Weekend Rant - The Week in Review

Dancing with the Stars broke my heart this week with the sudden departure of Misty May-Treanor due to an injury... Rocco got to stay for another week due to the tragedy, but I can't believe that Maks is already gone, I really hoped it was his year to go to the finale. The dancing was good and at least there are a few other "Stars" that help make the show fun, and I am always hyped to see what kind of wacky antics Cloris will get into (the woman is sheer entertainment), but I am still a little shell shocked over the whole incident and to make matters worse, I had seen Misty & Maks make a guest appearance on The Soup hours before the mishap.

Damn.

If Toni Braxton can stop being such a drama queen about the competition I would put my support behind her, but at this time I am rooting for the big guy, Warren & Kym and of course, my other favorites Lance & Lacey. Me thinks the chef will be disposed of next week unless he gets some rhythm real fast.

Chuck VS the Seduction was the perfect return to the regular feel and flow of the show. Chuck is trained by Seduction expert Super Spy Roan (played brilliantly by John Larroquette) to seduce the ultra sexy bad Spy Sasha Banacek (played by the ultra hot Melinda Clarke who plays those bad girls so well) and in the process we get a very hot kiss between him and Sarah. There was so many things about the episode that I loved that it felt just like last season, but even better.

Some of my favorite parts included:
--The great new top secret HQ under Orange Orange. Yogurt is way sexier than wieners.
-- Roan lived up to his reputation with his martini swilling and his uncanny ability to get our tough as nails General Beckman to let her hair down. Chuck's comment that Roan's liver must look like camouflage had me snickering.
-- The training session, the obvious tension and affection between Sarah and Chuck is getting even more obvious and I loved how Roan goaded them on to kiss ... and wow ! what a kiss that was.
-- The Nerd Herd is going insane and revolting at the Buy More after Lester becomes the new Assistant Manager and is trying to be El Jefe the supreme dictator. Big Mike gives Lester advice from Animal Planet on how to deal with the staff : "Find the wounded gazelle and pounce!" Which of course was totally nerd worthy and it was another of those Priceless Moments on this show. When Lester pulled out the Wheel of Misfortune, which assigns the worst jobs to do around the store and wanted the staff to play it I almost lost it. The whole storyline at work was hilarious and I am happy to see the same chemistry and shenanigans with the gang at work.
-- Roan coaching Chuck during the assignment and pulling out all the stops. I loved his "be a bastard" phase that seemed to catch our sexy bad spy's attention, well at least enough for her to want to do the wild thing with Chuck.
-- The tension between Casey and Roan was great until he was told that Roan had failed him more than once because Casey's old partner was too hot, and that was the reason he had to repeat the seduction course more than once. That soothed our tough guy's ego.
-- Chuck's leap of faith off the building to save the day, and once he lands he says "and the Russian judge gives it a 9.4", which gets even funnier as it has changed Lester's "Under New Assistant Manager" banner in to " New Ass Man" banner which gets Big Mike to stop and pause and then make the comment that he isn't new.
-- Captain Awesome making the mistake of taking advice from Morgan on how to romance Ellie but making up for it in a way more awesome way.

These are just a few of the examples of why I love this show so much.Nice to see that things are back to normal and even better.... except now Bryce is back and that means nothing good for Chuck.

Heroes has me hooked with the current Villains storyline. Good writing, some great acting and action but why do so many shows have to use flash forward or flashback sequences constantly? It seems like we spend less time in the NOW but the stuff that is/will/has happening is interesting, I just get confused with the apparent time paradoxes that are all over the place, but I have a ton of other questions such as:

Where the hell is Monica? At this point I am not convinced that Tracy is the only other sister (triplets?) from the house of Niki or is there even more manufacturing going on? When is Suresh going to turn into the Fly?

Even though I don't like some of the plot development, I thought it was very clever that Matt is following his totem (the Turtle) to find the Speedster... slow and steady wins the race. The revelation that Sylar (Gabriel) is also a Petrelli has me spinning a bit, I am not sure if that is truth or more manipulation by Mother Dearest. Mrs.Petrelli has turned into the coldest and most fascinating character on the show and grabs my attention each time she is on screen.

Pushing Daisies gave me another moment of sheer pleasure this week with Circus Circus, and it was a visually stunning, hilarious and incredible as I expect in an episode of this series. The whole dead Mime thing could only have been topped by the hilarious Clown Car in the water... complete with 15 drowned clowns in it... yup, they had to do one of those sight gags of body after body being brought up from the tiny car( I loved that one clown that had those long,long legs) and you have to have a pretty dark sense of humour to really appreciate some of the nuances of this show. Of course it hits all of the right notes with me. The startling visual difference between the Circus world and then the Nunnery was another gleaming example of the incredible art direction in this series, both are very colourful but you get such a difference sense and feeling and even texture from each of the worlds. Olive and Aunt Lily in the Chapel has got to be some of the funniest stuff about Nuns that I have seen in quite a while, the liquor bottle in the bible and Lily's coordinating eye patch had me in hysterics. Olive has an epiphany about love and keeping memories alive that she shares with Lily, she also reveals that she is still in love with Ned and that Ned loves someone else. It looks like things might be colliding soon in trying to keep these universes apart.
So you think you can Dance ? Canada went through the first week of competition and elimination and I was really impressed with the quality of dance for the first week of competition. Breanne and Kevin got cut (I was surprised that it was Kevin, he did a great job but Dario is an incredible soloist and I think that saved his ass this week). I was surprised that Izaak wasn't shown the door as I felt he was the weakest.

Vincent and Lisa pulled out probably the best performance of the evening with their contemporary number (it was beautiful), but I am disappointed that we don't know much about the choreographers or their background and I hope that will be be explored more. We have such a vibrant dance community in Canada that I hope we get to see all the different genres and hopefully some of the big names like Margie Gillis or Edouard Locke showing up. Arassay and Nico are my choice of the hottest couple at the moment -- those 2 are smoking hot together. The competition is great and I am really enjoying the show.


Survivor Gabon bounced back this week with a tribal shuffle, and I was probably as happy as Charlie that he and Marcus got to stick together. I find their little bromance too cute for words and disappointed that we haven't been seeing enough of these two.

