Another Immunity for Captain America

This is why Survivor is the best show on television. What a fantastic episode.

First is the craziness with Shane and his “Blackberry.” I’ll be honest – I can’t tell if he’s actually crazy or this is something that is just making him feel better. The thing is that I (and his tribe) really can’t tell. Got to love the Shane Show.

The reward challenge was a beast. I don’t understand how Cirie, Aras, & Shane got so tangled up in their ropes. They really should have been able to contend in that challenge. The other thing I didn’t understand is why they did the car part of the challenge after half of the tribe had left. Why didn’t they make the others sit and watch Terry win again? And why didn’t Jeff mention the “car curse”? Does he think that Terry can break it? Or did he just forget? (after all, it is pretty hot out there…) If anyone can break the curse, though, Terry is the one.

Speaking of Terry, it was a great strategy to get Danielle and Courtney into his court. If only it had worked…for all his athletic prowess, Terry just isn’t very good with the whole making alliances thing. Remember his awkward attempts when they first merged? And now he’s making deals about the final immunity challenge? I think that part of it is that he’s just not good at lying (which, although a liability in Survivor, isn’t really a bad thing). Part of it too is that he is so focused on the challenges that maybe other parts of the game are falling by the wayside.

And then there’s the whole fishing thing. I nearly spit water through my nose when Shane saw the fish Cirie caught, and commented that she caught a fish even though “Captain America has been swimming around here for three weeks with nothing.” You go girl!

The challenges department continued to out-do itself with tonight’s immunity challenge. It was fantastic. I really thought that Aras was going to win – at the beginning he seemed to be in the zone, using all his yoga training and all. I guess that being on Exile Island really did take its toll on him. And by winning tonight, Terry has guaranteed himself a spot in the final four. The question then becomes should he exert the energy to win next week, or should he save himself, knowing that next week is the last opportunity to use the hidden idol. Oh the strategy!

So, I had finally collected myself after the Captain America comment, and then there’s tribal council. Cirie Cirie Cirie! Oh my! That might have been the best strategic move of the game. She and Aras are running this game, and running it well. Courtney never saw it coming, and the look on Shane’s face as he realized that his was the only vote for Danielle was priceless. I might have rewound that and watched it a few times. Maybe. Totally worth missing part of the Red Sox game for…

TTOW!!

What an episode of The Amazing Race!

The hippies made a nice recovery from last leg’s last place finish. I was glad to see them not beg for money until they got on the plane, and picking up a hitchhiker seemed to really work out for them. But I’m wondering about the whole “TTOW!” thing…it’s on their shirts and is their rallying cry. But what the heck does it mean? Hmmm…

At what point did Mo Jo become so obnoxious? It’s one thing to not want to help out the hippies with money, but you don’t have to pretend you’re going to. And what was the deal with the taxis after the ferry? Joseph actually said that he was going to take the first one he saw, regardless of whose it was.

I liked the sights on this leg as well…Australia looks amazing. I so want to go! I also liked that there were several spots where the contestants bunched up – it’s nice to not know in advance which teams will come in first! And I loved the comments from Fran and Barry at the hostel…although the fact that the race is cramping their sex life may have been just a bit too much information!

What I didn’t like was the product placement roadblock. The task itself was fine…especially the fact that it just took so long to find the tunnels. But did we need the “find the Duracell batteries” part? Ugh.

I was sad to see Fran and Barry eliminated. Of all the “older” teams that have run the race, they were one of the best. I’m sorry to see them go.

Not Enough People Pick Pickler

Another week, another contestant gone on American Idol. But first, a performance by Andrea Bocelli showcasing just how bad some of these contestants really are. Seriously – what is he doing on this show?

Anyways, after Simon apologized to Katharine (thank goodness…I’m so glad she sounded as good as I thought she did!), we get to Ryan’s naked cruelty. This week, he divides them into three groups of two – Katharine & Chris, Taylor & Elliott, and Kellie & Paris. To me, it seems pretty clear that Paris and Kellie are the bottom two. And I’m right – Chris and Katharine received the highest number of votes last night, and rightfully so. They’ll probably be the final two, and they’re both going to make great CDs. (and that would explain why I was never able to get through on their lines...)

So, it seems that the power of votefortheworst.com has run out, and Kellie is going home. I just feel bad for the better singers that went before her. Sure she’s cute and sweet, but she’s not a great singer. And she may be the first voted off contestant who didn’t get to sing one last time. I guess no one really wanted that anyways.

Andrea goes home on The Apprentice

Last night’s episode of The Apprentice was really good. It was a great task, a good boardroom, and even though you knew what was going to happen about 10 minutes in, it was really enjoyable to watch.

I loved the task. Yes, there was a corporate sponsor (because there’s always a corporate sponsor), but that’s not what the task was about. It was creative, sales, and actually did something good for others. It was such a breath of fresh air – it was a lot more like the tasks on the original Apprentice where it wasn’t so much about selling crap.

I also loved that Trump’s kids were on the episode. His daughter is really pretty…Donald Jr….well…as Letterman would say, he’s a hump. I hope he’s nice, because he’s not a looker.

