Is this show STILL on???

Another bunch of hamsters are put through the MTV gawkfest. Photo by MTV.com

First watch this. You back? OK.

Was that a trainwreck or WHAT? I remember when this show started in the summer of 1992 (yes, 16 years ago) and it was so interesting. I was around the age of the people living in the house and it was fascinating to see how they tried to make their way through NYC in the early '90s. I loved smart Kevin, wide-eyed innocent Julie, around-the-way girl Heather, boy-toy Eric, way-too mature Becky and gay Norman and grunge rocker Andre.

The second season wasn't so bad when they had the L.A cast and the San Francisco season hands down was the best season ever. But the show jumped the shark when it went to London and hasn't been the same since. I've checked in over the years but I found that I've gotten older and these kids have gotten, in a word or two : annoying as crap!

Now we have the new season: Hollywood! I can only imagine what kind of dramas these kids will be going through. Let's pray people don't start doing porn or Internet shows to earn extra cash!

We know at the heart this show isn't a documentary but more of a soap opera designed to draw ratings, but could it at least be thought provoking as well?

The show I always meant to watch

About six years ago, there was this great show on Fox that I meant to watch but never got around to. It's on my Wish List on Amazon but I really don't expect anyone to buy it for me. And now, they won't have to. My new favorite Web site is showing it for free.

After watching the pilot episode, I'm going to give it a shot during my "free" time on weekends.

And speaking of giving shows a shot: For those of you who never watched "Buffy" here's a clip just for you to show WHY this show was one of the best shows on TV. After watching this, ask yourself this question: How many times have YOU felt invisible.

Work Out is back!

I was tooling around the Internet and saw that my favorite trainer and her friends are back!

Last season, I was addicted to this show about this lesbian trainer and her crazy staff. At first, I thought they'd provide really good workout tips but then I realized that these folks are full on drama queens! Even the straight people brought their own sets of drama. If you click on the video above, you can sample the new season and judge for yourself if it's worth watching.

Two un-expected boots!

Chikezie, I knew you were going to go but just not this soon.(Top) Aimee, I thought you really had a chance but once I saw the "I'm going home edit" I knew you were a goner. Photos by CWTV and American Idol.com

I have to admit something: I stopped watching the results show of "American Idol." As my friend Karla says, it's like 5 minutes of show stretched out over an hour. The whole "let's all sing as a group" is so dumb. It also is a preview for America as to what the concert is like.

If I'm not watching it for free, I sure as heck ain't gonna pay for it.

That being said, I couldn't wait to see who got booted so I just hit the Net and viola! Instant answer. I wish I could say I was surprised but I'm not.

But I WAS surprised about who got booted off "Top Model!" Aimee was in my top three but I guess she just didn't bring it enough.

My friend Dana and I joke about the editing of this show. You can pretty much tell pretty quickly who might be in trouble based on the amount of face time they get in the diary section of the show. I call it the "I'm going home" edit. And Aimee, Lauren, Dominque and Claire were all in danger. If you noticed, Stacy-Ann and Fatima were barely in the episode so I knew they were safe. I guess they give the models, their last hurrah!

I was so sad to see Claire in the bottom two. Let's hope she can keep her butt away from there in the future!

Some words about "Lost"

Michael's back story (left) was good but it wasn't the best so far this season. That belongs to Desmond (Center.) Photo by ABC.com

You'll notice that I haven't been blogging about "Lost" for a few weeks. That's because the show is so freaking good that I can't even begin to describe how wonderful it is.

Last night's was the last episode until the end of April and BOY do we need a break to process all that's going on here.

Penny's dad wants the island to himself. Ben trying to protect the island. New outsiders who have murky motives. Kate's neverending supply of lingerie. The Oceanic Six. And so, so much more. The return of Michael and WAAAALLLT!!!!

So, here's a list of questions I have. Feel free to add your own:
1) Under what circumstance did Jack, Hurley, Kate, Sayeid, Sun and Aaron find themselves together and getting off the island?
2) Is Claire and Jin dead?
3) Why does Jack and Hurley want to go back?
4) "The island won't let you die???"
5) How did Kate get a hold of Aaron?
6) How can some folks come and go and others are trapped?
7) Where are Locke, Sawyer, Rose and Bernard (yes, I do care about them)
8) Is there really a good answer for all of this or is the being made up as we go along?

