Territorial Bloggings

I’m getting this out tonight, just in case I don’t get the chance tomorrow because of my having to report for jury duty…

Lots of posturing by the 6 remaining teams, with most of the drama resulting from 3 of 6 teams (ErGo, KarLyn, & KY) banding together as the “SixPack” Alliance. I don’t mind ErGo (although they should be too smart to hook themselves up with anchors like KY & (especially) KarLyn…) all that much, and even KY doesn’t annoy me the most (mainly because of David). KarLyn, however, needs to be banished from my tv post-haste!

A nice set of challenges this week, in a very nice setting — the island Republic of Mauritius. The Blondes deserved 1st place this week (even with the weak reward of scooters), if only because they were the only ones smart enough to not waste any time on the crapshoot that was searching through the piles of salt! That type of challenge has a long TAR history of being a huge gamble. Thankfully this time it wasn’t a roadblock, as these types of “luck-of-the-draw” tasks are quite unfair as roadblocks, but not so much as detours.

KY went from worst to first, and now back to worst — only to be saved again by a non-elimination leg. The only thing that could’ve made it better would’ve been them having been directly sold out by KarLyn or ErGo on a race to the finish. I’m blown away by Mary’s naivete concerning the “friendships” & the race, particularly as manifested in a willingness/willfulness to plan on waiting for the other members of the SixPack Alliance before moving on. I’d be interested to know her reaction when she saw/heard that such a willingness was not reciprocated by the others, especially KarLyn. If ErGo is smart, they’ll dump the SixPack Alliance, and do it early on in the next leg!

Those little Nissan cars were pretty darned cute, and they sure seem sturdily built, what with how well one survived the Blondes’ little fender-bender! Ah, but it served as an opportunity for Dustin to show off her red shorts again, so all wasn’t lost…

All in all, not a bad installment, although no team other than the Blondes is showing an ability to race a clean leg (fender-bender notwithstanding) free of mistakes, blunders, or meltdowns. Unless someone else can step it up, the Blondes might actually be the first all-girls team to win TAR!

Next week: A new race twist — The Intersection!

-ghp

Late entry, I know, but today’s not been the best of days, wellness-wise…

This was a very, very, very satisfying installment. Annoying in spots, but ultimately satisfying. Why? Peter the Putz was banished from my TV, and not a moment too soon!

Honestly, I’m stunned at the arrogance contained in that guy. Many realitytv-folks have complained about how the “editing” made them look less than appealing. Last night, however, I think we saw that the producers had really eased off on the portrayal of Peter in previous weeks – IOW, they tried to avoid making him look like the asshat he is. Last night, the gloves came off, he was “edited” & outed for the full-bore boor that he is. Letting Sarah take on yet another physical challenge? Pathetic. Blaming Sarah for getting lost? Pathetic. Constantly berating Sarah via a steady stream of thinly-veiled passive-aggressive put-downs? Horrifically pathetic. Getting exposed as the small-weenied, insecure, hatefully arrogant assclown that he really is? Priceless…

Best of all, we got proof that Sarah has seen the light, as she thoroughly & completely threw his sorry carcass under the bus. Normally, I would feel bad for someone when they were described on national TV as being someone who “isn’t a very nurturing or kind individual” — brutal, but oh-so-satisfying to watch. Sarah deserves so much better that that, and it’s great to see that she recognizes it! I’ll miss watching Sarah compete, but she is acceptable collateral damage at this point…

Next on my hit-list is Mary (and, sadly, David), and/or KarLyn (take yer pick). David has a modicum of class that Mary just doesn’t, but it’s just not enough to make up for listening to her any more. She just ain’t that nice, although I don’t doubt that she basically means well. It was ok to see them get the FastForward, so that they didn’t have to worry about the 30 minute penalty (though I don’t think it would’ve mattered in the end, what with Peter & Sarah’s getting lost). And it was nice to see Team ErGo do such a nice thing (setting aside the fact that it was a blunder, strategically speaking) by letting them take the FF – I was glad to see that it didn’t hurt ErGo & put them in jeopardy.

KarLyn need to go because they keep messin’ with my Blonde Bombshells (esp. Dustin – Rawr! ). They ought not to do that anymore!

Btw, it’s come out that the next edition of TAR will be an All-Star edition! Hopefully they’ll do a decent job of choosing the teams who’ll return — or, at least, a better job than was done on Survivor!

