Emmy?

So I watched tonight even though I feel this urge to protest a ceremony that honors Monk over and over and over and over, heck nominates the same people over and over and over and over, and constantly ignores the people who should get stuff.
Like the cast of Arrested Development. Zach Braff. Lauren Graham.

But then, Kiefer up and wins. So I'm a little forgiving. And then the Office.(watch it this next season if you don't already, fools). And now 24 wins.

Best parts of ceremony:
Conan stumbling into a house and finding Chris Hansen.
The ongoing Bob Newhart in an airtight container joke.
Colbert/Stewart and the Manilow.

Howie: Offensive but not Dumb

Here's an article with Howie from BB7 in TVGuide.com

I don't agree with everything Howie says or does but he hit it on the head about pregame alliances destroying the game this year.

Pretty pretty

Last night on Dirty Jobs, one of Mike’s assigned tasks was alpaca shaving! This was very exciting for me, as I love alpacas. He headed to an alpaca farm, where they raise alpacas for their fur. The alpacas didn’t seem to mind the shaving too much, although they did have them strapped in pretty good, so I wouldn’t have been able to tell if they were trying to squirm anyway. The best part of the whole thing was what the alpacas looked like after they were shaved. Have you ever seen a shaved alpaca? Looks like a completely different animal entirely. The white ones reminded me of Rudolph’s girlfriend in the claymation version of Rudolph.

Someone's Gotta Say It

In order to post this, I have to come clean: On any given weekend, you'll find me watching golf.
But I'm a fair weather golf watcher. I prefer to watch only if Tiger is playing; I may indulge if Phil Mickelson is playing but usually just Tiger. And I generally use golf to nap. Like it puts me to sleep.

But still, I have the golf on the tv. And it's time to note the most annoying thing on TV which is also the most annoying thing in professional sport: the "get in the hole" guy.

No doubt, you idiot. Tis the object of the game. But some drunken spectator inevitably feels the need to yell "GET IN THE HOOOOOOLE!" at each and every hole at each and every somewhat popular golfer.

My thoughts? I wish the PGA would fine the guys that do this. Escort them from the course and then fine them and then ban them from attending future golf outings.

They are seriously disrupting my nap-page.

Least Surprising Finale Ever!!

Tonight’s finale had many of the same elements we saw all season long on the results episodes: too much filler, performances by musical guests I could do without, and a lot of recapping.

There were more judges than usual on the panel for the finale, but they didn’t bother to get them a bigger table. Couldn’t they splurge a little? They all looked silly crammed in front of the little table together.

I enjoyed how each of the four finalists picked their favorite routine and then danced it again. I was happy to see Donyelle pick her broadway routine that she did with Benji to a song from Hairspray. It was one of my favorite routines of the season. I also liked Heidi’s park bench/flower routine much better the second time around. Not sure why.

They also had several routines from other top 10 dancers that they called “judge favorites,” but really are just tour previews I think. I was glad that my girl Allison danced. I look forward to seeing her on the tour. (Yes, I am going)

Each dancer also did a solo. Heidi was first and after she did her solo, Cat Deeley came over and told her sorry, but she was not the winner. It seemed too sudden and out of place, with over an hour still left in the show. Did Heidi know ahead of time that she would get her results after her solo? I hope so, because otherwise that is a bit mean to spring that on her.

When Donyelle was next up to solo, I knew she would not be winning. Certainly they would not announce the winner with an hour to go. And I was right. The winner would be one of the guys. Donyelle spoke about how she had given up on dancing, but that this competition had brought her back to her love of dance. I thought that was touching. I was not as upset as I thought I would be when she lost. I guess I did not hold out much hope of her winning.

About twenty minutes later, Benji came out to do his solo. Prince E shouted “Benji’s going!” because he assumed that they would announce Benji was not the winner when he finished his solo. I told him that they would never reveal the winner with over thirty minutes to go and I was right. Cat teased him/us by saying, “Benji, I am sorry... You will have to wait.”

That tease! Oh and what was Cat wearing tonight? Purple leopard? And so short? She had several weeks of elegant clothing, I was sad she went back to ugly for the finale.

After Travis’s solo, again he was told to wait. More dancing. More recaps. More plugs for the tour. More plugs for movies about dancing.

The top 20 did that monster routine again. The top 10 did the Chicago routine again. I guess they didn’t have time to choreograph/practice anything new.

Finally, with two minutes left, the winner was…Benji!!!
Okay, not much shock there.
Anyone surprised?

Then we saw a taped congratulatory video from Celine Dion, who Benji will soon be dancing for. I am a little insulted that Celine freakin’ Dion knew the winner before we did, but I guess if she is going to be his boss, she should know first.

