Marty Casey and the Lovehammers (Casey was a finalist on the first season of Rock Star on CBS) are at Rams Head Live next Monday. Ticket info is here.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

So does Janelle's HOH room on Big Brother look like Cheer Bear puked all over or what? Sheesh. Some other things that jumped out at me:

• Will and Janelle have an interesting relationship -- her flirting with him to make him nervous and him maybe thinking she's actually into him. This could get interesting.
• I couldn't figure out why James was freaking out so bad about Janelle putting up floaters (especially targeting Diane) and going on and on about how she had to go after Will and Boogie, since he not only went after floaters, but used Will as a pawn. The revelation of his secret back alliance with Diane and Danielle cleared that up a little. But as soon as he told Diane to go plead his case with Janelle, I was sure that Diane would act all nervous and that Janelle would immediately figure out that James had told her about the nomination plan. Despite the first part being true, instead it seemed like Janelle and Diane came to an understanding to no go after each other in the game (at least for the time being).
• Will is as much of a crack-up as promised. A rubber-duck puppet show in the HOH bathroom for all the BB6-ers? Hilarious. (Well, Kaysar didn't look that amused. More bemused.) And if it ends in an alliance between the Sixers and Chilltown? Brilliant. (At least in terms of this game.)
• I had nearly forgotten that George is permanently on Big Brother slop. Gross. At least he's trying to be creative with it.
• What an evil food competition that was: Will trying to broker a deal with Howie. Boogie putting Marcellas on slop for the week in exchange for Marcellas knocking him out of the HOH competition. Howie knocking Will out, and showing him he can't trust him. Five folks (Will, Marcellas, Diane, Erika and George) ending up on slop for the week. Maybe the other four can benefit from George's attempts to make it taste better.
• Will is a manipulator, but he sure called it right when he pointed out that everyone in the BB6ers alliance except Howie picked a backup "parachute" person -- Kaysar and Erika, James and Danielle and Janelle and Marcellas. (And I am pretty sure I said Will was making stuff up in one of the first episodes when he was trying to tell everyone that James and Danielle were together. It now appears he was right.)
• My favorite mis-speak of the night was Diane saying in an interview, "I don't want to be thrown up [on the block]." I wouldn't want to be thrown up, either. Sounds messy.
• Nominees ended up being Boogie and Erika. I loved the rationale -- that she picked Boogie because he threatened her and she dislikes him and Erika because she's so well liked, when Janelle really wants Erika or another floater out. Sure, it was transparent to the viewers, but maybe not so much to the other houseguests. We shall see.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Tuesday's So You Think You Can Dance was so much more watchable than last Tuesday's two-hour extravaganza of filler. I finally caught up on that last night, before watching the results show.

• Donyelle and Travis were paired up and drew hop-hop and quick step. Hip-hop with Shane Sparks was up first, and he told them they'd be dancing crazy like a monkey and a kangaroo. It was looking pretty intense, and then they came out with freaky masks on. Then, mid-performance, they lowered their hoodies, and they had the freaky masks on the backs of their heads as well. It was creepy but entrancing. (The choice of the Fergie song, as well as the HUGE number of Black Eyed Peas tracks that have been used recently, made me wonder whether they have some kind of deal with the show.)
• Allison and Ivan got paired up again and drew Argentine tango and hip-hop. Unlike their first tango, on this one, Ivan was super-strong, which judge Dan commended him for. Allison was excellent as usual (which made later events very odd).
• Natalie and Ryan were paired up, and you might recall that he really wanted to be partnered with here from the beginning, so he was thrilled. They drew contemporary and disco, with disco up first. The judges were really lukewarm about Ryan's dancing, and on second glance, he did seem uncomfortable, as Mary mentioned. Natalie tried to make up for it, though.
• Lastly, cousins Benji and Heidi were paired up on the show for the first time (his "dance for your life" audition notwithstanding). They drew Broadway and mambo. The Broadway dance was to a song from Dreamgirls and had a gospel feel to it, and it was so much fun it was ridiculous. Sure, the benefited from having danced together before, but certainly not to this style.
• Donyelle and Travis' second dance was the quick-step, and while they tried and tried, it was not excellent. It was fast, and they sure did seem to keep pace, but the judges thought it was pretty terrible. To my untrained eye it was fun if a bit stiff.
• Allison and Ivan were up next with an unexpectedly sweet hip-hop routine from Shane Sparks using umbrellas as a prop. They were so good, and it was so different from what everyone thought they were going to see that it was a nice surprise.
• Natalie and Ryan then danced contemporary, which is both of their specialty. They are both ridiculously good at this style, and it was just amazing. I was worried at this point, though, that everyone had been so good that he might have some trouble recovering from the first-round comments.
• Lastly, we had Benji and Heidi doing the mambo. And yes, this is somewhat close to their specialties, and yes, they had partnered together before, but the choreographer seriously upped the ante on them with a fast, crazy, unreal routine, and they more than 100 percent delivered.

