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6月19日 One Chef Makes Ramsay CrabbyOn last night's "Hell's Kitchen," Aaron folded for the last time and had to get dismissed for medical reasons. Joanna served some rank crab. Jen retrieved food from the garbage and tried to serve it. And Julia got grief for her background as a Waffle House chef who doesn't know stuff like what creme brulee is.
Given the choice between an inexperienced chef who seems to know what she's doing and ones who made mistakes that could result in lawsuits, I know who I would pick to boot. And Ramsay selected Joanna as the next to go. I chatted a little with her this morning, and here's an edited transcript of what she had to say:
MSN TV Blog: So Joanna, how's it going?
Joanna: Good, good.
MSN: Did you watch last night's episode? Joanna: Yes, definitely. I watched it here at FOX Sports Atlanta. I watch the show religiously every week.
MSN: So what's it like seeing all that go down again?
Joanna: It was fine.... It wasn't like a traumatic experience or anything. MSN: What was going on? Why didn't you smell that the crab was bad? Joanna: Well originally, whenever you're in a restaurant and you're prepping, sometimes you add ingredients, right? You'll mix something in with something else. I didn't realize whenever the crab was filled out, we always prep our stations out. And so you don't realize until maybe you come to the bottom of the batch that good crab was put on top of bad crab...or something like that. We had extra crab there but I didn't realize until we got to the end and when he got to the end of the barrel he smelled it and was like, "This is gross." It was an unconscious thing. If I could do it all over again, I would probably double-check the quality of all the ingredients before I go to my station instead of going straight to work and being frantic because we're under pressure.
MSN: How tough was the pressure on you guys while doing this?
Joanna: Like I said before, reality shows, I usually call them "lazy reality shows" like "Real World," where they just lay around the house all day or "Labor of Love" (sic) where they're just getting judged on how they look and how well someone likes their personality. In this type of thing, it's really a competition as well as you being filmed and you being edited to be on camera. So you're taking all those things into consideration while you're filming. You're not only looking at how people look at you but also how you perform in the kitchen.
MSN: So what was the toughest thing for you while you were in "Hell's Kitchen"?
Joanna: I think the toughest thing working usually with guys was knowing it was girls against guys. Of course, in the previous seasons, that's the way it was. I thought that maybe this season they would switch it around and make it co-ed, just team against team. But by them not doing that, I know working with girls can sometimes get tense. Everybody's in it for themselves. They all want to show their personality in addition to their skill and they don't really work well together as a team to begin with.
MSN: It seemed like a lot of the women were ganging up on you and ganging up on Julia. Why do you think that was?
Joanna: Really because people felt like we didn't hold our own in the kitchen. I think that's because they look at our background, where we're from. where we worked and they wanted to feel like their experience was superior to ours. When in all actuality, Jen's a pastry chef. She doesn't work with food all the time. She works with pastries. Also, Bonnie is a nanny, and she's previously been a waitress. They really didn't look at themselves. They just looked at what they knew about fine dining and felt like that's what people should be judged on, when in all actuality, it's a combination of teamwork, knowing the ingredients and actually being able to fulfill the tasks. MSN: One of the things you said in your earlier interviews was that you're going to try to flirt with Chef Ramsay to get what you wanted out of him. How'd that work out for you?
Joanna: Well, when you get in the kitchen, all girls think they are going to use their womanly wiles to gain everyone's affection. It usually works when I work with people one-on-one because I really do listen to them and try to mimic them as much as I can so I can try to do things the way they want them done. But when you have 12 people who are trying to do the same thing, it's hard to get that in. And when you get in the kitchen, there's so much pressure on you and when you're not getting any kind words, it's really hard to do that. MSN: What was the best compliment he threw your way, if any?
Joanna: When we were on our trip and we were all discussing people we see on TV in terms of TV chefs, he was saying about Rachael Ray and people like that, "Why can't you be like that? You could be the next Rachael Ray." It really made us think Chef Ramsay really looked up to us and thought we do have a future in the business because we had enough to make it this far. So the biggest compliment to me was Chef Ramsay and his team choosing us to be on the show and beating out all those other people in America who I'm sure are good chefs but this gave us a higher title and acknowledgement among them all.
