Of Mice and Men

Well, I've been doing this for three months now.  For the most part I've enjoyed every minute of it; that is until I got sick.  Ever since then doing this has seemed more like work and less like a fun little thing to do.  The main cause of this I believe to be the fact that my TiVo is constantly full; to the point that most nights I have to rush home and watch stuff just to make enough room to record new show that night.  Now this has been a long time coming between a decrease in the amount of free time I have, the amount of time it takes to actually write this, and the increase in time it takes to watch a show while taking notes; it feels like for every two steps forward I take I am also taking two steps back, and that is starting to burn me out.  So, getting sick was less the causation and more the final straw but it has lead me to make some temporary changes to the format around here.

So for the time being it's going to work like this:

1. Anything I am up to date on or only a few episodes behind on I will keep writing about as I watch it. (E.g. Amazing Race, Survivor, Raising Hope, Biggest Loser, New Girl)
2. Anything new that starts and I watch I will stay on top of. (E.g. Mad Men, Community)
3. Everything else I am going to try and watch as quickly as I can, and as soon as I am caught up to current I will then start writing about them again.(E.g. Justified-8 episodes behind, Alcatraz-12 episodes behind, The Office-8 episodes behind)   I still have left in my notes some show that were about Valentines Day, April Fool's Day is Sunday.  It was never my intention to talk about shows that were months and months old,  If that were the case I might as well be writing about Freaks & Geeks, and The Wire.
3a. If while watching one of these shows I am behind on. I find something that I want to talk about, I'm going to talk about it.
3b. If there is a show that someone asks me to keep writing about, even though I am so far behind, I will keep writing about it.  So if there is anything you want to still see my opinion on leave me a comment and let me know.

I think that covers all the changes.  Things should start back up tomorrow with looks at two week old amazing race and survivor, as I try to get caught up to current.  If you have any thoughts, or questions leave a comment let me know.

When I was sick Part IV

"Swing Into Action"  Air Date  3-13-12

I understand that sometimes people have to sit out to make the competitions even, and I find it to be an interesting twist that they let the other team pick who gets to sit out.  But I find it unfair that they don't pick the person to sit out until after the practice.  It gives an unfair advantage to the team with less people because they all got more time to practice than the team with more people even thought in the competition the teams will be the same.  Some one is always wasting the instructors time because no matter what the greater team will have one person who will never shoot in the competition.

There are two left handed shooters in the competition.  I'd say they are now the people I'm rooting for (you know in a show of left-handed solidarity), but I didn't write down who they were and I have absolutely no idea who they were.

As with pretty much every single challenge so far this season, the red team worked better as a team, while the blue team did a better job of actually shooting the targets.

I wished the jugs they were shooting at had been filled with something besides sand.  The sand just kind of plopped to the ground after the jugs were shot and usually one of the best things about this show is the incredible explosions that happen when things are shot.

If the blue team was so worried about Greg's performance, why did they have him go last and shoot at the target that was the farthest away? On that same note Tim did the worst in the red teams practice, why was he the last shooter for them?

The way that they showed Greg fumbling during the challenge led me to believe that the blue team would actually end up winning the challenge.  It's pretty standard for reality shows to try and pull the reversal of what they show in the previews.

The blue team didn't really beat the red team as much as the red team beat themselves.

Every week they air a commercial for the website where they sell merchandise for the show.  The web address is topshotshop.com, and every single time I see the commercial it makes me think of Bob Loblaw's Law Blog on Arrested Development.

You would think that shooting through the little window like they are at elimination, that they would have all ready drawn a beat on the first target.

See, these glass jars filled with water create a much better explosion than those jugs full of sand did.

The second time they did the elimination challenge they both shot better.  I think this  is due to them having the timing of how fast the wall was going to move down.  You could see them both struggling the first time through because they didn't anticipate how fast the wall was going to move. 

Iggy just fell apart o during his second run through.  It was kind of sad to watch.

"From the Top Down"  Air Date  3-12-12

This seems to be an interesting concept for a show, but I'm left wondering is it really necessary?  Any owner could install some hidden cameras and try and watch his staff to see if they are preforming up to par with what he wants done.

All the commercials for this show seem to use footage from this episode and only from this episode.  I wonder if that means something, like they changed the format or the show was rushed to air.

I was wondering how Willy was going to be able to see all the problems that the restaurant was having.  The answer: use plants!, but in reality it makes perfect sense.  I wonder if the plants are crew members and they will be the same at every different restaurant that they go to.  That would be kind of interesting, kind of like the secret diners on Ramsey's Best Restaurant.

I wonder what the actual time period is that they film the staff is.  Because in reality to do all this to the staff on one day would make it the day from hell for them and might end up skewing the actual responses that they would get from the staff.

It's interesting none of the other "fix-a-restaurant" shows have really focused on the front of house staff.  It's nice to see a different spin on the same old concept.

I think if he had shown the owner some of the footage, instead of just telling him about it, the owner might have had a stronger reaction to what was being said.

The girl she just threw a napkin at wasn't a plant, she was an actual customer.  Wow, that might be the worst customer service I have ever seen.

There not really leaving much time to fix anything.

The staff is treating Willy like he is a joke, which is kind of understandable, they have no idea who he is , or what he's doing there, plus everything he's doing is pointing out all the negative things they are doing at work.

Well, for the most part I found this to be an okay show.  It had some kinks that need to be worked out.  The pacing is a little bit off, the owner should sit with Willy so they are seeing what he sees and learning from him who to do it the right way, and Willy needs to do a better job of conveying the changes that need to be done to the staff at the end.

 
Episode 5 Air Date 2-6-12

Red says she wants Jax's birthday party to be small, just friends and family.  Uhhh...who else would you invite to a one year old's birthday?

If this show is only about cage fighters, you don't need to put "Cage Fighter" under everyone's name every time that they appear on screen.

The promoter sits all the boys down and tells them the honest truth, and then as soon as he leaves all they do is dump on him for trying to help them.  They all came off looking like spoiled children.

They never seem to put screen names on the people who I don't know who they are, yet seem to put up the main characters name ever single time they are on screen.

This episode is the first time I've noticed it, but Jax really looks like his father.

Is this fight over his birthday party really that big of a deal.  He's turning one, he won't remember any of it anyway.

Are shingles contagious?  If they are and he's been rolling around on the mats at the gym, everyone else that trains there is going to get them also.  Since they are stress related they probably aren't.

Really you're going to have your mommy call and tell them you are sick?  What a little child.

Ugh, don't try watching anything at MTV.com,  in this one episode that I missed the player has crashed twice and skipped ahead to the final segment three times.  It's frustrating crap like this that makes people download stuff illegally instead of watching it where they could online.

Wes missed the weigh-in because his flight was late and then he was still over weight.  Then they let him try and sweat the weight out.  My question is how long does a fighter have to make weight after the "official weigh-in" is over?  Is this standard practice or did MTV pull some strings so they had at least one fighter fighting this week.