The new status quo has changed the standings of a few of the players, and it looks like Sugar is not that respected and she was not chosen for one of the teams, but instead got to lounge at the Exile Hut that is not really quite Exile Island(she already found the Idol) while the new tribes eliminated one of their players after competition. The competition was completely dominated by the new Kota tribe and in the end it was too late for Jacquie and she was ousted. You can tell that some of the players are starting to play harder but a few of them just seem like dolts and I have the impression that GC and Ken are on their way out.

This season still seems kind of dull and I am hoping the shake up will help things but it probably won't be until after the merge that things get really fun.

CSI came back and alas, it meant the end of Warrick. It was a shame as he was always one of my favorite characters but I also know that actors don't always stay on a series for an indefinite period of time. The story was handled well and the emotions were completely palpable for the entire episode, and although I have the distinct feeling that this may be the event that precipitates the departure of Grissom, it was great to see Sara come back and help out the gang. It's never easy to say good bye to a friend and it's a shame that Warrick is gone. I always felt that could have done more with the character and I always hoped for him and Catherine to hook up.Unfortunately I think it's the beginning of the end for the series, we'll have to see how it works once Grissom has left as well.

The Week in Review - Bringing Sexy Back

Last week was a busy one but there was still plenty of time to catch up on some shows and I was more than pleased with the fare from the last episode of Supernatural. In fact, it was my favorite TV show of the week as I loved the story and surprises.

I did not expect that it was Dean and Sam's mom (and her family) that were the Hunters ... I always assumed (like most of the fans) that it was always their father. I was slightly thrown off at the beginning of the story and seeing the younger version of Dad who wasn't really up to speed on the whole Hunter vibe, but as soon as Mom (Mary) went all Buffy on Dean I knew that I was in for a pleasant surprise. The similarities between the 2 characters was really interesting,and not only can I see where Dean got his sexy vibe from (Mom was pretty damn hot) but we got a better understanding of the Yellow Eyed Demon and his plan ( as well as the way he made all his deals) involving psychic children but not much more about his scheme. I loved seeing his grandparents and how they were such bad ass Hunters especially Grandpa. It's always nice to see more history but it was kind of heartbreaking to see Mom willing to sacrifice herself 10 years later to bring Dad back to life, but with the time travel and now that the Yellow Eyed Demon knows about the future it may change things.

While I am not sure exactly why Dean needed this walk down memory lane (except maybe to influence his Dad in to buying that car) but as our Angel friend Castiel says that is all that they know and at least Dean is up to speed on what is going on, but I am sure that there is more to the story than we know and it all involves Sam, his psychic abilities and his strange activities.

Smallville had a Green Arrow centered story that danced over and around his origin story with out too much detail other than he was on the Island for a couple of years, learned archery and decided to do better with his life after playing the spoiled playboy. It also appears that he became an expert hair stylist and body waxer with all that flesh that was showing in this episode. Poor Oliver (Justin) was shirtless and sweating for most of the episode but I am willing to tolerate this as sacrifices have to be made in the name of art. (hot bod-- OMG)

I don't know why they had to have Tesswhatchmacallit included in the flashback/origin sequence except to make some background for her character (not really loving it but will have to make do with Lex gone) and potential love triangle with Ollie/Dinah/Lois. Ollie is always portrayed as the Casanova and they don't make any exceptions in the series. It's just too bad that they didn't let him go a bit more wild with his look on the Island and have long hair and a beard. Seriously... the guy is so waxed and tanned that he looks to be in Dancing with the Stars territory but in pinch it will do.

Clark and Lois are starting to get some chemistry (about time), and you have to say that Lois really knows how to dress a guy, Clark hasn't looked this good in all the previous seasons and I like how they keep to his primary colour palette. The long term developments with Chloe and Brainiac in her head (not to mention the change in abilities) will probably be some of the impetus of this season. Our new Paramedic friend is interesting but I am still not sold on the whole love triangle with Chloe, Jimmy (curiously absent again) and new dude. Let's get back to some more adventure and super heroics instead of the drama and angst.

Chuck came back for the season opener and this time it was Chuck vs the First Date. I love all the "versus"titles and while the first episode didn't thrill me to death (it felt like a transitional episode) it still had all of the nerdy goodness that I expect in this show. There was only a bit of screen time with Captain Awesome (Ryan McPartlin) but any screen time is better than no screen time and once again the poor guy spends most of his air time either naked or shirtless. Awesome is almost too good to be true and Chuck's sister is one damn lucky girl...

Following up from the cliff hanger of last season, the new Intersect is almost ready to go making our reluctant hero redundant. Chuck asks Sarah out on a date since they will no longer be working together. Things have changed since last time, and Sarah's cover is now at Orange Orange selling yogurt, instead of being a wiener girl like last season. The intro sequence was too much, with all the flowing hair and sexy presentation. Her interest seems to be actually interested in dating Chuck and not playing handler and it's nice to see as you know they actually do have some chemistry. Casey was even more hilarious with his mission to take Chuck out when the new Intersect becomes active (and his target practice sequence was too much) and I was in hysterics with his inability to actually pull the trigger on Chuck. Casey is a big softie but he will never admit that, and Adam Baldwin is my favorite (and only) Republican. The guy plays the perfect tough G Man who secretly has a heart of gold and I am hoping for the big guy to get in some romancing in this season and that we get to see another side of him.

Of course the new Intersect turned out to be a Trojan horse and ended up taking out some property and agents, and Chuck is still tied to the agency and the BuyMore, so in a sense things didn't really change but became more complicated.The gang at work is still as wacky as ever and the whole decision making process for the Assistant Manager position was hilarious. It almost makes me want to work there.

Weekend Rant - Out of Sync

Things have been off schedule most of the week due to the upcoming Federal election. Yup, we are in full election mode and 2 nights this week were taken up with the big debates in French and English here in the Great White North (GWN). For me it has become clear that we need to go in a new direction and I openly favour the Liberal Party and their Green Shift platform. We need to change direction and look at alternative sources of energy as well as reducing our consumption.I could not bear to live with the horror of a Conservative Majority government and their disdain for not only the Arts community but their antique attitudes towards women and the gay community. I, for one, have no interest in going backwards in time nor risking to lose gains already made. The Conservatives are completely out of sync with what the people actually want, yet they try to manipulate the media and the news and govern as though they have the will of the people when i reality they are a minority government (not to mention that their leader called this election because he said he couldn't govern with the current status quo and he had put a law in place calling for fixed election times) and they have been bullying their way around.