MSN: What was your reaction to Aaron having to leave the show for medical reasons?
Joanna: Aaron could have done the competition. He just wasn't eating well. He wasn't taking care of himself. Being diabetic, there are certain things he needs to do to make sure he's in good health. He wasn't taking care of himself properly from the comments he was making. He was like, "If I eat, I'll get lazy and I don't want to get lazy for my team." Everybody has to eat to live. Yeah, you don't want to eat too much and get sluggish, but you have to take care of yourself and take your medicine and get the proper nutrition in.
MSN: When it came down to it, you were put on the chopping block going in. We thought Julia was going to be put on the chopping block, but then Jen nominated herself. What was your reaction to that?
Joanna: She had to do it. She had absolutely no choice but to put herself on the chopping block because I was going to put her out there. Being on the show, everybody knows I'm kind of mouthy or whatever. That's my personality. I'm not going to let people get away with murder. And if I know you've done something that should put you out there as opposed to Julia, then I'm going to let it be known to everybody. So that's what I did. She had no choice but to stand up for herself because it would have made it look like she was conniving or she were sneaky if she didn't.
MSN: Of the remaining competitors, who do you think has the best shot?
Joanna: I think in terms of getting the chef thing down, Bonnie has a really good chance because she not only has a little bit of knowledge -- which is kind of good, she's worked in a fine-dining atmosphere before -- but she also has the personality that will get along well working with a chef who has already established a restaurant. A lot of the other people on the show, you can see their egos are egoes of those not used to working with anybody. They're executive chefs. I think that made it a little more competitive that we all are already settled in our fields. We're not deli workers like some of the other shows. So I think Rock also is going to stand out in this competition and Julia is going to say a lot of those people who do work high-volume but not necessarily fine dining.
MSN: How has this experience changed things for you?
Joanna: This experience has definitely given me a lot of confidence about myself, but also some corrective criticism, things that I see in myself that I want to improve. Just like a big movie star like Denzel or Halle or Brad Pitt or Angelina Jolie, they watch themselves and see what different things they can do better the next time they go out. And definitely with me, with aspirations of being a TV chef and having my own restaurant, I see what things I would want to have in my restaurant and also I see what things in myself I would need to improve in order to have a show. It definitely helped a lot. It helped me have a lot more self-confidence about myself. - posted by Raoul Hilary=Tony Soprano?I don't really know what the Hilary campaign was thinking when they decided to parody the ending of "The Sopranos" to launch the selection of their official song.
I mean, the effort (which you can see at the link) is cute and everything.
Hilary sits down and starts flipping through jukebox . I ordered for the table. (It's carrot sticks instead of onion rings.) "No onion rings?" Bill asks. "I'm looking out for you," Hilary says robotically. "Where's Chelsea?" she then asks. "Parallel parking," Bill says.
"How's the campaign going?" he asks. "Like you always say, focus on the good times."
"So what's the winning song?"
"You'll see."
"My money's on Smashmouth. Everyone in America wants to see how it ends."
"Ready?"
And then the clip ends. (The choice, in case you care, is Celine Dion's "You and I.") But at the end of the day, why invite comparisions between Hilary and a vicious, sociopathic killer? Especially when half of America would prefer the vicious, sociopathic killer as president if they could have him?
- posted by Raoul 6月18日 More on Judd ApatowA little bit ago, I posted some thoughts about why Judd Apatow is such a runaway success when it comes to moviemaking (see: "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Knocked Up") but had been a commercial failure when it came to his TV creations (see: "Freaks and Geeks").
The New Jersey Star-Ledger put the question to the man himself. His answer essentially is that he doesn't know. Besides some of the possibilities that I listed, the writer and Apatow dropped a few other possibilities.
It could be the marketing. It could be that his stable of actors has gotten older and better, and therefore funnier. And it could be that writing about a group of people in their late 20s to early 40s allows for situations that you couldn't do as easily with high school or college kids.