Anyone else think that Travis might be secretly happy that he can go find work that doesn’t involve having to listen to Celine Dion night after night? I know I would be.

Although it is not technically TV, I will be posting my impressions of the tour, which comes to Chicago in late September.

So Here's The Thing

Chilltown obviously has some sort of alliance with every single member of the Big Brother House, except maybe George and maybe Marcellas. And this is an admirable way to play this game: deceive everyone, pit them against one another and hide until the end. It's not floating; it takes a lot of work to balance all these secrets.

However, it's still annoying because what alliance in the end is the one they really believe in...the one that's in power at the time? That weakens their game to me. I'm just not as interested unless I know for certain in the end who they really trust and want to bring to the final four or so. As a viewer, I'd prefer to know that there's a possibility that James could go up by them, that they'd protect Janelle, etc. Instead they wishy washy their way among everyone and it's ultimately annoying and less interesting to watch.

The Greatest Donkey of All

Heather wins! Of course she does. I mean, Virginia is an idiot. So what if she's got a great palate. She couldn't lead worth a damn ("I picked all the losers so I'd look better when I won."). And she's just stupid. Ugh.

The best part: the medley of Gordon's rants over the credits.
So that begs the question: What was your favorite Rant of the season?

Another side of Ramsey

Yesterday we came across another show staring Chef Ramsey. It is called “Ramsey’s Kitchen Nightmares” and airs on BBC America. In each episode, he goes to a struggling restaurant and aids the owner in making certain changes to improve the restaurant. Although he did curse a lot in the show (I heard the constant beeping coming from the other room where it was on and I thought some piece of electrical equipment was failing), he is definitely a softer, kinder chef. I really liked seeing him in this show and I imagine that it captured his day-to-day personality better than what we see on “Hell’s Kitchen.” He certainly did not take any crap from anyone, and his temper was still there, but it was easier to see a connection between his critiques and fixing the restaurants.

The one episode that I saw in its entirety featured an American woman who had opened up a soul food restaurant in Britain, which was having poor sales. Chef encouraged her to stay out of the kitchen and leave the work to her chef, who she paid more than herself, and rely more on her personality to entice the customers to return. He also taught her about making her menu simpler, tips for getting weekday diners, and how to promote herself. He had her go stand out on the street handing out samples of her ribs. He also told her that she needs to use more discipline on her employees, who were often 30 minutes or more late each day. All of his tips were wildly successful (as I would imagine happens in most of the episodes of this show).

This show certainly makes me see what a talented and gifted chef he really is and how he has tremendous business sense for what it takes to make a restaurant work. It is unfortunate that this type of show is not what makes prime time in America. Perhaps it is because you can actually (gasp!) learn something from it.

Donkey Kitchen Finale

I wondered today if it really mattered who wins this edition of Hell's Kitchen. I mean, would you go to a restaurant run by either of those idiots?

Rigged?

Now that there's been a new HOH competition to make up for the screw ups during the live show last night, and a new person is HOH, there are rumblings on the internet and in the house that the show is being rigged to favor one guest or group of guests.

Are they kidding? If they were rigging this thing, don't you think Kaysar'd still be there? He's the most popular guest there.

BB House Gets Whole Lot Uglier

So Kaysar is gone. And so is the cutest houseguest.

I don't know that I get what the coup d'Etat means.

I no longer care who wins. James is a jerk.

Dancing Finale

The big finale last night was pretty good, although it annoys me to no end that we have to wait an entire week for the results. I am sure the results will be revealed in the last 30 seconds of the show, too, after lots of useless crap. Although they did say the top 20 would be back next week, so that should be fun.

Last night, as promised, all the dancers danced with each other, even the other dancers of the same gender. My memory is so bad, that I cannot remember if they did this last year or not.

Couples dances
Heidi and Travis did disco, which I thought was fun. I liked Benji and Donyelle’s Viennese Waltz and thought it was very pretty. I obviously know nothing about waltz, however, because all of the judges said it was awful. Travis and Benji were up next, with a hip-hop routine. I thought it was a funny concept, as they played two “nerds” who then started doing hip-hop. It was pretty entertaining, but I think that Benji’s butt-shaking is now as over-done as Dmitry’s shirt removal.

Doneylle and Heidi did a Broadway routine to a song from “Sweet Charity.” I went to see that musical when the Christina Applegate version had its debut here before heading to Broadway. It is one of two musicals that I ever walked out on (the other being a really bad version of Showboat that my mom and I still mock to this day). For that reason, I wasn’t really feeling the music. I thought their dancing was very good. The judges slammed them for their lack of personality, which, for these two, is kind of a surprise. Maybe they just don’t work well together or maybe their weird false eyelashes were bugging them, I am not sure.

