Project Runway - Bright Lights, Big Mouths

My love/hate relationship with Project Runway is becoming more intense with each passing week. As much as I am a fan of Kenley (and I was raving about her last week), I couldn't get into her balloon -half-purple-ass-dress that she put together this week. The Judges loved it and thought it was astounding. There are some things in fashion that I will never understand.

I was happier to see that the designers were a bit more creative in the Photo Challenge this week, and that some of them really stepped out of the box and found images that were completely abstract (Keith, Terri and Stella were creative, Blaine was just a stoner about the whole thing) to work with. I like seeing the creative process but was in hysterics with Stella and her camera woes and then the whole bitchfest with Keith. Stella is one of the best characters this season (and if you don't like her you know she doesn't give a frack). There seem to be quite a few of the designers that talk big this season and they don't always have the goods to follow through with. This would probably be the best point to mention that if Suede does not stop talking about Suede that he might get a drastic alteration to that big mouth of his like getting it sewn shut. That whole 3rd person thing is so last decade and irritating as hell.... Fitting in with the big mouth theme of this evening is guest judge Sandra Bernhard. I loved Sandra in things like Roseanne, but fashion isn't one of the things that come to mind when I see her and I don't see the rapport with her being there and I wonder why ... but then I should be careful as the last time I made a comment around her she made sure to give her two cents worth (the infamous Madonna comment on another blog) and I don't want to piss her off .. but I do know she has a big mouth and that is how it fits right into the theme of this episode.

I think one of the other outstanding big mouth moments of the evening was the whole thing between Tim and Emily. Tim voices his opinion for a reason ... and if he is concerned with your design it's more than likely for a damn good reason. Emily made the decision to go her own way and was shooting off her mouth about feeling secure about her design choices and ignoring Tim. You can probably read the writing on the wall after that one...

For the life of me, I can not see how/why the baked one (Blaine) slid through this round -- his dress was worse than the one eliminated. His 'design' looked like a black dress that Walt Disney sneezed on. Keith is quickly proving that he is just a pretty face with his post it note dress and he hasn't really been knocking anything out of the park. I really thought that Terri did one of the best jobs (and her ensemble was a great representation of her photo of graffiti) and deserved the win, and that's why she got the blog spot. Leanne's dress was incredible and nicely inspired by her organic sensibilities. Stella did another rocking outfit and I don't think she gets the credit she deserves. Unfortunately, Emily's dress was chosen as the worst (I still have reservations about that, Jennifer's design was drab and Blaine was atrocious) and she was aufed. Next week is some Olympic influenced event but later in August RuPaul is dropping by and that should be a very fine evening indeed.

Shear Genius - Clipping an Angel's wings

I honestly can't see how things could have gone as wrong as they did last night in the Shear Genius Charlie's Angels Challenge.... but unfortunately my friends they did.

Things start off great, we have the shortcut challenge and Charlie wins (much to Dee's dismay) and he gets to choose the teams for the next Challenge. As we all know, it's the Charlie's Angels Challenge complete with Rene doing his European version of Charlie and chatting with the stylists by intercom. The Challenge goes on with not too much drama, but you can tell that things are not as rosy as they should be.
We finally get the chance to see Kate Jackson (still looking great, and once she relaxed she was quite interesting) and Jaclyn Smith reunite, and all of our teams of stylists present their modern take on the 3 iconic hair styles of the original Angels.

Now... that sounds like a great, fun and interesting challenge .... but unfortunately the result was terrible and none of the stylists won. Not a single one .... and that is a very sad state of affairs when you have one of the icons in front of you everyday during the competition and you can't do a decent adaptation of her hair style? It's just a sad, sad state of affairs.....

All I can really say is that I was very disappointed with the results and it was too bad that Charlie wasn't a participant (he had this weird exemption from winning the Short Cut Challenge) and even our big gay boys Daniel and Paulo couldn't do much. It was just a big mess left and right. Jaclyn and the judges made sure that they made a point of saying how disappointed they were (and rightfully so) before cutting Glenn. Remarkably, Nekisa was in the bottom 2 again yet still lives to style another day -- that will certainly give Charlie more ammo for some upcoming bitch sessions. Now if I can just get this bad taste out of my mouth all will be better...

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Problem Solved!

After 6 months of competition (and yes, that is a hell of an audition for a role), the voting was finally tabulated and Canada got it's Maria for the upcoming revival of the Sound of Music.

The crowd was certainly alive last night as Elicia was chosen as Maria and knocked Robo-Maria (Janna) on her schnitzel.

I was happy to see that it was a girl with warmth, heart and innocence that won. I was seriously concerned for the past few weeks that Janna was going to win (she seemed to be the Judges' favorite) but it appears that this voting thing actually paid off.

It was a shame that we didn't get to see all the other girls before the big reveal (if they do something like this again, they really need to have a clue about how to put a show like this together) as I wanted to see their reaction to who won. Would it have been shock or awe that it wasn't Robo-Maria? I actually missed seeing Simon the past couple of episodes as I wanted to see how he would react to the winner.... maybe there will be a follow up on the website.

Congratulations Elicia! I really hope to get the chance to see you perform and am sure that you will do a great job.

Reality Round Up - Overlooking Perfection

My favorite ("Squinty" as I like to call her), didn't take home the win last night in this season`s finale of the Next Food Network Star, but I am still really impressed with runner up Lisa Garza and think that she still has a chance to go far in her chosen career.