You just knew that Lee would pull out a win, and that Andrea was going to keep Synergy from winning. And even though Charmaine thought that they won in spite of Lee, he did a good job leading the team. It was such a good move to get up early and stake out their spot to sell. And even if Synergy had arrived at the same time, Gold Rush’s brochure was just so much nicer.

Which brings me to Andrea. I think that everyone knows someone like Andrea – someone who claims to be an expert in nearly every field, yet almost never is. She’s been talking for the whole season about her graphic design expertise, yet the brochure she designed was horrible. And there’s no way she is actually good at sales…she was actually driving people away. I also thought the way she handled criticism was appalling. A few weeks ago she didn’t take it well when Roxanne said she wasn’t as good as Allie; this week she just couldn’t handle it when the other girls said she was the weakest player. I would never want to hire someone who responded to criticism by name calling and foul language.

So, no surprise at all that Andrea was fired, although it was interesting that Allie didn’t even get the chance to bring her back. I think that Trump knew what had been going on all along. And did you just love that he told his kids at the end what a good job they did, then sighed…it was a great look on his face that he probably didn’t realize had been captured on film. Fabulous.

Love Songs on Idol

What the heck is Andrea Bocelli doing on American Idol? Really. This show is one of my favorites, but it is so below him. He must be really hurting for record (CD?) sales. Although the producer that was with him really did give the contestants some good advice – I liked that he just told them how it was – no sugar-coating.

Katharine had the dreaded first spot tonight. Her clip show before she sang showed just how great of a singer she is…I don’t think anyone else in the competition could have busted out the opera with Andrea Bocelli like that (at least not as well as she did!). And even though her hair extensions creped me out, I really liked her performance. I totally disagreed with the judges – they really ripped into her. I understand that they didn’t like her song choice, but she sang it really well. Simon sometimes talks about how the show sounds different when he hears it back on tv…maybe it was something with the acoustics tonight, but I thought she sounded a lot better than they thought.

Elliott, who hasn’t been a judges favorite lately, actually moved Paula to tears. Now, he really was fantastic, but I think Paula might be drunk out of her mind to be crying like that. I just hope that Elliott’s singing can trump is somewhat lackluster charisma.

Speaking of a disconnect between personality and singing ability…oh Kellie. The judges hated your rendition of “Unchained Melody” (or, “that song from Ghost”), and I have to agree. The fact that she’s still in the competition proves that lots of guys vote for Idol. Lots of horny guys.

I liked Paris’s hair this week…not so much with her song choice. She sang it well, but it just wasn’t a great song for her.

I wonder what sort of options the contestants had for songs tonight. I know that they said love songs, but it seems like they’ve all chosen older ballads…nothing new, nothing up-tempo. I guess I understand the ballads, but I would have put money on someone singing a more current song like James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful.” They have to choose from a large list of songs each week…I guess the songs on the list were all older.

I love Taylor – it was such a good performance. Of course, Randy hated it…I seriously think that there is something up with the acoustics tonight. Randy even said “maybe it’s just me”…I couldn’t agree more.

So, Chris gets to close the night, and it’s not looking good. I think I might be the only one out there that knows all the words to his song (I am such a nerd!), and who knows if he can sing ballads two weeks in a row. And did anyone else catch the bit with the producer before Chris sang? He said something about Chris maybe having the performance of his life…then the audio cut out, but before we cut back to Chris, you could see the producer start to say “but…”. What a vote of confidence. BUT…he sounded GREAT. And he looked hot all dressed up. Even Simon liked it. Hopefully he won’t be back in the bottom three for awhile.

So, it’s time to vote (and for some reason it sounded like Ryan’s mic was still on as he and Chris chit chatted over the first few recaps)…I think I’ll be voting for Chris and Katharine…that is if I can ever get through. Even with two lines I can’t get anything other than a busy signal. And if there is any justice at all, Kellie will be going home tomorrow.

Some Thoughts...

First, can I just say how happy I am that NBC has realized the error of their ways in putting Celebrity Cooking Showdown and pulled the final episodes from the air. They actually (around here, at least) put on a re-run of Deal or No Deal instead. Really.

I just had a chance to watch this week’s episode of The Amazing Race, and I’m glad that I finally did. It was a great episode. I loved the location – it was so beautiful, and I was really glad that so many of the contestants stopped to notice and appreciate their surroundings (rather than complain about them). I didn’t hear anyone moan and groan about people not speaking English, which was really refreshing.

Eric & Jeremy’s luck looks like it has finally run out, which couldn’t be worse timing. How they got so lost delivering their camel is beyond me. The one thing I did learn is that even though we heard the voice-over letting us know that they had to drive 1 mile, they most likely didn’t know that. According to Brennan (who won season 1), a lot of times the contestants don’t know that sort of information – it’s added in production for our benefit. So the frat boys didn’t know how close it should have been, but still – they should have realized something was amiss much earlier. And then they tried a “shortcut” to the pit stop? That just seems ridiculous.

I was so glad to see that this was a non-elimination round (finally!). I love the hippies – they play with such enthusiasm and a fantastic attitude. Hopefully the way they have treated the other teams will come into play and they’ll be able to get some donations at the beginning of this next leg.