It turns out that despite his big-screen success, Apatow says he would be willing to go back to TV if the timing and the vehicle were right.
TV should be so lucky.
- posted by Raoul Sunday TV RoundupA lot of old favorites and potential new ones debuted last night. Here are my quick thoughts about them, with spoilers, natch:
"The 4400": A decent start to the season, I think. The 4400 of the week was a kid who could turn people into devoted followers of him. We finally get at least a partial answer to the question of what Collier's power is: he can nullify promicin (at least to affect newly empowered people that have been given the nickname of "extra crispies" as opposed to "original recipe" 4400s). He's feeling some guilt, apparently, over the results of his giving promicin out. Shawn gets restored, thanks to Kyle. We see that Kyle has developed a power as well (to speak with future people, or to communicate with a split personality that's super-intelligent or intuitive, I'm guessing). We get an introduction to the new NTAC boss, who I guess is supposed to be flirty with Tom. How is it that people are supposed to be intimidated by a poster for "La Dolce Vita"? I haven't seen it, but I don't think it's that heady a movie. It's a shame that Alana apparently got written off the show by being exiled in the past somehow. And since when could Isabelle correspond with people from the future? Diana is coming back to Seattle to figure out what happened to her pain-in-the-butt sister. Given all these characters and plots to address, I think the episode juggled them all pretty well. But I still want the show to really raise its game.
"Flight of the Conchords": I was surprised at how much I liked this show. Jemaine and Bret are a goofy folk duo from New Zealand, and their putting together crazy songs as they go through life has tons of potential. I found myself laughing at their songs in this episode (including one about trying to hookup with a girl at a party, one about robots saying things like "affirimative" and having exterminated all the humans, and one about crying after a breakup), and the characters have a deep appeal. This one's getting Season Passed for sure.
"Entourage": It's done in the style of a "The Making of 'Medellin,'" and it was pretty well executed, there probably weren't all that many laugh-out-loud moments as I would like from the show. The one at the end, when Drama gets his cameo, definitely was enough to tide me over. I look forward to when the boys get back to L.A., because the show needs the interaction between the posse and Ari to work. As an aside, it seems that Perrey Reeves (Mrs. Ari) got her name in the credits and Debi Mazar (Shauna the publicist) got her name taken out. Is there some rule that there has to be a woman listed among the credits or something? Because it always puzzled me why Debi Mazar got that billing, and I doubt that Mrs. Ari is going to suddenly be in a lot more episodes.
"Robot Chicken Star Wars Special": It's funnier than the "Star Wars" parody that "Family Guy" has in the works, many because from what I saw, that seemed to follow the plot of "A New Hope" in a straightforward way. This one had gags that were all over the place, from The Emperor and Luke engaging in a "Yo Mama" contest to the phone call Darth Vader placed to the Emperor after the Death Star was destroyed to Jar Jar pestering the new Darth Vader by calling him Ani all the time. Obviously, not 100 percent of the jokes work, but those that did were pretty awesome.
"The Dead Zone": Oh my God, they killed Walt! Those bastards! I have to say that I didn't see that coming at all. I've missed a lot of episodes of the show because it seemed fairly formulaic. So I was sure that Johnny would save the day and protect Walt like he has so many other people so many times before. That he indirectly caused Walt's death by telling him that Purdy was going to die is interesting. Now the decks are clear for Johnny and Sara to hook up. The question is how long will that take. There's kind of a symmetry there, where Walt stepped in to raise J.J. as his own son, and now, presumably, Johnny will help raise Walt's child as his own. I also can't believe they killed Janus. I hope that the vision of Armageddon somehow returns because I can't believe that this huge organization that Janus represented would just go away after investing this time and effort into both Faith Heritage and Stillson. I wonder if they are really writing Bruce out, or if that is a red herring of some sort. And I don't know how much I'm looking forward to Johnny breaking in the new sheriff. It seems to me after years of documented proof of helping on police cases, it would be hard, if not impossible, for the new sheriff to be resistant to his help. I don't know if I like the "OMG! There's a new secret involving Johnny and Rev. Purdy" plotline that's introduced, because I think that's most likely a disappointment. Either it will be a bunch of red herrings that we'll chase around all season, or it will come from out of nowhere, or it will involve some character assassination of Purdy.
