Summer Rant – Transition Time

Things are still running along at a furious pace this summer, and this week heralded the endings of a few favourites, yet harkens the beginning and return of other favourites. It’s a win win situation.

So you think you can Dance? finished off this round with Jeanine winning the big title in a surprise that was both pleasing and upsetting. I was all about Brandon winning, but was happy that it was another dancer that I respected and felt did a dynamite job this season. Jeanine’s title will be short-lived, with the next round starting this Fall, but she truly deserved to win and is now the second girl to do it. I was a tad surprised that we didn’t get a performance out of Sabrina (our other female champion) during the best performances recaps, but maybe our girl is busy doing other projects. It’s a shame their tour doesn’t swing by Montréal, but I am pretty sure that we will see the dancers performing elsewhere or be returning guests on this show. It was a fabulous season and the show manages to get better and better.

I love the small dancing appearance by our Judges, but felt a tad cheated after last year’s knock out numbers with the gang. I do have to say that Cat really did a great job of hosting and keeping things going smoothly, and wardrobe issues aside she is really good. Wade’s number this time around was probably the one that I have liked the least by him, it might have been the subject matter as I love him more when he is wild and out there. Mia is always a gem and deserved all the kudos that are laid on her. I think the biggest surprises this season on the choreograph side of things, was Tyce coming into more of his own thing and being hilarious as a Judge, and how many of the Louis Van Amstel numbers were loved by the Judges. Let’s just hope that Paula Abdul is not picked up as a Judge, Idol must be happy they are done with her and all her wacky crap. I can hardly wait until next month and more dance!

Of course, next week heralds the beginning of So you think you can Dance Canada? and I will be a happy camper being able to vote and see all the local talent. It looks like Mary Murphy will be around a fair amount and it’s nice to see her flexing her vocal muscles above the 49th parallel. I am even willing to travel to Toronto to see the show live and have applied for tickets this round to see if I can see more of the live action, and would love to see the Judges and dancers do their thing live, I am sure there is tons of stuff that never makes it on air or past the censors.

Rounding out the dance stuff on TV, Randy Jackson presents America’s Best Dance Crew (ABDC) dished out their Top Ten Performances special before the new season launches this Sunday. While I loved seeing all the great crews again, I hated the lay out of the show and the continual reminders that the show is now at a NEW TIME and a NEW NIGHT that were relentless and down right aggressive after the umpteenth time. Randy, you have to chill dog, and I don’t think it was just a coincidence that the Number One on your countdown was featuring one of your late brother’s hits. Let’s just hope that there is no tacky exploitation of Michael’s demise on the show as that would be in very, very poor taste, and downright disgusting it being family and all. Even with the complaints, my appetite is ready for more Dance Crew and some more of the best group numbers that can be seen on TV.

This past week had even more Finales, including the well deserved win of Kristi Leskinen & Maksim Chmerkovskiy and their kick ass performance in the last part of the Superstars. Our winning team was always near the front of the pack and won half of the competitions, and had never been to the Elimination round before the last game.The competition was fun and a nice summer diversion, and it was a pleasant surprise to see how athletic and competitive Maks is. I hope it comes back again, and that they can add more challenges and have a more interesting and complex obstacle course. It’s not American Gladiators or Battle of the Network Stars but a step in the right direction.

I survived a Japanese Game Show finished up this season and I was happy to see our soccer mom and oldest competitor Cathy kick ass, take names and win it all. The challenges in the 2 hour finale were just insane, and the Super-Majide obstacle course at the end was all the best of the worse. I think anyone who underestimated our ladies was in for a rude surprise as they ended up pitting the guys against each other, eliminating the biggest physical threat (Brent) and then disposing of wimpy and whiny Justin. Well played and another fascinating look into Japanese popular culture and their undying need to humiliate and subjugate the competitors. I thought it was hilarious how they got the guys all done up like big fat Americans and made them play their humiliating Wet T-shirt game to spell out the winning phrase, but was riddled with dangerous floods of water, foam, seaweed and other things that fell in torrents from the ceiling. The games were not always the cleanest, but if you were willing to try and win it was worth it for all the cool prizes and even for some of the punishments. That last one with the Zen masters looked fascinating and I loved how Zen Megan was after her so-called punishment. It didn’t get her to the very end, but she had a great time doing it and seeing things that some of us will never be able to do.

The Next Food Network Star was crowned this week, and I was a tad surprised that it was our slightly harried and hyperactive housewife, Melissa d'Arabian who managed to get it all together and impress some big critics and the Judges to win the big prize. Jeffrey was good, but I felt cheated by his choice of ingredient, and that simple sandwich that he put together.Melissa was way more creative and gave some good advice for the potential audience. I think the marketing people will have some fun with Melissa, and while I wish it was Debbie that was there instead, there is something satisfying about seeing an untrained home cook beat out of some more experienced and creative chefs. This round was better than last season, and if I get the chance, I will check out Ten Dollar Dinners if it plays on Food Network Canada, unfortunately things are not always the same as the American network and I have a hell of a time finding some of the shows. I have not been able to find HGTV’s Design Star (it may play one day here in the Great White North) and have given up for now.

