Wednesday, May 26, 2010

American Idol 9 Winner Is Crowned - May 26, 2010

 American Idol Season 9 - Lee DeWyze Homecoming ConcertAmerican Idol 9 has finished up and it came down to a battle between Lee DeWyze and Crystal Bowersox for the win. The vote was read and Lee is your winner of season nine. He finished out the show singing "Beautiful Day". I have to say that I was a bit surprised to hear that the finalists got to do covers for songs as their single to be released. Crystal may have come in second but she is going to do just fine from here as she made a lot of fans over her Idol run. Great finale. So many great moments. I do kind of miss when the finales used to be more about the cast instead of how many stars that they could fit on the show. However, this finale had a lot of great moments. Bret Michaels performing "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Casey James was awesome. Bret has all of these health issues going on but he is all over TV this week. Great for him and their performance was great as well. I also really liked Crystal and Alanis Morrissette. They definitely have a very similar style of sound so that was a good pairing. Janet Jackson was great. She owned that stage tonight. Carrie Underwood was her usual self and great as always. I enjoyed the trio of Joe Cocker teaming up with Lee and Crystal. My favorite moment of the whole show was the tribute to Simon Cowell by the Idol alum. Incredible song. It started with seven of the eight Idol winners all coming on stage to sing including Kelly Clarkson, Ruben Studdard, Fantasia, Carrie Underwood, Jordin Sparks, Taylor Hicks, and Kris Allen. Many other Idol alum then came on the stage and it felt like being at a high school reunion seeing a lot of my favorite Idol alums from over the years. Simon got on stage and gave a farewell speech. Paula Abdul returned as well for the finale to say goodbye to him. This show will not be the same with him gone. It will be interesting to see how the show does without him cause I see it losing a lot of its punch. Lots of fun montages of him throughout the show. Just a fun finale all around and time flew by watching it.

Monday, May 24, 2010

More Lost Answers On The DVD Set?, Jimmy Kimmel Spoof - May 24, 2010

2010 Winter TCA Tour - Day 4The talk today continues to focus around everybody dissecting Lost. I liked the finale and am happy with it. Did I get all the answers that I wanted? Of course not but that is ok. We don't have to get answers to everything. I fully expect that we'll get more answers when the DVD set is released but that is just my assumption. There are all sorts of rumblings going on online of that there will be a lot of bonus material on this DVD set which will give us more info than what we got last night. Jimmy Kimmel said last night that he had heard that extras on the set would answer more questions including more info on Walt and "explanations for certain things that weren't in the finale". He did mention the Blu-ray set specifically. I would love for there to be a commentary on the finale and would be surprised if there wasn't one.

UPDATE - 5/26/10: Michael Emerson did an interview with G4 where he talks about a Hurley/Ben epilogue being on the DVD set. Here is the link to check it out.


I have listened to several podcasts today with people throwing around all sorts of theories. That has been very interesting including many things that I haven't even thought about. The finale drew an average of 13.5 million viewers. I watched the retrospective that aired last night before the finale and it was incredibly produced. It brought back a lot of memories and there were great interviews with the producers and cast. I already miss this show.

I loved the Target commercials that aired during the finale. The keyboard ad was probably my favorite with the "execute" button not working on the keyboard while trying to get the code in before time ran out. Then, we get "Dharma Lady" as the background music. Really fun ads by Target. Here are a couple of ads:


If you missed the Jimmy Kimmel special last night, they did a very funny "alternate ending" segment that spoofed other shows. You have to check it out if you missed it.

Lost Series Finale Recap & Thoughts - May 23, 2010

Lost has sadly come to an end. I watched the finale at a local theatre which was a lot of fun. Fun get together and it was great to watch with a group. You could literally hear a pin drop during the final scene as we all watched to see how it was playing out. I still need some time to digest everything but I plan on listening to a lot of discussion among fans. It will be interesting to hear theories and all. We got some questions answered but a lot of the finale is going to be left to interpretation. We had the two different universes going on seemingly. On the island, Desmond was used by the man in black to shut off the power source of the island. The island started shaking and all while Desmond seemed to be done. The power source left Jack and the man in black vulnerable. The final battle between them took place with Kate helping to finish off the man in black. Jack recruits Hurley to take care of the island passing off power to him as Jack goes back to restart the island. Jack does so but finds Desmond alive. Desmond is pulled to safety by Hurley and Ben while we see Jack later out in the open much like the man in black was after his experience inside the power source. At this point, I actually suggested that maybe Jack was going to be the new smoke monster but be a good spirit going around the island. However, Jack stumbles and passes away with Vincent by his side. What about the rest of the group? Well, Kate, Sawyer, and Claire got on the plane with Lapidus, Miles, and Richard. We saw them fly over Jack as he laid on the ground. What became of them is not known. In the alternate world, we saw the group all connecting with one another and suddenly seeing flashes of their island experience. The reunion is on from there and it was definitely focusing on the couples most of the time. About time we saw Shannon this season as she was a part of the reunion. Jack did surgery on Locke and he was able to walk again. The ending scene has the group gathered at the church and it appears that they have passed on to Heaven. Well, it was like they were about to go on there. They were all waiting on one another to go as a group is what it seemed especially with the comments of "we've been waiting for you". It was a powerful scene and there is going to be a lot of talk about who was not included in that scene. What happened to Miles, Lapidus, and others? No Michael in it either which was explained by Harold Perrineau on Jimmy Kimmel Live after the finale. He felt that Michael's fate had already been told with him stuck on the island whispering forever. So, the question is when did the group pass away? We know some obviously but what about the rest? What happened with Hurley and Ben? They referred to how great of a team that they were in that last scene. How come Aaron was a baby in that last scene? The show is now over and we're still trying to dissect everything. Interesting finale for sure and I'm looking forward to listening to all of the discussion of what happened. Watching the finale with a group was a LOT of fun. Tomorrow starts the mourning time of not having this show around anymore. Lost has concluded and it gave us a thrill ride of moments over six seasons.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Looking Back At Six Seasons Of Lost - May 23, 2010

