Weekend Rant - Cold Comfort

Pushing Daisies had to be the biggest highlight of this past week, and Comfort Food , had even more tasty goodness than our last episode. The cold comfort is the impending demise of the show and the fact that the stories are getting better and better. The art direction is still astounding, and I loved the whole "Bake Off" atmosphere and odes to characters like Colonel Sanders (Colonel Likkin), the sheer insanity of the Waffle Nazi and the surprise appearance of Muffin Buffalo, another shout out to Wonderfalls and the whole zany universe that Bryan Fuller has created. My dream of a cross over featuring George from Dead like Me, Ned and Jaye from Wonderfalls may only be realized in a dream (or comic book).

We got treated to another song by Olive (as beautiful and brilliant as usual), and the more we learn about our main characters and their past, the more I get attached to this show. I know it's not every one's cup of tea, but it has so much depth and is so unusual that I can help but feel cheated that it will not get to realize it's potential. As usual there was tons of witty quips and a hilarious slow motion run to the finish. Chuck's story with her un-dead dad and the repercussions of lying to Ned to keep dad alive (and conveniently saving her and Ned's life at the cemetery) just got to the crux of the issue at the end of this episode, and I can hardly wait to see what happens next week. Cold comfort indeed.

The Amazing Race got closer to the finish line and will finish up this run tonight -- I was a bit in shock when Dallas forgot their bag with their money and passports and ended up eliminating him and mom during the penultimate leg, and even more shocked that the Frat boys actually kept it together enough to finish and be finalists this week. Andrew & Dan may have snuck into the Top 3 but they are so dysfunctional that I can't honestly see them winning and it would be the biggest upset in Race history if they do. I am still betting on Nick & Starr to win the big prize but Ken & Tina might beat them to the finish line. It will still be fun to watch tonight and I am happy to hear that the next round is already scheduled for February.

Heroes is pushing things a tad with their never ending eclipse that temporarily took away powers only to be things back to where there were before. The saving grace is our comic book nerds who are helping Hiro get back his memories that he no longer wants now that he has looked in on events in the 9th Wonders comic book. I just get tired of Hiro always reverting and going back to who he was before instead of becoming the kick ass warrior that we saw in season 1. Some of the story has been lost along the way but I was glad to see more of HRG in action like we know and love. The show needs to concentrate more on what works and to stop rebooting things non stop.

Survivor: Gabon is proving that out witting the other players is the way to win the game, and Bob has really been stepping his game up these past 2 weeks with some killer Individual Immunity performances and not one, but two fake Immunity Idols. I still think the biggest danger is Sugar, and she seems to some stay under every one's radar, even when she is being quite the bitch and not playing that nice. She still hasn't played her own Hidden Immunity Idol and doesn't seem to be in danger (and it appears the rest of them are so into their own game play that they have forgotten about it) and seems to be in the right direction to make it to the final four. It will be interesting to watch how things play out over the next couple of weeks.

On a side note: enough was enough and over the past few weeks I have dropped Stylista (what a snore fest) and can hardly wait until Stargate Atlantis finishes. I am just not liking the stories and everything feels terribly forced. It sucks when you have a great series that goes downhill ( I still blame all of it on the departure of Weir) and try as they might, they just can't get that chemistry back that was there a few seasons ago. It's a shame.... maybe the next series will resurrect the franchise.

Weekend Rant -- Playing Catch Up

Top Design finished up season 2 ... and while I am glad that Nathan won (and he really did, he was the most creative and interesting designer), I was still surprised by how many people thought that Preston should have won. The online voting showed him with a clear majority and I think the voting public was more taken with his pretty boy looks and muscles than his content. Preston was big and pretty and not that much more than that.

I even liked Ondine more than his stuff -- her style is more inviting and warm. Of course it all comes down to personal likes and dislikes and she hit all the right notes. I thought it was interesting that our remaining three got paired up with some of the previous designers and Mr Martha Stewart was very funny with his attitude towards working with Preston. Yes Eddie, very professional to leave the phone off to the side and ignore Preston. Too funny. Still.. when it came time to chose our winner our Judges looked at the big picture and chose Nathan for his creativity and ability to put his personal touch in to things. Great work.

