TV Round Up - September season finale edition

Remember that True Blood season 3 finale I was so jazzed about? Well boy, was I disappointed. I've been complaining this whole season about the way the show's writers have chosen to interpret destroy change the character of Calvin Norris, one of the best people in the books, but last night's finale really took the cake. I won't spoil it for those who haven't watched yet, but Alan Ball and Co. really screwed the pooch with the whole "Hot Shot" storyline. Jason as inbred hillbilly messiah? PLEASE spare me.

Other parts of the third season ender that irked me?
The continuation of the destruction of Sam Merlotte. Would he really shoot his brother? C'mon now.
The lame way they've introduced the Faeries, and the cheeseball last scene with Sookie and Claudine (and where the hell is Claude?!).
The fact that Alcide didn't remove any clothing in the episode. Not even his shirt. The hell?
The True Blood finale wasn't a total wash; there were some intriguing parts to it. I was wondering how they were going to introduce the whole witch story arc, which is a major part of the books. And even though they've hinted about it for the past several episodes, the reveal of Jesus as a witch was a surprise to me, and kind of perfect. I'm looking forward to the adventures that he and Lafayette will have next season.
I liked the way they set up Sookie finally finding out about Bill and all of his big lame secrets. And I also liked that they didn't leave Eric in cement all hiatus - and Pam didn't get hurt (hooray!).
Finally I loved that they allowed Hoyt and Jessica to be happy for at least 5 minutes. That creepy old, gross baby doll foreshadows trouble ahead for these too I suspect. As does Mrs. Fortenberry buying that big ol' rifle.
So long True Blood, see you next Spring/Summer. Bring on Dexter!

The Closer -
A very well done season ender. Kyra Sedgwick is truly phenomenal as Deputy Chief Brenda Johnson. She deserves every Emmy and Golden Globes nomination she gets.
The TNT shows are strange because they have these summer and winter mini-seasons. Sometimes it's hard to build momentum up to a big cliffhanger in such a short time. This summer the main focus was on who would become Chief of Police. Would it be Pope, who wanted it so bad? Or would Brenda succumb to peer pressure and finally admit that she wanted the job? I wasn't sure that they would actually wrap this up in the finale, but they did, and in a great way by giving the job to Chief Delt, played by the awesome Courtney B. Vance. So now we're left wondering what's to become of the major crimes unit. Fans don't have to wait long - the new season starts in December.

TV Round Up - last week of August/early September

I've been embroiled in a bunch of family drama these past several weeks (don't you just love family sometimes?); so I haven't had any time to watch television. My poor Tivo and Tifaux have been working overtime and their little memories are filled to capacity.
But let's talk about some of the things I managed to watch this week. Keep in mind, most of this stuff aired days ago and in this day and age of Twitter and live blogging, none of my comments are really that fascinating. That's not stopping me from sharing them though.

Project Runway from 8/26

The team challenge episode for this season was superb television. Gretchen's spectacularly crazy spiral on the runway, the appalling treatment of Michael C. by the rest of his team, and best of all the AMAZING smackdown of Gretchen from one Tim Gunn were some of the best moments this show has had in some time.

Huge - 1st (and hopefully not last) season finale

You guys? I loved this quirky gem of a show so much. Yes it's a teen drama on the ABC Family channel. And yes, it was about teens at a fat camp for the summer. But boy oh boy it was so much more than that. The stories, dialog, and the characters that were created for this show was some of the best written stuff for tv that I've seen in some time. The tv show is better than the book. And the book is great! Teens talked and acted like real teens. The actors playing the kids at the camp were, guess what Hollywood?, actually overweight, and not some weird slightly bloated thin person or someone thin in make-up and prosthetics. No fat suits! Nikki Blonsky who was in the film version of the musical Hairspray was one of the leads, and she was so great; she has real dramatic talent. And I loved that they didn't really showcase her singing talent in a forced way (like some shows could've/would've done).Sure, her character and another one end up writing some songs together, but it was done in a very organic way, that made sense with the character development. And the singing was not at all canned, produced, or auto-tuned. 

You really cared about every single person and I really can't tell you the last time I experienced television characters, especially teen television characters that were so, well, deep.

The finale was just as superb as the whole season has been. My only complaint is that it really left me hanging. I'm dying to know how everyone fairs by the end of summer camp. Will I have to wait until next year?! I don't know how ABC Family does their seasons. Or if the show was even picked up for a second season; but if that dumb show they have about gymnasts can get a 2nd season, certainly Huge can right? They totally deserve it!

