Recap 8/3 - 8/7 2009

Big Brother Spoilers at the end!

Next Food Network Star:

As I predicted the past few weeks, Melissa won. Her show starts tonight. Rachael Ray is probably PISSED! Melissa's show was called "Kitchen Survival Guide" in the demo that she made for the finale, but is now called "Ten Dollar Dinners," which sounds like a combination of Rachael's 2 shows "30 Minute Meals" and "$40 a day." For her demo, Melissa showed a 4 step cooking process to make chicken, but her technique is easily interchangeable so that you could use different proteins and different veggies but follow the same method and get a good dish. The thing was, she didn't show how she made her side dish. It was like, "Oh, and here's a mixture of potatoes and cheese that I cooked at 450 for 15 minutes in a cupcake pan, but didn't show HOW she made it.

Jeffrey's demo called "Ingredient Smuggler" was FAR superior to Melissa's. He brought out a West Africa spice called Harissa and he showed how to make everything he cooked, why he was cooking it that way, and made everything look and sound yummy. I'm going to head out and look for Harissa the next time I go spice shopping.

I stated after the first episode that Jeffrey SHOULD win, and I stand by that. He won the most challenges and is just more interesting. He'd also be FN's only host of Arabic descent. So like last year, the person who won the most didn't win the big prize. At least this time that person made it to the finals. Melissa hits their demographic better, and most of the NFNS winners have been men. I also think that had Rachael been one of the judges instead of Bobby that Jeffrey would have won. Throughout the series, Jeffrey cooked in a Southwestern flavor mode...and that's Bobby's gig. Had Rachael been the judge, she would have seen Melissa as a threat and pushed for Jeffrey to win. I'm pretty sure of that. I also am CERTAIN that Jeffrey will get hired.

Kathy Griffin:

This episode dealt with Kathy's book. She did the photo shoot for the cover and then picked out the cover photo. She also met with Jackie Collins for advice on how to maximize sales, and Salmun Rushdie for advice on how to turn controversy into sales. She also was photographed and measured for a wax figure for Madame Tussaud's in Vegas. The end result looked JUST like her, except it didn't have ANY wrinkles or Crow's Feet (Kathy mentioned it too.)

Warehouse 13:

This episode dealt with a guy who could walk through walls to steal objects. The way he did it was an ancient magical Native America cloak. The agents found a feather from the cloak stuck partially through a wall and they realized that just by holding the feather they could put part of their arm through solid objects.

The first item noticed to be stolen was a sculpture by a Native American artist. It was said to depict one of the 4 prime elements. The agents found that there had been a bidding war between an older Billionaire and a younger Billionaire who inherited his money from his unscrupulous father. The younger guy was played by Joe Flannigan from Stargate:Atlantis. The female agent was attracted to Joe. Shocker.

It turns out that all 4 sculptures would point to a cave hidden under Manhattan that would give the person who found it great powers. The agent's realized too late that the older guy was the thief and they arrived at the cave after the guy had absorbed 3 of the 4 powers. The male agent killed the old guy by stabbing him with a magical arrow (one of the items that had imbued the guy with a power) while he was receiving the final power. The resulting clash in power incinerated him.

Oh, and the young girl who infiltrated the warehouse in the last episode was staying with them until she and her brother figured out what to do, so when he left to pursue his life, she was left behind. She helped them find the cave and now it appears that she's been offered a job at the warehouse.

Superstars:

This was the final episode. They had to kayak around 3 buoys and try to pass another team to eliminate them. Bode and Paige passed David and Lisa and then quit to save their strength so Maks and Kristi won.

In the next event, they had to pull 3 buoys out of the water. One weight 100 pounds, 1 was 200, and the 3rd was 250. As David's wrist was still messed up, they basically quit early to save their strength for the "rubber match." Kristi pulled the 100 pounder while Maks pulled the 200 pounder. Then they both worked on the 250. Paige pulled the 100 pounder while Bode pulled BOTH the heavy buoys at the same time. Once he got them to the beach, he pulled up on, and then Paige helped him pull in the last one. Bode and Paige won, sending Maks and Kristi to the "rubber match" for the first time (as they have won more challenges than anyone and never been at risk of going home.

In the rubber match the gals had to run then swim to a bridge where the guys dove off, swam around a buoy and then swam to shore. At shore, the teammates would join up and body board across the lagoon. Kristi and Maks kicked their ass, but what was funny was that Maks was on the board right behind Kristi's ass. She held her legs in the air so that Maks could use his arms to paddle better. From the front view, we see Kristi moaning and gasping while Maks looks like he's behind her and his head would bob up and down and side to side while her legs were in the air. Discuss amongst yourselves what that looked like.

They had a LOT of filler and showed behind the scenes stuff and DRAGGED out the start to each competition. For the final, they had to run the obstacle course and the best 2 of 3 would win. Maks & Krist had never run it, so they must have asked them 5 times about how they felt about that fact. Ugh! It didn't matter, Maks & Kristi won both heats and won 2-0. In fact, their last heat was the fastest time of ANY team the entire season. Wow. They TRULY deserved to win.

Top Chef Masters:

The Quickfire Challenge had them make their version of burger and side. All of them looked really good but Anita made a "cheeseburger soup." She got 1.5 stars. Hubert made a burger he sells at his restaurant (he also is famous for selling the most expensive burger...like $10,000!) He got 3 stars. Art got 3.5 stars. Michael and Rick both got 4 stars.

For the elimination challenge, they had to make a 5 course meal for actress/singer Zooey Deschannel (her sister Emily is the star of Bones, her mother was an actress, and her father was a cinematographer.) Zooey is a vegetarian with a vegan diet. She also is gluten intolerant, and doesn't eat soy. I had to think, I guess she only gets protein from Beans and Lentils. She said that NOBODY ever cooks for her (shocker) and she usually just eats fruits and veggies.

Beans are a staple of Mexican so I figured that Rick would do well and he ended up with the second best score. Lentils are big in Indian cooking,and since India is in Asia, I figured that Anita would do well. She did make an Indian inspired dish, but still flopped. Michael cooks Italian and a LOT of Italian food is vegetarian. He got around the gluten issue (since it's a BIG part of pasta) by finding noodles made from Quinoa. Hubert made a gazpacho inspired dish that looked better than it tasted apparently. Art made a dessert and used store bought rice ice cream. he either should have found coconut ice cream or made it, or made a sorbet. In the end Anita and Art had the lowest scores and as predicted here, Art was sent home as he was the lowest by 1/2 star.

Burn Notice:

This was the "Summer finale" and it had been teased that Michael & Fi's relationship would be put to the test. After last episode, she was going to leave Miami to return to Ireland. Instead, her brother showed up and said that a radical Irish nationalist bomber (terrorist) was in town hunting Fi. He thought that Michael was Irish from his cover when he met Fi, so Michael had to speak in an Irish Brogue much of the episode.

The gang took Fi and her brother to a safe house that Sam procured after the baddies showed up at Fi's place. Michael tried to work an angel with the guy where he'd turn over Fi if the guy delivered some weapons for him. The plan was to get him caught with the weapons and a bomb that matched bombs that the guy has used but has never been pinned with. Instead, they attacked the safehouse, shot the brother, knocked out Michael, and kidnapped Fi. They had planned to take her by boat to a plane and then fly her to Ireland to "sell" her to people with a grudge against her.

Turns out that Strickler, the "Spy Agent" is the one who let the guy know where Fi was and set the whole thing up to get Fi away from Michael as he thought that it would help Michael's case with the CIA, as well as pull Michael more towards him. Michael shot the shit out of him. Michael then planted the guy's body and the bomb on the terrorist's boat and Sam called in the Coast Guard.

The episode ended with the brother telling Michael that although he lied and was actually an American, he was still the great guy that he respected and was glad that Fi had found him...but that the terrorist had told people of Michael's true identity so Michael can never go back to Ireland as his Irish cover. Fi and Michael also had a moment, unspoken as it was, but a moment none-the-less.

Eureka:

Things were disappearing all over town and it was found that teens, while sleeping, were building a device out in a field using the missing items. It was found that they were being controlled via some remote calling but nobody knew from where or by whom or what the device was. Later as the teens were contained and prevented from going out to build, the control started affecting other people, even elderly.

Meanwhile, product placement abounds as Joe got a suped up Subaru and then Fargo traded in his old clunker, with it's on board AI, for the same new Subaru. His car didn't like being "dumped" and kidnapped Fargo just as he had figured out what the device was.

The Eureka folks realized that the signal was affecting the automated traffic system and that's how people were being affected. Anyone who had a "remote controlled car" was being controlled by the signal. They shut down the traffic grid, but not long after the people were still being affected. The Sheriff realized that the signal from outer space was probably the cause and it was confirmed that as the object was so close, the signal was exponentially growing and now they had no way to stop it.

Allison was ready to destroy the object coming towards them when the car finally released Fargo and he was able to tell them what the device was. Essentially, it was going to use the clouds and atmosphere to "catch" the object, like in a catcher's mit. So they let it arrive, and Henry walked up to it and wiped off some grime on the bottom...and there was an America Flag!

In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.

Big Brother Spoilers:

Actor Jeremy Piven was in the house and some of the HGs would get to see his new comedy movie. Jeff, Michele, Kevin and Lydia are the Have Nots. Jordan, Russell, Jessie, Natalie and Chima won the movie. As predicted here, Chima nominated Russell and Lydia. Kevin won Veto and wants to use it to take off Lydia but Chima told him no that she was safe and she wanted to have ALL THE POWER. The HGs believe that Jeff or Jordan (probably Jeff) has the Coup d'Etat which they call the "Wizard Power" since they don't know for sure what it is. Process of elimination. Neither Ronnie nor Lydia had it or they would have taken themselves off the nomination block last week. Jessie, Natalie and Chima don't have it as they would have taken down Ronnie. Kevin doesn't have it as he would have taken down Lydia. That leaves Russell, Michele, Jeff & Jordan. They doubt people would have given it to Russell since he was HOH, and they doubt people like Michele. Chima has said that if CBS "ruins" her HOH reign by allowing someone to use some power that she will "ruin" the live show by yelling and screaming and swearing all throughout the next HOH competition and going nuts if her nominees are changed. Wow. I can't wait! I just hope that Jeff DOES use it to put up Jessie and Natalie, and I hope they are encouraging him to use it when they talk to him in the DR.

I'm going to pull back on my recaps as I've gotten so busy lately that I'm having trouble keeping up. I'll post BB spoilers, but probably not much else. At some point when we finish watching Torchwood: Children of Earth I'll post about that, plus maybe some movie and DVD reviews if I can.

Recap 7/20 - 7/24 2009

Big Brother Spoilers at the end!!!