Lisa is such a perfectionist that she came with 3 complete concepts to the table when it was time to shoot a pilot for the final judging. I sure as hell didn't see the other 2 guys thinking that far ahead, and really think that they went more for personality than content. When she did her pilot promo and emphasized that her sauce was not intended to drown the fish but to accessorize it she had me completely sold. Not only does she know her stuff, but has a great way of getting it across in a fun way that combines fashion and food.. and I don't think you can go wrong with that. Here's hoping that someone wakes up and gives her a show.

I was still surprised that it was "Big Daddy" (Aaron) that won it all as I never really found his food sensibility that interesting and always looked at him as in last place. Adam had better personality and his concept was more interesting, but Judges are Judges and it appears that they know what they are doing, I just don't think that I will watch a show with Aaron hosting it.

Things have almost wrapped up on HGTV's Design Star, and if I hadn't made the commitment to see it through to the end I wouldn't be watching at this point. Matt has talent as a carpenter and designer, but he hasn't "wowed" me in weeks. The other finalist, Jennifer, hasn't impressed me on any level but keeps my attention (I am usually screaming at the TV -- NO! Don't do it!)by continually painting beautiful natural wood furniture glossy white. The competition has been dull to say the least and I would rather watch paint dry. At least we find out who wins next week ... I still feel things are being manipulated by the Judges and that Jennifer got the more likeable family to design for and that will make a difference in voting. I am more excited about seeing the new HGTV Summer Showdown series and seeing some better design work. I have to say that Bravo's Top Design was wayyyy more interesting than this last competition and am looking forward to seeing more of that before another run on this show.

High School Musical - Get in the Picture is in that phase of fishing for talent -- and Disney is so wholesome that I can't handle it and feel like I am drowning in niceness and although I might check it out once we get down to a Top 10 situation, it is more than likely my High School Musical experience will be kept limited to the films.

American Gladiators has continued being a great hit at home, and I love the fact that they have brought back most of the original games and added some great new ones. The pantheon of Gladiators is huge (I can't believe how HUGE the Beast is -- the guy is over 7 feet tall and weighs 310 pounds --yikes!) and I have never seen such a variety of Gladiators. Things are in the semi finals now and the competition is fierce, and the only way it can get better is to bring it back for more. Maybe some celebrity action could be fun too...

The Mole bored me so quick that it vanished off the Watch List in record time and I just realized that it is still on ... here's hoping they don't repeat that mistake again. Did anyone really understand what the competition was?

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - End Game

Finale week is finally here -- and after all the drama of the past few weeks it's finally down to fresh faced Elicia (my choice) or Janna (the Maria clone).

The Judges were short one last night as Simon had personal business (things were a tad less twitchy last night), and his royal whatever Andrew was feeling a bit under the weather and I was just waiting to see how obvious they were going to make their choices. I still think that have already decided on their winner and are just playing along until they can reveal who the winner is.

As the girls got whittled down from 3 to 2, there were several comments thrown out that made it clear that Jayme was too sexy for the role of Maria (as I have been saying for weeks), and we found out the Janna got the most votes and would be part of the final vote. Janna is too polished and too perfect for the role, and she lacks the wide eyed innocence that I see in Elicia. Maria is innocent and not some fembot. Needless to say, all of my votes went to Elicia and I hope to see her in the winner's circle tonight. Hopefully the Judges feel the same way, and from a few of their comments you might think that will be the outcome but stranger things have happened.
I for one, am just glad that it is over.

Weekend Rant - Hits and Misses

This week may have seemed to be a shocker for a lot of So you think you can Dance? fans as golden boy Will hit the road, but if you look over his little bio that played during the competitions this week (they were doing individual spotlight stories on each dancer and finding out why they dance) I think it may have given the impression that Will was already very blessed as far as dance life went. The guy had already been given a scholarship with dance Über goddess Debbie Allan, and I think this may have made people less likely to vote for him, as the people does love an underdog. Unfortunately Comfort was let go of this week also (and for her, this was the second and final time) and in her case I think she is being out danced by the other remaining girls.

I guess this means that Debbie Allen will be back as a guest judge soon.

As for this week -- if you didn't see that fantastic Mia Michael's contemporary number with Twitch and Katee you missed a great and original piece of dance using a free standing door as a prop. It was more fantastic stuff and another example of Mia's tortured brilliance. I was still surprised that Mark hung around (must be that underdog syndrome) but glad the Joshua and Twitch live to dance another week. I don't want to jinx things but Twitch and Katee have been great so I hope they make it to the end. This might be the second year in a row that one of the girls takes home the title, which is kind of ironic considering that Katee was so close to being canned in Vegas.

My newest (and getting to be one of my favorite new series) is the wacky spoof of reality shows on Comedy Central called Reality Bites Back. Each week, the team of comedians (including one of my favorites from last year's Last Comic Standing, Amy Schumer) spoof a reality show to hilarious results. So far they have done "Extreme Manipulation: Home Edition" and "Shock of Love" and in upcoming episodes, you'll be treated to "Almost-American Gladiators," "Hunting With the Stars," (too bad it's not Hunting the stars) "So You Think You Can Dive," (which is brilliant) "The Amazing Disgrace," (the best title out of all the spoofs) "The Biggest Chubby” (not what you might think it is..) and what spoof would not be complete if there wasn't a parody of Survivor and American Idol all rolled up together and mixed with a bit of Hell's Kitchen called "American Surv-idoler's Kitchen". Personally I think this has been long overdue and the comedians have been hilarious so far. Michael Ian Black is hilarious as the host -- and you can see how he relishes tearing a strip out of pop culture... and putting in all those awkward pauses.