Lost Premiere On The BeachWhen I look back at Lost, I have so many great memories of it. Has there ever been a show that messes with your mind so much? Just when you think you have something figured out, you know nothing!! I remember the first time that I thought I had called something right and then it was proven wrong within minutes. LOL. Characters we loved and didn't like. Jack was the hero and leader from the beginning. Kate was the girl next door that you figured out quickly wasn't as innocent as she appeared. Sawyer was a character that I couldn't stand from the beginning and then he grew into my favorite character after a couple of seasons. Hurley was that lovable character that you just have to like. The episode with him winning the lottery and learning his background is still one of my favorites. Ben Linus. What can be said about him? What an incredible character and one of the best written characters that I've ever seen. We've been watching him for so many seasons now and we still can't figure him out. We got TV gold every time that he would appear in a scene with Locke. The way that those two characters played off of each other was great. You just always waited for that dry and smarty comment from Ben and then Locke would throw it right back at him. I've always liked Locke and really want to see a good ending for him. It's a sad ending for him on the island so far where he finally felt like he had a purpose to his life but yet it all ends badly. Now, Jack is in the position of fighting for what Locke believed in all along despite always arguing with him about it I guess I just still hold out hope for a happy ending for Locke, somehow, someway. Desmond is a favorite of mine and I'm still waiting to see what he does to finish up this story. We were introduced to Desmond in the hatch where the story took a really bizarre twist to start season two with the button.

A couple of amazing episodes that jump out at me are these two. I was going to do a list of my favorite episodes but realized it would be hard to do cause there are so many great ones.

Through The Looking Glass: Not Penny's Boat. That is always what I think of with this episode with Charlie's finale. Then, the Oceanic crew appears to be saved but what will that call for help do for them and who is on what side? The most awesome moment of the episode for me was the ending of it. We get the flashback scene with Jack and I'm trying to figure out where this scene places in his timeline. Then, Kate arrives. I'm thinking when did they meet each before the island? One problem. This isn't a flashback scene. It's a flash forward scene with Jack and Kate being off of the island. I will never forget how floored that I was when that was revealed to be a future scene instead of what we were used to with flashbacks.

The Pilot: The show opened up huge with the incredible crash scene that would put a lot of movies to shame with how great that it looked. That would set the scene for the wild ride that we were about to be taken on. This incredible thrill ride of the two hour premiere had us all in awe wondering what that sound was coming from the jungle?, what attacked the pilot?, what was up with that Locke guy?, Kate was the person being escorted???!!!, and the great twist at the end where they found the repeated radio signal.

The producers have always come up with great ways to reveal stories such as us learning that Locke was paralyzed before arriving on the island. We've had incredible moments including Michael, Jin, and Sawyer getting ambushed by the "others" as they went for help with Walt being captured (Wallllllllllllltttttt!!!), the shocker of Michael trying to save Walt and then shooting Ana Lucia and Libby, the drama of the "others" trying to get Claire's baby, the awesome reveal of that Jack was now full negotiator while leaving Ben on the operating table helpless, Ben not saving Alex, the reveal of the "others" on the island, learning just how evil Ben is when its revealed that he took out the Dharma Initiative, the shocker of Sayid shooting a young Ben Linus, and so many, many more. There have been fun moments on the island as well including learning that Sun could speak English, Hurley working on the van, trying to figure out why in the world Richard doesn't age, and more. Having the wrong person moving the island can result in major headaches in the time traveling kind. I LOVED the early episodes of season five as we saw the characters traveling through time. We saw things happen in real time of what we had only heard stories about, saw characters in the younger days, and got to see the history of the island as it happened. How awesome was it when that plane flew over Locke's head and you realized that it was Eko's brother's plane going down? The show did an incredible job of messing with the timeline of the island. Faraday and his gang arrived and the decision was made to try and change things in history. Did it change things or was that how it was supposed to turn out? We had the romance moments with Jack and Kate, Sawyer and Kate, Sawyer and Juliet, Jin and Sun, and the great reunion moment of Desmond and Penny. There are so many other random things too that were fun to follow on the show such as random crash survivors suddenly getting lines which meant one thing...their demise would be happening in a few minutes. LOL. Am I the only one that can get triggered easily into singing "You Are Everybody"? There are so many random moments that I could go over in the history of Lost but it is so incredible to think back on it. This show has been a rollercoaster ride of emotions for six seasons. Will we get all of our answers? No, we will not. Hopefully, we get a great wrap up to the story of all of these people and this island. How will the two realities play into one another? So many questions.....so many questions....and only two and a half hours to get them.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

CW Unveils Its Plans For 2010-11, Schedule Changes Coming - May 20, 2010

2010 The CW Network UpFrontThe CW upfronts were held today and there is a lot of moving and shaking on that network. Actually, the pairings that they have going on does make sense. It's just a matter of whether new nights will help or hurt shows. I'm sure that Supernatural fans are freaking out right now just like all of us Smallville fans were last season with the move to Friday. I do like a pairing of Smallville and Supernatural. Friday is just a lousy night obviously. The official announcement was made about Smallville being done after next year and Tom Welling was in attendance. Dawn Ostroff did say that Allison Mack would appear in multiple episodes next season. One can only hope. Melrose Place is the big cancellation of the season after last year's much hyped return at the upfronts.

Here is the CW schedule for the fall. All times are central.

Monday
7pm - 90210
8pm - Gossip Girl

Tuesday
7pm - One Tree Hill
8pm - Life Unexpected

Wednesday
7pm - America's Next Top Model
8pm - H***cats

Thursday
7pm - The Vampire Diaries
8pm - Nikita

Friday
7pm - Smallville
8pm - Supernatural

New Shows:
H***cats (drama produced by Tom Welling and starring Ashley Tisdale. Pre-law student loses her scholarship and has to join the cheerleading team to help her be able to stay in school. I really think that this show has the most potential out of the two new shows.)
Nikita (drama about a teenage girl being saved from death row by the government to become a spy and assassin.)

Overall thoughts. Interesting moves and they are definitely pairing up shows that go after similar genres. 90210 and Gossip Girl paired together. One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected. Smallville and Supernatural. One Tree Hill and Life Unexpected are back for 13 episodes each. I wish it was more but what can you do? Ostroff did leave the door open for there to be more episodes of each. I'm happy that they're back especially with being bubble shows.

