• It’d probably be uncouth for me to observe that Kate & Pat got eliminated in the land of dikes… so let’s just say that the lesbians landed last in the land of levees…
• Ron & Christina emerged from the first episode as potential fan favorites. After episode two, only Christina remained as a favorite, while her control freak father was such an unrelenting pain in the ass that there’s not even a plausible way that it could be blamed on “editing”. Example: She found both marked bikes. All he did was bitch about things & contribute being a debilitating negative presence. And at the roadblock he couldn’t even bring himself to keep quiet when asked nicely & repeatedly. Christina’s a nice, smart, & sensible young woman – the type that any father would proud of; Ron, however, seems bound & determined to keep a cultural stereotype alive. It’s kind of hard to believe that he was a salesman. Unless he was a bad one. That could be believable.
• The Goths & The Sisters emerged as teams that I’m liking. The Goths because they just seem to be a great combination of supportive, nice, and just plain funny/entertaining. The sisters because they seem like they’re pretty nice and, well, I mean, just look at them…
• There’s a whole bunch of teams that I just don’t care all that much about one way or the other (pretty much all of the (non-Goth) “dating” teams, even though the girls are kinda cute), while there are two or three that could elevate to a more active level of annoyance/dislike — Nicolas & Donald just have an edge about them (beyond Donald’s getting down to his skivvies in the mud), the LA Blondes are just a bit too superficial for my tastes (although they did have a surprising toughness last night, even in the face of no facials), and Azaria really does seem like he could emerge as a younger version of Ron with how he sometimes treats Hendekea.
• In all, though, the best part of episode two is that the love letter got returned to sender!

The Next Great American Band

• I was neither shocked nor disappointed with the eliminations of The Muggs & Rocket. Dicko was dead-on accurate in observing that both bands fell victim to “death by lead singer,” The Muggs because they desperately need one who can sing to the level of their musicianship, and Rocket because their lead singer needs to take being a vocalist more seriously.
• I think that Tres Bien and Light of Doom should be the next bands eliminated, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Denver & The Mile High Orchestra found themselves gone next time.
• I think that Sixwire will win.
• I think that Franklin Bridge could win.
• I think that The Clark Brothers should win.

Survivor

• I’m glad that Jean-Robert’s delusional trip through the Orient is over…
• Folks like Courtney are usually only seen on The History Channel (concentration camps) or Discovery Health Channel (anorexics)…
• Amanda is setting herself up to be the clear & most deserving choice to win the whole shebang, as Todd looks to be making more enemies on the jury…
• James is emerging as a Rupert-esqe fan favorite. Despite his rough edges, there is something quite endearing & entertaining about him…
• I think that the dominant/power alliance will hold together long enough to ensure that either Peih-Gee or Erik will get the boot this week…

Question for a Monday: Why is it that contemplating realitytv is easier & more appealing than doing so with actual, you know, reality?

-ghp

• Some changes are afoot for AI7. There’s nothing earth shattering about letting the contestants who can play an instrument do so to accompany themselves, or about not having so many guest mentors, but it’s still good to see that they’re at least willing to tweak things a little bit…
• TAR:12 kicked off with its highest 1st episode ratings ever. That’s good to see, as it’s sad that CBS so often treats the classiest of all realitytv shows (and the one that actually brings home Emmys) a bit shabbily. Mayhaps now they won’t…
• I’m still getting a bead on all the teams. It’s both easy and hard to do so, given the formula that TAR producers follow in selecting stock characters (e.g., “best friends,” “siblings,” “gay couple,” “parent & child,” etc…). It’s easy because teams can be easily identified, but hard because individual personalities can change within the given types (e.g., TAR:12′s “blondes” are nowhere near as good as “my blondes” — Dustin & Kandace — from TAR:10 & TAR:AllStars).
• That said, after the first episode, I’m surprised that I’m favorably disposed towards the Goths (they have a good attitude and seem like nice people — should this surprise me? Probably not, but it still did…).
• I’m not surprised (at all) that I want the lesbian “clergy” to be off of my TV as quickly as possible (if not sooner). They offend me theologically, which shouldn’t be surprising. But even setting aside the theological baggage, they need to go if only because they uttered the horrific phrase, “TAR is a love letter to the world.” Gag.
• Survivor — S:15 is plugging along nicely. It’s not been the best season ever, but neither has it been the worst. It is, however, pretty obvious that either Todd or Amanda will win, unless one/both of them has a strategic meltdown of epic proportions.
• Most interesting, though, is the news that S:16 will be another all-star edition!
• And it looks as though they’ve learned from the mistakes of the first all-star edition, as the rumored participant list is limited to seasons 9-15 (i.e., no one who could’ve been in the first all-star edition, and includes no first or second place finishers. Both of these are very good decisions, IMO.