Today's theme: Let's quit

Both Marvita and Kathy gave on their reality shows. Marvita is out of the running to be "Americas Next Top Model," and Kathy went nuts on "Survivor." Photos from CWTV and CBS.com

On "ANTM" drama was the house guest that didn't want to leave as Fatima, Whitney and Dominique all got into it about racism and who's more PC.

This week the girls had to learn different poses. For some reason, fashion seems to think this is posing. I on the other hand, do not.

It all came down to close up photos with the girls having ink on their faces. The bottom two: Whitney and Marvita and you knew it was Marvita who was out. The judges felt that she had given up.

Over on "Survivor" on its special night and time, Ozzy showed that he was king and Erik was his loyal subject. Meanwhile, he was ticking off the female members of the tribe.

For some reason, this seemed to be puzzle night because both the reward and immunity challenges ended up with who can solve the puzzle the fastest.

Over on Kathy's tribe, it wound up that SHE! HAD! HAD! ENOUGH! and it was time for her to leave. I mean she went batsh*t crazy y'all. It was bad.

Ozzy's tribe went to Tribal Council again and of course it was Tracy who was on her way out.

All Oprah, all the time

Oprah, I love you girl but even you need to rest SOMETIME. Photo from Time.com

I wasn't feeling well today so I took the day off.

Time for a comfy blanket and some daytime TV. Can I just tell you that daytime TV is craptastic. I love trash but some of the stuff they were airing were horrible. I took a minute to watch Tyra and she had Janet Jackson on. But really she had Tyra's ego on and Janet Jackson. EVERY thing was about HER and so I flipped the channel.

Then there were 10,000 court TV shows and so I watched TLC and they had a bunch of cooking shows such as "Take Home Chef." He was making this tuna dish and I realized that I don't like fancy food. Give me meat and potatoes please!

And then I realized that my favorite new show "Flip That House," would be on in an hour so I decided to surf the net and then I came upon this: The Chicago Sun Times Oprah blog.

The top item was the death of Sophie. and can you believe that it actually made me cry?

Do you know Hulu

Ah, "Fame" now with Hulu.com, I can see you anytime I want. Photo by Amazon.com

Besides JumptheSnark, I have a new best friend. It's www.hulu.com.. I freaking love it. The site came online Wednesday but I heard about it a few months ago at a party where we were saying goodbye to some co-workers.

I didn't quite get how it worked but now i do. The site is a joint-venture between Fox and NBCUniversal. It has old shows and TV movies and I guess it was set up to combat YouTube. It's got a fan here.

Now here's the drag: It is advertiser supported. Meaning that you'll have to sit through 30 second commericials but that's OK with me because I understand the need.

It's fun to see their catalog of old shows such as "Mary Tyler Moore," which I watched the pilot and hadn't seen in years. The theme song cracks me up and the thing that sets me over the edge is the woman in the kerchief who watches Mary throw her beret up.

Tonight I watched the pilot of "Fame" and was shocked to see the number of people who were seen in the pilot as extras. Like this lady. And this guy. But THIS was the most shocking.

I can see more hours of my life being wasted in the future, and I'm OK with that.

A tale of two men

Poor Jonathan. You were so close. Poor Chet. You tried. CBS.com

This one of the most interesting "Survivors" so far. It was crazy. First Johnathan had to leave because of his nasty and infected knee. Then the had two of the most complex challenges but in the end, the person who needed to go, left. Chet was tired. Worthless and sad. And LORD I couldn't stand to see him in those droopy drawers anymore!

Johnathan fought like hell to remain in the game. He argued with the doctor but when girlfriend said he could lose his leg, that was pretty much it.

However, I need to "talk" to three people. Cirie, Tracy and Amie. You guys need to band together quickly. I don't think you know it, but you three NOW have the power to control your tribe. Amanda and Ozzy think they are running things but if the three of you get together then you'll have a shot. I hope you realize that.

Hot stuff here

Oh Tyra, you and this show is truly larger than life. Photo by CWTV.com
This is like the BEST. SEASON EVER!

We see Dominique is thrilled and overconfident from being spared from elimination last week while Lauren is a little shocked why she's still there. Fatima is just Fatima. Ick.