Kathy Griffin and her Life on the D List did redeem herself with her Norma Gay episode, and while her attempt is applauded, I am not that into this season and find the disdain of her apparent friends (acquaintances) more pitiful than funny. Things wrap up next week and I am more interested in seeing vicious Kathy hosting the Joan River’s Roast on Comedy Central this Sunday than anything else. It will be scathing evening and worth the potty language. Joan was hilarious this week in the premiere of How’d you get so Rich? and her matter of fact WTF? questions with her quest for average guys and gals who have struck it rich is hilarious. I love how she interacts with the camera and her apparent love of the F word as an expletive for almost anything is very endearing. The stories are astounding at times and Joan is so hilarious in her reactions to how some of these people got so rich. This show is a must see and I can hardly wait until the next episode.

Summer Rant – Hot Stuff

In the heat of summer nights, things have been burning up the screen with the past couple of episodes of So you think you can Dance? and the Final Four. I am still surprised that Janette was let go the other week and then Melissa last week as I thought both of them were some of the strongest dancers, but it’s hard not to like all of the dancers as all of them have been incredible this season. I have to agree with the Judges that this is the BEST season ever, the most talented and some of the most incredible choreography.

It’s a shame that Kat’s stylist is so hit and miss this season as she seems to look fabulous one night and then like a mermaid threw up on her another night. Seriously, I  can not get over how fugly some of those frocks are – that green animosity from Thursday night has scarred me for life.

Things were very busy last week and I didn’t have time to rant, but I have to say a couple of things about last week’s 100 episode celebration. First, Ellen was hilarious as a guest Judge and brought some very funny moments to the show. The whole Katie Holmes fiasco is another story. Her so called “Performance of a life time” was all lip sync and no substance, I think her real performance of a life time is her “marriage” with Tom Cruise or whatever those Scientologists call mating ceremonies. Enough said.. yeesh!

I am not at all surprised that Brandon was chosen for the Final Four – he looks like a winner to me and seems to have won over even his most fervent critics. The guy is stunning to watch (and of course it really doesn’t hurt that he is modest and loves to dance almost completely naked) and has one of the most perfect physiques that you have ever seen. Pure talent through and through and he reminds me of Will (guest dancing on the Results show and sporting some new facial hair) from last season.Although a tad self indulgent, the performances of all of the Emmy nominated pieces were as stunning as ever. I bow in gratitude at Mia and Wade for blowing my mind with their outstanding work, but I am pretty sure that our local girl Stacey Tookey will be getting some nods for her great numbers this season. I can hardly wait until SYTYCD Canada starts on August 11th, just after this round of the American competition.

So we have Brandon, Jeanine, Evan, and Kayla as our Final Four, and while I am a tad surprised to see Evan there, I know it’s because of his cute puppy eyes and his glowing personality.Ade was a tough competitor but didn’t bring more than Brandon, who I am pretty sure will be the last guy standing and the ultimate winner this season, but the one surprise may be Kayla, who has been shining since Day 1 and is a very talented dancer. As much as I love Jeanine and admire her talent, I am still surprised that she was there to to the Final Four and it will be a huge surprise if she wins. I always thought that either Melissa or Janette would have been there at the end instead of her.

I was peeved that The Superstars skipped last week and I have to wait for the Finale, I have been getting used to my jock fix each week with Maks and when this ends will have to wait until the next season of Dancing with the Stars. Some things you can never get enough of.

There are things that I have been trying to see if I like ‘em and unfortunately as interesting as the concept of Hung was, the actually performance has been kind of limp and it will be Off the Watch List. New shows and concepts are always hit and miss and it’s a question of whether or not the actor can suck you in. I was not getting the big performance that I wanted, and that may be because the show was too hetero-centric and didn’t speak to me.

Kathy Griffin’s guest are being more interesting than her and not in an endearing kind of way. Her bomb at the Apollo was just ridiculous as she should really know the audience and limits before shooting off her mouth. Getting banned from everywhere is no way to build a career and the more the gays get neglected the more bitchy we get. There is the D List and then the STUPID List. I wish that Margaret Cho’s show had been picked up again but alas, that seems to be another victim of alternative programming. This has not been the best year for for gay characters or icons on TV.

Triple Sensation was incredible (and short unless you saw some of the extra episodes on Bold) and I am was happy to see Leah win the big prize. It was fascinating to see the performers work with all the big names and get such intensive training. The concept and execution of the show was great, the contestants all incredibly talented and I hope to see more. I was surprised that it was mostly girls at the end, but encouraged to see the talent in these young performers. It’s a shame that there are not enough opportunities for Performing Arts in Canada and that there is always the allure of Broadway to call our performers away.

Top Chef Masters has been astounding and has given me the appetite to pay more attention to the regular series, and makes me eager to see the Next Iron Chef series that will be rolling out on Food Network. It’s a shame that the Canadian version doesn’t air series the same time as the US one (some things I will never understand). I was thrilled to see our modest Chef Anita Lo pull out the win in round one and I am still surprised about how so over the top gay Opera’s personal Chef Art Smith is. Not that it’s a bad thing, it is actually nice to see one of those big old girlfriends from down South who is so out there that no one cares and is found charming instead of flaming.