Torchwood: Children of Earth:

My DVR is quickly filling up with all the episodes and behind the scenes stuff. At some point, we'll have to find the time to watch them all. Once I've seen them all, I'll probably post my thoughts about it here.
I can't wait to watch it!

P.S. Did anyone watch the special about John Barrowman called "Making Me" or somesuch? It was about him trying to find out why he's gay and how and when he became gay. It was fascinating. For him (the rest is in spoiler proof inviso text. In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.) it looks like his mother had 2 sons before him (one who miscarried) and there is a direct link to gay men having older brothers. Something about the mother not being able to produce enough testosterone with each pregnancy. I've heard about that for a long time. Also, research from all over the world pretty much concludes that 99% of gay people are born gay.


Next Food Network Star:

The first challenge was to make a dish and present "live" on a local morning show. I don't remember what they made, it wasn't important. Each presentation was sabotaged. Debbie went first and her sabotage was they didn't have utensils and instead of fish, she found that it was chicken. She just used other things to stir, said that the dish could work with any protein, and then without being able to cut it, just broke it off and she and the host ate it that way. Guest judge "Iron Chef" Michael Symon and the other judges were impressed, said they made it too easy on her. The "live tv host" kept calling Melissa the wrong name and the guy said that he hated one of her ingredients (olives) but she said that she was the right girl for him because she'd make him like them with her dish. Then the guy just started adding hot sauce into her dish, and poured in like a gallon and she got flustered and went into her "speed talk" mode that they've criticized her about many times. Then at the end of the segment when he tried the item he nearly puked. For Jeffrey, they kept saying they had technical issues like the mics weren't working, so at first there was a boom mic right on top of his head, and they actually hit him with it, then a guy came up with a handheld and was holding it while making Jeffrey lean over the counter to talk into it and then he ended up holding a chef knife and the mic in the same hand, which led to the judges being afraid that he'd stab someone with the knife, but on the whole he kept calm and just rolled with whatever else went wrong. Then came Jameka who even BEFORE the problems started, just put her head down and tried to plunge thru the segment because her last cooking demo on Rachael Ray's show went poorly. Then things went wrong like the camera was in her face and they gave her the wrong time cues telling her they needed to speed up, slow down, cut it short, stretch for time, and once even just pointed at the watch and shrugged. Debbie won that challenge, which was the first one that she's one. So, it took the elimination of 8 other people before she was able to win something. Hmm.

Then in the next part, they had to cook something where if they won, the dish would end up on red lobster's menu for a short time. This time, they were all rolling along making their dishes, when Symon and Bobby Flay had them stop the time and then they switched ingredients. They took away all the spices and peppers from Jeffrey, who was already nervous from having to use a wood fired grill which he'd never cooked on before, and made him use Asian sauces and spices. They took away all the citrus from Melissa who said that she'd never made fish without citrus, and they gave her hot habeneros. For Debbie, they took away all of her Asian/Korean stuff and gave her Mediterranean ingredients including capers which she ended up forgetting to use. When called on it, she first said they were in the sauce, then said she hadn't been given capers. For Jameka, they took away her pineapple and gave her celery root. She doesn't like celery root, so she basically shut down. She didn't know what to do, and when asked by head judge Bob what she was up to, she told him that she was just pissed off. Hmm. At the end, she grilled the celery root and found that it tasted great, so she was able to complete her dish.

Jeffrey ended up winning the challenge, and they put a version of his dish on the Red Lobster menu as of Monday, 7/20, although they changed the fish from what he had to Tilapia. Also, I think that since he won that they should have had him make the dish that he wanted to make, and then Red Lobster's head chef could have chosen which of the 2 (or both) to put on their menu. So Jeffrey was the only one who was safe. The judges went after Debbie about her lying about the capers and said that she has made excuses several times during the competition as to why things didn't go well, including last week when she claimed that she did all that she could, but was found out to have only worked on her own dishes. Debbie got upset and said that they were attacking her character and integrity. But it was clear who was going home and as predicted here last week, out went Jameka.

Sunday 7/26 is the second to last episode, so the finale is next week. Here are my odds to win: Debbie really is the least pleasant of the three personalities. She's also only won 1 challenge, and has been caught lying and making excuses. Still, they have favored her from the start, and she has made some good dishes, and FN doesn't have any Asian hosts. Odds to win: 8-1. Jeffrey has won more challenges than anyone. He's a nice looking guy, and is very laid back. He comes across as a more exciting Michael Chiraello, or a more laid back Tyler Florence. FN also doesn't have any Arabic hosts, so he also would be a first. He has been a fan favorite on many forum boards, but almost all of the winners of NFNS have been guys, and the 2 FN executives have seemed to favor the 2 final women more the whole time. Still, he has the best culinary skill of them all, and has worked well live and on camera, and has won the most challenges. Odds to win: 3-1. Melissa is an untrained "home cook." FN already has Rachael Ray, Paula Dean, and Sandra Lee who all work in that same area. Melissa is bubbly and the judges like her tips and advice that she has, plus when she hasn't gone into "speed talker" mode, she's done well on camera. I think she has been a favorite from before the series began, as she fits right into their main demographic, home cook mothers. Odds to win: 6-5


Kathy Griffin:

In this episode, Kathy was going to perform at the Apollo Theater in Harlem, so she went around asking black people what she should and shouldn't do. First she asked her friend who was in the movie Clueless, then she asked comic Katt Williams who is hysterical and made so much money doing standup that he announced in December 2008 after having had some sort of breakdown that he was going to retire after his New Year's show and he's only 35. After talking with him, she went and hung out with rapper T.I. and had chicken and waffles with him. Then she met with Rev Al Sharpton at his office, and later appeared on his radio show. She got Rev Al to introduce her at the Apollo.

When she got to the Apollo, she found out that she was performing on "amateur night," so she said it totally showed that she was still on the D-List. There were a bunch of kid acts before hers, but she was told that they had all left by the time she hit the stage. So she went out and was doing her act and all was going well until she used the p-word for a woman's privates. Dead silence. Crickets. She started to go into another joke, when the band struck up. So she said thanks and good bye and left the stage. When she got backstage, some guy told her that she had disrespected the Apollo and how dare she say that with kids still in the audience. They then essentially tossed her out of the building. In the limo driving away from the Apollo, Kathy called Katt and told him what happened and he thought it was awesome. Back home, she read an email the Apollo sent her talking about how egregious she was and that if they get requests for refunds, they'll add them up and send her an invoice to repay them. Oh, and that she will not be allowed back to the Apollo "anytime soon."


Warehouse 13:

They had some hokey moments bookending this episode with the 2 leads fighting in the warehouse and getting doused with the purple goo as "negative energy" can affect many items in the warehouse. At the end of the episode, they tricked Artie into thinking that they had blown up his precious car to get him back for telling both of them to let the other think he/she was in charge because he/she was "sensitive."

The main storyline was about 3 people suddenly acting violently impulsive. A teen boy smashing his violin during practice, and old lady smashing the jar with her husband's ashes against the entrance to the hospital where he died, and then spray painting the F-Word on their sign, and a nun jumping off of a building thinking that she could fly. Later, each went on to do more of the same, and the boy ended up in a coma.

As the agents went around investigating, a man at an AA meeting suddenly took off for the bar after 20 years sober and then he too wound up in a coma. The Sheriff got affected and became hostile towards the agents for stepping on his turf and his needing to "protect America." The woman agent also became affected and she kept showing man hatred specifically towards her partner, so she kept socking him in the nose.

It turned out that the town's priest was a descendant of a powerful hypnotist and that the recent arrival of his ancestor's "hypno-chair" where those hypnotized would sit had stored mental abilities in the iron springs and anyone who sat in it while being counseled by the Priest would have the power of the chair unlock their "hidden anger."

The hold on the townspeople wouldn't let go, even after the male agent doused it with the purple goo. He had to axe it apart to break the "spell." While doing that, the Sheriff had strapped a bomb on himself and took hostages in the church, and then he activated it before the chair had been destroyed. Once free of the spell, the Sheriff helped the male agent get the bomb vest off and the agent ran outside with it where it exploded and shattered much of the church's stained glass windows. The agent was unhurt, and that's where they came up with the prank against Artie.

Finally, the warehouse power grid kept acting up and Artie realized that the person who tried to hack the computer last week was now trying to hack the power grid. At the end of the episode, the hacker was successful and was able to use the power grid's monitor to send a message, "Knock Knock." From the previews, it looks like this hacker is revealed next week.


Superstars:

Down to the Final Four. Kristi & Maks, Bode & Paige, Brandi & Julio, and Leslie & David.

Since there are only 4 teams left, they had 3 challenges instead of 2...plus the stoopid "rubber match."

The first even had 1 member race a jetski around a slalom course, and then after clearing the last buoy, they could race back to the beach at top speed where they'd have to remove the key, run to the shore and give the key to their teamate. The second member would then run out to the water bike, start it up, and then run the course themselves. The winner of the first 2 races would then race each other to determine 1st and 2nd place, while the 2 losers would race each other to determine 3rd and 4th.

The second challenge had the each team member shoot 5 arrows into a target. What they did was take a regulation target that has 10 rings,and make 10 targets, 1 each size, and each ring was worth the same points. So the largest ring was worth 1, and the smallest worth 10. Julio did the best overall by hitting the 8 point target 4 times in a row. He wanted to shoot for 10 with the last shot, but Brandi told him they only needed 8 points and if he missed they'd finish last. So he made the fifth in a row and got the 8 point target again.

For the third challenge, one player had to climb a 30' rock wall and press a button. Once the button was pressed, the next member could climb up until they too hit the button. Again, the winners of the first 2 rounds would face off while the 2 losers would face off. Maks revealed that he's afraid of heights, but you'd never know it from the way he quickly scrambled up the rock. He kept complaining that the safety harness was hurting his cojones and also said balls (which was funny, because they subtitled it on the screen so that you could tell that he said balls. WTF was up with that?!)

At the end of 3 events, Krist & Maks had won 2 and tied for first once so they were safe in first. Leslie & David had finished last, and second to last each round so they were in dead last.

So time again for the "rubber match." Once again, the team in second place got screwed as Bode & Paige had 30 more points than Brandi & Julio who were in third. Bode & Paige SHOULD have been allowed to be safe without the stoopid "rubber match." For the "rubber match," they had to again shoot at a target, but this time it was the 8 point target only. Also, each member only got one shot. The first team to have a member hit the target without the other team being able to do so would move on. They each shot, and Bode went last. His first arrow looked like it was resting on the top of the target, but the judge ruled that it didn't actually hit it. I was amazed, as was everyone else. It really looked like he had scalped it. But, on the second round, again nobody hit it although there were a couple of near misses. This time, Bode nailed it. So, while Bode & Paige shouldn't have had to do the "rubber match," they prevailed sending Julio & Brandi to the obstacle course.