Here are the videos for the two new shows mentioned:


Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Smallville Ending After Season Ten - May 19, 2010

SmallvilleSmallville is coming back as has already been announced. However, season ten will be the show's last. One more year of Smallville. Yes, that makes me very sad. However, ten years is a great accomplishment and I choose to celebrate that ten years instead of being sad. I'll be sad later when it gets closer to the end. Tom Welling confirmed this in an interview with Hollywood Life which you can check out at this link: http://www.hollywoodlife.com/2010/05/19/exclusive-bye-bye-smallville-—-tom-welling-confirms-season-ten-will-be-its-last/
The CW plans to make an official announcement about this at their upfronts presentation. I have read some rumblings that the network wanted to make the official announcement but I'm glad that Tom beat them to it. He deserves to make the announcement and not a network that has treated the show terribly ever since it has had it. The CW has done little to promote the show. Whenever you see promotional videos for the network, you're lucky to see maybe one shot of something from Smallville. It is frustrating as can be as a Smallville fan. The show has performed well for them but you wouldn't know it by the way it is promoted. I remember back in the fall watching the CW season premiere promos in the corner of the screen during shows. I literally wanted to scream at the TV while seeing all these other show's season premieres being promoted heavily and Smallville getting a "oh by the way, it premieres on this date too". The show barely had any representation at the upfronts last year as the network focuses on all of its other shows. The show then got exiled to Friday nights which felt like a good slap in the face too but the show held strong and did better than many expected on such a tough night. Smallville has been a very fun show to watch. Amazing cast, crew, stories, and an all around great show over the years. I'm going to miss it and congratulate everyone involved on this amazing accomplishment of going ten years. I know all of us fans look forward to having a great ending to the show.

CBS Does A Lot Of Moving For 2010-11 - May 19, 2010

CBS has people talking for sure with their news this week. I'm not sure that it is for the better either. I know I'm not happy with a lot of their decisions. First, Ghost Whisperer, Numb3rs, Cold Case, Accidentally On Purpose, The New Adventures Of Old Christine, Gary Unmarried, and Miami Medical have all been canceled. It will be interesting to see if ABC tries to pick up Christine as there has been talk every year of them picking the show up if CBS dropped it. My annoyance with CBS is obviously with two shows, Big Bang Theory and Survivor. Both are being moved to other nights. Umm, why??!! This spells disaster for so many shows and I hope that it doesn't here. Shows build an audience where they are and people get used to it. You move it to another night ready to make it go boom and then it fizzes cause people don't follow it over. Is Thursday night on NBC with their comedies really that much of a threat that CBS had to build a comedy Thursday? That also moves Survivor to Wednesdays. Why again??!! All of us Survivor fans have been accustomed to watching the show for all these years on Thursday. Now, we're moving to Wednesday? Annoying. Just plain annoying CBS. CSI New York is being moved to a tough time slot on Friday nights. This network has been so strong in recent years so I just don't understand why they are making moves like this.

New Shows:
$#*! My Dad Says (comedy based off of the Twitter account of the same thing. Interesting to see if they can turn this idea into a successful comedy)
Blue Bloods (drama about a family that is based around the NYPD starring Tom Selleck and Donnie Wahlberg).
The Defenders (comedy starring Jerry O'Connell and Jim Belushi about two Las Vegas defense attorneys)
Hawaii Five-O (remake of the old series about fighting crime in Hawaii)
Mike and Molly (comedy starring Billy Gardel and Melissa McCarthy about a cop and a teacher who fall in love at an Overeaters Anonymous meeting).
Criminal Minds Spinoff (title says it all)

Here is their fall lineup. All times are central.

Monday
7pm - How I Met Your Mother
7:30pm - Rules Of Engagement
8pm - Two and a Half Men
8:30pm - Mike and Molly
9pm - Hawaii Five-O

Tuesday
7pm - NCIS
8pm - NCIS: Los Angeles
9pm - The Good Wife

Wednesday
7pm - Survivor
8pm - Criminal Minds
9pm - The Defenders

Thursday<
7pm - The Big Bang Theory
7:30pm - $#I! My Dad Says
8pm - CSI
9pm - The Mentalist

Friday
7pm - Medium
8pm - CSI: NY
9pm - Blue Bloods

Saturday
7pm - Crimetime Saturday
8pm - Crimetime Saturday
9pm - 48 Hours Mystery

Sunday
6pm - 60 Minutes
7pm - The Amazing Race
8pm - Undercover Boss
9pm - CSI: Miami

I've pretty much voiced my overall opinion on CBS. Definitely some risky moves going on and I just don't know if they're going to pay off. They're going to annoy some viewers with their moving shows around.

Here are some videos of a couple of the new shows that grabbed my attention out of the pack.
The Defenders



Blue Bloods

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Countdown To The Lost Finale - May 18, 2010

It's all down to the finale on Lost. Tonight's episode had a transfer of power while Desmond continues to get something together off of the island in Los Angeles. Good episode tonight. Jacob met with the final four candidates. I assumed that Jack would become the new Jacob and that is what happened. So, the names for replacement candidates were picked because he saw them as lonely and that they didn't have anything else going in their life. I did laugh at the simplicity of why Kate's name was crossed off of the list. Because she's a mother. Yep, that simple after all the fans' theories on why. LOL. He left it up to them on who wanted it and Jack took it. And, Ben Linus is back. I'm talking about the Ben we've all been used to on this show. Ben Linus has paired up with Not Locke. It was funny that he was offered the island by Not Locke and Ben told him right where Charles was. However, Ben gets his revenge on Charles. Not Locke goes for information from Charles after he threatens Penny's safety. Then, Ben shoots Charles saying that Charles doesn't get to save his daughter in obvious reference to what happened with Ben and Alex. Wow. That was a powerful scene. We did find out that Desmond was brought back as Jacob's fail safe in case the other candidates didn't work out. Off the island, Desmond appears to be working on a reunion of the survivors at Jack's kid's concert. We are definitely seeing major signs in this alternate Los Angeles reality of how they and the island are still linked based on Jack bleeding in the bathroom, Ben having flashbacks of Desmond punching him in the other reality, and Locke being told that he needs to "let go". So, how does this show end? UGLY. I have a feeling it is going to be ugly and sad. How many survivors will we have? Not Locke did say that he was going to destroy the island at the end of the episode. I have no idea with predictions on how it is going to end. I'm excited but sad waiting for the finale. What an incredible show and I can't wait to see how this all plays out.