End of political speech --- but it is my rant and all this politics has affected my regular TV viewing this week quite a bit as real issues took over the airwaves instead of my usual chill out, relax and get entertained mode that the tube is usually for.

This was a great week for Canadian TV as the Rick Mercer Report , This Hour has 22 Minutes and Air Farce Live (all CBC shows), came back to the airwaves at a crucial time. The media has been inundated with propaganda from the current minority government and the usual voices of reason have been off (the TV season has just been getting started here in the GWN) and I have been in desperate need of sum laughs and good scathing political humour a la Daily Show. Things did not disappoint and I am ecstatic that the "liberal media" is all over the election and wasting no time with blasting the candidates. It's all good stuff, and helping to get things back in sync.

So you think you can Dance ? Canada returned this week with the second part of the competition and the selection of the Top 20 Dancers. 10 guys and 10 girls were chosen out of the pool of dancers and I was a bit surprised that 5 of the guys are from Québec but none of the girls.The competitions were interesting and I liked seeing the Judges do different styles with the dancers as they slowly cut them down to 20, but I hated the whole "fake out" style of telling the dancers who was in or out at the end. It seems kind of cruel to be playing practical jokes at such a pivotal point and it felt mean spirited, which is surprising because in general I find the competition to be kinder and gentler here than in the USA.

With the quantity of shows being followed, I am playing catch up over the weekend and will do another posting with some feedback on some of the regular shows, but in stuff that I absolutely had to follow, I was in sheer heaven with the long awaited return of Pushing Daisies. There is no other show like this one on TV, and it's is such candy for the senses it's hard to choose favorite parts of an episode as I usually so enthralled by all of it's elements. The art design and visual look and feel of the series blends so well with the characters and story lines that it is almost too much, but at the same time each episode makes me feel like there wasn't enough and I can hardly wait until the next one.

The season opener, Bzzzzzzzzz, was as sweet as honey and after a quick catch up on the first abbreviated season we get to Ned & Chuck getting ready to bring Chuck's bees back to life. Not only did we get an nice look at our couple that can never touch (Ned looks quite fine in his boxers), but we got some great special effects as the bees are poured over Ned and come back to life. The quality of this show is always such a pleasant surprise.

As things advance we get a visit from Chuck's Aunts (including dear old mom) at the Pie Hole and Olive having a breakdown as she is overwhelmed with being a "homeopathic drug mule" (the writing was phenomenal this episode) and keeping all the secrets that are going on around her. Later we see that she has been taken away by Aunt/Mom Lily to the Convent where Chuck was born and we get a great almost Sound of Music moment with Olive on the hill top. I was just waiting for the music before they cut to the next part and left me in wonder. Olive and the Poor (I thought you meant porter) was just too funny for words, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that our Mother Superior is none other than Diana Scarwid, who played Jaye's mom on the show Wonderfalls also written by the brilliant Bryan Fuller and also starred Lee Pace. It's great how some actors get to work with same writers over and over and the little communities that it creates.

Our mystery this week was all about Honey based Cosmetics, Bee Girls and Bees. The look was great, all honey comb influenced and there is always a 50's vibe floating around in the art direction. The story was fun but it was more all the other stuff going on that I loved. More mystery about Chuck and her mom, Olive learns that Chuck's father (oh no! another secret!) was sister Vivian's boyfriend. I like how Olive left her matchy match apartment and Chuck moved in, to be next to Ned and how Ned got all of Chuck's old stuff that Vivian had kept to furnish the apartment. Olive may have had the best lines of the evening, but Emerson got me wondering what is going on with his pop-up book titled " Lil' Gum Shoe - The tale of a little girl who's father couldn't find her " that had a working lamp in it ( very cool) but had me more fascinated with the title than the way it popped up. JUst some more mystery to be revealed over the season I imagine. I can hardly wait, but I am concerned that the ratings are lower than last year and hope it will be around for a couple of seasons.

Survivor: Gabon showed that when your team is out of sync that things don't go so well. After being the dominant team last week, Kota looses it's edge and starts bickering amongst themselves. Fang manages to win the reward Challenge and gets some nice bedding and comfort and some much needed confidence. Things aren't completely coming up roses as they are already running low on rice ( I was in shock when I heard that they had thrown out rice after cooking too much) and are starting to panic when thinking about rationing and cutting their meals to 2 per day.There is much trouble in paradise and I don't think that one Immunity Challenge win will necessarily be a huge turn around for them.

Sugar gets sent off to Exile Island (where she manages to follow the clues and find the hidden Immunity Idol -- great work and almost unexpected with all the yammering she was doing) and it all hits the fan at Kota where Paloma and Ace are butting heads like crazy. There is a ton of back and forth with different strategies but in the end Paloma is sent home and hopefully things will look better next week for the team as their biggest negative energy seems to be gone. It's still kind of early in the game but it looks like Ace better watch his ass, people are starting to see him as a threat but I think that Corinne is looking like a real smart player. Not enough Charlie this episode.. hopefully more with him and Marcus next week.

Dancing with the Stars - Week 2

Things zipped along on the second week of competition on Dancing with the Stars, and I am already getting a little pissed off at our cranky judges. I can not, for the life of me, understand how Lance Bass & Lacey Schwimmer got a lower score than some of the other dancers with their very hot I kissed a Girl inspired Paso Doble. They had great footwork, a kick ass performance and the 2 of them have some great chemistry. The kiss was a complete surprise and it was cute stuff. Len gets a little too stuck in his groove, but you have to give him the point that they need to be more conventional in the competition or they may be leaving sooner than later. Ya gotta give props to those two though... it was a fantastic number.


