AMERICA’S NEXT TOP MODEL: For the second week in a row, Tyra and her group of judges chose to kick off a “shocking” contestant, rather than the one with the least chance of being a productive super model. It’s like the producers are behind the scenes telling the judges who to get rid of to produce the most shocking ending.
MACY’S THANKSGIVING DAY PARADE: My goodness, but the world is filled with tweenie pop singers that I’ve never heard of. Am I completely out of touch, or is the parade run by Radio Disney? It was a nice bit of schadenfreude to see Barney’s leg ripped open, though.
THE BIGGEST LOSER: I still loathe Matt for his touching speech about how Dr. Jeff means the world to him — and then voting his significantly-smaller butt out of the competition.
Can anyone access the video of Andrea that they promised on the website? I haven’t talked to anyone yet that’s been able to get it working. NBC is doubly stupid for not mentioning which video player they’re using on their web site. Stupid stupid stupid web design.
SURVIVOR: Speaking of stupid website decisions: CBS does a nice thing in webcasting the Thanksgiving night episode. I imagine a lot of people missed it or forgot about it, assuming there wouldn’t be new episodes on a holiday evening. Not two inches to the right of that offer, though, is a large picture of the contestant who had just been voted off with a caption explaining that. Whoops. So, you can watch the episode, but only if you don’t mind having it spoiled for you first.
GILMORE GIRLS: I don’t know how they cram that much script into one hour of television, but I’m glad they do.
AMAZING RACE: FAMILY EDITION: I don’t get the people who say this show has lost it this season. It hasn’t, and it’s just as compelling as ever. It’s interesting to see the team dynamics both within each team and then between teams. Thanks to this show, I’ve also added the Grand Canyon to the list of places I need to see in person before I die.
I’m rooting for Wally and the girls, since they’re the last team left that hasn’t proven to be annoying in their own way. The Linzes are in second, though the dumb brother occasionally grates, and their sloppy game play doesn’t earn them any favors.
BLOCKBUSTERS: Bill Rafferty is no Bill Cullen. Cullen is just so smooth and fun to watch. He’s a smooth version of the grandfather we all liked to have around the dinner table.
GREED: The best game show of the past decade, easily. The rules are perfect. The play between the contestants is compelling. The lights and music are great, even if obviously borrowed from MILLIONAIRE. And Chuck Woolery ranks up there on the list of great game show hosts. He plays the slightly more serious host in GREED even better than the light banter type host in LINGO, I think.
(tyg – Did I miss your episode already? I’ve been trying to keep an eye out for that one, but I know I’ve missed a couple… I also want to find the infamous episode with the contestant who claims to have followed Chuck’s career closely, but didn’t know he once hosted WHEEL OF FORTUNE.)
Also found it funny to see Michael Konik on as a contestant in the show. Konik is a writer and co-host on FOX Poker Superstars Invitational.
Konik slightly creeps me out with his CD covers, though.
Yes, I’m watching GSN a lot these days. I really hope they manage to finagle the rights to SCRABBLE someday, which is one of my favorite game shows of the 80s.
PROPERTY LADDER: It’s both fascinating and frustrating. People this stupid should not be allowed to make this much money this quickly. They are given a gift in the expert flipping host of the show, and they all ignore her every step of the way. In the end, almost all of them make $50,000 to $200,000. I don’t get it.
NEXT: Surely, this show is a sign that we’ve lost the culture wars. It’s over, right? The fact that the writers sit in a back room somewhere to come up with just the right double entendres to stick in these kids’ mouths shows us how little anyone cares anymore.