Who's Here to Play?

Hello fellow TV watchers.  I'm so sorry I haven't kept up weekly but instead, weakly.  I chose the title of the post because I noticed people on the competition reality shows have noticed from past seasons that any show of bad behavior will be edited to make them the villain.  Therefore, everybody is trying to be sweet, good and friendly.  The problem is, they forget it's a competition.  Where's the fierce competitiveness that people respect?  Why do they feel the need to be friends w/ fellow competitors?  It's not like they're going to be moving in next door or forcing each other to be put on Christmas card lists.  Jeez.

The Next Iron Chef: Redemption has been really fun to watch.  They have come up w/ original challenges and the chefs are quite competitive.  They have a chairman's challenge and then the 2 or 3 people on the bottom have to cook against each other w/ a secret ingredient.  The only thing about the show is, they seemed to have run out of fresh competitors.  Truth be told, I'm kind of sick and tired of seeing some of these people lose over and over.  Really?  Are they that desperate for this job?  Are these chefs not giants in their field?  Really?  I gotta look at Spike Mendelson's ugly mug again?  I'm really rooting for Chef Liz Falkner.  She is so cool and would be great to see in kitchen stadium.  I do love seeing a chef refuse to share an ingredient.  Most of the time there's plenty but the chefs just don't want to use up time hunting for it if they can just use some of their neighbor's.  Because they're all on the same level, they also encroach on each other's territory, moving pots and pans around and turning burners high and low.  That's when it gets funny because you know they do that to their sous chefs.  They've all competed before so they should know to keep a close eye on their own stuff.  Marcelle seems to have matured or they're not editing the show to make him seem annoying.  So far, it's been a really good season.  I'm already sick of seeing Donatella Arpaia again and again but I can't get enough of Simon Majumdar.  He is so cool and sexy w/ his accent and bald head. 

The Amazing Race has been in Russia.  While in Russia, they had challenges that took place in libraries, university, athletic centers and theatres.  You can tell it must be really cold outside cuz they're keeping everybody inside most of the time.  The twins, Chippendales guys and the white couple seem to not like the other white couple and connive against them.  Awww...the unliked white couple girl cries a lot about it too.   The long hair lawyer/rockers really ran into bad luck w/ their cab driver leaving w/ their bags that had 1 guy's passport.  That's the kiss of death in this game.  The unliked couple buddied up w/ the goat farmers who really lagged behind until the white couple missed their flight and found themselves w/ the goat farmers.  It got weird cuz all of a sudden, they weren't so competitive anymore and actually decided to wait for the guys to finish their tasks.  That was dumb because time means everything in this race.  In the next leg, they got u-turned.  The group of 3 teams had a really great plan.  Those twins are soooo smart.  The first team would u-turn the unliked couple and then the next team would u-turn that first team to use up the double u-turn.  If the unliked couple hadn't ran the race parallel w/ the goat farmers, they would've had time to complete both parts of the detour but nope the goat farmers finally hit the mat before them.  The wussy part was, they felt bad that they had to leave their friends behind.  Awww...WTF?  Are you in the game or what?  I'm loving those Chippendale's guys more and more each week.  They're hilarious and fun.  I had no idea one had a bum ankle in the race so they're not whiners either.  Go dudes!

Chef Race UK vs USA has finally landed on the East Coast.  They're down to 2 guys on each team.  I love that the most hated chefs are still in it but that's the way nature works too.  The predator willing to take down everybody else eats best.  The show has become predictable.  They edit and comment to make one team seem like they're going to win the first challenge and the other team wins.  Then at the cook-off, they edit it so the judges rave about one guy and sound like they're giving a bad critique to the other and then the guy w/ the bad review wins and the guy they seemed to like goes home.  Now all I do is roll my eyes and correctly predict the outcome.  I'm still giving the edge to the US team and I think Cody will win it because of the homefield advantage, his great palate and his competitiveness.  I love the crabby English guy.  He's not there to make friends.  He's there to cook and win.  You go Dude!

On Survivor, we have the group w/ the jury members.  People are finding it's not a good idea to turn on your own people.  Jeff tried to oust Jonathan and found himself booted.  The Yellow tribe booted RC and are now finding themselves on the bottom of the ladder.  Pete and Abi Maria are getting their come-uppance.  Each week Lisa declares she's not good at this game.  Ha!  She's great and plays the innocent girl very well.  I'm glad to see Michael Skupin playing smart.  He plays low key and flips when he needs to.  He and Lisa went to Jonathan first to make an end alliance.  He said he wanted to wait and see.  Wow!  Really?  He lost a great opportunity there because Mike and Lisa then went to Malcolm and Denise to make the end alliance.  I think they really just wanted Malcolm but Denise was there.  There seems to be a funny pattern.  The person voted out has always had the luxury challenge prize the day before.  Meanwhile, Carter sits around like the retarded doofus he looks like.  The Ponderosa scenes are just as fun to watch w/ RC not shy about showing her animosity toward her old tribe mates.  You go Girl!