So, immediately, at least for me, was the results show. The more I thought about the final four women -- Natalie, Donyelle, Heidi and Allison -- the more I thought this was going to be a super-difficult cut. I was shocked that Allison was in the bottom two. She's been so consistent. On the guy's side, I wasn't surprised about Ryan, but I kind of thought it might be Ivan over Travis just because Travis has a much stronger dance background. But no, it was Travis and Ryan and Natalie and Allison in the bottom twos, and they all danced like mad in their solos -- Am I wrong or are all four of these contemporary dancers? Maybe voters just didn't relate to contemporary as they did to hip-hop and ballroom. Anyway, at long last, they announced that Allison and Ryan were out. Natalie hammed it up again and cried more than Allison (but I did wonder if she was secretly hoping for a break since her knee was all braced up).

But this is what happens when these shows get down to the end and everyone's got skills. Someone's going to be upset.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 5:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

It was an evening of maneuvering and memorable quotes on last night's Big Brother: All-Stars, which sent Jase home unanimously. I thought he might have a shot at sticking around after he made a deal with the BB6ers. But immediately telling Danielle that he had made a deal with them to target floaters? Hello, Jase? She's one of the floaters! And during the live portion, he requested that "when" he was leaving that only Danielle and Diane accompany him to the door, only to have Julie tell him it was unanimous against him. I wonder whether he still wanted them to come with him after that. (I also thought everyone was really kind of snarkily reacting to George's POV speech on Tuesday, but it turns out that a lot of them were actually touched by it. Who would've thought?)

So about those memorable quotes:

• George on Jase: "We have a lot in common."
• Will to his housemates regarding last week's "I hate all of you" comment: "I hate myself for being here, too."
• James to Julie, in his HOH interview: "You know how Big Brother is."
• Marcellas on Jase, in an interview: "Jase, if you're going to throw around words like 'integrity,' then SHOW SOME."
• Will's little brother: "Will's obsession with his looks is absolutely a joke."
• Jase in his "last words": "We're all collectively crazy, and crazy people make bad decisions ... like wearing a 'Mr. Fart' shirt on national television." (That last bit was aimed at George, who was doing such.)
• Will on the HOH competition during the "let's eavesdrop on the house while we put the evictee's mike on" proceedings: "I'm going to push a buzzer and hope it says 'Alison'? What has my life become?"

Last couple of things: Jase's face during the clip of Boogie rapping to him in the goodbye footage was priceless. I must try to find a screencap somewhere. As soon as Kaysar eliminated Erika in the HOH competition, I said to myself, "The wedding's off for sure now!" So Janelle won, and Marcellas came in second, and I thought my cable's audio had dropped out, and then I saw Marcellas' horrified face and realized he'd been cursing and was worried it had been on the live show. He looked totally embarrassed for the next three minutes.

And the BB6ers keep on dominating the game. I like at least some of them, but this is getting old fast. I'm hopeful Janelle will mix it up some.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Just as quickly as I realized that Marylander Phil Ritchie was on Rock Star: Supernova, he's off the show. The site is all ridiculously Flash-y, so I can't actually link to his profile, but he's from Ocean City, was in a band called Lennex and went to Stephen Decatur High School.

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I didn't get to watch any TV last night, so I've got Project Runway and So You Think You Can Dance to catch up on this evening. I'll try to post about them post haste.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:45 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I wasn't too surprised to see Roz go home from Last Comic Standing on Tuesday. But her exit compilation was sweet -- she seems like a truly nice person.

I'd rank the final four's Tuesday performances as such:

1. Ty Barnett
2. Chris Porter
3. Josh Blue
4. Michele Balan

Everyone was entertaining, though. I watch a fair amount of standup, and the whole hour was a hoot. Except host Anthony Clark, who's just annoying.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

That was the spectacle on Tuesday night's Big Brother: All-Stars. The power-of-veto contest consisted of six tasks, and if you weren't willing to do them, you were out. The first was to eat a giant bowl of the slop the food-contest losers have been subjected to. The next few were pretty lame: take off and burn your shirt and pants, let your fellow houseguests write whatever they wanted on you, dunk yourself in "blueberries" and get dyed (temporarily) blue. But the next two were no joke: giving up the POV for the next week and last (by which point only Kaysar and George were standing), shave your head. When they both agreed to this, it went to a tie-breaker of how many days you would be willing to eat slop. The only answer, of course, was 60 (the number of days left in the show). But Kaysar was only willing to write 15, so even after giving up next week's POV and shaving his head, he lost the POV to nominee George.

