The huge news of the weekend is the shooting at the Batman: The Dark Knight Rises movie. For a nation that feels like it's teetering on the edge of sanity w/ a bad economy, shaky employment, housing foreclosures happening left and right, scammers running rampant and a season of mudslinging politicians; we have a huge tragedy happen to an area that already got smoked out by Mother Nature. I think the major question to every god is, why? Our hearts go out to all the victims of the terrible event. I say all the victims because the people who died or were shot weren't the only victims. Families lost loved ones and people will live w/ the nightmare that they witnessed. As a nation, we've lost more of our trusting and innocence. I mourn for all that has been lost and for all the lives that have been negatively impacted by one person's inhumane actions. I'm sure you're asking why this is in my blog. It's been all over my TV since the early morning of Friday and our lives are changed by what we hear and see from the TV.
Ok, so on to the real subject.
Food Network Star was 1 episode away from the finale. The last 6 contestants were told to make a segment and promo for their show and their number would be cut in half for the finale. So there was a talk w/ their mentors and they had a couple of practices before the real filming. Yvan made a really gross pedestrian dish w/ canned cream corn and mac and cheese w/ his brother in the kitchen. Ok, ick to both. The brother may as well have been a turnip sitting on the counter and the dish looked like something a hobo would cook up. Yeah, sorry Yvan but your show would only get 1 viewing. Nikki did her Grill Next Door thing that nobody seems to think is cute more than once. We have too many grilling shows and she looked stiffer than a 2 day old corpse. Next! Ippy did his Hawaiian laid back thing but it was so forgettable, I forgot the name he came up w/ for his show. He also mentioned he's half Italian. Yeesh, that was confusing. His dish looked good but it seemed redundant. If you've run out of ideas for new dishes already, this job isn't for you. Marti is possibly the most irritating Southern lady since that christian girl from Steel Magnolias. She named her show Marti w/ the Party which sounds a lot like Aarti Party. She made a shrimp salad looking thing that looked like it should've been a lot easier to make than she showed. Also, her party looked like a church potluck. Where was that set, behind the dumpsters? Next! Michele was trying her darndest to sell her New England food show. I agree w/ some facebookers that that subject is kind of limited but for a West Coast person like me, it's intriguing. Her dish was a huge bowl of steamed clams and bread. Hmmm...so it's home cooking huh? She did really good w/ her on-camera persona though. Finally, Justin showed a snippet of Alton's old show and then showed us how to make Caesar Salad in a new way. I have never heard of Caesar Salad made w/ a chicken stock based dressing and there was no hint of egg or anchovies. When the word aspic is used in the dish, it gets a gross rating from me. So actual Food Network stars were brought in to view and judge the videos of the contestants. In the end, the judges totally lied and now there are 4 people in the finale. They only cut Ippy and Nikki. Really? They couldn't make up their minds about Alton's team? They're pretty lame judges. The winner will be chosen by viewer votes. Cool cuz the last time they did this, Guy Fieri won and he's one of the few winners I've liked. Dan and Steve, Aarti, and the Sandwich King are the others. I'll be interested to see who suckered the most people.
America's Got Talent was in New York. They still have a huge group of acts so they showed similar ones but only about a 3rd of them. Once again, the judges were very good. They were honest and right to the point telling people when it didn't work. Some of the acts proved that they really are showing talent. The magicians are looking very amateur even when they do big things like make helicopters appear. The escape artist shows he knows how to create the drama. I'm glad they got rid of that weird contortionist/dancer guy. It grosses me out to watch him. The circus couple who can lift each other were amazing and did an aerial act that showcased their strength and grace. The got rid of some of the singers which is good because that batch of acts really needs paring down. The elderly acts didn't fare well at all and were all cut. I agreed w/ the acts that were kept and cut. Way to go judges. You have talent too. The talent to know crap from gold.