I was so relieved when Kim Kardashian & Mark Ballas were given the boot for their sad Rumba instead of Cloris Leachman & Corky Ballas with their pretty good Paso Doble. Cloris and Corky didn't deserve to have the lowest score this week (she did a serious dance and then they chided her for not being funny -- this show is a tad confusing to follow at times) as she out danced both Rocco and Kim by miles. Thank god Kim is gone as the only I can think when she is on stage is that "She can't sing, She can't dance... why's she famous?". Now we know that just because you have a huge ass and rack (not to mention having done a sex tape) do not make you a celebrity or even show any talent that can be displayed in public. Bye bye Kim, don't let the door hit you on the huge ass on your way out. It was so boring and I am so over it.

But overall I am still really impressed with the level of dance with some of the competitors and here is the rundown of how it looked at home.

Toni Braxton & Alec Mazo did the Rumba and did a nice steamy job with it. They have some great chemistry and got a pretty decent score. Alex is looking pretty good this year and it may be time for him to take back the trophy.

Brooke Burke & Derek Hough did the Paso Doble , it was a nice routine but too much cape work for my taste and Derek just looks too young to be her partner. Brooke moves well across the floor but I don`t think she is as much the natural dancer as they would like to say. She needs to bring out her inner cougar to sell it better. Derek needs to watch his mouth though... do not piss of the judges my friend as you may regret it later.

Rocco DiSpirito & Karina Smirnoff attempted to do the Rumba and failed terribly. Len even tried using cooking analogies to make things clear for Rocco but the guy has no rhythm or natural dance movement and I expect him to be gone soon. I can see how he is hot on the Food network but this is way out of his comfort zone.

Misty May-Treanor & Maksim Chmerkovskiy hit it hard with a great Paso Doble. Maks is working Misty hard (not that she seems to mind), and they really did a great number. I was disappointed with their score and thought that they deserved better. Maks is always teamed up with very intense women.

Maurice Green & Cheryl Burke did an okay Rumba, but I just wasn't feeling it last night and in all honesty I am pretty much over Cheryl. She isn't doing it for me anymore.

Susan Lucci & Tony Dovolani did a much better job with their Rumba, and even if Susan seems dangerously skinny at times she moved much better than I expected. She is definitely less stick like as she was the first night and has some potential. She just looks too fragile at times and that may be her biggest weakness.

Warren Sapp & Kym Johnson did the best Paso Doble of the evening that was hot, intense and covered in pleather. Warren is really surprising me (and most of the public) by his great foot work and ease on the dance floor. The big guy is really surprising and Kym is certainly working it for all it's worth to go to the finale this season. She seems a bit top heavy to me but Warren doesn't seem to mind.

Cody Linley & Julianne Hough did their Rumba and people will think I am cruel, but I thought he looked like Ellen Degeneres dancing. It`s probably not a good thing that you look like a lesbian dancing with Julianne (although I am pretty sure that Ellen would enjoy herself, and is it just a coincidence that Julianne is from Australia just like Ellen's partner Portia? hmmmm...) and I didn't think they were that great. Cody is just too green and I don't expect to see him around in a few weeks, unless all those screaming girls know how to vote as well as they scream. The show is still as entrancing as ever and a great way to start off the week.

Starting the New Season- More Hits & Misses

With the ton of shows coming back to the airwaves (and a few new ones that need to be checked out), there are already a few things falling off to the wayside and one of the first casualties of the season (after 90210) has been Fringe. The series just hasn't captured my attention and with all the other choices available I just haven't been interested in keeping up. It's time to clear up a bit of room on the PVR and if I hear some critical acclaim for the series it may be checked out later but I am not holding my breath.

Bravo is a hit or miss network for me, and for every show that I love there seems to be a few that just don't make the grade. The Rachel Zoe Project didn't live up to it's advertising, but if the Real Housewives of Atlanta is close to being as over the top as what I have seen so far it will be sneaking it's way on to the Watch List. I am slightly ashamed but I will admit that I will check out the first episode of Paris Hilton's BFF, but more for the shock and awe factor than interest in Parisite.

The Amazing Race kicked off it's 13th edition this week , and right after winning the Emmy for Best Reality Show (again), it blazed out of the gates with the teams leaving the US to Brazil .

The teams seem interesting and there is already some of that delicious tension between some of the teams and there are already a couple of them heading into meltdown mode after one leg. Watch out for Terence & Sarah, Terence is getting the award for most needy and best passive aggressive routine this episode, but Ken & Tina are close behind with the whole thing about his infidelity. Is this the right reality show to be airing this kind of dirty laundry? I was laughing my ass off at the Frat Boys (Andrew & Dan) who seemed to think that they had all the ins to airline travel and got proved otherwise. I think the big lesson in this episode is that you need to read the clues and follow the directions and look for the flag that indicates your particular choice. I am still always in awe when I see players that don't know the rules.

Unfortunately our hippy bee keepers were eliminated this week (too bad), once again proving that it is usually the old and the weak that are the first to go.... it's one of those basic laws of survival. It was another great start and I am hoping next season we can get an edition in HD. The locales and views are too stunning and this show really needs to be showcased in a better format.

Desperate Housewives returned, and after the small teaser at the end of last season that showed a 5 year jump in the storyline I was worried that we were getting into unfamiliar, or even worse, Jump the shark territory.

All I can say is wow... I loved the new developments, the return of Edie and all the different components of what is going on.The flashbacks that they are using to explain the 5 year gap are great, and I was in panic mode for the first part of the episode thinking that Mike was dead (and that would have been too cruel) only to learn that he is still alive and well and sharing custody with Susan and their son. The developments with Bree are heartbreaking (and it will be interesting to see how that develops) and I am so loving her ultra Martha Stewart mode that she is in. There are a lot of things that have not been touched on (such as where are some of the kids?) and I am looking forward to seeing some of the new reveals.

I love the new Gaby. It`s nice to see someone stretch their acting chops more and to see Eva be more than just a hot body and a pretty face. The new tension with Edie (the bitching that will be going on should be too fun and Edie got in some really bitchy comments this week) and her dealing with having a husky girl is funny and tragic at the same time, and it may show the true depth of Gaby, or more than likely her continual struggle with image and looks. It`s to be expected, she is a former model after all.

The jump forward was a gamble but it has garnered my attention... hopefully enough others have as well.

Weekend Rant - The Week in Review

Since this is the big start to the new TV season, there is a ton of ranting to do.. so start your engines and off we go...

Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles is continuing it's sophomore season with some interesting developments but some of the plot lines have me scratching my head and going hmmm a bit too much. This past episode has Cromartie kidnapping Charley's wife, Michelle (Penny from Lost) and setting up an elaborate Mousetrap to keep the gang busy while he goes after John. The stupid thing is that Michelle gets injured and Charley (the paramedic) can't do anything to save her. Bad paramedic.... I am not sure if it's to get him more involved with the team (and possible love interest once again for Sarah) or if it's another example of the sacrifices that she will have to make to protect John. I am not sure if I would want a semi competent paramedic on my team. Shirley Manson is still freaking me out as the ultra slick Catherine, who (apparently) is on a quest for Terminator bits and pieces (she says) and is recruiting poor Agent Ellison over to the dark side. All part of the bigger picture I imagine.

Cameron had a couple of great moments this week showing her robotic/naive side. Her assessment of the centre of the house was great, and her super strength manipulations at the computer store were so matter of fact to her but bad for her cover story/secret identity. I estimated that in the time she took chasing after John and finding him, her truck was probaby emptied out in no time and someone else got some nice shiny new computers. These are those moments that you wonder if stuff like that is intended or is it just more impressive characterisation by Summer. Stealing from a Terminator is probably not a smart thing to do and it will more than likely result in death. The chase scene with John at the Pier seemed strangely familiar, and I was glad to see the fact that these particular Terminators can't swim (or float) exploited. I wonder if future versions could be water adapted or specialised? That could be an interesting version to see. It was also a tad strange that Catherine was drinking water .... something about water and that one.

Bones continued it's season with a great episode and another one of those witty titles "The Perfect Pieces in the Purple Pond" that brought some of the old energy back. It was great seeing Zack again and having some follow up to his story. It's nice to see that he is recovering from those nasty hand injuries and hasn't really lost his touch when it comes to figuring things out. It turns out that he didn't actually kill anyone ... but I still have this nagging feeling that Sweets is more involved in the whole Gargamel story line than we know and I will not be overly surprised when that fact is revealed. I am so loving the "intern of the week" dynamic that is happening with the gang (it reminds me of Murphy Brown and the never ending cycle of secretaries that she went through) and I wonder if it's a temp thing until they get Zack back. I loved seeing the old chemistry back.... now if we can Hodges and Angela back together again the world will be alright.

I love how they have been humanizing Bones more and trying to show different facets of her very complex personality. Last week with her interest and obvious affection for the dogs and the very touching memorial that she gave, and this week and her tender moments with Zack. Yes, she is terribly logical and literal but she has a good heart. It's time to take things up a whole 'nother level with Booth, you can see how much they like each other and they have such a perverse pleasure in toying with Sweets.

Knight Rider crashed and burned coming out of the gate this week and I knew it was going to be a dud. The writing is as bad as the made for TV movie (I still don't understand why they thought it was such a success that it deserved a regular series, but then again this is the same network that gave us the Bionic Woman fiasco.) The transforming car is just too much and I didn't understand how someone could go from the back of a pick up to driving the car with a few simple transformer moves with out being crushed ... but not much of this show is that logical. Unfortunately part of me still likes the pretty tech( ooh! science!) and the pretty new Michael Knight, I just don't know if I will try to follow it and consider me officially on the fence about this one. There is a lot of choices on the tube and I have the feeling that this is falling to the wayside.

Smallville started the season off not bad last week with some of the Justice League looking for Clark after he some how ended up in a Russian Work Camp. While I don't try to understand some of the story lines, I love that Green Arrow (Justin) is a regular this season, they tried to fix some of the costume issues with the Black Canary by giving her a Birds of Prey inspired one (good move) but they are still relying on her throwing a lot of knives. That still sits funny with me and would prefer if they could go all ninja with her and make her the kick ass martial artist that she should be... but improvements none the less. Aquadude was great... the shower scene certainly showed off his assets... something has to be said about those swimmers bodies... wow...

It's a shame that Lex has vanished (I am hoping for a guest appearance at some point), but I am shedding no tears over the departure of Lana. Our new CEO of Luthor, Tess whatsherface, is a cookie cutter version of some of the great ladies that have worked for Lex, and I think she will be an interesting counterpoint to the good guys. She obviously can't be on the side of Angels and it looks like she is trying to get her own Injustice League (or Suicide Squad?) together to battle the Justice League. Bette (aka Plastique) is an interesting addition to the others (I have to see more) and the show seems to be going into a different adventurous direction.

The developments with Chloe have me scratching my head a bit, all the sudden changes (and now she is no longer interested in being a reporter? what?), only reinforces that I think that part of Brainiac is inside Chloe's head. She can't heal, is smarter in weird ways, and there are a few things that just aren't adding up. I don't really want to get into the angst thing and new love triangle that seems to be developing with the ambulance guy and Jimmy. I could do with out all of that but it wouldn't be the CW if there wasn't some sort of teen like angst happening, they do realize that the kids are no longer in school right?

It looks like this year Lois and Clark will be getting closer and working together, and I really do like Erica as Lois. She does a great, strong take on the character and you can start to see more of the spark between them. Lois is certainly more street smart and damnm does she know how to dress a man. I won't be surprised if Clark starts flying soon. I think that rule can be tossed aside now that we are getting more out of Smallville and in to Metropolis... with all the changes you might as well change the name of this show to Metropolis, it looks like Smallville is just a nickname for our farm boy now. I am appreciating this show more this year and if it doesn't fall into severe emo/teen angst territory it should be a fun watch.

Supernatural found a way of bring Dean back from Hell (Plucked by an Angel it appears, and that almost sounds dirty), but I am having a problem believing that the Hunter culture can know so much about demons and the other ilk and know nothing about the good guys. You would think that you would know a bit more about Angels since Demons piss their pants if they see one... it's a skewed view of the universe that seems unbalanced... and for me is less a question of faith than one of logic, obviously if all this evil exists then there should be a counterpoint.

The whole Apocalypse storyline seems interesting (and face it, shows like this end up saving the world at least once per year) and I am glad that Lilith is still involved on some level. The humor has been lacking a tad this season, but we are only 2 episodes in and there had to be some explaining about Dean's miraculous return. The writing is good, the boys look great and I am looking forward to this season.