Instead of deciding to go after Will, who was already on the block, James nominated Jase, who went crazy-ballistic before the ceremony. At the ceremony, Will pleaded and pleaded to go home, and George told everyone how much he loved and respected them. Guess who was being sincere and who wasn't? Will interviewed later that he had made the target on his back so hig, it was invisible. Jase was such a weirdo after hearing he was going to get nominated, that Will just might be right.

We'll see tonight.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Today, Lance Bass of N 'Sync revealed not only that he is gay, but also that he is in a relationship with Reichen Lehmkuhl, winner of The Amazing Race 4 along with his then-partner Chip. I'd read ruminations about that on a couple of gossip sites, but now it's confirmed.

And now you know.

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Speaking of ruminations, I'll be back later to talk BB: All-Stars and Last Comic Standing.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Original Survivor winner Richard Hatch was transferred to an Oklahoma prison. Read more here. So heed this warning, all reality-show prize-winners: Pay your taxes!

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I'm going to try live-blogging this episode of Big Brother just for fun. Enjoy!

• Interesting: The Tivo listing includes last names -- it says, "James Rhine is the current Head of Household."
• Is there anything prettier in the credits than the sight of Alison Irwin leaving?
• I forgot the BB6ers promised to save Nakomis.
• Jase sure was classy, not even saying goodbye to Nakomis and all. Time to get over two seasons ago.
• Good for Janelle, sticking with Nak. Ooh, but interesting that Will figures out that it was probably a BB6er and that the alliance might be fracturing. (There's a split between Howie and James vs. Janelle and Kaysar. Interrrrresting.)
• Shut up, Howie! The celebrating is obnoxious, regardless of whether the rest of the house was after him.
• I really never need to hear the words "Big Brother history" again.
• It would be lovely to see Boogie and Will get blindsided with nominations since they are so sure it won't be them.
• Chicken George as "house mom"? However, I have to say that if I didn't have anything to read or a computer or anything else to do, I might go on a cleaning binge, too.
• Do I sight Sarah from BB6's sash on James' belt? Oh, hey, there is her picture. There is some proof that they are still together. I'd been wondering.
• Targeting George to force people to take sides? WEAK! Go after a real target, please.
• Boogie trying to get in shape? Oh dear, the "I have my mom's hips" line is pretty funny.
• Of course Will's whining is strategy. Hilarious, manipulative, and it's exactly working.
• Will as pawn? What is wrong with this picture?
• Interesting that 20 minutes after James saying it's him and Howie vs. Janelle and Kaysar, he tells Will that he's the odd man out.
• I hope James is playing Will acting like he wants to join up with him. He has a solid four -- what is he doing?
• I love that Will saying "We have a lot in common" is among the most flattering things he can think of to say to someone.
• Dear Howie: Jase's song about the inner tube is a function of boredom and creativity, not crazy.
• So fellow floaters Erika and Marcellas say target George. They sure don't want it to be them, and they don't want to say anything bad against Will/Boogie, so of course they are going to say George. And thank you to Danielle for at least trying to set him straight.
• Oh, I forgot I have yet to comment on the Big Brother Slop. Nasty. A week of basically grody oatmeal sounds pretty darned bad.
• Mike Boogie: "Off the hook" should no longer be in your vocabulary, unless you are actually trying to be a caricature.
• These food competitions always seem so overly complicated.
• I like Marcellas, but does he really think he is the most gorgeous specimen in the universe?
• The whole "Force" thing is for teenagers, Howie and George.
• "I've never heard of that word [kumquat] before"??? Oh, Janey.
• Oh, Mike Boogie sleep-talking! It's like Firefighter Eric! It sounds like he keeps saying "fireworks."
• I forgot Danielle had a baby when she was 16 -- sounds like things have worked out really well for her, though.
• Marcellas and Danielle are together but also with the BB6ers -- and trying to get them to aim at Jase. Hmmm ...
• Oooh, almost time for nominations!
• Is Mike Boogie wearing a dollar-bill-printed mandanna?
• Oh, George: "They all probably think I'm holding back and I'm like this giant strategist. Little do they know, what they see is what they get." I'm pretty sure they know, George.
• James: "Big Brother is not a team sport!" Easy for you to say, part-of-the-biggest-alliance-in-the-house.
• Mid-nomination ceremony, Will sure looks less pale -- and shiny and orange. Self-tanner, perhaps? Self-tanner disaster, perhaps?
• So the nominees are ... Will and George.
• James "chickened" out telling George he was nominated because he found him listening to a conversation instead of telling him he was nominated because he's a floater and no one wants him to win. Plus, it made him even madder.