Fox's Plans For 2010-11 - May 18, 2010

Fox 2010 Programming Presentation Post Party New York CityFox has announced their plans for next season and I like some of their moves. One being American Idol. I love American Idol but there are weeks where the show is too much. We don't need one hour results shows every week. They announced that the performance shows of Idol would move to 90 minutes while the results shows would be thirty minutes. I love that. No word from Fox on any ideas on who will replace Simon Cowell. There are some new shows from Fox which I will not tune into and that isn't the fault of the shows. It's the fault of the network. I've said this every year but I don't watch new shows on Fox unless they have the name Joss Whedon attached to them. Fox is notorious for canceling new shows so fast that they will make your head spin. I've been burned too many times by Fox in the past with getting interested in new shows only to have them throw it out quickly. Glee is going to get the big post Super Bowl time slot which should be great for that show. I think that is a good show to put in that time slot. I've always said that you need to put a new up and coming show in that time slot which had me baffled on why CBS didn't go with some of their comedies earlier this year when they had the Super Bowl. Glee is gaining major steam so it is a good show to put there. That is pretty much the major news out of Fox.

Here is the fall schedule for Fox.
Monday
7pm - House
8pm - Lonestar

Tuesday
7pm - Glee
8pm - Raising Hope
8:30pm - Running Wilde

Wednesday
7pm - Lie To Me
8pm - He**'s Kitchen

Thursday
7pm - Bones
8pm - Fringe

Friday
7pm - Human Target
8pm - The Good Guys

Saturday
7pm - 8pm Cops
8pm - America's Most Wanted

Sunday
6pm - NFL Post Game
7pm - The Simpsons
7:30pm - The Cleveland Show
8pm - Family Guy
8:30pm - American Dad

New shows.
Lonestar (Drama about a guy who schemes and lives a double life in Texas. Married to one woman in one life and with a girlfriend in his other life while scheming money).
Raising Hope (comedy about a guy who visits his girlfriend in prison and finds out that she has had their baby. He takes over in raising the baby).
Running Wilde (comedy starring Will Arnett and Keri Russell about a playboy type guy trying to win over the woman that he has loved since childhood who lives a completely different lifestyle than he does).
Bob's Burgers (animated comedy about a family running a burger restaurant).
Mixed Signals (comedy about friends trying to figure out whether they want to be tied down in relationships or not).
Ride-Along (drama which follows a police department in Chicago. Scripted drama of course).
Terra Nova (drama with such producers as Steven Spielberg and David Fury among others involved. The story is about a family going back in time to prehistoric times to try and save humans.)

I have watched several of the trailers for the new shows and here are a few of my favorites. I do think Running Wilde has potential and liked what I saw of it. I was hoping for a preview of Terra Nova but can't find it if it exist cause it has all sorts of potential with the crew behind it. Anyway, here are a few trailers to watch of some of the new shows that caught my attention.

Running Wilde


Lonestar


Mixed Signals

Monday, May 17, 2010

NBC Announces It's Plans For 2010-11 - May 17, 2010

NBC has announced their 2010-11 lineup at upfronts week which is now underway. For me, the main show on the lineup is the return of Chuck. I'm very happy about Chuck returning for season four. Gone is Law & Order but a new one is in the lineup with Law & Order: Los Angeles. Parks & Recreation is not on this fall lineup but will be returning in midseason. Here is what NBC has announced for the fall lineup.
All times are central time.
Monday
7pm - Chuck
8pm - The Event
9pm - The Chase

Tuesday
7-9pm - The Biggest Loser
9pm - Parenthood

Wednesday
7pm - Undercovers
8pm - Law & Order: SVU
9pm - Law & Order: Los Angeles

Thursday
7pm - Community
7:30pm - 30 Rock
8pm - The Office
8:30pm - Outsourced
9pm - Love Bites

Friday
7pm - Who Do You Think You Are/School Pride
8pm - Dateline
9pm - Outlaw

New Shows:
The Chase (drama about U.S. marshals hunting down fugitives).
The Event (drama about a guy trying to find his fiancee' who has disappeared).
Love Bites (comedy about two girls who are the last singles in their group of friends).
Outlaw (drama starring Jimmy Smits about a Supreme Court justice who quits and goes back to private practice).
Outsourced (comedy about a company from the midwest having their call center outsourced to India).
Undercovers (drama about a husband and wife spy team who get back into the business when a friend goes missing).
The Cape (drama showing up at midseason about a cop who is framed for a bunch of murders. He has to go into hiding including being away from his wife and son. He returns as a superhero from his son's comic books).
School Pride (reality show about a school getting a makeover).
Friends With Benefits (comedy about dating).
Harry's Law (drama about how fate brings people together).
The Paul Reiser Show (comedy with Reiser playing himself. His TV show was canceled and he tries to figure out what to do next with his life).
Perfect Couples (couples trying to piece together the perfect relationship).

When looking over this lineup and cast, my first thought was just how many people from various favorite shows of mine are in different new series on NBC. From My Boys, Jordana Spiro and Kyle Howard are moving over to NBC. Jordana is in Love Bites while Kyle is on Perfect Couples. Kyle will have a guest starring spot on Love Bites however. Brittany Snow is in the new show, Harry's Law. Friends With Benefits has several actors that I'm familiar with including Ryan Hansen (Veronica Mars), Fran Kranz (Dollhouse), Jessica Lucas (Melrose Place), and Danneel Harris (One Tree Hill). I looked at the cast photo of that show and was amazed at all the familiar faces in it.

Overall thoughts. I just realized how little of NBC that I actually watch by looking over this lineup. They have me for Chuck every week  Other than that, I don't really have any shows on NBC that I watch every week. I do like Parenthood but I've only seen a couple of episodes. I plan on catching up on that show. Who Do You Think You Are is a fun show that I've seen a couple episodes of it too. As far as the new shows, I have watched the trailers of several of them. The Cape could be all right and I did like the trailer for Perfect Couples. There really isn't anything new on NBC that has me really excited though. I'll be interested to see how Love Bites does. The casting is good with Jordana Spiro and Becki Newton and I like the guest star concept. You obviously have to keep an eye on any JJ Abrams project so Undercovers will have attention on it.