This week I am really excited by the return of The Amazing Race, Desperate Housewives, Dexter, Chuck and Pushing Daisies. I am so happy to be getting full seasons of some of my favorites and I can hardly wait to jump in to that delicious Pie Heaven that is Pushing Daisies. It's the most original thing on the tube.

On Canadian TV, we finally get around to some new This Hour has 22 Minutes, The Rick Mercer Report and Air Farce Live and So you think you can Dance? Canada starts back up with stage 2 and the selection of the Top 20. It's going to be another busy week....

Reality Round Up - Whole lotta shakin' going on

Dancing with the Stars dominated last week with a huge 3 night event. Thankfully that's not the regular schedule 'cause it's a tad daunting. It's great to see Maks again (and once again he is teamed up with a big powerful woman) and I expect to see him and Misty go pretty far.

I was very surprised with Warren Sapp -- the guy has great rhythm and flow and he was great in his first couple of dances. Lance Bass is doing great, and I am already such a huge fan of his partner Lacey from So you think you can Dance and expect them to go far. They may have to tone down the Contemporary vibe a bit (for Len) but they are hot to watch.

Brooke Burke is great and better than expected. Maurice Green is pretty smooth on the floor and I was pretty sure that Susan Lucci was going to be eliminated this week but she bounced back. Susan looks pretty thin and might have been pushing herself a bit too far. I have never heard a Judge tell a contestant to eat before, so that was kind of weird.

Cody Linley is in that grey zone for me, sure he is young and cute (with huge,huge eyebrows) and all the girls are screaming but I find him a bit green. We'll have to see if Julianne will whip him into shape. Rocco DiSpirito is a sexy chef but not much of a dancer. I was expecting to see him go this week as well and was surprised when it was Ted McGinley that hit the road. Tim has been around forever and he always looks the same, and I think he fell victim to the voting public. I wasn't surprised that Jeff Ross was one of the first eliminated, he looked so out of his element.

Toni Braxton is a bit too drama queen for my taste and I don't understand all the health issues but she looks great. Once she relaxes she has a good shot of going far. Kim Kardashian may have the bod but she doesn't know how to use it . I think that Hedda Lettuce said it best with her big hit " She can't sing., she can't dance. Why's she famous?" and it just reinforces the fact that Kim may have a huge ass and a sex tape but that doesn't make her a performer. Poor Mark, I don't think he will make it to the big Finale this year. His dad Corky (Seriously?) has his hands full with Cloris Leachman. First of all, the apple doesn't fall from the tree when it comes to Mark and Corky. The similarities are astounding and it's kind strange to see Mark and how he will look in a couple of decades. All that aside, Cloris is pure entertainment but she isn't a great dancer. She has had me in tears watching her cosy up to the Judges and trying to bribe them.

She's probably the best reminder of why I love this show, it's just fun and entertaining and light. That is definitely a good thing.

Of course for everything fun going on there has to be that bastard cousin that irks the hell out of you and you still can't get enough. Yes I am talking about you Project Runway, and I am glad this season is wrapping up. Once again this week, there wasn't anything that I really liked being produced this episode. Sure it was a cute challenger, create an outfit for another designer inspired by a musical style, but the final result and guest Judge LL Cool J had me doing another WTF moment. I didn't really see the rapport with having our guest Judge except to mention his upcoming collection, and Kenley was such an irritating shrill that I was almost wishing that she had gone home instead of Suede.I have been wanting Suede gone for weeks (enough with the 3rd person crap) and when it was him aufed this week I felt that it should have been Kenley with the crap she produced. Any designer who has no respect for Tim Gunn doing his rounds needs a good reality check as well, you do not bite the hand that feeds you or you will regret it.

Top Design couldn't live with Shazia's design this week and I was glad she got booted. Bad attitude and poor work ethic don't make a good designer.

I am still finding that too many of the Challenges are a group effort and I want to see more of the individual challenges to see the designers do their own thing and not a compromise. I did love the little meltdown moment with Eddie at the store (how very Martha Stewart, well done grasshopper) and Jeff Lewis was the perfect bitchy guest Judge. His "I thought this show was Top Design and not over the top Design" comment was perfect Jeff. I love how the contestants are starting to fear Margaret Russell and I hope that Kelly Wearstler being back next week will add that extra touch that it seems to be missing when she is not there.

Survivor Gabon started it's first season in HD this week and I am in awe. The show is even better than before and I love the cast this year. I was initially worried that there wasn't going to be a gay contestant, but those fears were quickly cast aside with the introduction of Charlie from NY. Yup, pretty gay and I think his crush on fellow contestant Marcus is very cute. Their team, Kota is going well so far and kicking the collective butt of their opponents Fang. Their location is stunning, it must be a huge trip having the elephants and hippos around (not to mention all the other wildlife) and I was in for more surprise when Ace got most of his Kota team to do some yoga. The contrast of having a centered and happy tribe and the leaderless and losing Fang tribe is astounding, and when they shake things up in a few rounds it will make for some interesting viewing. In the season opener there were 2 Tribal Councils and the first one Eliminated is Michelle from Kota (bad move, she may have been quiet but she was one of the strongest women on that team and physical strength is important at the beginning), and then later Gillian from Kota is the second. Gillian may have been great at moral, but she wasn't physically that strong and seemed to irritate some of her tribe mates.

I am loving it so far and can hardly wait until the next episode.

Tabatha's Salon Takeover impresses me each week as she is given the impossible task of trying to bring order to chaos. Her methods may be too blunt and direct for most of us, but if you can take that part of her with a grain of salt ( I am just full of these old metaphors today, look em up on wikipedia if you don't understand them) and get past all of that she is very brilliant, talented and witty.

Each episode there is the part where she teaches and shows how she works with her clients, and I can see why there is a 3 month waiting list and I can't imagine having a bad hair cut experience with her. Very talented and caring for her clients, and very demanding as a boss and teacher. Just look professional or she will call you some red neck hillbilly.

Speaking of such things.. Outsider's Inn is still one of my Friday night Guilty Pleasures and it is just so ridiculous and fun. The story line this week with Bobby going off to Detroit and taking good old boy Leroy with him was culture shock all over again. The whole thing about our other good old boys and the girls getting into trouble was so badly scripted that you could almost think it's a reality show.