Weekend Rant – Dance Fever

This summer has been absolutely fantastic so far with the competition on So you think you can Dance? This series seems to get better with each round, and the quality of dance (and dancers) just keeps getting better and better. I can only imagine the difficulties that our Judges are having deciding which guy and girl have to leave each week as we cull the herd down to the Top Ten as all of the dancers are very talented. At least the voting seems more proportionate to the talent and not based more on the cuteness factor of the contestants as so far there have been a couple of the really cute guys eliminated which was almost surprising considering the screaming going on in the audience at the broadcasts, and that was just Mary Murphy.

This week was extraordinary with an incredible number by Mia Michaels, that Randi & Evan did an amazing job with and Evan is really starting to grow on me. There is something damn sexy about those droopy eyes he has and he gets into character and inhabits each dance. Janette & Brandon did an amazing and very surprising Rock/Hip Hop number that showed how much talent Brandon has. The guy is not getting credit for his ability and I hope that Mia and ‘lil C have noticed his progression. I am still rooting for Kupono & Kayla and was happy with their new partnership. I was even happier when they didn’t have to Dance for their Lives and changed partners once again.

Once we got around to Elimination, I was happy that Jonathon was gone (too much gymnastics and mugging to the camera) and sorry that Asuka had to leave, but one of the girls had to go and she was the most limited. The next few weeks will be tough ones… there is some amazing talent.

I was more than pleasantly surprised with the first hour of Triple Sensation and seeing the first 6 Finalists for Toronto chosen for the Master Class part of the competition and the ultimate prize of the Middlefield Scholarship for the Performing Arts worth $150,000. I was astounding to see the performance ability in these young performers (they are between the ages of 16 and 26) and their stage presence. The judging panel is pretty high brow with Marvin Hamlisch as part of the crew (that’s a big name in musical theatre) and while it is much different than any of the American style competition shows, it was a fascinating watch and I plan on following it’s progress over the next few weeks.

Kathy Griffin has been becoming a tad more predictable with this season of My Life on the D List and her so called A List friends and their get together as part of Kathy’s grooming for the A List. It seems that all of these guests find Kathy abrasive and useless, so I am trying to figure out if Kathy wants to be the new Rodney Dangerfield and get no respect, or is she really trying to improve her image but resisting change. This season does have more of her mom (thankfully) and less of Team Griffin (which is not a bad idea) and tons of guest stars who add a different vibe. Paula Dee was funny (and it was a hoot to see Michael McDonald again) but the guests are overshadowing the star and that is not the smartest thing. It does seem that Kathy is learning more about schmoozing with the public and that is a good thing. It’s still not as fun as before… me thinks that Kathy is wearing out her welcome and I don’t expect to see an Emmy win this year.

The Fashion Show is boring me to pieces and I am only watching to see how it finishes off. I could not believe the whole Halston fiasco and Reco’s tears of shame, it was all stupid and pretty much like the other episode where the magical Honduran elf didn’t know what the whole Mean Girls thing. I still don’t think that Sumo Barbie will win either, and really hope that Daniella will win, she seems to have some of the best fashion sense so far and isn’t this whole show supposed to be about ready to wear? Some of the designs don’t look that user friendly to me… buh bye darling, I can hardly wait until Project Runway is back.

Top Chef Masters is a great competition, and the episodes are a great mix of nerves and ego as our Masters battle each other. I was laughing my ass off at our French Chef Ludo Lefebvre getting bleeped every 10 seconds for his time management issues. It would have been funnier for us if he as cursing in French and it getting past the American censors, but Ludo, like many French people, thinks that the F word can be used as an accent piece in conversation when it should only be used sparingly, like a rare spice. If the show was in French it would not have been edited for content, it’s just too funny.

Things finally ended with the I’m a Celebrity Get me out here ! experience and while I was surprised that Sanjaya was not in the Final 2, I was not surprised that Lou won as he played very well and seems to be a nice guy. I don’t think it will do much for his acting career but he seemed to be in it for his kids and the charity that he was playing for and not there to stroke his ego or be an idiot. The Reunion aspect of the show show was hilarious as you can feel the disdain between Janice and everyone else and there were tons of snippy comments being bantered back and forth.Heidi and Spencer are still the 2 biggest knobs that I have seen on the tube in aeons and hope that the San Andreas Fault opens up and swallows the Hills real soon. That would be poetic justice wouldn’t it?

Weekend Rant – Celebrity Madness

I don’t think that I have had as much fun as I have the past couple of weeks with the disaster know as I’m a Celebrity get me out of here and the 3 nights per week that it has been hitting the airwaves. Although I still have a problem with all of the Challenges involving live animals and insects, the show is so bad that it is good. Janice Dickinson is the best-worst player (I love how she steals from all the other contestants) and has her convenient illness that prevents her from doing the majority of the Challenges. The public seems to love her and want to see her do the wacky stuff, and I have to say that I was in hysterics with the Operation inspired Challenge that got our Celebrities shocked silly (although it appears that Daniel Baldwin has previous experience in this field as he knows beforehand that he can take a lot of juice – I wonder if it was shock therapy or did dude get tasered before?) and it was hilarious to watch Janice get zapped. It’s mean I know but it was damn funny and there were no animals harmed in the process.

