Um, how did I not know about this?

The next ANTM season starts on February 29, 2012!!

Reality TV Round-up - July 2011 Edition

As usual my Tivo is clogged with hours upon hours of reality television. Good stuff (yes, there IS good stuff) and bad stuff. Competition stuff like Big Brother, SYTYCD, and The RW/RR Challenge; fun stuff like Ice Loves Coco, Million Dollar Decorators, Roseanne Barr's new show, and candid stuff like Celebrity Rehab, and my fave 1 Girl 5 Gays. I love it all!

Here's some of what I've been watching and dissecting this month -

Roseanne's Nuts: I've never been a big Roseanne fan. I didn't watch her sitcom when it was on, and I've always found the antics surrounding her to be a little exhausting. So why the hell did I decide to record and watch the premiere of her new reality show on Lifetime? I don't know. But I'm glad I did. I love everything about it. Roseanne is now living in Hawaii with her boyfriend John on a 50 acre macadamia nut farm. She has this weird (but hilarious) hippie dude named Greg that camps on her land and that she takes care of in exchange for his calm zen-ness. In the first couple of eps, Roseanne's eldest son comes to visit from L.A. She's constantly running around on her tractor and jeep, chasing pigs or trying to kill dangerous, invasive foliage on her land; all while spouting an endless stream of curse words. She's my new hero.

Big Brother 13: As much as I love Jeff & Jordan and am excited to have them on my screen again, this season of Big Brother is already SO ANNOYING. I may only watch the Thursday live shows and catch up by reading the live feed summaries.

Million Dollar Decorators: How can the season finale for this gem already be next week?! I've tweeted my love for this show for weeks but I can't reiterate enough how much I love Ross Cassidy, project manager and boyfriend of designer Jeffrey Allan Marks (who Ross adorably calls "JAM"!). He's South African and an ex-model, and he's a ruthless task master and he is indespencible. I love his hair and the way he's always putting it up in messy ponytails or flipping it over to the side; I love his clipped accent; I love his laugh. I want Ross to live with me and yell at me to "snap out of it and get things done!" I also love me some Jacqueline, designer and textile artist Kathryn Ireland's old French housekeeper. Forget what I said about Roseanne, JACQUELINE is my hero. I want to be her when I grow up - only wear crisp white shirts and black pants, tie my hair up in fabulous Hermes scarves, have a loose interpretation of "cleaning", only cook appetizers, and drink wine all damn day. Perf. All of the designers on the show are pretty interesting. I can't wait for season 2.

Ice Loves Coco: Who knew that Ice T and Coco (I still don't know if she uses a last name; surely she doesn't go by "Coco T") could be so charming? They're a great couple. And seriously? Ice T looks so much like my friend Jim, I can't stand it. Hilarious.

Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew: Oh lerwd, this show. Sean Young makes me sad y'all. I really feel for her. Bai Ling is CRAZY. Like chemically imbalanced. I think that she needs a higher level of care than Dr. Drew (who is slowly losing boyfriend status the more he's on my tv screen) and his stupid 21 day tv treatment show can provide. I'm surprisingly sympathetic to Michael Lohan, and it's been actually nice to see Steven Adler back in rehab. Oh, and Amy Fisher is a fucking bitch.

The Challenge - Rivals (RW/RR): Kenny! What is wrong with you baby? Where's my cocky, joking, handsome, smart-ass who's quick with the quips and a challenge beast? Did that pasty, UGLY, red-headed freak Wes kill your spirit once he partnered with you? I want the goofy, hot, clever Kenny pictured below to come back onto my tv screen! In other news, shut up Johnny Bananas.

SYTYCD Season 8 - Top 20 Performance

As I said in my last post, this season's top 20 are all very good dancers, so there isn't really anything I can criticize about anyone's technique. Megan Mullaly was the guest judge for some reason. She's supposedly a crazy super-fan who's seen every episode of every season so I could sort of get behind that and ignore that she's not really a dancer anymore.