Project Runway is not hitting it out of the park this season, and I don't know if it's just me, but I am finding the quantity of designers overwhelming at this point. Last week the challenge was interesting (even if the end result was not so) but this week's "Green" challenge left me cold as it was the models choosing the fabric.

Talk about the blond leading the blond -- these girls have no concept on fabric (what?) and I felt as panicked as the designers about having to work with some unknown fabric bought by some ditz.

I am not really following the Judges this year either, as I was not too impressed with Suede's winning design (yawn) and was much more impressed with Kenley and am really starting to warm up to her Vintage vibe. I nearly had kittens when my favorite from last week, Korto, was in danger of being eliminated. I wasn't following her design vibe this week and seriously thought her dress was inside out for part of the show. I think the comment about the model having fins on her ass (courtesy of Michael Kors) spoke volumes in it's self.
My dear Stella (Cheroin) did a nice cocktail dress that was totally her vibe -- and got some good feedback from the Judges. I think she is one of the most vocal of the gang (she knows how to bitch like a real pro) and I have visions of her and Tim butting heads. Let's see the Silver Fox talk his way out of this one.

I think things will get more interesting once more of the Designing herd has been culled (I am all for multiple eliminations at this point) but there is still something different about this season that I can't put my finger on yet.... is Bravo trying to sabotage things with the show leaving to the Lifetime network after this season? Stranger things have happened... it was a shame to see Wesley get aufed this week though, he was cute and a good designer (and Leanne was worse than he was) and I thought his fashion sensibility was cute and modern.

I am still a little miffed about Kathy Griffin and her recent appearance in Montréal (not to mention the snubbing of her gays) so the only comment that I have about this week's episode of My Life on the D List is that Bora Bora was boring and a yawn fest. I prefer my Kathy that rips a new one in the celebrities and is not all about some psycho idiot and a bunch of straight people on some fake gay holiday.
See what happens when you piss of your gays Kathy?
You know how vicious we can be -- snap - snap - snap.

Shear Genius has been putting me on an emotional roller coaster for the past couple of weeks. First there was the much lauded departure of that Dye Job Disaster, Meredith, but it was combined with my favorite, Charlie, wasting his immunity and doing a crappy job. This past week was all about doing a look with a wig (a very difficult challenge as if you make a mistake you can't do anything about it) and Charlie bombed once again. It was also the most emotionally manipulated episode with our models and their terrible Alopecia affliction. We had stylists crying left and right and it was all a bit too much and over the top. You would think that there were people dying but it must be a stylist's biggest fear: bald. That doesn't seem to really phase Charlie and at least he made it through (helmet head and all) but please Judges, Nekisa just has to go, you might have noticed that she is always in the bottom 2. I will be literally having kittens this Wednesday night when it will be the Charlie's Angels reunion episode. Jaclyn Smith is looking as fabulous as ever ..... now if we can only get Farrah Fawcett to join them it would be Sheer Perfection.

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Week 5

After the complete debacle of last week and the exit of Donna, the Couch Potato is still a little miffed and still feels like Diva Donna was forced off by stacking the odds against her. I wonder if the Freedom of Information Act would give me access to the voting records, I still have a problem believing that Donna's legions of fans left her hanging... but then again this is probably just another one of those random rants.

Conspiracy theories aside -- I do have to say the "surprise" appearance of Lord Webber last night left me with a bad taste in my mouth. I loved the bit with John Barrowman (those lucky girls) and he just reinforced his sexy image. Elaine had to start dropping names and after mentioning Richard Geer, the fricking Lord of Whatever made a bitchy comment about gerbils.
Puhleese, that is not behaviour befitting the most common folk -- let alone a so called Lord. Just nasty stuff. Simon didn't do much but live up to his name of Sir Twitches-a-lot. Thankfully Gavin is there to keep things semi-serious, I am starting to find his hosting style quite amusing.

As for our Marias --- Janna is completely boring me to tears at this point and I don't want to see her as Maria now, I still don't see Jayme as Maria (as I have said for weeks), Marisa disappointed last night with her performance so I gave all my votes to Elicia. She did a great job last night and hope to see her in the final Maria Show Off. I almost tried to vote for Donna anyways last night.

Weekend Rant - Reality Round Up

So you think you can Dance continued with eliminations this week and the Top 10 was reduced to the Final 8.

Unfortunately that meant the end of Gev, who in my humble opinion, went way beyond his B Boy roots to be a great competitor on the show. I had Mark pegged for leaving and was quite surprised that Gev had gotten less votes ... I thought the guy was cute and charismatic and had the chance to go far.... anyways buddy, you were a pleasure to watch and it will be fun to see you bust a move later in the season when they bring back the Top 10.