Don't corner men usually get paid?  When Wes asked them to corner him they should have asked him if he wanted to pay gym fees like all the other people that they corner.

You know, "It's time to rattle the cage" actually isn't that bad of a catch phrase for an announcer to have.  He should trademark it before some one steals it from him.

I'm surprised the ref didn't stop the fight after Wes dropped the guy in the first round.  It seemed like pretty poor officiating on the refs part.

We're in the fourth episode and this is the first real fight that has had any drama to it.

I'm not surprised Wes ended up losing.  Between his head not being in the game and the tough weight cut he had to make, the cards were stacked against him.

"Leap Year" Air Date 2-29-12

Oh look, another holiday for The Middle to do an episode about.  I wonder how many different shows I'm going to watch this year that have a character with a leap year birthday?

The logo on the fast food bags was blurred out, but it wasn't the normal blurring effect that shows use.  It was just kind of always out of always out of focus, even when the bags were placed somewhere that it should have been in focus.  Strange, i wonder why it was like that, the show doesn't use actual products so it's not like they lost sponsorship from some company and were blurring out their logo.

I must say I have never noticed the kitchen floor in the Heck house before, but for some reason it constantly jumped out at me.

"On the Wings of Love" Air Date 3-14-12

There were lines drawn in the sand for the competitors to go to and essentially hit their mark.  Out of all the domes they have done this is the first time that I have noticed this.

This was a pretty stupid dome.  It was basically the same thing as the one where CT went home last season, except instead of it being run in an X, this time it was just a straight line.  This made it into nothing more than who could do the 50 yard dash faster.

If you watch closely you can see one of the producers come in and replace one of Ty's balls that have fallen off the rack.  I only bring this up because last season one of Adam's balls fell off and if I remember correctly, it basically caused him and CT to go home.  So, I wonder who the producers wanted to win this challenge.

They should have been checking each other every single time they passed one another.  Because they didn't all this was was a narrow boring race.

Also, with all the previews they have shown all season long of a black guy getting blown around by a jet engine, this dome was pretty much given away before it even started.

Again, they do a poor job of explaining the rules of the competition.  Do they have to set the stuff back up on the other side of the jet? If it's a timed comp how is it judged?  Do the different items have a different point value or is everything worth the same? If it's all worth the same they should move the little stuff first since you can carry a bunch of it for quick points.

For as much as it seemed like CT didn't want to ruffle Johnny's feathers by throwing him into the dome, CT had no problem making him go first in the challenge.

I wonder how much jet fuel was wasted to do this challenge.

Did it seem like the jet ramped it up when it came to the parachute part?

The Dummies were the hardest thing to move, were they told that each team member had to move one of them.  Because it seemed like that is what ended up happening and some of the teams could have shaved off some of the time if only one person had done both dummies.

It's a stupid move on CT's part sending Mark & Robin into the dome.  They are by far the weakest of all the teams left and at this point in the competition it only makes sense to take an easy team to beat to the final.  I understand CT motivation in only wanting teams that have proven themselves to get the money.  But if he ends up losing he only has himself to blame.  Especially when you consider this is two weeks in a row he has had the option of putting Johnny & Camilla and Ty & Emily against each other in the dome.

Hasn't Mark retired from doing these show like three times now?  He's almost a professional wrestler in terms of doing retirement matches. 

But it is a credit to his character that he has done so many of these and never seen the inside of an elimination round.   I think this is mostly due to the fact that when the challenges started he was already seen as the elder leader figure and he is a nice guy so he was able to retain that role, where some of the other older players like Coral got left in the way side by the younger players.

Continued again? Really MTV? Bad form.

When I was sick Part III

"One contestant wins a shopping spree" Air Date 3-13-12

It's about time they brought in the yellow line.  Now maybe all the secret alliance crap will stop and we will finally get to some real competition.

Emily needs to get out of her head and focus on the task at hand.  All she is doing by second guessing herself and worrying about being on the outs with the other contestants is setting herself up for failure.

Having both green team members standing next to each other in the ice rink challenge gave them a hugely unfair advantage.  It was obvious that as soon as they realized it was going to continue to be a stalemate they would work together and end up winning.  Is Conda so influential that she has the producers doing her bidding now?

As soon as Jeremy opened his prize I knew he was going to give it to his sister, even though there were better prizes he could have taken.  It would be poetic justice if he was below the yellow line by one pound and he gave up the opportunity to take a one pound advantage.

When Bob was talking to Emily in her room in the background you can see all the pictures of her friends and family that she has hung on the wall and right in the middle of the pictures is  a picture of the cast of the office.  It just struck me as odd that it was there and I couldn't decide if she put it there and somehow gets inspiration from it or if it is something NBC put there as some kind of subliminal messaging thing.

I don't think that Bob was able to get the break through he was hoping for with his talk to Emily.  But I do think that the weight lifting training that she did with Bob right after that was just what she needed.

It was interesting, the very second Jessica Simpson was visible an ad for her new show popped up in the bottom corner.  I just found it funny that they couldn't have been more blatant about their self promotion.

I wonder what they would have done if Jeremy had kept the shopping trip for himself.  Would they have had the male judge of the new fashion show be the person he got to meet? or do you think he was "encouraged" to give the prize to a female, because it didn't look like there were any male clothes at the shop they went to.

Rock walls should have a bell at the top of them.  It would have been more satisfying for Kimmy to have had some goal at the top of the  wall instead of just reaching it and looking around like she did.  A simple bell to ring is all that would have been needed.

They never showed anything with Emily and the phone she won in the Ice challenge.  You'd think they would have used it to try and get a heartfelt moment into the show, or she would have tried to use the phone to curry favor with some of the other contestants.

The contestants are now in the individual portion of the show, yet when they went into the elimination room they still stood by their trainer separate from the other team.

They've switched from weighing in topless or in a sports bra to weighing in with their shirts on.  That's usually a sign that the show is winding up, but there still seems to be a lot of people left.

I wonder if it will be Kim or Emily who has to weigh in last, since they are the only two that seem to be guaranteed to go home if they are under the yellow line.

If I were on this show and it came time to weigh in, I think the last thing I would do is go up to the scale wearing all sorts of jewelry.  Emily had a necklace, giant earrings, and a huge ring on, and while I'm sure they didn't weigh much they had to weigh something.

I'm glad to see that NBC is pushing Community as much as they are.  There have been commercials for its return during a number of the commercial breaks tonight and I don't believe I have ever seen a commercial for it before.  Watch it it's a good show.

Could the other contestants clapping for Emily have been more patronizing?

The way they were acting you would have thought that they pink girls were life long friends that were being separated, not strangers who just met two months ago.  

With the amount of double speak that Mark just laid down at the elimination ceremony, after he leaves the ranch I see a future in politics for him.

