Happy Thanksgiving to those of you living in the U.S.!! Of course, in Canada we have Thanksgiving in early October, so we’ve already had our holiday. Why is it in October, you ask? I actually looked for an answer, and the reason seems to be that, quite simply, it gets colder earlier in most parts of Canada.
There’s lots of good TV on today, if you can pry yourselves away from NFL football. At Ford Field in Detroit, we’ve got The Michael Vick Experience taking on the Lions, and at the original Dome-With-A-Hole in Irving, Texas, the Cowboys host the Denver Broncos. Only one of these matches should prove to be interesting, and I’m not talking about the one up north.
Let’s see, what else is on the dial…
– The Thanksgiving tradition that started 12 years ago continues on ‘Joey’. Given the show’s slipping ratings, this was probably the perfect time to have a “Friend” pop by and visit, but the producers seem to be stuck on the ridiculous idea that ‘Joey’ should stand on it’s own.
– Or you can watch people starve as you have a triptophyn overdose on ‘Survivor’
– ‘The Apprentice’ has an episode named Clip Show, so if you haven’t watched it yet… well, you’re probably not going to anyway. Go back to eating turkey.
– Instead, why not watch ‘CSI’, as someone dies and they have to figure out how it happened. How is it Thanksgiving-related? Well, it appears it was something he ate.
– ABC is showing ‘A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving’, so at least the kids have something to watch.
– And Fox is showing Daddy Day Care. Hey, not everything can be a winner…
Bits and Pieces
– Referencing the question posed by Mathan “the Franchise” Erhardt last Friday, the answer is Max. I don’t see how anyone needs to think about this.
– Tricia Helfer, a.k.a. the hot Cylon chick (as opposed to Grace Park, the cute Cylon chick) on ‘Battlestar Galactica’, has another gig for fanboys to salivate over – she’ll be the host of ‘Canada’s Next Top Model’. Which of course will be exactly like ‘America’s Next Top Model’, but people will be a little nicer to each other and there will be more French accents.
– Maybe it was just me, but the much ballyhooed “3-D” episode of Medium didn’t really work for me. Not so much the episode, which I guess is fairly standard, but the actual “3-D” effect. Nothing “popped out”, so to speak. Anyone else with the same issues?
Check the O.R., you love the O.R…
Tom Green is returning to his roots and will be releasing a rap album. And yes, I only included this item so I could put Organized Rhyme lyrics as a topic header…
And then there were six…
I think most of the viewing audience said “yep, he’s toast” once Abruzzi “found God”. And now they’ve got a seriously pissed off T-Bag as part of the group.
Meanwhile, on the Idiot front, it was LJ’s turn to do something stupid. Luckily for him Kellerman wasn’t the one tailing him. You know, there was a time when I thought that this storyline would get more intriguing – instead, we get a “Kim Bauer” storyline with a couple of idiots instead of one. Lucky us.
Oh my heck, now Utes probably hate the Weavers, too
For 1.5 episodes of ‘The Amazing Race’, we were stuck in Arizona. So I guess we could consider ourselves fortunate that we’ve traveled to Utah, known more for being “home of the Mormons” than anything else.
And despite what the Weavers would have you believe, Utah is rather picturesque, but it’s to expected from a family that keeps to themselves for most of the Race then accuses the others of being big meanies who are shunning them (and, of course, God).
Detour – Ride Down or Drop Down. A classic “overcome your fear” Detour. Drop It was obviously the faster option, even though time is obviously lost putting on and taking off gear on the rappel. Still, it’s a lot less strenuous than a six mile (10km) bike ride, and I think the exhaustion from that may have led to the Weavers not thinking ahead when mapping out their route.
Yield – Next week we apparently see Linda Weaver laughing at the Linzes for wasting their Yield, but seeing as it was the second of two Yields in the Race, it was smart of them to do so. There can be no “payback”, and it was used for the right reasons – the Weavers, as far as the Linzes knew, were in second, and Yielding them would create space between them and the remaining teams for the start of the next leg. Oh, and so that they’d have a really good chance of finishing first.
Roadblock – There were two on this leg, although one was unofficial. On the first, the Linzes suffered a brain fart in finding the cluebox but managing to be entirely oblivious to the number board about 5 metres away. But luckily for them the Bransens were far enough behind that they didn’t have to worry about being in a race to not finish last.