"Meadowlands": Like most drama pilots, this had a lot to establish. There's the son Eddie Foy and his family were involved in a serious house fire, and have moved to Meadowlands under assumed identities of the Brogan family. There's dad and mum Danny and Evelyn, smart-alecky daughter Zoe and weirdo son Mark. They've met some of their fellow Meadowlanders, including an overly aggressive copper, a gossipy middle-aged woman who stripped and masturbated for Mark's viewing pleasure, and Jack, who fancies himself as a Jack-of-all trades and somewhat of a womanizer who had his eyes set on Zoe. I didn't fall instantly in love with it, but I'm curious to see where it goes.
- posted by Raoul The 'Lost' Plane Crash Clip - Have You Seen It?"Lost" fans, check this out, a very cool clip compiled by a very devoted "Lost" fan, culling all the plane-crash related footage from all three seasons of the show and edited into chronological order. Wow. Your thoughts?
- posted by Kim Channel Surfing--June 18, 2007
- Jesse Martin is sticking around "Law & Order" next season, at least for a few episodes. - The big winners at the Daytime Emmys: "Guiding Light," "The Young and the Restless" and Ellen DeGeneres. The losers: The audience; it was a fairly lame telecast, made more so by the fact that "The View" women lost the host award and Rosie O'Donnell didn't attend. - "Heroes'" Claire will have a new boyfriend next season, and he'll have his own "cool" superpower, according to The Hollywood Reporter. - The New York Times points out that there are more and more middle-aged women ruling the airwaves of primetime these days. - The script for J.J. Abrams' "Star Trek" movie is finished, says co-writer Roberto Orci, who also confirms that Kirk will be a character in the flick. What's not decided, he says, is whether Abrams and company will cast stars or less familiar faces in the December 2008 movie. - A "Gilmore Girl" + a "Talk Soup" host = A new drama starring Lauren Graham and Greg Kinnear, who'll play the inventor of the windshield wiper. - Bob Barker is apparently giving a thumbs up to Rosie O'Donnell as his "The Price Is Right" replacement. - And here it is, a very thorough case for the theory that Tony Soprano was whacked in that controversial "Sopranos" finale. - posted by Kim 6月15日 TV TidbitsRachell Luttrell of "Stargate Atlantis" is preggers, and even as the writers will include her pregnancy in Teyla's storyline, they're giving Teyla more action sequences. Should be something to watch for because for me, Teyla's been a woefully underdeveloped character.
A WWE diva will apparently be a "Survivor." Let's see if she can outwit, outplay and outlast competition when it's not scripted.
An anthrax scare shut the offices of "Good Morning America" today.
One of the first shows NBC's new hotshot has picked up is a telenovela whose title translates into, "Without Breasts, There Is No Paradise." The original is about a woman who goes to all sorts of lengths, including prostitution, to get breast implants. I'm not thinking this will be much in the way of highbrow entertainment.
Congrats to Barbara Walters for getting her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
I caught the second half of the final Bob Barker "Price Is Right," and I felt that somehow they should have done more to bid him farewell at the very end. Maybe when I see the whole thing, I'll change my tune.
- posted by Raoul What's the Going Rate for Bribes, Anyway?I'm actually liking "Pirate Master" more and more as it goes along.
In last night's episode, we got to see one aspect of how it's different from "Survivor" play out: players can try to bribe each other.
To start from the beginning, Louie swears revenge against Joe Don for cutting his "brother" Christian adrift. I'm surprised the two of them bonded so quickly. I'm also surprised that he blames Joe Don. Sure, Joe Don put a black mark on Christian, but he didn't force Christian to waste time urging a mutiny that just wasn't going to happen this early on. And Joe Don didn't cast five votes for Christian instead of the relatively useless Joy (say).
Anyhow, the latest expedition involves going ashore, following a path. Both teams would be neck-and-neck, except for some reason, Alexis got out of her boat and was just slowly walking to shore. Was she just being a difficult/stupid fashion-industry diva or was she trying to louse things up for Joe Don? I can't really tell.