At the obstacle course, it was a best of 3. Julio & Brandi won the first heat which saw David injure his wrist. In the second heat, when David hit the big heavy obstacle that you have to push into and run through, he screamed from the pain of hitting it at a run with his hands. But, David & Leslie won (especially since Brandi fell twice) setting up a 3rd heat. In the third heat, David again screamed (duh, try to use the other hand only) but again Brandi stumbled and seemed to get caught up in the cargo net. This meant that, once again, Leslie & David had been in the bottom the whole time yet survived the obstacle course.

Next week, the season finale with the final 3 of Kristi & Maks (who have finished alone or tied for first in like 7 events,) Bode & Paige, and Leslie & David. My money is on Kristi & Maks.


Top Chef Masters:

This one had Oprah's personal chef, Art Smith. A guy who's been a chef since 1971, and actually once trained the youngest competitor in this week's competition. An Asian guy from Hawaii named Roy who owns 37 restaurants named Roy's (or some variation of Roy's blah blah blah.) The youngest guy I had heard of too, but maybe in passing.

The Quickfire had the chefs make a dish using only the ingredients found in one aisle at Whole Foods (the aisle was randomly chosen by knife draw,) and had to cost under $20. I think this was the highest rated Quickfire yet as the scores were 3.5, 4, 4.5, and 5. The oldest guy had the lowest initial score, while the youngest guy (who had to make a dessert) got 5 stars.

For the Elimination Challenge, each chef had to make a "mystery lunch box" full of ingredients for one of the other chefs (names randomly drawn.) The young guy and his old mentor drew each other, while Art & Roy drew each other.

For the first time, they showed the night between challenges. The 4 chefs went to the Hostess (Ms. Choi's) home (allegedly) and the 4 of them made dinner together. They all hung out with Ms Choi and all seemed to have a good time and the dinner was probably amazing.

None of the chefs tried to sabotage the other, and in fact each pretty much gave them what they knew would be their specialty. The old guy made pork and got enough points to go from 3.5 points to 20 total. The Asian guy made mahi mahi and ribs but they didn't go over well and he got low points and was eliminated. The young guy also got eliminated. Art only needed 16 points (and average of 4 stars from the 3 judges and the table guest who were culinary students.) He got a total of 17.5 stars to win the week with 22 total stars! Wow, who'd have thunk it?


Burn Notice:

I thought that this was a pretty decent episode, and it featured Krycek from X-Files! Well, the actor who played him. Also, this is the first episode to air since star Jeffrey Donovan was arrest for DUI, and at first I kept thinking, "what a dumbass," but once the episode got going, I forgot all about it.

It started with Michael getting a gift from the "agent to the spies" who still wants Michael to join up with him. Michael paid him a visit and once again told him off. Michael then barged in on his put upon CIA contact, and left him a note about the agent, and asked him to find out what he could for him. Michael then tapped into his CIA contact's internet connection to record data (that wouldn't be able to be deciphered) in the hopes that it would show how much activity he's had since Michael's visit and if he has had to change his passwords. All that data WOULD be readable, as statistics, and it would indicate to Michael just how connected this supposed "agent" really was.

Michael and Fi arrive at her home and find it's been broken into. They catch a kid, maybe 13 or so, who is trying to steal one of her guns. Michael catches him and takes him back to Fi's where he eventually spills that he's trying to kill his step-dad. Turns out the step-dad is on several local boards and is connected to several judges, cops, and politicians. His brother (Krycek!) is connected to the local mobs. This make the step-dad virtually untouchable. He has been beating his wife, and now has started on the kids (like 13 & 8...the 8 year old is his kid with the mother.) So the Mom filed for divorce, and this has led the guy to try to steal the kids from her and use all of his connections to get sole custody.

Mike, having had an abusive Dad, feels VERY connected to these people and wants to help. After hearing their stories, Fi and Sam want to help the family by killing or at least beating the step-dad into oblivion. Instead, Mike finds out that he has a side business that even the brother doesn't know about. He resells seized goods (like cars and black market stuff) and keeps the profits. Mike decides to pretend to be a guy who bought one of these stolen goods and beats up the step-dad and tells him that people are after Mike (his cover) and also the step-dad. The scumbag doesn't buy it, so Mike and the gang rig the lights to the parking lot where the step-dad's car is to go out on cue as the guy leaves work. Then they disable his car. Then they jam his cell phone. They next speed at him, and Fi shoots the ground near him. This rattles him, so he calls Mike (Mike's cover) and says that they need to work together to find this guy, while Mike keeps trying to get him to leave town (so he'll miss the next custody hearing, and the mother will get the kids by default.)

The 13 year old decides that Mike's plan isn't working, so he steals Mike's mother's car and shotgun and waits in ambush for the step-dad. Mike finds him, but the step-dad has seen the car drive by his office several times and is spooked. Mike has the kid speed off in the car, leading the guy to pull out his gun and run in terror across the parking lot. Mike then shows up. The guy STILL won't leave town, and insists that they hire people to find out who's doing this and take them out. Mike of course "hires" Fi and Sam to be the take down squad, and the step-dad pays them $40,000. Michael then uses fake blood and small explosives in bottle caps to wire his, Fi's and Sam's shirts. They then take the step-dad to where they tell him the people are, but then set off the explosives, making it look like they were all killed. This time it works, and the guy goes back to his office and is getting ready to run when Krycek, err, I mean his brother shows up and stops him. The guy tells his brother what's going on, but the brother doesn't buy it, as the step-dad has had a history of substance abuse.

The step-dad takes his brother and his brother's goons to where the bodies were, but...no bodies! No blood! No spent shells either! They go to the place where Michael told him the baddies had been holding up, and they find it now is a small church...with Pastor Pete (aka Michael!) Out front, there's Sam working as a fruit vendor! Fi is shown walking down the street, as just a casual passerby! The guy flips out, yelling that Michael was the guy who took him here, and Sam & Fi were the hired killers...and all of them were dead just minutes ago! With that, the brother's seen enough. Michael, Sam & Fi read that he's been tossed into the mental ward, the wife automatically gets sole and full custody of the kids, and the step-dad's business dealings are being investigated. The wife is given the $40,000 to help her start a new life somewhere far away from Miami.

At the end, the CIA Contact catches Michael removing his computer bug, and tells them that the note Mike left with the "agent's" name on it caused the guy to be questioned by 7 different intelligence organizations...1 that he'd never even heard of! Mike hands the guy the computer bug and says that is all he needed to know. Michael then goes to the agent who tells him that he has a job for Mike and either he's in, or the agent will never bother him again. Michael decides to make a deal with a devil in hopes that it will get him where he wants to be (back as a spy.) Stay tuned, only 2 Summer episodes left, and I know the last one is supposed to include a "falling out" between Michael & Fiona.


Eureka:

Something is coming to Eureka.
They've alluded to it several times now since the season restarted, and this episode was part of the process of getting to whatever this big event will be. So far, it seems like the folks at GD and the government I assume, are expecting the arrival of aliens. None of this really had anything to do with this episode, yet all of this was lurking in the background just beyond the events of the episode.

An old friend of Allison's arrives in town to take over a newly reopened Level 5. Odd things start happening all over town about this same time. A scientist whose mother had been a famous psychic believes that her spirit is trying to make contact with him. He has a meter that reads fluctuations in our dimension that he attributes to spirit activity. About the same time that his meter starts picking up all these readings, objects start moving by themselves all over town, sometimes violently thrown about.

The GD people don't believe in ghosts, so they think it must be something else. Carter investigates and while checking the various labs in Level 5 to see if any of them might be responsible, they find themselves transported into the 5th Dimension. Turns out, a Level 5 lab has been trying to create a device, not unlike a Star Trek transporter, that would allow people to shift into the 5th dimension allowing them to travel through objects and perhaps great distance...even into space. Unfortunately, the scientist who "opened the door" hasn't figured out how to get back. Worse, Carter and Allison's friend are now also trapped in the 5th dimension after they walked onto his "transporter" inadvertently.

Meanwhile, the opened door is wrecking havoc all over town, and it's getting worse. Cars and mailboxes are being throw about like a little boy having a temper tantrum with his toys. Also, the affected area appears to be growing. Why is it that in almost EVERY episode of Eureka when there is some sort of anomaly, that it ALWAYS seems to be growing out of control and spreading?

Anyway, the mayor and Allison head to the lab thinking that the scientist may help them stop it, only to discover that it's him that caused it. They decide to shut down his device...once they figure out how to do it. The scientist panics, because if they shut down his device, there won't be anyway to get back from the 5th dimension. He tries to use a portable version of his portal to get himself back, but ends up cooking his body and hurling it across the room.

Carter says that the body skidded across the room much like Allison's friend's car had earlier in the episode. Allison's friend realizes that the portal guy was off on his aim, and that if she could reduce the power needed to send them back (so they don't get cooked) as well as correct the aim, she should be able to get them back. But they have to hurry as Allison wants the device shut down. Carter uses the portable device to try to "communicate" with Allison. He succeeds in getting her to realize that nobody has seen Carter or her friend since they both had been down in this area hours ago. Allison delays shutting down the device just long enough for her friend to recalibrate the device. Allison has the device shut down and all the "spirit activity" around town suddenly stops. Carter and Allison's friend, meanwhile, are able to get back...but somehow her aim was off enough that they landed outside of town, right where the gal's car had been "shoved" by the device earlier.

The episode ends with Carter telling Allison that he heard her and Henry talking about "a signal," and that since Allison's friend worked at CETI, the search for intelligent alien life center, that he believes that they're directing something to Eureka. Allison can't tell Carter anything, but Carter warns her...that something is coming, and they all better hope that they can handle whatever it is.


Big Brother Spoilers!:

This may not all need to be in "spoiler proof inviso text," but I'll put it all in it anyway.
As of now, the nominations have been made. Check back sometime late tomorrow and I'll add the Veto winner, and I'll post the results of the Veto meeting once it's over. Veto competition is usually Saturday, and Veto Ceremony is usually on Sunday, but it looks like they may move the Ceremony to Monday. Not sure.

Also, if you haven't read it, here is the link to Julie Chen's BB blog on EW.com. It's awesome as she has all sorts of details of things that took place that weren't aired on tv. Great blog from the Chenbot! http://tinyurl.com/myq6ex


In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.

SPOILERS!!!