I think I will miss the very mannish India Hicks and her over the top accent from each episode and we'll see if there is a season 3. If they do.. make sure your wacky judges are there every week please... things are always so much more interesting when Kelly Werstler is there.

I finally caught up with the insanity of this season's Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency (slash House) and I was pretty upset with how things rolled around this season. Janice's spying wasn't done to our advantage, there wasn't enough real work happening and the drama drama drama with the models could only be topped by Janice.

It must be part of the in grained personality of a supermodel (take Tyra Banks as another example) that everything has to be the end of the universe and I could not believe the disdain and disgust that Janice has for (the horror of .... dum dum dum) Plus Size Models.

Give me a fracking break. Yes Janice, we know that you are all high fashion (and have the mouth of a trucker to back that one back up) and are probably responsible for more girls having an eating disorder than you can count, but her reaction to Nathan's idea and her treatment of the Models was disgusting. There are ways of getting your opinion across with out looking like a complete asshole and Janice had no idea on how to do that. The only thing that I can really say is that if I thought Janice had any redeeming qualities at all that is no longer the case.

Anyways.... to make a long story short (and the reason I skipped the show for a few weeks and watched the final four episodes in one shot the other day), everything changes again. Yup, end of season with Janice is always a big change, like end of season with Tori and Dean is always about another house and/or probably a new house. Janice has decided to go High Fashion (her dream for the Agency, impossible to do in LA as they are not high fashion enough for our supermodelista) and is off to New York with Crystal in tow and maybe a few other models. JP is now a manager and will be helping out with things. Most of the interesting models were ignored this season and I am waiting for the spin off with JP and the LA division. Of course watching Janice have a meltdown and take NYC with her will be another thing all together and I will more than likely not able to resist sneaking a peek.

Stylista is boring me to pieces and I think that Nice Blonde Girl, who got eliminated this week, should really look a some fulfilling career that will not suck the life out of you. She was too nice for the competition and if that is a downfall, then I don't see her having many problems in life.

Other than that... the one with the huge rack is still not playing well with others and some how I feel may be the dark horse to win the competition. She is winning a few points with Anne Slowey and may get some kind of an advantage by being noticed. Our Rich Spoiled Girl has it out for the Diva and that may take both of them out of the equation. The challenge of having to do the Birthday party for Anne's devil child niece was an fun twist, but the behaviour of the contestants stilll makes me question where this show is trying to go.

Smallville hit one out of the park this week with Bloodlines, and we got to see the rescue and return of Kara, Lois in the Phantom Zone and then being possessed by Faora (wife of Zod) let Erica stretch her acting chops more and she did a great job. I honestly hope the people upstairs (hello DC and Warner Bros) take notice and think about her for the next film... she makes a dynamite Lois and has pretty good range of character.

I loved the story development, more information about our mysterious and hunky Paramedic and his miraculous recoveries and invulnerabilities, more about Chloe-Brainiac and her tapping more and more into that big computer in her head, more fun and games with Green Arrow and his interest in Tessmacher and just more overall adventure and fun and games. I am getting an itching to see Clark going more heroic and hoping to see more guest stars soon. The various story lines are getting very interesting and sooner or later it has to hit the fan with Brainiac. I am beginning to think that they are running out of excuses to keep up the old mantra of " no flights, no tights" for this series when all the signs are pointing that way. It was fitting that Clark and Kara were dressed similar at the end (with their natural penchant for primary colours) and that Kara is off to search for Kandor. If things follow the comic books at all, Kandor was shrunken and put in a bottle by Brainiac, so it may be a way to get Kara back as a guest star again.

My highlight of the week was the return of Bones after some time off during baseball season. It's harder to keep up with series that keep bumping on and off the schedule and it's a tad frustrating at times. I don' t usually have any problems getting back on board with the gang on Bones, and this week's episode The Skull in the Sculpture, was like old times with a fascinating mystery, more intern issues, Angelica's interesting past, and the return of my favorite, Prosecutor Caroline Julian. As usual, it was a fascinating story and I am really enjoying the beat of the season. Less interruptions in the viewing schedule would be appreciated Fox.