Jordan & Tadd: Afro Jazz -
Ugh, I was disappointed to see Tadd paired up with Jordan because to tell you the truth I kind of hate Jordan. She's a great dancer, but her personality grates and her face bugs the hell out of me. I hope the positive feedback that Tadd got for his great dancing from all of the judges is a good sign. I really like him! I'm still not sure I like Sean Cheesman as a choreographer though.

Sasha & Alexander: Contemporary - Is there ever going to be a Travis Wall choreographed routine that I don't like? These two lucked out. Going shallow for a minute, Alexander needs to stop it with the weird facial hair that looks like he's wearing makeup, it's creepy. I totally agreed with Mary and Megan that Alex and Sasha didn't seem to connect as a couple and that Sasha was way more invested into the character of the dance than he was. I'm kind of race-biased, I really want a black female dancer like either Sasha or Ashley to go far in the competition this season.

Clarice & Jess: Broadway - Ugh. What are the odds?! That fucking Jess would get this freakin' style? I was so annoyed that one of my favorite girls was paired up with Jess, who is so "ON" all the time that he totally irks me. They were paired I'm quite sure because they're both so tiny. And once again, Tyce Diorio's crap ass Broadway choreography disappoints.

Ryan & Ricky: Lyrical Hip-Hop - Mmmm I'm totally digging choreographer Christopher Scott. Every routine he's done I've loved. I want him to be my boyfriend. Can we talk about Ricky's annoying as hell name? Ricky Jaime? It's so ridiculous. He and Ryan together have...how shall I put it...so many TEETH. They're very perky, but I kind of love them. Definitely one of my fave routines of the night.

Caitlynn & Mitchell*: Jazz from Sonya Tahyeh - Mitchell fucked his elbow up so Caitlynn danced with S7's Robert. It was so sad to see Mitchell crying in the audience. I feel really bad for him because he'll automatically be in the bottom 3 which is only fair. He was one of my early predictions to go far in this comp. I think Caitlynn is a little over praised. My eyes roll when she talks.

Miranda & Robert: Jive - Jason Wilkinson cracks me up but generally this was my least favorite routine of the night. Mostly because I don't like Robert and to some extent Miranda (mostly Robert). I'm already sick to death of the WOO thing. Do people really like this dude? Ugh. But I felt for them because they're the only couple that got screwed with a style choice this week.

Missy & Wadi: Jazz - Sean Cheesman's pectoral muscles scare me. I don't know if I liked his "sexy demon" routine that he did for these two. Hmmm. The judges like it, so there's that.

Melanie & Marko: Contemporary - Love love love. Travis Wall routine + 2 of my faves this season = LOVE. I'm glad that Nigel caught and commented on the tiny errors that Marko and Melanie made, but Nigel agreed with me that those flaws didn't mar how wonderful a performance it was.

Ashley & Chris: Hip Hop - Ashley is so cute. I lurve her. Chris? Eh. So consequently I didn't feel a deep connection between them. But I enjoyed their fun Chris Scott routine.

Iveta & Nick: Quickstep - I call foul! Iveta pulls ballroom as a style? harumph  Anyway, I knew these two would be paired because they're the tallest. But I loved their quickstep to Ballroom Blitz. Jason Gilkinson is a nut.

Predictions for bottom 3:

Girls = Miranda, Jordan, and either Ashley or Missy

Boys = Mitchell*, Robert, and either Tadd (frowny face) or Wadi

TV week in review - Early October 2010

Thoughts on TV this week...

Showtime Shows:
Dexter - Wow, season 5 has really started out strong. Considering season 4 kicked all sorts of ass and there's pretty much no way to live up to it, they're doing an admirable job so far. You can't even tell that much that Michael Hall is wearing a hair piece (because he was undergoing cancer treatment for most of this season's shoot). But seriously, Hall and his real-life wife Jennifer Carpenter who plays his on-screen sister Deb, have been acting the HELL out of the writing they've been given. They both deserve Emmys this year, no question. I'm not even minding nosy ol' Quinn who is bound and determined to fuck Dexter up in some way. I'm intrigued to see how this season's story lines all play out. And hee hee, every time they show Dexter carrying Harrison in his little car seat to all of these weird places to do his forensic dirty work, I get a big kick out of it. Dexter is still the sexiest killer on television.