Jessie and Natalie are still allied with Ronnie. Russell also is still allied with Ronnie. Russell doesn't like Jessie. Russell had been paralyzed and worked hard to get to where he is now, and thinks Jessie's goal of wanting to be a "fake professional wrestler" is a joke as Russell fights real fights in Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) bouts. Russell also doesn't like how many of the HGs just defer to Jessie since he was in BB last year. He says that Natalie and Lydia are so far up his butt that he's amazed if Jessie can poo. Russell and Jeff have sort of bonded. Russell blasted a fart last night that was not only loud, but was beyond stinky. Everyone nearly lost it!

Natalie apparently only has been showering once every 3 days or so. Eww! She mooned Lydia last night, and Lydia said that she saw her vajayjay. Natalie has admitted her true age to some, but keeps messing up to others. She wanted wine and was denied by the HGs because she's only 18. What a moron. Also, she said that her HS reunion would be in 4 years instead of 10, or something like that. Ronnie now thinks she's been lying about her age.

Lydia admitted to Kevin that she's been giving Jessie, umm, hand relief, but says that's as far as she will go. But then last night, it looks like they more. I'm not sure if Jessie just "returned the favor" of if they "did the deed," but whatever happened to Jessie, it was over quickly. 2 pump chump.

The "Brains" lost the "Have/Have Not" competition...again...and I'm assuming that they're now stuck eating whatever won the America's Choice vote. The options were: Sauerkraut & Seaweed, Cabbage & Cocktail Weenies, or Pickled Eggs & Pickled Herrings. I voted for cabbage & cocktail weenies, and that appears to be what won. I also think they get to have slop as well.

Jessie nominated Michele & Jordan. He has told everyone that Jordan is a pawn, but he has told some that he will backdoor Casey and others he's told he will backdoor Ronnie. I was right in that he was targeting Michele and Casey, as I had predicted that after he won HOH.

End of Spoilers!

I will be back later to add in the Veto winner, and then the result of the Veto Ceremony hopefully by sometime tomorrow unless they more the Ceremony to Monday.

Recap 7/5 - 7/11 2009

Next Food Network Star:

Was there REALLY any surprise who got booted? I mean seriously.

The first challenge had the contestants take "grown up" ingredients and turn it into kid friendly food. There were 3 ingredient possibilities, and so that meant that 2 of the 6 would get the same one to use. The ingredients were calamari, brussel sprouts, and tofu.

Jeffrey got tofu and made them into chicken nuggets and his spot seemed to do well. Melissa was good. Michael was spinning in circles. Jameka talked too much and didn't finish cooking. I can't recall how Debbie did. Katie had calamari and while Bobby, Rachael Ray and the kids who were judging that round liked her presentation, Bob and Susie who watched it on camera said that it was horribly condescending and annoying...and her food wasn't that good.

The elimination challenge "randomly" paired up the contestants who had to present a cooking demo on Rachael Ray's Show (it never actually aired...probably taped at the end of one of her regular shows.) This time they had to take "kid's food" and make it into something grown ups would like. Melissa was paired with Michael who is usually good live (but not on camera) but he just froze and Melissa spokenonstoplikethisforthewholetimeduringthesegment. Debbie was paired with Katie and they worked well together, but Katie wouldn't look up while cooking and again the judges weren't fond of her food. Jeffrey was paired with Jameka and they had hot dogs & beans and just never got onto the same page. Jameka had 2 bad days in a row so she thought that she had to do well here or go home. So what did she do? She shut down and did nothing until near the end of the segment. Jeffrey took over and kept talking when he should have tried to get her to engage. At the end, Jameka, Michael and Katie were in the bottom and (shocker, I know) Katie FINALLY went home. She was cannon fodder from the start and they NEVER liked ANYTHING she did. The ONLY reason they included her as a contestant is because she's a nutritionist and FN gets criticized for too many of their stars not making things healthy. Although, they do have the series Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger.

Kathy Griffin:

The first part of the episode showed Kathy badger her agent to get her an endorsement deal, which oddly led to her getting a book deal. They showed her go to NY and meet with people at Random House and she seemed obnoxiously clueless.

The rest of the episode was very touching.
Kathy had her Mom make a "bucket list' of things she'd like to do before she dies (she's nearly 90.)
Maggie (Kathy's Mom,) said that she'd like to dine well, go to California Wine Country, and meet Stephanie Powers, Betty White, and Don Rickles.

Kathy took her Mom and staff, along with Michael McDonald and Nicole Sullivan of MadTV fame to a couple of CA wineries and Maggie and Tom both got a little drunk while the others got tipsy...except Kathy who doesn't drink. They were driven around in a rented "party van" complete with a stripper pole.

Stephanie Powers (who looked AMAZING) came to Maggie's apartment and taught her some pilates moves...that mostly consisted of squeezing the buttocks. Stephanie seemed to appreciate Maggie's adulation, but I wonder if she was just happy to be on tv for the first time in like 20 years.

Betty White joined Kathy and crew at a "fine dining" place...The Sizzler. Betty and Maggie are about the same age and Betty seemed to really enjoy her time with Maggie.

Don Rickles came to Kathy's house and was polite and made Maggie very very happy. Kathy always said that she got her humor from her Dad, and that Don was not only her idol but reminded her of her Dad. Maggie also said that Don reminded her of her late husband and that he'd have enjoyed time with Don too.

For me, the best thing about this episode is that it captured Betty and Don being pretty real and is a testament to their longevity due to their fantastic personalities. Both of them are in their 80s, so it's nice to have them shown being "real" as opposed to "acting" since there probably won't be many chances to do that anymore.

Warehouse 13:

First, I have to say that I HATE that SciFi changed to SyFy (which apparently is the abbreviation for Syphilis in Poland.) I mean, while it sounds the same, when one would type Sci Fi into a search engine, scifi.com would come up one of the top if not THE top options. Scifi.com becomes syfy.com when you try to go there, but still... Not all "rebrandings" work. Just ask Spike TV.

This show is about a HUUUUGE warehouse in the middle of nowhere, South Dakota which houses objects that have supernatural/paranormal qualities (although they use some term about some sort of energy, but wtfe.)

The government assigns 2 Secret Service agents to become the new "Mulder & Scully" who are tasked with finding such object, neutralizing them, and bringing them to the warehouse for safe keeping. The show is a cross between X-Files, Fringe, Friday the 13th: The Series, Eureka, National Treasure, and Indiana Jones. It's also just so-so at best. I mean, I suppose that it has promise and I'll keep watching (this was just the 1st episode after all,) but eventually the premise could get a little tiresome and monotonous. I do like the guy who is sort of the "librarian" of the warehouse, he's always fun.

Michael Jackson Memorial:

On the whole, it was very well done considering it seems that they put it together very quickly. It was pretty surreal to see the brothers carry in Michael's coffin while the Andre Crouch Choir sang the words, "Soon and very soon, we are going to see the King." Think about it. The song means sooner than later you'll die and go to Heaven to see the "King of Kings," yet as they're singing, in comes the body of the "King of Pop." Kind of eerie as I don't think anyone wanted a "real life" version of Thriller where out pops Michael to be "seen!"

Mariah Carey sounded a little off, but did an ok job. Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder both sang well, but Stevie again just seems a bit overblown. John Mayer was very good...but odd. I would have LOVED to have the same performance only from Prince. I'm STILL surprised that nobody has tracked him down for a comment...and still no words from longtime MJ friends Eddie Murphy and Chris Tucker. Shouldn't they have been there instead of Magic and Kobe...especially Kobe? And WTF was that about MJ having KFC? He was a vegetarian. I guess he "strayed" now and then. I thought Usher's performance of "Gone Too Soon" while decent ended up as kinda phony. I mean, when he went to the casket to finish the song, it was touching, but then when he took off his glasses to show everyone that he was crying...I mean come on.

Brooke Shields gave an AMAZING speech. Very touching. Al Sharpton, who I do NOT like, also gave an INCREDIBLE speech. Probably the best speech I've ever heard him give...probably because it wasn't about HIM. Jermaine showed that he is still a very good singer and gave a moving performance of Charlie Chaplin's "Smile" which was Michael's favorite song and Michael recorded for HIStory Vol. 1 But why does Jermaine keep telling us that he was Michael's "voice and backbone?" Dude, stop tooting your own horn. I felt for Marlon, but when he ended by asking Michael to hug Marlon's twin (who died at birth,) it just seemed a little...forced? Maybe I'm just too jaded. Which is odd because what happened next I take pretty much at face value.

When Janet was announced as the next speaker, but instead Michael's 11 year old daughter Paris took the mic...I gasped. Then when she was done, I was darn near a goner. I think had I been able to watch the memorial straight thru, or if it hadn't been so many days of non stop Michael coverage before, maybe I would have lost it. And rather than end this part on a sad note I will add this...was it me or was it quirky to see all of the black Jacksons...and 3 white MJ kids together?

Top Chef Masters:

You know, I should have just kept my big mouth shut. I stated before this began that John Besh is one of my favorite chefs and that I hoped he'd win since he got "screwed" by the Next Iron Chef. So, of course, he gets sabotaged by bad ovens and then has to go waaay outside his comfort zone to try to compete...which almost always causes a crash and burn.

For the first time, I'd heard of all 4 chefs...although I can't recall their names now. I was waaay off on my initial prediction though, as I thought it'd come down to John and the guy from LA.

The Quick Fire had the chefs make something with eggs, using only 1 hand. John tried to make a mini-casserole type dish, but the oven didn't work right and he had to finish cooking ONE of the 4 on a stove top. He got 1/2 a star. Oy. The Asian lady got FIVE STARS for her dish!

For the elimination challenge, they had to make a dish relating to a "magical" term: Surprise, Mystery, Illusion, and Spectacle. The LA guy got "mystery" so he presented his dish in a "bag." He got very good marks. Besh got "surprise" and went for it by using liquid nitrogen and really got into the theme...but he just did so so and with his 1/2 star from the first round, he was the first to go. The Latino chef from NY got "Spectacle" and tried to present his dish with flaming coconuts...but he really over did it with the fire and the food was just so so and he was the next to go. Finally, the Asian lady had Illusion and presented a steak tartare wrapped in Daikon, so it "looked" like a scallop. Here's what is funny. During the critique, Gail said that she thought the dish lacked flavor and salt. One of the other judges pointed out that had Gail poured the side sauce onto the dish, it would have added the missing salt and flavor. So what did Gail do, she gave her 4.5 stars! WTF?! She should be judging on what SHE FELT and tasted, NOT what she SHOULD have done. So, in the end, the Asian lady won and moves onto the next round.