The characters are fascinating and we are getting some interesting development with the gang at the Jeffersonian and I still say that there is some kind of connection between Gormogon and Sweets... and with Daisy (irritating intern who had to go) in the picture as some kind of love interest to Sweets I think we may have a new apprentice and some danger later this season. There is something about the storyline that is not finished yet and there is more to come.

My biggest shock of the week was the departure of Marcus on Survivor Gabon. Poor Marcus, he threw away the chance to have immunity at the beginning of the episode and then thought he was invincible with his majority of tribe mates. It seems like most of the best players get blindsided in this game and I am going to hate to see poor Charlie's face when he sees that Marcus is gone. The game is getting vicious and if and when the merge happens it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Mixing the teams up once again was a nice move and unexpected, and it's not playing out as any of them predicated. Crystal is turning into the biggest pain in the ass at the moment and I am amazed at how much of a wimp she is at the competitions. At the rate we are going I think that Sugar may take it all, she seems to be playing the smartest out of the gang. I have to give a big shout out to Bob, who impressed the hell out of me at the Immunity Challenge with his balancing act. The guy was an amazing example of mind over matter.

Weekend Rant - The Week in Review

The past week was one of those ups and downs one on the tube. A few things were great, there was some real crap and I even discovered a new show that has been picked up on the schedule.

The Amazing Race is starting to pick up steam and the challenges are as interesting as always, but I know I will be way more in to the competition once we get down to the final few teams. I like our travelling around this week to Cambodia and the temples were astounding and beautiful. I am not surprised that our long distance couple, Aja & Ty, didn't catch up, they just had too much of a time deficit and didn't have much of a chance. I am still routing for our brother and sister team of Nick & Starr and I hope they kick our frustrated divorcees off the Race soon. Kelly & Christy have to go. We don't get to see enough Dallas.

Heroes rocked my world this week with a fantastic episode. Lots of plot twists and turns and it's getting really hard to tell who is good and who is bad. Lots of grey area in this show, but I am really enjoying seeing more Elle, and loved the flight scene with Claire. The blonde squad is pretty damn tough.

Momma Petrelli is one dangerous lady (even in a coma) and her influence with Gabriel (Sylar) seems to be stretching further than things appear. Peter's miraculous survival after being thrown out the window a few stories up was just a tad too convenient. I am really digging the direction of the series this year and as some plot lines get tied up (Maya), others are being opened up and it's an intriguing story.

I can hardly wait to see what kind of Dream walk Hiro goes on and I have the distinct impression he is going to run into Mama Petrelli, she seems to be off in the dream realm and this better be the time when Hiro starts going bad ass superhero and being the Hiro we saw in season 1. Maybe I am just dreaming.. to could be that timeline and alternate Hiro no longer exists in the current time space continuum. The bad news is that we skip a week due to the election, and of course just when things were getting really interesting.

Dancing with the Stars made me happy and sad this week with Lance rising to number one position (yippee!) and my beloved Cloris being let go. Guest Judge Michael Flatley was quite the bore, and I wasn't sure if his appearance was only PR for his upcoming show (interesting and yes he is talented but there is still something smarmy about him I don't like). His scoring certainly threw the curve off this week. I thought Bruno was going to have a conniption.

Congrats to Lance & Lacey for their great Jive and dethroning Brooke from her pedestal. I thought that even though she was suffering, Brooke did an amazing job and that her Rumba was very hot. I still think that the "stick with boobs" (Susan Lucci) should go and Maurice & Cheryl are not far behind. It's a shame that Julianna is having surgery as it may affect Cody's performance, and he has really grown on me over the past couple of weeks. Warren is still a force to be reckoned with and at this rate should be Top 3 if Cody isn't. I will miss Cloris and her wacky antics, but we all knew that she was going to have to leave eventually and she lasted much longer than expected. She deserved all the standing ovations that she got and she certainly added an interesting element to the competition. I bet you she will be hanging around in the audience for the next few weeks and stirring up some trouble.