Travis and Donyelle did a “blues contemporary” routine, which was danced to Ray Charles’s “Georgia on My Mind.” It was really great and they were fabulous. The final couple dance, to no one’s surprise, was cousin-duo Heidi and Benji. I said if they got swing dancing, we would know it was rigged, but they ended up with salsa. They were great, as expected. They really do dance together so easily.

Solos
Heidi’s solo was good and was similar to her other solos, except that this time she had a giant peacock tail on her rear end. Donyelle’s solo was a little different than her last one, but the boys seemed to be pulling out the re-runs again. It is to the point now when Travis dances that we yell, “time for the spin Travis,” and then, inevitably, he will spin. I understand signature moves and all that, but I am tired of the spinning.

The last dance of the evening put all four together. I thought they all did well, but the judges gave kudos to Travis over the rest of them. I wonder if it was an attempt to skew votes one way or the other.

Some other things to note:

* Cat Deeley’s outfit reminded me of the hershey kiss costume my mom made for me for Halloween when I was in the seventh grade, only not as poofy. I could have done without the “I wanna spin you like a disco ball” banter between her and Nigel. Ew.

* Mary Murphy has truly lost it. First the screams, then the dancing in her seat, and last night, she had a conversation with her hand. And the hand had a different voice. What is this woman on??

* The show did another shameless promotion for that dance movie, having the finalists go to the premiere.

Who will win? I honestly do not know. Benji seems to be the crowd favorite of the people in the theater, although Travis has been getting lots of cheers as well. In terms of the home viewers, I am at a loss as to how they will vote. It took me a few tries to get through on both Donyelle and Heidi’s lines, but I don’t think that proves anything. (Yes, I voted). I hope one of them wins, but I don’t think I will be torn up if one of boys wins instead.

Who do you all think will win?

Whatever

So Janelle easily won Veto and took herself off the block much to the dismay of the majority of the house.
Danielle got solitary confinement for 24 hours and while the edited CBS version makes it look like that made her stronger, in reality, the feeds showed that she spent much of that time crying and talking about wanting to go home. At least if you believe the feed transcribers.

So now Kaysar is up despite an attempt by Will and James to get Marcellus up. Will is so stirring the pot. He may actually win this again if he keeps the right people in the house. It's looking like Kaysar's going home this week which just sucks because they totally need to find a way to not put up people who haven't had a chance to defend themselves. It's silly.

RIP K-Grease

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY VIRGINIA IS STILL IN HELL'S KITCHEN.
Sorry for the all caps, the yelling. I'm just not into Virginia and the thought that she's going to win makes me mad. I see flaws in Heather, don't get me wrong, but Virginia is a mess. Sure, she can muster up confidence and bark like Ramsay after he teaches her to do so...and she makes creative dishes. But she's an awful cook! It's not really fair to the rest of the chefs in the kitchen if she wins.

I half expected Ramsay to get rid of Heather, even when he had Keith and Virginia standing up there at the end.

I love the challenges on this show. So much more appropriate for the prize compared to Apprentice.

So obviously, in the end, I want Paranoid Heather to win.

That begs the question, is Heather right about Virginia? Keith had the guts to tell Ramsay to his face...Virginia obviously has a crush on Ramsay and she's used to it her advantage. But did she "cheat" with the cook book?

Black Widow My A**

So Danielle wins HOH and puts up Janelle and James, with James as a pawn. She strutted around like a big hot shot after getting HOH - does anyone else find this reminds them of Jen last year, taking the HOH over Kaysar?

Anywho, there's this big speech of hers about how tough she is when in reality, Howie and Erika could have outlasted her but she made deals with them.

I'm still trying to figure out the point of Erika in this game.

Also, Marcellas TOTALLY had to be talked into giving George the slop pass. You could see Danielle telling him to do it and his immediate reaction was like that of a two year old being told "no." Then he goes around and makes a big deal about his big heartedness for doing so...

Whatever.

At this point, I'm starting to want WILL to win again. At least he's playing the game. James is just playing a sloppier version of Will's game so Will should get it over him.

The Final Four

First up, I would like to point out that last season, the show was called So You Think You Can Dance? (with the question mark). This year, no question mark. I just noticed this yesterday. I apologize for having used the question marks in my previous discussions of the show. I never thought the question mark made sense and all last season I wanted them to get rid of it. Then they did and I didn’t notice. Anyway, moving on...

I finally picked the two ousted performers: Natalie and Ivan. They didn’t seem too surprised that they were out, nor did they seem too upset. Anyone notice that Natalie cried way less when other dancers got kicked off than when she did? Strange. I did like that they showed my girl Allison in crowd. Yay!

