Sunday night reality

The Amazing Race, 8pm on CBS
It was a very good move for the producers to have kept father/son team Michael & Kevin in the race last week, and within short order, they were leading the race in its Lapland leg.  Since Michael is unable to handle many of the show's physical challenges, it was fun to watch how good of a time he was having in the dogsled challenge, and his adorable cheers of "Go doggy!  I'm enjoying!" made up for how hard it was to watch his disappointment in himself for letting his son down last week.  It was also good to see them working together with the other father/child team of Gary & Mallory to get ahead.  I am seriously tired of annoying couple Chad & Stephanie, but definitely relieved that nerds Connor & Jonathan took their a capella butts home (on their Princeton graduation day, no less, reminding me of ANTM Cycle 7's Brooke).  Yes, yes, it's nice to see that they had a positive attitude, and I know I would have done as poorly in the sledding challenge, but still.  I was not a fan.  Doctors Nat & Kat made it from 2nd-to-last place to come in first this week, which I was pleased by.

Undercover Boss, 9pm on CBS
This week, the CEO of small, struggling regional airline Frontier went undercover to see how his employees and company are doing after a three-way merger and a company-wide 10% pay cut.  CEO Bryan Bedford tried out roles in airplane sanitation and airline hospitality, and learned a lot about how hard many of his dedicated employees have it.  As a devout Catholic, he was also inspired by how many of the people he worked with found comfort in God, and resolved to help serve others using the lessons he'd learned.  It was a very sweet episode; almost as good as the 7-11 one.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
Kody is supremely terrible, and has the intellect and maturity of a preteen.  The wives express some jealousy over time Kody spends with Robyn before she is officially married to him, which she resents as she moved her whole life and family to be with him.  As the wedding planning goes on, Kody shows how little he respects his wives' feelings, and seriously upsets them when he usurps their plans about the cake and wedding dress.  In another moment where he is shown to be the worst, he looks so unamused when Robyn intimates that strangers observing them as a group may have no clue that they are a polygamist family, because "for all they know, Kody's just our gay friend."  If these women want to share a husband, that's great, but did they have to pick such an awful one?

Sitcoms Part 2...and some other stuff

Community, 8pm on NBC
I seem to be the odd man out compared to the rest of the internet this morning, but I did not think this was among the strongest episodes of this series.  I always love scenes where Abed tries to make everyone live life like a movie, so the slow-motion march to the space shuttle made me laugh, but there were only a couple of other big moments in the episode for me.  The best was probably Troy threatening to kill Annie, which was delivered with the same tone as the choloform scene from a couple of episodes, which was a series highlight.  And of course, the self-aware KFC advertising was pretty great, and well-established in NBC's wheelhouse.

30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC
All I want to do is refer to last night's live episodes of 30 Rock as "much ballyhooed," but that is lame, and I am cool.  I was really impressed with the fact that the cast performed two live versions of the show, for the East Coast and West Coast broadcasts, and I have to say that watching the episode made me feel like I was part of a television event, which is not a mood that's easy to create in this post-TiVo world.  The pacing and camera work was weird, but this was a live staging of a show that we are not used to watching with an audience's laugh track, so no big deal there.  Chris Parnell seemed the most comfortable of the main cast members, but the highlight was definitely Jon Hamm, whose amorous hand (West Coast feed) had me laughing for a solid five minutes.  That he is so good at this kind of comedy, but is also Don Draper, makes me love him even more.  It was a very smartly written episode, and the live show within a live show added protection from any number of mishaps Tracy Morgan outbursts.  The way that Julia Louis-Dreyfus was used was perfect and clever (remember Tina Fey's Emmy speech?), and any reference to young hot Alec Baldwin is great.

The Office, 9pm on NBC
Just like the 'lip dub' cold open that kicked off the season, this episode was a great contribution to send off Steve Carrell.  Melora Hardin's brief scene made me desperately miss the time when she was a series regular, but I am definitely looking forward to Amy Ryan's upcoming guest-starring run.  While the Michael storyline was definitely the heart of the episode, I absolutely loved Andy getting to use his Cornell RA skills to teach his officemates about sexual health and acceptance.  He is so clearly someone whose happiness and power peaked in college, and it is so sad to watch that play out.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm on FX
This was a great episode.  I love the battle between Team Dee/Dennis and Team Mac/Charlie, and it was great to finally have that battle distilled down to a class war.  Everything about Charlie thinking his jean cutoffs were not white trash, and Dee/Dennis/Frank at the public pool was hilarious.  The more absurd of a character Frank becomes, the more he adds to the mix.

