Author: Mike Farley (Page 75 of 117)

“Kitchen Nightmares” returns, sort of

January 16, 2009 /

Last night FOX aired a partial episode of “Kitchen Nightmares” that was a rerun (following President Bush’s farewell speech), and then the conclusion of Season 2 with a new episode. This was sort of odd because this show hasn’t aired since before the holidays, so it’s almost like they kept this show in the bank when they didn’t know what else to air. It was also a good way to promote the upcoming new season of Gordon Ramsay’s other show, “Hell’s Kitchen,” which kicks off on January 29.

With that, here is what happened in the new episode last night. The restaurant is Cafe 36 in Lagrange, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. Owners Terry and Carol are semi-retired and it was Terry’s dream to open an upscale, French-themed bistro. So this was it. But little did the owners know that their head chef, Pinto, was running their business into the ground by cutting huge corners and serving stale food that was still taking too long to come out of the kitchen.

Gordon Ramsay arrived and couldn’t believe that on some nights this place was turning over something like 6-8 dinners a night. Not tables, DINNERS Continue reading »

Kitchen Nightmares, Reality TV, TV

American Idol: Lots of Hollywood Tickets from KC

January 15, 2009 /

Last night, Day 2 of Season 8 of “American Idol” on FOX brought us many good performances, and golden tickets to Hollywood. Sure, there were lots of the usual horrendous auditions, but the producers chose to focus on the talented ones, and there were a higher percentage of them than there had been in Phoenix the night before. Here are the lowlights and highlights…..

THE BAD

Chelsea Marquardt kicked things off, and while she was a really pretty girl, she was an awful singer, like all-over-the-place awful. At least she can go be a model if she wants to….Brian, a 20 year old kid from KC, sang an ARETHA FRANKLIN tune, and that should be your first cue that he sucked. But dude had a hard time accepting his fate, and they showed him crying followed by a nice montage of other contestants who didn’t pass their audition bawling and/or screaming like they were in pain.

No, really….There was “banana boy,” a humorous one dressed in yellow who used a real banana as a prop….Jasmine, a 17 year old girl from Nebraska with a love for jazz and a very bad voice….Andrew, who came with two cheerleaders to help his cause, was not a bad singer, but while the judges were first considering sending him through, they decided in the end that Andrew was not ready…..

Continue reading »

American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

The Biggest Loser: Worst Case Scenario

January 14, 2009 /

The producers of NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” have really done it now. Just when they bring in the heaviest contestants ever to show how people that big can lose weight too, they screw with the format of the show, and it winds up sending someone home far too early that really needs to be at the ranch. Are you people as annoyed as I am? Anyway, here is what when down last night on “The Biggest Loser: Couples.”

After the nine contestants were sent home last week to try and show America how easy it is to follow a weight loss regimen on your own, they showed some of them in real life adjusting, or not adjusting. Most disappointing was Dan, who weighs almost 400 pounds, not being able to find something healthier to eat than a few hot dogs.

Then host Alison Sweeney lined up everyone remaining at the ranch and made them stand on one side of a white line, then proceeded to bribe them with money to exit the show now. First $5000, then $10K, and finally $25K. Joelle was the only one seemingly enticed by money Continue reading »

External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

American Idol Season 8 Kicks Off in the Desert

January 14, 2009 /

It’s a cliche, but time really freaking flies. Not only is Season 8 of “American Idol” now in progress, but it really seems like yesterday that we were crowning David Cook Season 7 champ. Season 1 was in 2002, now SEVEN years ago. They did a little retrospective to kick off Season 8 last night, and at the end of the montage they showed a bunch of little David Archuleta fans screaming “NOOOOO” when Cook was crowned by Ryan Seacrest back in May. Funny, funny stuff. Reminded me of New York Jets’ fans at the NFL draft, but worse.

Anyway, a fourth judge has been added to shake things up. Songwriter Kara DioGuardi (pronounced Dee-o-GWAR-dee) who has written somewhere around 100 hit songs and from what we found out, has a decent voice too, gives the panel another female perspective and she definitely adds some spunk and even more humor to the already eccentric judging contingent.

The first month or so of every season begins with twice-a-week auditions from various cities, and last night was the round from Phoenix, Arizona, home of Season 6 winner Jordin Sparks. There is a pattern to this every season, and the producers of the show only show us the really great and really horrible auditions, accentuating the absurd. It’s a ratings party, and last night was no exception. To streamline, we’ll just highlight the good and bad as briefly as possible…..

Continue reading »

American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

The Biggest (Largest) Loser: Is Anyone Following?

January 7, 2009 /

We gave you a little insight into Season 7 of NBC’s hit reality show, “The Biggest Loser: Couples” a few days ago, and the season premiered last night. Now, the fact that some of the largest contestants ever graced your TV screen was distracting enough, but did you catch the whole “twist” thing being brought to another level? Are you following this or are you annoyed like I am? More on that in a bit.

After the contestants were holed up in a hotel conference room before host Alison Sweeney came in to give them the good news that this particular group of 22 people were going to be on the show (“American Idol” style), it was on to the ranch. Then, they were told they had to work out without the help of trainers Bob Harper and Jillian Michaels. Everyone looked at each other and then proceeded to work out like a bunch of bumbling idiots…no exaggeration. Bob and Jillian were watching in the next room on a TV monitor, and finally entered the room, much to the joy of each contestant.

After the working out continued with a bit of help, there was a scare as 63 year old Jerry collapsed. It turns out Jerry had a drop in blood pressure Continue reading »

External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

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