I thought I'd pick out a couple of the trailers for viewing and here are a couple of my favorites:
The Cape

Perfect Couples

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains Crowns Its Million Dollar Winner - May 16, 2010

Survivor Heroes vs. Villains has come to a finish and what a season it was. The finale was a lot of fun and had me on the edge of my seat. I was stunned with the winner obviously. I was SO CLOSE to picking the winner but yet so far away. I had picked Parvati to win about halfway through the season. When Boston Rob went out, I jumped and put my support behind Parvati. Anyway, let's get back to how the finale played out. The first immunity challenge of the finale was played. Parvati wins another immunity challenge which likely saved herself. Colby goes home leaving four villains in the final four. That gets us to the challenge which ends up in a three way battle for the win. Parvati, Russell, and Jerri were all right there for the win within seconds of each other. Incredible finish. Russell wins immunity and the talk is between Jerri and Parvati on who to vote out. Russell told Sandra that he was keeping her cause he could beat her in the final three. Remember that for later. Russell told Parvati and Jerri that he was voting for the other person to go. I really thought that he would take Jerri to the final three. I was already sitting on the couch bummed that Parvati was about to go home. Then, the vote goes for Jerri and she goes home. I was stunned!! My first thought was to laugh and say that Russell had just given away the money. He then had no chance at it. I thought he had a better chance against Jerri and Sandra. After the finale was over, I think that he didn't have a chance period. Russell again goes into his trash talking before the final tribal council just like last season. The jury questioning goes pretty harsh against Russell as expected. Parvati gets respect for how she played for the most part especially winning challenges. Sandra gets some big credit from Courtney and Rupert. Rupert talked of how he should have pulled Sandra in. She had earlier talked about how she wanted to make a move but the heroes kept slamming the door on her. Rupert saw it as a huge mistake that they didn't bring her in when she was trying to make moves. So, the voting goes down and Russell gets no votes. I'm not sure what the final vote was but Sandra edges out the win over Parvati. She becomes the only Survivor to win the game twice. I was stunned!! I thought Parvati had it wrapped up.

Overall thoughts on how the finale turned out. It went like I thought it would except for the winner. I thought Parvati had it locked and I was stunned when she lost. I just didn't think Sandra would get enough votes when you had two people up there that played such strong games. I thought Parvati should have won and I really am thinking that she is going to have to be mentioned in that category of best Survivor players ever. She has had the longest stay on Survivor which is now over 100 days total. She was a major player and played the best overall game as far as I'm concerned this season. She just lost it at the end. She did well with the final tribal council and made some major moves in this game. Major threat in the challenges too. Russell. Oh, Russell. It went exactly as last time with him getting to the end but losing. I said this last week but he has a great game play to an extent. His end game is one of the worst ever. He was rambling like crazy about how he should have won and how the game is flawed. He wants America to decide on who wins. Russell, that is part of the game. You have to figure out how to do all this game play but yet get the jury to vote for you in the end. Many have played really dirty games but yet got the jury to vote for them for the win. The game isn't flawed. Russell's end game is flawed. If he could put an end game to the rest of his game, he'd be a major force. You can't bully, threaten, and treat people horribly that you expect to vote for you in the end of this game. He's a great game player till he gets closer to the end. With Sandra, she definitely wanted to make some moves in this game but couldn't get people to go with her. She said recently that she was stuck with Russell cause she couldn't get anyone to sway. It was yet another capper on how bad the heroes played this season cause things might have been different if they would have listened to her.

The reunion show was very entertaining. Russell was furious over his loss and just would not back down. Sandra was very proud of the win and talking trash to Russell over it. LOL. I was watching Parvati wondering if she was going to be stuck in the middle of this war. Great to hear comments from the rest of the cast. Boston Rob threw out a challenge to Russell on his thoughts of how things would go down if they played again. The player of the season vote went down and it came down to Russell and Rupert. Russell won the $100,000. JT was given the award voted on by fans of the dumbest move in Survivor history with his letter being given to Russell. I should mention too that JT got very close to putting that letter in the fire on the reunion show. Russell had it laminated and JT got a hand on it. Amanda was brought up with her game play. She is such a great game player but is just so nice. I really think she is too nice for this game and that is a major compliment to her. Also, she was the only one on the heroes tribe that had a clue at times. LOL. She was the only one that questioned bad moves from time to time including the letter by JT. She had the most logical quote at the time of it happening where she said that it was a bad idea and that they had no clue what was going on over on the other tribe. Stephenie was interviewed and I still say that is the point where it all went downhill for the heroes. They lost a physical threat early on and that was the first of their bad mistakes. A definite sign of things to come. I want to give major credit to Jerri for getting to the final four after playing for three seasons. She did really well this season and I was happy to see it. A nice tribute to Jenn Lyon on the reunion show. She passed away recently and it was really sad news to hear. My thoughts and prayers go out to her family and friends. At the ending, we got the announcement that Survivor will next take place in Nicaragua. The new season will kick off in the fall.

What a great season. I don't know where this ranks overall but it ranks really high on the list of great seasons. Thanks to all the Survivor cast for giving us such a great season!! The game play this season left me speechless at times. We had our favorites to cheer for and our favorites to cheer against. What was funny is that a lot of the ones that I went against in previous seasons ended up being favorites of mine this season and vice versa. It reminds me of Big Brother All Stars with how that happened for me with that season too. I was excited for this season when I heard it was an all stars edition and it delivered. It lived up to every bit of the hype and more.