Memphis Beat season finale

Another quirky freshman drama; another cop drama on TNT, but hey if it's working for the network why mess with the formula? This one starred Jason Lee as MPD detective Dwight Hendricks who moonlights as a blues singer who has an affinity for Elvis songs. It also starred the always good Alfre Woodard, Celia Weston, and a surprisingly good DJ Qualls who finally found the right character and balance for his inherent weirdness. Jason Lee sure does have a beautiful singing voice. Who knew? No seriously, did people know this? I know about Lee being a former pro skateboarder, and a Scientologist etc. But I did not know that he could sing; and play guitar and bass. He should consider putting an album out. Maybe he already has and I'm just out of the loop; that would mean I'd have to give up my Jason Lee fan club membership card I guess. The show's writing was a little inconsistent throughout the season, but I can't say that there was any episode that I hated.

Which can't be said about another TNT drama HawthoRNe. This show and I had a very dramatic dvr-breakup last month because I hated Jada Pinkett-Smith's character so much. You know when the power of shirtless Michael Vartan can't save a show for me, there's something wrong.

Big Brother -

Sigh...the people I had picked to win in my office pool all got eliminated, the last being Brendon who really played an excellent game and just barely missed staying in the house (as HOH no less) for another week. Oh well, I really don't want anyone left in the house to win but if I had to choose I guess I'd go with Britney.

2010 Emmys -

I'll quickly just say that I was over the moon about Eric Stonestreet and the Modern Family wins. Can't wait for that show to come back into my life.

And that opening number from Jimmy Fallon et al was effin' brilliant.

True Blood

Season 3 has been better than I could've hoped for. I've said it before, Alan Ball and the rest of the writers are doing an excellent job of incorporating various plots and characters from the books into the television show, while creating totally new and interesting characters. Case in point the two men pictured above, Kevin Alejandro and Joe Manganiello. They play Jesus and Alcide respectively; Alcide is a beloved character from the book and Joe was the top choice from fans of the book who emailed and tweeted Alan Ball with suggestions to have him play Alcide. He's perfect in the role and I can't wait to see what next season brings. Jesus on the other hand is a brand new character created for the show and such a welcome addition. I love Alejandro's chemistry with Nelsan Ellis who plays Jesus's love interest Lafayette.

Speaking of my beloved Lafayette and Nelsan Ellis, how cute is he in this picture from a cast Emmy party with actor Marshall Allman who plays newcomer Tommy Mickens/Merlotte.

Needless to say, I'm super psyched for the True Blood season finale happening in a couple of weeks. And then it's time for all of the new and returning Fall tv shows. It's my favorite time of the year!

August musings

I totally forgot to watch the premier of Showtime's The Big C with Laura Linney, so I'll have to catch it later this week and give my review then (when it's completely irrelevant).

Although I exclaimed my joy about this on Twitter and Facebook - I am ecstatic that Lauren is the Season 7 champion on So You Think You Can Dance. Although I said I didn't care who won of the three finalists, my little LoFro was always my fave. I'm super excited to see all of these kids on tour when they come here in November.

True Blood is getting so good this season, and so very weird. Except for the character annihilation that they've done to my beloved Calvin Norris, I am still loving the changes that Ball and the other writers are making to the stories from the book for their small screen adaptations. I can't wait to see how this season winds down/up.

Finally, I'll leave you with this picture to ponder and wonder about for the rest of the week:

Just WHAT is going on here? Jane Fonda and Gossip Girl's Chace Crawford out on the town? With Jane's little sad bichon (clearly drugged) in her arm, while a gin and tonic's in her other hand? Are the two of them working on a movie/play/TV thing together? Are they lovers? Omigawd! I have so many questions...

TV Round Up - mid July edition

Wow, this summer is zooming by, and I've surprisingly been out enjoying the gorgeous weather Seattle's been having, and NOT watching television. So my darling Tivo and Tifaux have been backed up waiting patiently for me to catch up on all the trashy and excellent goodness. And this past weekend I was able to get through an amazing amount of tv, thanks to the fact that I had two big home improvement projects that forced me to sit on the floor and put equipment together  - perfect for boob tube watching!
Some random thoughts about what I've seen this week -

