Hello everyone. I am temporarily taking over the weekly flagship for Diane Falconi who will return in January.
Here are some random thoughts about several shows I watched, most of them are featured on Tuesday nights.
Survivor: Vanuatu Finale
I was glad Chris won. Not so much that I liked Chris but that Amy created such a man/woman divide that I felt like I was forced to root for Chris. Normally I don’t root for people on reality shows based on gender but this season of Survivor was split down gender lines because in part of Amy. Some people talk about how Amy was such a great player but I was so turned off by what I saw as her “man-hating” that I can’t give her any credit for how she played. Even her voting in the finale seemed to be based solely on gender.
I think Survivor needs to change things up a bit. No more South Pacific locations. I can barely distinguish between the locations anymore. Give me something different. Madagascar, Gobi Desert, Patagonia, Northern Canada/Alaska or Siberia.
I found it interesting that they hyped up Survivor 10 by saying there were 20 new survivors. I am thinking there might be no tribes right off the bat or perhaps 4 tribes. They hinted at something very different so I am pulling at straws.
Making the Cut Finale
For all the Americans out there this is a show on CBC here in Canada. The point of the show is to give every Canadian with a dream of playing hockey a chance to be discovered. Tryouts were held all over Canada with the top 68 hockey players getting invited to a training camp held during the summer. During the 2-week training camp players were eventually split into two squads, the elite and the black aces. The elite unit played games against each other and if they did not play well players could be cut and sent to the black aces. At the end of camp 18 players were chosen from which 6 have a chance of being “drafted” by the Canadian NHL teams who will give them training camp spot. Most of the players will not likely ever see an NHL game but some have signed AHL (American Hockey League) contracts, which is the next step below the NHL. Sadly the lockout really hurt any impact this show could have had.
Good concept, could have been executed better. The live finale was a boring skills competition which does little to show how good a player will be. They spent at least half of the two hours doing background on all 18 players…boring!! I am not going to go into all of my complaints and praise for the show because that would take up too much space.
Why do I bring this show up then? I think this concept could be used by an American network for basketball. I do not think it would not work for football and baseball for various reasons. But it could work for basketball if a network were able to get real basketball people involved and get 5-10 teams to guarantee a training camp invite to the winners. Heck the Toronto Raptors gave Master P a training camp invite a couple years ago I have no doubt there would be a few teams who would be willing to give one invite to a player involved in something like this. Heck the Charlotte Bobcats might find a started out of it. Other then drawing rappers who have dreams of playing basketball perhaps it would draw a couple of athletes from other sports like Tony Gonzales or Randy Moss, who have both expressed interest in playing in the NBA.
In case anyone cares here is how the draft went.
1 – Edmonton – Jordan Little – Defence
2 – Vancouver – James Demone – Defence
3 – Ottawa – Michael Mole – Goalie
4 – Calgary – Matt Hubbauer – Centre
5 – Montreal – Kevin Lavallee – Defence
6 – Toronto – Domenic Noel – Centre
The Amazing Race
This is the first year I have watched this show from the beginning. I really like the show. The pace and adrenalin of the show make it unique. I am annoyed with the fact though there are so many points where teams are caught up together. You can’t really hold a lead. There is also little to no strategy in the show. They should have the yield more often and make it anonymous.
The contestants were in Senegal and visited a place where slaves travelling to the New World were held. Gus’s breakdown at the sight was moving and seemed very sincere.
They then flew to Berlin, by the way a great city to visit for anyone who hasn’t been there. Don and Mary Jean, the grandparents, had to beg the other teams for money because they didn’t feel comfortable begging the locals. Jonathan continued his strategy of finding a local to help him out. How does the guy who seems like such a jerk make friends so easily? Hayden’s comments about how the people in Africa “just keep breeding” was uncalled for. Bolo did his best to stand up to Hayden’s attempt to help Kendra and Freddy skip the line at the ticket agent. But Hayden’s mouth beat out Bolo’s biceps on this occasion. It was funny though seeing Aaron try and back up Hayden all the while thinking, crap this guy could kill me in a fight.
