survivor-related stories
Posted Nov 20th 2009 12:30AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E10) Now, isn't this a good time to be a
Survivor fan? Part of the problem with long-running reality shows is that they've run out of ideas and it's hard to keep things fresh and new. They end up depending on whatever outlandish and over-the-top characters they can line up for the season. Some are a dismal failure. Case in point, "Coach" Ben Wade last year. Sure, he was a nutty kind of guy. But he couldn't play the game well despite all of his bravado. This season is casting done right. And tonight's episode was just as good as last week's show.
Continue reading Review: Survivor Samoa - The Day of Reckoning
Posted Nov 13th 2009 1:09PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Drama Shows, Sports, Industry, Programming, OpEd, Survivor, Music and Variety, Celebrities, Ratings, NCIS, The Mentalist, The Big Bang Theory
"Did you hear who's going to play during the Super Bowl halftime show?"
"No, who?"
"That's what I just said. Who."
"No, seriously. Which is the band that's going to appear?"
"It's Who."
"I'm not talking proper English. Which band will be on CBS's halftime show on February 7 at Landshark Stadium in Miami?"
"The Who -- you know, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend. 'Tommy, can you hear me?'"
"Oh! Why didn't you just say that!"
Okay, I couldn't resist the nod to Abbott and Costello's
Who's On First. But the fact is that
Sports Illustrated has spread the word that
The Who will star in the Super Bowl big, overblown half-time pageant. This follows the safe pattern the NFL has been employing since the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake costume malfunction; that is, stick with classic rock stars who are guaranteed to do their hits and not disrobe. That's why we've had Prince, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney and now The Who. All superstar acts, no controversy.
Continue reading CBS plans Super Bowl halftime and... what comes on after the game
Posted Nov 13th 2009 1:02AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E09) If you haven't watched this episode of
Survivor, stop right now. Watch it. Oh, don't go by the expression on John's face. That's the face I had when the show started. Yet now I'm downright perky and alert. For me, this started off being a real iffy season. But, as folks really play the game, I'm all excited about it all over again. Some play it poorly, but there are a few movers and shakers this season.
Continue reading Review: Survivor Samoa - Tastes Like Chicken
Posted Nov 12th 2009 12:16PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.- CBS has a new Survivor, then new episodes of CSI and The Mentalist.
- NBC has new episodes of Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new Bones at 8, followed by a new Fringe.
- The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, then a new Supernatural.
- Current has a new Current Exposed at 8, followed by a new SuperNews.
- TCM has Dial M For Murder at 8, then Rear Window.
- At 9, Comedy Central has a new Jeff Dunham Show.
- TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
- Spike has a new TNA Wrestling at 9.
- Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9.
- TruTV has a new World's Dumbest at 9, followed by two new episodes of It Only Hurts When I Laugh.
- At 10, Lifetime has a new Project Runway.
- There's a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10, then a new episode of The League.
- Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10.
- Also at 10: Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Orange County at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Community, Fringe, Supernatural, Private Practice
Posted Nov 6th 2009 1:00AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E08) I know this photo might be considered sort of spoilerish for the front page. But since last week's
Survivor promo showed the merge going down, I know you all know Evil Russell will attempt to work everyone. Heck, that's what the guy does. To me, he comes off akin to a snake oil salesman. Yet he seems to get people to believe his wily ways. I bet he could have sold a lot of snake oil a century back.
Continue reading Review: Survivor Samoa - All Hell Breaks Loose
Posted Nov 5th 2009 12:22PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
Syfy has a Legend of the Seeker marathon all night.- At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
- CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and The Mentalist.
- NBC has new episodes of Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and The Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has a new Bones at 8, then a new Fringe.
- The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, followed by new episodes of Supernatural.
- TCM has Fourteen Hours at 9, then High Noon.
- At 9, Comedy Central has a new Jeff Dunham Show.
- TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
- Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Atlanta at 9, then a new Real Housewives of Orange County.
- Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9.
- Also at 9: Food Network has a new Extreme Cuisine with Jeff Corwin.
- At 10, Lifetime has a new Project Runway.
- FX has a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10.
- There's a new Tosh.0 on Comedy Central at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Survivor, Bones, The Office, It's Always Sunny
Posted Oct 30th 2009 12:50AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E07) Even though we're down a Russell this week on
Survivor, I'll continue to refer to the remaining Russell as "Evil Russell." It just somehow fits even without a confusion of Russells. However, there is just one Shambo. Although she's a good worker in camp and works hard on the challenges, that might be a good thing. One Shambo is quite enough. Perhaps she's just too nice to be on the show. Perhaps she is a bit dim. I just don't know.
Continue reading Review: Survivor Samoa - Houdini Magic
Posted Oct 29th 2009 12:16PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 7:30, FOX has Game 2 of The World Series.- ABC has a new FlashForward at 8, then new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
- CBS has a new Survivor at 8, followed by new episodes of CSI and The Mentalist.
- NBC has new episodes of Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and The Jay Leno Show.
- The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, then new episodes of Supernatural.
- Cartoon Network has a new Chowder at 8.
- At 9, Comedy Central has a new Jeff Dunham Show.
- TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
- Spike has TNA Wrestling at 9.
- Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9.
- At 10, Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Atlanta.
- FX has a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10, then the series premiere of The League.
- Food Network has the season finale of Ace of Cakes at 10.
- Current has a new Rotten Tomatoes at 10.