I am pleasantly surprised with Sanjaya and his jungle fever, but feel bad for the guy for being treated like Janice’s slave (his words, not mine) and he is being eaten alive by the bugs. It’s hard to say who will last, but he seems better positioned to hang around than some of the others. I was happy that we were down a Baldwin after this week’s elimination, and was laughing my ass off as Janice kept screaming out to Perez Hilton and fighting back against Prop 8 as the Baldwin was eliminated. I know there was no love between the 2 of them and you can tell the a certain supermodel has those narcissistic traits that you come to expect with those model type people. What the producers of this show should do is get Tyra Banks to come out and join the party so we could watch her and Janice try to be the centre of the universe at the same time and watch the time space continuum fold in on it’s self and watch the Universe as we know it be destroyed.

I will say that I really hope that Spencer and Heidi are gone for good after their back and forth appearances on the show. Enough is enough and they should try to get some real stars for this show instead of someone with a tad of notoriety. Seriously. What a bunch of knobs.

  So you think you can Dance? was on fire this week and I really love how the choreographers are pushing the dancers this year. If you don’t like Mary Murphy you will absolutely hate this show but she is the real barometer of how the show is doing and how cute the guys are. Mary talks about her Hot Tamale Train, but the louder she screams means the higher the alert level on the Mary Cougar Scale. I was in literal hysterics when the whole Botox comment went over the airwaves and Mary fessing up to being part of the club (like almost all the women on TV) and watching Adam covering his scream. It was priceless, and this show would not be near as fun sans Mary. I don’t always agree with the Judges but I have a ton of respect for this show.

I thought the choice of the 3 couples in trouble was pretty spot on,but disagree on their choice of who went home as I really felt that Jonathon should have hit the road instead of Tony, but that point is moot as neither of them will make it to Top 10, the competition is fierce this year and Evan is a lot better than I expected… and it’s nice to see fan favourites back like Wade Robson, who pulled out a memorable crash-test dummy number that was as weird and wonderful as a Wade creation is. The man is a twisted genius and I loved all of it from the robot dog to the great performances by Ashley and Kupono. Amazing stuff… I can hardly wait to see Mia put some of the dancers through their paces.

The Next Food Network Star started off this week and you can tell there are a few front runners so far, Eddie may be damn fine but he is way too corporate, I really like Michael but think he may be a tad too flamboyant for the network, and think that Jeffrey is really charming the Judges. Not too be too stereotypical, but our contestants that resemble Michelle Obama and Margaret Cho seem to have a foot in the door (especially Debbie who bombed in the first challenge and there was that whole angel food cake fiasco…) and I don’t think that our nutritionist will be around for long. I hope we have someone interesting win this year, I didn’t really see last year’s winner appear that often after winning and wonder if he really did connect with the viewing public.

Kathy Griffin was back with My Life on the D-List this week and the season opener had Kathy in Vegas with the über fantastic Bette Midler. Things are different this year and Jessica is gone (rumours abound) and Kathy is more in A-List training mode than D-List it appears. There isn’t any real or interesting chemistry between Kathy and Bette (and I wonder how much she got paid to do this) and it feels contrived. If anything else, I really go the impression that Bette is not a big fan of Kathy and I love how she said that Kathy makes her look tame in comparison. Bette used to have quite the reputation for being vulgar and out there. There may be more big stars visiting this season but I think the D-List phase is finishing up for Kathy and she is just going to be know as a trash talking celebrity more than anything else unless she finds a balance. It’s bad when the rising star looses contact with their fan base and roots and is no longer grounded. I think the Emmy wins have gone to her ego …

Weekend Rant - Hitting the Finish Line

Even with all the world breaking events happening in the Olympics, some of the TV landscape is changing and this week heralded the season finales of Flipping Out and Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List. I was pretty full of Jeff and Co. and didn't really need the Reunion Special to tie things up (at this point I could care less -- I have so lost interest), and Kathy's season, overall, left me feeling luke warm and glad that it was over. Kathy has risen above her so called D List stature and has lost part of her appeal to me. Maybe it's me, but I preferred the Kathy that was willing to go that extra mile for her fans (and gays) and there was too much of her success and fabulous friends this season. I also felt a bit deceived by the whole Woz thing... after Kathy's last relationship problems I was hoping it was something serious and good for her and now it feels like none of it was real. That's probably more of the realization that this season was too scripted and too much in all the wrong ways. It didn't feel as Emmy winning this year -- that is probably what happens when success goes to your head.

The Olympics have been phenomenal so far --- I can't get over how many world records are falling to the wayside this time around and I am very impressed with Michael Phelps and his quest for the most medals. Hot stuff.... and I am still in complete awe watching most of the competitions. The beach volleyball has been incredible and I have been completely addicted to seeing Kerri Walsh and Misty May-Treanor continue their winning streak (105 games) and had one small panic attack the other day when it looked like they were going to lose and they pulled a rabbit out of the hat to win that one. I still can not get over how well they are doing and I have to applaud all the athletes that have been pushing themselves beyond the limits of us mere mortals and doing Olympian feats.