The other show that I caught up on today was Unan1mous. I know, I am such an idiot for continuing to watch. My only defense is that at least I am watching it on tivo, so I’m not wasting quite as much time. But it really is just a time drain. Nothing happened. Really. It’s like watching a soap opera – you can miss a week or two on a soap and it’s like you never left. I keep thinking that I’ll stop watching, but now I actually care what happens. I’m such a sucker.

An exciting night on Survivor: Exile Island

Where do I even start with tonight’s episode of Survivor: Exile Island? It seems like they really crammed a lot into the hour.

First, I hated the foreshadowing with Bruce and his…um…personal problem. As soon as he started complaining that he couldn’t poop, you just knew something was going to go wrong. And why did he pull Shane aside to tell him? Of all the people to confide in about that sort of problem, Shane seems to not be the best candidate. What happened to his relationship with Terry? Or how about Cirie – she’s a nurse!

So, now that we’ve been prepared that something might happen with Bruce, we get to one of my favorite challenges. They play variations of this on almost every season, and this variation is definitely my favorite. As Aras pointed out to his tribe, it’s designed to fracture the team. And it certainly did. Not only do you have the pecking order revealed, but you have the element of finding out what your tribe really thinks of you. It’s fantastic. And the reactions of some of the survivors were classic. I can understand where Courtney might be a little upset that she was the answer to so many of the questions. But Shane couldn’t have been a worse loser if he tried. Can you imagine how he would act if he lost something that was actually important? Yikes. What an example you set for you son, Shane. I was so glad when Cirie won and didn’t choose Shane to go with her. And he really shouldn’t be complaining about being hungry since he ate all those cheeseburgers and fries just a few days earlier.

Oh – if you were surprised that Terry was the first out in the challenge or that he was sent to Exile Island, please, somehow, pay more attention. My pet rabbits saw that one coming.

So, back at camp Bruce’s pains got worse and worse to the point that he had to ask for the medics. Now, I’m not going to say anything about Bruce needing medics – he was clearly in a lot of pain, and I’m surprised he lived with it as long as he did. But the question that I have is about Courtney and Shane’s reaction. First, while a song might not be the best way to comfort him, at least Courtney tried to sit with Bruce and make him feel better. Where was Shane? And why, when the medics asked for help, did Shane ask if the help was needed right away? And then he had to explain why he wasn’t wearing his wet pants? (and why, Shane, are your pants always wet?) So very strange.

So a melancholy end to the episode as Jeff Probst updated the tribe and told them that there would be no immunity challenge or tribal council. And you could kind of see the look in Terry’s eyes that even though he was sad that Bruce was hurt, he knew that it bought him a few more days without using the idol. I don’t see how Terry is going to lose. Aside from the fact that Shane has clearly lost it, there is an element that Terry is the only one left who has really been thinking and playing the game all along. He is in his element, and might just be unbeatable. Way to go Terry.

Ace's last song on American Idol

America, what were you thinking when you voted for American Idol last night? I mean really. Who keeps voting for Kellie Pickler? And where were the Chris Daughtry fans last night? (and why was he in the bottom three when I never could get through on his line?) Ugh.

After fast forwarding through Rod Stewart's performance (THANK YOU tivo!!), there was barely time for Ryan to be cruel to the contestants. Somehow, though, he managed to find a way. He put them into two groups -- Ace, Chris, & Paris and Elliott, Kellie, & Katharine. And it sure seemed like this meant that Ace had somehow been saved...after all, how could Chris and Paris be in the bottom three. So Ryan tells Taylor, who's all alone on the couch, that not only is he safe, but he needs to figure out which group he belongs with. And somehow, Taylor selects Elliott's group, and is correct. Wow. How much power does that votefortheworst.com site really have?

So, Paris, Ace, and Chris are the bottom three. Which makes no sense, since Paris and Chris were amazing. And what's even more amazing is that Paris got sent back to safety instead of Chris. Thankfully, there is some justice in the world, and Ace was eliminated instead of Chris. I guess his fans just didn't like that look last night. But that still doesn't explain why Kellie was safe while Chris was in the bottom two. It doesn't make sense.

Speaking of not making sense, Andrea Boccelli is the special guest next week? Strange. Very very strange.

A shockingly good night on American Idol

There wasvno question that tonight’s episode of American Idol was going to be interesting. After all, it’s American Idol does Rod Stewart doing the American Songbook. On the surface, this seems like such a bad idea. Randy Jackson was on Ellen today talking about why they choose themes like tonight’s. He talked about stretching the kids, and showing their range. Well, “American Songbook” will certainly do that. The strange thing was just how flexible they were.

I was nervous about Chris, but his rendition of “What a Wonderful World” was phenomenal. Randy talked today about how Chris could make a CD right now, and is the most “CD-ready” of the contestants. The judges loved him…they clearly are rooting for Chris to win.

While some contestants have probably been dreading this week’s theme, this era’s songs were made for Paris. She is so strong when she sings these songs, and she looked so classy tonight. Paula talked of how it reminded her of Paris’s original audition when she sang Ella Fitzgerald. That was when my husband thought they should just hand the competition to her. She was fantastic tonight…I just hope that America recognizes how great that really was.

