Thursday, January 31, 2008

Celebrity Rehab (1/31/08)

Celebrity Rehab is one of the most compelling tragedies I’ve ever seen on tv. The voyeur factor is high: the rich and famous; all addicted to something and all in rehab. And you, the viewer, get to watch every dirty revelation.
The reality is a little more sobering. These are real people with some really messed up lives. The most frightening case is Jeff Conaway from Grease and Taxi. He is a sad reminder of the guy he used to be. He spends most of his time in a wheelchair, murmuring almost incoherently. His body has been ravaged by injury and addiction, and his history turns out to be nightmarish. He admits to the group that as a child he was the victim of torture and pedophilia.
Joanie Laurer (best known as wrestling’s Chyna) has her own personal demons involving a cruel mother. But does Joanie really have an addiction problem? Right now, she’s claiming “no”.
Daniel Baldwin has just checked himself out of rehab claiming, “this environment is no longer conducive to my sobriety.” (He had a little problem with a pool party and girls in wet t-shirts).
Other celebrities in rehab include: Jaimee Foxworth (actress- Family Matters), Mary Carey (porn star), Brigitte Nielson (actress), Jessica Sierra (singer- American Idol), Seth “Shifty” Binzer (musician- Crazy Town), and Ricco Rodriguez (Ultimate Fighting Champion).
Celebrity Rehab is one of those shows you should watch at least once. Of course, you may have trouble turning away once you've tuned in.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

American Idol (1/29/08)

Omaha, Nebraska. No matter where you send American Idol there is sure to be a breakout of crazy! I still don't know what makes some people think that they can sing. I happen to know that I can't sing and I would never try out, even though I know I sing better than some of the people who do try out.
So, Paula was late to try-outs. Why did she have to fly in on the morning of the auditions? Couldn't she bring herself to spend the extra night in Omaha? No matter what she had going on she should have been there. American Idol is what has given her a second shot at being in the business. I think she should put American Idol before all other obligations, she owes the show, the producers, contestants and viewers that much. Of course, she did give us one great "touch down!" so I forgive her a little.
Ryan got to sit in on an audition. Maybe he should get to do so more often...like in Paula's absence!
Ugh, I really get sick of the auditions. They show more of the crazies than the good singers (which used to be fun, now I'm just OD'd on insane contestants).
Here's my question for American Idol. If anyone knows the answer, I'd love to hear it. When do they do the little story about some of the AI hopefuls? Some of these people are terrible and don't get through. Do they follow them with the video and get their story before they try out or do the people actually let them film them after they've been turned down? At some point, the producers had to know some of them weren't talented and would be turned away. Do they lead them on until the audition? "Yeah, you're great. Can we film you at work and meet your family before you audition?" Some of the people who've been profiled have left the auditions pi$$ed! I can't imagine that they'd let them come back and film them after being so humiliated.

The Biggest Loser: Couples (1/29/08)

After last week's surprising twists and turns the campus seems to be in a bit of chaos. The pink team is gone (Ali said they were the 1st team to be unjustly voted out...she must have forgotten there is a game going on). Now the purple team is pi$$ed! At the voting table Paul & Kelly essentially said, "We'll keep you but you better show us that you can do better." Jenn & Maggie think that they were calling them lazy and insinuating that they aren't working hard enough.
The big news, there are no more teams. From here on out, only one person will be going home every week. That should add an interesting touch. I'm betting that as more teams are split up the philosophy will change to one of breaking up the remaining teams no matter what. If you are alone, you don't stand a chance against a ready-made alliance. So you have to break up the duos at some point (before it's too late).
Allison announced before the challenge that from now on, it's blue vs black again (ah, Jillian vs Bob, all is well in the universe again) The challenge was tough, you knew that the minute you saw the escalators. The deal? Only two people will compete, and the winner will get to pick the team they'll be working with. After all these seasons, the one thing I've been begging for has finally happened! The two people competing were Bob and Jillian; trainer vs. trainer! The winning trainer gets to pick who represents their team. The challenge was to run up and down the escalator 10 times. Bob (who has an advantage w/ his longer legs) won and picked his team (hurting some feelings in the process).
The new teams: Bob's Blue Team= Mark, Jay, Trent, Roger, Dan & Jackie. Jillian's Black Team= Bernie, Brittany, Paul, Kim, Jenn & Maggie.
Of course the teams couldn't walk away without having to participate in a challenge! The endless escalator strikes again. Most of the Black Team went out fairly quickly. Brittany was at the top followed by Maggie and Bernie. Bernie and Maggie went out and Brittany was alone keeping pace with Mark, Dan and Jay. That girl worked her butt off, she was so determined to prove to Bob that he made a mistake in not choosing her! Unfortunately, she didn't hold out and the Blue Team earned a $10,000 prize.
At the weigh-in Brittany voiced her feelings about Bob not choosing her and Bernie. They had picked Bob on Day 1 (remember when all the other teams ran to Jillian??), they had been the "blue team" all along and had been doing well. Ouch! The look on Bob's face said it all. She has a point but Bob also has to be able to pick the team he thinks can do the job.
The Blue Team had an amazing 50 pound weight loss. Blue had to average 6 pounds per person to win. Jenn lost 6, Maggie lost 7 (yay, going strong), Bernie lost 5 (that's OK, still in range, Brittany may make up the difference...) Brittany lost 2 (yikes, not good, but still not impossible, we still have the yellow team), Kelly lost 0 pounds (uh-oh), and Paul gained 3 pounds (ugh!). Paul stood right there on the scale and admitted that he had cut his calories by 400-500 to try and get ahead. Poor strategy!
So...who do we send home? Strategically they need Paul and Bernie to pull bigger numbers (in theory!). Maggie and Jenn did good this week but have had so many weeks with low numbers (uh, but Maggie lost the most this week). Brittany typically does well. Hmmm...sorry Jenn! I think she was really would have hit a good stride had she stayed.
Can Jillian pull another underdog team into the finals??