My only complaint is that even with major HD channels, I don't get enough choice or variety as it seems all the networks are playing pretty much the same thing. Can't beat the HD though -- I have never seen so many athletes in so much detail. It's a visual orgy and it makes the competitions even that more interesting. The 3 networks (NBC,CBC and Radio-Canada) are all offering various insights in to Beijing (and China) via special reports, and I have to say that those on Radio-Canada reported by Jean-René Dufort (aka Infoman) have been the funnest of the gang. CBC had Sean Majumder doing his Raj Binder schtick (and not being that terribly amusing -- how I wish it was Rick Mercer doing the reports instead) but have redeemed themselves with the interesting Ying & Yang series by Sook-yin Lee. NBC has been putting out Mary Carillo: Exploring China which has made for some interesting yet strangely odd reports. Mary seems like to ask those silly questions that all of us think, but don't want to articulate because we might look like a special needs case. She has the most fascinating voice and presence about her ... enough to keep my attention and sigh "oh my god" when she makes one of her off the wall comments.

Reality Bites Back was hilarious in last week's Almost American Gladiators, and had me in hysterics in this week's installment of So you think you can Dive? Not only did we get a hilarious spoof of a reality competition show, they threw in a Rose ceremony and a Boardroom scene. It was all hilarious stuff and the parodies are getting better and better each time. This week we had former Olympic gold medal diver Greg Louganis as a Judge, and the free style part of the competition was outstanding. I felt Amy's dive of shame was the most creative and was glad to see her still in the competition. Mo is definitely the sexiest, Theo is trying to play up the good boy character and poor Bert tried his hardest to turn on our Judge but got shot down. After seeing the preview for next week's Hunting with the Stars (which looks like it does includes hunting the stars) I can hardly wait. This looks like one of those rare gems in the reality TV universe.

Reality Round Up - Olympian Speed

Last Comic Standing has been barreling along at breakneck speed for the past couple of weeks. Just when we got down to the funniest people, they have eliminated 3 this week and we will know the winner in next's week finale.

WTF? That means no more elimination games and challenges and the past few episodes they were burning off 2 at a time --which is not a good sign for any show if they are rushing to air your series. I wasn't sure if it was because of that Olympic Deadline ( 8-8-08 if you have missed it) and they want to clear up all their prime time for covering the games ... or was it because the show wasn't a ratings winner (and that's a shame, there are some very funny and talented comedians on the show) or a combination of both.

Anyways -- the point is moot and now that Sean Cullen (the already fairly successful Canadian boy) has been given the boot, my heart lies with the fantastic Iliza Shlesinger! The other finalists are: Marcus, Jim Tavare, Louis Ramey and Jeff Dye. I wasn't surprised that Adam got eliminated but was shocked to see that Ron G killed with the crowd but was finished as well. It was a weird elimination competition.

Marcus has a shot with his great combination of voice work and energy. Jeff has his funny moments, and I love Jim and his great Bass work and Louis played up the good old USA national pride element to his advantage -- but Iliza has won in several eliminations so far and is a real survivor and I think she will make it all the way.

I am not exactly sure why Fox seems to be frightened by the upcoming Olympics, but they too are rushing this round of So you think you can Dance? and I am not liking it. Another week of double eliminations ( I liked it better when the there were single eliminations in the Top Ten) and even though he danced one of the best numbers of the season, Mark was finally eliminated. Umm -- oh yeah -- Chelsie was eliminated too!

Mark & Courtney had danced a wild Jazz number choreographed by Sonya Tayeh (music "The Garden" by Mirah), and if you missed it then you missed a completely sick dance number. I love it when they pull out these great and twisted minds and let them loose, and this season we have seen some great new choreographers in the house. It's a shame we haven't seen Wade Robson this year (and a couple of others seem to be absent as well, right Mr. Shane Sparks?) and with the season wrapping up so quickly it means that we see less numbers with the dancers and miss opportunities to see creativity.

That sucks. One of the things I love about this show is that it has been going places that no other dance show has done and it's great to see real dance. Not just fluff and tricks.

I wasn't really surprised with seeing Chelsie leave. The majority of dancers that are too limited in one specific style don't usually last until the finale in the competition. She did a great job though and needs to be commended on going so far. Courtney is much more rounded over all dancer and that really shows when the dancers do their solos.

Joshua (now braces free), Twitch, Katee and Courtney will be dancing their hearts out next week for the finale as they try to finish it all up before as the Top 4 Dancers. My money is still on Katee to take it all (she has been incredible), but I am not counting out Joshua who has been just as remarkable and even more of a surprise. Here's hoping there are some great choreographers working with our final 4 -- my eyes will be glued to the screen. That's a good show.

Kathy Griffin redeemed herself slightly this week (these things take time) in this week's episode of My Life on the D List as she mocked herself in her struggle to get a Grammy Nomination. The entire photo shoot (and I loved the stuff outside on the bus bench) was hilarious and you can see the fun in self exploitation. We all know that Kathy is an expert in being a media whore and she puts her full talent to work (not to mention a great support team), I will not be surprised if she gets a Grammy nomination.
Kathy's mom is still the grounding force and hidden gem in each episode. Not only is mom getting in good with the gays (watch your ass Kathy --lose the gays and you lose lots of your fan base), but I love her chatting with Kathy and explaining that Kathy can't win a Grammy as Kathy is not musical. I think mom overlooked Kathy's recent piano performances which have been pretty good. I love that mom is becoming a celebrity of her own and got the magazine cover. Her interview and the interaction with our friend from Grandparents.com was adorable.