This week's early challenge: Taking quick change lessons from Miss Jay. Of course they run and scream and run and scream some more.

Fatima ticks Miss Jay off by not changing competely. The girls then have to do runway walks in front of Miss Jay and the firemen who look pleased as punch. It made me feel sort icky because they were oogling these girls. Don't they like have WORK to do?

Claire does fantastic and so does Whitney. Dominque thinks she's the stuff and Whitney gives the classic line "I know drag queens that walk better than Dominque."

Miss Jay hates Fatima's walk and is fearful of Lauren who looks like she's running away from the mall. Miss Jay helps her and then Amis does HER walk and it's more skipping than walking.

Claire and Aimee get into a who needs to pee and who needs to shower. Finally they gang up on Aimee and Marvita leads the charge of "Let's attack Aimee." But she winds up looking stupid.

Later, it's another Tyra mail (I hate that they all gather and read aloud. It's so second-grade).

Bryan Bradley stops by and the girls have to walk in a Tuleh fashion show. It seems so very runway this week.

And then Miss Jay introduces the girls to Jaslene and Ann Shoket of Seventeen magazine. Jasline actually looks great!

The winner of this challenge will be with Jaslene in a Lot 29 advertorial. Dominique weighs in and I'm betting she's goign to fall on her face.

I then notice that Dominique has a new more golden hair color and it looks better. Miss Jay kicks off the show and then the modeling begins after some Italian chatting. Stacy Ann was first and she looks GREAT! Whitney was good and then her boob pops out. Lauren comes out and she looks bad and scared.

Kat looks great and Fatima looks as if she's ready to catch the bus. Dominque and Marvita are awful. Claire is great and Amis is put in this Jackie O esque coat and it looks bad.

Aimee was great. Kat looks great. Jaslene ask Lauren if she wants to be there and says she's very disappointed. Of course she starts crying in the confessional but she holds it together while with the other.

Kat wins the challenge (Claire was ROBBED!) Kat picks Aimis and Marvita to be in the photo shoot. Why? I don't know.

At the photo shoot the girls look half-way decent. Marvita looks extra girlly. Jaslene shows the girls how it's done and it looks wonderful.

Lauren's self esteem takes a hit and keeps talking about what Jaslene said. She needs to get over it.

Wow, it's ANOTHER Tyra mail? This time the girls are off to a Meat Packing District. Mr Jay shows up in a ugly old coat. And he tells them that they are going to be wearing meat. Whitney tells the audience that she eats steaks so it won't bother her to actually put it on. My question: What happens to the meat when they are done?

Fatima poses and it looks not too bad but not great. Kat brings her A game and then Stacie Ann struggles.
Whitney is OK. Marvita comes out ready to kick some _ meat.

Lauren looks more ticked than model-y. Dominque takes some risqus and then its on the meat and it doesn't look too bad. Aimee feels uncomfortable and it shows. Aimis is grossed out and then looks like a hot mess.

Aimee feels like she might be a target. Dominique is sure she's staying. Lauren is a little nervous because of the runway thing. Amis is still sleepy and is dragging. She looks awful. Like homeless, begging for quarters awful.

After the break, Tyra sings and it's awful. But we knew that already!
And then it's time to see the photos. They stank. It was really bad, bad. Whoever came up with this challenge needs to be fired.

I didn't like a single one. Claire looks awful.When Lauren comes for judging Miss Jay busts her for bad walking. She's this season's Heather.

And so, then Tyrant (yes) unveils the top 8: Anya, Whitney, Kat, (and she gets a directive of putting in a bun), Claire, Dominique, Stacie Ann, Lauren and she gets the directive of work on her runway walk, Marvita, Aimee. And then we have the bottom two: Fatima and Aimis. Amis gets dinged for her craziness and Fatima gets dinged for modeling from the waist down (WTH?).

Amis gets the boot and Fatima cries. Amis looks like "yeah, whatev."

Episode grade: B

It's a different world....

No, this isn't the cast of the CW's latest Pussycat Doll clone. Instead, they are the cast of "High School Confidential." Photo by WE Network


I don't have the WE Network on my Cox Cable. But I wish I did. Why?