OK, this is the longest post ever. I think it's Too Much Information, but I had to give it a shot.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Was there any reason in particular that anyone else can think of that we needed to see the losers' solos three times in about 25 hours on last week's two episodes of So You Think You Can Dance? First, all 10 competitors did their solos on Wednesday, then Thursday all four of bottom two males and females did their solos again, and then like seven minutes later, the two getting kicked off danced their solos again. It was ridiculous.

I feel really sad for Martha that she's out after getting such negative reviews that it made her cry. I just watched a fairly low-res clip of her and Ivan's hip-hop routine, and I guess it could have been better. It was kind of hard to tell at that size. I'm pretty surprised that Dmitry was out, too. I knew the judges were finding his ab-obsession tiresome, but I didn't expect the public to. That's usually the kind of thing that keeps voters coming back. Who woulda thought?

So we're down to the final eight, and it just gets harder and harder from here to determine who "deserves" to go home. It's two hours of dance (and a fair amount of filler, I'm sure) on Wednesday and an hourlong results show, which will feature Busta Rhymes -- and still more filler. But one can only hope we won't have to see the solos a gazillion times in a row this time. Maybe Sickstep can come perform again!

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 7:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Well, obviously, Thursday's night's kicking off of Nakomis was not my desired outcome for Big Brother. I guess they were less worried about Diane's manipulations and moreso about Nakomis' craftiness. I hope it bites them at some later date. What do you all think about the "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" theory -- that Jase and Diane are in a secret alliance (which would be most unexpected since they detested each other back in BB5? I almost feel like it's not real but that Jase was pretending that it was. Or else he has the worst poker face this side of Andrae from last season of Project Runway.

It seems to me that Julie Chen is getting worse and worse at moderating these live HOH competitions. Last week, she told Nakomis she had won (ah, if only) even though she clearly had the wrong answer. This past Thursday was just really sloppy. But anyway, James won. And as much as I don't detest the BB6-ers, it's going to be plenty boring if they keep winning HOH. We can only hope that James will stir things up -- and we should know how it's going in a couple of hours when we find out his nominations.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 6:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I caught Tuesday's episode of Big Brother on CBS's InnerTube free online viewer thing this morning. All in all, it wasn't a bad way to watch a show. Too bad it wasn't that interesting of an episode: Diane and Nakomis upset about being nominated, Diane refusing to campaign against Nakomis but then moping all over the house, Will and Boogie laughing about not getting nominated (OK, that was entertaining), Erika winning veto, all the other S6-ers getting mad about Kaysar's lame nominations and realizing that the deal only protects him, the usual shenanigans that make it seem like veto might get used, and then it didn't.

Yep, that's about it. I so wish Kaysar would have listened to: James, Janelle, Howie and Marcellas, who were all telling him to get Erika to use the veto so Mike Boogie could be on the block. Oh well. Made for a pretty boring 44 minutes or so. Well, except for Nakomis dying her hair like flames, Jase expounding on how awesome it is being an almost-stepdad, Will daring Kaysar to put him on the block, Boogie having a birthday party extravaganza while half the house can't eat and Janelle and Marcellas' "casting" of the house into soap-opera roles. Those parts weren't too bad. Tonight I hope Diane goes, but I suspect it will be Nakomis.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 5:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I was slightly thwarted yet again, and I missed the first eight or so minutes of So You Think You Can Dance last night. So I didn't see Ivan and Martha get paired up, and I didn't see their hip-hop performance at all. I came in in the middle of judging, which wasn't pleasant. Anyway, this is the week in which everything got changed up. The contestants are no longer with their assigned partners, the votes will be cast for individuals, and the votes, not the judges, will determine who goes home. In addition, everyone danced two partner dances as well as a solo. Here's how it went down:

SOLOS:

• Donyelle: She danced a phenomenal hip-hop freestyle. I don't know whether they addressed her injury in the part of the show I missed, but she sure didn't show any signs of being hurt.
• Dmitry: I was so proud that he actually had his shirt on for once, that he had taken the judges' comments into account, and then he ripped it off at the end. Sigh. The dancing was good; the gimmick (as Nigel would later put it) was tired.
• Martha: Wearing a giant hat that totally hid her eyes, Martha danced to some Gwen Stefani. It was cute but not groundbreaking, and the judges said as much, eventually reducing Martha to tears. (Though it was hard to tell thanks to the giant hat.)
• Ivan: Did a freestyle routine that encompassed his skate-shoes, but the judges found that gimmicky, too.
• Heidi: Danced hard and strong, and the judges loved it and praised it for being "thought out."
• Travis: The guy can move, that is for sure. His pirouettes are amazing, and as one of the judges pointed out, you can see on his face that he feels what he is doing.
• Natalie: Taking the judges' comments into consideration, she dropped the sex kitten act and just danced her heart out, and it was lovely and emotional.
• Benji: Came out to some Wilson Pickett and killed it. I mean that in a good way. He was just outstanding -- amazing turns, crazy footwork.
• Alison: Did a contemporary dance that was just lovely, but, as the judges pointed out, needs to make sure she doesn't just smile-smile-smile.
• Ryan: Shocking height, turns, extensions, etc. He really shows much more emotion in his solos than in his partner dances.

PARTNER DANCES:

• Martha and Ivan: Missed the first dance entirely. For their second dance, they had smooth waltz. All the judges were on the same page, but Nigel was most harsh: "It was not good enough."
• Travis and Heidi: First, they had a paso doble that choreographer Mary Murphy said was "so intense someone might die." Hrm. That didn't come to pass, thankfully. But it was exceedingly good, especially considering how worried Travis has been about ballroom the past few weeks. After that, they pulled contemporary. Heidi was so worried at the first rehearsal that she was crying about whether she would be able to pull it off, but she totally did. It was a little odd, but still entertaining to watch.
• Ryan and Allison: Their first dance was this very avant garde Mia Michaels contemporary piece. I seriously think no one but these two would have been able to pull this choreography off, but they did, eye-patches and all. It was crazy -- it ended with them running right off the stage into nothing. As usual, they loved Allison and were meh about Ryan. Their second dance was Broadway, and they got about the same reaction from the judges -- they felt Allison hit all the marks (and was a pro when her hat fell off, and she played it like it was part of the show), and that Ryan did not.
• Dmitry and Donyelle: Their first dance was the lindy hop, and they were great. (If there was any question as to whether Benji was just carrying Donyelle, it all ended here.) During the judging, I noticed that someone was cackling and I couldn't figure out who. It finally dawned on me that it was Donyelle. That's got to stop! Their second dance was the samba, which provided a sighting of Artem from season one in rehearsal. (Bonus: Dmitry and Artem kept driving Mary Murphy crazy by talking in Russian in front of her.)
• Natalie and Benji: They started with a straight jazz piece, and they were a great couple. Their second dance was hip-hop with Shane Sparks, and while they didn't pull off "ghetto" like Shane wanted, they were still entertaining. I was afraid these two together would be a ham sandwich, but it wasn't too bad.

Did you notice all those crazy signs in the audience? Sure, a lot of them were of the "I [heart] Natalie" and "Donyelle rocks!" and "Marry me, Ivan" variety, but a couple of them stood out. How about "Travis is so limber"? That made me giggle. And if you assumed the Russian sign was just for Dmitry, my husband's rough translation was that it said: "Dima [short for Dmitry]!Vanya ["short" for Ivan]! Benji!" (That's his Russian major at work for once.)

As for predictions, I'd say it was roughest for Martha and Ivan overall. Maybe Ryan, but he has so much technique, that would probably save him if it were the judges' decision. We shall see.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 5:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

The freaky weather last night knocked out my cable for a while, so I ended up seeing only a bit of Last Comic Standing and none of Big Brother: All Stars. I'll catch up on those as best I can and post later.