Jersey Shore, 10pm on MTV
Well, it's happened.  Jersey Shore fatigue.  I will watch the season finale next week, but I can't see caring about these awful people for one more season.  "The Situation" in particular makes me want to jump off a cliff, but DJ Pauly D, Vinny, Ronni, and Sammi are only marginally better.  Now, if Snooki and J-WOWW were to get their own show, I could see watching that.

Grey's Anatomy, 9pm on ABC
This episode had actual admirable character development, which was a nice surprise.  And Dr. Altman was rapidly becoming one of my least favorite characters on the show, but at least she finally told off Dr. Avery for flirting with her.  Oh, Dr. Avery - or as I remember him, the Hotness Monster from Greek - so glad he finally had his shirt off.  Though really when do new doctors have the time to get so ripped?

Sunday night blitz

(I'm two weeks behind on Boardwalk Empire, but having seen the second episode, I definitely am more interested than I was after watching just the pilot.)

The Amazing Race, 8pm on CBS
I was legitimately bummed out that Michael & Kevin, and Nat & Kat came in as the last two teams.  It can happen to anyone, but the doctors kept getting waylaid by bad taxi drivers or car trouble, and I got empathetically frustrated on their behalf.  Michael & Kevin are just so likable, which explains why they ended up not being eliminated, but I hope that after this round they learned the lesson that they should persevere more when they have the option of a non-physical challenge, as they would not have come in last had they been more determined with the word search challenge.  I really liked the challenges that were set at the school, even if the a capella nerds came in first.  Annoying.

Undercover Boss, 9pm on CBS
It says something about how much I've come to expect from do-gooder reality TV that when DirectTV CEO Mike White offered his employees a few thousand dollars' worth of services at the end of last night's episode, I was disappointed by his stinginess.  I will keep watching this show, hoping for each episode to be as heartwarming as the one about 7-11, but this one did not come close.

Dexter, 9pm on Showtime
I hope that Astor and Cody haven't been so neatly written out of this show, as I think their added drama will enrich this show, and Harrison is a pretty easy obstacle to write around.  It was good to have Dexter back in his element, goading and dominating serial killer Boyd Fowler (great job by guest star Shawn Hatosy), and the final scene introduction of Julia Stiles got me very excited about where this season is going.  Quinn & Deb, Angel & LaGuerta, and Masuka, are all in top form.  Desmond Harrington got really hot all of a sudden, and I think it's his new haircut.  Yum.  Incidentally, I miss Doakes.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
I am officially creeped out.  While at the hospital awaiting the birth of his thirteenth child, Kody (urgh) asks his third wife's doctor about his first wife's infertility.  Gross.  When celebrating his 20th anniversary with first wife Meri, he tells her that his gift to her will be a costly round of IVF.  She's clearly sad about the fact that she's struggled with fertility for so long, but when she says "no thanks," Kody is kind of upset.  When Meri tries to talk honestly with her husband about her jealousy issues, she asks him how he would feel if her attentions were split between him and another man.  I believe his exact response is that "the vulgarity of that idea is so against God and nature" that he refuses to even think about it.  Why weren't they having this conversation 17 years ago when Kody was getting married to a second wife?  With the addition of third wife Christine's baby Truely, and the upcoming addition of Robyn's three children, the wives were throwing around a lot of language making it seem like the best upside of being a woman in a polygamist family is the abundance of nannies around.  Finally, Kody and Meri's daughter Mariah tells her father that she wants to go to Annapolis, and he has to break it to her that a) polygamist private school is not accredited, and b) she will probably not get a gubernatorial recommendation based on her parents' lifestyle.  The first of many disappointments for this poor girl.

Sunday night reality

Unfortunately I missed Dexter and am 2 weeks behind on Boardwalk Empire, and can only catch premium stations on weekends, so my Sunday night shows were limited last night.

The Amazing Race, 9pm on CBS
Not much to say about last night's episode.  The challenges were not very exciting, and everyone being on the same flight from England to Ghana meant everyone was in the same boat.  The spectacle of the contestants endeavoring to sell sunglasses to Ghanaians at the market was a little uncomfortable to watch.  It's one thing for the contestants to have to take on a task that a local person does for a living, and showing them struggle with it, because that's just like a cross-cultural Dirty Jobs.  But haggling and trying to get money out of them was touchier.  In the end, "Gilmore Girls" Andie and Jenna were sent home, which means no more of their awkwardness to deal with.

