Category: TV (Page 25 of 595)

American Idol: Hollywood week grueling

February 17, 2011 /

“American Idol” is hitting its stride now, as last night was the dreaded “group night” portion of Hollywood week. For those of you new to the show, or who need a reminder, what they do is let the contestants form groups–but judge them individually. They also give them a song choice from a list of 20 songs, but give them that list at around 8pm, and force them to practice deep into the night, and audition for the judges early in the morning. I know they want to create a pressure cooker situation, but come on. Is it really necessary to not give them a full day to practice?

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American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

The Biggest Loser: nice family values

February 16, 2011 /

Yes, my subject line is being sarcastic, and last night’s episode of “The Biggest Loser” was a bit eye-opening. The show opened with a challenge between the black and red teams in which they were tangled up as teams in rope, and had to collectively untangle, and then go grab a “key” to the gym. That team would be able to train as usual in the gym all week, while the losing team would be locked out and forced to work outside or somewhere else. The red team won easily, as the black team could do nothing but trip over themselves. So Bob and Jillian would have to train their team outside, which didn’t seem to be a big deal as the weather cooperated.

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External TV, Reality TV, The Biggest Loser, TV

American Idol: Hollywood Part 1 recap

February 11, 2011 /

Last night began the real auditions for “American Idol” and while most of the decisions of who to keep and who to send home were good, there was definitely some drama. Here is a quick recap….

STAYING IN HOLLYWOOD
Brett Lowenstern, the 16 year old who got picked on most of his life, delivered again….so did Rachel Zevita, Thia Meghia (thought I didn’t think she was that great last night), and Casey Abrams, the Seth Rogan clone….James Durbin, the dude who auditioned in San Fran and is trying desperately to make a better life for his family…Paris Tassin, also trying to make a better life as she has a daughter with special needs. But she sang Celine Dion, to which I say, “BLAH!”….Loren Alaina, the 15 year old from Georgia who I have said has a shot to go very far…..Chris Medina, the dude with a fiancee that had the horrible car accident and is severely disabled, also made it to the next round…Jacee Badeux, the dorky 15 year old kid that Simon would no doubt have sent home in this round….Robbie Rosen, the Andy Pettitte look-alike, also moved on….so did Hollie Cavanaugh, but I really don’t see the talent in here. To me she is all technique, no substance. Mrs. Mike disagreed with me, and so did the judges….the exes of Chelsee and Rob made it through. Both could go far, but especially Rob…..the other couple, the happy happy one of Nick and Jacqueline–well, she made it through but Nick didn’t. Uh-oh. More on him in a bit….Scott McCreedy, the 16 year old kid with the deep country voice, also made it….so did Jackie Wilson and Jerome Bell, who both sang the same song they did in their initial audition. Risky but worked this time….Tiffany Rios, who wanted to show off her “assets” in the first audition, made it through, but not before dissing every other contestant by saying something like, “I am better than everyone else here.” J-Lo made note of that, but they still let her through, maybe to avoid the drama of eliminating her this week….then they showed a whole bunch of others who made it through in quick fire fashion, including Stefano from the San Francisco auditions who we really liked.

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American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, Rescue Me, TV

Top Chef All-Stars: fondue and Fallon

February 10, 2011 /

Last night was an interesting episode of “Top Chef All-Stars.” Not that they aren’t all interesting, but this one was a bit more so. They began with Fabio ribbing Antonia a bit more about her winning last week with mussels that were a “French” dish, as Fabio claimed, not Italian. Then host Padma Lakshmi introduced the Quick Fire, which was to create an interesting form of fondue. But Padma threw them a curve, which was that they would be their own judges, with comment cards to pick the least favorites and the favorites. The least favorites were Fabio (Bellini with caviar and white wine); Mike (spiced lamb with feta fondue); and Tiffany (apple fritter with hazelnut/chocolate fondue). The favorites were Antonia (smoked salmon on toast with crème fraiche—ed. Note—ewwwwwww!); Dale (Pho-ndue); and Angelo (deconstructed walnut/goat cheese fondue with endive dippers and beet juice shots). Dale won and he got a trip to Napa Valley.

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External TV, Reality TV, Top Chef, TV

American Idol: auditions wind down

February 10, 2011 /

Last night was Episode 7 of this season’s “American Idol” on FOX. That means it was the last night of initial audition footage, and tonight we get into Hollywood week. But first, a recap from last night’s San Francisco auditions:

HOLLYWOOD BOUND
The first few that they showed going to Hollywood were 21 year old Brittany Mazur; Lara Johnston; and Matthew Nuss. I wrote down next to Lara that she was all technique and I wrote “eh” next to Matthew. Sometimes I’m not quite sure what the judges are smoking, or that they are a bit too lenient…but Stefano Langone, who went next, was quite a story. He was in a life-threatening car accident two years ago, but pulled through. He talked about the desire to win “American Idol” burning in him, and when someone goes through something like that and to top it off, has the talent AND the burning drive, look out. I’m just saying, keep an eye on this kid. He did an awesome version of “Heard it Through the Grapevine” and J-Lo even suggested the word “star” to Stefano….Clint Jun Gamboa, a karaoke host from Los Angeles, was pretty damn good…after a medley of good auditions, some with women in short dresses that caught the eyes of Randy and Steven, the next Hollywood-bound contestant was Julie Zorrilla, a 20 year old beauty originally from Colombia. Her family was rich but constantly extorted by the army, so they left and came to LA for a better life. Good for us, because she was awesome and did a super cool version of the classic, “Summertime”….Emily Anne Reed, whose house burned down like last week, sang “You’re Getting To Bet a Habit,” and she was really good, kind of old-timey but very unique. Steven said no, but Randy and Jennifer said yes resoundingly…..and finally, 21 year old James Durbin from Santa Cruz, whose dad always played in bands and toured but died when James was 9 of a drug overdose, was quite a story. He and his girlfriend Heidi have a little daughter and though he has no job, they make ends meet somehow, and now he wants a better life for his family. Thankfully, he didn’t suck. Dude did a super cool version of Led Zeppelin’s “You Shook Me” and then even did Aerosmith’s “Dream On,” with Steven’s permission of course. This dude was really good and worth keeping an eye on.

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American Idol, External TV, Reality TV, TV

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