Hell's Kitchen had one huge episode in 2. I hate that because they take up 2 nights. Anyway, for the team challenge, they finally got around to the blind taste test. Before that though, Ramsey brought in Joey Chestnut to compete in a hotwing eating contest w/ 4 of the chefs. We already knew Joey would smoke everyone but it was really hilarious to watch. You could tell Ramsay was LOL the whole time too. In the taste test, we found Kimmie's a chicken cuz she opted to sit out. Robin and Tiffany have terrible palates and can't tell corn flakes from cat litter. Brian and Justin have amazing palates. I did include Brian because even though he thought the shallots were onions, I say close enough on that. Ramsay was really impressed that Justin got 100% correct which hadn't happened in any season of Hell's Kitchen. The blue team won and for the prize, the team had a waterpark all to themselves for a day. Meanwhile, the girls team had to tend all the deliveries for the day. At midnight a package was delivered and I was wondering why everyone wasn't in bed. Anyway, the chefs got instructions to make their own menus to be served at dinner service. Red team came up w/ rather ordinary but easy to make dishes. Blue team was more fancy but more difficult. For some odd reason people were really cranky during the prep time the next day but it was probably due to lack of sleep. Man, the dirty looks were shooting everywhere. At dinner service the women did a pretty good job of banging out their dishes w/ a few hiccups and Tiffany trying to cook in a dirty pan. She only had 4 stacks of saucepans in front of her but she was probably too lazy to heat up a new pan. Barbie did a really good job of taking the fat out of the fire a few times when her team would hit a glitch. On the blue team Robin ran out of stuffed squash blossoms due to messing up a few and then tried to blame it on Justin's prep. She wasted a lot of time fingerpointing and whining. Meanwhile, Clemenza and Justin couldn't seem to get the fish and meat in sync. In the end, Ramsay wasn't satisfied w/ either team's service. The red team put up Barbie and Tiffany. The blue team put up Robin and Clemenza. Tiffany finally blew her last chance and was sent home. Bye Tiff, see you at McDonalds.
MasterChef had the cooks team up in 2 teams and cook steaks for cowboys. Monty and Frank chose their teams and then those team members were switched to the other team. LMAO! Anyway Monty was frantic w/ a rather unsupportive team. For some odd reason, most of the cooks dislike Monty. I have no idea why but maybe she sneezes on people's breakfast or something that we don't get to see. Frank's menu was homey and rather easy w/ mashed potatoes and corn on the cob and it went over really well w/ the cowboys. It didn't help that Monty's team ran out of mashed sweet potatoes halfway through the service. All they had was green beans to go w/ the steak and if you ask most cowboys, they're not too keen on green veggies. So in the end, Monty's team lost and had to do the cooking test. Felix was given the immunity by Monty which the tall black guy and Becky weren't happy about. I don't know what was going on, but the black guy's nostrils looked extra large this episode. So the trio were each given 6 eggs. 1 was to be poached, 1 was to be soft boiled, 1 was to be cooked sunnyside up and the last 3 were to be made into an omelet so there was no testing or dropping allowed. I like when a cook admits their mistake because it means that's not what they intended. Monty admitted her omelet wasn't good looking but at least she seasoned well and her soft boiled egg was really beautiful. The other 2 cooks were too cautious on their soft boiled eggs and Becky basted her sunny side which also had that brown lacy edge that chefs hate to see. The black guy overcooked all of his eggs except the boiled one and he was sent home. For the mystery box challenge the cooks had to cook something southern because Paula Deen announced it after stepping out of the big box. Frank won w/ his grits and steak roulade dish. An Italian who can make polenta; who da thunk it? Anyway, the cooks then had to reproduce a sushi plate but in teams of two cooking tag team style and Frank got to pick the teams but not participate. Yikes! Sushi chefs take years to learn how to make sushi and they wanted the cooks to do it in an hour? Stacey and Christina had the worst disadvantage because not only did Christina work slower than others just out of caution w/ her disability, but she also couldn't give any instruction or verbal help when Stacey was cooking. Felix and Monty won w/ one gorgeous sushi plate. Even though Becky and David's plate looked like cat food, they still won, over Stacey and Christina who left the maki roll off of their plate. Stacey was sent home. Unfortunately, she wasn't able to cover up her ignorance of Japanese cooking.