Undercover Boss, 10pm on CBS
I'm a sucker for anything that tries to warm my heart, so shows like this and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are perfect for when I manage to catch them.  When the CEO of a waterpark resort chain went undercover at some of her company's establishments, she had to scoop baby poo out of a swimming pool, wait tables, and check in guests at registration.  Fairly boring in terms of watching her try to adjust to the demands of these jobs, but in the end she was extremely generous to the employees she encountered, offering them college tuition, flight school, paid time-off, and promotions aplenty.  It was extremely affecting to see just how drastically people reacted to just getting a few extra hours off a week.

Sister Wives, 10pm on TLC
Kody and his klan clan are back, and it looks like fourth-wife-to-be Robyn is here to stay.  Kody's whole family helps move her and her three kids five hours to a home one block away from the Browns, where she'll live until she marries into the family.  We learned that Robyn is from a polygamist background, but that she is divorced from a husband who did not have any other wives.  While her young children seem to be very excited about all the activity, they don't clearly grasp what is going on.  Kody's teenage daughters do, however, and they all seem tepid about the notion that their dad is marrying a 30-year-old, even if they like Robyn herself just fine.  14-year-old Madison (who has dyed black hair and will hopefully flee Utah after high school) is quite frank about how little the polygamist lifestyle appeals to her.  Kody's wives all display some discomfort with what's going on, whether it's related to Kody's time away spent visiting Robyn, her youth and attractiveness, or just the appeal she has as a new face when they've all been with Kody for 16+ years.  Robyn herself seems like a very sad woman who may have had a traumatic past, and who clearly idealizes the possibilities that a future in the Brown family holds.

Thursday night comedy rundown

Community, 8pm on NBC
This show was completely uninteresting to me when it began, but as I let the jokes wash over me it has grown into one of the funniest and most surprising shows on TV.  I could watch Troy and Abed for hours, and their scene where they got caught breaking into Rob Corddry's office was amazing.  One after another, I could not stop laughing when Annie chloroformed the bartender from Grey's Anatomy, Troy skipped over his body while in distress, they decided to pretend to have been chloroformed, Annie chloroformed him again, and then Troy stumbled over him while they ran away.  What a ridiculous and amazing scene.

30 Rock, 8:30pm on NBC
Taking a big step up in comedy from last week's season premiere, there were three majorly awesome running gags and a cameo by Paul Giamatti, so it was definitely an episode to remember.  While Liz's newfound attractiveness following from her being in a happy relationship led to great moments of Tina Fey acting the hyper-confident nerd in a KISS FM cowboy hat, I was a little surprised by how the character reacted to all the male attention.  Tracy on Cash Cab was the most perfect Slumdog Millionaire send-up, and followed from a great line: "He had two very good reasons for missing the births of his children: baking a french bread pizza, and forgot."  But Alec Baldwin's taped advice videos for his unborn son were the episode highlight, and I hope that more are released on the DVD.  "In school I was voted 'Most.'"

The Office, 9pm on NBC
The episode's cold open had me chuckling my face off for about ten minutes straight.  Any time Dwight's cousin Mose is on hand, it is usually awesome, and the supply closet daycare offered by the Schrute men was perfectly off-the-wall.  The ICP poster as decoration, with "Insane" and "Posse" crossed out was the best.  I didn't care for Pam's promotion stunt, but the Dwight Pretty Woman makeover was a fun diversion.  Scenes with Michael and Toby were excellent, and could have been played out more to add a little more weight to the relationship, and the upcoming departure of Michael Scott.  He's such an angry, sad man, and I'd like to see a little bit more of David Brent in him, even still.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 10pm on FX
Episodes where the gang does something completely stupid and unrelated to Paddy's tend to be my favorites, so them buying a decrepit houseboat with the intention of racing, shrimp fishing, and throwing P. Diddy -style parties, was perfect.  I loved the scenes of Dee dancing along with the inflatable green man, and Charlie going on about a "horse massacre from the revolution times" was pure Charlie.  Given the lingering disappointment about last week's rape joke on 30 Rock, it was particularly amazing for Dennis and Mac to repeatedly argue about implied consent on Always Sunny.  Mac is a terrible person, but even he recognizes that Dennis planning to force women to have sex with him because they're afraid of saying no is monstrous, and it was so satisfying to watch that conversation play out.