-ghp

It seems that, because of the horrific crashing & burning of Viva Laughlin after only two episodes, CBS has decided to debut TAR12 on November 4!

Not that having one more show to keep up with is absolutely necessary, mind you, it’s just that I’m always happy to see TAR on the air, as it is, I think, the classiest of all the realitytv shows out there.

-ghp

Some more questions & answers…

Still watching TAR:AS? Yup. I’m rooting for Cha3 (aka Danny & Oswald) & my Blondes. I’m shocked & appalled that Schmirna is still in the race & prospering, as I would’ve much preferred my “villains” to be the Guidos or Teri & Ian. Cha3 & my Blondes more than make up for that, however, as they are both teams that are entertaining to watch & easy to root for, ’cause they are such strong racers with good personalities.

Still watching The Apprentice? Sure, although I really think that the show’s concept is played out. The changes made by The Donald for this go-around (LA, tent city, no Carolyn or George, winning PM as 2nd boardroom viceroy…) have not panned out. The showmance between Tim & Nicole was only vaguely interesting. And The Donald’s penchant for bending his own rules (ala this past week’s change from firing a team of 2 to firing 1 from each of the 2 bottom teams) is just annoying. After 6 seasons, The Donald’s oft capricious actions are not as entertainingly endearing as they once were.

Still watching Survivor? Of course. The current installment is certainly not the best/most interesting that they’ve ever broadcast, but it’s still fun to watch. I think they’d be better off if they stopped stunt-casting for some preconceived notions of “diversity” and focused on getting folks who love & want to play the game, though…

Still depressed? Eh. It’s up & down. It’s downright bizarre at times to be aware on a logical plane that I’m mired in a dysfunctional mindset, and to know that I should do something about it (even what I should do to fight/stop it…), but to be ultimately unable to just, you know, do it. It really adds to the whole mix & makes it snowball even more. As pretentious as it sounds, sometimes being too aware is just flat out worse than not being aware at all.

Surely church helps, no? Well, yes, ultimately. I do, however, feel very aware of Satan’s influence in trying to get me to dwell too much on the fact that I’m a hopeless sinner. I.e., focus on the fact that I cannot effect my own salvation, so why even try. The good thing is that, even at the worst, God is gracious enough to never leave me to my own devices – He always keeps that seed of faith alive in me so that I don’t totally succumb to the despair sowed by the enemy. So, even as it’s always a struggle, I’m fully safe & comforted in the knowledge that God will allow me to prevail through His grace.

How are the wife/kids? Good. A sizable part of what keeps me going is that I know that I have vocational responsibilities as husband/father. Even as I might despair at my ability to successfully execute those vocations, I know that I must keep trying, and that God will use even my feeble efforts for the good of my beloved family. I thank God every day for the blessing of my family and the fact that they love me even though I so often feel like a failure.

Getting things done? I’m trying to still get that properly systematized & implemented. I can see that the structure that GTD affords/encourages is something that will benefit me in the hopefully not-so-distant future. It’s tough, though, because keeping track of things doesn’t equal actually doing them. And there’s an awful lot that I don’t necessarily want/like to do. It sucks how life is like that…