Because based on a documentary I managed to get my hands on, they air some pretty good shows. I used to joke around that WE and its cousins "Lifetime" and "Oxygen" only aired those "She was in peril" movies. You know the ones: C-list/washed up actress plays/wife/sister/mistress/slut/ has a stalking/drugs/alcohol/ problem and is being stalked/abused/lives past life and then finds help/redemption/a gun and moves on with her life.

"High School Confidential" changes all that. It's a documentary and sometimes real reality show about these group of girls who attended school in Kansas from 2002 to 2006. It's quite fascinating. I've never been a girl but I had NO idea what some of these girls go through nowadays.

If you can get your hands on it, I suggest you watch. If you work with me (you know who you are) ask me for it.

Why I didn't watch "The Wire"

He's fiiiiine. I should have watched. But I just couldn't - yet. Photo by HBO.com
At work today, my co-workers went on and on about how wonderful last night's episode of "The Wire" was. I was on the phone with a friend back east and "The Wire" came up.

I had heard it was going to be about the newspaper business and although I really wanted to watch, psychologically I wasn't ready.

Every day I see reports of newspapers downsizing and talented journalists leaving the business. For me, it was hitting too close to home. Where I work, we've been under severe stress for weeks now.

Only recently I've begun to feel normal again. I've hidden it well but it's kept me up at night. It's made me worry for my friends. It's made me sick inside. It's made me have scarydarkhorriblemeannastytooeviltotalkabout thoughts.

I turn to TV to get away from my troubles and not remind me of them. And while it's important to watch good drama no matter what, I'm not ready yet.

But don't let this blog fool ya.

I'll be Netflixing it. For real.

He's fierce! Betta believe it

Christian. We love you. You are FIERCE! Photo by People.com

First. Watch this clip.

You back? Good.

Hy-STER-CAL.

Loved this season of "Project Runway" although Christian was entertaining, Jillian should have won. Her clothes were just way better! In fact, I'm a little disappointed with the reality tv of most of the TV shows ("Survivor" excluded) on network TV.

So in an effort to expand my horizons, I've added some new shows to my roster.

Don't be shocked at what you read below.

My new secret addiction: "Flip That House." I stumbled on this show en route to "Torchwood" and haven't watched since.

I am just fascinated by how well people upgrade these houses, but it also saddens me that they sink a ton of money into these houses and they just sit on the markets. Give it a try Saturday nights on TLC

My other new secret addiction:

"Unwrapped". Maybe it's because I'm getting older but for some reason, I'm just extra curious about how stuff works and how things are made these days.

Or I could be just a budding foodie. I dunno, but I plan to check out this show in a few weeks. Look for updates soon.

Cirie is my girl!: "Survivor"

Cirie is playing the heck out of this game. I swear I think she's going to win this thing. Photo by CBS.com


The thing about this game is this: Karma will get you. Last week, Joel worked to get Mikey B out of the game and this week it's his turn to get the boot. But I skip ahead.

Ozzy was pleased as punch that he found the immunity idol that he shared that with James, Parvarti and Amanda. Then the shocker: Jeff made the tribes switch. As a result the couples broke up. Jonathan, Eliza, Parvarti and James are now on the same tribe while Ozzy, Cirie and Amanda are now on the other.


The game continued with one of the hardest and brutal reward challenges I've ever seen. It was so bad that folks had busted lips and in Jonathan's case, a punctured knee. Joel dragged Chet around and poor Chet got hit in the head and dragged around like he was a rag doll.


James, Eliza and Jonathan and Parvarti are try to whip the fans camp into shape but they have their work cut out for them. At the immunity challenge things got really, really ugly quickly. The people had to throw rocks at tiles to break them they had to assemble a puzzle. Eliza helps to get the puzzle done really quickly. I remember that this is Eliza's strength.

Chet tries for his trib but Joel messed them up. And guess who got the boot? Yep! Joel who was soo shocked it wasn't funny.

NOOOOO. America! NOOOO!

Poor Danny Boy. You were fun while you were around. Fox.com photo

I'm not even home yet and I've been e-mailed three or four times from my East Coast Posse spoiling the results show of "American Idol."

The rest I won't even recap, but I was shocked that Danny Noriega was given the boot. The boy had sass, class and even purple highlights.