My money is still on Mark to be the next guy to go ... he moves okay but is lacking some of the technique the other dancers have. The way things are developing you might be seeing Debbie Allen's protege, Will , taking home the title this year. The guy is drop dead gorgeous, has incredible technique and is willing to run around mostly naked. I think he will be getting quite a few votes from the boys and girls out there in TV land.
On the girl's side of things, I was happy to see Comfort hang around for another week. Her look in the opening Bollywood number was astounding -- wow -- and I loved the number. At this rate we should start seeing a whole plethora of dance styles by the end of the season and I think it will add some interesting challenges to the competitors. I do find it interesting that if the Judges do not mention the choreographer during their summation of the performance, they didn't really like the work they created. Luckily, there hasn't been that many "bad numbers" so far (a few questionable ones maybe...) and it looks like the dancers are being kept on their toes. Unfortunately for Kherington it's the end of the line, but I was kind of getting bored with her. Courtney & Joshua, Comfort & Twitch and Katee & Will were all outstanding and I expect to see them around for the next while.

Project Runway returned this week with a whole new pack of designers. Not only was it a fun episode, but they brought back one of my favorite challenges from the very first season, the infamous grocery store challenge. Putting a bit of fabulous icing on that cake was the introduction of guest Judge Austin Scarlett and our merry band of designers are sent off with not much money or time to get their supplies.

Now maybe I am getting a tad jaded after several seasons of this show.. but I was getting a frustrated as Tim was with the number of participants who chose tablecloths as their main fabric. I was hoping for some creativity in base materials and only a few of the designers rose to the challenge.Thank god Tim Gunn was around to state the obvious and tell them to more than "make it work", but that they had to step it up also and show their creativity.

There is no way that I can do the show enough justice, and if you want to read the best dirt about all the competitors, you have to read Project Rungay for the absolutely best commentary about all the contestants. If I have a blog idol it is definitely my sisters over there -- they are beyond fierce.

I have thank them up front for their perfect name for one of my favorite competitors of this season, our kind-of-reminds-me-of Cher designer herself, the rock chick Stella. Project Rungay calls her Cheroin and it works for me -- ( I hope you don't mind if I borrow... my first impression of her was that she was Cher on acid ). I love Stella! Cheroin and can hardly wait to see what she will create next. She seemed quite off with her choice of garbage bags, and I just wish that she had gotten her rock ass in gear earlier instead of being all distracted by the whole situation. Cheroin was this close to leaving and I hope she gets it together for the next Challenge.

Do I really need to talk about our (and not half baked but more than over baked) baked one? Seriously -- I have no idea what the Judges were thinking (I do have to say that I do appreciate the level of fear the contestants view Nina with) but did Blayne really survive this week with that disaster he threw together to go down the Runway? Puhleese.... if baked boy is kept around just for the shock factor can he at least do something half interesting?

It goes with out saying that Keith is this year's hunky designer but I was a little disappointed with his choice of tablecloth ... I hope things improve or we might not get to see much of him, or his nipple rings and that would be a shame. That look in his hoodie was hot stuff ....

As for my faves of this week, our winner, Kelli, went out of the box completely and dyed and tinted vacuum bags and burnt coffee filters to make her dress. She did tons of accessorizing and did the most creative job (and most artistic) and clearly deserved the win. She did ... but for me the "eye popper" was the simple, yet impeccable, paper dress made by Korto. She put on this great kale/tomato/pepper trim that was beautiful. She was the only contestant to use living produce and that won lots of admiration. I really like her and her design aesthetic, and she is one of my choices for the finales -- and gets her very fine design up on the blog.

Daniel did a great job with his plastic cup cocktail dress, which was a very creative use of materials. Jennifer did a nice job with her dress made of lipstick and paper towels, and Terri blew me away with her use of macrame and mop heads to braid together her top. Leanne and Joe put some effort into using stuff like candy and pasta for materials but the majority of designers played it too safe for my taste. I think they will be pushed harder next week and am really looking forward to seeing how they will be tested.

Heidi looks as fabulous as ever!

Celebrity Circus finished up the season with all of the Celebrities returning for an encore performance and we got treated to an incredible performance by Judge Aurelia Cats.

Blu Cantrell started the show off by singing one of her hits, and proving once again that she is some bad ass Diva by doing some completely passive spinning on the Cerceau. Yawn, I was happy when that was over with but she does have a lovely voice. Too bad it's such a bad attitude that comes with that package ... you just know that the only way in hell she was going to go back on that stage was if she could do her thing and she played all bitchy walking by Aurelia a;; "in your face". No worries, our Catty Judge got very sweet revenge on all the celebrities by doing the most amazing trapeze act. O M G. That woman knows what she is talking about (and the flexibility -- ouch!) and I think she gained a ton of new found respect from the viewing public and the participants.

It was quite enjoyable to see all the professionals perform again -- there are some very talented people behind the scenes or in supporting roles and it's nice to see them get the credit that they deserve. Those circus folk are sure easy on the eyes ... I look at this as a bit of a warm up for the Olympics next month and we get to see all the gymnasts perform and sit in complete awe.