Gonna keep blogging? Certainly. Even when I’m in a phase right now of wondering why I keep such close tabs on traffic/hits/readership stats. It’s a useful outlet for me, even though I can’t be quite as forthright as I sometimes want to be (for example, I try not to blog about work, because I’m a bit paranoid about there somehow being negative blowback from entries dealing with how I feel about work…). I struggle with the “why” of doing this sometimes, particularly WRT theology. I want to be useful/helpful, even as I also want to selfishly show how obviously smart & learned I am. The thing is, when I get too far into the selfish motivational side of things, I tend to worry about stats & I get easily frustrated. I don’t ever want to write something just because I think it’ll somehow get more people to read. Ultimately, I just want to write what interests me, and what I feel like writing, and then just be satisfied with what happens in terms of stats/traffic/readership. Oh yeah, and make big sis giggle…

That’s enough for now. Time to start preparing for tonight’s AI presentation of “Sanjy on the block”…

-ghp

Deal or No Deal: Yes, we’ve given in & started watching DoND. We held out as long as we could, but that Howie Mandel is not to be denied. And it’s not really that bad of a show, for a big old fluffy pile of empty game show calories & all. (Note: My favorite DoND model? #14, Pilar – rowr!) It was a nice convergence last night, what with them bringing on WWE wrestlers John Cena & Bobby Lashley (good guys/faces), and Randy Orton & Edge (bad guys/heels). It made for a nice episode, as the contestant was the good kind of crazy, not the annoying kind they so often get on the show.

TAR:All-Star: The good? Dave & Mary are gone, Romber finished first again, and my Blondes didn’t have to pay a price for being, well, blonde. The bad? Schmirna are still on my tv for another week! Seriously, I don’t know if I can handle another week of their drama — Charla, at least, is tough. Delusional, but tough. Mirna, though, is just flat out crazy. Afraid of fish? Check! Afraid of going to check for a key by herself? Check! Hypocritically trying to bogart Teri’s session with the airline clerk? Check! Truth be told, I would’ve preferred to see Dave & Mary stay in the race than these whack-jobs. The Guidos had better get their act together, because they are just running a really sloppy race thus far. Cha3 were, as always, fabu, and I just about died laughing when Danny made the observational comment about Charla falling in love at the finish mat…

The Apprentice 6: A double-firing is always good, especially when the Donald gets his sensibilities offended like he did with Derek’s “white trash” faux-pas. Sometimes, like Bradford in season 2, someone really is just so stupid they need to be fired for it, even when they’ve been (or promise to be) an otherwise stellar candidate. The rest of the episode was more or less pedestrian, but two things did stand out for me. First, seeing the old fogeys at the Lexus dealership reminded me of a certain Lexus-driving couple I know (right big sis? ). Jenn & Kinetic made a really bad miscalculation about the demographic associated with the Lexus 460 type of crowd — they’re older and wanting luxury & pampering. They’re not really your prototypical go-kart driving crowd. Second, I found Randal’s constant interrupting of the Donald during the boardroom to be just hi-frickin-larious. Honestly, I think that added to his Trumpness’ general level of crankiness. The looks that the Donald had on his face made me think that he wouldn’t have minded firing Randal! Trump just pegged the unintentional comedy meter…

So, it was a good night.

Tonight, though, will be even better, with two of my scripted favorites — Heroes & How I Met Your Mother!

-ghp

I find TAR to be about the most interesting and enjoyable of the realitytv shows. For example, it has an integrity that The Apprentice doesn’t. It’s not as angsty, clique-y, or manipulative as Survivor, and it’s nowhere near as all-consuming as American Idol. It’s not perfect, but it’s darned entertaining to watch, especially when teams know that — as Rob pointed out last night — running against the course is the main point, not running against the other teams.

That all said, my three favorite teams are: Rob & Amber (aka Romber), Dustin & Kandace (aka the/my Blondes), and Danny & Oswald (aka, Team Cha-Cha-Cha or Cha3). I would quite happy if any of these three won. They’re all strong, smart racing teams, who understand the main purpose of the race. Cha3 is great because they bring a genuine niceness & laugh-out-loud snarky sense of humor (“I must’ve been a man in a previous life!) to the race. Romber is, well, Romber — they psychological sense they inject into the race is hugely fascinating, and they are funny to boot. I just like watching them, and I don’t find their status as realitytv royalty to be problematic (like so many folks seem to…). My Blondes are almost as good as Romber in terms of understanding the advantage of psychology in the race, and they race smart & hard. And they look good, too…