-ghp

Continuing the trend of shorter posts…

• This was one of TAR’s better swings through India…
• Peter is condescending, self-absorbed, & self-important to the point of being evil. He couldn’t be any more unappealingly toxic if he tried. It’s a good thing he likes himself, ’cause after this race, I don’t think anyone else will…
• Sarah, thankfully, seems to have seen the light – that loser doesn’t deserve her…
• Mary is rapidly becoming too annoying to be allowed to stay on my tv — just wrestle the silly croc, you overbearing hen!
• Lyn & Karlyn went to college? Wow…
• Team ErGo is easy to like, and their LOST shirts rocked…
• Team ErGo’s fake phone was funny, but that kind of thing can turn around & bite you – like it did here, by prompting Peter to get a real phone & make real reservations. Btw, great job by Peter/Sarah & The Blondes for making a strong move by finding a better flight mid-trip…
• The first signs of “Ugly Americanism” were seen from several racers – they should know by now to keep such thoughts to themselves, as it always makes the racer look small/bad…
• I like the new twist, where the non-elimination “victims” don’t lose everything, but must vault to 1st in order to avoid a 30 minute penalty. I like this change a lot…

Solid episode — nothing spectacular, but solid nonetheless.

-ghp

Once again, time is short; however, contra last week (when I said I’d keep it short, and still wrote long), I’ll actually keep it short this week…

• I don’t ever recall a show where there was as much whining — from every team — as there was last night!
• It seems pretty clear that this is the physically toughest edition of TAR…
• Surprisingly, David is emerging as much more sympathetic than Mary…
• Despite their clue-reading & -handling ineptitude, the beauty queens beat out the flamboyant queens…
• Oh yeah, did I mention that all the teams whined & cried enough to make me want to banish them all from my TV? Well, they did!
• I am now willing to sacrifice sweet Sarah in order to get Peter the Putz off of my TV for good!
• I also hope that Sarah realizes the necessity of banishing him from her sight…
• My preferred winners are now either The Blondes (Dustin & Kandice) or Team ErGo (Godwin & Erwin)…

This wasn’t a bad episode, as such, but it certainly was grating & arduous to view all the way through. And next week promises to be more of the same.

We’ll see…

-ghp

Not much time (nor motivation, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing…) to give a detailed run down of last night’s episode, so I’ll just offer up a few short comments for your enjoyment…

• Rarely has a 30 minute penalty been so significant, causing Tom & Terry to drop from 2nd to 8th. Always read the directions closely, kids!
• Mary is really starting to annoy me, in terms of being a rather domineering woman…
• It’s too bad that Duke & Lauren are gone, although they really made some big errors that contributed to their demise. And Lauren was really beginning to strike me as a somewhat unhappy/angry person for some reason…
• I still don’t like Team Abrasive (Lyn & Karlyn), even though their loyalty to David & Mary was nice to see…
• The Blondes (Dustin & Kandace) ran a pretty good leg (on pretty nice legs ) once again…
• It was nice to see The Brothers (Erwin & Godwin) do well, finishing first…
• Team Abercrombie was largely silent, which IMO is a good thing…
• Peter annoys the crap out of me, and the only reason I don’t want to see him off of my TV right now is that Sarah is such a likeable person & player. This team has much the same dynamic as TAR:6′s Rebecca & Hellboy (Adam), in that the girl is so much better than the guy…
• I have no desire whatsoever to ever go to Vietnam…
• Having a leg with no money given, and a prohibition against begging or bartering, was brutal on the part of the producers…
• The Blondes did nothing wrong – Tom & Terry moved past the travel agent’s station, and made no immediate move to backtrack. They blew it, and then got all pissy about it. They couldn’t be any more stereotypically gay if they tried — Nathan Lane’s character in The Birdcage looks a them & says, “Damn! These two need to dial it down a notch or three!.

Not a bad episode, but not really one of their best. Next week looks to be interesting as blowups look to be happening between Peter & Sarah, as well as Rob & Kimberly.

-ghp

I don’t have a whole lot of time to comment on the latest, enjoyable, installment of TAR:10, so I’ll just go with some bullet point observations…

