I loved how the editors put a picture of Phil Keoghan for my column last week. Made it seem like ‘The Amazing Race’ has sucked. It has been rather blah, but then again Season 6 was rather annoying as well, with all the “nice” teams (save Kris and Jon) eliminated early.
Anyways, ‘Missing’ is on Lifetime in the US, and A-Channel here in Canada. And if the fact that it’s on Lifetime doesn’t scare you off, nothing will.
TV on DVD suggestions
Given that we’re well into the NFL football season it’s time to pimp a great drama that the NFL doesn’t want you to see – ‘Playmakers’.
‘Playmakers’ aired in 2003 on ESPN as their first original scripted TV series. The focus was on the lives of players on a fictional football team, the Cougars, both on and off the field. The show tackled such topics as drugs, steroids, infidelity, obesity and homosexuality (which garnered them a GLAAD media award). Cause-and-effect on the show tended to occur at double the normal rate, but it did try to present issues that could realistically take place on a football team,
In addition, if you live in the GTA like I do, you’ll get a kick out of seeing SkyDome – sorry, “Rogers Centre” – used for every single football sequence as well as Canadian actors and sportscasters like Thea Andrews, Pat :Joey Jeremiah” Mastroianni, Bruce Gray and Jennifer Hedger popping up here and there. Oh, and Snoop Dogg guest stars in an episode.
Obviously, this show is not meant as family programming. In fact, you might see it as a deliberate attempt on ESPN’s part to attract more viewers. And in that sense it was successful, becoming ESPN’s highest rated original series and sparking the creation of ‘Tilt’, which isn’t nearly as good a series (except for Michael Madsen).
Unfortunately the NFL felt that the show portrayed a negative image of pro football and pressured ESPN to cancel the series. Luckily for us, we’ll have an unofficial sequel when they release a DVD documentary of the 2005 Minnesota Vikings.
You can buy ‘Playmakers’ online here
Bits and Pieces
– Interesting continuity issue that Matt gave us this week regarding Newhart/Coach. Can anyone explain the Crisis on Multiple Newharts for him?
– Which brings up another continuity issue. George Costanza’s favourite TV show is ‘Mad About You’. So does that mean the ‘Mad About You’ universe (which encompasses ‘Friends’, ‘Joey’, ‘Caroline in the City’, ‘The Single Guy’ and possibly ‘Hope and Gloria’) doesn’t exist? Matt?
– Joining the “officially cancelled” list: UPN’s ‘Sex, Lies & Secrets’. Didn’t watch it? Don’t worry, I don’t think anyone did, seeing as it went up against ‘Commander-in-Chief’,’The Amazing Race’,’My Name is Earl’/’The Office’ and ‘House’.
– Speaking of ‘Commander-in-Chief’, Zack Morris will be joining the staff. Seriously. Mark-Paul Gosselar is going to play a “media strategist” on the show.
– I swear that Christine Cushing is Food Network Canada’s answer to Jeff Jarrett. She’s kinda like Rachel Ray, but devoid of charisma. Yet they keep pushing her as one of their “featured Canadian chefs”. It’s kinda frustrating when you’re trying to watch a cooking show and the cook talks like Al Gore.
– At this point in time, I’ve gotta think that Horatio Caine is a lot funnier than Horatio Sanz.
“It’s about f*cking time”
That’s a direct quote from my wife regarding the return of ‘Prison Break’. And yes, I’m sure everyone said that, but she’s British, and trust me, it sounds a lot cooler with the accent. With that said, some quick thoughts:
– Not really digging the opening credits (see above). The ‘Lost’/’24’-style opening was much more effective for this show.
– T-Bag’s “singing like a canary” bit is starting to get old. My wife is hoping he gets shanked soon.
– Veronica is still annoying and reminding me of Kim Bauer more and more. Only not as hot.
– At this point, LJ’s storyline is more interesting than Veronica’s.