I bet Emily is regretting throwing that weigh-in a few weeks ago.

With Emily leaving, I'm running out of players to root for, and I am slightly tempted to give up on the whole season.  The only things keeping me with the show is an internet rumor about a walkout and the knowledge that contestants who are big time game players are always the ones who end up gaining the weight back.

When I was sick Part II

"One Meatball Stands Alone" Air Date  3-8-12

Mike tells Gianni about him and Nicole then he goes upstairs,  as he passes the mirror he lifts his shirt to get a good look at his abs.  What a Douche.

I wonder if they have to call in a deep cleaning crew like they sometimes have to on the fix-a-restraunt shows to clean the house after they leave, because from the looks of it there is filth everywhere.

For the past two seasons of this show there has been one and only one running storyline and that is Mike and Nicole and what really happened before Italy.  They have been building to this ultimate confrontation and conclusion and what happens? Gianni hears about it and then goes and takes a nap and then later Mike and Nicole have a food fight.  Talk about the most underwhelming outcome, it was like buying fireworks and after lighting them having them all be duds.  The only way this should have ended is with fisticuffs and a trip to the hospital.

Did Vinny and Pauly not go camping because they didn't want to camp or because they wanted to pull this prank, either way it should be a classic prank that can't be topped.

Did they go and ask Danny for help or for permission?  I'm pretty sure he owns the house that they are living in, so they might have needed his okay before moving everything around.

Well, it didn't take them long before they had completely trashed the woods.  What a bunch of savages.

Was anyone else kind of hoping they all got eaten by a bear.

 "Love and Marriage"  Air Date  3-7-12

I really don't like it when shows do the whole flash forward flashback thing, where they show something that happens later in the episode and then rewind to the beginning and put a graphic on the screen saying something like "24 hours earlier".  It's basically a warning sign that the producers are telling us the first half of the show is going to be boring, but stick with it because after that there are going to be fireworks.  They did it the other week on walking dead, "yeah, they are going to the school bus parking lot, and there will be a lot of talking, but stick with it because soon ZOMBIES!!!"  and all it did was take away the element of surprise when the zombies showed up.  It just smacks of poor storytelling whether its a reality show or a scripted show.

They seem to be letting the contestants leave the house an awful lot this season.  Usually there are never any scenes where they are out of the house and this season it seems like they are going out every night.

Well I guess they didn't spoil the ending in the first episode.  But it did give away far too many of the teams that went very deep in this competition.

 That's a lot of cake they had to eat.  For as body conscious as most of these people are it has to be more sugar than they normally eat in a month.  It might not seem like much but trust me, they will be feeling the effects of eating that much sugar in one sitting.

The challenge would have been better if they had to get married at the end of the competition. 

If you know that you are going to go in next time unless you win, wouldn't it make the most sense to put the strongest team possible in this time.  If they come back you know that they had planned to put you in next anyway, and there is the possibility that they might get eliminated.

I think it is one of life's unwritten rules that if you are about to do something and you think to yourself that what you are about to do might be offensive and racist, don't do it because more than likely it is offensive and racist.  And it doesn't help your case if someone from the race that might be offended says its okay.

If I were Ty i would have been more offended because what they did wasn't funny. Putting chocolate pudding on your face to pretend your black is one thing, after doing it, then doing nothing but walk around is another.  It's like on Seinfeld, Jerry wasn't upset that his dentist converted to Judaism just so he could tell Jewish jokes, because Jerry was a Jew, Jerry was upset because he was a comedian and his dentist wasn't funny.

I watched this episode about two weeks ago, but my TiVo cut off the ending and I had to wait for another airing so I could see the end before talking about it.  They finally aired another viewing of it and what did I miss?  Them cutting to black and the screens saying "To Be Continued."  Thanks a lot MTV.

When I was sick Part I

Well I'm back and feeling better, I've got a glut of show to talk about (I think 34 in total).  The best way I have though to get through this immense back log is to do double posts until I've worked my way through all that I've watched.  So if everything go according to plans I'll post once around 1 P.M. and then again around 7.  I had originally planned to have one post be old stuff and the other be current and then I realized that I would end up skipping over episodes I had watched and taken notes on to talk about newer episodes I had watched E.g. If I was doing it this way today I would talk about the episode of Biggest Loser I watched last night but would still have last weeks episode to talk about.  Hopefully I will be able to burn through this rather quickly and it doesn't turn into a vicious circle where I constantly adding more things to the backlog than I am talking about.

"Me? Jealous?" Air Date 2-8-12

I don't know why but for all the shows I watch this one is the one I have the hardest time writing about.  It always seems like anything I would write is either retelling a joke from the show or criticizing minor details that feels more like nit picking than anything else and it's one of my favorite shows and I hate doing that.

The scene in the restaurant with the DJ must have been shot in an actual diner because they were shooting from outside through the window.  It was barely visible but if you looked closely you could see the reflection of the glass.

I'm glad the episode came together as well as it did, because it didn't look like it would get there until the very end and the show is the best when they intertwine all the story lines.

"The St. Valentine's Day Maxssacre" Air Date 2-8-12

Man, the jokes were so rapid fire in the first few minutes of this episode they probably had more in it than most sit-coms have in a whole 22 minutes.  I like that about this show, it feels like they are real friend sitting around talking and cracking wise on each other not your standard show where no one talks over each other and the next line isn't spoken until the laugh track stops.

I found it amusing that all of Max's prices were $69 except the spa package which was $169.  I like the way they portray Max as gay but still an immature idiot male.

On the side of Dave's food truck in very small print was the web address for his company.  www.steakmehometonight.com, so obviously I had to pause the episode and go check out the web page.  I must say they have done a great job of making a truly amateurish hack web page.  I always love silly little viral stuff like this.

"Dangerous Beauty"  Air Date 2-8-12

Pretty smart of SyFy to cross promote the start of the second season of Being Human by having one of the actors be a guest judge on Face/Off.  And he was really into it, usually guest judge actors don't really care too much about these competitions.  It was nice to see how much fun Sam was having with the whole thing.

I thought all the werewolf makeups were really well done.

If you have immunity you shouldn't have to compete in the challenges.  There is no real advantage and if you end up paired with a poor performer all that will happen is your stock will end up lowered.

Where do you even go to get a Rhino?  It's not like you can call a pet store and order one.

There were more options as to what animal the teams could pick than there were teams.  This wasn't the case  in the challenge with the sneakers.  I don't like it when shows are inconstant with how they work challenges.  I wouldn't care which way they did it either always have extra or always have just enough, but pick a way and stick with it.

Because they have to incorporate the flowers into their design the guys that picked the chameleon would seem to have a natural advantage.

Beki is doing everything that Sue wants her to do, the way that Sue wants her to do it.  I don't see how Beki could be sabotaging her.

That snake is a hot mess.

