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?

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....