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Monday I did see most of Treasure Hunters again. I don't know why I keep watching -- I really don't enjoy it at all. (Maybe because my house is in mid-remodel and the room with the TV is one of the only ones that's liveable? That could be it. But I digress.) The Fogal family is driving me crazy. The daughter, Kayte, acts like a baby most of the time. I just looked up her profile on nbc.com, and she is 25 years old. TWENTY-FIVE, y'all. She cries and whines and screeches, and it is not pretty. On Monday's episode, she had two moments of total comeuppance. First, during the three hours her team was trying to find the clue in the theater, she kept telling her dad he was a doof and that it had nothing (NOTHING!) to do with mirrors, despite the clue, "This bears some reflection." When the clue ended up being visible on the mirror if you breathed on it, she looked like a moron. During a later task of digging up a mask, she kept telling her dad he was digging in the wrong place and needed to dig shallower holes, and then boom, he hits the mask. I was flabbergasted to read her age earlier. I had her pegged at maybe 19. I hope it's just the stress of the competition bringing this out of her and not how she is most of the time, because it ain't pretty.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 1:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Oh, Kaysar. I hate it when people make me agree with reality contestants (excuse me, "houseguests" in this case) I find distasteful. But, as much as it pains me to say this, Mike Boogie is right. Kaysar should have gone after him and Will instead of "floaters" Nakomis and Diane (who were left in the dark when the vote plan changed last week -- ouch). Or even the idea that Janelle (I think) floated at one point -- one of the Will/Boogie alliance and one of the Diane/Nakomis alliance to force them to go after each other instead of the BB6-ers.

At least it didn't sound like lip service when Kaysar recognized Nakomis as a strong player and a threat, citing her "six-fingered plan" that took out a couple of the "horsemen" in BB5. I hope she makes it through.

And Howie might be dim and have this creepy obsession with Dr. Will -- did he really drop a "six-pack-istan" line on Will last week? -- but he does seem to remember just about every thing that has happened in the past seasons of this game. That's a huge help to his alliance in this particular version of the game.

One last thing: Did I hear that right? Erika was dating Josh from Big Brother 1 for five years? Am I the last one to know this? I don't remember him very well, but he seemed pretty ... boring and gross. She deserves better -- I hope she stops crying in the house about this soon.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Never have I been so happy for a contestant's ouster than Alison Irwin getting kicked off Big Brother All-Stars last night. At least not lately. I am nearly gleeful.

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I am not particularly gleeful, however, about the outcome at So You Think You Can Dance. Ashlee I can definitely understand, but I'm sad about Musa. He is just generally adorable, and he works SO hard, especially at styles he isn't familiar with. And overall, I think Musa's more entertaining to watch than Dmitry, so I would much rather have seen him go. Have to say thanks to the judges for telling Dmitry he has to do more than just show his abs to impress them and also for telling Natalie that she's an excellent dancer and can and absolutely should lay off the sex-kitten madness. I hope that means she tones down the hamminess a little bit, too. Her dancing is lovely, but her total awareness of the camera is not.

Interesting switch in procedure starting next week, too. In case you missed it, they will be drawing partners and dance styles out of a hat -- like all of last season. It will be odd seeing some of these couples who have great chemistry dancing with others (Benji and Donyelle, I'm looking at you). Also, votes will be cast for individuals instead of couples, which I think is good. Too many people bit the dust last year after getting put in danger because of their partner's bad performance. This should help with that problem.

I am concerned, however, with Donyelle's injury, which was mentioned last week and which kept her out of the group dance last night. I hope she gets better soon because she is amazing. Speaking of injuries, after Travis' solo, when he was standing there looking stricken, I seriously thought he had injured his back until it became clear he was holding back tears. Glad he wasn't hurt. Whew!

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And the next rock family going under the microscope Osbournes style is ... Gene Simmons'.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

And so, it's begun ... a third season of Project Runway. *squees* What will these creative maniacs do next?

Oh, but before we start, a question. I saw the "Road to the Runway" special, and one thing jumped out at me, and that was footage of a contestant named "Nicole" trying to charm the judges into picking her for the show, standing before them with massive amounts of her chest hanging out of her shirt. I am quite certain this was the same woman shown trying out for So You Think You Can Dance doing a weird burlesque routine while wearing a gray leotard that was sopping with unfortunate sweat stains. Yuck. On both accounts.

So, here are some impressions from "Road to the Runway" and the first episode, which asked the contestants to create an outfit made from materials in their apartment. (Yes, it's impression day over here at Reality Check.):

Vincent Libretti: This 49-year-old is returning to design after a number of years away from the craft because, he says, he couldn't handle the stress. So he's going on this show, with its crazy time limits and weird challenges? Interesting choice. He also seems like a total nutjob, especially after making this bizarre hat out of a basket and some chain in the first challenge.

Kayne Gillaspie: This Oklahoma designer is most known for creating pageant and dance-contest dresses. The PR judges seem to enjoy a more sophisticated look than your average seqined pageant gown, so it will be interesting to see how this goes down. His first dress, which was partially made from a rubber mat, seemed like a departure for him -- and that's a good thing. (Also, I keep wanting to type Kanye.)