• This season of So You Think You Can Dance has got to be the strangest on record. Not only because of the new "All Star" format, but because the eliminations have been so wacky. First we had the imbalance of more guy than girl contestants. Then America and Nigel & Co. decided to systematically eliminate 3 girls in a row. Then we had the HORRIBLE injuries for Alex Wong and Ashley Galvan. So now we're left with only ONE GIRL (the amazing Lauren), and 5 guys. The season is kind of turning into a disaster. The only thing saving it is Cat Deely and the chance to see some of my favorite All Stars dance again. I swear to God if Jose or Adechike don't go home this week I'll be super pissed off.
• You know what SYTYCD thing I am excited about? The upcoming tour that will feature Season 6 (hell yeah!) Season 7 and All Star dancers. Yippeee! Tix go sale at the end of July.
• True Blood is AWESOME this season. And getting "awesomer" with every episode. There are so many good things that I don't even know where to start to list them. This past Sunday's episode was one of the high points of the season; and seriously, if you haven't seen Mr. Fabulous himself, Lafayette Reynolds, blushing and flirting shyly with hot nurse Jesus, then you haven't seen the definition of awesome. I say this all the time but I really love the way the writers have taken the stories and characters from the Charlaine Harris books and morphed them for the small screen. They stay true to the essence of the book and stories, but expand, switch, cut, and add wonderful things. And the actors this season are really stepping up - and thank you Alan Ball and the HBO wardrobe dept for not spending much in the shirt budget. Keep that part up.
• I'm still a fan of Bravo's Work of Art, but if that faker Miles wins the whole thing I will be peeved.
• Dear Allison Grodner and the rest of the Big Brother producers - ha ha ha hee ah ha Your big twist this season got busted with the very first elimination! Nice. And while I'm actually thankful that you chose houseguests that are relatively sane this season, they're also kind of boring. So now I'm worried that this will cause you to go back to your crazy stunt casting and fill season 13 with a bunch of Evel Dicks, Chimas, Jesses and Boogies. Don't do that  please.
• Thank god odious Vern Yip, cool Genevieve Groder, and the queen Candice Olsen finally got rid of that hag Nina this week on HGTV's Design Star. I was starting to worry that they were forgetting that the winner of this show is supposed to be someone that we want to watch on television. Nina is NEVER going to be the answer to that question.
• I am living for the return of David Suchet as Hercule Poirot in the latest Masterpiece Mystery series. In fact this season of Mystery has been excellent all around and only promises to get better with Inspector Lewis coming back in a couple of months.
• I've already gushed about The Choir, but seriously why aren't you watching this gem yet?!
• I thoroughly enjoyed the debut of TNT's Rizzoli & Isles a new cop drama starring my #1 girl crush Angie Harmon. And evidently its premier did gangbusters in the ratings, so yay!

And with the upcoming Season 8 of Project Runway starting up next week, this summer's line up is really heating up.

Linky link - 2010 Summer TV edition

God, I love tv. I know that's probably horrible, and I totally agree that I should spend at least half the time I "waste" watching television on healthier activities like exercising, cleaning, and sleeping. But I don't really care; it's my main vice - judge me all you want.

So once again we're entering the summer months where all of our regular season shows are ending their seasons (or ending altogether - so long 24, Law & Order, and Lost). And now from June through September we get a bunch of new reality and scripted shows to tempt us (me) to stay inside on the couch instead of enjoying the sunshine and good company of friends and family.

To that end I'm linking the excellent lists compiled by the staff of Television Without Pity of the upcoming:
New shows for summer 2010
and
Summer 2010 returning shows

For the returning shows I'm the most excited about Drop Dead Diva, True Blood, So You Think You Can Dance, and Beautiful People and I'll probably devote whole posts just to them in the coming weeks.

The new shows that look intriguing are Hot In Cleveland (even I can't resist the lure of Betty White fever - plus hello, it's got Valerie Bertinelli, I'm there); The Choir (because it's a trifecta of things I love - reality show, British, show choirs); Memphis Beat (my boyfriend Jason Lee! and it's another TNT cop show that I can enjoy watching with my dad when I visit him); and Persons Unknown (a mini-series murder mystery by the dude who won the screenwriting Oscar for The Usual Suspects? Yes please. Plus it's got Jason Wiles who I love). 

I hope my DVRs are ready for the onslaught.

Maybe I'll buy an exercise bike and kill a few birds with one stone. And maybe I should hook it up Ed Begley style to the tv and dvr so that I have to bike in order for the electronics to even work? Anything to fuel my tv addiction!

TV Round-up for the week

Best thing I saw all week - What Would Brian Boitano Make?