The thing about Taylor is that not only is he a great singer, he does an excellent job choosing songs that are perfect for his voice. Even Simon complimented him tonight…did he actually just call the performance “magic”? All of a sudden, I’m becoming a believer in this ridiculous theme.

Back to Randy’s interview on Ellen today…he actually said that he didn’t think that Elliott had a chance at winning; that he didn’t have the stage presence. I don’t get it. At the beginning of the season, Simon praised Elliott up and down, and now it seems that they are trying to make sure that he doesn’t win. Granted, he doesn’t have the look or charisma of Chris and Taylor. But he’s a darn good singer. He did a great job tonight – it was a fantastic song choice for his voice.

You know a performance is bad when the performer thinks she botched it. At least Kellie could tell that she wasn’t very good – could you imagine if she had argued with the judges on this one? She’s just out of her league, especially following four exceptional performances. Did anyone else see Simon’s reaction during the song? Not good for Kellie, but a great camera angle for us.

Was anyone else freaked out by Ace’s hair tonight? He just looked so strange – not at all like Ace. And while the song was good, I don’t think it was as good as the songs from earlier in the night. I’m also wondering how his hair will affect the “girls-who-vote-for-me-‘cause-I’m-cute” vote.

The show ended on such a high note with Katharine’s performance. Wow. She showed that she is a good singer, not just a pop star. Wow.

I am in awe of how good tonight’s show was. Who would have known that they would do such a good job? I don’t know how to vote…I mean, anyone of them deserves the votes. Well, anyone but Kellie. I will be floored if she doesn’t go home tomorrow. And I’m sorry for mocking the theme.

Celeb-Reality Jumps the Shark

Celebrity shows have officially jumped the shark. If you tuned in tonight to Celebrity Cooking Showdown tonight (and really, why would you have?), you know exactly what I mean. Somehow, someone at NBC decided that Americans would like to watch pseudo-celebs cook dinner. Even this reality show addict couldn’t make it through the entire episode.

Now, I love Iron Chef. If you haven’t seen the original Japanese show on the Food Network, you should really check it out. It’s totally over the top, and it’s actually interesting to see the crazy dishes that the chefs think up. And from the set of this show, that’s the type of thing they are going for. But they miss the mark so horrifically I don’t even think they knew what they were aiming at.

First, the word “celebrity” is used VERY loosely. But that’s really not even the point. This is just a horrible idea. In the first few minutes, they showed us exactly what each “celeb” was going to be cooking, and even showed them practicing their dishes with their chef coach. Ok, so if we know what they’re going to make, and we know that they’ve made it successfully before, what is the point of us watching the show? The whole thing just felt like I was sitting and watching someone make dinner. And if I really wanted to do that, I could just watch my husband (and then there’s no commercials or Alan Thicke…two big pluses in my book).

It also seems as if there is some sort of audience voting component. Riddle me that one batman. How can I, sitting at home on my couch, judge how the food tastes? Maybe that whole tv thing from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is finally a reality! Or not…

So, I bailed before the end. And hopefully NBC will as well.

Where are the blogs?

Ok, so I know that there were some GREAT episodes of reality tv this week, yet no new blog entries. Well...it's Passover. So I spent Wednesday, Thursday, AND Friday nights with family. What an adventure. So I've been spending some quality time today with my tivo catching up on tv. Some thoughts...

American Idol...that might have been the cruelest results show ever. Did they really need to string those kids along for a full hour by showing family videos? And having everyone in the bottom three singing? (poor Elliott…he just didn’t know what to do with himself!) I was kind of surprised that Elliott was in the bottom three, but not shocked at all that Bucky went home. Idol does Rod Stewart does American classics should be interesting next week…

Amazing Race…LOVED the fact that Lake & Michelle are finally gone. I was so worried that it would be the hippies. Am I the only one who wonders what sort of impact Lake’s behavior has had on his dental practice? I certainly don’t want to go to a dentist that acts like that. And why haven’t we had a non-elimination round yet? Are we just not having them this season?

Unan1mous…yes, I wasted my time with this again. I am such a loser.

Survivor…this is the only show that I watched during the week…I just couldn’t wait! And it was totally worth it. The reward challenge rocked…I really thought that Shane’s team would win after he bawled from seeing such a short clip of his son. Him and Cirie seemed to be the most motivated to see videos from home (and a great food reward to go with it). Just a guess that getting to diagnose Shane’s “problem” wasn’t how Cirie wanted to spend her afternoon! And can I just tell you how much I love Cirie? She will be nearly impossible to beat in the final two. What I didn’t like was the immunity challenge…it was absurd that the responsibility of beating Terry fell solely on the shoulders of Aras. And I really could have done without seeing Shane’s mouth full of cheeseburger. I’m sad (but not surprised) to see Sally go. Hopefully she’ll cause some trouble on the jury.