Janet Evans did another fearless number (that girl has got guts), we caught up with Christopher Knight (who is still recovering from that twice broken arm) and got some nice, behind the scenes of the cable guys. Rachel Hunter came back to do a nice number (cerceau again, but more flattering than the hammock act). After way too many recaps and road to the finale montages we finally get a final performance from the Final 3. Wee Man does his Partner Balance thing, Stacey is flying around in the air as well as Antonio. All of them do nice jobs and it's a highly electric carnival atmosphere. What I don't understand is the pace of the show and the continual Top 3 montages, and before you know it Wee Man is eliminated and it's down to Antonio and Stacey for the trophy. For some reason we don't see any more of the Judges (huh?) and it ends up with Antonio taking home the Wheel of Death Trophy (it's bedazzled to death so it's not that scary). I am not sure if am more impressed with the trophy or that bulge in Antonio's tights ... it's all pretty distracting. After all of the glitter,drama and tights, here's hoping they do another season !

Leaving the D List - Kathy's vanishing act

Thursday night was one of those dream nights -- the kind where you finally get the chance to see one of the stars you love "live and in person" and get to see and hear them unedited. In Kathy Griffin's case, it's great to hear her in all her glory and I was impressed with seeing the opening number from the A List Awards at the Just for Laughs festival. Kathy was a pretty good host, and the overall feeling was that she did a great job (they rated her at the Gazette after and want her to do a full show next year)...Kathy said she had been here all week (umm not true but I guess that is creative licence for performing) but she pulled out more french than expected. I do appreciate that local touch and she did a nice job -- the only thing that really shocked me is how much she loves Celine. I had never really pegged Kathy as a Celine fan but she managed to zing her (and the Cirque de Soleil) several times during one of her monologues.

We loved the show but were extremely disappointed that Kathy vanished right after the show and we didn't get the chance to say hi.... we saw all of the other stars (and I felt bad chatting with Shaun Majumder of 22 Minutes and asking him about Kathy -- that was kind of a D List moment for him I think -- oops!). I do think that Kathy let her gays down in Montréal though... there were lots of us waiting for our moment with the goddess and she left us hanging.... and that is not good when have a whole bunch of your gays that are a little miffed that she vanished after the show. I have not quite decided yet if this will affect our relationship over the long term ... I am trying to be understanding about schedules and deadlines and all of that crap but it's not like Kathy comes to Montréal very often.

We did rush home (after waiting for more than an hour to get a glimpse of Kathy- alas to no avail) to see the latest episode of the D List, but still felt let down and disappointed that Kathy didn't take any time for her fans , and that is not D List behaviour. I am not sure if the Emmy win has gone to her head but if this continues she will loose her gay fans (we are a fickle bunch) and she will be a couple of steps back. I think that someone might need to remember the lean times and not forget who was there for her when no one else was. Remember that old saying about biting the hand that feeds you? There must be some cute gay analogy that can say the same thing.

The episode was a riot and we were overdue for another edition of the "Red Headed Oprah". I find it interesting that Kathy tries to have such contradictory public images (she is the Queen Bitch or she is the Red Headed Oprah) and I while I appreciate the kinder,gentler Kathy, I worship the Queen Bitch persona even more. It's just more honest and interesting. Only Kathy would think of exploiting her vacation to milk some publicity out of it, but in the long term it was a great thing for the school she helped out.

So Kathy has decided to open her "Kathy Griffin Leadership Academy" a la Oprah and it's a hilarious knock off of the original idea. It's all harder than it looks and Kathy's ass is saved by Woz and his miraculous Apple Team. I am still really digging Woz, and was in hysterics with his tech guy who was translating for Kathy, but who drew the line at tearing a strip out of Oprah.
We also learned that Kathy has a housekeeper, Minerva (huh??) and her and the whole gang (including the dogs) end up in Acapulco.The whole sun burned and peeling Kathy terrifying the children was only made better by the children destroying her pinata effigy at the end of the episode. Team Griffin seemed right into getting that one done (and took a lot of hits on her them selves) and after that night I think we all felt like giving her a good whack after the day we had been through. Seriously Kathy, don't turn on your gays or you might regret it.

Reality Round Up - The Top Ten Connection

It is already pretty obvious that I am a reality show junkie (my "guilty pleasures" as I like to call them) but I am still selective about which shows I will watch ... and quite often it's the process of getting from the beginning of the show (the auditions of some kind) to the meaty part of the competition (the "thinning the herd") can leave something to be desired. American Idol is probably the best example of this, and because of their need to showcase all the freaks & geeks to the world (in a pretty exploitative manner) that I am really not interested and I get turned off by some shows. Idol did it's self in with me a couple of years ago, and between the inane judging (Paula) and the popularity contest quotient of the competition I just couldn't stand to watch anymore and see real talent be voted off while dimwits went through ... anyways .. that is a rant for another time.

Dance competitions have a different element to them, and I have followed a fair number of them, but have really found that So you think you can Dance? is the benchmark show for the genre. The routines are astounding, the choreographers are mad geniuses, and the competitors are all young, talented and beautiful. What more can you really want?

We finally got past that mid step part of the show, the infamous "thinning the herd", and are now down to the Top Ten who will compete for this year's title. The rounds have been great, but this is the time that I really start cheering for my faves and getting all fired up. I was a little disappointed with the last elimination, as I was pretty sure that Comfort was to stay and Jessica was to hit the road (especially after Mia was so blunt about it the previous night) but Jessica stayed and my dear Comfort was dismissed.