Watching Team Griffin get in a tizzy with our hyper financial genius Suze Orman was hilarious -- but I am still wondering if Kathy is going to get into trouble with her continual Oprah/Gayle jokes -- I bet she has already been banned from Oprah for life. Pretty damn funny stuff though.

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.

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.

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?

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.

Weekend Rant - Just one of those Best Weeks Ever

This week turned into one of the best ever on the tube. Not only was there brilliant and funny all week long, but playing catch up this weekend I saw some pretty fun stuff, the first being the final and deciding episode of Farmer wants a wife, and Matt decided to take Brooke to be his girl. After seeing his house more closely (and that weird hallway of dead deer looking at you) I changed my mind and although I was originally hoping for Christa, I thought Brooke was a better match. Matt sure made it seem like he as more interested in Christa, but I think he wants more of a puppy dog to follow him around so he made a good choice (and I think Krista dodged one here). If they do another round I could be sucked in to watch if the Farmer is really hot.

Celebrity Circus is a demanding as ever, and I am really impressed by the difficulty of the various routines the celebrities are performing. I was almost surprised that Wee Man was still around this week after his challenges last week but not that surprised that our Olympic athlete Janet got the boot.Yes she is physically capable but is not graceful enough. I did think it was a little ridiculous to have the elimination between her and Antonio Sabato Jr ( seriously, the guy is the hottest thing on the show and always gets high scores) and to keep it hanging until the end. It's a weird formula and this show has a strange pace sometimes. Stacey Dash won some respect and applause from me this week once I realized that the woman is over 40 (I honestly thought she was much younger) but it's pretty much a no-brainer that it will go down to her and Antonio for the win. Rachel did a good job on the tightrope (and kudos to the guys that carried her in that dangerous pyramid stunt), Christopher Knight was okay with his challenge but Wee Man just pointed out to me that penguins are not meant to fly with his routine and he must be the next to go... sorry Wee Man.

Flipping Out is as manic as ever -- and I am in awe of Jeff. This man is the poster child of OCD

and I can not get over his ability to centre his existence on one detail. The sandwich dilemma was funny enough (meatball or pepperoni?) but I hit the roof with the whole drapes drama. When Jeff started obsessing about " The drapes ... The drapes ... The drapes" I almost completely lost it. You better start treating Zola better though man because she deserves it and the whole portrait thing was just poor taste. Give the woman a break -- she has to deal with you Jeff and I can not imagine that she is getting adequately compensated for that. At least Jeff has gotten a taste of his own medicine with his psycho client and might learn the error of his ways eventually.

Doctor Who- The Stolen Earth is way up there on the list of Best Episodes EVER. Not only did we get the appearance of all of the more recent companions but it's a fantastically great story that ties together all of the clues that they have been leaving all season (and probably from earlier as well). I just love the way all of the spin off shows and their characters were tied in to this storyline so seamlessly, and better yet, managed to keep the same continuity that is/was happening in those shows. Torchwood is only the 3 remaining characters (Jack,Gwen and Ianto) who were there at the end of the season. Martha is still with the Unit as we last saw her, as Sarah Jane is doing her thing. The interaction between Jack and Sarah Jane is interesting and I am hoping to see more crossover stuff between the series, even though they are intended for different audiences. I am really loving Catherine Tate as Donna and she makes a great companion to the Doctor and complements well the others while being new and different.

The episode was so jam packed full of fun stuff that I'll list a few of my faves:

- alien bees -- I just knew it....

- Exterminate! (love those Daleks)

- The Shadow Proclamation

- Harriet Jones: Former Prime Minister and the subwave network

- the whole conference call thing with the gang calling the Doctor

- Paintball guns

- Project Indigo

- Rose and her big ass gun

- Captain Jack (and I love how Ianto gets jealous and how everyone finds Jack hot)

I was feeling so sorry for Rose being left out of the call to the Doctor (she was only an observer) but you could feel her heart calling out to him, the level of emoting in this series is astounding. You could feel the terror from the characters dealing with the Daleks, it was all very palpable.

I am still completely freaked out by the ending of the episode and all the cliffhangers .... you knew that it was too good to be true to see Rose and the Doctor reunite, and it was very bittersweet with the Doctor getting zapped by a Dalek and in a sense, dying in her arms.

Is the Doctor really regenerating in to another version? Will there be a faithful companion that will make the ultimate sacrifice (my money is on Rose for that one) ... I am seeing a possible exit and I think it may have to do with Donna and that weird Time Beetle thing from the previous episode Left Turn. When they were at the Shadow Proclamation, one of the attendants commented to Donna about something being on her back, and I wonder if Time Beetles have anything to do with Time Lords or the fact that the Earth is out of synch in the Medusa Cascade. I can hardly wait until next Saturday... like I said, BEST EPISODE EVER.