American Inventor…ok, I’ve been saying all along that my biggest problem with this show was that they never explained what the next rounds were. And now that I’ve watched the next round, I still don’t know. It just seemed like they wanted to hear the presentations one more time to decide who the top 12 were. Although I did like that it wasn’t dragged out – we went from 50 to 12 in one night. Thank goodness. There are a couple of the inventions/inventors I really like. I like the receiver’s training pole, the bathroom clip, and the word game. Hopefully they will all make it to market. Personally, I’m just hoping that I’ll understand the competition before the show is over.

Phew! Can you believe that I had time to watch baseball too? What a weekend...

American Idol does Queen!

It’s Queen night on American Idol…the next in a long line of questionable theme choices for this season’s show. It seems that any singer or band who agrees to be on the show can ensure that their songs (or era) are the theme for the week. And did anyone else notice that Mandisa was in the videos with Queen? I guess that answers the question of how far in advance they start preparing for the next week.

Bucky kicked off the Queen lovefest, and he sounded better than he had in weeks, but that bad hair is back. It was a great song choice for him…it might just mean that he lasts another week.

Singing “We Will Rock You” is such a strange choice. There’s no way do this song justice, and everyone knows it. Just say no. And did Ace just ask Queen to change their own song? Oh dear. You know it’s bad when Randy admits that he was just trying to be nice…you’re not rocking anyone Ace.

I had been saying earlier that I thought that the Queen theme would be hardest on Kellie. But she actually did a decent job. Now, she definitely had the advantage of singing right after Ace. But she “worked it out.”

No surprise that the first person that Queen was really complimentary of was Chris. He’s the only one tonight who can really do these songs justice. And he did more than just do the song justice – his performance was incredible. I disagree with Simon’s comments about song choice…I was actually really pleased with Chris’s song choice. Since he has some knowledge of Queen songs, he was able to pick a song he really likes instead of just choosing something from the “best of” album.

Katharine also had a strong performance. Her voice fit that song really nicely, and even though it had its moments, she was one of the best of the night. Elliott’s performance was also excellent – I was actually shocked at how good it was.

Oh Taylor. When it takes you two tries to kick over the mic stand, you lose the cool factor completely. Hee hee! It really was a good song choice for him…much better than “We are the Champions” would have been. And he managed to dance around like he was having a seizure while he sang. Way to go.

Paris’s performance was interesting. If you just listened to it, you probably though (and rightfully so) that she was amazing. But if you had your eyes open, you probably have the same questions that I do. She looked, well, funky. The outfit and hair extensions made her look way older than she is, and it wasn’t a good look. And she really shouldn’t dance. Maybe she and Taylor can take some classes…

So, until they did the recap, I honestly had forgotten how bad Ace’s performance was. And hearing Kellie’s again in the context of the others showed just how much she was helped by singing early in the evening and after Ace. I think the two of them will be the bottom two tomorrow. Not sure who else will be in the bottom three…maybe Paris or Katharine or Bucky? Off to vote…

An extra episode of "The Apprentice"...more Trump for EVERYONE!

Two episodes of The Apprentice tonight – so an extra long blog! Woo hoo!!

The first episode’s task had them renovating rooms at tow Boys and Girls Clubs in NYC. And right off, Lenny showed that he’s not just an ineffective teammate – he’s also an ineffective leader. They got ready to meet with the executives, and it was just uncomfortable silence. Lenny had no idea what to ask the execs, and it didn’t seem like he even knew how to handle the meeting. I’m not sure he even understood what the Boys and Girls Clubs are. (can you just imagine him saying something about “what is this club? We don’t have clubs in Russia…”)

Even though he was much better prepared for their meeting with the executives, Michael couldn’t make a decision to save his life. Which paint to buy? Let’s ponder that for awhile. Did Bill just say that they met with the execs at 11 am? And they got back from buying the supplies at midnight? And I would have thought that Bill would have more sense then to look at Andrea in the midst of the chaos and ask how Michael was doing as a leader?

After watching the utter mess that Michael was making of things at Synergy, they cut to the utter mess that is Gold Rush. Bill is asking how Lenny is doing, and, inexplicably, Lenny isn’t there. He seems to be in a van driving the wrong way, and can’t believe that his three teammates back at the Boys and Girls Club haven’t finished the area.

At the presentation, Michael seemed to pull it out. Their room was really nice, and gave the kids lots of things to do. I loved that there were different areas, and they recognized that the kids don’t all need to be doing the same thing. At Gold Rush, their room wasn’t nearly as inviting, and Lenny’s presentation, was, well, lacking. It was no surprise that Synergy won.

Let me interject here a bit of my own platform. Two amazing charities were featured in tonight’s episode – The Boys and Girls Club and Make a Wish Foundation. These two organizations do so much for kids, and it was a welcome change to see an episode focused on helping others. Please – help support these organizations. Volunteer your time, donate your spare change, help these kids however you can.

Back in the suite, there was great footage of Lee prepping Lenny for the boardroom. I’m not sure why he’s so gung-ho about Lenny staying. When Lenny wants to say that his brain was completely off, let him. And then Lenny tells Lee that he’s most likely going to take Lee back in with him. That’s how you repay friendship and loyalty?