Almost.

I am still so convinced that none of these stars know each other and the small conversation between Maureen and Carnie about going shopping was pretty much the big confirmation of all that. The girls really don't know each other but I like the ridiculous circumstances and county sensibilities.

I don't think Maureen will ever get over the Marsha Brady thing and her biker chick blow out this week was too ridiculous. It was almost like Marsha all over again and I could only roll my eyes with Carnie on that one. I don't know where they are exactly .. but those prison uniforms are pretty scary and cartoon like all at the same time.

I get a pretty heaping helping of CMT just by tuning in for this one show and if this keeps up I will not be able to resist the occasional peek at Redneck Weddings. It just looks too hokey and hillbilly to be true.

The Cho Show finished off it's first season (and hopefully not it's last) and Margaret and crew had me in hysterics.First we get to learn the horrible truth about her haunted vagina in an all too funny episode and then they tied the season up with Margaret getting her very own Day in San Francisco.

Things were so fabulous in this debut season (and I have quite the crush on John the make up artist) that it has moved on to the Top Ten List of this year (more on that later). Margaret has managed to find a great balance between her comedy and life, her family and entourage are great (her assistant Selena is to die for) and she has such a great outlook on life. Besides, have you seen those tattoos of hers? Great stuff all around.

Heroes - The Butterfly Effect

Heroes started up the new season with a big 2 hour event the other night ... and I can`t say that I was all that thrilled with all that happened. Sure there were a few good things (and I am really digging some of the new stuff and have a better appreciated for Suresh and his hot abs), but a whole bunch of the stuff happening left me more with a WTF kind of feeling.

First of all, the whole time travelling "Bad" Peter ... seriously? This seems a bit of a rehash of year one and the whole storyline of Hiro trying to save the world. I love the fact that we finally learned what Momma Petrelli's super power is (precognitive dreaming) which doesn't really explain all of her actions but it was a good step in the right direction. The whole attempted assassination of Nathan by Bad Peter was predictable. I expected them to use the excuse of Claire's blood in Nathan's system (from healing from those nasty burns last season) as the reason for his survival and to not have some ghostly apparition (or is it just in Nate's mind?) of Linderman suddenly appearing and chatting him up.

The whole Buttefly effect thing is that the events set in motion by Bad Peter have changed the future, and things are getting crazy because of the ripple effect by the attempted assassination of Nate. Instead of Nate revealing to the world that people with super powers exist (and making a crappy future for our Heroes) he has now been shot, died and come back to life with a new found faith. Death seems to be quite fickle in this show... and why is Nathan suddenly chatting about God? I am not quite catching how Future Bad Peter trapped Present Peter in another body (what?) to keep him safe... it's a strange plot device that I don't really understand.

Sylar is back but his presence seemed to be missing something. The big scene with Claire and absorbing her healing ability was pretty freaky (I was happy to see Mr.Muggles is still around this season) and the revelation that Claire is more than she seems and different than the other Heroes was intriguing. The Bennett's are having a rough time and things should be even more interesting now that Claire's biological mom and resident firestarter is there to help keep an eye on things.

Hiro and the Speedster is interesting (I loved the special effects) and the whole thing with the Formula seems kind of predictable.Hiro is great as the comic relief (sometimes) but I like him more as the unbridled enthusiasm about being a Hero and having a destiny.I am not sure if I like the future Ando playing nasty and having powers but it seems like a direction that the show is going in for this storyline.

Suresh "discovering" the enzyme that causes powers and his self experiment (after all those warnings from Maya) seems to be the catalyst for change in this season. Suresh thinks that every one's chemistry is different and that the abilities will manifest in different ways. By the end of the episode, our scientist was physically changing (in a freaky The Fly kind of way) and maybe some more tests were needed before trying it on a human. Mind you, having some lab rat or test bunny that can shoot fireballs might be just as dangerous and time will tell if he made the right decision. Hopefully he won't be mutating into some hideous creature, he was just starting to get even more interesting. The chemistry between him and Maya is pretty hot stuff....

The Villains part of the story is interesting, we didn't get to see much of the bad guys that were locked away but I was happy to see Elle survive this round (and zap the hell out of Sylar) and with Daddy out of the picture we'll have to see where this takes her. She was only listed as a guest star (crap) so it may mean that we have limited quantities of Kristen.... which is a shame as she was one of the few interesting things from last year's abbreviated season.

No sign of Michah or any of the rest of the gang down south... and this whole new thing with Niki (dead right?) and Tracy (triplets???) is just confusing. I was in shock that it was none other than the Greatest American Hero, William Katt, playing the reporter who got flash frozen and smashed into tiny bits by Tracy. The powers may not be the same as Jessica or Niki, but the look is completely the same and she seems to have the same affinity for Nathan.

There seemed to be a lot jammed in to the 2 hour opener but it left me more with a confused look on my face than anything else.

I hope the rest of the season develops better... there is still great potential with this show and I am not giving up hope yet.

Weekend Rant - Start your engines...

This week heralds the main part of the Fall TV launch, and I can hardly wait to see a few of my favorite shows starting up this week. The Watch List will be filling up more and more each evening and this year things are well prepared at Couch Potato Central. Recent system upgrades mean that there is now a PVR for each satellite (yup, both of them) and with several different time zones there is less of a chance of missing something. This also means that a bad show will not last for long on the Watch List. There are just too many shows and simply not enough hours to watch everything, and only those shows that are truly well written and entertaining enough (an easy way to slip in those Guilty Pleasures that may be less cerebral but have their endearing qualities none the less) will be regular viewing.

The Big Bang Theory will be back on Monday, and it's the first new comedy in the past few years that I have really grabbed on to. It must be all the nerd references but I find the characters funny and charming in the oddest way, and love the smart side of their comedy. The best news is that Sarah Gilbert will be a regular character and I have loved her chemistry with Johnny Galecki since they were together on Roseanne. It's always a trip to see some actors work together again, especially when they have great chemistry together.