The spider looks like it has rolled up poster board for talons.  I don't know what they were thinking, but it didn't come together they way that it should have.

The judges were hard on all the contestants.  It was a hard challenge to incorporate the flowers into the animal design and the judges were critical of every way that the contestants attempted to accomplish it.  I'm not exactly sure what the judges were looking for.

You are not really being thrown under the bus if everything that is being said is both true and accurate.

Athena was the right choice to send home.  She has been one of the weaker people since the very beginning and the only reason she made it this long is because others kept messing up worse.  There was no possible way that she was ever going to win this show, 

Postponed

I'm super sick.  I don't even want to sit up let alone write this blog.  So I'm postponing things around here till I feel better.  If I watch anything I'll take notes and talk about it when I'm feeling better.  In a perfect world I'd wake up tomorrow feeling fine, but I'm thinking it will be more like late Sunday or Monday before I'm posting again.

Monday Mar. 12th

"Anna Maria's" Air Date 2-22-12

This is by far the dirtiest restaurant I have even seen on one of these shows.  There was just filth everywhere, it was so bad I almost had to shut it off and stop watching.  The celebrity on these show always seems to be digging his fingers into things I would never touch and they are able to do it without even the slightest hint of acknowledgement of how gross it is.  For Robert to be gagging and throwing up just shows how vile that kitchen was.

If you have a professional cleaning crew there, why would you hide another bad room from everyone?  You have already been brow beaten and taken your lumps for having a filthy kitchen, why not get everything back up to snuff?

Even after the cleaning crew had finished nothing really seemed all that clean.  At best I would say the place was now at average.

The whole thing were they only have two days to do all this work adds nothing to the show, it just puts extra pressure on everyone for no real purpose.  Sure it makes it a challenge for Robert and the design team, but so would only giving them 5 hours but that wouldn't make the show a better show.

I don't like the wall paper that they hung up.  It's just too busy and seemed cheap and tacky.

"A Mind With a Heart of its Own"  Air Date 2-21-12

The jokes were coming fast but they didn't seem to be as good as normal.  Something about them seemed to fall flat.

My parents have an in-ground pool in there back yard and I always wanted to attach a zip line from the roof of their house to the back fence and zip line down into the water.  I only say this because after watching everyone on the show crash into the tree after using the zip line, I can safely say that more than likely I would have killed myself trying to zip line into the pool.

The sad two person zip line cracked me up.

This season the show seems to be grounded a little more in reality and that is not a good thing.  It worked because it was so quirky, not in spite of it.  I hope they right the ship because what was once one of my favorite comedies so far has only been middle of the road.

3-12-13

I really didn't pay much attention this week.  Nothing important seemed to happen.  For being as close to Wrestlemania as they are, you would think everything would be going in high gear.  From what I've heard Vince keeps flip flopping on different things that are in the works.  I think this above anything else is what is making the show seem so lacking lately.  Maybe it's time Vince retires.

I would be okay with a heel thug Cena.  Keep him in the upper mid card and i suppose you could even let him be an anti-hero if you wanted, but don't let him be the company's main focus.

They cut away from the in ring action a couple of times through out the night to basically advance the story lines that are going on.  I hate this, all it does is tell the audience watching at home that the wrestling doesn't actually matter and as soon as they realize even the producers think the product doesn't matter they will stop watching.

Recording 3-13-12:

Raising Hope
The Biggest Loser
Cougar Town
New Girl
Breaking In
Justified
Top Shot
Storage Wars: Texas

Sunday Mar. 11th

Better Angels Air Date 3-11-12

I liked the zombie hunting squad at the beginning of the show, it was a good way to show characters grieving and working through their anger while still being productive.  But more importantly they were all finally using weapons wisely.  Everyone was armed with a gun in case of emergency, but was using a blunt or bladed weapon to dispose of the walkers they came across.  It's about time they started acting like they need to conserve ammo and also make as little noise as possible.


Shane wants Carl to keep the gun so that he can protect himself when Shane is not around.  If this wasn't major foreshadowing I don't know what is.

Lori can't keep her mouth shut.  What good did it do telling Shane any of that.  She knows he's border line psychotic.  She was the one warning Rick that Shane thinks the baby is his, and now she's telling Shane she doesn't know for sure that it isn't his.  Talk about sending mixed messages.

 They know that Randell went to high school with Maggie, so he has to be a local kid and at least somewhat familiar with the area.  That being said, what good is it really to drive Randell a hour away and dump him? Just thinking about it if you took me to my home town, blindfolded me, and drove me in any direction for an hour, it wouldn't take me long to figure out where I was and how to get back home.  It's not like they are going to black out all the road signs along the way.  The only reasoning they could be trying to use is Randell might decide it's not worth going back or he might not make it back.

The way Randell is talking to Shane after Shane says he wants to join Randell's people makes me think that Randell isn't as lily white  as he was making himself out to be.

Killing Randell so soon makes Dale's death even more meaningless.

It is very interesting to watch Shane's decent into madness.

Okay, lets say for arguments sake that Shane is telling the truth.  the four guys go looking for Randell and split off into teams of two.  What happens when one of the teams find him?  How do they get in contact with the other team? Were the others just supposed to search all night until they found the first team?  Again I say they need to find some Walkie Talkies, and while they are at it they should probably teach everyone how to hot wire a car.

During the final scenes the producers did an amazing job of using the environment and onset of night.  The change from dusk to moonlight and the use of the fog in the background was just perfect.  ( A funny side note: I watched this last night, and then I rewatched some parts of it right before I started to write this.  After I finished watching the ending for the second time, I got up to close an open window and when I look out the window the sun had just set and there was the same level of dusk and the same general coloring on my lawn as in the last scene.  It kind of freaked me out a little.)

I think it's pretty safe to say that the whole ending of this episode is Lori's fault.  They are making her much more unlikable in the show than she ever was in the comics.

I wonder when Rick knew what Shane was planning on doing.  I think it was pretty early on and Rick knew he had to see it through because if he didn't the whole situation would just continue to creep back up.  I also think Shane was trying to bait Rick into doing something first so that Shane could justify his action to himself.

I found the scenes with the quick cuts and the zombiefication of Shane to be weird.  Are we supposed to believe that when you become a zombie the first thing you see is other zombies eating stuff and that is what gives you the driving force to go out and kill?  It just came across as odd.

I've watched the scene twice and I still can't tell if Carl drew his gun on Rick or if he only pointed it after Shane started to stir.  Also did Carl ever have any training with a gun?  That was a pretty great shot for a kid with little or no training.

Man things have ramped into high gear.  It looks like the walkers are coming out of the wood work next week.  Add to that they have basically figured out what the show has been hinting at for the whole second half of the season, that when you die no matter if you were bitten or not you become a zombie, and that really in all essence it is the living that are truly The Walking Dead.