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Music City Keep On Playin' Benefit Concert To Be Held Tonight From Nashville On GAC - May 16, 2010

A benefit concert to help the flood victims of middle Tennessee will happen tonight on GAC. GAC has joined up with the Nashville Convention & Visitors Bureau along with Gaylord Entertainment to present this concert. Music City Keep On Playin' - A Benefit For Flood Relief will air tonight, May 16, on GAC at 7pm central time. The Ryman Auditorium will host the concert. Hosts for the concert are Kimberly Williams-Paisley and James Denton. Performers include Brad Paisley, Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum, Dierks Bentley, Rodney Atkins, Kellie Pickler, Martina McBride, Keb' Mo', Will Hoge, CeCe Winans, Randy Montana, and more. The concert will also be streamed live on GACTV.com. Be sure to tune in and help raise money for the flood victims of middle Tennessee. Here is a link to the site where you can donate money:

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Lucas Gives Kudos To Lost, Heroes Canceled, ABC & NBC Renewals & Cancellations - May 15, 2010

ABC's Lost Live: The Final Celebration - ArrivalsLost Live: The Final Celebration was held on Thursday night in Los Angeles with the creators, cast, and more in attendance. This letter has been posted online and I had to share it too. George Lucas sent a congratulatory letter over to the producers of Lost, Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse. The letter was read out loud at the celebration.. Here is what the letter had to say: "Congratulations on pulling off an amazing show. Don't tell anyone ... but when 'Star Wars' first came out, I didn't know where it was going either. The trick is to pretend you've planned the whole thing out in advance. Throw in some father issues and references to other stories -- let's call them homages -- and you've got a series. In six seasons, you've managed to span both time and space, and I don't think I'm alone in saying that I never saw what was around the corner. Now that it's all coming to an end, it's impressive to see how much was planned out in advance and how neatly you've wrapped up everything. You've created something really special. I'm sad that the series is ending, but I look forward to seeing what you two are going to do next." After it was read, Lindelof got laughs when he said, "I just want to apologize to Mr. George Lucas for everything I said about the prequels". LOL. I had to share that funny moment. We're just about one week away from the big finale and I'm excited for it yet sad at the same time.

Well, so much for ABC's hopes of FlashForward being the new Lost. ABC has cancelled the show after its first season. I watched the first several episodes of the show and it was interesting. It just didn't grab me for a long term viewing. I quit watching and just never got back around to watching it. ABC also cancelled Scrubs so its run on a new network is now over. V was renewed by ABC and I hear good things about it. I've been intending on checking it out but haven't gotten to yet. I didn't watch the old series so it would be brand new to me.

Lots of moving and shaking with cancellations and renewals. NBC also cancelled Law & Order which was big news. Heroes was also cancelled. The Heroes cancellation was kind of a middle ground for me as far as cancellation. Season four of the show was stronger than season three so that was a nice welcomed change. Season three was such a mess and hard to follow. Season four slowed down and was much better. It's such a shame with how things ended up with Heroes overall as far as quality. That first season was so great!! People were into it and loved it. It was great TV and I just couldn't wait until the next episode. Then, it just fell from there. NBC also cancelled their new shows, Trauma and Mercy. NBC is definitely looking at going with several new shows next year.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Chuck Gets Renewed!!, Alyssa Milano Fights For Her Show, Allison Mack Tribute, & More TV Notes - May 14, 2010

Wrath of Con PartyChuck has been renewed for season four!! Way to go Chuck fans on fighting for the show once again. NBC has officially given it a green light and this is before upfronts week even begins. We were down to the wire this year on waiting but not as bad as last year. The fans waged a big time fan campaign last spring to help get the show renewed. The show returned around time for the Winter Olympics. One of my favorite shows and I'm thrilled for it to be coming back.

ESPN the Magazine Presents 7th Annual Pre-Draft Party - ArrivalsAlyssa Milano found out via Twitter Thursday night that her show, Romantically Challenged had been cancelled. She was shocked to get the news that way. Can you imagine? Wow. Well, that was apparently news to her based on what she posted later on Twitter. She posted that she had spoken to ABC and that no decision had been made yet on the show's future. If you want to help support Romantically Challenged, she posted this on Twitter of ways to help: "We're going to post the latest news on the status of #RomanticallyChallenged on the @RomChallenged account. Again, no "official" word from ABC that #RomanticallyChallenged is canceled. Until we get official word let's just smile. CALL in your message of support for #RomanticallyChallenged at 818-460-7477 follow the voice prompts."You can follow Alyssa Milano on Twitter: @alyssa_milano

I loved reading this story. Fans of Allison Mack have put together a Chloe Sullivan Tribute commercial which aired tonight on The CW in Los Angeles. The project is called Legendary and has been in the making for several months now. Fans raised the money and scripted the commercial as well. The concept of the commercial was to talk about the character of Chloe Sullivan and what she has meant to fans of Smallville. The commercial covered many of the milestones in her life with fans holding up various pictures as they talked. The money was raised to buy the air time and the rest is history. I have seen the commercial and good for them on getting this project rolling. I'm used to just seeing fan paid ads getting in magazines, newspapers, and billboards so seeing one of these roll over to TV is a big accomplishment. I wonder if we may soon see a day where more fans do things like this for TV with fan campaigns and such. I'm all for it. You can check out more on the Legendary project at: http://legendarychloe.com/

I'm currently in the middle of season two of Dollhouse but I just have to say that Summer Glau is golden with her guest starring on the show. She has been amazing in the episodes that I've seen.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, May 18. 21 Jump Street (Season Two), 30 Days (Season Three), California Dreams (Season Three), Hunter (Season Two), The Jeff Dunham Show (Full Series), Law & Order: Criminal Intent (Year Five).

Survivor's Final Five Is Set - May 14, 2010

The final five is set on Survivor and what a season this has been. This ranks right up there with the best seasons ever. We're down to Parvati, Russell, Jerri, Colby, and Sandra. Russell continues to jump all around trying to figure out his best move to get to the end. That was aligning with Rupert and Colby on the last episode with his target being Parvati. Parvati winning immunity took that out of the equation. Then, the target turned to Sandra by several but she played her immunity idol. That sent Rupert home. I wasn't sure what to make of Rupert's exit interview as he said that this was the best he had ever felt about a Survivor win. I felt the opposite on Rupert's chances this season. The villains have outplayed him and the rest of the heroes. If Parvati hadn't won immunity, it would be interesting to see what would have happened. So, who wins? Well, I'll discuss my thinking on it. Some prediction type thoughts that will probably be completely wrong. LOL. I'll start with Russell. He has such a strong game play but his end game is terrible. This happened last season too. Strong throughout and he just can't finish it. You can't threaten and bully everyone at the end that you expect to vote for you to win. LOL. I just can't see him winning. Parvati. I'm still putting her as the odds on favorite to win. I've been pulling for her since Boston Rob's exit. She is going to have to keep winning immunities though cause she has a target on her. Jerri. I really think Jerri is going to make it to the final. I don't think she can win unless she is up against some players that have made and make some more really ugly moves to upset jury voters. Even then, I'm not sure. Sandra. Sandra is kind of a wild card. I could see her making the final. If there was a final three, I could see her getting second place of the votes. I don't know why I think that but it's just what I'm thinking. Colby. I just don't think he has a chance. The lone hero going against four villains determined to not have a hero in the final tribal council. I'll take a guess on who the final three will be (assuming there will be a final three). I'm going to go with Parvati, Russell, and Jerri. Parvati gets the win. I can't wait to watch the finale.