Not for long -- as it was in the news that Comfort was back and Jessica was off due to an injury. I can't say that I feel too bad .. I did really want to see Comfort go further and see how much more she could blossom, she has been really incredible and has such potential. I still think the Judges are being too kind with Will and am eager to see how things develop over the next episodes, the competition will be hot - hot - hot this time around. I just hope we get to see more work by Wade Robson this season.

Last Comic Standing is finally out of the auditions and semi finals and into the competition part. For me, this is when it gets to the best part and you see the comedians put into different zany challenges to prove how funny they are.This year's international selection is a real mix with a couple of Brits, a Canadian (who I thought already had a successful career...), a hysterical guy from India (yes, even comedy is getting out-sourced now) and a whole herd of Americans. This week's challenge with the boxing ring rounds and the Yo' Mama and Hack jokes were too funny, and God's Pottery had me in convulsions with their ability to stay continually in character. I am getting to the point that I wonder if those 2 are for real or what? Too gosh darn funny. God's Pottery rocks!

It's nice and creepy (and gotta love that Thriller music!) that the elimination part of the series is done in the cemetery this time around, and some of the finalists are too wild. Yeah baby sometimes u kill and sometimes u die as a comedian, but you would think that none of them ever watched this show before? How could they not know that their Smack down Confessional was going to be seen by the others? Puhleese ...

We get down to elimination time, and it's the annoying Esther who is put up for elimination, and she chooses God's Pottery and Elisa to compete against in the head to head round. The crappy part of this week is that 2 comedians will be eliminated, and so after this week we lost Esther (most irritating laugh ever) and my favourites, God's Pottery. Here's hoping that God's Pottery(Gideon Lamb and Jeremiah Smallchild) find some other gigs soon, their parody was hilarious and very original. They should be proud that they were the first duo selected for the competition. Elisa rocked in her performance, and certainly deserves to be there. I blame this all on Esther, who chose her competitors. Now we are into the Top Ten and next week they have guest judge Carrot Top to deal with. Yikes!

Project Runway is back this week with the Fifth season. I can hardly wait, it is way up on my list of must see Reality Shows and I am looking forward to seeing what kind of brilliantly twisted characters and challenges they will have this time around. The fact that it is paired up with Shear Genius on the same night, and opposite So you think you can Dance? has me worried. My Wednesday nights are going to finishing late... too much good TV on the same night. Why do all the really good show have to play Wednesday and Thursday night?

I am terrified to watch the new Disney creation starting this Sunday (High School Musical - Get in the Picture) because I think I might get sucked in to the competition too easily. I have enjoyed the films, and if the competition has even the slightest taste of " Show Business Moms & Dads" to it, it will be a done deal and I will not be able to miss an episode. It's not like it will really affect my Sunday night shows as HGTV Design Star and Next Food Network Star have been pretty boring so far.... I am not sure if there are any half decent designers ( Matt seems to be the only one with a real chance to win) and the contestants on Food have been pretty lackluster to date. My choice is still Squinty ( Lisa) to win.... but Adam has shown the most personality so far and has a chance of sneaking in under the radar. Neither competition has me glued to the tube so that is probably not a good sign. At least the competitions are almost over....

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Week 4

Well , well, well ..... it appears that the Lord (Andrew Lloyd Webber) doesn't like Donna that much -- and let the conspiracy theories loose because after last night I have the definite impression that they are trying to force Donna out of the competition.

This is not one of my favourite things .... last night they gave another muted performance to Donna ("Another Challenge" as Simon Lee likes to call them), who, despite the challenge, rose above it and sang the hell out of the song. I do have to say that the fact that they paired up that performance with a very dynamic one was an even more blatant attempt to try to dissuade the voters. It didn't work at my home, as we maxed our votes out for Donna on line and by telephone and I hope that she is here next week to blow Andrew Lloyd Webber off his chair with her dynamite voice and presence.

At least John Barrymore is still a fan of Donna .. Elaine seems to be on the other boat and Simon ( Sir Twitches-a-lot) will do whatever his Lord wants, so the odds seem to be stacked against her at this point and so I am really crossing my fingers tonight.

As for the other performances, as I have been saying for weeks, Tamara has to go ( I was still shocked that she was kept last week and Kyla was sent home), and will probably be joined by Janna and Elicia in the bottom 3. While Janna kind of bombed last night, she will probably make it to the next round due to her previous performances. Jayme seems to have stepped up her game but I still have problems seeing her as Maria and she is my other choice to leave, but that probably won't happen as she turned out a good performance last night. Marisa is turning into the pleasant surprise that I wouldn't mind see win if Donna doesn't .. that was a great rendition of Downtown last night.

Go Donna !!!

Doctor Who - Journey's End

All I can say is ...

H O L Y C R A P ! !

I am still in a state of shock after the 2 part season finale of Doctor Who, and it's taken me a couple of weeks to digest all of it. I was literally on pins and needles for the week following part 1 -- I kept wondering how they would get around that whole regeneration thing and it was interesting to see "the hand" come into use for a very special purpose. I (like most of the fans) were really hoping for David to hang around as the Doctor, and I was ecstatic there was an exit strategy for that problem. It was heartbreaking to see the Doctor and Rose almost reunited and then torn apart like that again.

