Survivor, 90210/Melrose, I Love You Beth Cooper Movie Thoughts, & More - December 10, 2009

Moving on to this week’s Survivor. I knew we had to see more than one surely get voted out tonight cause we had eight people left and are getting near the finale. The episode opened with Russell telling a lie to Shambo that John was targeting her and that was why things changed from Dave. We go right into an immunity challenge which was a bowling challenge. It came down to Jaison and Shambo in the finals. Three gutter balls in a row leaving it to Jaison on his final throw. All he had to do was knock down one pin and he won immunity. It looked like he got two and Jaison wins his second straight immunity. The target went back to Dave with Foa Foa knowing that was what Shambo wanted. There was a tease of a change but Dave did go home on a seven to one vote. That means that Foa Foa now has the numbers in the game after being in rough shape not long ago in the game. Russell wanted to target Brett for the next vote cause of how likable that he is and how tough he would be to beat in the final. Another immunity challenge is held with it coming down to a battle between Brett and Mick at the end. Brett wins immunity which moved the target off of him. Russell then moved the target to Monica. Monica stirred things up when she spoke about Foa Foa members telling her that Russell was a millionaire and that Jaison was just waiting for the idol power to go away time wise so he could vote Russell out. Russell got fired up going to each of his tribe members to figure out who said what. Tribal council took place and Monica talked of how she enjoyed watching Russell’s buttons getting pushed for a change. However, the real news of the tribal council was Russell taking his immunity idol and putting it around his neck as it started. Yeah, that was a statement being made. Would the tide turn and Russell be targeted? Well, only by a couple of Galu members. Monica was voted out on a five to two vote. Well, at least she went out making some noise. Russell really is running this show and has been for a while. Can he keep it up till the end? I’ve been saying this for a little bit now but you had better watch out for Natalie. I’m going to go ahead and predict that she wins this game. She’s strong in challenges and is liked. Picking her for the win. Two episodes left and a lot of game play to go though.

Going to once again cover 90210 and Melrose Place in the same paragraph. This was the last new episodes that we'll have of either for a while. I'm assuming that even the network doesn't know when they're bringing it back when they say "new episodes coming soon". Both shows tied up some storylines while leaving us hanging on others. With 90210, we always have to have a big event to center happenings around and this was the winter dance. Intervention time for Annie as everyone pulled together to tell her the truth about Jasper and his drug dealing. Navid also figured out that it was Jasper that shoved him down the stairs. Annie didn't believe any of it until Adrianna stepped forward and admitted her relapse with drugs which involved buying from him. She questioned him on it and he finally admitted to it. Just when it looked like she had the advantage on him, he pulled out the "it was an accident when you ran over my uncle" card. I really like how they have stretched this story out. We're already halfway through the season and we're just now getting back to it. Like I said, the last half of the first season felt so rushed and this season has been at a much better pace. Naomi was once again on the retreat realizing all the wrong that she had done. It's the normal story for that character. Do bad, treat people bad, and then realize you've done wrong. Be sympathetic, make it right. Then, get back to doing what you're doing...and do wrong. LOL. I did like the realization moment of Naomi where she realized that she had ruined Annie's life saying of course she'd end up with a drug dealer cause she took away all of her friends and ruined her reputation. So, Liam and Naomi back together. Blah. Yeah, they've been teasing it but why?? I liked Liam and the surfer girl. By the looks of the previews, surfer girl is not going quietly. On to Melrose Place where we had Sydney's murder mystery solved, what Amanda is after, a breakup, and a hookup. Well, I should have known that they had Michael's wife, Vanessa, as too much of a quiet background character. It turns out that she found out about the Michael/Sydney affair and then went to Sydney's apartment. The two had a fight and Vanessa ended up murdering her and shoving her in the pool. How was this found out? Michael called David and told him the story of how he saw Vanessa leaving Sydney's that night and that was the reason that he had the necklace. It had her prints all over it and Michael had it looking to protect his wife and family knowing that she was guilty. Michael had David get his son away from Vanessa cause he knew that she was about to skip out of the country with him. After David had to go to attend to Lauren being drugged, he left the son, Noah, with Violet. So, here is where it gets interesting for sure. Vanessa shows up at the apartment and hears her son in Violet's apartment. When Vanessa showed up, Violet already knew that Vanessa was the murderer when David had told her. So, this builds up and I'm thinking, yeah, my money is on Violet here if she has her mom's genes. LOL. Vanessa pulled a gun and the two ended up going at it. They ended up right where the story had started, the pool. Violet ended up killing her in the pool which Amanda walked in and saw. Amanda was a witness saying that it was self defense. I should have known that there was more to Vanessa's character instead of just being the poor woman married to Michael Mancini. What is Amanda's ties to Sydney? Apparently, they were working some sort of painting scam and making money off of it. Amanda was shown in a flashback with Sydney where she questioned her on stealing one of the paintings for herself. I have to say that it was really cool to see Laura Leighton and Heather Locklear together in a scene again. Two of the most evil characters in the show's history. Good times. LOL. What was the breakup? That would be Jonah and Riley. Yeah, this was a bummer but they've been teasing it all along. The two went to go elope but Riley wasn't feeling it especially after a talk with Auggie where he pointed out how much she had changed since getting engaged. I don't see how that it is a bad thing but anyway?? Jonah breaks it off and ends up with Ella. Ella had gotten him an encounter with a major movie producer who bought his movie. So, he went to Ella and talked of how she had always believed in him. And, things were progressing big time between them as the show went off. I was surprised to see how Ella was really questioning Jonah for sure on what he wanted. Anyway, bummer that they broke them up as they were a fun couple on the show. Auggie did kiss Riley at one point in the episode with her backing him off really quick. However, Violet caught this happening and remember that the two of them have been an item. Yeah, I'm thinking those Andrews genes are about to kick in again and we're going to find out what is going to happen to Auggie as a result really soon. Anyway, good tie up of the murder mystery and I wasn't sure where the storyline was going to go. It really is fun having my 90's retro TV night with both shows airing. Overall thoughts on the half seasons so far. 90210 is having a good second season and the show is at a much nicer pace this season. Melrose Place started good out of the gate but has lost a little steam lately for me. Part of that may be me being concerned over the creative change for the show due to the ratings not being what they want. Like I and many others have said, it isn't the show. People just aren't watching.