Louie manages to find the treasure, which means that he gets his wish of unseating Joe Don. I guess this is what we call poetic justice.
I do think that they have to make the expeditions more meaty. So far, they all involve just following a straight line and looking around a little. No hard work digging yet. No figuring out a puzzle beyond the most rudimentary map-reading. And it seems like the first crew to make it to shore just wins the expedition. There's not much opportunity to outplay other people. Indeed, the sabotage makes it so that the first team to make it there should win.
The new captain is Azmyth, which has to be a fake name, right? At least as fake as the annoying British accent he adopted on his ascension to captain. What's hilarious is that all these people, including host Cameron, call him on it. I think he needs to drop it or he'll face the first successful mutiny.
As things stand, Azmyth seems to be a fairer and friendlier captain than Joe Don. He splits the loot more evenly.
Azmyth picks Jay and Jupiter as his officers, and Jay continues to be loyal to Joe Don. So instead of him getting the well-deserved black spot, they nominate Alexis, Laurel and Cheryl.
But Jay's not so loyal that he doesn't try to work up a coalition to cast Cheryl adrift. He even gives Sean $1,000 to vote her off.
I really had my fingers crossed that it would be Cheryl who got booted. She annoys severely, both with her constant puffing up about her being a deputy district attorney and with her statement about her demotion that she'd have to mix with the common folk. But I have to give it to her. She gave a heckuva speech to help save herself.
Especially considering Alexis' speech in self-defense essentially was, "You know I'm a lazy bitch and I don't try to hide it, so whatever." Sean voting for Alexis despite his bribe didn't hurt matters. I look forward to his paying the price for reneging.
It turns out that the vote is a tie. And Azmyth gets to choose who to cut adrift.
He nominates Alexis. I have to say that he probably should have thought his choice through more. If he had gotten Cheryl out, he could have created loyalty from Alexis. And he would have undercut Joe Don's power base, which is important because if Azmyth on separate teams from Joe Don, Joe Don could reclaim his leadership post and stab Azmyth in the back. We'll see if it comes back to haunt him.
- posted by Raoul 6月14日 TV TidbitsKristin from E! Online is chock-full of intriguing info about "The 4400," which is set to start its fourth season this weekend.
Jaime Murray of "Hustle" is coming across the pond to play a role on Showtime's "Dexter." As someone who always enjoyed watching Stacy work her con-artist magic, I'm definitely looking forward to her helping Dex kill bad guys. In case anyone had any doubt about Sylar returning next season on "Heroes," it turns out he's going to be a season regular.
You know how "Scrubs" killed off Jesus-loving Nurse Roberts last season? Well, they are bringing the actress back as essentially the mirror-universe twin sister of Laverne. I trust the creators of "Scrubs" implicitly and I love the actress, but damn, is that a lame gimmick.
Isn't one Elvira enough? A new reality show is going to look for a second one. I have to admit that I may check it out to see how many freakily made-up, wasp-waisted goth chicks show up.
Bravo is planning to hook all the contestants on many of its reality shows with marketing help. I'll be very curious to see what comes out of the partnership between CNN and YouTube to jointly sponsor a couple of 2008 debates.