In the boardroom, Lenny was horrible. And Lee kept defending him up and down. If I were Trump I would fire both of them. Alas, I’m just a fan (although, Mr. Trump, I would love to sit in for George or Carolyn if you need someone…). But justice was served, and Lenny finally went home. How Lenny left was horrible. When Charmaine tried to shake his hand, he wanted nothing to do with it. You might not be the Apprentice, but you can still show good character.

The second episode was back to the usual tasks of selling a new product for one of the show’s sponsors. This one happened to be 7-11. You know, the home of the world’s largest soda? Well their new sandwich sounds like it couldn’t be grosser…two slices of pizza with deli meat in between. And the teams have to sell them, along with a promotional item.

Synergy gets rid of Michael, but are stuck with Andrea as their project manager. I have no doubt that she’s a good businesswoman. But she’s also a control freak, which isn’t always good on these tasks. Like when her team brainstormed ideas for promotional items, but she went with her hat idea anyways. Carolyn summed it up well – if someone tried to sell me a pizza sandwich with a free cap, I would keep on walking.

Over at Gold Rush, they’re already off to a bad start. Their promotional item is much better – a cooler bag – but their price point was way too high. I can’t figure out who would buy this sandwich to begin with, and certainly not for $7.99. Lee tried to say that the price was too high, but even his price point was too high. $4 a sandwich was much more reasonable.

Speaking of Lee, I thought his idea of clearing all the other sandwiches off of the shelf was brilliant. That’s what made the competition even close. Synergy’s marketing was much better – handing out those flyers the night before clearly made a difference. Although I did like Tarek’s selling technique…I believe his exact words were “[this sandwich] will completely change your whole concept of reality.” If that reality is a 7-11 sandwich for $8, well, I’ll be sticking with my reality, thanks.

In the end, Gold Rush lost, because of their high price point. Leslie only brought Lee back into the boardroom, which wasn’t smart at all. They lost the task on price, and if she had simply said that she was aware of that, and brought back everyone except Lee (since he argued for the lower price), she would have had a chance. So, no surprise that Leslie was the second casualty of the night. What a night.

American Inventor, or "Can You Guess What Comes Next?"

Another episode of American Inventor, another episode of not really understanding what is going on with the competition. I can’t believe I’m the only one who is annoyed with this…what is the next round that they keep passing people through to? Even in the previews for next week it’s unclear. It just looks like they’re giving their same presentations again – what’s the point in that? They’re trying to have the same format as American Idol, but it just doesn’t translate to this type of competition.

Even though the next round is a complete mystery, some of the inventions on tonight’s show were intriguing. I really liked the character bear; in fact, I hope that it goes to market so I can buy one. As a teacher, I know that there really isn’t anything like it out there, and there is certainly the need. I like that it combines the very popular Build-a-Bear concept with something that actually makes a difference. Love it.

I also liked the dial-a-cup. Of course, it might have had something to do with the whole bada-bing guy. But I think it really is a good idea. Trust me – I’m a coffee addict!

Of course, there were plenty of not-so-great ideas as well. Like the woman dressed as a centerpiece – she was so focused on starting her speech over and over that I could never really tell what her product was. And the remote leash? It’s the equivalent of someone inventing a cord for cordless phones so you won’t lose them.

One other question – so many people talk about the hundreds of thousands of dollars that they spend on their inventions…what does that money go towards? Like the woman who spent $300,000 on her torn t-shirt invention (the thing that goes under your bra…I couldn’t even tell what it was…). What are you spending that much money on? And where does that money come from? It doesn’t make much sense.

So next week we’ll get to find out what that mystical second round is all about. And if they have to form groups to sing a song that they write, well…

The Power of the Immunity Idol

Survivor: Exile Island tonight showed why it’s still the best reality show on television.

First, it was comforting to know that Terry and Austin are smarter than they sometimes seem. I was wondering last week why Austin would reveal his strategy of looking weak at tribal council. When he admitted that it was maybe the dumbest move ever, well, it made me feel a whole lot better about him. It was also good to see that Terry realized that their best chance was to figure out who in Casaya was at the bottom of the pecking order.

It was a little bit easier after the reward challenge. Challenges that reveal a pecking order in the tribe are always great. This one was really different then the usual “take a hit on someone else” challenge. Once the teams were drawn, it was clear that Terry, Austin, & Shane had a definite advantage. So Aras proved why he really is the brains behind the tribe. By convincing the girls to throw all their coconuts in the guys’ boat, not only will it slow down the guys, but it ensures that there are barely any coconuts in his own boat. Brilliant. Of course, I loved the challenge because of Jeff Probst yelling things like “he’s spreading his coconuts around!!”. How many times do you think Probst was reminded to not just call them nuts?

Not only did Aras show his strengths in the challenge, he then got to decide who to send to Exile Island. Of course, that in itself was interesting, since Sally and Bruce just let him take the lead on that. So Austin & Danielle get some real character building time by themselves. Does anyone but me think they hooked up? Anyways, they really did look miserable and beat down…and they missed what might be the best line of the season. After Aras, Sally, & Bruce got back from the reward (which, by the way, why couldn’t the producers send them somewhere dry?), they were talking about not being able to finish their breakfast – there was just too much bacon. While everyone else was giving them bad looks, Shane looked at Sally and said “that’s a real quality problem you’ve got there.” If only the entire tribe could have heard his wisdom.