"what would Brian Boitano do if he were here right now? He'd make a plan and follow through, that's what Brian Boitano'd do!" (I wonder if you have to pay royalties to use a song as your show's theme, if said song was actually written about you?)

Who knew Brian Boitano could cook, and was so funny with such a self-depricating sense of humor, and liked "riding his bike on rainbows". His new little cooking show is a great way to spend 30 minutes. It's a little bit "Good Eats", a little "Barefoot Contessa" with a little Rachel Ray thrown into the mix. Filmed out of his gorgeous house in San Francisco it looks like the show will focus on food to prepare for entertaining. The first episode dealt with Brian trying to find a date for his straight bachelor friend Tony. This show is fun!

Show that hasn't made a wrong move yet this season? True Blood

While a lot of this season's plots have come from several of the Charlaine Harris books that the show is based on, the writers/producers have embellished and changed things around enough that I truly don't know how this season is going to end. No clue. At all. Only 2 more episodes to go!

Show that ended with a mind f*ck - Nurse Jackie

This week's first season finale was a doozy. Did Jackie try to kill herself at the end? Did she OD? What will happen to her adorable family? Or Coop? Or Zoe? Don't tell me I have to wait 8 months to find out!!

Worse thing my wallet saw this week - Big Brother 11's Thursday show

Russell was stupidly kicked off thus ending my chance at winning $150 in my office pool. Damn Jeff! I now want Kevin or Michele to win.

Obsession renewed this week - Project Runway

So far the move to Lifetime and LA hasn't seemed to hurt the show one bit. Add the new Models of the Runway, the entertaining behind-the-scenes look at the PR clothes hanger girls and Thursday nights are becoming my new favorite thing.

July TV report card

Surprises (Good) -
Drop Dead Diva; Ruby & The Rockits; 2nd season of True Blood
I've already talked these three programs up in previous posts. I'm still enjoying these programs each week.

HGTV's Design Star
I am loving this latest season of Design Star probably more than any of the previous ones for some reason. Yes, Clive Pearse continues to bug, and Tashica should've gone home weeks ago, it's still really fun. And Candice Olson - hello! Go Dan Vickery! He's adorable and talented (and from Portland, OR); I would gladly watch a show that he hosted.

Surprises (Bad)
Miami Social
Part of me gets a thrill out of watching this idiotic group of friends; I mean for real, there are a lot of assholes just like this in Miami. But when Hardy Hill (of Big Brother season 2 fame) is the least tooliest of the bunch, bringing the voice of reason and sanity to the mix, you know something is messed up. I'm close to deleting the season pass on this one like I did for "NYC Prep".

Torchwood: Children of Earth
Let me explain. Hottie John Barrowman and company are still great, and what little I got to see of the "Children" mini-series was well done. The unpleasant surprise was that I got the dates of the premiere of the 3 episode season mixed up so ended up only recording the end which was really confusing for me and made no sense whatsoever. So far BBCAmerica hasn't replayed it either so I might have to bite the bullet and buy it on dvd.

Surprises (Boring)
Anybody else bored to tears by this season of Eureka? My love of Colin Ferguson can only go so far. I miss the good writing. I mean at this point Carter has been sheriff of this crazy town for a few years. Why is he still so naive and continuously surprised by goings-on there. How did he not know about this annual bowling tournament if it was so important? And each week coming up with the latest misguided reckless scientist is getting to be so lame. I miss Ed Quinn as Stark. Good thing I've gotten to see him a little in his role as Stan on the last couple of episodes of True Blood.

Hopeless
Never watched an episode of Great American Road Trip. Just seeing the clips they showed on "The Soup" told me all I needed to know.

Too early to tell -
Being Human
I watched the two episode premiere this past weekend and liked the three leads a lot. Some of the supporting players are annoying and the storylines are a little thin in places but I'm interested enough to keep watching. Aidan Turner is easy on the eyes too.

Big Brother 11
I know I know, how can I possibly say that it's too early to tell if this is a waste of my time? But seriously, there are still 10 people left in the game and except for one of the evictees, I haven't been sad about anyone leaving. And while there are some serious moronic assholes on this season, it's been a more interesting social experiment to me this time around than in the last few years. Plus I have $150 at stake in an office pool, so I feel invested in caring about the outcome.