- posted by Raoul Channel Surfing--June 14, 2007
- The "Lost" producers are promising that when their show ends, there'll be no black screen, a la "The Sopranos." - The only reason, as far as I can tell, to watch that Posh Spice reality special on NBC in July is … nevermind, I can't think of any reason to watch it. - Thanks to Pop Candy for pointing out this cool Trekkie event: The Trek powers that be are sponsoring the first-ever official fan-writing storytelling contest, with prizes like a trip to Vegas for a VIP tour of the "Star Trek Experience," Mac computers, the new iPhone and "Trek" swag. - R.I.P., Mr. Wizard. - Ellen DeGeneres may be a big winner again at tomorrow's Daytime Emmys, but she's already the star of a new line of … greeting cards? - NBC's headed to the classroom to snag future viewers, with iCue, a new educational program that will cull from the network's video library to help students with government, history and English lessons. Cool. - A Paris Hilton cartoon? Some would say she already is one … - Among the TV types on People mag's new "Hottest Bachelors" list: "Entourage's" Adrian Grenier, "American Idol's" Blake Lewis, comedian Dane Cook, and "Dancing with the Stars'" Apolo Anton Ohno and Maksim Chmerkoskiy. The most eligible bachelor, according to People, is Matthew McConaughey, despite the fact that he doesn’t seem to own a shirt. Or a comb or bar of soap, for that matter. - Interesting little six degrees of separation story, TV-style: the actor who played the guy in the diner who looked like he might be a hit man in "The Sopranos" finale is the uncle of Kevin Connolly, a.k.a. "Entourage's" Eric. - And though those "Boston Legal" firings/hiring of Emmy-winner John Larroquette isn't going to help ground the often over-the-top show in reality, I'm still happy Mark Valley is free to pursue his own series now. Anyone who watched the canceled-too-soon gem "Keen Eddie" knows just how underutilized he was on "BL." - posted by Kim 6月13日 TV TidbitsMichael Chiklis shares some of his thoughts on being Vic Mackey and Ben Grimm.
Ain't It Cool News has an alleged insider's take on the early going for Sci Fi's "Flash Gordon."
It turns out that Isaiah Washington isn't mad as hell and is going to take it some more, at least judging from his interview with Entertainment Weekly.
Writers for two of CBS's most popular programs that I never watch -- "CSI" and "Two and a Half Men" -- are talking about trading places for an episode. It's a stunt that's just so crazy it might work.
You know how it's come out that Supergirl is coming to "Smallville"? Well, TV Guide's saying that her character might get spun off into her own series after "Smallville's" done. Can't really say I'm psyched to hear that news.
- posted by Raoul 'Boston Legal' Switches Things UpIt's a whole lot of movement on the cast of "Boston Legal."
Out are Mark Valley, Julie Bowen, Rene Auberjonois and Constance Zimmer. Or Brad, Denise, Paul and Claire, in their "Boston Legal" personas.
In are John Larroquette of "Night Court" fame and Tara Summers, who did a stint on "Dirt." Christian Clemenson, who plays "Hands" Espenson, is going to be a regular.
Though I of course wish all the best to the departing actors, especially Rene, I don't see them as all that huge a loss for the story.
I can't think of a single storyline that Paul got all season of any real relevance. The only stuff he did besides occasionally harrumph was that episode where he served as the foreperson for that crazy guy's re-enactment of Denny's first case.
Claire started off kind of interesting but then got neutered somehow. And for whatever reason, the writers didn't want to follow through and have her and Clarence actually do anything romantic.
Brad and Denise are two of the blandest characters on the show, and I'm actually thankful that we'll be spared the wacky adventures of them raising a baby together. It had been rumored for a while that Mark wouldn't be coming back, so his departure isn't so much a surprise.
It's still an open question if the newcomers will add much. Obviously John Larroquette is very talented. But then, so are most of the departing actors.
What do you all think of the shakeup?
- posted by Raoul Channel Surfing--June 13, 2007Random happenings in TV land today …
- "The Sopranos" reeled in almost 12 million viewers for the series finale, but 70 percent of them fled before the "John From Cincinnati" premiere. - Tonight, it's the premiere of "Lil' Bush" on Comedy Central. For those who are devoted anti-Bush-ees, there are a few chuckles to be had, but be warned: there are at least a few instances when the show outdoes "South Park" in gross out humor. A hint: Lil' Cheney and his Mrs. Robinson-esque affair with Barbara Bush, which results in him getting trapped in her belly. No, really. - Newbie HBO honcho Bill Nelson says all the HBO networks will be upgraded to high-def by the middle of 2008. - Ooo, ooo, Mr. Kotter! Horshack's talking about the new "Welcome Back, Kotter" season one DVD release, a must-own, IMHO. - Every time I've turned on a talk show this week, it seems like Seth Green has been on talking about this weekend's all-"Star Wars" episode of "Robot Chicken." It does look pretty cool. - And sad news about "Real World: San Diego" star Frankie, who died unexpectedly last weekend, at age 25. - posted by Kim 6月12日 TV TidbitsCould "Dwight" be a successful spin-off from "The Office"? This report says NBC's thinking that over. As much as I love the character, I don't think he could hold a half-hour without Jim and Pam playing pranks on him and him sucking up to Michael.