Movie box office numbers for last weekend. 1. The Blind Side - $20 million. 2. New Moon - $15.4 million. 3. Brothers - $9.5 million. 4. Disney's A Christmas Carol - $7.7 million. 5. Old Dogs - $6.8 million. 6. 2012 - $6.7 million. 7. Armored - $6.5 million. 8. Ninja Assassin - $5 million. 9. Planet 51 - $4.3 million. 10. Everybody's Fine - $3.8 million.

Speaking of movies, I watched I Love You Beth Cooper last weekend. Honestly, I was a little let down with it. I thought I would like it more than I would. I really like the story which was basically the high school valedictorian professing his love for the popular girl during his graduation speech. His basic idea was that he might as well go for it cause he'd probably never see her again. Some of these thoughts will be spoilerish so you might want to be careful in reading this a whole lot if you haven't seen it. The two end up together on graduation night and you see the two social worlds colliding. Each sees the other in a different light. My only thing with the movie was that they had to filth it up a bit. That seems to be the drawback with so many movies here lately is that the ideas are so good and draw me in. Then, there is so much filth in them to get around that it ruins them a bit or sometimes totally. Just kind of unnecessary stuff, you know? Anyway, I liked this movie all right. Just some things in it that I wasn't crazy about and it kind of took some of my enjoyment away from it.

I've gotten hooked on this 90's Pop radio on AOL.com. It's amazing with how you can hear different songs and they take you back to a time in your life. I have heard so many songs that I haven't heard in forever.

As Regis sits on the sidelines recovering from his hip surgery, a couple of my favorite substitute co-hosts have been sitting in with Kelly Ripa on Live With Regis and Kelly this week. Bryant Gumbal and Jeff Probst have been really good this week. Bryant told of shocking news this week on the show saying that he had had cancer surgery done so I send prayers out to him in this difficult time. Regis called into Live this morning and is doing well. He was his usual self so I think he is doing just fine. Wishing him a speedy recovery!!

Indy driver, Danica Patrick is jumping over to Nascar. Well, this has been the worst kept secret. LOL. I'm thrilled to see it happening though. She will be driving for JR Motorsports which is under the Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Rick Hendrick umbrella. She will make her debut in the ARCA series at Daytona. She'll be getting cheers from me and I am hoping to see her do well.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, December 15. Ice Road Truckers (Season Three), The Paper Chase (Season Two), Robot Chicken (Season Four), The Tudors (Season Three), Wagon Train (Season One).

TV Line Of The Week: From today's Regis and Kelly.
"That was a fascinating story about the cell phone. Honest to God, it only put me to sleep twice." - Regis on the phone to Jeff Probst talking about the cell phone story that Jeff had just told earlier in the show. The story was good and the usual joking from Regis showed that he is feeling good.

Twitter Update Of The Week: Miracle Laurie posting about her last day shooting Dollhouse.
@miraclelaurie “last day 4 me on Dollhouse tomorrow. gonna try & have fun instead of being a weeping mess! :) i'll sure miss my DH loves!”

Video Of The Week: Season five of Lost was released on DVD this week. I thought it would be fun to post this amazing official music video promo that was released about a year ago promoting the new season. It is set to “You Found Me” by The Fray. If you’ve never seen this, definitely check it out.


That is it for this week. I wish all of you a great weekend!! Take care and God bless!!