Smallville's Epic Battle Closes Out Season Nine - May 14, 2010

The showdown that we've been waiting for all season came to a head in the season nine finale of Smallville. Clark in his epic showdown with Zod and it was a lot of fun to watch. It only lasted a short time but visually it looked mighty impressive. This showdown needed to look good and it did. What a bunch of cliffhangers!! Clark decides to use the Book of Rao which will send all of the Kryptonians away to another planet. Yes, that includes Clark and he decides it is worth the sacrifice. Zod had other plans including blue kryptonite. After Zod's people left, he told Clark that he had no plan to leave. Zod's army had left Zod at that point though after Clark's revelation to them of how they had been lied to. Zod stabs Clark with the blue kryptonite. Zod gets zapped out of there and Clark is falling to the ground with the blue kryptonite in him. That was how the episode ended and it was a great cliffhanger. One of the better written ones in several seasons. I was surprised to see that Oliver was the one that was in trouble instead of Chloe. I fully expected there to be a major cliffhanger on what was going on with Chloe. So, who was it that attacked Oliver cause he spoke of how it wasn't who we expected? I liked the way Lois played into the finale with her having to figure out which blur was the true blur that she knew. I really had a feeling that Tess was a goner in this episode. Her character had just kind of reached its peak on what else you could do with her. I would have been shocked if she survived. Who was the person waiting outside her room and is that person tied to the ones that are attacking Oliver? My guess is yes. I have really enjoyed the last several episodes of Smallville. Checkmate was a nice villain to have along with Zod. Nice twist with Tess involved in that along with Chloe having to deal with her. I loved the stuff with Chloe realizing that she had gotten herself away from reality all together becoming one with Watchtower and how she was ready to live life again. I loved seeing Annette O'Toole back as Martha Kent. She did a great job returning to the show in that role. She ended up being a bigger player in the story than I expected. Perry White and Lois being paired up on them getting a story was fun TV to watch. Smallville will return for season ten this fall and I'm excited to see where they go with things.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

CMT Awards Nominations - May 12, 2010

The nominations were announced recently for the CMT Awards and here they are. I obviously have my favorites of who I'll be voting for. Be sure to get your votes in for your favorites as well.
Video Of The Year are: Carrie Underwood (Cowboy Casanova), Lady Antebellum (Need You Now), Taylor Swift (You Belong With Me), Toby Keith (American Ride), Kenny Chesney (Out Last Night), Keith Urban (Til Summer Comes Around), Miranda Lambert (White Liar), Zac Brown Band (Toes), Brad Paisley (Welcome To The Future), Jason Aldean (The Truth).
Male Video Of The Year: Toby Keith (American Ride), Billy Currington (People Are Crazy), Tim McGraw (Southern Voice), Keith Urban (Til Summer Comes Around), and Jason Aldean (The Truth).
Female Video Of The Year: Carrie Underwood (Cowboy Casanova), Reba McEntire (Consider Me Gone), Taylor Swift (You Belong With Me), Miranda Lambert (White Liar).
Group Video Of The Year: Gloriana (How Far Do You Wanna Go?), Rascal Flatts (Here Comes Goodbye), Lady Antebellum (Need You Now), Zac Brown Band (Toes).
Duo Of The Year: Brooks & Dunn (Indian Summer), Steel Magnolia (Keep On Lovin' You), Sugarland (Keep You), Sugarland (Nightswimming/Joey).
Collaborative Video Of The Year: Kellie Pickler and Taylor Swift (Best Days Of Your Life), Blake Shelton and Trace Adkins (Hillbilly Bone), Kenny Chesney and Dave Matthews (I'm Alive), Jason Aldean and Bryan Adams (Heaven).
CMT Performance Of The Year: Carrie Underwood (Temporary Home from Invitation Only), Reba McEntire (Consider Me Gone from Invitation Only), Tim McGraw (Southern Voice from Invitation Only), Lady Antebellum (Lookin' for a Good Time from the 2009 CMT Music Awards), Brad Paisley (Then from the 2009 CMT Music Awards).
USA Weekend Breakthrough Video Of The Year: Easton Corbin (A Little More Country Than That), Luke Bryan (Do I), Laura Bell Bundy (Giddy On Up), and Steel Magnolia (Keep On Lovin' You).
You can cast your votes for your favorites at this link:
http://www.cmt.com/cmt-music-awards/
The CMT Awards will be broadcast on CMT on June 9.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Lost - The Backstory Revealed On Jacob & His Brother - May 11, 2010

This week's Lost was incredible!!! I did not want that episode to end. I kept waiting to see what kind of backstory that we would learn to make more sense out of this season. Well, tonight sure helped with that. We got the backstory of Jacob and his brother and that was the entire episode. I kept waiting to see if we would get a name for his brother but we didn't. So, the brother clearly had something in him from the beginning which his "mother" saw as she continued to see him as special. We found out that Jacob and her were one in the same after she named him to protect the center of the island. It was literally a story of two different agendas from the brothers. Jacob was happy there and saw it as home while his brother had been all over the island with his people learning and trying to find a way off the island. This of course was fueled when the brothers learned the fate of their birth mother. The brother started digging the well and talked of how he was going to attach the wheel to use the power of the light. I loved that we got the story of how the mother had set it up as well where the two brothers could not kill each other. This explains why it was crucial for Ben to kill Jacob because the brother couldn't do it. The revelation was shown on how Jacob threw his brother into the light which turned him into the smoke monster. They did not tell us however how he is able to become other people that have been killed. How awesome was it that they tied that whole thing back to early in the show's run? We saw the scene again with Jack finding the black and white game pieces along with the bodies. Locke then said that it was their very own Adam and Eve. That tie up to the episode going back that far in the series left me very pumped up on how they did that with the story. I'll never see that original episode in the same way again for sure. Incredible. Great, great episode. All right. Ready for next week's episode.