• Changing tasks is never a good plan – rarely does changing detour tasks midstream work out well. Sarah & Peter got very lucky, given that they changed twice…
• Keep track of your stuff – Team Barbie (aka Dustin & Kandice – and I mean that in the best way possible, as I really do like this team & their chances to go far in the race…) was very lucky that losing their helmets didn’t bite them harder than it did. To go from 1st to 8th was horrible, and they were fortunate to rebound & end up in 5th for this leg.
• The Soviet Union fell for a reason – Car breakdowns happen, but it was interesting to see so many happen on a leg where Soviet-built jeeps were in use. It was interesting to note, though, that there was a way to crank them back to life. Fortunately, breakdowns weren’t the deciding factor in the elimination.
• Team Abrasive (Karlyn & Lyn) really need to get off of my TV. They’re not nice, and I’ll leave it at that.
• Nobody ran a truly clean leg, which was kind of surprising…
• Duke & Lauren came the closest, I think, and it was nice to see them do well. They are very high on the likability scale, and I hope they continue to do well…
• Mary & David are also still somewhat high on the likability scale, if only because they are so refreshingly genuine…
• Sarah & Peter are still ok, but they have fallen a little bit, mainly because there’s something about Peter that I just don’t like all that much – Sarah deserves better, and it was interesting to see that she’s been making note of certain things…
• Once Team Abrasive is gone, then Team Sniper (Rob & Kimberly) needs to be gone. I’m not a huge fan of Kimberly, but she’s right in that Rob needs to be a little more aware of the world around him & not so self-absorbed in his reactions to things. Yelling like they do is never a good thing.
• It was too bad that Team Cheer got eliminated, ’cause I found their perkiness to be somewhat endearing; however, bad navigating & an inability to complete the roadblock will do you in every time!

Even though it’s only been two episodes so far, this is shaping up to be one of the better seasons — right up there with seasons 5 & 6, IMO.

-ghp

Not only did the venerable realitytv staple Survivor kick off this past week, but we also got the start of another edition (the 10th) of The Amazing Race ( TAR:10 )!

TAR:10 promises to be quite interesting, as it is populated by the usual assortment of “diverse” elements & team types, including:

• The Flamboyantly Gay Duo (Tom & Terry)
• The Moms (Karlyn & Lyn)
• The Fighters/Yellers(Kimberly & Rob)
• The Parent & Child (Duke & Lauren)
• The Sweethearts – Dating (Sarah & Peter)
• The Sweethearts – Married (Vipul & Arti)
• The Old(er) Marrieds (David & Mary)
• The Brothers-in-Arms (Bilal & Sa’eed)
• The Clowns (Erwin & Godwin)
• The Hotties (Dustin & Kandice and Kellie & Jamie)
• The Boy-Toys (James & Tyler)

There are some slightly different variations on the usual themes thrown in, what with Bilal & Sa’eed’s being Mohammedans, Karlyn & Lyn being single moms & having a little more “edge” to them than past Moms teams have had, Sarah & Peter dealing with Sarah’s artificial leg, Duke & Lauren’s conflict over Lauren’s lesbianism, and James & Tyler’s shared history of drug addiction. In the end, though, it’s a pretty standard mix of types for the “characters” that TAR has had over the seasons.

My initial impressions/thoughts on the teams are that:

• I like Sarah & Peter as the team I want to win – they have a great backstory, seem to have a great attitude, and Sarah’s just a cutie. Their über-positivity might get a bit annoying, however…
• David & Mary are sentimental favorites in a “real people/folks” kind of way. Their lack of pretension is quite endearing. And it was just the sweetest thing, when Mary related about meeting David, and how he was so cute, while she was just plain. Viewing one’s spouse through the eyes of love is a wonderful thing!
• Tom & Terry couldn’t be any more stereotypically flaming gay if they tried — the cartoony nature of it makes them not quite as annoying as they might otherwise be…
• Duke & Lauren could be sentimental favorites, as I really do feel for Duke; however, the parent-child teams never do all that great in the race…
• The Hotties teams seem to be fairly likeable & not overly annoying thus far. Dustin (Miss California) is more appealing (looks & attitude) than Kandice (Miss New York), and Kellie (the blonde cheerleader) is more appealing (looks & attitude) than Jamie (brunette cheerleader)…
• Kimberly & Rob are typical of the Fighters/Yellers teams, in that they seem to have some anger management issues, and they are really, really annoying in how they relate to each other…
• Karlyn & Lyn annoy the crap out of me, and I hope they’re gone within the next few episodes…
• James & Tyler are annoying only in that they are the latest incarnation of the “white boys with six-pack abs” who seem to so often dominate the race. I hope that this doesn’t hold true again this go-around…
• Erwin & Godwin are pretty much non-entities at this point. If they hang around long enough, perhaps that will change; however, there doesn’t seem to be an overabundance of common sense between the two of them…
• Vipul & Arti are sweet & seem like genuinely nice folks; however, after about 30 minutes of the show, I feared that that would not be enough to sustain them beyond a few legs in the race…
• That leaves Bilal & Sa’eed. No sir, I didn’t like them. I wanted them out of the race & off of my TV, as soon as was humanly possible.