Jersey Shore, 10pm on MTV
This episode was lame and I'm glad Angelina's gone or whatever.

(Borrowed from a Videogum commenter)

Zoinks!

So, obviously, last night I watched TLC's new "extreme reality" show Sister Wives, about a Fundamentalist Mormon family with one husband, three wives, 12 children, and another on the way.  All you need to know about patriarch Kody Brown you can learn from his "the Rachel" haircut, his terrible chin beard, and his sunglass tan:

I mean, you're Mormon, right?  So you're not even allowed to have caffeine or a glass of wine.  Don't even front like this hairstyle is not going to be frowned upon when you get to heaven.  Seriously, this guy probably drives the Mystery Machine to work:

Kody's first wife Meri grew up in a polygamist family, and married Kody when she was 19.  She admits to having some jealousy issues, but it's unclear if they stem from her husband having other wives, or the fact that she has only been able to conceive and bear one child, 14-year-old Mariah, while her sister wives have proven much more fertile.  Meri seems to be very happy to live a polygamist lifestyle, since when her sister died, she saw how her sister's sister wives (keeping up?) were able to raise her children as her own.

Janelle, Kody's second wife, is peculiar in the sense that she grew up in a mainstream LDS family, so it seems unusual that she would have become amenable to the situation.  She works full time, and has six children: Logan, 15, Madison, 14, Hunter, 13, Garrison, 11, Gabriel, 8, and Savanah, 5.

Third wife Christine is the Kool Aid drinkin' -est of them all.  She too grew up in polygamy, and claims that she always wanted to be a third wife.  She never responded to the attentions of single men, and she has complicated theories about everything from the psychology of wife order to the fact that more people die each year from toasters than from sharks.  Christine's children all have dumb names: Aspyn, 14, Mykelti, 13, Paedon, 11, Gwenelyn, 8, Ysabel, 6, and Truely, on the way.  Christine has crazy eyes.

One of the most interesting things about the Brown family is that Kody was married to all three of his wives before his first child was born, so all twelve of them grew up with the same three moms.  That's what makes the season's prime drama so exciting - Kody's courting a fourth wife, so it would be the first time that the children have experienced a new mom coming into the family.  The woman in question, Robin, also has three children of her own, which would be quite a shake-up at a time when third wife Christine is heavily pregnant.

The pilot of the show does address some questions about parenting and sex, and very clearly distances the lifestyle of the Browns and their ilk from the mainstream Mormon community (lest all the lawyers of Utah and the Angel Moroni himself bear down on TLC).  They avoid examining how the Browns manage to be so public about their lifestyle given the myriad of tax laws they must be breaking.  It's very clear every time he's onscreen that Kody has a serious personality disorder.  His wives and children all seem considerably uncomfortable on camera, while Kody mugs it up and comes up with lame one-liners that not even his kids laugh at.  "She's a sister from the same mister, and he's a brother from another mother!"

So yeah, sure, consenting adults should be free to live in whatever "harmless" lifestyle they please, but religious polygamy totally creeps me out and the Browns do nothing to make it seem like they're any less weird than the polygamists typically portrayed in fiction.  What they lack in prairie dresses and complicated french braids, they make up for in misogynistic control structures and the fact that they want this chin-bearded nutcase to be the god of the planet they all get to live on.  But hey, I love cults and I love hating stuff, so needless to say, I will keep watching.

Sister Wives, Sundays at 10pm on TLC

The Amazing Race 17 premiere

I can't be the only nerd I know who watches The Amazing Race, right?  It has been appointment television for my family for years, and I am pretty excited about this new season.  Last night's premiere had a few highlights, including the now-viral scene of a girl getting smashed in the face by a watermelon, and one team not knowing the definition of "battlement," which reminded me of last year's, "Do you know what a candle-uh-brah is?"  Here are this year's contestants, in the reverse order in which they made it to the checkpoint:

• Ron & Tony, "best friends" who met 20 years ago on the set of The Wiz, were the first team to go home after driving all the way around England without being able to find Stonehenge.
• Nick & Vicki, heavily-tattooed motorcyclists, just barely made it to the checkpoint after having pretty much no idea what was going on the whole time.
• Andie & Jenna are the most uncomfortable team to watch, as they are a biological mother & daughter (known to the other contestants as "The Gilmore Girls") who have only recently reunited.  I got the impression that the situation arose as a call put out by the producers for an adoptive team, rather than that their reunion happened organically.  Tricky.
• Chad & Stephanie, known as Pan & Tinkerbell, are that couple that they have every year who haven't been dating for very long and are pretty bitchy to each other, and are a general pain in the ass to watch.  Stephanie was Miss South Carolina 2009.
• Michael & Kevin are my favorites so far, as I'm always endeared by the sweet parent/child teams.  Kevin is apparently a YouTube comedy sensation, and his "fob" dad frequently features in his videos.  It was so cute how supportive and encouraging they were of each other.
• Gary & Mallory are the other cute parent/child team, with Mallory being Miss Kentucky 2009 and her dad being some rich dude.  They had a hiccup when they got a flat tire, but managed to pull through and do well for the rest of the race.  They checked in at about the same time as Michael & Kevin, and it was cute how Mallory and Kevin cheered for the "dad teams" both doing well.  They should probably date, right?
• Katie & Rachel are beach volleyball partners, and are kind of boring in terms of being an attractive athletic team that works pretty well together.  Probably have a good chance at winning.
• Brook & Claire, home shopping television hosts, who tied with Mallory for Most Annoying Screechers.  Man I am not into the high-pitched wailing these three harpies did all episode.  Brook is also Miss Oregon 2004.  Claire's the one who got Gallagher'd.
• Connor & Jonathan, the nerds.  These nerds are Ivy League a capella nerds, and they're such nerds.  I'm just teasing.  They were really nice guys who seemed to work well together, but they also put themselves in too many situations where they could get waylaid trying to help out other teams in distress.  I am automatically not a fan because they threatened to use their singing gifts to lift everyone's spirits and thank taxi drivers.  No thanks.
• Nat & Kat are hot surgeons, and are my 2nd favorite team.  They were really sweet to each other, know how to deal with high-stress situations, and are in good shape, even with one of them being on an insulin pump.  I didn't like how Kat called Nat "Natty," because it made me think of natto.
• Jill & Thomas are a dating couple who came in first, and who I honestly can't remember a single thing about.  The $1M prize is probably between them and the volleyball girls.

The Amazing Race, Sundays at 8pm on CBS

Slut-shaming, guido style

No, I am not going to recap Jersey Shore.  There is nothing I can say about the activities of The Situation, Sammi Sweetheart, Ronnie Cokenose (allegedly), Vinny Bigdong (allegedly), Angelina Trashbags, DJ Pauly D(ong piercing), JWOWW, and Snooki, that will be remotely interesting or not found everywhere else on the internet.

We all know that 75% of these people are complete wastes of time (I have a soft spot for Jenny and Nicole), and I for one am glad that the spotlight is off of Sammi and Ron's brain fart of a relationship, even if it means that Angelina is back at the forefront.  She's disliked by everyone in the house, and everyone watching, but I really wanted to feel for her during last night's episode.

The blatant double-standard of how the men on this show can go out looking for women who are "DTF," whose names they don't care to remember, and whom they kick out of the house as soon as they are done with, while a woman who sleeps with a guy she knows once gets termed a "whore" and a "slut," makes me crazy.  I know that Angelina, like many of the castmembers, has exhibited seriously hypocritical and jerky behavior.  She's totally unlikeable, but I hated how vilified she was being for a fraction of the promiscuity exhibited by The Situation and DJ Prince Albert on the regular.

I know that people watch this show to see minstrel-like exhibitions of stupidity and drunkenness, but I have to wonder how many people in the audience will take this double-standard as something normal or positive.  I'd like to recommend the new Emma Stone movie Easy A as a great teen comedy that turns the slut-shaming culture on its ear, for anyone who needs a palate cleanser after last night's Jersey Shore (or the rape joke on 30 Rock).

Jersey Shore, 10pm Thursdays on MTV

Season Six!

Close on the heels of Jeanine's (disappointing) win of the last summer season of So You Think You Can Dance, the show's first fall season premiered last week. The format was much the same as it's been, the season starting with "open" auditions, last week's in Los Angeles, which were filmed during last season's "Top 20" weeks. It was wonderful to see tapping featured, as I think it is one of the great classic American dance styles, and (like most dance), considerably harder than it looks.

Mary Murphy and Adam Shankman were annoying as always, but I won't really have too much to say about the season until we get down to the top 20. I just wanted to check in and remind everyone that, for the next few weeks,

So You Think You Can Dance airs Wednesday nights on FOX at 9pm.