Robert Best: He's worked with Isaac Mizrahi (whom he described candidly on the show as testing his patience) and has spent the past several years on a well-known line of Barbie dresses. His dress for the first challenge had some bits of cutesiness to it, but it was quite lovely, considering the materials they had to work with.

Uli Herzner: Mostly what I remember about Uli is that she is German, and she had on a lovely printed dress of her own making in her photo shoot. I'm sure we'll get to know her better later.

Stacey Estrella: I thought she was going to be out as soon as 1) it became clear that she couldn't work the industrial sewing machine and 2) she didn't really finish her ultra-sheer dress. And I was right. Plus, all she seemed to say about herself was that she graduated from Stanford and got an MBA at Harvard and then started pursuing fashion. That's nice, but the Ivy League education is pretty much immaterial here. Bye, Stacey.

Katherine Gerdes: This recent fashion school graduate seems to have a sporty style (she loves snowboarding). She didn't otherwise make a huge impression on last night's show, although if I recall correctly, she did make a dress out of blue plastic.

Angela Keslar: She's the "artsy-craftsy" one who lives in the middle of nowhere in Ohio. She had on a poofy skirt in the rooftop toast part of the program. Her dress doesn't jump out at me.

Laura Bennett: This is the always impeccable mother of five who isn't formally educated in fashion but makes a lot of her own clothes. She says it's a slippery slope into sweatpants and a minivan, so she make sure she always looks great. Different strokes for different folks -- I love me some jeans, a comfy T and some sandals. But despite this difference of opinion, she seems really quite down to earth. She snagged a fur rug and created a really cool coat-dress thing for the challenge.

Alison Kelly: She annoyed me in her promo with the whole "They'll think I'm pretty so they won't think I can do anything, so I have to prove them wrong" thing. I hate that argument, whether it's "pretty," "young," or whatever else. Just do your thing. Anyway, in the show she didn't bug me as much, though I don't particularly recall her dress. She does, however, have a very particular way of speaking, where she carefully pronounces certain words and syllables. Reminds me of Drew Barrymore in that way.

Bradley Baumkirchner: I don't really remember this guy too much from either episode. But there are a lot of people at the moment. Eventually, everyone will make an impression.

Jeffrey Sebelia: This is the rock-n-roll designer who went on and on about how juvenile everyone else's creations were and then nearly got kicked out since he tried to do too much and his dress and jacket didn't mesh at all.

Malan Breton: It must be difficult to go through life being so above everyone else that you can barely interact with other people. Soooo ... yeah, my first impression of him is not good. Tim Gunn's wasn't, either -- he said they didn't accept him for season 1, then did for season 2, but he turned them down, and then did for season 3, and he agreed. I hope he's an excellent designer, because his personality is annoying as all get out.

Keith Michael: This self-assured almost to a fault menswear designer looks like a big old jerk. But his dress (made mostly from a bedsheet) won the first challenge -- and he claims it was the first dress he ever made). So if he can back up the bravado with good work ... we'll see.

Bonnie Dominguez: I feel like I've seen her before, though I can't figure where. Anyway, she was a sportswear designer until recently and designed a number of Serena Williams' tennis outfits (I might keep that to myself if I were her, though I guess they were memorable). She seems really sweet and nice -- I just hope she's good so she doesn't get stomped on.

Michael Knight: No, not The Hoff's Knight Rider character. Michael is from Atlanta and has designed outfits for a number of musicians. He seems like a lot of fun, and he made his first-challenge dress out of coffee filters, but in a way that they didn't look like filters. It was cool.

So, now that we've got the woman who can't use the sewing machine out of the way, it's on!

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Honestly, I think the person who took the biggest beating on last night's So You Think You Can Dance was choreographer and sometime judge Dan Karaty. He started out describing pop as "watered-down hip-hop with some jazz moves," which I think a lot of people (especially fellow choreographer and sometime judge Brian Friedman) didn't take too well. Then the routine was ... not great, and with Ashlee and Dmitry, sometimes it's hard to tell whether it's their fault or the choreographer's. (Witness last week's confusion over the routine by Brian that they did.) Anyway, here is the rundown:

Natalie and Musa did a Dan Karaty routine to "Promiscuous." It certainly showed off Musa's acrobatic strengths and Natalie's ... figure. It was fun, I guess, but not mind-boggling, and we're kind of in the need-to-boggle-minds portion of the competition.