As for the rest -- yup, absolutely loved seeing all the different "Children of Time" that helped out ( but was shocked that there was no sign of the Doctor's Daughter as I really did expect her to pop up at some time) with the great story. No -- make that a Big story, big effects, big stars and a hell of a big ending to the season. There were lots of story lines that were tied up -- and although I loved the part of the story with the 2 Doctors and Donna as the Doctor-Donna, I was saddened with the ending of the story. Donna Noble was a great companion, and it was hard to see her return to her previous self indulgent and "unimportant" self after she had matured and developed as a character over the season. I love Catherine Tate, and she really showed off her acting chops over the past season, as she really managed to make Donna Noble in to a character that I wanted around, and I am curious as to whether or not they will revisit her character at some point. I am seriously in grief over this loss, and I find this one even more difficult than dealing with the loss of Rose. Rose was still alive in an alternate universe, while poor Donna has had her mind stripped of all memory of the Doctor and all the amazing things that she has seen and done. The universe remembers her and she can't remember any it for even a second or she will burn up. A Time lord/human mix doesn't work that well.

Speaking of Rose, I did appreciate that they finished off that story and that she is off in the alternate universe with the human-Time lord Doctor. At least that version of the Doctor was not afraid of speaking of things such as love,and will grow old with Rose and they can have a happy life together. It was very convenient... but appreciated none the less and a nice finish for those 2.

The apparent changes at Torchwood will have to be seen next season as it looks like Martha and Mickey (really?) are joining up with Jack and crew. That could be an interesting pairing up, and as we have seen, crew seem very disposable on Torchwood, so if the public doesn't buy it they can just bump off the unpopular characters. I can almost bet that James Marsters will be back again, he is too much of a delicious bastard to keep away for too long. Besides, he brings some interesting chemistry and tension to the show.

I am looking forward to the Christmas Special with the Doctor, as things ended up with him alone and feeling guilty for being the destroyer of worlds and lives, and I want to see where things go next. He never seems to travel alone for long.

Weekend Rant -- Last Chances & Desperate Measures

I am getting to complete desperation at this point ..... I have begged and pleaded and still no word from Team Griffin (and I have even posted on the Bulletin Boards on Kathy's site with the hopes of drawing some attention)... all I can say is that I would love to have a "Meet & Greet" with Kathy and am hoping for the chance....

This week's episode of My Life on the D List was another stellar one. Kathy "surprising" Team Griffin with a teaching gig at the local learning annex and the whole fiasco that we can call their appearance and presentation. Tim (Tom) was harassed to death in the description of their Workshop, not only did they get his name wrong, but it went on and on about his love of porn and masturbation. Too funny ... as much as Kathy seemed amused by some of the glitches, I still wonder if it was her who wrote the information out for the brochure. It all seemed too conveniently mean towards Tom... at least the Team was saved by Woz and his "Anal Retentive Assistant" Julie. I was in hysterics watching her react to how Team Griffin works -- and their apparent lack of work ethic.

Kathy's mom is still that ray of sanity in Kathy's manic life, and the side story of dear old mom stealing one of Kathy's favorite gays (Patrick) was ahem a -- convenient -- segue into the whole appearance at the Bear Convention. While not as hilarious as Kathy hosting the Gay Porn Awards, watching Kathy pimp out Woz as " her bear" was hilarious -- learning some specifics of the sub-culture was interesting and yes, Jessica is a perfect Goldilocks to hang around with the bears. It was all warm and fuzzy (like a teddy bear) and I was laughing at Woz giving away merch (it looks like Jessica was happy having his credit card on hand) in his way of helping out Kathy. He is so adorable I really hope they are happy together -- he looks like a good guy for her.

The whole Dog Whisperer thing was too much. I think I may have to agree that more of the apparent problems with the beasts is more in Kathy's head than in reality. The dogs actually look a lot better than last year ... and so what is happening with that Emmy? Cesar was a great sport and I think he needs to work more with dear Kathy than the pooches.

Next week's episode might be seen later than usual due to the show -- it will be wild to see Kathy live in only a few days!

Celebrity Circus had me with my finger on the button this week. If Antonio went home, I didn't care who won or lost the competition and they made me suffer through another Wee Man act (yawn -- it just doesn't do it for me and I was disappointed with the skateboard stunt) and another great performance by Stacey Dash before letting us find out that Rachel Hunter was eliminated and Antonio was in the final 3. I did enjoy the performance done by the trainers and professionals before getting treated to Antonio's fantastic Flying Silk routine. The guy is gorgeous .. and not only did he get the only perfect score of the evening, he got Louis jumping around all over the place. Too funny. I am hoping to see Antonio come out on top of this competition next week, and assume that the finale will be performances by some of the competitors and maybe even something with the the judges. It has been a fun enough ride for a short summer series and I am still impressed by the complexity and difficulty of the acts the celebrities were doing. Impressive stuff.

Burn Notice came back to the air waves this week, and it was nice to see one of my favorites from last summer come back this season. The chemistry is still there with all the characters, and Michael (Jeffry Donovan) has the best deadpan presentation out of the spy guys we see on TV. His matter of fact explanations and presence are as hot as ever -- seriously -- he has this smoking hot presence that is matched by few actors on TV. Michael Westen is turning into one of the best dressed and innovative spy guys around -- I love his creativity. It's kind of like a very sexy undercover MacGyver.