Top Gear:

I watched a couple of episodes. In one, they got a $400,00 car and an $800,000 car and James aka Capt Slow drove the $400,000 car around the tracked and was very surprised at how well built it was. Well, it's all carbon fiber, so it SHOULD be sturdy. The Stig drove both cars for the timed lap, and surprisingly, the less expensive car was slightly faster. Probably has better handling, that usually makes up for any lack in HP.

Also in that episode, the 3 guys had to drive nearly 750 miles from Basel, Switzerland (at the French border) to Blackpool, England in order to turn on the Christmas lights at their annual ceremony. In case the guys didn't make it, The Stig was there to take their place should need arise.

The funny thing is, NONE of them SHOULD have been able to make it. The challenge was to get there on ONE TANK of gas. After filling their cars all the way, the gas doors were taped shut so they couldn't cheat.

James drove a Subaru Legacy Diesel which gets decent gas mileage (50 mpg,) but has a HUGE tank...although the range should work out to just over 700 miles...too short. Jeremy decided that since there was NO WAY to make it there in one tank, he'd lose in style by driving a Twin Turbo Jaguar XJS..driving it at top speeds, and running the AC...anything to try to get it to die somewhere near his home. His car gets about 35 mpg and should run out of gas around 650 miles...waay too short. Hammond actually tried to win by driving a VW Polo Bluemotion which gets 74 mpg! With only a 10 gallon tank, he'd probably fall JUST short unless he drove way too slow...in which case he'd arrive in Blackpool AFTER the lighting ceremony.

Amazingly, Richard's car made it all the way there, and in time. MIRACULOUSLY, Jeremy's car made it (I have NO IDEA HOW) and he too made it in time. James's car eventually made it (I think) but he missed the ceremony. In the end, while Hammond and Jeremy argued over who would turn the lights on, The Stig casually walked over and did it for them.

The next episode dealt with trying to figure out why so many people Finland were always among the best racers. They showed that in Finland, they're taught to drive as children, go thru a 3 year training period before given a license, and part of that training involved hazardous condition driving and almost "stunt" driving. Also, each weekend, all over Finland, folks got together and raced cheap (under $1,000) cars.

Mark Wahlberg was the guest, and he drove the "Star in a reasonably priced car" segment. Apparently, during his test runs, he "broke" a couple cars and nearly ran over a cameraman. In the end, he had a time of about 1:47, just beating Dr Who star David Tennent.

The final part was they were to take a car that only sold under 450 models before being removed from showrooms and to try to get it to run faster than a specific sports car. Initially, it ran the course 14 seconds slower. After tuning the engine, replacing the brakes, tires, and seats, and adding a few odds and ends (as they only had $9,000 to spend to tweak it) they ended up still running about 6 seconds slower than the sports car's time. The odd part was that in the history of the "new" Top Gear, there have only been 3 cars that all 3 hosts liked, and the car they had to use...that sold less than 450 in total...was one of those 3 cars.

The Superstars:

Down to the final 6 teams.

The first event required one member of a team to first run, then swim across a lagoon and then run up the beach to cross a finish line. Once the first teammate crossed, the second could go. All of the teams except Brandi Chastain and Julio Iglesias Jr sent the man first, woman second. So, poor Brandi was the only woman in her heat, and not surprisingly finished last. Julio, however, more than made up for it by swimming past ALL of the women except Kristi Leskinen whose partner, Maks from DWTS gave them a great lead. Julio and Brandi amazingly finished 2nd! TO and his model partner both SUCKED at swimming (they both admitted as much before and after) and they finished last.

In the second event, each team had to make as many baskets as possible within a certain time frame ( I think it was 30 seconds.) The twist was that each teammate had to shoot, but only after their partner made a basket. The other twist was that there were 5 stations where the shooter could get from 1 to 5 points depending on how close the "free throw" line was to the basket. The first team seemed to have the right idea where the non shooting partner would feed baskets to the shooting partner until they scored. Also, the guy was shooting for 3 points, while the gal went for 2. TO and his partner were dumb. TO chased his own rebounds and then the partner kept dribbling before shooting...all while the clock ticked down. For the first time, Kristi and Maks sucked at an event and finished last. WNBA star Lisa Leslie went for 4 points, and struggled. Then her partner ALSO went for 4, before finally switching to 3. I think if they both would have stuck with 3, they could have buried everyone. Leslie looked ridiculous and SHOULD be embarrassed. Another odd strategy was Julio and Brandi. He shot 3s, then she shot 2s, then they SWITCHED and he shot 2s, and she shot 3s, and then they changed back and forth each time. Huh? If they BOTH could make 3s, they should have just stayed there. WTFE, but it worked as they won the challenge.

For the "rubber match" they AGAIN screwed the higher ranked team. The 1st place team after 2 events was safe, while the bottom 3 had to go to the obstacle course. 2nd and 3rd place teams had to shoot again to see who'd go too the obstacle course. The 2nd place team again had 10 more points than 3rd, so 3rd SHOULD have been sent to the obstacle course...but they HAVE to have their "rubber match." And once again, the higher ranked team lost.

At the obstacle course, TO who got his foot caught in the first episode, nearly leaped over the cargo net. He jumped into it while turning his body into a roll so when he landed, he was on his back but rolling forward. Using his long arms, he hurled himself into the 2nd section and kept his momentum going. At the end, he grabbed the last support bar with his hand and using his long legs threw himself out of the net, and then sprinted easily across the finish line. Trying to describe it doesn't do it justice. I've NEVER seen anyone cross a cargo net (here, Survivor, wherever) like that before. At the end, Lisa and David beat Jeff and Ali so Jeff and Ali are gone. That sucks because Ali is "easy on the eyes."

Big Brother 11:

Some random thoughts...
Julie didn't look pregnant from the front, but when she turned sideways to talk to the HGs in the house, you could see her HUGE belly. When she gave a tour of the BB house last week, it was VERY prominent.

Laura, the girl with the Hooters has fake boobs and appears to have fake teeth. She also looks like she might have had some plastic surgery on her face. Her pontoons are too big, her teeth are chompers, and she isn't very pretty. Most would call her a "butter face," but I don't think her body is good enough for that as it is too phony. Apparently, she was talking on the live feeds about her BIG FAKE BOOBS, so yes, they ARE fake. She actually just had them done recently, and many of the HGs and live feed bloggers were impressed that they were done recently. I'm pretty sure her teeth are fake too, and I bet she had facial plastic surgery.

I read here and other places that Chima was raped 10 years ago by a serial rapist who also killed at least twice. Thankfully, he was caught and is serving life in jail in Texas. Her story was part of a History Channel episode about the attacks. This is why her face is kinda messed up, as she was brutalized and has had to have a couple of surgeries to correct the damage.

The Tae Kwan Do chick SHOULD have said she was 21 not 24, but WTFE. If it hasn't already been exposed, it will. She had an shouting match with her cliquemate Jeff and she didn't come across as an 18 year old. It'll end up biting her in the @$$. But, from the fight with Jeff, it sounds like she only talks with Jessie and hasn't talked with anyone else...at least as of then. Like Jessie last year, she sleeps a lot.

Jeff is a really good looking guy, and if someone told me that he was Adam Lambert's brother, I'd believe them. Too bad he's an @-hole.

The scientist gal looks a little like Lisa Loeb. I don't like liars, but I understand where she's coming from.

The tattoo gal seems to remind a LOT of people of P!nk. There's someone else that she reminds me of, but I can't place it. She seems to be nuzzling Jessie. Ugh!

The nerdy gamer guy reminds me of the "I'm a PC" guy. I've read that he's more than 2-faced...more like 4-faced.

Braden, the "surfer dude" also appeared in an episode of "Foursome" on the Playboy channel. Ozzy from Survivor also appeared on there...in all his nakedness, a couple years prior to his first time on Survivor. I'm not certain if the "surfer dude" also was nude like Ozzy, but most likely. Braden's episode of "Foursome" airs again this week. Here is a link to see Ozzy...warning there is swinging schlongage in these pics!
http://tinyurl.com/yg4t2s

The odd bedroom is supposed to look as though they are at the bottom of a swimming pool. The plastic floatation devices on top are actually the bed covers, not the mattresses. There is actually a real bed underneath.

I can't stand Jesse and I wish that Brian had made it in, but that first challenge clearly favored the Athletes and Popular folks. Think of it this way, Brains are 80-20 brains over brawn; Off Beats are 60-40 brains over brawn; Popular are 60-40 brawn over brains; and Athletes are 80-20 brawn over brains. Given that, it would make sense to me for the Athletes to nominate 2 people from Popular as they are the biggest physical threat, and if one takes themselves off, put up the third. If the un-nominated wins Veto and takes one down, then put up an Off Beat. That is how I would do it...but are the Athletes that smart?

In order to see the "hidden or inviso text" hold down the left mouse button and drag it to the end.

SPOILERS!!!

Apparently not. Jesse nominated tattoo girl and Chima. Russell with the muscles won veto, and since he's also in the athlete clique, you'd think that he wouldn't change the noms. However, there appears to be a movement to take down tattoo girl and put up surfer dude as he is seen as a major threat by the athletes. Jeff apparently is not getting along with his athlete clique and first had a blow up with Russell and later with the tae kwan do chick. Live feed bloggers do not like Jeff due to his usage of the words gay and f-g. muscle dude ended up using the veto and took tattoo gal off and now surfer dude is on the block and is the target, but it may end up either being Chima or a tie which means hoh decides who goes.

END SPOILERS!!!

HG Updates...

I'm pretty sure that I read that Jessica from BB8 (who was trying to get into other house in the "Popular clique" and Eric "America's Player" broke up sometime last year.

Catching up with the winner of last season, Dan:
http://tinyurl.com/lu58wy

Hardy Hill from BB2 is in a new "docu-reality" series (like The Hills or The Real Housewives of...) http://www.bravotv.com/miami-social/bio/hardy

Burn Notice:

I REALLY loved this episode! It was waaaaay out of the box for this series.
The main story was about a mathematician who works as an office plant cleaner at a defense contractor. He sees patterns, so I guess he's kinda like the guy from the tv series Numbers, except that this guy is crazy. He uses his pattern recognition ability to track down Michael to a gun range, and KNOWS that he must be an ex covert ops who is now working in Miami because of all the explosions and odd crime captures lately...the same things the cops were on him about.
He convinces Michael and Sam to talk about a job as his boss at the defense contractor is selling secrets and getting spies killed, including one of Sam's old pals.
At lunch, he reveals that the boss is an evil alien and the people getting killed are good aliens. He then freaks out and flips over the table. Mike & Sam call the cops (yes, they note the oddness) and the guy gets taken to a mental health facility. One of the people who picks the guy up tells Michael that he's a semi regular.

