What's On? Not Much.

Hello fellow TV junkies.  Sad to say the TV offerings have become quite mundane and slim.  Dish Network is planning on dropping IFC, AMC and WE channels which should be interesting since Mad Men and The Walking Dead have quite a huge audience.  Fortunately, many shows can be seen online.  If the online viewing gets better and more accessible, people may just forgo satellite and cable subscriptions altogether.  What an interesting day and age.

So on to the shows.

Food Network Star had the contestants making food court food w/ each team having a theme:  American Deli, Italian and Mexican.  Martita's team used her as the Mexican food authority.  The American Deli team (Bobby's) didn't seem to have any deli food like sandwiches.  The Italian team (Alton's) thought their theme was too mundane.  Really?  They had to intro their dishes too.  Unfortunately Linkie had no idea what churro's were.  I knew she was in trouble when she made dough instead of batter.  For pete's sake, make something you know and give it a Mexican twist.  Jeffrey Zakarian showed up to add a weird ingredient that 1 person from each team had to use.  It was chicken livers.  Well, could've been worse.  In the end, one team was declared the winner and I can't remember who.  Linkie ended up in the bottom w/ someone else.  Linkie chose to make a savory dish when desserts are her specialty.  This time it wasn't about the food because the judges actually really liked her food but her on camera presentation was uncomfortable and jerky.  Bye Linkie.  We'll miss you, your cute accent and your desserts.

Drop Dead Diva is back.  Finally.  They have a new guardian angel, the business not financially doing well, Parker as a Dad, Kim as a partner, Jane dating a cute judge and Grayson catching on to what's up w/ Jane.  The producers made a huge mistake having Kim Kardashian on for a couple of episodes.  Her acting was so wooden, she made Pinocchio seem like a real boy before he was one.  Everytime she was on camera, you could feel the energy being sucked out of the scene.  I felt really bad for the other actors in the scene.  Luckily, she was only on for 2 episodes.  Don't quit your dayjob Kim.  So Stacy has had her memory wiped of Fred which is sad.  She's starting her own goodie baking business.  Interesting.  The character of Kim is much better.  She's not Jane's bestie but does treat Jane w/ colleague respect.  Jane and the judge are the cutest couple since Mike and Molly.  The cases are just as interesting as ever.  The guardian angel is different.  He's wealthy and has saved the business and also gives Jane guidance that she takes grumpily.  This time, she's not friends w/ her angel.  I'm not sure, but there's a freshness to the show.  The writing is great and before you know it, the episode is over.  All I can say is, I like it and it seems the show is also reflecting the times.

I've quit watching Model Latina.  It was so awful, it got too painful to sit through for a half an hour.

NBC is showing Olympic trials.  I wondered if they'd continue their rotten coverage.  I yearn for the days when ABC covered the Olympics.  As usual, they show very little of the athlete's actually doing their thing.  In the last few Olympics, we rarely saw the people who didn't do well.  When they say there's 50 athletes competing, how come we don't see 50 people diving or swimming or running?  Instead, they fill the time w/ overwrought athlete profiles, commercials and interviewers saying and asking the dumbest things.  Really?  We need another bio on an athlete who's trying to get into their 3rd Olympics?  Didn't we learn all about them 4 years ago?  Really?  You have to interview a runner right after the race?  The blood is still pounding in their head and they're still trying to catch their breath.  Yeesh.  Really?  They ask people who've lost the race, "How do you feel?"  Or they ask them right before the meet, "What is your goal?"  That's dumb.  Of course the athletes give the same answer to that, "Do my best and win."  Duh.  It's terrible and I'm afraid I may just keep up w/ the Olympics through the news.  I'm definitely not tuning in to the Today show.  They've  let that stupid dimbulb from The View back.  I wanted to forget her name and I did.  Also, between the royal wedding and the Queen's Jubilee, I'm kind of UK'd out.

American Ninja Warrior is wrapping up the prelims w/ the last region in the SouthEast.  The course proves to be interesting.  We know that when the guys have a lateral swing on the rings, they're usually cooked.  There was finally a lady who got through the first cargo net obstacle.  The guys in this region proved the talent is high because many finished the course including a pro football player and a Harlem Globetrotter.  Just once, I wish they'd have the hosts try out the course.  In the end, I'm still impressed.

I don't know why, but every time I tune into America's Got Talent, I get a re-run.  I'll try to catch up online but for now, I'll admit, I know nothing.