"just a typical white girl"

Second blog shout-out to my dear friend Arielle in one day! It's thanks to an offhand comment she made when we were g-chatting the other day that season 11 of America's Next Top Model is on YouTube! Last night I treated myself to the first 3 episodes (!), and today I caught up with episode 4 (Makeovers!) so I am up to date! Are you ready for a bold statement?

I think this is the best season of ANTM that we've seen so far.

I know, that's a big statement when we've been exposed to Shandi, Jade, Anchal & the twins! But there is so much good stuff that has been packed into the first four episodes of this season already that I feel comfortable saying it.

First of all, the girls are actually hot and/or pretty this season! Joslyn's um...not the prettiest, and I don't really get the appeal of a girl like Clark, but they are way hotter than some previous girls from the show. Okay, and I know that those girls aren't necessarily fugly, but this is top model! You gotta bring it! Elina, Marjorie, McKey, and Annaleigh are my favorites this season in terms of looks, but there are some great personalities too.

Elina is a hot mess. I'm so glad she didn't get all Jaeda when they changed her hair so drastically, because she could rock a lot of hairstyles. She's a little thick for a vegan, but I love how much of a teenage rebel she is. Too cool to be bi/lesbian, she's "very sexual and has had relationships with women...loves bringing them to her side," she has a tattoo on her uterus-protection fat (who does that? She looks kiiinda like Angelina Jolie but at least Angie is skeletal), and she talks about how she hates her mom. Aw, she probably smokes cloves!

Marjorie bleeds homeschooled. She's so nervous and cute, but I preferred her blonde hair. Maybe she looked too much like Agyness Deyn. Sheena is totally hoochie, and I love it. I'm so over hers and some of the other girls' wild exaggeration of Hannah's personality. Hannah said something pretty stupidly, but saying she's a "typical white girl" does not a racist make, and they're picking on her unfairly.

And then there's Isis. I think I'm more interested in how she was one of the homeless models from last season, than the fact that she's transgendered. I think she has an outstanding sense of self and has been totally cool so far. Some of the girls have been nice, some have been mean, but I can see why they're threatened that someone genetically male is in the running because of the advantages of height, bone structure, and leg muscles. Of course a lot of these things are going against Isis, too, as she is not far enough along in her transition to have breasts, a feminine waist/hips, or round cheeks. I don't think she will stay long enough to go abroad, but I think she has been doing remarkably well.

I think the most impressive aspect of this season is that...I don't hate Tyra anymore! How funny that in a premiere dedicated to robotics and the future, Tyra seems to finally have become self-aware! Mr. Jay and Ms. J have always been cool with their status as living caricatures, and Nigel and Paulina have seemed bemusedly along for the ride, but I think Tyra might finally have swung past being obnoxious to being charming. She's like a child performing horribly at a family reunion but everyone smiles because of her enthusiasm. Her wig sucks this season, but it's not the worst she's had.

Can't wait to see what happens!

this time, less skreet

Last night heralded the return of one of my favorite TV shows, Fox's So You Think You Can Dance in its fourth season, filling in the network's reality gap left by Wednesday's American Idol season finale. I've watched SYTYCD regularly since it's second season, and last summer I even had the chance to be in the live studio audience. Like AI, the show is produced by reality juggernaut 19 Entertainment, and uses many of the same tricks which get Idol such high ratings. The first few weeks of the season focus on the open auditions around the country, with a lot of screen time devoted to the fame-hungry and misguided masses who can't dance, but who can make fools of themselves. With Idol, I lose my patience with the show once it's been narrowed down to the "talented" contestants, because I find the song choices, arrangements, and gimmicky filler to be unworthy of my time. SYTYCD, however, keeps me interested the whole season through because the dancers and choreographers are so talented, and the performances are much more exciting.

Maybe it's because of my history as a dancer, but I get such a thrill out of watching dedicated dancers sweat it out to new and challenging styles of dance, and amateurs getting to work with some of the country's most talented choreographers. The dancers themselves become celebrities in their own right, as it makes me giddy to think how much I'd love to meet them in person (Benji! Hok! Sabra!).