Love in the Wild was down to 3 couples. Once again, the couples had a whole course of stuff to do to find 5 map pieces to get to a destination. I finally realized they've been on the same island or whatever for the whole season. Well that's boring and they're pretty dumb if they need a map after all this time. I noticed the afraid of heights princess who looks like Melissa Rycroft was missing. Well, that's what she gets for changing her guy every week. So the teams ride horses, run through the jungle, cross a river, swim in a lagoon and carry stuff; again. The team that started out first didn't finish first. I'll call the winners team 1. Team 1 got to choose who's in the finale w/ them. The ballsy blonde chick decides to be bitchy to team 1's guy which wasn't smart. Team 1 chose the other team and there it was. This show's kinda dumb and it took me all season to realize it. I do like that the people left have foreign accents. That's kind of cool.
Around the World in 80 Plates had it's finale too. Liz, Snookie and Avery made their way to Uruguay where they had to first shop in 3 places and then make a local kind of dish in the time left of the 2 hours they were given. Snookie got advice from the local ladies who pointed him to premade stuff like chorizo and carmelized onions in jars. I have a feeling they were selling him the more pricey stuff. Avery wanted to cook fish but no pescado in a butcher shop so got chicken instead. Liz forgot to buy salt and nobody would give her any. Whatever! Cat and Aussie were the judges. They could tell Nookie's dish had premade stuff and totally knocked him for it. Avery was declared the winner and was able to choose her opponent for the last challenge. She chose Liz much to everybody's surprise and delight. They headed for California for the last leg of the trip. They then had to shop at certain stores and when they got there, they got to choose a past eliminated chef from a group of 3. Liz ended up w/ Chaz and John. I thought those were terrible choices since both guys proved they couldn't cook their way out of paper bags; especially Chaz. Also, Chaz has the palate of a sick monkey. Avery chose Jenna and Nick. They had to serve 3 dishes to a group of award winning and well known chefs. Avery proved experience helps a lot and the proof was in the eating. No conniving votes here. Avery was declared the winner, everybody congratulated her, they brought out her family, she cried and that was that. Whatever. I was just glad Chaz, Jenna or Keven didn't win.
Project Runway is back w/ some really interesting contestants. I like that there is one really serious and professional minded guy. They also included one kooky kabuki Japanese designer and he's hilarious just w/ his broken English. When the judges give him their critique, you can tell he only understands half of what they're saying. Gunnar from last season is back and very prancy gay w/ a diva attitude. Not at all appealing. I thought a lot of the designers made some dogshit stuff but what do I know? The lady who got ousted worked w/ knits. I didn't hate her stuff as much as that other lady's muddy stuff but the judges were bored and that's the kiss of death. Klum seems to be in better spirits since her split from Seal. Nina got a better hairstyle that keeps her face from looking so rodent-like and Kors isn't as orange as he used to be. It should be a fun season.
Charlie Sheen's new show Anger Management is showing. Ok I have to ask. How come they always name his character Charlie? Is it because he can't remember any other name? For a show that shouldn't sound dull, this one is. Sheen still seems like he's working despite being stoned and his co-stars act like they're humoring him. The writing is spotty w/ some characters having funny moments despite aggravating personalities. I don't know what's going on but it seems the writers stole dialogue from Sheen's previous show. Chuck Lorre should rain down some hurt on them w/ a girl named Sue. Yeah, this show's not a winner.
There's nothing really new on. Dallas is continuing to be really good and exciting and Drop Dead Diva is breaking my heart these days. The Olympics are on next week and the next. Hopefully the TV world won't be intimidated cuz I'm going to hate it if there's nothing new on for 2 whole weeks. I've already said what I think of the Olympics in this modern era. Borrrrrring!
See ya next time people. Until then, stay tuned.
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