TV Tidbits

Let's first talk about the Bachelorette Jillian season finale this week, and the following ATFR show.
That finale sure was a bunch of Fleissian producer-manipulated bullshit that I pretty much ate right up with a spoon. Maybe the heatwave Seattle's been going through has given me a bad case of heat-induced retardation but I loved Jillian and Ed getting together. I loved everything about that final rose proposal - Ed not getting on his knees until he heard the words he wanted to hear, the way Jillian couldn't wait to put that fugly marquis cut engagement ring on her finger, the adorkable giggling they both couldn't stop doing, I loved every minute of it.

All I know is that these two better keep it together and make it work, because I can no longer justify any reason for watching this damn show if none of these relationships actually work out.
The After The Final Rose show was a crock as usual. First there was the obligatory catch-up with Melissa Rycroft, which even Chris Harrison had a hard time making relevant, which is saying something. Speaking of Chris Harrison, what was up with his head on ATFR? His noggin looked enormous and his hair was a lot pouffier then usual. He looked like a bobble-head.
Anyway, Jillian and Ed look really great together and I truly hope it works out for them. I want "Krista PEENK party princess wedding 2.0". C'mon Fleiss, make it happen.
They are so obviously grooming Reid for the next Bachelor; and there's no fawking way I believe that he bought his own engagement ring.

True Blood: Terry Bellefleur + Lafayette Reynolds = Best Friends 4eva!!!Loved their scene in the kitchen, but boy was the rest of this week's episode FREEEEAAAKKYYYY. Almost uncomfortably so, but I do like how the writers are incorporating storylines from the books. It makes being a fan of both very easy, but you never know what they're going to do.

HGTV's Design Star - Loving this season so far. Annoying, excuse-ridden Tashika should've gone home this past week instead of Amy, although I see why the judges were so fed up with Amy's lack of leadership skills. Antonio, Dan, and Nathan I'm loving though.

Watch What Happens L!ve - Oh Andy Cohen, how can I want to hang out gossiping with you while drinking Makers & Gingers and at the same time want to beat you with a pillowcase filled with baseballs? Such a quandry.

Summer 2009 TV Preview - June

It used to be, back in the day, that the summer months for television were a big VOID - filled with endless repeats of network shows, horrible made-for-tv movies, theatrical releases watered down and dubbed for tv, and horrible reality shows. And while all of these things still exist on summer-time tv, lately the summer months have also been a chance for cable networks and even "the big 4" networks to try out new shows; often quirky, interesting things that they won't give a shot to any other time of the year.

2009 is shaping up to be a great summer for lots of new and returning shows. I am only listing the ones that I'm excited about, or at least going to give a trial run (it's still a long list - I am a television junkie afterall).
I am already thoroughly entranced with the trashy goodness that is The Real Housewives of NJ. And as soon as the audition eps are over, I'll become obsessed once again with the latest season of SYTYCD. But here's what I'm looking forward to this month.

New stuff:
Royal Pains (USA) Premieres June 4
Cutey-patooty Mark Feuerstein is a NYC doctor who is exiled to the Hamptons where his brother lives or something? And he becomes an on-call doctor that does house calls for wealthy weirdos? I don't know. It sounds stupid but I love little Feuerstein so I'll give it at least a couple of eps.

The Listener (NBC) Premieres June 4
Paramedic Toby Logan (HOT Craig Olejnik) is secretly a telepath, which I guess comes in super handy when he's on the job. It sounds like "Ghost Whisperer" meets "Third Watch". Again, the hotness of the lead is doing a lot for me here.

Nurse Jackie (Showtime) Premieres June 8
Edie Falco from "Sopranos" fame returns to TV in this Showtime series that looks really dark and edgy but I think is a comedy? She's a nurse who's addicted to painkillers, hates her coworkers, and isn't above making morally ambiguous decisions if she thinks it will help her patients. Plus it has “The Fatch” (aka my boyfriend Peter Facinelli) who I would watch read the phone book.

Top Chef Masters (Bravo) Premieres June 10
Some of the mentors that have appeared/judged on Top Chef and other famous executive chefs are competing for charity. I'll watch it because it's Bravo and they serve the best crack, and because any time I can get more Tom Colicchio I'll take it.

Hammertime (A&E) Premieres June 14
Yet another reality show about a former star trying to make a comeback and their weirdo family. In this case it's MC Hammer. I'll probably only get through one show, but I like the title.