The regular gang are all there and this is another series where the ensemble complements each other so well that it is just pleasure to watch them.Michael's trigger happy ex-girlfriend is just too much and way hot; Fiona kills me every time she is on screen. Bruce Campbell as his old buddy Sam is still one of the greatest castings in history (I love Bruce Campbell and this part is great for him) and Sharon Gless as his Mother is just fantastic. Her little rant to Michael about almost getting killed and finally understanding (in a sense) why he kept his distance for so long was compounded by that typical mother response of " You could have at least written to me". Yup that is a typical mom response and you could see Michael's head imploding with all of that.

The storyline this year with the new mysterious handler (Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica) and Michael playing errand boy is interesting. I loved his mission this week and the poor schmuck that got tossed around in the trunk of the car before being almost killed several times was hilarious. Michael playing South African and being all dangerous was hot stuff -- I am looking forward to this season and seeing how things will develop.

I don't think that Shear Genius can get any bitchier than it is, and I am pleading with the producers. Please get rid of that Dye Job Disaster (Meredith) next -- things were just too ferocious with everyone in a real tizzy and, mock surprise, Charlie wins again, do you really think anyone else has a chance against this juggernaut? Mathew re-affirmed his heterosexuality a million times before committing the cardinal sin, and not listening to his client. Mathew went from winning the short cut challenge to hitting the road in no time at all, so I guess there is hope for Meredith also... I will literally explode when they have the Charlie's Angels reunion on the show. I think Cheryl Ladd needs to get on Bravo... maybe a guest spot?

How do you solve a problem like Maria? - Week 3

Week 3 has arrived and this week is double elimination week. I am not sure if that means that the ratings are not what is expected (it was in the top 25 at the beginning but has fallen since then) or if it is part of the 'formula'. It's a new show for Canada so it seems kind of experimental at the moment.

Our Marias performed Musical Theatre numbers last night, and a few of them were absolute stand outs (Marisa and Elicia were outstanding, and Janna and Donna were great) -- I thought that Simon was having a seizure while watching one of the girls with the way that he was twitching. Of course, for all the great performances there were a few of them that fell to the side. I am pretty sure that there is no tomorrow for Tamara (sorry dear) and it's time for our little pink lady (Katie) to hit the road. There was some mumbling at the beginning of the show about Donna being a bit of a diva and that not being appreciated by Elaine. John was hilarious and said that every leading lady he ever worked with was a diva and a bitch (or at least the good ones were) and that he doesn't care. I hope that it doesn't affect Donna's chances this week (hard to say, some of the girls were terrible but bad impressions can be just as dangerous) and she is still around when they are trimmed down to 6 tonight. Donna got all of my votes again -- I still see her as Maria and think she could be a huge success.

Weekend Rant - Armageddon with a touch of Orange

I don't think that I have been this excited about a reality show in ages ... well maybe not since the glory days of last summer's Most Smartest Model ... but Shear Genius has been nothing but Sheer Pleasure in it's first 2 weeks, After last week's carton icon challenge, we get around to a short cut shortcut challenge (say that fast 1o times) judged by no other than the Queen B(itch) of last season, Tabatha. Our merry team of stylists try to keep their bitchiness up to to Tabatha's level (talk about a losing battle -- you can't beat her) and I was slightly in awe of her ability to bring out the worst in the stylists in so short a time. It was the biggest bitchfest that I have seen in ages and of course, set the stage for the now to be infamous run in with those ' Real Housewives of Orange County '. Charlie rasps " Oh my God -- Armageddon" and I am in hysterics. Charlie has one of those great Harvey Fierstein/Brenda Vaccaro voices that leaves an impression. I have to say how impressed I am with the way Bravo seamlessly advertises 2 of it's other series in just one episode as our Queen B Tabatha will soon be hosting her very own Bravo show (and that is something not to be missed).

After much drama (and that Daniel is such a drama queen), it's Charlie who wins (again) and horror of horrors! It's that cutie Parker sent home. He who can't color can't play this game it appears. Now if they could only do something with Meredith -- that hair color is just too much, and I can't imagine anyone going to her and even thinking of getting their hair done. Yikes!
My money is still on Charlie to go all the way and win the tiara.

Kathy continued with another great episode of her Life on the D List this week --I was loving the whole rant about being banned again from the View (it appears the Barbara Walters doesn't have a great sense of humor) and it was great to see her mom pulling for her and saying that she would no longer watch the View. Kathy meets up with her friend Rosie O Donnell for some crafting and in an interesting turn of events Kathy gets ordained on line and performs a Wedding ceremony.

Team Griffin has still not responded to my pleas and we are praying that Kathy has time for her gays in less than 2 weeks! The sucky thing is that we might miss the D List (we will catch it later) as our show is the same night... I wonder if this will be mentioned at some time in the show?

Celebrity Circus had a rough week with Christopher Knight dropping out due to his broken arm (Peter Brady did great on the show) and it looked like it saved Wee Man's ass for that week. I was not happy with the scoring system last week (Wee Man got a perfect score and Antonio and Stacy didn't?) and will be looking forward to the finale after next week. My final 3 are Antonio,Stacy and Rachel ( I thought her dog act was cute) but I expect to see Wee Man there instead of Rachel (popular vote). If Antonio isn't in the finale I will skip it -- the show is fun to watch but no eye candy makes it slightly less appealing, and besides, the guy has been doing some of the toughest acts, it's just too bad he couldn't get his Trapeze act together.