Heroes will also be returning this Monday for a big 2 hour event and it should be some fun viewing. I am hoping for some more Elle this season, she was truly one of the best things about last year. I am eager to see how some of the characters will survive their apparent demises. .. time will tell ( or will that be travelling in time?) the fate of some of our characters but I am pretty stoked about the whole Villains storyline coming up.

Dancing with the Stars will be back in a 3 night event, which should be lots of fun and games. ABC is really going full force with this show and staggering the opening over 3 nights is a pretty big thing... it will make for a lot of late nights this week as each night is getting pretty full and not all the shows are back yet. I am stunned that Cloris Leachman is one of the contestants, and am eager to see how some of these "Stars" will do in the first couple of rounds. The best news is that Maks is back after being off last season and he is one of my favorite dancers to watch.

So you think you can dance? Canada will be back (it appears that the big premieres of all the shows are delaying the competition part until after the rush) a the beginning of October and almost all of my regular shows will be back on. The auditions were great, and I may be jaded but the Montréal dancers were definitely the hottest ones there. The Judges were in awe with all the circus influenced movement and now I can hardly wait to see who will make it out of the second part of the auditions. The talent pool is quite bit different here than in the US.

I will check out Knight Rider, but if it is anywhere near as crappy as the TV movie then I am officially calling it this year's Bionic Woman... which most of you know is not a compliment. NBC doesn't have a great track record with remakes and I have the feeling this will be another one of them. Let's see if they can prove me wrong.

Survivor is back and this season it's in HD. I love that they are back in Africa again, and am hoping this will be better than the Kenya edition. The HD might be a mixed blessing... sure the countryside will be gorgeous but you know how skinny some of those contestants get as the game progresses not to forget about how dirty it is... this could be interesting but I could be setting myself up for a good fright ... or if I luck out some kind of delight... with this show you never know but just the thought of a gross food challenge in HD is just so wrong ... they will have to do it for sure now. It's a great study in human interaction and I love seeing how it plays out and trying to figure out the winner and who is playing the best social game.

Fringe is hanging on by a thread at this point... I will give it one more episode but there are other fish in the sea and unless I start getting more interested (the last episode just bored me to death) I don't think it will last long. Our Mad Scientist is a big yawn-fest, Boy Wonder is just as boring and our lead character Olivia just doesn't catch my interest. Our trio is referred to as the unlikely team and I think it is unlikely they will last a complete season at this point and time. The unbalanced story line in the last episode and the mention of something called The Pattern has me worried about another Rambaldi mess and I am not sure I want to add another complex story to my schedule. This means it sorry JJ Abrams, but not everything you touch is gold and this one misses the mark with me ... it may have been that there was way too much hype and it didn't live up to all those expectations, or maybe I am just not willing to invest in to something that will be long in developing when I have other well written shows that I would rather see developing further like Lost and Battlestar Galactica.

Reality Round Up - Endurance Training

This season of Project Runway is just leaving a bad taste in my mouth, and I am not sure if that is because Suede (please someone, just shoot him) is still on the show or if it is the non stop babbling and drama going on. I honestly lost interest this week and thought that pretty much everyone was bleh about the whole thing. More nattering like this and I will be pulling the plug. I knew things would get worse once Stella left and there is next to no one interesting left to watch.

Maybe my mood will improve next week.

Top Design was okay... but I think I was still in a bad mood from the hour preceding this episode and once I saw that it was a Window Display Challenge with an article of clothing designed by a former contestant on Project Runway I knew I was going to be for a crappy evening.

Aside from Sweet P and Andre (more on that later), the rest of the designers were none of my favorites. Santino is an ass, Jeffrey is just too unkempt (hello? that facial hair is real bad) and I have no fricking idea why the other one keeps showing but, but perennial contestant and reality show whore Daniel (sad excuse for a designer) was there. I honestly don't see why some of these designers are still around except for their ability to augment the drama quotient in the show.

I had forgotten what such a drama queen Andre is ( I still have the fond memories of the 'Where's Andre?" thing with Tim Gunn) and when he has his meltdown over the wicker accessories I was just so disappointed with the entire episode. It was all bad drama left and right and I was hoping it was another double elimination. Finally after it all hit the fan and the dust settled, Big Daddy (his choice of words and not mine) Kerry is sent home ( See you later, decorator!), His partner, Wisit, was quite lucky but it was more Kerry's lack of leadership and decision making that sunk his ship than anything else.

Mrs.Shroder is the one to watch out for, she is pure evil and as usual she came out smelling like roses again. She was most upset about being teamed up with cutie Preston and once again tagged along and did well. I hope she gets Shazia next time around and we can see a complete meltdown that will have to be bleeped to death.

Overall, I didn't really see anything that interesting that was produced... but the Judges were in fine form. I am just worried after seeing the preview for next week with Jeff and the gang from Flipping Out that this will turn into some terrible incestuous relationship with the other Bravo based reality shows. Sure I like a good cross over story, but constantly having guest stars from your other reality shows shows a bit of desperation does it not? It's not necessary to add some more volatile personalities to the mix... keep mixing up the Challenges and make the designers show their skills. That's the reason I watch the show (well maybe for the eye candy as well) and if I don't see relevant challenges then I lose interest pretty quick.

Seeing the casting ad for Make Me a SuperModel Season 2 made my heart jump -- I loved the first season (and Ronny) and hope that this one is as fun and interesting as the first round. Unfortunately my hope is running out for a second season of America's Most smartest Model. There has not been an official announcement from VH1 and it may be gone for good.

The Rachel Zoe Project hasn't been catching enough of my attention (and there is so much to watch) that it has fallen to the wayside and I could really care less. It was an interesting experiment but I would rather have some whacked out show with Paula Abdul instead.Off the Watch List for you Rachel... that's not very trend setting is it?

The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency had an extremely awkward episode this past week, and as usual I have to blame the editing. After all these months (years?) of whining about the editing, it looks like the voice over guy was off and the episode was worse than usual. Not only did it seem like it was forever before there was a commercial, but the dead air time was horrendous. Janice is still trying to play Den Mother and you know this is not going to work out well. I will still be following but I am not finding this season very interesting, it's just too much manufactured drama and it looks like they are having a problem deciding on who to focus on. Isn't some underwear company looking for new models? That usually gets things going.