Later, the guy breaks out of the mental hospital, and tracks Michael down to his house. Mike, Sam & Fi go to the guy's house to see his evidence, and it's floor to ceiling with news clippings...the way the guy sees his patterns. A spy found dead that day fits a warning the crazy guy gave to Mike, so they now believe him.
Although the boss blows up the guy's house preventing them from catching her in the act of wiping evidence against her, Mike and the client are able to trick her into going into her building's secure room, where Michael cuffs her and calls the cops. She turns in the guy she's been using to kill people, but she's totally screwed. Sam gets the client a job with some people he knows, and gets the guy on meds to combat his mental issues. I would like to see them bring him back from time to time. Odd fact, the actor who played the nutty client is named Michael Rubinstein but because there already was a Michael Rubinstein in SAG, he changed his name to Michael Weston. The name of the lead character in Burn Notice is Michael Westen. How odd is that?

The other story was that Michael and Sam track private planes and figure out which hanger the CIA uses to sell stuff on the black market in order to fund ops so covert that they have to stay off the books. Michael shows up asking for the hanger manager, but the guy knows who Michael is and tells him that he's been warned about Michael and tells him that he can't risk rocking his boat to help him. Michael breaks in, steals some of the black market goods, and puts them on eBay under a name indicating that the guy has met with Michael. Michael returns and the guy is pissed, but is now Michael's official local CIA contact. He tells Michael that while the government wants to brush under the rug the actions of the defense contractor's boss who was selling secrets that Michael caught, it did get some people to say that they'd look into his file.

Eureka:

SciFi..err...SyFy really messed up. Last season was cut short due to the writer's strike, but they were originally going to air the remaining episodes in January and air a new season in July. For whatever reason, they instead decided to not air until now these new episodes that are actually part of last season. I read the Eureka was renewed for a 4th Season, so I'm guessing that won't be until next July? In the last episode of Season 3 that aired, Sheriff Carter got fired, not long after Dr Blake informed him that she was pregnant with her dead husband's baby. This new episode is the next episode, but she is now VERY pregnant. The odd thing is that in the prior episodes, Jack's sister arrives in town already pregnant, so she SHOULD be farther along than Dr Blake, but essentially is still in the same stage that she was before. When the season DVD for this comes out, it'll look VERY odd. Also, the daughter grew up quite a bit in the break and looks older than in the prior episodes.

At any rate, this was another good but not great episode. Carter is trying to get a job with Homeland Security, but can't talk about Eureka...only that he was Sheriff of a small town. Everyone thinks Jo will become the new Sheriff, even Jo, but instead Carter is replaced with a robot that arrives in a suitcase sized box. He looks like a metal boombox, but unfolds into a big metal man...which then breaks apart revealing a fleshy, human looking android. Jo promptly quits after being passed up...again...and this time for Robocop.

Some moron accidentally networks with Carter's artificial lifeform house, and accidentally creates gravity wells...something like a tornado sized black hole. This start causing random increases in gravity around town, crushing things. Carter's house is able to manipulate the gravity wells to crush the android, twice, in hopes that Carter will be rehired.

In the end, Carter and the android Sheriff destroy the device that was wrecking havoc before it goes critical and starts to create a true black hole. Henry is now the Mayor (I don't remember this happening) and since the new Sheriff has the entire town charter in its memory, he is able to find out that while the Department of Defense can request the firing of the Sheriff, only the Mayor can approve it. So, Carter never actually technically was fired. The android says that he'll go do something else...which is odd because it was designed to be the "perfect Sheriff." I think it would have been fun to keep him as a regular...use him as a Deputy. Of course, Jo also takes her job back, and all is well as the episode ends. Well, mostly. Apparently, "something is coming" and from the way they described it, it's from outer space and heading straight toward Eureka...following old interstellar communication signals that were sent into space. Duh duh duuuuuunnn!!!

Torchwood:

Preparing for the new 5 part mini-series that starts on 7/20, BBC America aired the second to last episode on Saturday, and next Saturday will be the last episode aired (from March 2008!)

In this episode, Jack, Ionto, Tosh and Owen arrive at 2 buildings where they got alien readings. They think they're lifeforms, but discover that they're bombs...just as they go off. Gwen arrives VERY late with her husband (Rhys) having had to drive her. They first free Jack, then Ionto. Jack, Ionto and Rhys then have to work together to free a nearly crushed Tosh, while Gwen has to free Owen before a window and frame fall cutting him in half. And since he's now sort of a walking dead, and can't heal, that wouldn't be a good thing to happen.

While each member was trapped, they flashback to the events that got them into Torchwood. Jack was living in London in the 1800s, waiting for Dr Who to reappear, when he is captured by the only 2 members of Torchwood, 2 women. They turn out to be lovers. What IS it with this series that EVERYONE who works for Torchwood goes both ways...at least once? Anyway, they believe he's a threat and realize that he knows The Doctor who they are charged with fighting. Jack reveals that The Doctor is a friend to humanity, although (at that time) Jack is PISSED with him for leaving him behind. They then show that Jack learns that The Doctor won't cross his path for 100 years, so he decides to work with Torchwood. They show documents going from pen and quill to manual typewriters to electric typewriters, to old computers to laptops...showing how things change while Jack is at Torchwood.

They then show that 5 years prior, Tosh worked for a defense contractor, but stole plans for a sonic weapon which she has to trade for her kidnapped mother. They badguys tell her that she is so good, that they won't release the mother and will harm her with the weapon Tosh made unless Tosh continues to help them. They then use the device on Tosh and her mother...until UNIT arrives and arrests everyone. They put Tosh into a solitary confinement cell and inform her (using an overhead speaker) that her rights are terminated and that she will be held without trial or help forever for what she's done without any counsel or appeal. Tosh asks if her mother is ok but they refuse to tell her. It looks like Tosh is only there a couple of days when Jack arrives. He tells her that the sonic device didn't work, but she was able to fix the problems intuitively while she made it. He could use someone like her. He tells her that in exchange for 5 years service, he's had her record fixed and her mother is ok...but Tosh can only have limited contact...like postcards.

They then show that Ionto worked for Torchwood London, which was taken over by militants against aliens, including The Doctor, so Jack's been working solo. Ionto wants to work with him in light of the destruction of Torchwood London and the "death" of his GF at the hands of the Cybermen. Of course, in the first season it was revealed that Ionto's GF had been partially turned into a Cyberman and he was trying to save her, but she ended up killing several people before having to be destroyed. After telling Ionto to go away several times, Ionto brings Jack to a Pterodactyl which they catch (it was seen flying around the caverns where Torchwood is located in the first ever episode of Torchwood.)

Owen is shown engaged to a pretty gal, who is then shown to have some severe memory issues. Owen tells the doctors to run more scans and tests as she seems to be getting worse, although at times she is perfectly fine. The new tests show a large tumor and they decide to operate. It turns out that the tumor is an alien which gestated in her brain, and when the surgeons tried to remove it, it killed them with a deadly gas. Owen is devastated when Jack arrives to tell him what has happened. Owen then finds himself in a hospital bed. While unconscious, Jack and Torchwood alter the security footage to only show Owen awaiting the results of surgery...no Jack showing up. They also have the story that the girl died in surgery as the mass was too big. The surgeon and the assistants were all made to have died in a car accident after work. Owen is thought to be having hysterical dementia due to the grief as nobody believes his story about Jack and the alien in the brain. Jack shows up at the gal's gravesite, and Owen kicks his @$$ for a bit. Jack then offers him a job with Torchwood, and after seeing Torchwood and what they do is for real, he agrees.

Once all the flash backs are over, and the group's members are all freed, Jack's hologram watch goes off showing Capt John Hart who claims responsibility for the bombs, and then show Jack that Jack's LONG missing brother, Gray, is with him...seemingly John's prisoner. John says that he's gonna destroy everything Jack loves...for not caring for John anymore. That will lead to the final episode this coming Saturday.

Recap 6/29 - 7/3 2009

Next Food Network Star:

Well, it's about time. Seriously.

Anyway, this week the first challenge was to make the "ultimate burger" that represented a region of the US, and then present it on camera in a 30 second spot. Most of the contestants did about the same on camera as they have in the past with Melissa setting the bar high when she went first, and Jeffrey and Debbie also doing well while Michael and Teddy weren't so hot. Katie was somewhere in the middle as usual, but Jameka was the surprise by crashing and burning when she's done well on camera before. While Michael wasn't that great on camera, Bobby loved his burger and will feature it on the menu at his new Bobby's Burger Palace in Connecticut. Katie made a Turkey burger and as it takes longer to cook than the time that they were given, she served it not completely cooked. This is the 2nd time that she's served undercooked food.

The second challenge also was about regional cuisine, and the contestants had to make a dish using all of the ingredients that they were given that represented a specific area. They then had to present their food to service people who had just returned from the Middle East, along with their families...and Guy Fieri who won NFNS in Season 2, and is one of FN's biggest stars.

I think the NFN PTB decided to make the show stop being a runaway by sabotaging Jeffrey. They NEVER showed how each contestant was assigned their region, and Jeffrey ended up with Lobster, Cheese and Blueberries to represent Maine. Now, WTF could you do with all three of those ingredients in one dish? So, not surprisingly, his dish sucked. He knew it sucked, and his presentation also suffered because of it. However, Jameka made glue. She at least went out and tried to sell herself, to try to cover her food with smoke and mirrors. It didn't work, but she survived. Michael clocked Debbie with a sheet pan and it threw her off. Both her food and her presentation were bland, but she also survived. Melissa won the challenge, easily, but I still didn't get her presentation. She mentioned that her Mom had been in the service, and then said that she had died when Melissa was 20. It seemed unnecessary to add that. She didn't say that she died while serving, so it just seemed kinda gratuitous. The bottom turned out to be Katie (shocker,) Teddy (shocker,) Jameka, and the only real shocker was that Jeffrey also was in the bottom. But, there was NFW that Jeffrey or Jameka were gonna go home ahead of Teddy and Katie who are ALWAYS in the bottom. And finally, after should have gotten booted last week, Teddy went bye bye. Please NEVER show up on my tv again.

BET Awards:

They did a pretty impressive job of turning the awards into a Michael Jackson tribute. Jamie Foxx did a pretty decent job as host, and did a decent job doing the Beat It dance and then Moonwalking. He came out and did one of his songs in Auto-Tune...which is funny because Jay-Z came out and performed his new song called Death of Auto-Tune.

New Edition started the show by performing as The Jacksons, complete with outfits, dance routines, and sang a medley of their songs. They weren't announced, but EVERYONE knew who they were.

Ciara sang "Heal the World," and Ne-Yo proved that he got his sound right from Michael with a very good version of "Lady In My Life."