Recording 3-12-12:

Monday Night Raw
Alcatraz
Being Human

Saturday Mar. 10th

"Judge, Jury, Executioner"  Air Date 3-4-12

If I was tied up and being beaten, while being asked about the other people I run with.  I don't think the first story I would tell the people who were worried about my friends, was about how we found some survivors and raped the girls while making the father watch.  I think I would go with more "they were normal people who took me in" and less "rapey rapey.

Talk about a moral dilemma.  If you kill the kid you instantly become no better than what you fear, but if you let him live you could be spelling doom for your entire civilization.  It's interesting Randell has become Ben Linus from Lost.  If any of the characters watched Lost I would think the decision on what to do would get a lot easier.

You would think Lori would do a better job of watching her kid.  The only reason they are even at the farm is Carl was shot when she let him go away from her, and the only other kid has just turned up as a zombie.  I don't think I know one single mother on the planet who would let their kid out of their sights after that, let alone have no idea that they are off playing in the zombie infested woods.

I liked the sentiment of the scene where Hershel gives Glenn his pocket watch.  It was nice from an "i approve of you and you have my blessing" standpoint, but it seemed a little too soon.  Glenn and Maggie are in this on again off again relationship,  even if Hershel did like Glenn you would think he would wait until they were on steadier ground before giving him a family heirloom.

If all zombies do is live to eat and are next to brainless in their actions, wouldn't the swamp zombie have fallen over to try and get at Carl?  Either face first into the water when Carl was across the river, or most definitely backwards at the knees when Carl was behind him.

Great job Carl, not only did you free the walker but you lost the gun, now there is a zombie with a gun walking around.  That's all the camp needs.

Does sending Carl inside the tent really accomplish anything?  It's not like he got sent to his room that is a floor away with doors and walls in between  him and you.  He's two feet away behind a thin piece of plastic.

The final scene of this episode was as shocking and intense as anything the sow has ever done and might be one of the most emotional scenes of any show this year.  But I do have a couple of bones to pick with it.  If the zombies skulls are so soft that you can stick a knife straight into it, would their fingers really be strong enough to rip open someones stomach?  Also if both of the walkers hands were that low down on his stomach wouldn't Dale have been able to push it off of him.  It also bothered me that they let Dale die thinking they had killed Randell,  it wouldn't have hurt them at all to tell Dale they let him live, even if they still end up killing him.

I might get into some spoilers from the comics, so if you don't want to know what is may happen skip down to the next show, but before that let me say if you liked Dale check out the comics he was always one of my favorite characters in the book and he lasts a lot longer in the book.

Well that was the biggest change from the comics yet.  It was shocking not only because he lives so much longer in the books but because of the impact that he has on so many of the other characters.  In the books Andrea is still a wreck over losing him and seems to go on living just to honor him.  If they never fall in love like they did in the books it completely changes her whole character.  The last few issues I read she didn't want to go out and meet anyone new because she felt it was dishonoring what she had with Dale.  It also takes away some of the importance of the Winnebago.  As strange as it may sound I was really saddened when the Winnebago gets destroyed in the books, it had become a character in its own right and now in the show I feel it could become just another vehicle.   If I were Steven Yeun who plays Glenn I'd be worried about my safety because it's obvious they have thrown the comic right out the window.

"Bust Me Right In the Head with It"   Air Date  3-4-12

I don't know if I hold the border patrol in the same regards that I hold the Marines.  One of them and I won't say which one tends to be closer to the Barney Fife of law enforcement.

The teams are putting too much emphasis on getting to the mat first making them a target.  If I have found anything to be true on the amazing race, being a good team will only get you targeted after all of the teams that no one likes have gone home.  Who ever gets the opportunity to handicap another team almost always uses it to  burden the team they like the least not the team that is the biggest threat.

For as big of a deal as they were making it out to be at the airport, I was expecting the delay to be eight or ten hours not two.  There have been numerous times on the race when vehicles  the teams have had to use have departed with a greater window than two hours.

Usually in the detour one option seems harder to accomplish but safer, and the other option is psychically  easier to do, but riskier to undertake.  Neither of the choices this week seemed like the easier or safer bet.  But I think I would have gone with the harp just to be inside and out of the heat.

Hey look, it's an actual clue box.  I guess they didn't get rid of them after all.  That makes me wonder why they used the saddle bags for the first few legs of the race.

The border patrol seemed to fly through just about everything this week and are way out in front.  Too bad that almost guarantees that the first thing that will happen next week will involve waiting for some place to open and that will allow all the other teams to catch up.

It's awful early in the race to have used the express pass, especially when you consider they drove all the way to the other part of the detour before deciding to use it.  Why wouldn't you at least try the harp challenge to see how it is before just giving up and using the pass.

Bopper always seems too busy talking to the camera to actually do what ever he is supposed to be doing.

For as difficult as that roadblock seemed you would think they would have had more benches there for teams to wait out their penalties on.

It seemed that the bottles they had to balance on their heads were stage bottles made out of sugar.  Half of the teams couldn't even get them onto their heads without the bottle breaking.  If they weren't fake bottles and they were actually made out of glass, wouldn't it be dangerous to make the contestants lay down on their stomachs in broken glass.

Sadly the bottle balancing would have been the perfect challenge for the clowns.

It took the FBI and country boys half an  hour longer to do the roadblock than it took Brenden & Rachael and the Jersey boys. 

When the marine and his wife were finally able to check in Phil told them that is was the first time a team hadn't completed a challenge and had stayed in the race.  Umm Phil, Boston Rob just called from the meat challenge in Argentina, he says HI!

Did Carrie and Stacy complete the bottle challenge or did the producers completely cut out any airing of their penalty?

The twins took so long doing the harp all the people in the background stopped playing music.  It reminded me of when Luke took so long drinking the tea.

For as long and as hard of a leg as this one was I thought this was going to be a non-elimination leg.

"Valentine's Day"  Air Date 2-14-12

I was just about to say Jess hasn't been as dorkly awkward as she used to be, but then she tried to pick up  that guy in the bar and ended up choking on his cherry after not being able to get it out of the glass.

I would totally date a girl that randomly does a Mae West impression.  I would also date a girl that can name their favorite Marx Brothers movie ( that last part has no real bearing on the show, it's just a heads up for all the single ladies who might be reading this).

The entire part of the show that takes place in the guy from True Bloods house was funny, but in particular where Schmidt was worried about youths in the neighborhood and Jess called him Officer Krupke.

Clark Duke is another guy that should be on a show.  I don't think he could carry a show but he would be great in the best friend role.

 
"Jimmy's Fake Girlfriend"  Air Date 2-14-12

I found most of the scenes where Burt and Virginia were trying out new hobbies to be very funny.  It's good to see that the show will let them remain loser idiots and show things like this as to how they remain in the position that they are in.

Frank has just the right amount of creepiness, any more and he would be too creepy any less and his character would be as funny.

