TV Musings - Last week of March 2011

This week for Lent I've given up Tivo. Well, I've really been forced to give it up because my beloved Reuben (that's my Tivo's name) died on Sunday; total hard drive failure. EEEK! And while I do have another dvr, its hard drive space is very limited because I have a bunch of HD programs taking up a ton of space, which essentially has left me with having two televisions that I have been forced to watch LIVE, in real time, without the ability to rewind or pause. **gasp**

But while I'm on this dvr-hiatus, I haven't totally been forgoing television altogether. Here are some things keeping me interested this week:

• It looks like the fan and critic outrage over the new Wonder Woman suit/costume forced some changes. Gone is the ultra shiny vinyl cheap looking "pants" and slutty high heels. I like it much better, but I'm still skeptical about this revamp of the classic series from the 1970s.

• I'm okay with Richard Blais winning the Top Chef All-Stars finale but boy, I really wish he had competed against Antonia instead of gross Mike Isabella. Anyway, I'm super excited to see the All Star reunion next week when Elia gets ripped a new one for being such a bitch. And the new Top Chef Masters season starts next week too, hosted by my boyfriend Curtis Stone who must have some naughty pictures of Jeff Zucker in his possession. How else to explain Stone's dominance on anything and everything NBC Universal has on television? I can think of 5 shows off the top of my head that he's been involved with, and that's just in the past 6 months.

• The Beverly Hills housewives are back for Season 2! As much as I generally dislike Bravo's Real Housewives franchise(s), I did thoroughly enjoy the Beverly Hills edition, especially Lisa Vanderpump. But seriously Bravo, what happened to all of my awesome "gay" shows like Make Me a Super Model, Shear Genius, and Top Design? Sigh...at least I'll soon be getting new reality shows for Brad Goreski and Chris March.
• Perfect Couples is getting the ax (at least temporarily) and being replaced by a new show from Paul Reiser. Man, I really wanted to like Perfect Couples. I like most of the cast, and I LOVE a lot of the writers, especially Jen Kirkman and Nick Adams, so it was really weird how bad it was. It had its moments, but for the most part it sucked.

TV Things and things

Glee -

I really enjoyed the Sectionals episode this season. Even the cop-out of having New Directions and The Warblers tie in the end. I especially loved getting to see the spotlight on a few of the other kids - Santana rules! I've loved this second season of Glee, all the haters can suck it. And my love affair with Darren Criss continues. Sigh...Blaine is dreamy.



Top Chef: All Stars -
Premieres tonight! I can't wait. And except for Elia and Jamie (who I wish were replaced by Kevin and Stefan), I am really excited about all of the contestants for this season. There are so many of my faves here that I really don't care who wins (but would be over the moon if Carla or Richard Blaise took the prize)

America's Next Top Model - The finale is tonight. I've really come to HATE Ann but I fear that she will win tonight. I didn't think that it would come down to her and Chelsea; I really wanted Kayla to be in the top two. But it's been a fun season; and I haven't hated Tyra Banks nearly as much as I usually do.

Gossip Girl - I'm this close to being oVAh this show. Can Juliet please die now? This revenge storyline is getting old.

Real Housewives of Atlanta and Beverly Hills - I've had a Tivo break-up with the Atlanta ladies. Even with the slightly interesting Nene storyline developing, I feel my soul dying each minute I waste with them.
But Beverly Hills! I love love love these ladies. Camille Grammer is a total nut-job but so fun to watch her delusional confessionals.

The Fashion Show - Shut up David and Dominique! The challenge this week was do a time capsule outfit. That had to incorporate plaid in some way because Iman loves plaid. It was very strange, and resulted in my sweet Ro Ro being eliminated but I'm still living for the second season of this show. Iman and Isaac Mizrahi continue to be awesome.

Reality TV Round-Up - Early August 2010 edition

Things that pissed me off this week:

1. Kenny packing his knives and leaving Top Chef DC. There is NO GAWDDAM way that Kenny deserved to leave this competition before Amanda, or f*cking Alex. The judges should be ashamed of themselves.
2. Gretchen winning (AGAIN) in the Project Runway challenge. Yes, her weird jumpsuit definitely deserved top 3, but I seriously need Nina Garcia, Michael Kors, and Heidi Klum to explain to me exactly why Valerie didn't win this challenge with her amazing red dress. It was the biggest WTF? moment in some time for this show.

Things that made me smile this week:

I mean c'mon, how cute are they?!

As of this writing/posting the winner hasn't been determined, but Robert, Lauren, and Kent each did a splendid job in the finale performances and I'll be happy for any of them to win. (but I really want Lauren)

Kent seems like a foregone conclusion, but if we're to believe Nigel, the votes each week have been very close and have switched often. So maybe it is anyone's game.

Things that made me ambivalent this week:

1. After a spectacularly bad showing in the veto competition this past weekend, it's a fact that one of my Big Brother office pool picks will be going home tonight.  And most likely it will be Rachel. Sigh... I really can't stand either her or Brendon, but I did want them to stick around in the house awhile longer (beyond the fact that I win money if they stay), because I hate Matt and the STUPID Brigade. Seriously. Vomit. And I also hate that all of the women are being systematically picked off this season. It's depressing. Here's hoping that Ragan can stir some stuff up as the new saboteur.
2. Real Housewives of D.C. premiered last week and it was both better and worse than I thought it would be. I'm surprised that there's only one black D.C. housewife, but I'm not offended, if that makes sense. I also liked that it was acknowledged that very few of the movers and shakers in the area who claim to be from D.C. actually live in northern VA or in the Maryland suburbs. I'm looking forward to the next couple of episodes at least, although I don't know if I'm it for the long haul.

STFU

Shut up Jamie from "Top Chef" Season 4!