Top Design started the finale.. and thankfully little Mr Martha Stewart was eliminated and will not be in the last part of the finale. My pick is still Nathan to win, and I can hardly wait to see how these condos finish up. Hopefully Kelly Wearstler will be there for the final judgement, I am getting tired of Bravo sending Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis to fill in as nothing can replace Kelly and that wacky energy she brings. I think she has a real job elsewhere and is always busy, or just can't really give a damn like most of us who are just watching to see how it ends as a matter of principal rather than actual interest. It'll all be over this week.. finally.

Smallville flirted with the idea of Clark being a superhero and Jimmy almost discovering the big secret about our farm boy. Since we no longer have the same creative team as the previous seasons... are we finally going to see more of a transition and some actual flying, costume and Superman? I hope so... I am really digging the new beat, Lois and Jimmy, the Green Arrow and the whole Metropolis thing. Tessmacher is still boring me to pieces but Chloe-Brainiac is starting to amp things up and it may get very interesting. Time for Clark to man up and start being a hero.

Supernatural killed me last week with their Fright episode and Dean's killer air guitar to Eye of the Tiger at the end of the episode (damn that boy is sexy and funny), was the highlight of last week. This week's Halloween episode was damn scary, and between the razors in the candy, the risks of bobbing for apples and the very old traditions of Samhain there were several shudder moments. The presence of a couple of scary angels that aren't afraid to smite a town to save the world managed to up the anty even more and things were very tense between our boys. It's an interesting dynamic with having one of the brothers influenced by angels and the other demons and it has a very Cain & Abel feel to it. My hope is always that over the long haul the boys will win their fight against evil. Lilith is turning into quite the threat. This show is still the highlight of the week and I can hardly wait until the next episode.

CSI is still one of the best shows on TV and I am really digging the new CSI Riley Adams and like her character and the way she fits in with the team. I still remember Lauren Lee Smith from Mutant X and glad to see her still flexing her acting chops. She has my interest and the stories are as still gripping as ever. I still dread the idea of Grissom leaving and know that it will have a profound impact on the rest of the team.

I no longer have any interest in seeing if any of those vapid twits on Paris Hilton's My New BFF get to be in Paris' posse. All I can say is no Onch means no interest so TTYN Paris. Thankfully I came to my senses this week and have more tolerance or patience for such a bunch of dribble.

Stylista is still attracting enough of my attention to give it one more episode, but this week's episode and all the drama was too much. The only good thing was seeing the bitch fight between the Diva and Rich Spoiled Girl. Anxiety boy had to go (and after that meltdown do you really think that he had a hope in hell of being there for another week?) and Geeky Gay Guy is probably not far behind with his major frack up of the week. Big Girl got her TreSemmé moment but I don't expect to see her around for much longer. Maybe we can luck out and get a double elimination next week as this herd needs some serious culling. If there were not those few minutes of brilliance with Anne Slowey each episode it would already be dropped off the Watch List, the cast is so immature for a prize of this magnitude and I just wish they would grow up and prove themselves.

Finally, I was presently surprised with the 2 hour premiere of Legend of the Seeker. I miss the good old days of Hercules and Xena and this seems to fit in quite nicely with those kinds of shows. There is nothing like some good sword and sorcery stories and I like the hunky Seeker (Richard Cypher) and his friend Kahlan, who is of an ancient order of magical women known as Confessors and the wacky wizard Zeddicus Zu'l Zorander. The origin story had some nice special effects, a decent storyline and some fun magic. There has to be something said for the great costumes and it's nice to see a series being filmed in New Zealand again. I will definitely be checking it out for the next while to see where it goes.

Weekend Rant - Reality Madness

This week was full of some great stuff, some boring stuff and unfortunately some heart breaking stuff. My love affair with Paris Hilton's My New BFF took a nasty turn with the girls pulling out all the stops (and their claws) and deciding on who was the "fakest" with help of guest gossip queen Perez Hilton. Unfortunately it meant that Onch and Corrie were put up on the chopping block (I could not understand why that bitchy and nasty Natasha was not there instead after her huge freak out at the commercial challenge) and then Paris decided that Onch was too fake and had to go.

I am pretty much sure that I am way over this series now... there is no one interesting left to see except for a bunch of bitchy girls that I could care less about, but in a strange twist the girls seemed upset that Onch left. Stupid decision Paris ---seriously, it was a really stupid decision. At least she didn't give him a TTYN so maybe there is a silver lining somewhere in this whole debacle.

