. The end of the project culminated in the final 2 people having to present their product, ad and commercial to a roomful of execs and people. Holly Robinson Peete was so businesslike it was boring. I found, when Brett Michaels works without a script, he does much better cuz he can be himself. He also showed he really knows what works in advertizing: humor, splashy ads, and celebrity. Finally, we got to see the 2 finalists. Michaels did look like he'd been through the wringer. He was a little gaunt, pale and tired looking but kudos to him for even being there. I'm also thinking he probably had some pain narcotics on board to help him even stand up. The ending was really abrupt. Donald Trump proclaimed, "Brett, you're hired." and then the credits started to roll. Geez. Well at least we did see 1 minute of Brett being congratulated by the other contestants and I think everybody and their dog was happy with the ending. Personally, I think there would've been a riot in the streets if Brett Michaels hadn't won. WTG dude! Now go home and get well.

That's all for this week. See ya round folks!