The Big C - My appreciation for this show has been growing steadily since it started in August. Right from the beginning I loved Phyllis Somerville's Marlene and the great John Benjamin Hickey as Sean, but it took awhile for me to warm up to Laura Linney and the rest of the cast, as well as the story. But after the last two episodes I've really learned to love this new series. Could it be hot hot Idris Elba as Lenny that's making me feel this way? Could be. As we near the end of this first season, I'm hoping for a second one.

Modern Family: I saved up the first 3 eps of this second season so that I could enjoy a nice amount of quality time with my favorite TV family. The show is definitely proving that they deserved that Best Comedy Emmy. I didn't think it was possible to love Phil Dunphy or Cam Tucker (or the actors that portray them, Ty Burrell and Eric Stonestreet) any more than I did in the first season but I was wrong. And I loved the way the writers chose to handle the (TOTALLY STUPID and IRRITATING) brouhaha that's been swirling for the past year over the fact that Cam and Mitchell never kiss on the show.

Cougar Town: First, I love that the producers/writers are totally in on the joke, and have been making fun of the increasingly ridiculous title of this show in their credits each week. Nicely done! So far this show isn't having the sophomore slump that I predicted, which is such a pleasant surprise.

I was sad to hear this week about Courtney and David's marriage split; they seemed like good partners.

Glee: The past few weeks I've read a lot of negative reviews and hateful comments over this second season of Glee. As usual I totally don't understand why people take this show so seriously and can't appreciate it for what it is. Anyway, even the most critical watchers have been saying good things about last night's "Duets" episode. From the snarky mention of Grease 2, to the fantabulous Mercedes/Santana performance of "River Deep, Mountain High", the hilarious way that all of the kids were SO into the fictional Breadsticks restaurant, to the amazing duet between Rachel (Babs) and Kurt (Judy) of the classic "Happy Days/Get Happy", this episode was really excellent.

"The Challenge" aka Real World/Road Rules Challenge aka Freaks on Parade:

Tivo didn't want me to watch this newest season of my favorite televised crack addiction. Even though I shamefully have several different "wishlist" season pass ticklers for this craptastic show, Bunim/Murray have evidently fiddled around with the title so much that my little dvr isn't catching on (it's apparently called The Challenge:Cutthroat this season). So it was with surprise that I was randomly switching channels last Wednesday night and came upon TJ Lavin's stoned mug and immediately squealed "NEW CHALLENGE SEASON!", waking up the dog and cat on my lap and almost dumping an entire mug of tea on myself. I quickly set the dvr to record the 11pm rerun and booted up the lap top to see which drunken losers contestants are gracing this season. I am excited about Abram and Bananas (but not about their unfortunate heads of hair), but was appalled to see Fresh Meat II's Theresa and Laurel back. And contrary to many people, I kind of miss my pasty Canuck Evan and my boyfriend Kenny.

Low Resolution's Joe had a wonderful discussion about this show with the two Sarahs that needs to be shared with all who love this stupid thing.

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!

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.

TV Round-up - Project Runway Season 8 and the return of two faves

Season 8 of Project Runway premiered last night. The designers are competing for a show in September's Fashion Week which isn't as "big" as FW in February but will still always be a bigger deal than LA Fashion Week. I don't think we've had a PR season go to September FW since season 3 but I could be remembering wrong.

Anyway, for some reason, I'm not that excited about this new season. First, they've changed the format so that the show is 90 minutes long now instead of an hour format. Why are they doing this? If it means that we'll eventually get longer Tim mentor segments or the full runway critiques than I'm all for it; but if they continue to use it as a platform for giving more time to the insipid hair/make-up sessions, like they did last night, then I am concerned. The 90 min premier also worked last night because we had so many designers to get through (17!!) but I can see the extra half hour becoming tedious and lame as the season progresses. And does this mean that Lifetime won't be doing a "Models Of The Runway" show? Am I the only person that enjoyed this program? Must be...