– OK, on TV we’ve got 2 female presidents (‘Commander-in-Chief’, ‘Battlestar Galactica’) and now 1 female vice-president. This is obviously an indicator of something, but I’ve no idea what.
– Also, why haven’t those two agents been killed for being generally incompetent?
– Why incompetent? Because with all the police procedurals on TV, we’re conditioned to believe that framing someone won’t work. Now obviously shows like ‘CSI’ can take some believability leaps as opposed to real world forensics, but the agents lifted LJ’s prints from… somewhere and then planted them on a gun. I’m thinking that it’s gonna look somewhat fake.
Snarky thoughts aside, I think that this show has made “the leap” to become a must see, despite what the ratings tell you. And if you’ve missed it, I’m sure that there are torrents of the show in cyberspace somewhere that can get you caught up. And if you’re not up to that, Scott is here to tell you what’s gone down.
At least they’re done with the reality portions of the show
Once again, the welterweights come out and put on a good show on ‘The Ultimate Fighter’. But of course before that happens we have Dana and the coaches interview all 8 fighters to see who will fight whom, since the welterweights are all Team Hughes members and the heavyweights are all Team Franklin members. Naturally, the fighters don’t particularly care (although all the heavyweights want to take on Brad), so Dana “Bookerman” White gets to pair them up whichever way he wants. Unfortunately, this takes about 45 minutes to do, so we only get to see Luke Cummo vs. Sammy Morgan. And as usual for the welterweights, we get an entertaining match, as they trade blows standing up and also take it down to the ground. Luke emerged victorious via KO, and he’s the first fighter through to the Live Nov 5 final.
Next week, we’ll get to see Keith vs Rashad, Jason (or Marcus) vs Joe, and Brad vs Seth. Should be good now that the reality portion is over and done with.
Do they speak English here?
Well, teams are finally out of the United States, and we’re on to some of the things we hold dear – like people struggling to speak Spanish and saying “muy rapido, por favor”. THIS is the Race that we’ve all come to love and the one that wins Emmys.
The main thing I dislike about the show is the bottlenecking/bunchups that occur on a leg. In cases like Tuesday’s episode, it can’t be avoided (the sign actually looked legit, plus ticket windows have a tendency to only open at 4am) but cases like last week’s doublewide motel search was a deliberate move to keep the teams together. Yes it helps to build tension but I always find it more dramatic if teams can catch up on their own, like the Gaghans did after failing to get the Fast Forward.
Flights – New Orleans, LA (MSY) to Panama City, Panama (PTY). There’s no direct flight (trust me), so teams likely took:
Continental – New Orleans (MSY) to Houston Intercontinental (IAH) to Panama City (PTY)
(Don’t fly) American – New Orleans (MSY) to Miami (MIA) to Panama City (PTY)
Interestingly the Continental website currently shows a 2-stop flight that gets to Panama City faster – New Orleans (MSY) to Houston Intercontinental (IAH) to Guatemala City (GUA) to Panama City (PTY). Not that it mattered in this case.
Fast Forward – This was so straightforward that the Gaghans shouldn’t have even went up with the Paolos. In fact, they should’ve left when Tony and Brian did their bungee jump, because at that point there was no turning back for Marion and DJ.
Detour – This was one of those Detours where one task sounds harder, but is actually the easier task. In this case, Coos (bird watching) was a lot easier than Rhythm (finding instruments). But things didn’t really matter as the teams all bunched up at the Roadblock
Roadblock – Hitting a ball off a Little Leaguer would seemingly favour the adult males, and it showed as both Nick Linz and Bill Gaghan got a hit on their first at bat, while Rolly Weaver, Beth Bransen and Sharon Godlewski all had troubles hitting the ball out of the infield. This had the effect of allowing the Linzes to catch up to the Weavers and Bransens, while the Gaghans dodged a bullet and ended up second-to-last. Again.
10. Black
9. Rogers
8. Aiello
7. Schroeder
Sequesterville:
Bransen – Good work in finding out which flight arrived in Panama City first. You had some bad luck which allowed teams to catch up to you on three different occasions, but you maintained your Roadblock position and stayed in the Top Three.