The next group are teams that I respect and don’t mind seeing on my tv: Terri & Ian, Joe & Bill (aka Team Guido), and Eric & Danielle (aka Team Mashup). Terri & Ian are a love-or-hate-em team, and I like them. They race hard, but they don’t whine about other teams being “not nice” or “unfair.” Ian is brusque, but neither gives, nor asks for any quarter — and I respect that. The Guidos are a good team and I respect how they race. I could do without some of their more “life-partnerish” stuff (but that’s probably just because I find the more “Birdcagey” gayness of Cha3 to be more tolerable…). Team Mashup is interesting because they are the one new team, and while I liked the Double-Ds far more than the Frat Boys in TAR:9, I think that as Team Mashup, they work well together.

Joyce & Uchenna get their own mention, as a team that isn’t all that annoying/offensive, while still being one that I don’t like or respect all that much. I find their just-barely-under-the-surface tension & unhappiness to be sad, and I don’t like to be genuinely sad when watching realitytv. That they’re subjecting their relationship to another round of “This race will make or break this floundering relationship.” is sad. Oh yeah, and I find them somewhat annoying. I’d rather have seen Chip & Kim.

The final two teams left in the race fall into the “Get them the hell off my tv! ” category: David & Mary (aka Kentucky/KY) and Charla & Mirna (aka Shmirna). KY is annoying mainly because I can’t stand Mary. She’s a shrew, a defeatist, a self-deluded elitest of the trailer-park, and purveyor of fine whines & double-standards. Other than that, she might be ok now that she’s gotten her teeth fixed. In a way, it was fun to see KY gravitate to the final team, only to turn on them shortly after feeling dissed. Shmirna truly are what many mistakenly accuse Romber of being: deluded realitytv whores. They were almost endearingly annoying in their original season; now, however, they have fully crossed the line into delusion & darned-near psychotic drama. It was bad enough last night that they fought with my Blondes, or that so much drama was generated by dragging the step-stool at the detour (“I’m bleeeeeeeding!”), but to add the scarily psycho behavior with the cab driver and the hella-delusional holier-than-thou busting on the Blondes (Raging about morals, plastic surgery, & purity of heart? Seriously? Really? Yikes!), well that was just off the charts wacko. And it’s even scarier that they meant it seriously.

As for the eliminated teams, it was too bad to see Jill & John Vito eliminated first – that was just bad luck for them, because they looked to be a pretty good contender. Kevin & Drew’s elimination last night was neither surprising nor unwelcome. It was pretty obvious that Drew was not up to the rigors of the race, and contrary to his contention last night, he seemed to have pretty clearly given up (albeit not in a bad way, if you know what I mean…). What’s surprising is that the producers didn’t know about Drew’s frailties beforehand — the race would’ve been better served if a more physically ready/capable team had been included, say Kris & Jon or even (shudder) the Hippies.

I think that this is going to end up being a very entertaining installment of TAR, despite what many critics are saying. I like what the producers did, by going with a good mix of personalities rather than just by going with top finishers. This was a lesson that the Survivor producers either didn’t learn, or chose to ignore when they put together their all-star edition.

I’m more than happy to just sit back & enjoy the fun of watching some old favorites race & interact…

-ghp

• Kevin & Drew (TAR:1)
• Joe & Bill (TAR:1) — Team Guido!!
• Ozwald & Danny (TAR:2)
• John Vito & Jill (TAR:3)
• Teri & Ian (TAR:3)
• Charla & Mirna (TAR:5) — Chmirna!
• Rob & Amber (TAR:7) — Romber!
• Joyce & Uchenna (TAR:7)
• Eric & Danielle (TAR:9, on separate teams)
• David & Mary (TAR:10) — Team Kentucky
• Dustin & Kandice (TAR:10) — The Blondes!!!