I laughed at both the scene where they were playing paintball and when Burt was being a French waiter.

Wyatt's line about not seeing such bad puck handling since Pedro on Real World San Fransisco took a second to sink in but was pretty funny.

In the background you can see that the GED they got is hanging on the fridge.  i always like it when a show is continuously building on what has happened in previous episodes, even if it is such a little thing as a piece of paper on the refrigerator.

I liked that Burt and Virginia used things they learned earlier in the hobby montage in the end to help jimmy.  I didn't even realize it until after the episode was over and I was watching something else and there was a commercial for a Debby Boone CD, and it clicked that early in the episode they were in a Debby Boone fan club and at the end they were singing her song.

It was a sweet start to their relationship and over all one of the better episodes of the show.  The only thing that I found lacking was the level of interaction with Hope.  The whole premise of the show is how raising Hope has made their lives different and better and the last few episodes she has really been more of an afterthought.

"Late Night; Date Night"  Air Date 3-4-12

Tiffany put a hat on instead o doing her hair before they went to the late night diner. I found that to be amusing.

No one seems to be taking any notes on how to prepare the food.  One of these times thats going to bite them in the butt.

I like that they had to replicate two portions of the same dish and then create their own side dish.  Doing two portions takes it up to the next level but does so at the right increment, and creating their own side is the best way yet they have worked in the contestants doing their own thing while still learning from the chefs.

For the most part this episode bored me, I don't know if its the cast or the challenges or the slight changes to how things are done, but I found last season to be far more entertaining.

"Cut Ties"  Air Date 1-24-12

The last show that used language in a similar manner, where it was about what the character didn't say as much as it was about what they said was Deadwood.

This show does a great job of mixing episodic plots in with the serial plots, which is how I think life would really be in the Marshals.  At any minute some big thing could go down and call you off of the case you have been working on.  Most shows that do this are not able to make it work the way Justified does.

I was going to say something about the chief threatening the killer and how gun powder works and would disprove his story, but then I decided that the chief was bluffing and it didn't really matter.

It's nice to see some of the background characters step up and take more of a lead role in the show.  Both the chief and the black girl are usually nothing more than set dressing and it's nice to see them get fleshed out a little more.

Another new bad guy? This show just keeps piling it on and as long as they continue to do such a great job with the bad guys it will always be a good thing.  the only complaint I have is the actor who plays Mr. Limehouse  was wearing fake teeth and it was very apparent that the top teeth were fake because the bottom teeth were so perfect and white.

The only other thing that bothered me in this episode was it was a little far fetched that the killer was able to get in contact with the people who wanted the girl dead, negotiate the correct amount of money that he needed, get to where he was, and get them to give him the money before they got the girl, all before any one noticed the Marshall was dead.

Recording 3-11-12:

The Simpsons
The Amazing Race
Once Upon a Time
Bob's Burgers
Family Guy
The Walking Dead
Eastbound & Down
Californication
Shameless
Worst Cooks in America
House of Lies
Life's Too Short
Restaurant Stakeout
Breakout Kings
well there goes all the room I freed up on my TiVo.  I need some of these shows to start airing reruns.

Friday Mar. 9th

"Teams compete for coveted UFC contracts"  Air Date 3-9-12

This is the first time the show has ever aired live.  It will be interesting to see how it works and what they have had to change to get it to work.  Going from months of time to edit the show to less than a week is going to have to have some effect on how things are.

The entry fights are only one round.  They should all be explosive because the fighters have so little time to show what they are made of, but I worry about the fighters mindset.  No one ever trains for a one round fight and it looks like they only found out it was one round a day or so before the fight.

It's interestingly odd that there are no announcers.  I know that they have never had announcers calling the fight even when it was taped, but somehow it seems out of place when the fights are live.

Because the fights are only one round it's hard to judge some of the guys actual talent.  They seem to all be getting a quick finish, which could be skill or could be luck/mismatch or they are going the distance in which case the coaches don't get to see how they adjust in the next round.

As someone who falls into the 31-34 year old range I don't think there is any way I could live in a house with a bunch of 21-24 year-olds.

A few of these fights may have been stopped a little early, but I find that to always be the case in MMA.

Does the winners getting to watch all the rest of the fights give them an edge going into the house.

In almost every fight you can hear Faber talking about where each guy is from.  He is either really well traveled to know so many fighters or he really did his homework on all the guys.

Do these fights count as pro fights or are they amateur?  I know that on the original show they were all considered exhibition fights that way they were able to get around athletic commission rules that say results have to be posted online within 30 days of the fight, which would have spoiled the whole show.  But with the fights airing live each week that is no longer necessary.

You would think Harley would think twice about using the tag line "No Cages" while sponsoring an event where all the action takes place inside a cage.

That broken toe was one of the most cringe inducing things I have ever seen in a fight.  It might even be worse than when a guy gets his arm broken in an arm bar, because when that happens at least the ref stops the fight.  The toe broke and the fight went on for three more minutes.  And what heart and determination he must have to not only continue with a broken toe, but to continue to kick with that foot.  That was one of only a few fights that might have ended differently.

Half the fights ended in K.O. or Submission. So, 8 fights X $5,000 stoppage bonus, there goes the budget for this season.

There's no real way of knowing how things are going to actually work on the show until next week when the coaches pick their teams and the guys move into the house.



I also watched both Battle of the Exes and Jersey Shore, but MTV felt the need to air both show a little off schedule so the ending was cut off of both of the shows, so I have all ready scheduled them to record again and I will talk about them after I have gotten to see the whole episode.

Wednesday Mar. 7th

"One World Is Out the Window" Air Date 2-29-12

I miss the longer credits, it only takes a minute to show them and it really help to learn who everyone is.  We are three weeks in and I am constantly having to look up the names of different players in order to talk about them because the only person who has gotten any screen time this season is Colton.

I hope Leif has a really good social game, because he is always going to be the guy the guys tribe sits out of challenges.  And if the men keep losing it won't be long before his name comes up just to keep the tribe stronger.

I like that this season has brought back reward challenges.  It is something that has been sorely missing from the last few seasons. 

I wonder if they started to make the matching challenge easier for Troyzan and Kat after they had missed it numerous times.

I have yet to talk to or hear from anyone who isn't in 100% agreement that the men are completely right in expecting something in return for letting the girls warm themselves and have fire.  That is how society works, they have something you want (fire), you have something they want (fishing supplies and a boat), your options are to either share with each other or both go without.  It's ungrateful and selfish to expect them just to give you everything that you want and offer nothing in return.  Especially when you consider the guys offered to let you sleep over there the night before, thereby sharing the tarp they had won at the previous reward challenge.  I think the only thing that kept the guys from telling them to get the eff out was everyone is smart enough to know that the game is more social than anything else and no one wanted to be the evil guy to throw them out. The women are coming off worse and worse as the show goes on.  