But the biggest shock was right at the end, without any introduction, Jamie Foxx escorted Janet Jackson onto the stage. You could see her trying to get the words out before finally giving a very short speech. They cut to the crowd and there were LOTS of tears...but that was ONLY the start as Jamie Foxx (without auto-tune) and Ne-Yo performed a very good version of "I'll Be There" which pretty much got all the women crying...and looked to have choked up many of the men.

It really wasn't that great of a show on the whole. They chose not to announce the nominees (except in Best Female R&B) in order to allow for all of the MJ stuff, and it seemed to make much of the show out of context. Also, it was odd when performers sang non-MJ songs as you know that they ALL could have done SOMETHING. But the beginning and the ending made it worth watching.

Kathy Griffin:

In this episode, the first part dealt with KG trying to appeal to "Young Hollywood" and younger fans. She tried to get a part on "Gossip Girl," but failed. She did get a small part on "Privileged" as a wedding planner for a wedding between 2 gay characters. She had trouble with her lines and her acting as she hasn't done much acting over the last several years, but she ended up getting it together.

The second part dealt with her hanging out with Paris Hilton, going shopping, dealing with the Paps, and then hanging out at a pool. KG showed off her newly fabulous 48 year old body in a bikini. Earlier, she kept embarrassing Tom who was in her walk-in closet while she was trying on some of Paris' clothes, and she kept practicing showing her crotch (with panties) and Tom had to keep turning away.

The storyline that ran through the whole episode dealt with Kathy putting her Mom in charge of her Facebook and MySpace pages (created also to attract younger fans) and her Mom having a hard time posting what Kathy wanted (as Mom was supposed to post things as though SHE were Kathy) and not post things like "2 buck chuck on sale at Trader Joe's." Kathy fired her at the end of the episode.

Spectacular Spiderman:

This wasn't one of the better episodes as though not much "really" happened, although it did mark the return of the Sinister Six which replaced 2 members. Doc Oc has had a mental breakdown and is in an insane asylum, and was there along with Shocker. The Master Planner broke Shocker out of prison, but Doc Oc wouldn't go.

A very wiped out Spidey ended up defeating the revised SS, but the police were only able to hang onto Mysterio as the Master Planner was able to extract the other 5 from where Spidey had left them. This left an opening in the SS, so MP sent Doc Oc's robot tentacles to kidnap him from the insane asylum.

The other storyline dealt with Peter's girl Issues. Liz Allen still seems to be crushing on him, but drops him whenever the QB (now on crutches) shows up. So, Peter tried to talk with Gwen who said that it's obvious that she isn't his first choice...and WON'T be his 2nd. Peter then went to get Mary Jane a Hot Chocolate when the Sinister Six showed up. He explained his absence by saying that the vendor was out, so he went down the street to get the drinks. This lead to the gals thinking that Peter just can't stay focused.

Superstars:

Last week, TO and his model teammate were screwed over and got booted. Jennifer Capriati, who sucked in all of the challenges last week, ended up reaggravating an old injury and had to drop out. This meant that her teammate, David Charvet, also was gone. This allowed TO's team back into the competition.

So, what was the first task? A relay race in sand. And TO, a NFL Pro Bowl wide receiver was now going to be running in it. Hoo boy. There were to be 6 heats, with the slowest team cut after each heat. This meant that the winning pair had to run 6 times. They could only run either the 1st or 2nd leg 3 times each.

Bode Miller's team devised a strategy to false start each race, because the rules stated that once any team false started in a heat, if it happened again (even if the 2nd time wasn't the same team as the first time) the team that false started would be eliminated. This meant that each race had added pressure to not jump the gun.

TO's team won the event easily. Bode Miller's team wound up in the second to last race, and when the gun went off, they both sat down. They did this to pretend that whoever left first (TO) jumped the gun. The other racer, NBA player Robert Horry, got confused and at first didn't run, but then took off when he found out that TO didn't false start. Bode's team decided that they couldn't win anyway, so they wanted to rest up for the next event. Probably a good idea as Dan Cortese pulled his hamstring during on of the later heats. Dan had to leave the competition, so they brought David Charvet back to replace him on Lisa Leslie's team. They wrote DAN on their arms (but not Jen.)

The 2nd event was a running long jump over a styrofoam bar in the water. Each person got to practice jump once, and TO cleared 20' for the longest jump of the day. They had the "celebs" jump first, so by the time it was the athlete's turn to jump, the tide had come in which raised the bar 3' up, making it harder to clear. Sure enough, the athletes kept hitting the bar. TO tried 20' again, but should have gone with 17' or 18' as he would have made it. Instead, he hit the bar. Estella Warren and the NBA guy finished last in both the relay race and the long jump, as BOTH of them hit the bar.

Once again, they screwed a team in order to have the "rubber match." While not as bad as last week's, there were 4 bottom teams, and the team in third had 10 more points than the team in 4th. It didn't matter, so Bode Miller's team had to compete against Julio Iglesias's team. Julio stumbled at the end of the runway and faceplanted onto the styrofoam bar, sending his team into the obstacle course, which is how it should have been anyway. Estella Warren and Robert Horry sucked the entire day, finishing last in all three events and they got the boot. Estella had once been an Olympic level synchronized swimmer, but she had a belly and looked much more "doughy" and out of shape compared to the other contestants, and Robert wasn't much better. They deserved to go.

Top Gear:

I actually watched 2 episodes this week.
The first aired Monday or Tuesday and involved the guys driving American Muscle Cars from San Francisco to the Salt Flats in Utah.
They joked that their Visas allowed for them to make "factual" tv, not "entertainment" as that was a different type of Visa. They said that they didn't realize the difference and didn't have time to change their Visas. The last time they were here, Jeremy apparently put a cow on the roof of his car or somesuch, so that didn't qualify as "factual" and the State Department gave them some lip when they came over this time. They allegedly were told that they could film here as long as it "wasn't entertaining."

The guys started by saying that American Muscle cars just don't make sense as they use too much gas, and can't be driven in Europe because the roads there aren't designed for them, and they're just not practical.

Jeremy drove a Corvette ZR-1, and at first didn't think he'd like it but ended up LOVING it. He said that Ferrari should take a drive in it and learn something from it. He said that it had a LOT of power, making it fun, but it also road well, and when taking it though a road that had a lot of turns, it handled even better. One segment that cracked me up was while they were in Reno, James went to a casino while Jeremy and Richard dragged raced and then both pulled alongside several parked cars and revved their engines so loudly that they set off the car alarms on all the cars that had them. Fun!

James started out by hating his Cadillac CTS-V. He actually owns a Cadillac, but a luxury one, not a muscle car. He hated that it had all this "needless" power when a Cadillac "should" be all about luxury. Once they hit the curvy roadway, though, he fell in love with how it handled the road with agility, power, and surprising grace.

Richard was supposed to drive a Dodge Challenger, but Chrysler wouldn't lend them one to drive because they claimed that Top Gear has "trashed" their cars in the past. So, "The Hamster" (who LOVES muscle cars and actually owns a "Bullitt" Mustang) allegedly bought a Challenger. He said that they normally cost about $45K, but because they were rare and in demand that he had to pay about $55K for his. He loved driving it on the open road, and loved the sound of the engine. On the curvy road, though, it didn't handle as well as the others. In the end though, Jeremy showed footage of all 3 of them smiling while driving and said that "American failed to make a practical muscle car...it made 3."

The second episode was on Thursday, I believe, and was the sequel to an earlier episode where the guys were supposed to make "aquatic" cars and sail them across a river. In that episode, Jeremy took a pickup truck and slapped an outboard motor on it. He was doing well until it took in water due to not being water proof, and it rolled over in the water. Richard tried to make a "cabin cruiser" but his also failed. James actually made it across in one of those cars that were designed to be driven in the water, but Jeremy claimed that he didn't quite make it since he wasn't able to drive it out of the river.

So this time, they modified their earlier ideas. Jeremy used foam and other stuff to seal up the insides of the truck, the wheel wells, and the engine. Richard did much the same, but his vehicle this time was pretty much a boat placed on a truck frame. James used the same car, but added a mast. This time, however, they were told to cross the English Channel into France. 22 miles!

On the first attempt, James couldn't steer correctly and he nearly crashed into a breaker wall, but was saved by the Coast Guard. Jeremy did ok, but the rough waters caused his truck to sink. Richard also couldn't survive the rough waters and turned around. On the second attempt, the waters were calmer but James' car sank and he ended up with Richard. Jeremy tried to make it out in the calmer waters, but also failed. Finally, they all piled into Jeremy's truck and tried to break Richard Branson's record of driving a car across the Channel in 100 minutes. They failed. But, they actually did make it across the Channel and drove out onto the shore...to the applause of dumbfounded French folks.

Pitchmen:

I've never seen this before, but it followed Billy Mays and his partner Anthony "Sully" Sullivan and how people would pitch them ideas and then if Billy and "Sully" believed in the product, Billy would do an infomercial about it.

The episode I saw was the "season finale" (which may now be the series finale) and it gave a recap of some of the products that didn't pass muster, and gave an update on some that had. A fireman invented a "dual saw" that cuts through just about anything and has sold $5 million worth! WOW! Another guy invented a magnetic tool belt that you wear on your arm, and he's sold millions as well. They also showed the Awesome Auger which has sold over $9 Million worth! Holy schnikes!

The first part of the episode dealt with them upset over the Sham-wow and the Slap-chop as both are similar to products that Billy has supported in the past...the Zorbeez and the Quick-Chop. It didn't help that both products Billy pitched were several years ago, while the 2 new ones were within that last 2 years. It also didn't help that some writer for Popular Mechanics compared the Zorbeez to the Sham-wow and said that the Sham-wow won "by a mile." Billy spent his own money (the product makers weren't initially behind a new infomercial) and made new spots for both products. At the shoot, Billy's dad and his son were all there, and all are named Billy Mays (Sr, Jr, and III.) The product infomercials were successful and led to a lot of new sales of both products.

The next part dealt with a contest between Billy and Sully who each had an hour at the Philadelphia Trade Show to pitch old products to the people there and see who could make the most money. Sully doesn't do much pitching, so he decided to cheat. He gave money to people walking around the show to act as "marks" to come up and buy the product (a shammy type mop that Sully had pitched on tv 15 years ago) to draw a crowd. He also sent 2 friends (a man and a woman) both disguised as bearded vagrant types to try to throw Billy off his game. None of it mattered as Sully sold just over $600 worth (including the "Marks") while Billy sold over $900 worth of a salsa maker that he also hasn't pitched in over 15 years.

The end of the show offered a tribute to Billy. So that was impressive to have the episode re-edited added onto to deal with Billy's death earlier this week. They'll also have a special tribute episode about him next Thursday.