This is a pretty good lineup, all things considered. It’s not top-heavy with winners (only Joyce & Uchenna actually won their race), but it is a very good mix of personalities. It’s hard to go wrong with the Guidos, Romber, Teri & Ian, Kevin & Drew, Danny & Ozwald, KY, & my, er…, the Blondes. The most glaring omissions that I can think of off the top of my head are The Clowns & The Hippies. An interesting team is Eric & Danielle, both of whom were in TAR:9, but on separate teams — Eric partnered with Jeremy (aka the Fratboys), and Danielle with Dani (aka team Double-D). It turns out that they’ve been dating for the past year… (see TVSquad for more info)

If any reality show can make an all-star edition work, it’s TAR!

-ghp

Please, please, PLEASE — would someone PLEASE get KarLyn off of my tv! Before that happens, though, let me say this to them: Who are bigger idiots, the team who drives too slow & asks for directions too much, or the team that follows them bitching about it the whole time? These girls are the biggest hypocrites, and the most disingenuous & annoying team that this race has seen in a loooong time. There have been dysfunctional teams. There have been annoying teams. There have been stupid teams. There have been manipulative teams. But rarely has there ever been a team that is as ugly (as in the opposite of “inner beauty” — they ain’t attractive, but that’s not my point here…) as KarLyn.

They bug the crap out of me. Really. They do.

The Chos were no great shakes. I mean, they seem like genuinely nice guys & good people. Not too bright in terms of the actual purpose of the race (you know, to win it & all…), but nice nonetheless. I didn’t really like the implicit self-righteousness on the Philimination-mat (you really can’t make that kind of statement without it sounding like you think you’re better than the other racers), but I’d still rather them have beaten out their BackPack “alliancemates”.

I just hope that the previews for next week are a purposeful misdirection by the producers, as they seem to promise bad things for the Blondes…

-ghp

The Blondes ran another strong leg, continuing to make smart racing decisions. Combined with their overall good attitude, this cements them even more firmly into being the team I want to see win the race. (Thus, I have given them the kiss of death… )

Racing-wise, no one else really distinguished themselves during this grueling leg of the race (huge amounts of travel & very physical tasks).

Mostly, things bubbled on the interpersonal side. The BackPack alliance moved ever closer to a final rupture, but not before they took the time to further antagonize Rob & Kim. KarLyn showed once again that they are this season’s most polarizing team, and the team that I most desperately want to be banished from my TV. (Thus establishing them as the odds-on favorites to win it all… ) Their hateful venom towards the Blondes was embarrassingly shallow, and their reaction to the video email was just annoying. I. don’t. like. them. at. all.

Overall, the star of this episode may have been Finland. It looked like a great place to visit, with gorgeous countryside & friendly locals. Granted, the locals might be a bit, shall we say, odd, what with the mud & muck training grounds, but I guess that centuries of long winters might do that to a people…

Only a few episodes left, with two more eliminations before the final three teams compete over the final two legs. Let’s hope it’s an interesting & tight race to the finish.

-ghp

• I liked the introduction & execution of the Intersection twist. ErGo didn’t seem too thrilled at teaming with the Blondes, but they made the best of it, made quick work of the Detour task, and came out ahead because of it — there’s no way they would’ve finished as quickly if they’d have teamed with either of the other BackPack alliancemates.
• The Blondes rock. They are currently the only team showing the smarts & gumption necessary to win this race. IOW, they are actively doing what’s necessary to take the race by the throat & impose their will, rather than acting in a more passive way.
• Too bad the Intersection couldn’t have resulted in both KY and KarLyn/AL being eliminated. They’re both weak teams that have no business still being in the race. They deserve each other… losers.
• It’s always nice to see it when the Fast Forward is positioned with a strong strategic component – i.e., when it’s not just a rubber stamp to a big lead. Smart racing on the part of the Blondes & ErGo, combined with the repulsive nature of eating cow lips, erased any advantage that the FF might’ve offered.
• Interestingly, the Blondes are running the race like the stereotypical “strong guys” teams of the past, while the Abercrombies (Tyler & James) are filling the traditional “girly” teams of the past role.

Like I said, in all this was a nicely executed & presented episode — very enjoyable.

Next week, however, looks like it’ll at least have one segment that is a pain-in-the-ass to watch, as the previews showed KarLyn/AL getting a weepy, “heart-tugging” video message from home. Blech.

-ghp