The Challenge: Battle of the Seasons has finally gotten more exciting.  Team Brooklyn finally realized Sarah couldn't do everything herself and have become the power team.  I love Sarah, she's nice, personable, funny, fun and has that gung ho attitude but is still nice about it.  She's gracious losing or winning.  They've played smart too.  They had a puzzle that had to be replicated at another area quite a rough distance away.  They were the only team to put it together while they had the solution in sight and then transported the pieces in order.  The funny part was, there were extra pieces so the teams who just took off w/ all the pieces were quite confused at the other end.  Alton seems to have forgotten how these challenges  are.  You live w/ everybody, compete and then kick them off one by one.  He complains about living w/ the people and wants to go home but his team keeps him there.  It seems when the teams get cut in half, it's not long before the other half goes too.  Team San Diego keeps putting up the same guy to compete in the Arena and he's not liking it.  I can't wait for him to give his teammates the big finger.  You go Dude!

Top Chef: Seattle has a great bunch of chefs.  They've also brought back 3 vets and one is Stefan.  He's just as brashy big ego as ever.  I love it.  I just think he's totally sexy.  Maybe it's that Swedish accent too.  I like that the vets are proving they're not as great as people think.  They landed in the bottom their first week but they do show their experience in the quickfires.  The other male chefs seem to be too nice.  The women are tough and don't want to seem pansy.  The cooking seems to be pretty good too because the bottom dishes have to be nitpicked.  The newbies better take a lesson from the vets and stop helping each other and concentrate on doing their dishes the best.  I've seen some real kitchens.  I want to hear some cursing people!

Project Runway Allstars had a crazy USA Today promotional episode.  The designers had to do a look based on a picture from...oh who the crap cares?  This was the lamest premise I've seen on the show.  The designers didn't know if they had to incorporate the colors in the photo, the theme, or the feeling?  Oy.  I have to say, the designers just put their heads down and did the task as best they could.  Once again, Casanova was robbed.  Althea made pants that had a crazy crotch.  They were perfect for a drag queen to hide his weenie in the folds.  Kayne seems to have lost his sight because he turns out some seriously ugly stuff.  But...this time, Andre ran out of luck.  Anthony Ryan won again and I didn't really see anything special in his look.  Oh well, what do I know? 

Top Model had their finale.  This time they had 3 girls in the final runway.  That was weird and made the final judging long and crowded.  I loved that none of the girls really liked each other much.  The final fashion show was really weird w/ clothes that looked like aged grave cloths or iguana skins.  Ick.  Then they showed the final photoshoots at the final runway show.  I loved the fight ugly Cutrone had w/ the photographer.  She was imploring people, "Tell him not to treat me that way."  He was standing right there too.  Hilarious!  Leila had a mighty fall on the runway and then literally stumbled right off the runway.  Double hilarious!!!  Laura stumped down the runway and Kiara had a great walk.  I've never seen so much crying backstage.  Yeesh.  I loved seeing John James.  He's gotten older but it's nice to see actors are human and don't always age glamorously.  In the end, the judging was stupid as usual but Laura won.  Huh?  What do I know?  Oh yeah, she was the tallest girl.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders:  Making the Team finally ended their season.  The last few episodes were kind of boring cuz the competition was over.  After that, it was just a love fest.  Ick.  The last episode had the girls trying to be real cheerleaders w/ a show w/ stunting and that kind of choreography.  Oh!  I see.  The DCC are dancers and not really cheerleaders.

Redneck Island continues to be hilarious.  The really funny thing is, they seem to be the most competitive but I think these people truly need the money and don't hide that fact.  The games always seem to have a dangerous ouch factor.  I loved the rednecks in liederhosen trying to carry glasses of beer across a slippery surface.  There was much hitting of rumps and banging of heads on the ground.  It was very cringeworthy but funny.  None of the competitors complained or hesitated in the game.  I'm very proud to see the rednecks voting smartly.  They target anyone they think isn't really in the game or weak.  Right now, that's the way to go.  While you're in big teams, vote off your weakest links.  I like that they vote off the people who whine, "I miss my family and want to go home."  Yeesh.  They didn't think they'd be away from their family?  Do they realize they'll go home when the game is over?  Bye, ya big wussbags.