I really didn't even know the name Billy Mays until last year. I'd seen the guy, but didn't pay attention to his name. I wasn't a big fan of his "shouting" style either, but it was effective. I will say that I give both of these guys a LOT of credit. They weren't just shills out there pushing anything. They cared about their reputations, and wouldn't pitch anything if it didn't work as advertised and wouldn't have a market. For instance, the magnetic arm toolbelt is one of those, "Why didn't I think of that" type of products, but OxyClean is what put Billy on the map and that was one of those "does it really work" things. I've read reviews of it, and yep, I guess it does. Anyway, Billy came across as intense, passionate, but a decent guy. In a week where the iconic "side man," "beauty," and "superstar" all died, Billy was the iconic "salesman" and his death at 50 also was much too soon. I don't know if this series will return, unless maybe "Sully" steps out from behind the camera, or Billy's son takes over for him...or they hire "Vince" who pitched the Sham-wow and the Slap-chop. Although that recent run in with the law probably wouldn't put Vince high on the list to succeed Billy.

Recap 6/21 - 6/24 2009

Next Food Network Star:

What.The.Frak? I am not sure if I've ever seen a "reality" competition show with a jerk like Teddy. Seriously. Also, how the FRAK could they decide to keep him over Eddie? Because Eddie lacks culinary knowledge (although he seemed to think he was "better" than home cook Melissa,) is THAT why they kept Teddy instead....because he has more knowledge? First, the look on Teddy's face was something else. Go to the NFNS homepage http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-next-food-n...star/index.html and look at the photo of Teddy & Eddie waiting to see who gets sent home. Teddy has this childish, hangdog expression on his face. I mean, it literally is like this emoticon :( What an @$$hat. Teddy hasn't shown me ANYTHING. It was odd that Bobby was so for Eddie going, while Bob wanted Teddy to go. They should have tossed them both. They have had weeks where nobody goes, so 2 go the following week. They could have made it so that the final 3 had to perform an extra task to make the episode count work out. WTFE.

I'm glad that Bobby called Eddie out for his obnoxious behavior toward Melissa. Let's see, Eddie, this is 2 weeks in a row where the judges liked her stuff, yet once again you ended up on the chopping block...and ultimately were sent packing. Next time you think you're $hit doesn't stink, you better make sure that you're food doesn't either.

This is still Jeffrey's to lose, and he even mentioned that he wanted to avoid that from happening. Sorry dude, it's all on you now. From the preview for next week, it looks like he stumbles, but it also looks like nobody will do well. There's NO WAY he'll go this early, unless he poisons the judges.

Kathy Griffin - My Life on the D-List:

The first part of the episode was about Kathy losing the Grammy for Best Comedy Album to the late great George Carlin. She KNEW that would happen. There was no way that they weren't going to give it to George even if it was the worst POS he ever put out (which it wasn't.)

The second part was about her trip to stay with Food Network star Paula Dean. A lot of people don't like Paula in that she often comes across as a drunken old horny hag, but I don't mind her in small doses. I thought she came off particularly well here, and it was funny that her assistant is gay...and a lush! Kathy actually seemed to love her time with PD and PD's family...especially her single son. I LOVED it that he gave Kathy a full on kiss when she left! He had given an interview where he said that he had no interest in Kathy...on any level. I'm sure that was set up for the show, but it was funny none-the-less.

Oh, and while I am STILL gonna cling to hope that Kathy takes pity on me and we start dating (call me Kathy!) I'm thinking that maybe I should focus on Tiffany, who I always thought was pretty, but now that she's slimmed down is SMOKIN'! Tiffany looks a little like Christina Ricci when Ms Ricci gained some weight in her late teens/early 20s. She needs to stop with her constant Pavlov's Dog reactions to laugh at anything Kathy says, she actually seemed to have embarrassed herself in Paula's kitchen when she laughed at one of Kathy's comments...that wasn't even funny. But, I do like it when Kathy does seem to genuinely crack her up.

Spectacular Spiderman:

Yes, I am a superhero mark. Sorry. Currently, I'm watching Batman: The Brave & The Bold, and Wolverine & The X-Men. Now SS has FINALLY returned for its second season. I had been saying that SS had the BEST first season of ANY superhero cartoon ever, and that was true...until Wolverine & The X-Men was released...but I'll keep that for another blog. Suffice to say, the episode of the X-Men that aired on Friday might have been one of the most amazing cartoons that I've ever seen.

Although SS has already aired in March elsewhere, Disney XD delayed airing it until now...for reasons that I'm not quite sure of. The story picked up right where it left off, making it seamless between the 2 seasons. Great idea!

Peter was surprise kissed by Gwen, and found out that Brock is Venom and thought that Venom/Brock was destroyed. Now, he has to try to sort out what is going on with Gwen and find out what has happened to Brock. In the meanwhile, the football QB's on and off GF Liz Allen has developed a real crush on Peter. Mary Jane, so far, is just a spectator.

Peter got a contract from the Daily Bugle, along with a stipend so he was able to buy a new camera...and some much needed skintight longjohns to wear under his costume to contend with the cold New York Winter. Also, at Norman Osborn's urging, Peter got his job back at Dr Connor's lab.

In the first of 2 episodes that aired, Spidey had to take on Mysterio who claims to be anti-technology and a true Master of the Arcane Arts. Turns out, he was the side-kick of The Chameleon from last season, and uses robots and a psychotropic/paralysis gas to affect his victims. At the end of the episode, we learn that Mysterio is working for someone calling himself The Master Planner...who sounded a bit like Tombstone to me.

In the 2nd episode, this huge Russian dude named Kravenov was hired by The Master Planner to hunt Spiderman. He hunts with a pet Lion at times, and the Lion tracked Peter's scent like a bloodhound and went to the Daily Bugle and then to Dr Connor's lab. At the lab, he came across the scientist brother of Peter's science teacher who was trying to perfect Dr Connor's Lizard Rejuvenation formula...against Dr Connor's wishes since it turned him into Lizardman. But this doctor saw an opportunity. He claimed that it was he who gave Spiderman his powers...at a steep price. Kravenov then paid to have himself injected with an electrified serum that mixed the DNA of a lion, cougar, and leopard. The result turned him into a Manimal, and now he calls himself Kraven the Hunter. With his new abilities, he tracked down Spiderman and thought that he'd now be able to beat him. He was wrong.

This series is probably geared to middle school aged kids and up, while Batman:TBTB is mostly geared for younger kids (but not always,) and W:XM is geared for teens and adults, but the writing and characterizations are very good for a cartoon series that is still geared primarily for pre-teens. I'm so glad that this is back, but I wish it was on Tuesdays, not Mondays, as there really isn't much on Tuesdays at the moment.

The Superstars:

ABC has revamped an old favorite. The Superstars used to be a Saturday morning sports show where pro athletes competed against each other in various physical competitions. Everything from races, to weight lifting. This new version features an athlete paired with a "celebrity." Some of the "celebrities" included Maks from DWTS, Ali Landry, and Dan Cortese who the announcer kept calling Dan Cortezzy, but I always thought Dan called himself Cortez? Maybe the Italian pronunciation is correct, and Dan just simplified it, but it was still odd.

Jennifer Capriarti came across as a bumbling idiot. She was not good at anything. But, if I was Terrell Owens, I'd have been livid with the show. First, I can't believe that TO agreed to do this show. Second, here's my issue. The rules stated that after 2 events, the Top 4 would move on, while the Bottom 4 would compete in an obstacle course where they would compete in pairs and the losers of each of the first pairings would then compete against each other with the losing team going home. At the end of the first 2 events, TO was in the Top 4 with 110 points. The teams in 5th and 6th place BOTH had 90 points, but the show was a SET UP and arranged to have the "middle 2" compete to see who would have to compete in the obstacle course. That's total BS. TO's team had 20 more points that the 5th place team, and how did they decide which of the 2 teams with 90 points was the "middle team?" Horse$hit. So, TO's team (he was paired with some model that I've never heard of) lost and went to the obstacle course. During the first race, TO got his foot stuck in a rope net, and his team lost. After which, his "teammate" bitched him out to the cameras..."He calls himself an athlete? He makes millions for what?" What a douchebag. Then, they ended up losing the elimination race...because of HER, and she still went on and on about him. She wouldn't let him speak to her, shake her hand, nothing. She just kept ragging on him. They played a soundbyte of TO saying that he felt sorry for her BF. So do I.

I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here:

I still think Stephen wasn't honest about why he left. I think he was told that his house might go to auction just before Father's Day, and so he had hoped to be booted on Thursday, be home to deal with his house, and be home for Father's Day. Saying that the bug bites finally got to him, just seems disingenuous.

For only an hour show, they killed a good 10-15 minutes having the "celebrities" recount their favorite moments out in the jungle...an excuse to air old footage to fill time. Heck, after each of the 2 "celebs" were booted at the end of the episode, they AGAIN showed each clips of their "jungle journey" as well as sentiments from the other remaining "celebs." So, for an hour show, they spent at least 15-20 minutes on "recaps."

2 "celebs" got the boot, and by no surprise the second one booted was Patti. I still am in shock that she lasted so long. But, even more shocking is who was booted first in the episode...SANJAYA! How the Frak did he get booted? I thought for SURE it would be Sanjaya and LDP in the Finals with either John or Torrie as the third. When John was revealed to have had the least amount of votes on Monday and beat Holly, sending her home, I thought that it looked to be a Sanjaya/LDP/Torrie finale. I guess it must have either been one of those things where his fans felt that he was safe and didn't vote for him, or the producers looked at the 2 "celebs" who WOULD have competed (had Stephen not left and Holly came back) and chose John to be the person to compete against Holly...since he's a Vegan and it required him to drink pureed insects. WTFE. I'm miffed that Jungle Boy won't be able to win. They told Sanjaya that out of 12 competitions that he competed in, he won 9 of them! Holy Schnikes! Holly had said when she got the boot last Thursday that she and Sanjaya were "just friends," but when she was back, it seemed to me that perhaps she may have realized that she felt differently after having been away from him. We'll see.

The funniest thing, for me though, is that Frangela seems to have been written out of the show. Since last week when they started promoting that the "celebs" who aren't in the jungle anymore would be back for the finale, they have NEVER, not once, showed their images among the returning "celebs." In fact, last night they showed EVERYONE, including Heidi and Spencer, Janice, Holly, Daniel, even Stephen...but not Frances and Angela. Weird. I would imagine that they WILL be there, as it is probably in their contract, unless they and NBC have agreed for them to not return. Of the "celebs," who were on the show, they were the lowest ranked "celebs" and have done NOTHING to bring ratings...so maybe NBC just doesn't care if they're there or not. Very odd.