And on a final note, I checked out the GLAAD Media Awards on Bravo and was impressed with the entire presentation. Great work, and it's nice to see people like Kathy Griffin, Janet Jackson and Herb Ritts celebrated for their positive work with the gay community. I was in awe of some of the celebrities that participated and the subject matter was very serious for the televised portion. We go to see some of the other events as there were awards in several cities. I do have to say that Barbara Walters was humble and articulate in her acceptance of her award, and it was even more humbling to see Judy Shepard accept the Excellence in Media Award. She made it very clear that she was not celebrating her award and would trade it in a second to have her son back. We have made some steps but there is still a long way to go for equality and general acceptance in society, and as long as there is hatred, intolerance and violence towards the LGBT community there is still work to be done.

Kathy Griffin - In a land down under

Kathy continues this A listed season (seriously, this may be called the D List but our red headed firecracker is anything but D List) with a very gay flight to Australia for the very gay Mardi Gras.

Jessica has to deal with some personal demons of her own, a completely illogical fear of drag queens (kind of like having a fear of clowns) that Kathy mocks for all it's worth. Just brilliant stuff. There was a cute scene with Kathy and her mom (as usual with a glass of wine and wayyyyyyy too much make up) that was very touching and Kathy got sent off with her mom's blessing.

Kathy works her ass off for the 15 hour flight (ok yes, that is pretty D List as far as gigs go but it looked hilarious and exhausting) and Kathy keeps going on and on about how she does and will do almost anything for the gays. She is doing lots of mugging and taking photos and doing lap dances. It's all very endearing and I hope to hell that she will be doing the same thing when she comes to Montréal this July 17th for a 7 PM gala at the Just for Laughs Festival. (hint hint) ... I can not express enough how much it would mean to me to have a meet and greet photo op with Miss Fabulous...... I would literally explode!

Enough begging for this week ... getting back to the flight .... I do have to say that her breakfast service seemed to be quite abrupt (I don't think Kathy is much of a morning person) but once they hit the ground in Sydney it's non-stop as she does gig after gig, and has some fun and games with several of her A List friends.

In this possible "best episode ever", Kathy and Team Griffin meet up with Lance Bass and have a great visit to the zoo (loved Kathy trying to buy that Koala bear), Kathy hitches up with Carson Kressley (queerest episode ever) for Tea time with Olivia Newton-John. I kid you not... Olivia fricking Newton-John (who looks fab as usual) and the poor dear is shocked senseless by Kathy who tries out some new material and shocks the shit out of her. The whole c**t-features thing was too much .. those Aussies have a wicked sense of humour.

Kathy continues her time with meeting up with gal pals Margaret Cho and Cyndi Lauper (like I said .. best episode ever) where they go shopping for some gear at Priscilla's (like the movie - making me wonder if this is the gayest thing that I have ever seen?) before going off to be in the big parade for the very gay Mardi Gras. Kathy is having tons of fun with her gal pals (and it's nice to see her hanging with friends, and does she ever have some fun friends..) and you can see her admiration for Cindy. Margaret is actually the Chief/Grand Marshall of the Parade and has invited Kathy to join her on the big float. Of course Kathy works all of her magic to make sure that there are some Press opportunities and gets some decent press time with all her appearances.

In true D List fashion, Team Griffin fumbles the ball when it comes to the Parade and they end up not finding the big float with gal pal Margaret Cho (you would think it would be easy to find since it has the Big Poobah on it) so they end up crashing a few other floats and walking part of the route. I guess that is Life on the D List....

Weekend Rant - Summer Series Bonanza

Summer is one of my favorite times of the year for Guilty Pleasures, there is no other time of the year that you will find tons of "filler" fluff that wouldn't make it to the airwaves in regular competitive market time.

It may not be a ratings bonanza, but Celebrity Circus is quickly becoming the show that I can hardly wait to see each week.... yes it is probably heavily influenced by the fact that the drop dead gorgeous Antonia Sabato Jr. is part of the equation, but I find the challenges astounding and really like how the "celebrities" are pushing themselves. As for the Judges ... it makes my evening with the whole " Night of a thousand accents" thing going on ( being from Montréal you have a certain ear and appreciation for franglais) -- our French Judge Aurelia makes the best comments about our performers that always seem to not make much sense and I love how Mitch is their "neutral -neutered Judge" and how Louis just gushes about the gutsy performances. That is some pretty dangerous stuff some of them are trying -- and my choice for the next elimination is the athletic but completely "non-graceful" Janet Evans ... I still don't see all the hype with Stacey Dash (who?), and Christopher Knight is still charming them after all these years. Rachel Hunter may have been a supermodel at some point in her life - but those legs and ass are looking pretty huge now and her last performance caught her in a few very unflattering positions that I would rather have sucked out of my consciousness. Thunder thighs may be on her way out soon as well.

Flipping Out started season 2 and Jeff is as much a whack job as last season, but has been hit on hard times with the real estate market crash and actually has to work for someone that is as fracked up as he is. He is so obsessive compulsive that he makes the most simple task a matter of life or death .. but is trying to control himself better. The situations and his supporting cast (love that Jenni) make it a hoot to watch and I always feel that I am not quite as fracked up after seeing how fracked up things are in his neck of the woods.

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D List continued the latest season with a hilarious episode that talks all about "merch", her Grammy Award Winning CD and trips to visit Tom's hometown of St. Louis, Missouri, and then Tiffany's hometown of Tracy, California where they will record the Grammy Award Winning CD with a very gay record label. Another great episode with the team hawking t shirts to get new Blackberries and a bizarre visit to a shooting range. Kathy is the new Rodney Dangerfield getting no respect during her employee exploitation tour.

