It's a new year!

Okay, so the new seasons haven't really started yet but that's the way it goes. I loved the holiday season. I watched about 10 different versions of A Christmas Carol including the Dr. Who one. Even though you know the cranky guy is going to be nice at the end, it's still fun to see. I never get tired of the Muppet Christmas Carol either. I think I've watched it every year. The funniest part? Michael Caine is the worst singer in the show.

The shows all took a break so there's not much to write about.

Sarah Palin's Alaska is really fun to watch. She shows the great things to do in Alaska and things to see like panning for gold, dog sledding, salmon fishing and just seeing all of the wildlife. It is during the summer. The winter activities probably aren't as much fun since they're pretty much just surviving the cold and snowshoeing. Still, I love Sarah's upbeat attitude when trying anything. She's very gung ho and not wussy at all. She is overcoming her airhead status w/ me. The kids crack me up because they treat everything as kind of ho hum. I'm sure this isn't the first time they've done these activities and they're more honest about it. I also like seeing Sarah trying to curb the boy activity w/ Piper. I'm thinking she probably doesn't want her to get knocked up too. I'm always surprised how the time flies when watching this show.

Sister Wives is very interesting. They've gotten a new wife added to the family and we got to see the process. Cody is kind of airheaded and keeps putting his foot in his mouth. He's seems to be the giddy twitterpated one of the relationship. Meanwhile, the other wives are caught between jealousy and wanting to be supportive. The first wife takes the whole thing the best. The wife who just had the new baby takes the whole thing the worst. The kids seem to be okay w/ everything and even like the idea of having step siblings. Robin is subdued because she doesn't want to step on any toes and wants to be accepted well by the other wives. There's a lot of comparing one wedding to another. I'm wondering if the money from doing the show has made Cody feel free and generous.

The Cake Boss's baking competition has been fun to watch. Last week, the teams had to make Christmas cakes. First, for the quick challenge, the bakers had to decorate a cake in about 15 minutes. Buddy went ahead and demonstrated and did his cake in 5 just to show how easy it is. I think that tall white chick won. For the elimination challenge, it was men vs. women except Greggy was on the men's team. Dana impressed everyone by doing all of the intricate work. The teams also had to do a traditional Italian dinner for the bakery's employees for the holidays. Dana did 3 dishes and Corina did 1. The women bickered and turned out a huge sagging fireplace cake. The men worked well together and made a winter wonderland tree cake complete w/ blown sugar ornaments. That Chinese chick is like a lot of Asians. She thinks she's smarter and therefore superior and is difficult to lead. She also does not work well w/ others. I was impressed that the only guy who helped the ladies move their heavy cake to the table was Dana. What a nice guy and it makes people less likely to stab him in the back. So anyway, the men won and that homely white chick was sent home. This week, for the quick challenge,the bakers had 3 baking skills they had to do quickly: crack a dozen eggs, roll out a pie shell, and then make a fondant rose. That tall white chick came out of nowhere and won. She was able to pick the teams for the elimination challenge. As was expected, she picked all the skilled bakers and people who got along well to be on her team. Funny enough, it turned out to be all the guys except Greggy. Then Buddy told her she had to switch teams. Har har! You could see her say, "Oh shit." Through her stiff smile. The teams had to do a special effect cake. Somehow this meant explosions to everybody. Buddy brought out 2 of the most grody looking guys to introduce the challenge. They looked like hippie tokers. Once again, Corina and the Chinese chick bickered. The airbrush motor fell on the foot of that tall white chick and she ended up going to the hospital. The chinese chick and that chubby white guy bragged they were so good at special effects and fireworks. Oh hello, grain alcohol is never a good explosive cuz it burns too quickly and doesn't make a flame you can really see too well. In the end both cakes were duds. I LOL. Then they blew up both cakes to show their disgust. The men were told their's was the best of the 2 crappy cakes. That chinese girl was sent home for not being a very good team player. Yay!

The Worst Cooks In America had it's first show. This time it's Robert Irvine w/ Anne Burrell. I think they should call it The Scariest Cooks in America. One chick said she gave her husband food poisoning twice. One chick said everytime she goes into the kitchen she sets something on fire. Oh boy! I love when Robert and Anne tasted someone's food and gagged. Some people would look so hurt and surprised. I think this time people were shanghaied and brought in by their friends or families. That's hilarious. That one middle aged lady looked really hurt and I feel so sorry for her family who had to gag her food down all their lives. I know how they feel. So they chose 16 as the worst of the worst and brought them to New York. Then they each had to make a dish from scratch. One good rule is to never use canned anything. Professional chefs hate canned food. One girl made everyone cough w/ her peppery smoke. I like that there are more straight guys on the show. So after tasting the dishes which ranged from totally gross to not too bad, Robert and Anne picked people to be on each other's teams. Anne got both middle aged ladies and that airheaded blonde on her team. Robert got the very enthusiastic people on his team. Then Robert and Anne demonstrated a chicken dish. Why are they making beginner cooks cut up a chicken when stores will sell you chicken parts? Why are they having beginner cooks cook w/ alcohol? So then the cooks had to replicate the dishes. Yep, some of the butchering was a disaster and there were 2 fires. Some of the cooks showed they had some potential and just need a little direction. Some showed they didn't have a clue. Some showed they didn't have a palate and some showed they were a disaster waiting to happen. For the first episode, they should've really extended the show to more than an hour because the editing was very choppy and we didn't get to see Robert and Anne do all the tasting which is actually the most fun to watch. Since there's always a double elimination until the teams become 1 group, next week's show will be shorter w/ less cooks. In the end, the Asian newlywed chick and the white guy bar owner were sent home. I kind of feel sorry for the bar owner guy cuz he wanted to learn to cook to make food in his bar to probably save money. He'll have to invest in cooking classes now.

I recommend watching Conan O'Brien's new late show on TBS. He's even more quirky and funny. Since he's on cable, he feels comfortable doing whatever he likes and we like that. He also has impressive guests and is free to have whoever he wants on because he doesn't have to worry that they're on a competing network. If you're going to watch a late show on a network, I always love Craig Furguson. He has that cute Scottish accent and he's funnier than heck. For the morning shows, avoid the Today show. Meredith Viera is the dumbest and most annoying thing on legs since Kathie Lee Gifford. Oh, she's on the mid morning show. Yikes! I guess NBC likes their morning hosts airheaded. Gifford tries to act 30 when we all know she's 60. It only makes her seem like she has dementia. I hope poor Hoda gets a lot of money for putting up w/ her every weekday.

The new seasons are starting this week and the running shows will be back too. Good thing, I'm really missing Raising Hope.

See you next time.