Stylista started this week, and if the first episode is any indication of how things will play out I am a bit disappointed but a couple of things were interesting enough that I will be completely hooked with in a couple of weeks. Anne Slowey is all that I expected and more, and the way she had the contestants shaking in their boots (literally and figuratively) at their first challenge was priceless. Anne knows her business and has a "Do not fuck with me" vibe that makes me wonder why she didn't eliminate more than one contestant this week. If there was ever a tougher or bitchier boss out there I have yet to see her. All of the stuff with her and her interactions with the contestants was interesting enough, but I am disappointed with the Layout challenge of the first episode and I wonder about the level of talent with some of these contestants. The 2 teams that blew it (and they did big time) showed a high school level layout scheme with poor colour choices and bad design ideas. I am not sure that some of these contestants were chosen by talent level or by personality.

I could care less about names at this moment, but Rich Spoiled Girl is a complete bitch that will either win or be pushed under a bus by one of the other contestants. I find the contestants pretty juvenile and their lack of professionalism is a tad tiresome. All the drama around the one with the huge rack was over done and little geeky gay guy better watch his ass before he says another inappropriate thing and gets it handed to him. I was not surprised that Scarecrow and the Big Girl were put up for elimination, and although Anne was gentle with our Big Girl this week but her time is limited. Image counts in this industry and as much as she wants to be there it isn't a sitcom and she will be shown the door soon. Bye Scarecrow, we never even had the chance to get to know you.

Top Design is still boring me to tears, and little Mr Martha Stewart was such a knob this week that I hope he gets booted next week. Preston is still rehashing the same things over and over (everything seems to be designed for a hotel lobby), Nathan is still blowing my mind each week with his out of the box and organic design sensibilities (and he is still my favorite to win), but this week I really loved the room put together by Ondine that appealed to my own personal style. I loved how she put all the knick knacks from traveling and gave the room an earthy feel and I felt that she incorporated the lighting fixture well into her room. The judges didn't feel that way and hated her room and she would have left if Mrs. Shroeder wasn't homesick and decided to leave the competition.

What???

I don't understand how silly people can be sometimes, but I have been waiting weeks for her to leave as she was really just so out of her element. She did a decent job with the challenge but she still needs more confidence, training and practice to go further along this career path. It was too much of a cop out for me and I was really disappointed that the judges gave her the choice (which she had to hum and haw about for a good commercial break) to stay or go. She wants to go? Fine, just let her go and that's it.

Thank god there are only 2 episodes left. I am not sure if I am interested in a season 3 at this point.

The Amazing Race had more outstanding visual moments again this week with their arrival in New Zealand (complete with Phil's dad -- meeting him was a cute moment) and more conflict between our bitchy divorcees Kelly & Christy and the brother and sister team of Nick & Star. All this drama is a waste of energy and maybe the teams don't realize it, but they are falling behind and need to concentrate on the Race and not on the other teams.

There are still lots of teams and the Race gets more exciting for me when we get down to the last 6 Teams and the stakes get higher. I did like that the first Fast Forward of the season was played, as it starts to divide the pack (although there do seem to be a lot of equalizer flights -- it doesn't matter if you show up early you all leave on the same flight). There does seem to be a lot of tension with some of the teams so I am expecting more meltdowns at a faster pace this season and we'll have to see how far this tension will push some of the teams. The teams that I like and am cheering for are: Toni & Dallas, Nick & Starr and Ken & Tina. The teams that I don't think will go far and I don't really care are : Andrew & Dan and Aja & Ty. The teams that I hope lose ( yes I know it sounds harsh but I don't like them) are: Terence & Sarah ( get out Sarah while you can -- Terence is way too needy and you are just enabling him) and Kelly & Christy. Yes ladies, I know that you both had bad relationships that ended in divorce but you can stop punishing the world for that. Very bad energy those two.

The tattoos on the Maori warriors was a trip of a challenge (wild stuff) and I laughed as the poor blonde Southern Belles got frightened silly trying to do the challenge and unfortunately were eliminated at the end of this leg of the Race. They did manage to get a hug out of Phil's Dad so I guess things weren't a complete loss.