Well, that's about it.  The Christmas season is here.  Lifetime and Hallmark always have great Christmas movies.  I especially love the ones based on A Christmas Carol or It's a Wonderful Life.  This season seems to be more about romance which is kind of sappy and icky.  Oh well.  Happy Holidays anyway.  Until next time people, stay tuned.

Catching Up

Ok, so I missed a week or so.  Guess what, I have a real life where I actually make a living.  This blog is going to be different.  I'm still going to go through my shows but since I missed keeping you up to date for a week, I'll do a run through.

The Amazing Race seems to like to stay in the same country for a couple of episodes.  It may be a sign of the economy because it's cheaper than purchasing those plane tickets every other day.  The racers show less fatigue too because they don't have to fight jet lag as much.  So far they've been in the Philippines and then Turkey.  They had one non-elimination leg which kept the goat farmers in the race.  I wish those guys would stop reminding us of their poor little lives trying to raise goats.  Then they mention they saved their town.  I'm not sure how that happened but whatever.  The Monster truck couple kept trying to go against the flow and got caught by it by taking a flight nobody else took.  Yeah, this time it wasn't in their favor.  I was hoping the Monster truck couple would be the only one in the next country for a few hours.  Oh well.  Needless to say, even though the goat farmers had a speed bump to do, the Monster truck couple still came in last and were out of the race.  That time, it was kind of hard for the editors to make the end a mystery as to who came in last.  The goat farmers and the Monster truck couple did the same delivering baked goods detour.  The goat farmers were finishing up when the Monster truck couple were starting.  Yep, no mystery there.  Meanwhile, the other racers were hauling long bamboo.  It was hilarious w/ much whacking of people w/ the bamboo and many apologies.  In Turkey, some of the racers had a turkish bath that was the funniest thing to watch ever.  The twins are amazing in this race.  They've been doing some of the most physical tasks and doing great at them.  There seems to be some kind of grudge w/ the twins and one white couple toward the other white couple.  I finally figured out, the white couple who's not liked is the one that could win 2 mill if they win.  In the last episode, the teams went to Russia.  I loved how they complained about the cold more than the heat in the last legs.  Maybe it was editing.  This time the goat farmers and the unliked white couple got way behind because of a missed plane.  Oh boy!  I'm noticing there don't seem to be as many airlines and flights as other seasons but there are always plenty of seats.  Or so it seems.  Once again, the tasks weren't anything tourists would want to do.  It was hilarious to see the guys trying to do the synchronized swimming.  It reminded me of that Saturday Night Live sketch a long time ago.  Those Chippendales guys are getting cuter by the week.  They seem to be overcoming their meathead image w/ good senses of humor, niceness and gung ho spirit.  The long haired lawyer/rockers are in the crapper.  Their cab driver drove off w/ their belongings which included a guy's passport.  OMG!  The episode ended w/ no elimination.  We'll see what happens.  The race staying in countries longer may work to their advantage.

Face Off had an awesome ending.  The last 3 standing were Nicole, Laura and Derek.  They picked 2 past eliminated artists to make their teams and then they had to make a fantasy witch and demon.  But wait, the makeup really had to be well done because then those models participated in a stuntshow.  It was so cool but the makeups had to last through crashmats, punches, flipping, swinging on ropes and rolling on the ground.  OMG!  All I can say is, all the makeups were really cool.  Yes, we got the stupid sob stories about why each finalist thought they should win blah blah blah.  Michael Westmore showed up to critique the work the artists were doing.  It's always so cool to see him.  It's like a visit from the king.  They had a reunion show that basically asked everyone what their favorite challenge was which proved the fans were pretty unoriginal.  I'm still wondering if the artists knew the brothers were twins.  Finally, Nicole was declared the winner.  I kind of thought she had the edge w/ Roy on her team w/ his knowledge and experience.