Phil promised twists & surprises in this edition of the race, and we didn’t have to wait long. For the first time that I can ever remember, we got a non-pit stop elimination, when the Mohammedans got eliminated at the Forbidden Palace in Beijing. Rock on. Now they can pray to their devil-god without having to worry about losing any time on the race. (and if you think me too intolerant, oh well – I just calls em like I sees em…)

Then, at the expected elimination location, Vipul & Arti (Team Karma) were sadly eliminated. Like I said earlier, they seemed like sweet people, so it was a bummer to see them go so early. That said, it wasn’t surprising, as they didn’t seem to have an overabundance of competitive fire, the likes of which is necessary to go far in this race.

It was very interesting to see that the race started by going to Asia, rather than to South America or Europe, as has been the pattern in the past. I was a bit surprised to see that China was so cooperative & open, but then I remembered that the Beijing Olympics are just around the corner, so it made sense. It’s too bad, in some ways, that the Team Karma was eliminated before the race got to India, as it would’ve been interesting to see if they would’ve had any type of “home court” advantage. The same is true, albeit to a lesser extent for me, wrt the Mohammedans & potential racing in the Middle East (although I’ve got to think that the producers would have to stay away from any/all war zones…).

After the (well-intentioned) missteps of the family edition of the race ( TAR:8 ) and its somewhat tepid successor ( TAR:9 ), I think that the franchise is back on solid ground. TAR:10 promises to be a very entertaining & worthwhile entry into the realitytv derby!

-ghp

What a great week it’s been for fans of good reality tv (and, no, that’s not an oxymoronic statement, thankyewverymuch! )!

A brief recap:

• Monday – The Apprentice — Roxanne shines, Lee leads well, & Andrea gets the ziggy that her disagreeable personality has deserved all season long…
• Tuesday – American Idol — Good performances, Kat’s yellow dress, a decent theme, good celebs, and the weakest member of the top 6 gives the worst performance…
• Wednesday – American Idol — A 30 min. results show, a Frenchie that looks like my Hammie, and Pickler gets sent packing, yielding the best top 5 ever…
• Wednesday – The Amazing Race — Interesting locales, the Frat Boys return to their barely latent homo tendencies, the Hippies & MoJo get snarky, & the whiny, annoying old folks get elimnated…
• Thursday – Survivor — Terry wins another immunity & Cirie emerges with one of the best late/end-game strategic gambits that I’ve ever seen, cementing herself as being the only member of Casaya that is truly worthy of beating Terry based solely on merit…

Yup, a good week!

-ghp

As I’ve been remiss in writing about Survivor the past few weeks, and I haven’t even mentioned The Apprentice or The Amazing Race 9, I figured I’d just whip off a short posting with some observations about what’s been happening on these shows…

Survivor:

• We’ve now reached the point where I want Shane to stay, if only because morbid curiosity has kicked in, and I want to see just how psycho he can really get…
• God help me, but I’m actually starting to enjoy Cirie & how she’s playing the game strategically…
• Exile Island turned out to be a very interesting twist last night, what with Sally getting sent there instead of heading to certain elimination at tribal council (and kudos to Casaya for recognizing the proper strategic move!)…
• Not only that, but her banishment might just give Sally the opening needed to really go far in the game, post-merge…
• It was too bad to see Dan sent home, but I must say that I was impressed with both his attitude, as well as with the overall mature attitude of all 4 guys in dealing with a bad circumstance…
• No new episodes for 3 weeks is not a good thing…

The Apprentice:

• It’s an interesting group so far, and the first two episodes have been quite enjoyable…
• Ivanka, while certainly being no Carolyn, was surprisingly focused & intelligent…
• Bill has an awesome edge to his comments & insights, and I think I actually prefer him to George…
• Tarek is a pompous ass, and he must be removed from my TV at the earliest moment possible…
• Brent, while certainly a wildcard (social-skills-wise), was completely in the right in his battle with Stacy…
• Roxanne is a player! I like her attitude, and I think she could go far…
• Lenny is awesome. I just hope that (as I read elsewhere) that the situation arises to get him to say the words “moose and squirrel”!