Her team still have not responded to my request to meet when Kathy drops by Montréal to host a gala at the Just For Laughs Festival. Hello Team Griffin ??? A couple of Kathy's gays would love to meet her and heck, I get 10's of viewers daily at my site too! We promise to buy T Shirts and will purchase the Grammy Award Winning CD. Please???? Pretty please??

Maybe I'll luck out -- in the mean time I can hardly wait to see next week when Kathy goes to Mardi Gras in Australia. If it is as much fun as her hosting the Gay Porn Awards it will be another classic evening.

This week: I can hardly wait until the new season of Shear Genius starts up on Wednesday. From the ads I have seen it will be a bloodbath and I can hardly wait. Doctor Who just had a killer episode that featured Donna & Rose and next week it looks like a huge event with guest stars of Torchwood and Sarah Jane Adventures popping up. It doesn't get much better than that.

Kathy Griffin - The A - List Evening

Kathy Griffin kicked some serious butt on Thursday with her first episode of the new season of My Life on the D - List and hosting of the first ever Bravo A - List Awards. If I must repeat myself ... why does everything have to play on Thursday night? I have to spend Friday avoiding some of my favorite sites until I watch the results Show of So you think you can Dance? because there is no way in Hell that I was missing the season premiere of Kathy.

The evening started off with the Red Carpet show featuring the ever popular Tim Gunn (and it was great to see how everyone adores Tim and values his opinion) and the hilarious co -host Billy Eichner who stole the show ( seriously -- the guy gets away with explaining a gay leather bar in NYC to the viewing public and then tears a nice strip out of the so called Real Housewives by calling them on all their plastic surgery -- it was all too hilarious.)

I found it was kind of short (being only 30 minutes long), but it had great flow and enough Bravo celebrities (with the occasional regular mainstream celebrity thrown in) to make it interesting. I was thrilled to see some of my favorites from Project Runway and all the other shows like Step it up & Dance, Shear Genius, Housewives, Flipping Out and all the rest. I didn't get to see all of the different "celebrities" that I love and it made me wanting more, but I was in heaven none the less being the huge Bravo junky that I am.

After our glimpse at the Red Carpet, we get down to the first episode of the new season of the D - List ( a slightly expanded season this year with 10 episodes... better than 7 but still not enough for me) and Kathy is in full form. Following up from her Emmy win (and " Suck it Jesus" speech that created lots of notoriety), our beloved red head is going to be hosting the New Year celebrations in Time's Square with Anderson Cooper on CNN.

She is also dating Woz (Steve Wozniak - Apple co-founder) and is going to be presenting at the Producers Guild Awards. To me it sounds less and less like our dear Kathy is on the D - List.

Let the games begin ... Kathy and crew with Anderson Cooper (and playing drinking games every time she calls Anderson Cooper "Andy") was almost enough to make me pee my pants while watching Jessica get hammered. Kathy looked stunning and had I know she was on I would have caught her on CNN. Anderson Cooper is as adorable as ever and seems to be quiet the good sport. Kathy's mom is as fun (and drunk) as ever and it's nice to see them happy and moving on after dear old Dad passed on last year.

It's great seeing Kathy dating again, and you can't go wrong with an uber-geek billionaire. Woz seems really into Kathy and I love how she told him that he was just eye candy for the evening and to be available if she needs him.

Kathy at the Producers Guild Awards was too funny.... I love how she takes a strip out of Oprah ( and her boyfriend Gayle) and the show Planet Earth (which won the PGA award instead of her) and then slaying the crowd with her hilarious introduction for Simon Fuller the creator of American Idol. Paula Abdul please note: if you aren't there you give even more fuel to Kathy's fire and she was hot - hot - hot. Kathy really has a "take no prisoners" attitude and enforces a strict " offend them all" rule. The Goddess is coming here to Montréal during the Just for Laughs festival and luckily the Couch Potato will be seeing her LIVE for the first time -- I can hardly contain myself.

Anyways it was a great first episode... and the evening got even better with the A -List Awards that followed.

Major networks take note: This is how you do an awards show. No bad filler and lifeless host.

Not only did Kathy open with a great musical number (who knew she could sing?), but she promised to keep pushing the envelope until she was fired. I think Bravo knew what they were getting themselves into when it came to their host and I was surprised by how well the show flowed.

Since this is Bravo, most of the winners and nominees were from the Bravo/NBC universe, but there were some fun twists thrown in, like the Cook Off Quick Fire Challenge and the Fashion Show to raise funds. It's nice to see the "celebrities" offering their services for the event and it made it seem a bit more community oriented.

You couldn't get much gayer though -- there was the great spoof of the Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake "Nipple-gate" fiasco and what other Awards show has recipients that think they are getting the Gay List award? It was hysterical. Any of our "mainstream" celebrities that won awards were very thankful and quite witty.

The strange note of the evening had to be Lauren Hutton getting the Fashion Icon award and being completely out of it -- 45 hours with out sleep? Yeah right....

Kathy had so much fun revelling in the spotlight that I hope they do an Annual Event, I am on board!