The immunity challenge was one of the best ever. That was a tough challenge, and I felt really bad for Danielle & Austin – I don’t know how they had the strength to compete. And Sally-Knee-Socks kicked some behind…for a few moments it looked like she might actually win.

Poor Aras – how he got stuck is beyond me. I was thinking that he wouldn’t be trying as hard so he didn’t reveal his strength, but he had thought through the possibilities of the hidden immunity idol. And I really thought he was gone. Every scenario I could think of had Aras going. Terry could have saved his entire tribe…either by passing off the immunity necklace or the immunity idol or both. And it looked like Danielle and Bruce might flip, which would send Aras home as well. So when Austin’s name came up at tribal council, I was just waiting for Terry to hand over the idol. What a bummer.

I don’t know how Terry can’t win the game at this point. Everyone either knows or thinks they know that he has the hidden immunity idol. So on the off chance that he doesn’t win individual immunity, everyone is going to be very nervous voting for Terry, because they know that it will send someone else home. I just hope he can shake things up before then.

It's Unan1mous...I just wasted 30 minutes...

For those of you who know me, this is going to come as a complete shock. But I really don’t have much to say about tonight’s episode of Unan1mous. Mostly because they really didn’t show us anything. It reminds me of watching a soap opera…you could miss a week (or two), turn the show on, and it’s like you didn’t miss anything at all. I had the show on tonight for the entire time, and I don’t think a single thing happened. Think about it…Kelly left in the first few minutes (which we knew was coming from last week), and that was it. The money continued to tick down, and the contestants are starting to lose it. I can’t believe I missed baseball for this…

American Idol shows why plastic surgery is NOT a good thing...

What happened to Kenny Rogers? He’s performing tonight on American Idol, and it looks more like an advertisement for background checks for plastic surgeons than his new CD. Seriously…what happened to him? It sounds like him, but it looks like someone totally different. If you don’t believe me, go to www.donandmikewebsite.com, and click on the link for Daily Log for April 5…they have side-by-side pictures…it’s quite frightening.

Quick side note -- what do you think is going through their heads as they’re filming those Ford commercials? Do you think that they’re wondering if a music career is worth this?

Anyways, in tonight’s version of naked-cruelty, Ryan split the contestants into three groups of three. One is the bottom three. It’s just so mean to these kids…and most of them really are kids. I can’t imagine how many therapists they have in that “Idol house” of theirs. So one group is Mandisa, Elliott, and Paris, the second is Chris, Kellie, and Taylor, the third is Ace, Katharine, and Bucky. And with a really strong singer in each group, it’s hard to tell.

The first group is sent back to the couch – after all, we did know that the group with Chris and Taylor wasn’t going home, even if it did include Kellie (and I wonder if that votefortheworst.com site is really having an impact…) Then Bucky, Katharine, and Ace get sent back. What people see in Bucky is beyond me…perhaps there are more rednecks who vote than I thought.

So, one more commercial, and we’ll finally find out who is going home. The bottom three, Mandisa, Paris, & Elliott, are actually good singers. And it’s a shame that one will be going home tonight. And after Paris gets “sent back to safety,” Ryan reveals that it’s Mandisa who’s going home. And after she blesses us in the name of Jesus, maybe that’s a good thing. But the best part would have to be the look they caught on Taylor’s face. Please tell me you saw it. As Ryan announces that Elliott is safe, they show Taylor just about to clap when he realizes that clapping when someone is going home isn’t the best choice. Fantastic.

Next week…the songs of Queen. Set your tivos now.

Amazing Race? Maybe....

Is it just me, or do the tasks on The Amazing Race seem to get easier and easier each season? If you watch the first season (they re-run episodes on GSN all the time), the tasks were really hard. Most of them were puzzles to even figure out where to go next. And the roadblocks were hard – so hard that there were teams that couldn’t finish. But now it seems that if you have a good sense of direction you can win the race hands down.

Tonight’s tasks were softballs. Neither detour choice was very hard…gross, but not hard. If you didn’t mind getting covered in fish juice (is that the right term?), carrying a swordfish 1/3 of a mile isn’t that bad. And the roadblock was a joke…it looked like they really just had to get into the kayak and throw the ball in. And what happened to the rule where no member of a team could perform more than a certain number of roadblocks? I love that rule…sure, it can hurt some of the female teams, but it’s boring to see the same people always do these tasks.

Speaking of rules and things gone by, where is the beloved fast forward? Early on in the show (the first few seasons) there was a fast forward on every leg of the race. And since you could only use it once, there was a lot of strategy involved with going for it. It also mixed up the game. Even though I like Eric & Jeremy and BJ & Taylor, it’s getting boring to have them so far in the front. It’s no fun if you can never really get out of the back of the pack.

Oh the hippies. I loved the move at the beginning with the “official sign-in list.” I don’t know what was funnier, them making the list, or Eric & Jeremy thinking it was real. “Boy, this list is really ghetto…” Hee hee!