The Amazing Race 9:

• It’s great to see them back where they belong — going to foreign countries with teams of two…
• My favorite team is Dave & Lori — They’re such cute nerds! I find them hugely entertaining, sweetly sincere, and just adorable to watch & root for…
• Teams MoJo & Boricua are current favorites if only because they’re smart, entertaining, and have very, very cute girls (Monica & Desiree, to be precise… )…
• Team In-The-Closet (Eric & Jeremy) is sooo annoying — I mean, come on, could they be any more blatant in their over-the-top hetero-horndog behavior that seems to be nothing more than a dead giveaway to some painfully obvious homoerotic tendencies (ewww, why did I just type that? )…

And, finally,

Skating with Celebrities:

• I enjoyed this show far more than I ever thought I would — it was pure cheez, but it was good cheez …
• The right 2 teams were in the finals (John/Jillian & Lloyd/Kristy)…
• The wrong team won — My take on the competition as a whole, and on the finals in particular, is that John & Jillian far outclassed everyone else, technically and artistically.
• Lloyd & Kristy certainly did improve quite a bit, but not enough, IMO, to legitimately beat out John & Jillian…
• Jillian was far superior to Kristy…
• Lloyd was superior to John…
• In the end, I think that Lloyd being better than John was the significant thing…
• I’m disgusted by what happened with Lloyd & Kristy outside of the show, and that certainly tainted my reaction to what happened in the finals…
• Oh yeah, and Jillian is quite possibly the prototypical “guy’s girl” — hot, into sports, well spoken, hot, athletic, and well you know, hot…

-ghp

I haven’t written about the Fall TV season’s reality shows. I’ve enjoyed them all, but I just haven’t felt the need to express my opinions about what was happening. That was in spite of the fact that there was a whole lot of good & fun to watch stuff happening on Survivor: Guatemala, The Amazing Race: Family Edition, and The Apprentice 4. There were people/teams to love (the Linzes & Bransens on TAR), and villains aplenty (the Weavers on TAR, Judd on Survivor, and Alla on The Apprentice). Just nothing that made me feel like writing.

That continued through the finales of Survivor, where Danni’s win was a deserved one (even though I think Stephenie played a slightly better game), and TAR where the Linzes were fabulously deserving winners (though I would’ve been quite ok with the Bransens winning – just so long as the horridly hypocritical Weavers didn’t win!). In fact, I was looking forward to a relatively easy/pleasant viewing of the Apprentice finale last night, mainly because both Randal and Rebecca were such likable & worth finalists.

Little did I know that the Apprentice finale would be the one that caused me to finally write…

At this point, let me defer to one of my favorite reality recappers, over at Reality News Online, Betsy Wasser, who concluded her recap of the finale thusly:

Randal is hired.

Randal jumps out of his chair in triumph and goes to shake hands with the other candidates. But wait! There’s more! Trump asks Randal to sit back down, and the music stops just in time, leading me to believe Trump had this trick up his sleeve before this moment. This would be the point that many of my readers predicted. In a season marked by multiple firings, Trump will end with a multiple hiring, offering a job to Rebecca as well.

Trump says that he’s thinking about hiring Rebecca too, and wants Randal’s opinion. Randal says that while she’s good, the name of the show is The Apprentice, not The Apprentii, so there should be only one. Okay, Trump says. He was thinking about hiring Rebecca, but now he won’t. Randal continues to celebrate as the credits roll.

What the hell was that? Randal has been saying all along that Rebecca is a worthy oppontent, and that he respects her and thinks she’s talented. But he doesn’t want Trump to give her a job. Not because she’s not good enough, but because he doesn’t want to share the glory? And Trump decides to take the advice from someone who has worked for him for less time than it takes to pour a cup of coffee? That’s pitiful. This doesn’t have to be a zero sum “I win, you lose” game for Randal. He’d still have the job he wanted, and he’d still be Trump’s first choice, but Rebecca would have a great opportunity as well. Yet Randal refuses to share even a little bit of the glory. In that very quick moment, I was no longer able to feel as happy for Randal. This really ended things on a sour note, and I’m disappointed.

I agree. I was aghast at how selfishly & gracelessly Randal handled that opportunity. IMO, he took all the goodwill that he had banked over the course of the season, including his rep as a truly nice guy, and flushed it right down the crapper. He acted like a selfish, cutthroat, arrogant prick.

He had already won. Trump made the choice — Randal was the best. The first choice got job of his choice. He was then given an opportunity to be gracious — in a way that would have only burnished his status, and IN NO WAY would’ve EVER diminished his status as the “Apprentice.”

If the goal of the show/job-interview was truly to get to work for Trump, then Randal achieved that goal. Now, if the goal is to hog all the glory to yourself, no matter how classlessly you have to act to do it… well, then I guess Randal achieved that goal too. During a process in which Randal had consistently raised himself above the fray, he ultimately sullied his accomplishment by lowering himself to Alla’s petty, vindictive level.

And that’s sad.

-ghp