- Also at 10: Lifetime has a new Project Runway.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: CSI, 30 Rock, Real Housewives, The League
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 8:30AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Survivor, Celebrities, Big Brother (US)
Lately, what we've been hearing about reality television has been awful. The winner of
Big Brother became a drug dealer by using his prize money to bankroll his illegal activities.
A family that appeared on Wife Swap perpetrated a hoax involving their six-year-old son and a helium balloon. Is there anything good to say about reality TV?
Here's something.
Survivor: Cook Islands winner Yul Kwon is joining the FCC. He has been named deputy chief of the consumer and governmental affairs bureau for the FCC.
That's the Federal Communications Commission. Chairman Julius Genachowski made the appointment, and it wasn't because Yul did well in challenges.
Continue reading Survivor winner appointed to FCC post
Posted Oct 23rd 2009 12:13AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E06) Well, this was the most unusual episode of
Survivor I've ever seen. Mind you, I've seen all of them since the first season. I won't get into why it was so unusual until after the jump just in case you've missed all of the hype over the injured castaway in commercials all this week. But it wasn't just the injury which made it unusual. It was all discombobulated.
Continue reading Review: Survivor Samoa - This Is the Man Test
Posted Oct 22nd 2009 12:11PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 7:30, FOX has Baseball Playoffs, the Yankees vs. the Angels.- At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.
- CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then a new CSI.
- NBC has new episodes of Community, Parks and Recreation, The Office, 30 Rock, and The Jay Leno Show.
- ESPN has College Football at 8, Florida State at North Carolina.
- At 9, Comedy Central has the series premiere of The Jeff Dunham Show.
- MTV has a new Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory at 9, followed by a new Nitro Circus.
- Spike has a new TNA Wrestling at 9.
- Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9.
- TLC has a new American Chopper at 9.
- Also at 9: IFC has a new Monty Python: Almost The Truth (The Lawyer's Cut).
- At 10, FX has a new It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia.
- Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10.
- Bravo has a new Real Housewives of Atlanta at 10.
- Food Network has a new Ace of Cakes at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Community, Grey's Anatomy, Jeff Dunham Show
Posted Oct 16th 2009 1:06PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Celebrities
Dear Rich,
You don't mind if I call you Rich, do you? I feel like I know you well. And it's not just because I watched you walking around naked on an island somewhere either. No, it's because you were on
Survivor twice and in both those instances, you really impressed me with your game-playing. You deserved to win that first
Survivor. You earned it,
Richard Hatch. You outwit, outplayed and outlasted all the rest, including Sue who probably wanted to kill you.
So,
now that you're out of jail -- hopefully for good -- I'm rooting for you to get your stuff together and move on with life. That means shut your mouth. Stop yapping about how the authorities are conspiring against you. Stop saying it's because you're gay.
The first thing you must do is pay the back taxes on the prize money you legitimately won. Surely, you know that's how they got Al Capone. Pay the IRS, man. Start a payment system, they'll accept that.
Continue reading An open letter to ex-con Richard Hatch
Posted Oct 16th 2009 1:55AM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E05) We're into the fifth episode of
Survivor and I'm still getting some of the cast mixed up. True, they're mostly on the larger Galu tribe -- the ones who keep winning, yet we only see a focus on a select few. We all know "Good" Russell and Shambo. Did you know that someone named Brett is on the Galu tribe? No. Really, I'm not kidding. He got some airtime tonight. At this point, they could stick in stunt doubles and we wouldn't know the difference!
Continue reading Survivor Samoa: Walking on Thin Ice
Posted Oct 15th 2009 12:20PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Late Night, Programming, Celebrities, Talk Show, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new FlashForward, followed by new episodes of Grey's Anatomy and Private Practice.- CBS has a new Survivor at 8, then new episodes of CSI and The Mentalist.
- NBC has a new Community at 8, followed by new episodes of Parks and Recreation and The Office, the season premiere of 30 Rock, and a new Jay Leno Show.
- FOX has new episodes of Bones and Fringe.
- The CW has a new Vampire Diaries at 8, then a new Supernatural.
- TBS has Baseball Playoffs at 8, the Dodgers vs. the Phillies.
- At 9, Spike has a new TNA Wrestling.
- MTV has a new Rob Dyrdek's Fantasy Factory at 9, followed by new episodes of Bully Beatdown, Nitro Circus, and Pranked.
- Cartoon Network has a new Total Drama Action at 9, then a new Stoked.
- At 10, Lifetime has a new Project Runway.
- FX has a new It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia at 10.
- Comedy Central has a new Tosh.0 at 10.
- At 10:30, Current has a new Rotten Tomatoes Show.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
After the jump, the late night talk shows.
Continue reading What's On Tonight: Vampire Diaries, 30 Rock, Project Runway, It's Always Sunny
Posted Oct 8th 2009 10:53PM by Jackie Schnoop
Filed under: OpEd, Survivor, Episode Reviews
(S19E04) So far we've had one of those lopsided seasons on
Survivor. We've seen this happen before -- one tribe keeps winning, the other keeps right on losing. The numbers on the latter are decimated going into the merge which allows the stronger tribe to keep picking them off one by one. I prefer things a bit more evenly matched. The tribal losses affect both the strong and weak players across the board. Once a tribe keeps losing every challenge, morale goes down. Then they lose some more.
Continue reading Survivor Samoa: Hungry For a Win
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