This season's crop of designers seems to be littered with a lot of crazy and not a lot of talent. I was totally annoyed that McKell was the first designer auf'ed, when that stupid Jason dude was so annoying and so obviously lacking anything remotely resembling talent got to stick around. I think Tim Gunn agreed with me - he seemed very put out about McKell leaving. Her dress was cute!!

I can't remember a season of Runway premiering that ever left me with such a bad taste in my mouth. It doesn't bode well.

But let's talk about happier, brighter things, like the new show that premiered right after PR, featuring two former Project Runway designers: On The Road with Austin and Santino

This gem could prove to be my new obsession and all-time fave reality show this summer.

Seriously, two of my favorite Project Runway finalists doing a makeover show that's a cross between What Not To Wear and Green Acres? What's not to love!? Although Santino baby, is that a new wig/hair piece you're wearing? No sweetie. No.

I adored last night's premier with the cowgirl that does the horse stunts. Everything about the show was adorable - Austin and Santino's relationship; their tomboy client Shelby Lynn and her family, especially her awesome stepdad who's a rodeo clown; the weird historic "castle" that they shoved the homos into to use as a design studio; Weatherford TX, and its citizens' reactions to Santino and especially Austin. If every episode of this show is half as entertaining as this first one, I think we have a winner.

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.

Spencer Pratt - Craziest douchebag of all time?

Is this the face of someone sane? Good LORD! What is wrong with Spencer Pratt? I seriously think that he might be bi-polar and definitely needs to be on some sort of psychopharmacological treatment plan.

I'm afraid of what he'll do now that The Hills is off the air and his dumb, fucked up wife Heidi Montag has left him. And after last week's antics with the MTV finale party for the show, and the fact that Pratt is now calling himself an "artist" (that owns an easel and everything!), I'm worried for the safety of you know, like America.

30 years from now, how are we going to explain the existence of Spencer Pratt to our children and grand-children?

The Choir - Watch it!

Stop the presses! This anglophile has a new TV crush - Gareth Malone, the young choir director for the London Symphony Orchestra who back in 2007 (damn America for getting BBC productions so far after the fact) decided that he wanted to bring choral and classical music back into schools and working class areas of Britain - specifically lower middle class schools where children are especially disadvantaged when it comes to music programs.

On The Choir, the exuberant and amazingly positive Malone, goes to areas where there's no tradition of choral singing and starts new choirs. Over the 13 episodes BBC America will air, which began last week and airs on Wednesdays on BBC America, he starts one at a coed high school, one at a boys' school, and one in a fairly beat-down town with a reputation as kind of one big bad neighborhood.

Gareth Malone has some serious hypnotic power; his energy is so happy and infectious that these kids and people who would never consider enjoying singing choral music, end up having the time of their lives.

I seriously just want to hug Gareth and keep him in my pocket to give me encouragement whenever I need it. He's completely adorkable. The lives he touches and changes for the better, especially the children, also makes for compelling television. Do yourself a favor and watch The Choir and feel uplifted.

SYTYCD Season 7 Top 8

Just a couple of comments about the July 7 Top 8 performance show -

• F*#@!! Both Alex Wong and Allison Holker are injured! And they put Alex automatically in the bottom 3 which I think is fair, but worrisome. Eeek my favorite All-Star girl...but wait they got my all-time fave SYTYCD girl Katee Shean to fill in - YAY.
• I know choreographer Spencer Liff plays for the other team and all, but gawddam he needs to be my boyfriend RIGHT NOW. Also Nigel take note - that's how Broadway choreography is done. Tyce Diorio needs to be retired from this genre. Permanently.
• The African Jazz number that Billy and Jose danced was very homo-erotic n'est pas?
• As much as Adechike bores me and as much as I'd like to see him go home, Mia's comments to him tonight were totally harsh and kind of out of line. And it may have backfired - I think it drove people to vote for him like crazy. Damn.