Survivor finally had their merge and the blue tribe of 2 was able to glom back together.  Denise seems to be letting Malcolm lead her around.  The pattern for the challenges, so far, seems to be teams for the luxury and individual for elimination.  The first week of the merge, there was a female and a male winner.  The yellow team seems to be divided and the men of the red team still want Johnathan out.  There were a lot of candidates for the vote but none that I wanted.  Abi Maria is totally detestable and that sometimes means she'll go all the way to the end cuz everybody else knows they're less hated and more respected than she is.  At that first tribal w/ everyone, there were a lot of red herrings thrown around.  Lisa is finding more of a voice and Skupin looked like total weenie.  Johnathan wisely used his HII and RC was voted out.  How come nobody liked her?  Maybe it was her laugh cuz I found it totally annoying on the Ponderosa video.  Last week  Johnathan won the luxury challenge w/ some good people and the B team (bitches and bastards) were left to lay around and grouse at camp.  Hee hee hee.  Gawd, how I hate that Abi Maria and Pete's looking quite detestable too.  Johnathan felt the pressure and stated that he was going to win immunity.  Guess what?  He was right.  That guy's really good at puzzles.   Lisa's trying to run some of the game and it's working a little.  Pete tried to make her look like a liar but at tribal council, it was proved she was right and Pete's a liar.  Haw haw.  We'll see how that works in the next episodes.  Malcolm was put on the chopping block but he announced to everyone before the vote that he was going to use it that night.  He was really smart because that scared people into not voting for him and he didn't play it.  Abi Maria showed everyone her HII.  Now I know why Pete kisses her butt.  Jeff was totally blindsided and voted out.  Next, I hope that crosseyed rat faced blonde guy goes.  He's so homely, I can't hardly take it anymore.

Chef Race:  UK vs. USA headed West.  They had to do BBQ sauce and sell it.  The USA team was savy and sold to stores in cases.  The UK team charged more for their sauce and gave it a kick ass name.  Yep, they won and the USA team was whittled down to just 3 after the final cooking challenge.  Then they had to make pizzas and sell them.  Cody drove his team crazy w/ his laziness but they can't do anything about it as long as he cooks like a champ.   I was wary about the UK teams pizzas cuz they put their cheese on the pizzas in cubes.  Obviously, they didn't know how much Americans like cheese on their pizzas.  The USA team did a better job selling whole pies.  The UK team must be slow in moving the customers.  Maybe they need to stop chatting people up.  I never knew Brits were such yappers.  The USA team won and the UK team was down to 3 also. 

Project Runway Allstars has all the designers getting along but sniping about each other behind their backs.  This season, I find that Casanova is getting robbed.  I've been loving his designs and he hasn't won.  Anthony Ryan seems to be the judges' darling and he keeps making sheath dresses.  Whatever!  One challenge was using 70's type high heels for inspiration.  That ugly chick from the first season made a pre-teen hooker outfit and got the boot.  We found she and Suede bonded; Ew!  Good for them.  Last week the designers had to make graffiti designs.  The show tried to make it sound posh by calling it aerosol art.  Yeah right.  Does that include beehive hairdos and armpits too?  I don't know how Andrae survived this elimination cuz his outfit looked totally like circus clown on Meth.  In the end, Suede joined his BFF in the eliminated group.  I don't know why, but I'm really liking the judges.

America's Next Top Model took the girls to Jamaica.  Does Jamaica have fashion?  I think it was a cheap place to go to.  Leala is back and more fierce than ever.  The bitchy white girl got the boot finally and so did the skinny girl w/ the curly hair.  Laura runs hot and cold and Kiara seems to be getting better and better each week.  They did a shoot w/ the stupid perfume and one on horses.  I still hate the judges on either side of Tyra and that stupid You Tube ugly hippie looking guy keeps showing up.  Ick.  The show is more annoying than cool so I mostly watch it online so I can watch TV while I'm watching some of the show.

The Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are chosen so now we just get stuff like shooting the swimsuit calendar.  Those girls need some walking lessons.  They had a swimsuit fashion show and they either looked like little old ladies missing their walkers or horses and not in a good way.  I find it funny that Kellie Finglass is always saying she wants the girls to come off as All American classy but they barely have any clothes on in public.  I really liked the dietician going to the girls' homes and finding everything from candy to cookies to frozen chimichangas in the freezers.  Hilarious!  Then again, the dietician also gave them a hard time for frozen vegetables too.  Really?  Anyway,the show's not as interesting now that the competition is over.

CMT has a show called Red Neck Island.  I thought it would be something like Survivor.  It's not hard living at all.  The rednecks have an already built shelter, a bar, hammocks, luggage w/ clothes, an outhouse and food.  The only things they don't have are phones, tv's and computers.  The games are rednecky games which are funny to watch but dangerous to do.  They really need to put that, "Do not try this at home." warning on the screen.  I love the vote cuz they write names on cozies on beer cans and then put them in a cooler.  The lady who had told everyone she wanted to go home and then changed her mind was sent home.  Yeah.  Who wants to listen to that again next week?  Those rednecks aren't as dumb as they look.

Well, that's that.  I love this season because Hallmark and Lifetime have really cheesy holiday movies that make me cry like a baby.  Yep.  I'm a schmuck.  Until next time people, stay tuned.