Last night's episode showcased the stylings of Los Angeles area contestants, which unsurprisingly had a strong showing of popping, locking, and bboying. Now, don't let my love of ballet fool you - I have no pretensions against street dance styles. In fact, I usually really enjoy watching it, and would love to learn how to break. But there was a monotony to the auditions last night, and except for a couple of standouts, I was bored by the popping/locking. I mean, four seasons in you'd think the judges would know by now that most of those contestants will not make it past the second round (partner dancing, different styles, &c.). Further proof that the producers know that viewers like to see people do cool tricks.

Next week continues the span of early auditions, but I'm geared up for a summer with Cat Deely, Nigel Lythgoe, Mia Michaels, and Shane Sparks. Hopefully there will be more guest judging or choreography from Wade Robson, or previous competitors like Dmitry Chaplin or the Schwimmer siblings. My sincerest hope for the season, though, is that Mary Murphy will take a page out of Paula Abdul's book and Quaalude up before riding the hot tamale train into town. Bitch crazy.


ETA: In regards to this blog entry's title, "skreet" refers to Kippery Rigsby's unfortunate, schadenfreude-inducing appearance on the show, which can be viewed in low-def here: http://youtube.com/watch?v=FWtRnBBeMKg

"we need to do some pick-ups"

So yesterday afternoon was spent navigating the midday traffic on the 10 and the 101, figuring out how to park at the Grove (for all the times I've been to the farmers' market, I had never been to the Grove before - can you believe it?) walking in heels on uneven pavement while my blister constantly reminded me of its existence, and clapping and screaming when told. It was totally worth it, though, because yesterday I got to be in the studio audience for one of my favorite TV shows, So You Think You Can Dance!

Because of where we were standing in the audience, it is unlikely that we'll have ended up onscreen during the reaction shots, but I'll at least be paying close mind tomorrow to see if I can identify my "rolled R scream" (think Speedy Gonzales) which I tried to throw in at random intervals.

I am not supposed to say much about the routines before it airs, so I will just say that since we are now down to the top ten, the show is comprised of ten solos and five partner routines. The dancers are no longer paired with the partners they've gotten used to, but select a random partner each week, along with their randomly selected genre. Viewers will vote for the individual dancers, and the man and woman with the least amount of votes will be sent home, because the judges now have no say in that (except Nigel, because he is also a producer). This week the solos were all the same politically conscious routine choreographed by Wade Robson. Though I appreciate how forcing the audience to watch each dancer do the same choreography makes us judge them separately from the choreography, I hope that they start shaking tings up a little bit, because it just seemed like all the dances blended together after a while.

Cat Deely looked amazing, as did Mia Michaels. It was cool to see the judges, the choreographers, and the dancers still in the competition, but for SYTYCD fans such as myself, the real celebrities were the past competitors who were in the audience. Benji and Heidi from last season's top four were there of course, to support their sister/cousin (respectively) Lacey. Snejana who became "Snow" was there as well, looking super hot and uber Russian. Dmitri of the ripped shirt placket was there as well, who choreographed one of the hottest dances the show has ever seen. But my girl friend and I were most excited to see Hok, who sat right behind us, and was probably amused at how we kept turning around to peek at him while we debated whether or not we should wave. I did. I'm lame, get over it.

So tune in tomorrow night for this week's episode of SYTYCD! I meanwhile, and just a little more than halfway done with Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It's really good, and this is the longest it's ever taken me to finish a Harry Potter book. I just get distracted chatting about it with my roommate! Thursday morning I will be leaving with a couple of friends for three days at Comic Con in San Diego. Unfortunately, I will probably not be able to blog about either Harry Potter or Comic Con until August, when I get back from the vacation I'm going on next week.

summer lovin'

This post brought to you by my never-ending romance with my television. "Kat love TV. Marriage?" (That's a UK Office joke, for you plebes out there...) I decided it would be unfair to the greatest season of all if I did not give a little insight about what I'm watching on TV this summer. Because I won't have cable again until the fall, I must continue to scour network programming. Luckily for me, Fox has completely taken care of all of my needs. Though the only reality show I watch with any regularity during the school year is America's Next Top Model, reality is pretty much all I go for during the summer. So here's a brief explanation about the three shows I've been following lately.

Hell's Kitchen
Mondays at 9PM on Fox
I started watching Chef Gordon Ramsay's quest for a new chef to hire last summer, and it became quite addictive. When I told a friend that I liked to watch it, he said, "Well, why? You can enjoy the singing when you watch American Idol, but you don't get to eat the food!" But alas - Hell's Kitchen has almost as much drama as ANTM, and a cast of contestants so frequently pitiable or scorned that I don't know why sadistic reality TV watchers don't pay closer attention to this show. This season just premiered this week, and is already promising to have better editing and drama than last year's. Besides, if seeing things onscreen that you aren't experiencing in real life wasn't pleasurable, the food network wouldn't exist. Let alone the porn industry.