Paolo (FF) – And good work to you as well, outhustling the marathoners and getting to the Fast Forward first. Luck is still with you, but you’ll be hard-pressed to maintain your position next leg if the producers have anything to say about it.
Weaver – Sometimes, going it alone is not a bad idea, but you’ve pushed it to the point where the other teams aren’t even talking to you. Even Rob Mariano didn’t push things that far. Every team needs some help from others at some point, and from the looks of the (usually misleading) previews, you could use it next week.
Reaching the Finish Line:
Gaghan – So your strategy is to always come next-to-last? I’m sure it’s actually “don’t finish last”, but you make it sound defeatist. Regardless, you’ve been treading water for the last few episodes, so we’ll see if you can step it up.
Godlewski – I admit, it’s pretty funny to see grown women put on about 10 layers of panties, but the “wear as much as you can” non-elimination theory seems flawed in my book. First, where will you put all your clothes? Second, Uchenna and Joyce seemed to do pretty well without having to carry backpacks around. Given the time you had on the bus, you could’ve worn only your “essential” clothes and not worried about the rest.
Linz – Kind of the opposite of the Weavers here. Alliances are fine, but you’re pushing it in trying to use it to force the Weavers out of the Race. Just keep using them to complete tasks and jump ahead of others – and don’t forget that it’s still every team for themselves when it comes to reaching the Pit Stops.
Winners of The Amazing Race:
Linz
Survivor
Alliances – The Nakum alliance of former Yuxha-plus-Judd held strong, although I have to think that Judd is mud at the first opportunity. On ‘The Early Show’, Brian noted that there was an alliance of sorts between Gary and Danni, so we’ll see how that goes over the rest of the show.
Reward Challenge – Earthball. Nothing really complicated here, strategy-wise – it was really a matter of how you used the trees to swing momentum your way. Of course, it’s a 500-lb ball, so easier said than done. Especially if you roll your ankle.
Immunity Challenge – It’s entirely possible that Steph could’ve won this challenge. However, mental challenges have never really been her strong point, so it came down to Judd wanting to make sure that Margaret DIDN’T win the Immunity Necklace.
This led to Rafe getting to watch a Tribal Council and, similar to last year, the chance to grant someone immunity. So he had a chance to screw with Yuxha or stay out of the way. And by giving Gary immunity, he chose to stay out of the way, and maybe Rafe gets a vote from Gary should he make final two.
OK, to the rankings!!
18. Jim Lynch
17. Morgan McDevitt
16. Brianna Varela
15. Brooke Struck
14. Blake Towsley
13. Margaret Bobnich – Well, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion but you did what you had to do here. You basically laid things out on the table as far as Judd is concerned, and if it changes voting patterns later, so be it.
12. Brian Corridan – You might be the first person who was ever happy to get blindsided on ‘Survivor’. So good on you. I don’t really think that you did anything wrong here, it’s just that on this tribe, you were considered the weakest link, so you had to go.
Out Before Merge:
Amy O’Hara
Merge Boot:
Judd Sergeant (j) – With Margaret telling it like it is, I’m thinking that noone wants to risk an unpredictable, emotional, volatile guy like you on the jury. So if you’re not out next week, you’ll be the guy out when the tribes merge.
Jury:
Bobby Jon Drinkard (m) – You’re here because I moved Judd
Brandon Bellinger
Cindy Hall (o) – See Bobby Jon
Jamie Newton
Lydia Morales
Rafe Judkins
Stephanie La Grossa
Final Two
Gary ‘Hawkins’ Hogeboom (j) – On ‘The Early Show’, Brian noted that Blake’s ouster was engineered by Gary and Danni, so there’s some collusion there.
Danni Boatwright
Sole Survivor
Danni Boatwright (F2) – I hope you used some of your Surivor winnings on food.
And that’s it for this week.