The second Roadblock was a nothing task that served only to separate out the teams a bit more. As for the jumps…
Gold: Rolly Weaver
Silver: Nick Linz
Bronze: Lindsey Bransen
Participation: Christine Godlewski
Who’s Out:
10. Black (Lancaster, PA)
9. Rogers (Middleburg, VA)
8. Aiello (Huntsville, AL)
7. Schroeder (New Orleans, LA)
6. Gaghan (Quepos, Costa Rica)
5. Paolo (FF, Y) (Lake Powell, AZ)
Who’s Left:
Bransen – Nothing flashy this week, just good racing to come back from last.
Godlewski – Some bad luck with the camper put you in last, but you never gave up and you moved up a spot.
Linz (Y) – Well, you had your usual boner moves, but they came early, and you recovered to finish first. Good work!
Weaver – It pisses me off that you didn’t want to continue. Then again, it pisses me off that you’re not enjoying things like the scenery and that you’re a bunch of hypocrites. That said, you ran a good leg up until you did some really poor navigation heading to the Roadblock. And I really would like to believe that you’re in it to win it, but it looks like next week you’re just trying to piss the other teams off.
I wonder if Jamie likes listening to Rockwell?
Somewhat of a surprise boot on ‘Survivor: Guatemala’, as the Pagonging stopped for at least one week and Jamie got the boot, whining a bit on the way out.
Developments – The Reward Challenge gave Gary the opportunity to work on Steph and Judd to keep he and Danni in the game. He pointed out that “nice” players like Cindy and Lydia have a good chance of winning the Final Two (possibly due to spite), and that they’d have a better chance of winning against those with similar gameplay strategies. Judd more or less dismissed it, but with Jamie voted out we may have seen Steph put herself at the apex of two different alliances: Steph-Rafe-Lydia and Steph-Danni-Gary. The Group of Six Five can still vote out Gary and Danni though, so next week will be very interesting to see if the main alliance has splintered for good.
Reward Challenge – Over/Under challenges are already pretty tiring. I don’t want to know how much more exhausting it would be in mud. Especially for Lydia, given her lack of stature.
Immunity Challenge – Interesting that the Reward Challenge favoured those that were taller, while the Immunity Challenge favoured those that had more agility and were thinking logically. Rafe was steady throughout this challenge, and that helped him to win immunity.
Rankings:
Locked In The Trunk of a Car:
18. Jim Lynch
17. Morgan McDevitt
16. Brianna Varela
15. Brooke Struck
14. Blake Towsley
13. Margaret Bobnich
12. Brian Corridan
11. Amy O’Hara
Livin’ On The Edge:
10. Brandon Bellinger
Stay (Faraway, So Close)::
9. Bobby Jon Drinkard
8. Jamie Newton (1 IC) – When you’re paranoid about getting voted out and you STILL don’t see it coming, I really don’t know what it says about your gameplay. I am looking forward to seeing you sulk on the Jury next week.
Won’t Get Fooled Again:
Cindy Hall – Nice job in the immunity challenge, and kudos for a) shrugging off Gary’s vote, and b) ignoring Jamie and caring more about Lydia’s well being. However, I think that you’re still out of the loop and immunities might be the only way for you to get further.
Rafe Judkins (2 IC) – So what’s it feel like to be a challenge threat? Obviously, this challenge really suited you – logic and agility mattered more that physical strength and size, and here we could see you excel.
Stephanie La Grossa – Obviously, you felt that the Nakum six wasn’t going to last much longer. You’ve made your move, and I think that it’s a good one. Good work.
Lydia Morales – That’s what I’m talking about!! We all know that you’re no challenge threat – in fact you’re a liability despite you giving it your all – but this is what you should be doing. You’re not making it to the finals without swinging your votes a few times, and this is what you need to be doing.
Judd Sergeant – Well, you got blindsided there, and obviously you’ll be upset about it, but don’t be. Look at it this way – if you make Final Two, you’ve pretty much sealed up Jamie’s vote. Now you need to try to go with the Final Four alliance that Gary proposed – if they’re still willing to go with it.
Final Two
Danni Boatwright – Your length really helped you in the Reward Challenge, but unfortunately it was your nemesis in the Immunity Challenge.
Gary ‘Hawkins’ Hogeboom (1 IC) – Looks like winning the Reward Challenge was just the thing you needed to get back into the game. You’ve rebonded with Steph, and this could help take you a lot further than seventh.
Sole Survivor
Danni Boatwright
That’s it for this week. Enjoy the holiday if you’ve got one.