Monday, May 10, 2010

Nashville Rising Benefit Concert Set For June 22

Opryland Hotel, Grand Ole Opry and Opry Mills mall are surrounded by water in NashvilleIf you've been watching the news, you know of the tragic events in Nashville with the flooding. I've been there many times and am saddened to see the struggles that the people there are going through. It's been incredible to follow how the people of Nashville have all pulled together to help one another. The city is moving forward by continuing events and opening venues back up while the cleanup goes on. CMA Fest is going to go on as scheduled but there will be venue changes due to the Grand Ole Opry being flooded. Shows that were scheduled there in the last couple of weeks have been moved to nearby venues which will continue for several months as the Opry gets cleaned up. I saw the news today on a benefit concert that I wanted to pass along. Tim McGraw and Faith Hill announced today the news about Nashville Rising which is a benefit concert set to take place on June 22 from Bridgestone Arena in downtown Nashville. The concert will benefit the Community Foundation of Middle Tennessee who is involved in the flood recovery. You can check out more info on them at: http://www.cfmt.org. The concert itself already has a powerhouse of a lineup announced including Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, Martina McBride, Brooks & Dunn, Taylor Swift, Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Miranda Lambert, and many more. You can see the full lineup announced so far at http://www.nashvillerising.org. Tickets go on sale to the general public this Friday on May 14th at 10am. Ticket prices will range from $25 to $75. My thoughts and prayers are with the people of Nashville and all the surrounding areas that are dealing with this horrible flooding.

Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Thoughts On Survivor, Lost, & More - May 5, 2010

What a season that Survivor has been this year!! These players are cutthroat and are making big move after big move. Just like Big Brother All Stars, I've found myself cheering people that I didn't like in previous seasons. For instance, I started cheering the villains after just a couple of weeks. The heroes tribe has just been played so badly and have looked so bad. I vented early on about Stephenie being voted off and that should have been a clue as to how this was going to go with the heroes tribe. They have been clueless for the most part. I actually think the only good player on the heroes tribe for most of the season has been Amanda. She has actually talked rational during a lot of her interviews throughout the season. For instance, we have JT and crew deciding that there was an all girls alliance going on with the villains. You don't know that. There is no way to know that. Amanda was the only one to speak up and say that there is no way for them to know what is going on over there. The rest were all convinced of it and went for it. I could not believe the whole deal with Russell being given the immunity idol and the letter that was written. Do not show this to anyone and then he shows it immediately. Wow, I don't know what JT was thinking there. I loved his line of "now they're giving me idols" saying that he doesn't even have to find them anymore. Speaking of Russell, the showdown with him and Boston Rob was one that finally came to a head. I was bummed to see how it played out obviously as I was cheering for Boston Rob to win the whole thing. Since then, I moved over to Parvati. Parvati for the win. Parvati playing the two idols and giving them away at tribal council was an awesome move!! I wish I had a camera on my face when it happened. Then, she played Russell too with him not knowing that she had that idol. Last week had Amanda being voted off which was frustrating. The battle with the idol clue with her and Danielle was funny. I can say that I've never quite seen anything like that during Survivor. I read an interview with Amanda last week on TVGuide.com where she talked of how she didn't know the rules of claims to clues. If she had it to do over, she said she'd take the clue and run in the bathroom. Read it and then flush it. LOL. Bummed to see her voted off as she was the only one on the heroes tribe that I like.

Lost is nearing the end of its run. The producers posted on Twitter yesterday that they have finished the finale. ABC has actually added an extra half hour to the finale. 2 and a half hours for the finale. Add on to that the 2 hour retrospective and the post finale stuff and you have a full night of Lost to watch. I haven't been as crazy about this season but it's mostly cause we're trying to figure out where they are going. I think the last two or three episodes have been really good. The alternate reality stuff has been kind of hit or miss for me this year. Not crazy about the Sawyer as a cop deal. Not sure how that plays into anything. Now, the stuff with Jack and Locke has been good with them running into each other at various places including Jack wanting to do surgery on Locke to fix him up. What has been really wild this season is the way they play Not Locke and Charles off of each other. They keep you guessing on who is on the right side of things. Not Locke sure made his play last night with the sub. That was an intense episode. Kate gets shot, Sayid sacrifices himself, Jin and Sun stay on the sinking sub. I was thinking during the first part of the episode that we'd probably better get prepared for them to start killing off characters with it being so close to the end and they killed off three last night. I'm waiting to see how Desmond plays into all of this as he has to be a big player. Make no doubt about it. This is not going to end pretty.

I have gotten out of American Idol this season. I watched for a while until they got to the final group. I'm just not crazy about the talent this year and I just faded out. I'm apparently not the only one that has faded out as the ratings have fallen some this season including them being overtaken by Dancing With The Stars in the ratings.

I got caught up on The Big Bang Theory this week. Really funny episodes. I loved the Stan Lee episode with Sheldon. Great stuff there. Raj's audio thing that he was wearing was hilarious. The Law & Order sound cracked me up as they talked about Sheldon's legal trouble. I also loved the Lord Of The Rings ring episode with the guys all battling over ownership of it. Will Wheaton returns and drives Sheldon nuts....again. That Will Wheaton joke needs to keep running cause it is so funny. You can make a really funny long running gag out of that.

How does Julia Louis-Dreyfus' get her name misspelled on her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame? Shouldn't that be checked thoroughly before it is made?

Betty White is hosting Saturday Night Live this week. Got to love that!!

Number one at the box office last weekend was A Nightmare On Elm Street. The new movie from that series of films did $32.2 million at the box office.

TV on DVD releases for Tuesday, May 11. Darla (Full Series), Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (Season Five), My Wife and Kids (Season Two), Raising The Bar (Season Two), thirtysomething (Season Three).

Big Brother Over The Top - Week One Thoughts

I hope many of you have floated over to Big Brother Over The Top like I have.  Tonight, we will be one week into this game and this new plat...