Around the Word in 80 Plates went to Thailand.  This time the chefs had to make 3 teams of 2.  I'm convinced Nookie is the craftiest and smartest guy to ever be on a competition cooking show.  He and Avery are besties but didn't pair up.  That was really smart because if they as a team wound up losing, it could've been 1 of them going home.  Instead, Avery ended up w/ Jenna and you could tell Avery wasn't too  excited about that.  The teams had to first make their way to a market, transport a bunch of coconuts to a place and then grate 5 pounds of coconut.  Hey!  I thought everyone was on the metric system  in the rest of the world.  Watching Nookie trying to use the native method to transport the coconuts was a total LOL minute.  He and John got to the grating first.  John had to do all the grating cuz Nookie couldn't fit on the seat.  Nicole and Liz got there next.  You could tell it was really hot cuz sweat was pouring off of everybody.  Then they had to plant rice in a paddy.  I didn't envy them at all.  The chefs did comment on how back breaking the labor was.  Yeah, and just think people do it all their lives.  Lesson learned because one chef said they'd respect rice and never waste it again.  So John and Nookie came in first and their exceptional ingredient was advantages for the elimination challenge.  Jenna and Avery came in last and you could tell Avery was over the whole thing.  The chefs had to take over a foodstall and make as much money as they could by selling their dish.  John and Nookie's advantage was a 2nd dish to sell and that the last place team wouldn't be allowed to use heat to cook their dish.  I'm sure the heat inspired Nookie to make a beverage to sell which was smarter than you'd think because they were able to stretch it by adding water.  Nicole and Liz made a stir fry that was delicious but declared Chinese and they ran out of food before the end of the night.  Jenna and Avery wisely watched a Thai lady make green papaya salad Thai style but a dish that hasn't any protein has a lower price.  These ladies never heard of ceviche?  They never said they had to make Thai dishes and I think the people would've enjoyed American dishes from these obvious foreigners.  In the end, Nookie and John made the most bucks and John was declared most valuable chef.  Jenna and Avery made the best dish and won an extra 150 Baht.  BFD, if the other teams sold 4 dishes, they'd make more than that.  The vote came to a tie between Jenna and Liz.  It was interesting because Avery and Nicole voted for their own teammate.  John got rid of his biggest irritant; Jenna.  Bye Jenna, go speak Italian to someone who wants to hear you.  I'm sure there's someone out there.  Next stop is Hong Kong.  I can't wait.


Hell's Kitchen had weirdly chopped up episodes.  They started out w/ the chefs making Mexican dishes head to head.  The food seem a little too frou frou but I guess it's that fine dining thing.  All the dishes were criticized for not using enough chili peppers but oh well, the women won.  Brian groused that his dish was the best but was the one dropped for tasting.  Whatever.  The women were treated to a nice lunch and the day off from the punishment.  That evening, the fish and scallops seemed to flummox the chefs again and the diners had to subsist on the apps.  There were nominations but no decision.  The episode was to be continued. Argh!  So the next episode, Ramsay made the decision to boot out that blonde girl who royally messed up and sent out raw pork.  Kimmie was punching things and really hot about being called out.  She's kind of scary.  The next challenge was to cook dishes for clothes designers.  In the world of fashionable skinny people, they don't want to eat much but they do want a great flavor in a small bite:  light, fresh, and spicy.  So the dishes come up and each one was declared a little bland.  Good Lord!  Did the chefs not hear the word spicy?  Tiffany thinks fried eggplant is light and was told no.  The men pull out the win and are treated to a shopping spree and lunch.  How funny is that?  The women had to clean up and prep for tons of salsa for that night.  Here's where I really got mad.  They didn't even show the dinner service and did another to be continued.  Hey!  Stop that!


Masterchef had the cooks split into 2 teams and cook outside for the military.  The red team's leader decided to serve thick pork chops w/ grilled potatoes and coleslaw.  The blue team's leader decided to be Italian and make a light pasta dish.  The skinny oriental guy was called out for cooking food unseasoned and w/ no oil on the grill.  Yo!  When being yelled at for not having salt and pepper on your veggies that you're cooking, start calling for salt and pepper.  Geez.  When it came to service, the blue team had the blind chick dropping the grilled chicken on top of the pasta.  They all proved they had poor planning because the food would run out.  The thick pork chops had to be pounded thin but in the end, the military people proved they just want hearty food and the red team won.  For the elimination challenge, the people of the blue team had to each make an apple pie.  When making a pie, make sure to have a bottom crust.  The skinny oriental guy had a weird idea to have no bottom crust and cheese in the top crust.  It didn't work and he was sent home.  For the next challenge the cooks had to work w/ offal and what a gross pile of meat it was:  sheep head w/ brain in it, thymus gland of a cow, kidneys and livers and Ew!  In the end, Ryan made the best dish of fried sweetbreads (thymus gland).  Ick!  He was given the choice of protein to give to his competitors: fresh or canned crab.  He also assigned which each person would cook w/.  Crab takes a lot of prep when it's fresh so it was very wise that the blind chick made a appetizer.  She and the tall black guy were declared the winners and Helene was sent home.  Good cuz that woman had a weird palate.


Well, that's about it.  Sorry I was late w/ the post but better late than never.  There are other reality shows showing but I don't like the voyeuristic type, refuse to watch any Jersey people, hate all the housewives, and can't stand those stupid dating shows.  Am I picky?  You'd better believe it.  I can tell you what they all show though; a lot of fighting, yelling, mugging for the camera and phony people being drunk.


Until next time people enjoy the shows and stay tuned.