The two stars of the night for me were the girls - way to go Ashley and Lauren; you both danced your two routines perfectly. I'll be seriously pissed off if either of you is in the bottom 3 with Alex tomorrow.

Big Brother Season 12 - Get to know the House Guests

Whoa. How can it already be time for another season of Big Brother to start up again? 2010 is moving fast. But here we are in July, with another dose of my favorite TV crack waiting to be administered on July 8.
For the past 9 seasons Allison Groder and the other producers have tried to cram "twists" down our throats to keep things "unexpected" in the game. Some of these antics have worked better than others, but this season they're going with having a mole, sorry, a "saboteur" in the house that will be tasked with messing things up for their fellow houseguests. Now, I'm really hoping that unlike Season 8 with Eric being "America's Player", that this saboteur isn't affected by the votes of the other HGs so that they're not voted off too soon. Will it be like The Mole where the all of the HGs know that one among them is this traitor, so that everyone's off guard right from the beginning? If in fact the mole is voted off early on, will BB choose another HG to take over? Inquiring minds!

I finally took some time to review Season 12's cast. And of course I have opinions.
First impressions:
SO MUCH pre-hate for Annie. Her favorite BB contestant is Evel Dick? Uh, no. We’re done here.

Andrew, on paper seems like the kind of guy that I usually fawking hate. But I said the same thing about Jeff last season and I ended up loving him.

They cast Enzo strictly because he fits the Bayonne, NJ Guido “Jersey Shore” stereotype. *eyeroll* Although it amused me to no end that his favorite all-time BB player is Season 1 Justin. WTF?!

Brendon. Hmm. Cute and doesn’t seem too douchey, and has a Ph.D. in biometric physics. But when asked to use 3 adjectives to describe himself, one of the ones he used was “intelligible” which gave me pause. Did he really mean to describe himself as someone who is easily understood, or is he one of those assholes who just throws words out in conversation trying to sound smarter than he is? If it’s the former than I might end up loving this guy.

I want to like Kathy. She’s my age, seems sort of kick-ass (she’s a sheriff deputy), seems to love BB and know its history, and has survived cancer (which I hope is the excuse for her fugly hair) so seems to be ready for anything. I hope to hell she doesn’t end up being a shrill harpy.

Kristen. I am wary of anyone who claims to be “misunderstood by strangers”. This almost always means – PSYCHO BITCH

Matt seems like guys that I’m friends with, and is one of my top picks for being this season’s “Mole”. I also thought what he said about Dr. Will and his favorite BB player was very astute: "Since the beginning I've liked Will, but his strategy would never work anymore. People play the game too much now. So, I'd have to go with Dan as my favorite."

I hope to hell that Monet ends up being as cool as she seems from her profile. But I’ve been burned before.

Lane is your typical BB cast big dumb jock. He seems nice though. But that’s what I thought about Jesse when I read his bio and we all know how that turned out.

Hayden is another stereotypical BB houseguest. I hope he’s cuter in real life than in his photo. His hair could bug.

Britney Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Rachel has VERY UNFORTUNATE hair and seems like a Vegas whore. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

And finally we have Ragan who methinks is the token “gay” of this season (West Hollywood represent!). He’s also AWESOME. (at least from his profile) So this means that he’ll probably lose because the people I like never win (Will and Jordan are exceptions). He's another candidate for the mole but he almost seems too obvious a choice.

Here we go folks.

Linky link - Early summer 2010 edition

• One of my biggest pet peeves is denim shorts on anyone above the age of 12. I HATE jean shorts, be they cut-off or hemmed, long or short, fitted or loose. "The Sassy Curmudgeon", Una LaMarche, has a great story about jean shorts on the Huffington Post this week.

• I'm so secretly excited about this upcoming premier season of The Real Housewives of D.C. And not only because it's my home town.