Thursday, January 24, 2008

Project Runway (1/23/08)

Gag. Can this season get any less thrilling? The designers, the challenges, even Nina seems bored with it all.
Last night the designers competed to create a classic denim look for Levi's. The end result? Two trench coats, 3 itty-bitty dresses and a fierce pair of jeans created by Christian. In the end...hold your breath...Ricky finally came out on top. He designed a dress with a corset top that fit his model beautifully. And, yes, he cried.
Jillian threw a little fit. Apparently she felt that, although she and Victorya had created a coat together last week, she was the only one entitled to carry on that theme this week. In the end, it didn't matter. Both of them made terrible coats, only Victorya paid the price for it.
At this point, the only thing that keeps me coming back are Christian's snippy little quips and the fact that, for some reason...I love Tim Gunn.
Oh, and Christian, if you can make those jeans a little bigger, I'd be glad to wear them out and tell everyone who my designer is.

RW/RR: The Gauntlet 3 (1/23/08)

The Gauntlet is back and getting things started with a one hour premier of The Gauntlet 3. Missed it? No problem, here's a recap:

The Teams:
Veterens-
CT (RW Paris)
Brad (RW San Diego)
Adam (RW Paris)
Evan (Fresh Meat)
Johnny (RW Key West)
Kenny (Fresh Meat)
Danny (RW Houston)
Eric (Fresh Meat)
Beth (RW Los Angeles)
Coral (RW Back to NY)
Paula (RW Key West)
Katie (RR The Quest)
Diem (Fresh Meat)
Ev (Fresh Meat)
Casey (Fresh Meat)
Robin (RW San Diego)

Rookies-
Ryan (Fresh Meat)
Zach (RW Key West)
Frank (RW Las Vegas)
Derek (RR Viewer's Revenge)
Tyler (RW Key West)
Tyrie (RW Denver)
Alex (RW Denver)
Nehemia (RW Houston)
Janelle (RW Key West)
Angel (RR Viewer's Revenge)
Rachel (RW Houston)
Brooke (RW Denver)
Melinda (RW Houston)
Tori (RR Viewer's Revenge)
Jillian (RR Extreme)
Johanna (RW Houston)

The Host- TJ Lavin

The Prize- $300,000 to be split amongst the winning team members (no team bank accounts this time, only the final prize as well as some prizes to be earned throughout the challenge)

The first competition is a tug-of-war to determine where the teams will sleep. One team will have the choice of the usual lush surroundings in a beautiful (soon to be beer-strewn) abode. The other team will be banished to a small room crammed with bunk beds and sporting only one bathroom. The Veterans pull off the win and claim the nice rooms. Personally, I don't think those bunk beds look sturdy enough to support Tyrie! Keep an eye out, Coral and Beth are sharing a room which should make for some interesting fireworks.
The first challenge is a take-off on musical chairs, with knee-deep muddy water. The teams have to race in and grab a ball (orange for girls, green for guys). If a challenger doesn't get out of the mud pit with a ball, they are disqualified. There are fewer balls each round until one team wins. The veterans managed to pull off the first win.
The way the game works this season is that the winning team gets to pick one person from the losing team to go into the Gauntlet. They also get to pick a member of the losing team who is immune from the Gauntlet. The losing team then gets to pick their own team member of the same sex to throw into the Gauntlet. Being able to pick a person from the opposite team to protect from the Gauntlet adds an interesting angle. For the first time, we may see really weak players at the end of a challenge.
Nehemia and Alex went into the Gauntlet this week and since he was physically no match for Nehemia, Alex essentially gave up.
The castmates are already hooking up. Tori and Brad; Jillian and Frank; Paula and Derek;
Paula and Adam; Tyler and Ryan; oh, and Ev and BROOKE! (According to Brooke, she doesn't need a man now, just needs a woman with a-- uh, well, you figure it out).
As for the couples: Johanna and Wes have apparently moved in together; CT and Diem are still together; and Danny and Melinda are still engaged (is it just me or does he do a lot of talking about marrying her without ever sealing the deal? )
As we leave our challengers this week, CT is drunk and starting sh*t with everyone, including Diem. And...did Coral call him a crack-head?? Funny, nobody said anything in his defense.