TVSquad

(S05E05) Nicole said something interesting tonight, right at the top of the show. "Why is that everyone I pick as the Mole gets executed and I don't?" That's a good question, because you would think that if Nicole is truly concentrating on one person every time she takes the quiz that she would have been eliminated by now. Maybe she's The Mole! Of course, we can make that case for every single one of the remaining contestants at one point or another. Well, except for the one that was executed tonight, the player that a lot of viewers picked because this person was rather quiet and flew under the radar. Just goes to show you that you really can't predict who's going to get kicked off the show.

(S05E04) "In my everyday life, the only place I hike to is Bloomingdale's." - Nicole

Wow, I think a lot of people lost their Mole pools tonight.

But before we get to that, let's talk about those journals. I think tonight showed that, if the rules allow it (though Nicole is always bending the rules), players on this reality show should make duplicate copies of what they write in their journals. Or tear out important pages and stuff them down your sock or something. To some players, the journals are more of a pain because there's too much info and they'd rather keep it in their head. To others, the journals are their lifelines in this game, and those players were probably very stunned tonight.

(S05E03) "There isn't a single person in Santiago my size." - overweight Craig, walking around in his underwear

So tonight I decided that instead of just looking at all of the players equally to see if they were the Mole, I would focus on the two players that I have narrowed it down to (I know, a little early, but you have to start looking early). So I paid attention to everything that Mark and Victoria said, did, ate, wore, and didn't do. And you know what? I'm as lost as I was in the opening scene of the first episode. OK, not that confused, because after tonight's third person was eliminated, I guess mathematically I have a better idea of who the Mole is or isn't. But I know that it's not easy to figure this out.

I also know that I don't want to see Craig walking around in his underwear ever again.

(S05E02) "I'll kill you in your sleep...I can do it and not leave any forensic evidence." - Nicole, to Paul

Uh...wow. That's one of the more provocative statements made in the history of The Mole. Of course, if this show was on CBS Nicole would have said, "...I can do it and not leave any forensic evidence and even the CSI: Miami team wouldn't be able to prove I did it." The funny thing is, Nicole wasn't totally out of line in saying it. Just when you think Nicole was the "evil" one on this reality show, another strong contender shows up: Paul. I don't know which one I'd rather talk to less, though Paul pulled ahead of Nicole tonight in many ways.

It's only the first episode, but people seem to be avoiding ABC's new edition of The Mole like it was on The CW or something.

The first episode of the show this past Monday at 10pm got a 1.9 rating in the important 18 to 49 demographic. It came in third place in the time slot and lost a lot of the lead-in from The Bachelorette.

I don't understand why viewers don't make this one of the top reality shows on television. I mean, if you love reality television, why don't you watch this show? Is it the time slot? Is it the fact that you have to figure things out on the show yourself? I think this is actually one of the most interesting parts of the show, that it's actually a reality show that you can actually play along with. You don't get that with The Bachelorette or Survivor. It's actually a reality show mixed with a mystery/spy series. It's a TV mystery series, where viewers have to guess who the bad guy is, mixed with a reality competition series. And it has great music and great Amazing Race-like stunts and worldwide locales and is immensely entertaining. Why aren't more people, especially people who watch reality shows, watching The Mole?

(S05E01) "What's wrong with being smart and gorgeous at the same time?" - Nicole

Oh, it's so good to have The Mole back on the air.

I realized how much I loved the show the minute I heard the first notes of the theme song (at least I think it's the same as before) and the opening scenes. I haven't seen any full episodes since the last Anderson Cooper episode in season two (the celeb editions didn't interest me at all), but all of the good feelings I had about how entertaining the show was came flooding back.

But how did the rest of the episode hold up?

When we opened TV Squad's mail bag today, we found this question from Robyn S.: "Am I losing it or am I seeing subliminal messages on ABC like "The Mole is watching you" and "The Mole is coming"? Quick, 2-3 second flashes after commercials. Is The Mole coming back this summer?"

Robyn, you'll be happy to know that you are not losing it, ABC's The Mole is indeed coming back to TV this summer.

I'm not a big fan of reality shows, but I really did enjoy The Mole. It lasted two seasons on ABC (not counting the truly stupid Celebrity Mole that came later) and was hosted by Anderson Cooper. Cooper, as you know, is busy over on CNN with his own nightly show, Anderson Cooper 360, so ABC needed a new host for the revival that's coming up later in May. And now they've named him.

Jon Kelley will be the new host of The Mole, the man in charge of guiding contestants (and one spy) through an international game of searches, stunts, and elimination. Kelley used to be an anchor for the syndicated celebrity news show Extra and an anchor for Fox Sports Network.