NYC Prep (Bravo) Premieres June 16
It's like Gossip Girl, but a reality show. Or like Laguna Beach but "real"? This series follows the lives of spoiled teens who live the high life in Manhattan. Again it's Bravo, and except for that matchmaker show and the one with the lesbian personal trainer, I've never NOT watched one of their reality shows.

Hawthorne (TNT) Premieres June 16
I'm going on record as saying that I hate Jada Pinkett Smith. She heads up this medical drama that I'd normally pass up. But Michael Vartan (sigh...so beautiful) is in it and I flove him. I'll probably just "bleep-bloop" through these eps to all of the scenes with Vartan hoping he takes his clothes off. It is cable after all...

The Philanthropist (NBC) Premieres June 24
I haven't heard anything about this scripted drama about a billionaire (played by James Purefoy) who loves to spend his money and do reckless things in order to help out the world. It also stars Jesse L. Martin (LOVE!) and Neve Campbell (HATE!!!!!!). This is really going to depend on the amount of room on the DVR and how much my hate for Neve Campbell affects my ability to sit through an ep.

Hung (HBO) Premieres June 28
Thomas Jane (Yes.) stars as a down on his luck, recently divorced high-school teacher who turns to making porn films to make ends meet. (Yes!) There better be some nudity HBO! (yes.)

More to Love (Fox) Premieres June 28
Us fatties need love too. I can't decide if I'm super insulted by this reality dating show focusing on overweight people looking for love, or if I'm intrigued. It's done Bachelor-style where one "Kevin James-esque" (Fox's description not mine) (read: fat) guy is looking through a bevy of curvy (read: fat) beauties in order to find his dream girl. Again I'm going to watch the first ep to quench my curiosity and then probably be so disgusted that I'll quickly delete it off Tivo.

Returning Shows:
True Blood (HBO) June 14

The first season ended with a scene straight out of the second book and I’m a little concerned.

Because all I know is that, Lafayette BETTER NOT BE DEAD. Or if he is, they better work in something funky like he’s a vamp, or zombie, or talking ghost or something because I will seriously be PISSED OFF if I don’t get my Laf fix from brilliant Nelsan Ellis. I’ve read most of the books that this great series is based on so I know that HBO has already taken liberties and changed some elements of various characters and the show hasn’t suffered because of it. So they better have done some script finagling to make my favorite character still a part of this show. It's not looking promising based on the info from imdb.com though. Gawddam it!

This week in TV season finales

Ok, let's talk about the first season finale of HBO's True Blood. It was awesome, and yet a little upsetting.
I've read 3 of the Sookie Stackhouse mystery novels by Charlaine Harris that the show is based on, and I had been pleasantly surprised at the things the show had kept the same as books, the things they changed, and the new elements they'd added. But as the season progressed I started to figure out that they were probably going to still make (spoiler alert!) Rene the killer like in the book, even though they'd expanded his character for the show and had made him so damn likeable! It didn't hurt that the actor playing Rene, Michael Raymond-James, is so cute and likable with his (fake, yet realistic) cajun accent.
Then last night at the end of the finale they (spoiler alert!) killed my favorite character Lafayette! So sad about this. Nelsan Ellis was so amazing in this role. In the books Lafayette is a very minor character that is killed in the beginning of the second book and whose murder sets up the plot for that installment. But on the show they'd made this character the most dynamic and likeable of the supporting players, so I thought there might be a chance that they would postpone his murder for awhile; like maybe the end of the 4th season?

So now with 2 of the 5 reasons that I watch the show gone, I'm hoping that season 2 won't be a disappointment. Maybe they can make Lafayette a ghost character that Sookie or Tara can talk to in visions? It is a show by Alan Ball ("Six Feet Under") afterall.


Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders: Making The Team 3 - This show is probably my guiltiest of guilty pleasure reality shows. I. Love. It. Can't get enough of it. I wish that every episode was an hour long like the first and last eps of each season. I can't explain how caught up I get in the training candidates attempts to make it on this year's squad. I'm way too invested in some of the veterans; desperate to see if my faves like Brooke, Kandi, and Deryn make it another year.

I'm not sure whether it's the bitchiness and control-freakedness of Kelli Finglass that I love to hate or the way too bubbly goody-goodness of most of the auditioners, or my fondness for the team from the 1970s that were on two (TWO!) episodes of the "The Love Boat", that makes me so obsessed with this show, but I'm always so disappointed when the seasons end. Can't we follow the squad throughout the NFL season?! Oh well, I guess I'll have to wait for next Fall. And Yay! All 4 of my fave vets made it for 2008!