I really think that they should not tell the judges who has been voted off before it is announced on the show. It really skews their comments to each dancer during earlier parts of the episode and you can tell from what they say who is leaving. For example, if Nigel says, “you have a long career ahead of you,” that means you are going to leave and have a long career somewhere else. Also, if they gush and gush over you, you are staying. They would not gush over someone who was leaving, because then they would look silly. Well, except for Mia Michaels and her gushing over Ivan.

I do not understand why Mia Michaels loves Ivan so much, but doesn’t like Donyelle. At least last year her love-interest made sense; it was that professional (egotistical) lyrical dancer, who got voted off because he was a jerk, despite being very good. But Ivan? Not sure why she is so impressed by him.

Also, why was Cat Deeley so impressed with Natalie when she said “Opa!” after discovering she was voted off? She really went on and on about how great a line that was for way too long. Maybe they don’t have a lot of Greeks in the U.K. and she never heard anyone say it in person before? I really don’t understand.

The heavy plugging of other projects by Nigel is really getting on my nerves. It is fine if he wants to brag about the ratings of the show or talk about the tour (which I may just have to partake in), but does he really need to manipulate his comments to one of the dancers so that he can plug “Step it up,” or whatever that new dance movie is called? So irritating.

We are down to the final four: Benji, Heidi, Travis, and Donyelle. I am pretty happy with who is left. I am not sure how the rest of the season will go, because they said next week will be the final performance show. If they explained how the rest of the competition will go, I must have missed it. I really wish they would explain things better on the show; it seems like they keep changing the format/rules and not explaining it fully. Of course I was unpacking during the last two nights’ episodes, so I might have missed the explanation.

BB Losers

I mean, they spend an entire hour practically staging a revolution against Janelle but none of them had the guts to follow through with all their big talk about not evicting Diane just to show up Janelle. It's a bit silly.

I think they all know Erika is not going to make any big moves so keeping her is safer. Duh.

Now the big endurance HOH begins. It'll be interesting to see if James can hold on and get HOH and then evict Janelle. Also: what's up with the coup d'etat?

Just not the same.

The show makes me a little sad now that Allison is gone. Having her leave and Natalie stay last week has made me not like Natalie at all. As a result, I only half-watched her performances with Ivan: the jive and contemporary. I thought Ivan was pretty bad at the contemporary. He seems so stiff. I think that is the one type of dance where his youthfulness shows through and hinders his performance.

Donyelle and Benji did hip-hop and Broadway. Both routines were decent, although I was not as impressed with this Broadway routine as I was with some in the past. I still think Benji looks goofy doing hip-hop. He certainly seems made for Broadway, though. I thought Donyelle was great, but I fear she might be leaving tonight. I hope that is not the case. By the way, her name is really not that difficult to pronounce, but some of the judges can’t seem to get it right. Previously she was called Danielle, and last night one of the judges called her Donelle.

Heidi and Travis did pop and smooth waltz. The pop routine had a lot of African influence and I really liked it. We are to the point in the season where there are not a lot of new and exciting routines, so it was nice to see some originality. Their waltz was enjoyable as well. I think Heidi is definitely the girl to beat, although she will probably lose out on the overall title her cousin.

Does anyone else think Heidi looks like she could be Reese Witherspoon’s sister?

All the dancers did solos, although nothing really stood out to me. It seems like they all do variations on previous solos and don’t really take too many risks.

One last thing. Cat Deeley’s hair. Although it looked like it took a long time to do it like that and it looked very pretty from the front, the back looked like she just woke up from a nap.

Who I like to see leave: Ivan and Natalie

James V. Janelle

I'm not sure what to think of what is transpiring on BB right now. James and Janelle have separate strategies and can't seem to make them coexist. James thinks they should get Will and Boogie out...but Janelle (and Kaysar) realize they aren't much of a threat...so get the floaters out because they are the ones casting votes that are unpredictable in the end.

Meanwhile, I wonder if James trying to take out Janelle and break up the alliance is real or not. James is just as treacherous as Janelle. He's the one with the secret alliance with the other side.

I'm back to just wanting kaysar to win.

Stupid COW!

Last night on Hell's Kitchen, Ramsey FINALLY got rid of Sara, the argumentative COW. Sorry, just too funny how much he called her a cow.

She deserved to go. Virginia sucks at service, that's true. But Virginia is creative when it comes to making menu items...Sara served quail at a construction site. Hello? Virginia was the smartest at that one. She made a panini; better than standard catering truck fare, but with chicken which most people eat. Quail?

I'm not sure if it'll be KGrease or Heather at this point. I loved loved loved the "twist" where he took Virginia off being safe, Heather put her up thinking she'd go home for sure and then Virginia backed off the whole "I don't deserve to be here" crap.
Too damn funny. As the hubby said, best way ever to have Sara sent home.