The only person that can do the puzzle is also the person who does the calling.  That's a lot of pressure to put on one person.  They are two very different skill sets and you would have to thing that if you fail you will almost certainly be on the chopping block.

The idol this season is very silly looking.

You would think that the water falling on the blindfolded contestants would cause their blindfolds to come dislodged.

They need to put a barrier between the two puzzle stations.  The only reason the girls were able to catch up was because they were copying the guys completed puzzle.  You can see the girls in the back looking over and telling Sabrina where to put each puzzle piece.  All this did was make it a coin toss as to who could figure out how the last piece fit in.  While I don't think it was cheating, it left a bad taste in my mouth as to how unfair it seemed.

Bill may be a surfer idiot, but I don't think he could be correctly described as "ghetto trash".  It's hard not to think that Colton said that based solely on the color of his skin.

Jay is as least smart enough to realize the true reality of the situation and jump ship as soon as he could. I think that alone might prove to propel him a lot farther in the game than it looked like he would get.

What was Bill smoking before they went to tribal council?

Matt had to go first.  His arrogance had him all ready cashing the check and spending the million dollars, and he seemed the type that was more than willing to let others know that to be the case.  He seems the type of guy that has never not gotten what he wanted and was under the assumption that he would be able to walk all the end and win the game.  Also with the way he looked and the way he acted, he would be perfect if anyone needed a villain for their 80's high school movie.

After three episodes I'm enjoying this season more than I thought I was going to.  I don't see any alliance lasting and I see double crosses coming all season long, and after the last two seasons  where veterans bamboozled rookies to take them all the way to the end, that is a good thing.

 "Home on the Strange"   Air Date 3-6-12

 Those dolls looked like they would probably be worth more than 20 dollars a piece.

When Moe pulled out that brass thing and was trying to explain what it was, my first thought was it looks like an old train whistle.  On that same note when the boys pulled out the silver disk and were trying to figure out what it was my first thought was it looks like a Tesla coil.

I was way off in the pricing of that jewelry sign.  I thought it would be worth around $2,000 and it ended up being worth 8 and a half.

I wondered why the boys would drive 6 hours to get the Tesla coil appraised, and after seeing the giant one fired up I understand why.  But why would they drive that giant truck and take the trailer with them, its not like the coil was so big that it needed to travel on a flat bed.  The cost of gas to get there must have been outrageous. 

"Crossbow Crossfire" Air Date 3-6-12

Way to call out your alliance Greg.  You better hope everyone else is willing to stick with the plan of voting in the worst performer otherwise you just put a giant target on yourself.

Kyle always seems to be able to pick out what aspect of the challenge will be the stumbling block and works with his team to address it before the actual challenge.

The expert didn't pick who was the best on each of the teams, and as I think about it I don't believe they did it last week either.  I wonder if it is something they have dropped from the show.

I liked the way this challenge worked, continuously ramping  up the difficultly by adding more and more targets and adding an element of cutthroat with whom ever finishes first stops the other from scoring.

Greg seems to get flustered easily when put under pressure.  I don't know if that's something I'd want to see in someone who has been paid to defend my country.

Chee seems to be one of the better shooters on the show, by far the most underrated of the bunch.

The more moving parts and ability to create a fumbling moment the worse Greg is going to do at the elimination challenge.  He got lucky that it ended up being as simplistic as it was.

After that eyebrow raising show of bromance after the elimination challenge.  I wouldn't be surprised if Greg's team has lost complete faith in him.

Recording 3-8-12:

30 Rock
Parks & Recreation
The Office
Awake
Archer
Jersey Shore

Tuesday Mar. 6th

"The contestants swap trainers" Air Date 3-6-12

Man they are really beating these contestants with all sorts of gameplay twists and turns.  I can't recall a season where there has been so much standard reality show nonsense.

Okay everyone, Chism didn't die he just went home, and the only reason he went home is because he wasn't good enough.  No one needs to start making plans for a statue in his honor.

I laughed when everyone was so upset about the trainers switching and they cut to Jeremy who just kind of smirked at the camera and said he was cool with it.

They should just embrace the new trainers.  Nothing can be done to change the situation they are in and they might learn something new and different that they like and works just as well than what they are doing right now.

The fact that the winning team gets to be the only ones who vote will amp up the game play in the house.

I was worried about how much effort the trainers would put into training what is basically the enemy.  I am glad to see that both trainers seemed to handle it like professionals  and worked to the best of their abilities.

I think this would have been a good week to do a "if you accomplish "X" you get immunity, so the challenge would be to work with someone new, but if you could master it you were automatically safe.

Watch whenever Dolvett pulls someone aside and has a personal conversation with them.  He always goes into quiet voice.  It's starting to become laughable almost to the point where it could become a drinking game.

I liked that Dolvett made an effort to try and bond with Emily, but I had mixed feelings about Bob and Buddy.  On one hand it was an incredibly painful and emotional story Buddy shared and it will serve him well as a focus for maintaining  his weight loss, but on the other hand it seems very personal to ask someone to share such a story when they are basically a stranger.

I wonder if Bob and Dolvett sat down and did one on ones with all the contestants or if it was just those two.

The ballet stuff was a good bonding exercise, but I wonder what cost it played in their weigh in.  If the teams were switched permanently I think it would be a good thing to do, but I wonder of they had spent that time in the gym if the end result might have been different.

I don't like challenges that are 100% based on luck.  All it takes is one player who runs into a cold spot and can't find a weight and it sinks a whole team.  I also wondered how many weights were buried in the mud pit, were there only 80 so they had to find at least half or were there more, and how were they placed.  It seems like a challenge that the producers could very easily cheat the outcome of.

Conda would have been the very last person I would have tried to make a deal with.  The girl must be getting a horrible TV edit, because everyone there seems to like her and on TV she is coming off as about the worst person to have ever been on Biggest Loser.

I wonder if the producers are trying to keep Conda safe.  They basically set up the rules this week where there is no way that she could possible go home.  If she is on the losing team, the other team is made of all her old teammates and her brother. 

I liked that Jeremy was his own man and even though he is in an alliance with the other guys, he still voted the way he felt was the right thing to do.  Also by doing that he secured Conda's place in the game. If she is smart she can tell the black team that she got her brother to vote the way they wanted and so no matter who ends up in power she will be among them.

It was a decent last ditch effort by Casandra to try and play the "take the best to the end" card.  The only problems were, everyone knew she was secretly trying to get off the stronger guys and had the black team won that is what would have happened and more importantly there are still lots of strong people left.  Its not like this is the final elimination and the choice is between someone strong or someone weak and the voters went with the easier route, the game is only about half done.

Recording 3-7-12:

Survivor
Happy Endings
Restaurant: Impossible
Battle of the Exes
Face Off

Monday Mar. 5th

"Highland Anxiety" Air Date 3-4-12

Some pretty crappy units this week, I'd be upset if I had driven that far for the crap they got to see.