• All of this Jake and Vienna break-up nonsense has been so amusing, but none of it more awesome than all of the "Jake is gay" rumors that have resurfaced. And all of the interviews where Jake keeps swearing he's not gay! I personally don't think he is; I wouldn't want to have sex with Vienna either...

• Okay, I loved The Mole when it was on ABC, so I'm cautiously optimistic about this latest Big Brother season twist.

• Why can't it just be September already!!! I love Jonny Lee Miller so much.

Reality TV musings for the week of June 14

So You Think You Can Dance - we got through the first round of competition for this season 7 and eliminated our first girl. Even though it saddens me that we've only had 2 female winners for this show (Katee should've won season 4), I've resigned myself to the fact that this season the girls are severely out-classed by the guys. The talent level for the men is off the effin' charts! I've already predicted an all male top 4 in my SYTYCD fantasy pool (hurry and get your vote forms in before 6/23/10). So far I'm liking the All-Star concept, but I'm worried that we're going to have a serious lopsided field gender-wise.

Work of Art: The Next Great Artist - Boy did I want to hate this show. But, Bravo TV has done it again, by creating a reality show that TOTALLY appeals to me and has me hooked. Gosh, my mom would've loved this show. She was an artist that never got to have her day, but instead taught and went into the administrative end of things (at the Smithsonian). But she kept up on the NY and European scene and knew who was being promoted as the "next hot thing". Maybe it's the contestants on this innagural season, who are surprisingly likeable even when they're acting like pretentious pricks. Maybe it's the fact that the judges and host (take note Shear Genius!) are totally legit and real experts in the art world (I mean they have gawddam Simon de Pury as the mentor on the show. What?!) But so far this gem is nicely filling a void that I didn't realize I had in my reality tv world.

HGTV Design Star - season 5! In NYC! With no Clive as host! This week's premier got us off to a good start. I don't hate, nor have I bonded, with any of these candidates yet, but I like what I see from a few of them. Now if only Vern Yip would stop being so patronizing I think the show would be perfect.

Reality TV catch up - First week of June 2010 edition

So You Think You Can Dance - while I watch the audition shows (the producers do a slightly better job than "American Idol" of not wasting time with crap attention-starved asses), it's not really until Vegas semi finals that I even remotely care or become emotionally invested in any of these people, with a few exceptions. This week the two audition cities featured were LA and Chicago.

Standouts included that kid Adrian with the looooooong neck who choreographer Stacey Tookey couldn't wait to get her hands on, and Alexie who made it to the last round in Vegas Season 6 and whose movements I really liked. But more importantly she reminded me how much I freakin' love Janis Joplin's version of Summertime. Seriously, musically this version kicks so much ass. The guitar parts alone make me weep.

And y'all is there anything cuter than the fact that Cat Deeley puts a coat on to protect herself from the sweat pouring off the kids as they come out of the auditorium to hug her after they've been given a ticket to Las Vegas? Cat loves these folks so much - take note Ryan Seacrest.

RR/RW Challenge: Fresh Meat II -

Yay for my boyfriend Landon and his Fresh Meat partner Carley, she of the bad hair and weird frowny face. They beat loathsome sore loser Evelyn and perma-smile Luke in the Exile and then did well enough to come in 2nd place not have to face the last Exile which would have been totally unfair. Here's hoping they can continue to kick butt and win that prize money.

Nine By Design - I haven't really talked about this show. It chronicles the ridiculous Novogratz family, a husband and wife design team with their 7 gorgeous children in tow as they build, design, sell, kvetch, yuppify and annoy the living hell out of everybody in Manhattan (really the tri-state area, oh, and London).

To be truthful, I actually love the relationship that Bob and Courtney Novogratz have. Theirs is a real partnership, in both love and business, and they are truly a great team. Courtney is kind of kick-ass actually. She's really why I watch the show. I would have been jailed for murdering Robert Novogratz long before I had a chance to birth 7 of his children. The way Bob whines about them being in debt and their lack of money (sure, whatever Bob, you own three $20 million dollar homes) and the way he treats their best client (developer Dave Barry) grates on my nerves to no end. On a shallow note, I also HATE his thin lipped mouth.