On The Lot
Tuesdays at 8PM on Fox
I have been watching this show with, for some reason, not as much interest as I think I should have. Maybe because I do not (yet) have directorial aspirations, I cannot be as captivated by this show as other film students. But there's something strange about this show. I would think that enough people would be interested in watching short films once a week, but I think there's a formatting problem that makes it difficult to carry out. I have enjoyed a number of the shorts that have been shown, but I think the show lacks a personality. Garry Marshall is the most captivating person onscreen, and while he's quite a character, that's not really a good thing when there are enough talented young people around showing their work. I'd like to see this show get a little revamped for next season, because I think it could be interesting to apply the reality show competition to film.

So You Think You Can Dance?
Wednesdays and Thursdays at 9pm on Fox
I had really wanted to watch this show during its first season, and I can't remember why I was never available when it was airing. But last year I got a little obsessed. Produced by the same geniuses behind Pop Idol, etc., SYTYCD has pretty much the same format. There are three to four judges (Nasty Nigel and Mary Murphy being the most memorable), and each week contestants work with a different expert choreographer. Also, the early episodes of each season have both impressive performances and hilariously bad ones - sound familiar? Why I love the show, though, is that by and large the personalities are more fun to watch. Also, I love the dancing almost every time, whereas I am rarely entertained by the singing on Idol anymore. Plus, I respect the way that they make dancers from different backgrounds compete in other styles that will challenge them, proving who is a great dancer, not just a one-trick pony. Last night they picked the top 20, notable because of the presence of Lacey, sister to last year's winner Benji, and the return of Hok! Hok was a favorite of a lot of people's last year when he would have been put through to the top 20 if it weren't for his lack of a work visa. I'm looking forward to seeing who he's partnered with next week!

i am three thousand percent sure!

I suppose I can understand people being baffled by my love for America's Next Top Model, Dirty Dancing, or even Philip Seymour Hoffman. Even some of my closest friends still raise an eyebrow when I wax nostalgic about the sense of security that comes from being engaged in conversation with Professor M. But nothing gets criticized more than my awed respect for The Maury Povich Show. Almost every weekday, if I'm free at noon or 2pm, I turn on Maury.

Types of Maury episodes typically break down into the following categories: paternity testing, unruly teen girls, lie-detector tests, abusive husbands, makeovers, obese toddlers, and sensational events caught on tape. The first three categories form a sort of Venn diagram, and air more frequently than the others. Rarely, there will be an exceptional episode about people with debilitating deformities or strange phobias, but these are few and far between.

A lot of people think of Maury as base entertainment cashing in on the problems of society's trodden-upon -- perhaps going to so far as to liken it to a modern day race-unspecific minstrel show. I can't entirely disprove this, but I'd like to argue that most forms of mainstream entertainment which are popular with the same demographics as Maury's audience are the same way. A lot can be asked about the ethics of a show which parades the sorrows and tribulations of its guests for profit, but the women who bring their fatherless children and cheating husbands onto the show are deeply yearning for answers.

On a basic level, Maury is providing services to people which are too expensive for almost everyone in the population. A trip to NYC to answer the questions that have been plaguing them is very desirable to a lot of people (as evidenced by the show's continued success), at the cost of being exposed on television in moments of vulnerability.

I watch the Maury show for a couple of reasons: it entertains me, and it makes me feel better by giving me the perspective to understand that other people have worse problems than I do. I also tend to think that Maury highlights how chronic some of society's problems are, like infidelity, unprotected sex and the resulting unplanned pregnancies, deadbeat dads, abusive husbands, rebellious teens, obesity, &c.

As a result of the reach Maury has over so many Americans, however, I believe that he has a social responsibility. On a small scale, he helps the individuals on his show, but does nothing to address the problems his show gives light to. This is my one concern, and I am baffled as to why Maury doesn't stress the use of condoms or other forms of birth control on his show. I have never once heard him mention that people wouldn't be going through such trauma if they just took better care of themselves. And I don't know how much a trip to prison and a tongue-lashing by D West is going to help a teenage prostitute in the long run. So though I enjoy The Maury Povich show, I do think it is past time for his audience to recognize the trends they watch on TV every day.