If you had come all that way would you really leave the auction to go and check on a unit that you had already purchased.  It always seems fake to me when ever anyone does that.

Barry always seems to buy lockers that have more stuff than he can handle.  He gets drawn in by the allure of how much potential is there without ever realizing how much work is also there.

In the end everyone  ended up with something interesting, that's not the normal outcome, someone usually strikes out, or finds something they think will be valuable but ends up worthless.

Jarrod now has an ace up his sleeve for when ever Brandi is harping at him.  All he'll ever have to say is "Remember that time you cost us $400 by bashing that jug into the wall".

"Enemy of My Enemy" Air Date 1-20-12

I like episodes that take place in the other universe.  They usually have some fun changes that are there just to be different.  Also whenever they are in the other universe the episode always seems to move the plot forward, it's a rarity that an episodic episode takes place over there.

I bet the actors love being able to play evil or different versions of themselves.    I'd have to think both Walter, because the two versions are so completely different and Astrid, who is basically exactly the same but coming at it from an entirely different angle are the ones having the most fun with it.

I have a slight confession to make.  Before I started writing this blog I used to watch this show on one TV while playing video games on another TV at the same time.  As a result I never gave the show my full attention.  I think the ending of this episode where it is revealed that Nina is working with the Shape-shifter leader would have been a bigger deal if I wasn't slightly lost in the plot because of my own lack of attention.

3-5-12

Santino won the US title tonight, you can bank on him losing it back to Swagger this Friday.  I'm not a big fan of hotshotting the title to build an angle that doesn't involve either of the people in the match.

I'm getting tired of Wrestlemania being called "the grandest stage of them all".  Just because you say it does not make it true.  It also rings of the over-hyping of any major event that seems to be happening more and more recently.

I've said it before and I'll say it again the champion should always come out last. Even if they are in a tag match, his partner should come out first and then the champion should come out last.  And if like last night both champs are in the match, the team of the champion whose home brand it is should be the team to enter last.

Bending the Rules, the new movie with Edge looks more like something you would see on USA or Spike, than a feature film.  Hopefully they will learn soon that they would be better off focusing on just being a wrestling company, instead of trying to conquer Hollywood.

They are in Boston this week.  The last time I saw a crowd that was this white they were in Green Bay.

 Recording 3-6-12:

Raising Hope
The Biggest Loser
Cougar Town
New Girl
Breaking In
Justified
Top Shot
Storage Wars Texas

Sunday Mar. 4th Part III

"The Truth Will Set You Free"  Air Date 3-1-12

If you were on a reality show and for what ever reason you got kicked off.  Do yourself a favor and don't go where they might be filming, it just looks sad and pathetic.  It was funny that they only gave Angelina about 3 seconds of screen time.

When they were leaving the club everyone seemed to split up to go home with some walking and others taking multiple taxis.  This made me wonder how many camera crews they have covering them.  Does each person have their own crew, are they only allowed to break off into groups that match the number of crews that are with them.  Like the other episode when the girls ran away from work, there had to be at least two crews there to capture both the girls and Pauly who stayed at work.

I hope they never plan to order from that bagel shop again, because after tipping the delivery guy with a protein shake mix you have to know that you're food is going to have spit in it next time.

I thought Nicole taking a water bottle full of Southern Comfort to work with her would have had more of a pay off than Ronnie busting her chops on the stairs.

How awkward would it be to be Sammy and have to make someone a "I heart single Ronnie" t-shirt? 

Hopefully with this episode all the talk of Mike's master plan will finally be over.  I was sick of it when they were still in Italy, just end it already.

Those were the crappiest looking rose petals that I have ever seen, I know they were fake but come on, she could have made better ones out of construction paper.

I liked that Vinny gave the guys a minute to make fun of his outfit.  It shows a level of realism that most of the characters on this  show are lacking.

As far as Mike's plan to tell the truth and expose everything goes.  On one hand Mike likes to stir things up for no other reason than because he can, but on the other if Nicole truly had nothing to hide she wouldn't be so afraid of Mike and rushing off when ever she is with her boyfriend and sees Mike coming.

They never really showed why Jonn got arrested while walking home.  If I thought the producers had the pull I'd say it was to drag out this story line, but I don't think they have that kind of pull.

I should have known they would stretch this out for yet another episode. 

"Tainted Love" 2-29-12

Having Rachel and Aneesa both be in the girls heat gives them a great advantage in this challenge.  They have the ability to double team everyone else and make sure they both get a ball,  also they only have the chance of being eliminated every other round where as all the rest of the teams could be eliminated every single time.

It's about time they had the winners of the challenge actually win something besides their safety.  I wonder why they stopped getting prizes for every challenge.

The first round of this challenge was the first opportunity all season to force a team directly into the dome.

What they should have done in the challenge was have it work in two round heat. Where each player would be awarded a score based on the position they brought the ball back in, and then after both the men and women had gone the team with the lowest combined score would be the ones eliminated.

Dunbar should have told Paula to try and get Ty to rip her shirt off in the club, that way Ty and Emily would have been sent home and they wouldn't have to face them in the Arena.

I guess this season isn't going to be another C.T. redemption story.

Yet another show where people are laying on mattress' with no sheets on them.  Maybe it's me but I can't stand the way it feels to not have a sheet on a mattress.

At first I thought Rachael and Aneesa might have had a better strategy getting both of them halfway up the course before going one at a time, but then Dunbar blew past the point they struggled to get to and I realized waiting at the start is a better strategy.  

Recording 3-4-12:

The Amazing Race
The Simpsons
Once Upon a Time
Family Guy
The Walking Dead
Eastbound & Down
Californication
Shameless
Worst Cooks in America
House of Lies
Life's Too Short
Storage Wars
Breakout Kings

Sunday Mar. 4th Part II

"Sharp Objects"  Air Date 2-23-12

The TiVo cut off the beginning of the show, so the episode started in the middle of Rogers fight in the bar. So any tension and drama that existed during it was lost on me.

I don't think I could lay down on a mattress that didn't have a sheet on it.  It's just gross especially if you consider that the mattress is in the room that everyone has sex in.

It looks like they have a book full of things to do.  You can see it when Deena is talking about going to the pier, it's a notebook full of cut out pictures.  I just think its interesting that they are still using what must have been a starter welcoming package to get ideas from.

Pauly's joke about the crabs are here would have been a lot funnier  if the producers hadn't stolen it to use for the bumper before they went to the pier.

For being at the shore the one thing that they never seem to do is actually go to the beach.

If I was Pauly, I think I would be renegotiating my contract to include extra security to deal with that crazy stalker.  I'd be surprised if that bag didn't have chloroform and rope along with that blanket.

I'm getting sick of the fact that the entire background of every single scene  is full of people taking pictures of them with their phone.  It's reached the point that its constantly going on when ever they are in public.