Not only is "Jericho" back, CBS is trying to build some momentum for the show by airing reruns this summer, starting July 6.
Looks like "Hidden Palms" is going to be hiding sooner than expected. The CW is ending the show on July 4.
Kim referred to it earlier, but what do you make of the back-and-forth between Les Moonves and Dan Rather over Katie Couric? Meee-oow! Moonves accuses Rather of being sexist by saying that CBS was trying to "tart" up the news. And then he goes and says that a lot of viewers don't want to hear the news from a woman. It seems to me like one of those statements is far more sexist than the other. Could it simply be that people don't want to hear hard news from Katie Couric?
Courtesy of Reality Blurred, you can see what Kathy Griffin's ex-husband Matt has to say about the premiere of the first season of "My Life on the D-List" without him.
Although "Veronica Mars" isn't going to grace our TV screens with new episodes, apparently there's a possibility that new "episodes" will come out in comic-book form. I'll take what I can get.
And may Don Herbert, a.ka. Mr. Wizard, rest in peace. He died of bone cancer at 89.
- posted by Raoul The Little Chef Who Couldn'tI usually don't feel very sorry for reality-show losers. They knew what they were getting themselves into in most cases, and definitely in something like "Hell's Kitchen," where the premise is essentially, "Gordon Ramsay yells and curses at his minions whenever they screw up."
That said, I kind of feel sorry for Eddie, the latest person who got booted off. It took a lot of courage to stand up there, knowing he'd get made fun of on national TV for his height and any cooking mistakes he might make.
And boy, did he apparently make a bunch of cooking mistakes. If you screw up spaghetti, you probably don't deserve to run your own restaurant. He had his risotto described as stuff not worthy of being fed to pigs.
Still, I was expecting to see Aaron go. How does someone reach the age of 48 and be so weepy? Is he stuck in male menopause or something? It looked like he was going to fall on his own sword for a while there, but I guess he'll remain a dead man walking at least till next week.
And what was up with Josh being put on the chopping block? I didn't see how he screwed up worse than Aaron, who couldn't even debone fish.
The women, labeled ever-so-cleverly as "Hell's Bitches," seemed to have their act together. It marks for me the first time in various reality shows that pit men versus women that the women actually demonstrated teamwork early on with the backstabbing at an absolute minimum.
Two weeks in, I'm rooting for Rock (because he's the only guy who seems to be clued in), Melissa (because she knows how to take charge and OK, because she's cute) and Julia (because they keep holding her Waffle House history against her).
Oh, and those of you who were around last summer may remember me interviewing the people who were cut from "HK." We're trying to set up those interviews again.
- posted by Raoul The TV Viewer's Bill of RightsMy former colleague, Maureen Ryan at the Chicago Tribune, has come up with 10 rights for TV fans that should be self-evident, but sadly are not.
Things like:
-Give marginal shows a chance -- let them air for at least six episodes before you yank them.
-If you do cancel a show, put all the remaining episodes online immediately.
-Don't yank shows around for no reason.
As good as her list is, it's only a starting point. Some of her readers have added suggestions, and I have a few as well.
For instance:
-Viewers have a right to promos that are not misleading and that do not give too much away. -Comedies shall not have a laugh track.
-As good as the extras you might have for your show on the web, a viewer should not need to have done any extracurricular reading to follow your story.
-Just because something gets good ratings doesn't mean that it has to be spun off two or three times.
-Just because a reality or game show can be made cheaply doesn't mean it has to be made cheaply, or at all.
-The broadcast networks will simultaneously keep a good portion of the airwaves family-friendly while allowing for some series to be geared toward adults.
-If an episode of a show takes virtually every plot point from a pre-existing episode of the show, another show or movie, the writers should have to give viewers a rebate.