But other than his fondness for dumb hats and overpriced ridonk "desks" aka fiberglass art, his parenting and husbanding skills kind of make up for every other douchey thing he does.

The season finale was this week - can't wait to see if they were able to sell their $25 million home on West St in NYC (Tribeca?), and all of the new projects they've roped poor Antonio and Steve, their contractors, into next. And seriously those kids? With the whacked out names like Five, Breaker, and Major? ARE UNBELIEVABLY BEAUTIFUL!

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!

Upcoming SYTYCD Season 7 - A discussion between two fanatics

Kitty: So I think we finally have all of the pieces of Nigel Lythgoe's demented Wizard's pie for this upcoming season of SYTYCD.

Kathie: Yep I think so but I'm still confused over some things. But let's talk about the "All Stars" first. We've got:

tWitch Boss - Kitty: Some of the choices for the All-Stars were obvious and Twitch was one of them.
Kathie: I love Twitch though so I was excited that he was one of the first names that Nigel announced.

Kathryn McCormick - Kitty: She really grew on me last season, so while I'm disappointed that Ellenore isn't an All Star, Kathryn will do. And at least she spells her name correctly.
Kathie: Zzzzzzz. Sorry I think they could've gotten someone much more charismatic. And you're wrong about the way she spells Katherine.

Pasha Kovalev - Kitty: Sigh. In my top 3 SYTYCD boyfriends.
Kathie: Who are the other 2? Kitty: Artem and Dmitry.
Kathie: All ballroom dudes? What about some contemporary guys like Jakob, Mark, or Blake? 
Kitty: I have a rule that while I can admire the dancing abilities of the gay boys on this show, I only crush on the straight ones. Neil and Will round out my top 5 crushes. Anyway, Pasha was another All-Star choice that seemed like a no brainer, especially since Dmitry is still doing Dancing With The Stars.

Allison Holker - Kitty: Oh, I missed her.
Kathie: Who the hell is Allison? She has great hair but I don't remember her at all.
Kitty: C'mon, season 2? Danced with that white popper Ivan? She went home too soon.
Kathie: I got nada.

Ade Obayomi - Kathie: Oh, lord here we go. Kitty: WHAT?!
Kathie: I know how much you love Ade. You must've bust something when he was announced as an All Star.
Kitty: well truth be told, even though evidently Nigel announced him days ago, I only found out yesterday that he was chosen. But yes, I did gasp a little with excitement. I lurve him; even more so since we saw him on tour.

Comfort Fedoke - Kathie: Don't start. But really who else could they have gotten for the girl hip-hopper?
Kitty: I know. She and Lauren were the people I knew were probably inevitable but who I was praying wouldn't be brought back to torture me. I was thinking they might pick Sarah from S3 but she was more of a B-girl than a true hip hop dancer. But still, I really effin' hate Comfort.

Lauren Gottlieb - Kitty: cough*fawkingbeeyatch*cough 
Kathie: please explain your hatred of Lauren. She was so great with Neil in S3; the Wade "devil dance"! She's Tyce's assistant.
Kitty: for all of the reasons you just named and more I can't stand her. I never understood why people loved that Wade dance; I thought Neil was a pompous douche until he reached top 10 and started dancing with different girls, so it was obviously Lauren bringing out the worst in him; and anyone who Tyce handpicks I have to give a big thumbs down to on principle.
Kathie: but c'mon, "Transformer" dance with Pasha? That was awesome.
Kitty: Ok, I'll give you that one; she and Pasha were pretty great in that routine, but I attribute that more to Pasha and Shane Sparks' choreography than Lauren alone. Anyway, I was 99% sure that Nigel and Co. would choose her and Comfort so whatever.

Mark Kanemura - Kathie: Eeeeeeeeeee! I thought he was out because he's been on tour with Gaga.
Kitty: I know! This All Star announcement was probably the most exciting for me. Sonya Tayeh must be so happy.