I was going to go down the gay conspiracy path but then I remember that David Hernandez is still in.

This was one of the best weeks of "Idol" ever as news broke out that DH was a stripper who danced nude for a "mostly male clientele." and that Danny had a few foul-mouthed MySpace videos.

Well since I've been spoiled, I just saved myself an hour of TV viewing. Now I can get around to "Project Runway

."

America's Next Top Model: The girls go to Wal-Mart

Oh Tyra: Product placement much? Logos from Wal-Mart and Apple Bottom

In the first few minutes of "ANTM" we got two blatant product placements: Apple Bottom Jeans and Wal-Mart. We also got a PSA for why anorexia is bad.

Can any other show boast this? I think not.

Some girls are standing out: Claire and Whitney. Others are standing out for the wrong reason: Allison and Fatima. Both for being byotches too early in the competition.

And Claire got her photo on Wal-Mart.com on the Cover Girl page.
Dominique and Claire bond over being moms and Dominque one-ups Claire with tears and a motivational message.

Something weird was going on tonight: The girls had random kerchefs, hats and such and then I figure it out. They were trying hid their new hair.

Finally the diva herself showed up with a fresh new wig and unveiled what they were going to do the girls hair. She tells them that the agent makes the decision. So today and Tyra told the girls that she's keeping the girls' makeup a secret. And then tells them they are getting a sexy new photo shoot.

I'm worried for some of these girls. Whitney because a blond with extensions and I'm not sure I like it. Aimee gets bangs and goes red. Marvita gets a horse mane hairweave. GAWD it looks awful.

Lauren gets long hair and she gets redish highlights. She's so clueless but at least she gets a makeover.

Miss Jay cracks my stuff up because they even gave him a blond weave too and it doesn't look that bad. And Claire OMG looks AWFUL. She's blond. Why is EVERYONE blond????!!

Can we have some sassy brunettes?

Alison gets goes red and she's looking Eva Parker-esque.

Dominque gets her hair cut off and she looks very Nicole Ari Parker-esque.

Tyra cracks me up talking about Stacy Anne and she chops her hair off. It doesn't look too bad. Fatima turns out the best of all with a long, dark weave. She looks like Iman's younger sister.

Then Elle McPherson stops by to promote her lingerie. Is everyone hawking everything???

He's won y'all. Let's move on

I feel sorta creepy being obsessed with a kid but this boy truly has talent. Photo by Fox.com

I swore this season I wasn't going to get sucked in by the "American Idol" machine. But danged if I'm not. While they are hyping this as the BEST. YEAR. EV-AH it isn't.

We have one good kid. David Archuleta who's so cute and adorable it's not even funny. The boy can sing and he's been in go-gabs of talent shows. He's even better than a few winners (Ruben, Taylor Hicks, I'm looking at you). And then you have everyone else.

It's like having a high schooler compete in a math contest with second-graders.

Over at the Bible AKA "Entertainment Weekly" they call this season "The most exciting race for No. 2!" and I'm inclined to agree.

No one comes close to this dude. See for your self right here. It's very young David when he was singing to the kids from the first season. He's the one in the yellow.

The women will sing tonight but I'm not watching because I have a date with Tyra and it's Makeover Night on "ANTM"

I can't wait to see what they do!

The best drama on this Tuesday is.....

The race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has been the most exciting thing on TV in weeks. Photo by Wikipedia

I normally try to keep this blog pretty light. But y'all KNOW I like high drama so tonight, my eyes were glued to CNN and MSNBC all night during the election coverage.

Have you all watched CNN lately? They have a whole studio devoted to election coverage and Jon King, who's I think covers the White House for the station, acts as No. 2 for Wolf Blitzer but Jon is stealing the show.

I dunno about the rest of you but Wolf has voice that reminds me of the most boring college professor ever. But Jon makes me pay attention because of his touch-screen maps and other interactive media available at his fingertips. It's pretty interesting when he comes on board.

At press time for this blog aka 9:54 p.m., CNN just predicted that Hillary Clinton won Texas Primary. If you get a second, check out this report on "60 Minutes" because they did a good job of portraying Clinton and you could see how bad she wants this.

I will admit, I did take a break from the political coverage to try to watch this show but it came across as boring as hell.