-Same if an episode of a show clearly and blatantly contradicts its own continuity. If the writers can't be bothered to track the basic facts of their own creation, they deserve to take a financial hit.
What else would you add?
- posted by Raoul
David Chase Speaks on 'Sopranos' Finale
Meanwhile, we audience members may still be trying to decide how we feel about the finale, but TV writers like "Lost's" Damon Lindelof and "Entourage's" Doug Ellin loved it. - posted by Kim Channel Surfing--June 12, 2007
- "The Biggest Losers" will be back, in a "Where are they now?" special in September. - "A Very Larry the Cable Guy Christmas?" That's VH-1's plan. - Here's funny inside peek at just how ridiculous the networks' standards and practices, well, practices, can be: A Comedy Central memo in which the "balls policy" is discussed in relation to a "South Park" promo involving Chef. - A third "Stargate" series, even though the original is about to end? Yep. - "Deal or No Deal" is heading to daytime syndication. - I'm not proud of it, but I will be watching this summer's "Big Brother," which will include a new "unedited" spin-off version that will air on one of CBS's sister Showtime cable nets. - Grain of salt time, but Star magazine claims Whoopi Goldberg is Rosie O'Donnell's replacement on "The View." Bo-ring. - Ad Age reports Wednesday night is the new It Night for the fall TV line-up. - Dan Rather has some not-so-nice things to say about Katie Couric's version of his old CBS News post, including the phrase "tart up" to describe what the network did in hiring Couric. I'm not necessarily a Katie fan either, but, uh, Dan, sexist much? - And Paris Hilton called Barbara Walters to say she won't be acting dumb anymore. Now, who really believes Paris is that good an actress? - posted by Kim 6月11日 TV TidbitsAfter all the back and forth, Katherine Heigl is locked and loaded for another season of "Grey's Anatomy." Now if only the writers can do to the Gizzie romance the same thing they did to Isaiah Washington....
Kim already mentioned Jewel Staite is coming to "Stargate Atlantis." In another bit of news, the writers are apparently working on a way to bring back Carson Beckett, the character Jewel will be replacing, at least temporarily. Guys, you blew Beckett up real good. I think you need to accept that and move on, not stick us with an alternate-universe Carson or time-travelling Carson or whatever.
Guys, Ana Ortiz from "Ugly Betty" is now off-limits. She got married over the weekend.
ABC News and USA TODAY are teaming up to cover the 2008 election.
There's going to be a good deal more "Deal or No Deal" in the fall. The show's going to be syndicated, and apparently Arsenio Hall and Mark Curry are being talked about as potential hosts. Just how much milage can the show possibly have?
And sadly, Rob Thomas of "Veronica Mars" confirms that the series is officially dead as a television show. Best of luck to him in his next gig.
- posted by Raoul Look! Up in the Sky! It's a Dumb 'Smallville' TwistThe CW has announced a new character is coming to "Smallville" in its next and presumably final season: Supergirl. She'll fly. She'll have a thing for Jimmy Olsen. She'll pique Lex's interest.
I suppose they probably would want a new character to replace one of the departing ones. And I could see them wanting to get some buzz going, which this addition no doubt will accomplish.
But this seems to me a bad idea on an abundance of levels.
For one, breaking the tradition that Supergirl is much younger than Superman doesn't seem worthwhile.
For two, the show has trouble servicing the characters it already has. Even presuming that one or two of them doesn't return, it should have its hands full with Clark, Lex and Lois.
For three, given Lana and Lois and most of the women who have appeared on the show who haven't been Ma Kent, I really don't trust the "Smallville" writers to deliver a good female character.
And finally, this season is probably the last chance to wrap up the tale of how Clark Kent grew into being Superman and Lex Luthor grew to be a criminal mastermind. The last thing it needs is devoting a whole bunch of time to something that has nothing to do with that, namely the wacky adventures of Kara Zor-El.
I wonder if the Smallville people even remember that they did an episode in season two or three where Jor-El manufactured a fake Supergirl.
- posted by Raoul |
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