Berlin reminded me of my travels over there. There are three different types of trains and it can be confusing which is why there were debates between the U-bahn and S-bahn. One has more stops then the others (eg. One goes from point A-E without a stop, the other stops A, B, C, D, E). Then again if you are going to stop C you have to take the slower one unless you want to walk. Good thing most Germans speak English and are very friendly, from what I found anyway.
Gus drinking in the beer challenge was classic, “Just one more.” After this week I am totally rooting for him to win.
Wow the end where Jonathan made Victoria have a breakdown just cause they were gonna finish second by all of a couple of minutes was awful.
I am glad the grandparents are gone. I had high hopes for them as an underdog team but they never seemed to show any promise of ever finish any better then last or second last in any of the legs.
The Real Gilligan’s Island
This is a really fun show. The challenges are kinda stupid and un-original though. The casting has been fairly good though. Mary-Anne is very cute. The Millionaires are hilarious. The way the show is run is bad though. They were weird in how they didn’t have the eliminations right at the end of the show. Sometimes they would have them in the first 20 minutes and then set up the elimination for next week.
This was the first week of individual challenges. So hopefully things get a bit more competitive and nasty. The producers have lucked out that Mary-Anne and Gilligan are hooking up ala Boston Rob and Amber. Gilligan even has a Massachusetts accent.
An alliance of four of Mr. & Mrs. Howell with Mary-Anne and Gilligan seem to be controlling the game. If they stay united it should be a cake walk into the final four for them. Although it seems more then likely once it is down to five one of the groups of two, The Howells and The Love-birds (Gilligan and Mary-Anne) will try to make a deal with whoever is left to guarantee themselves top 3.
While this show is not as strategic and does not require the mental or physical strength other reality shows of its kind do I still enjoy it. It is a silly show that doesn’t really take itself that seriously. Sadly though an interview on ESPN.com of Nicole Eggert, the Ginger who was voted off already, indicated that a great deal of the show is set up.
See interview here
I did not watch the second hour of the show. I will watch that tomorrow. Having the show on back to back nights with the same episodes is odd and this week having two back to back hours is not a decision I agreed with.
Rebel Billionaire: Branson’s Quest for the Best
A big disappointment so far. The second challenges between the losing team leader and one team member have been consistently useless in determining who gets voted off. Instead they seem just to be an excuse for Branson to force the contestants to do stupid and sometimes dangerous things.
This week the teams headed to Morocco where they had to go to the local market to get materials and furniture to decorate a hotel suite. I have to say that I do not like casting of this show. Perhaps it is the editing though but none of the people in the show are really likeable. They have found a few villains but there is no one who is a fan favourite. Also Branson himself is not a good character. He is too nice, hugging people before he sends them off.
The biggest problem with the show is that in the previews of the show they hint at the second challenge and often give away who is involved in that challenge essentially giving away who won the first challenge. On top of that there is very little strategy or scheming.
Then after saying all that the challenge this week was actually something that did seem to determine who went home. Steve the stalker was sent home today. He was one of the few interesting people left on the show who had a personality, albeit a weird scary one.
House M.D.
I have been watching this show from the beginning. I actually like it but I can see that it is one of those shows that may never be able to get anything more then cult status, if it is even able to reach that status. This type of show doesn’t appeal to everyone. It can be slow at times, but then again so can CSI. I like the lead character House (Hugh Laurie) but I could see a lot of people finding him annoying and cold. It is in a tough time slot against The Amazing Race but I have time-shifting which allows me to watch/tape it. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t bother watching it.
Another thing holding back the show is that the new hot dramas (Lost, Desperate Housewives) of this year have a continuous thread from one show to the next whereas this show does not. Show like those previously mentioned along with Six Feet Under, Sopranos, 24, The West Wing (from what I have heard, never really watched it) Deadwood, Carnivale almost force you to watch EVERY episode because something happens that will impact what happens next week. There still are more traditional episodic dramas out there, CSI-all kinds, Law and Order, ER, where you can miss one show and you are not lost (pardon the pun).
This week’s episode was pretty good. It had some good development of the characters other then House. Dr. Foreman (Omar Epps) and Dr. Chase (Jesse Spencer) both got some good airtime where they stepped out of the shadow of Dr. House for a while. Hopefully this show is able to stick around because I think it has some potential.
That is all for this week.