Anya Garnis - Kathie: Another snoozer for me. They should've gotten Janette.
Kitty: Don't be a hater, I kind of love how "over the top sex kitten" Anya is.
Kathie: I think she's ridiculous but she's sort of a package deal with Pasha so her pick was not a surprise.

Dominic Sandoval - Kitty: Oh goofy Dom.

Kathie: Man, I was really hoping that they'd choose Legacy as the other B-boy. He's so much hotter and so less annoying. But since he's done those "man on the streets" pieces for them I kind of figured he'd be chosen.
Kitty: Yep, it seems like the producers specifically chose past contestants that made strong fan connections and are generally well liked so that this season's finalists are all on an even playing field. And Dom is a good dancer. I was reminded of that the other night when I watched the ABDC charity show and saw Quest crew perform again. All kinds of awesome.

Courtney Galiano - Kitty: I was pleasantly surprised that Courtney was an All Star pick. I really liked her in her season (4) and still feel that the lyrical hip-hop routine from NappyTabs that she and Will did is one of the most beautiful and underrated performances this show has had.

Kathie: Eh, she's fine I guess. I still wish they had gone with Ellenore or Janeane.

Neil Haskell - Kathie: Hubba hubba. Now this is what I'm talkin' about! A little eye candy up in this joint. Neil was my favorite from the 3rd season.

Kitty: When Nigel originally announced this whole All-Stars thing, I made a list of who I wanted to be on the show and Neil, Travis, and Jakob were my top Contemporary guys, so I'm happy that I got at least one of them. I know he's been doing Broadway and tours and I'm excited to see him dance again. He was definitely a contestant that grew in my eyes throughout his season. Besides thinking he was cute, I didn't care for him at the beginning of S3 but by the end I was a fan.

Kitty: So that's the pool of All Stars that the ten Season 7 finalists will randomly be paired up with. People will change partners every week, and only one person gets eliminated each week; although the All Stars don't go home.

Kathie: One question I had was whether or not the pairings will all be boy/girl. Will we see any fabulous same sex action?

Kitty: Are you kidding? Not with Nigel "gay panic" Lythgoe at the helm. Nigel tweeted (@dizzyfeet) that the partners will always be boy/girl which is a shame because the same gender routines that are done in the finale each season are always some of my faves.

The other thing that Nigel tweeted is that the All Stars won't be choreographing which I'm fine with. I would truly miss the talented cadre of choreographers this show uses.

Kathie: The only question I have left is around how they're doing the judges this year. I heard that Mary Murphy is going back to choreographing and won't be a permanent judge. I don't really care as long as Cat Deeley is still the host.

Kitty: I too heard that Mary Murphy is going back to creating routines - she's really good at it. And anything to keep her horrifying voice out of my ears is appreciated. I also missed Debbie Allen, Lil' C and others as rotating judges last season. But let's face it Season 6, besides giving us amazing talent in the form of Jakob, Ellenore and Legacy, was a huge failure in almost every other aspect.

Kathie: Yeah, and are we ever going to get to see the S6 dancers on tour? I'm still so effin' mad at Nigel & Co. about that.

Kitty: Maybe they'll do a combo tour with seasons 6 and 7?!

Kathie: Harrumph...

Kitty: I have to give it to Nigel. This whole slow reveal of these rule changes and All Stars for season 7 has been an excellent promotional and marketing scheme. He had the fans talking it up and obsessing on who would participate for weeks. And now we only have a few short weeks before we get our fix.

Kathie: I wouldn't say we were obsessed. I mean yes, we talked about and analyzed every single All Star announcement for a few hours, but it wasn't like it was all I thought about.

Kitty: **ahem** You're right. We also got caught up in our other reality shows Project Runway, NY Housewives, Sober House, and my new fave 9 By Design.

Kathie: Oh those hip yuppies with their GORGEOUS children, don't get me started.

Kitty: That's another conversation for another time...