The other innovation the past few seasons has been prizes for coming in first at each pit stop. I know, it’s just a way for the sponsors to get some more airtime. But in the game, the goal is to not come in last…coming in second or third out of eight really isn’t a problem at all.

Anyways, to the producers of The Amazing Race – bring back the fast forward and the difficult tasks! Make these people earn their million!!!

9 songs that Simon hates

It’s country week on American Idol, or “9-songs-that-Simon-hates” night. And with Kenny Rogers helping out the contestants, how can we go wrong? Maybe we would have been better off with cranky major league pitcher Kenny Rogers instead.

Taylor started the show off…I’m starting to really love Taylor. I think he has a legitimate shot at winning the competition, which is really funny, since Simon didn’t even want to let him through the first round to Hollywood. (didn’t he say that he thought Randy and Paula would never let him sing in front of voters?). Even though the judges didn’t love his performance, I really liked it. I think it was a good choice for his voice, and close enough to the original that voters know he did a good job.

Oh Mandisa. So many poor choices…poor outfit choice, poor song choice…what were you thinking? I just didn’t get it. You’re such a good singer…this is two weeks in a row that just didn’t show it.

So Elliott sang “If Tomorrow Never Comes” by Garth Brooks. I’m not a country fan, but I do love this song. And while Elliott did ok with it, he showed why he’s NOT a country singer. Granted, he was good by comparison, but that’s not saying too much.

All of a sudden, the show started to get weird. Ok, it was already weird (country?)…weirder than it already was. Ryan actually just started questioning what the judges are drinking (Paula, really). And I think he just asked if there was a flask over there. So I guess I’m not the only one who thinks she’s drunk.

I’m not really sure if the song Paris chose was country. But I do know that it wasn’t very good at all. It did get a bit better as it went on, but only a small bit. She might have just bought herself a ticket to the bottom three.

Ace actually chose a pretty good song for his voice. And he’s working the whole sexy look thing again. It’s a good thing he’s so cute…his voice just isn’t up to the level as some of the others that are left.

Kellie was next, sounding really good. She’s the first person tonight who actually sounded “right” singing country music. It’ll probably get her an extra week or two on the show. She seems to be really nice, so good for her.

Now, you know that I patiently wait each week for Chris to sing. And he didn’t disappoint. He was fantastic – he showed that he’s not just a rocker. This is why he’s going to win the competition. And you know I’ll be there to buy his CD!

Katharine was really good tonight too. I liked her song choice, and she rebounded from being in the bottom two nicely. I also liked her confidence when talking to Simon. She’s right – Simon just doesn’t like country music, and that’s ok.

Bucky finished off the night mumbling his way through another song. I would have thought that Bucky would have taken this theme and run with it. I mean, it could essentially give him an extra week on the show. But it was a really bad song choice, and not a great performance of that song. And when they showed the contestants with Kenny Rogers Bucky was playing along on his guitar…I would have loved to see him actually play tonight…it might have taken some of the focus away from his mumbling.

So, who do I think will be in the bottom three? This is hard…but I think Bucky, Paris, and Mandisa will be in the bottom. And this is probably the end of the line for Bucky. Oh well.

Did you know that they don't have jingles in Russia?

Tonight, on a very special episode of The Apprentice…a team pulls together, only to ultimately fail. Oh, the humanity…

So, after a miserable task last week, Bryce started Gold Rush down the right path. He was a great leader – pulling them all together to attempt to end their bickering. And they really did work much better together than they had before. Bryce seemed to be a good leader – the type that people really respond to. Of course, good leadership can’t always fix bad decisions. Like, who schedules a meeting for 30 minutes from now? In New York City? In the rain? And then doesn’t leave for another 10-15 minutes. Did they not learn anything from last season? And Lenny. I don’t care if you don’t know what a jingle is. You’ve watched tv…you know what commercials are. Step up to the plate and stop playing the “I’m from Russia” card.

Over at Synergy, ladies man Sean has a much stronger team working for him. And with stronger players (and an on-time meeting with the execs), you’re bound to get a better product. Their jingle really was good – way better than most of what you hear on television. It was clear that they were the winners – now go eat your $4000 dinner.

Ok, so Gold Rush has to go to the boardroom (after a tearful moment in the suite), and this is when I started to get angry. Very angry. Lee missed this task because he was observing Yom Kippur. For those of you who don’t know, Yom Kippur is the holiest day of the Jewish year. Jews spend the day in synagogue – no work or school. But because this was the second task that he missed, he came under fire from some members of his team. It bothers me that Bryce would bring him in to the boardroom. But it makes me angry that the producers put Lee in that position to begin with. How hard is it to look at a calendar and not schedule a task for Yom Kippur? It’s one day – have the task be the day before or after. Could you imagine the uproar if candidates were required to do a task on Christmas Day, and then were criticized for attending church instead of the task? Someone on this show has got to learn some tolerance.

So, Bryce brings back Lee and Lenny, which pretty much assures that he will be fired. He had to know that Trump would not risk the backlash of firing Lee for observing the holiday. And while it seemed like he was resigned to the fact he would be fired, he still should have fought a little harder. Did I miss the game for this?...