Heidi and Ryan did a cha-cha to "Sex Bomb," and it was hawwwwwwwwwt. (By the by, "cha-cha to 'Sex Bomb'" is not a combination of four words I ever expected to type.) Heidi seems like such a goody-goody, but when she gets these really sexy routines, she can totally pull them off. The judges adored her. They keep telling Ryan that something seems "missing" with him. Brian said it was that he dances with tension. I think it's that he keeps his expression pretty blank -- even when he smiles, his eyes aren't that expressive.

Ivan and Allison drew contemporary, and I thought Ivan was going to bomb. (Not "Sex Bomb," however.) But he shocked me -- he really made his gangly limbs work for him, and the judges recognized him for his technique. Nice showing by him, and as usual, great work by Allison.

Ashlee and Dmitry I already talked about quite a lot, so ... see above.

Martha and Travis did a rather lovely foxtrot, despite being ridiculously stressed to have drawn ballroom for a second week in a row.

Donyelle and Benji danced to "You Can't Stop the Beat" from Hairspray (BALTIMORE CONNECTION ALERT! BALTIMORE CONNECTION ALERT!). It was a busy, cheesy, energetic and crazy bit of dance, but it was a ton of fun. (And how about Mary Murphy with that fakeout in her judging?) It seems like Donyelle and Benji are always going either first or last, but I don't know how true that is. The judges are definitely 100 percent behind them, though. Nigel called them as winners, and Brian said he didn't want Benji in the Top 20, but that he's eating his words and that Benji is his favorite male dancer.

Predictions: It's getting harder and harder, so I'm just going to pick who I think is going home and not a bottom three. I'm going (again) with Ashlee and Dmitry.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 4:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Good job, Gabriel Iglesias. First, the Last Comic Standing contestant was chosen by his peers to be the subject of a roast challenge at the Friar's Club in Beverly Hills. He was a hilarious subject (in most cases), and his payback was on the mark, too. But then he got kicked off the show for sneaking a Blackberry into the living quarters so he could communicate with his girlfriend. He looked particularly bad in juxtaposition with footage of Ty Barnett following the every-other-day phone call rules and missing his kid's birthday as a result. He seemed like a contender, but he is out.

For the face-off, Rebecca Corry, Kristin Key and Ty Barnett presented their routines to a live audience, and Ty was by far the winner. Kristin was pretty funny, but not at Ty's level. (Though I was shocked to learn that she's 25 after she kept talking about being the youngest one there. I honestly had her pegged as at least a few years older than that, though I can't say why. Maybe because of her joke comparing herself to Mr. Burns from The Simpsons. He's certainly not 25.) Rebecca can be funny, but I think she's funnier when she's not doing her macho, kicking, yelling routine. That ends up looking like a defense mechanism, and that's not so pretty (or funny).

So for the final five, we have:

Roz: I think she's funny, but I don't really like being yelled at as an audience member. (This also bothered me about Joey Gay's delivery.)

Ty Barnett: He cracks me up -- I'm glad we got to see him in the faceoff because I missed his audition so I hadn't really seen him perform much yet.

Michele Balan: She is amusing and has really risen to the challenge in her two head-to-heads.

Josh Blue: He's turned his cerebral palsy -- and a lot of other topics -- into a punchline that really works for him.

Chris Porter: He's my pick for the winner. He never fails to make me laugh -- and he got props from the judges for his performance at the roast, too. I think he could take it.

Next week, the viewer voting starts and that will determine the final three.

P.S. It looks like Gabriel is doing OK. According to his web site, he's got a full booking schedule, including being at the DC Improv Sept. 6-10.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 3:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Yes, it's true: I didn't much like Survivor's all-star edition, but I am loving Big Brother 7. I think part of it is that there isn't any premise of teams or trying to survive in the wildnerness or trying to accomplish anything. It's purely about social interaction and manipulation -- and most of these people have seen how most of the other people operated on a previous season.

Good on Janelle for winning the power of veto. Alison talks a big game about wanting people out and going out fighting and all other manner of vitriol, but she still manages to be evil and boring. (Quite a feat there.) Danielle seems to have bought into this idea that she's the "smartest player to never win the game." Where did that come from? Even if it were true, which I am definitely not saying, I wouldn't go around telling people that. Because that means she's telling everyone else, except winner Will, "I am smarter than you." Not too smart there, actually. I will be happy to see either of these two go, but I will be ecstatic if it's Alison.

It's amusing to see Will try to pull his usual lies and manipulations ("Danielle and James are totally allied!") and have it fall completely flat. Speaking of Will, how creepy is Howie's obsession with Will? Often people throw the word "stalker" around in a kind of playful way, but with Howie it almost seems apt. Icky.

So here's hoping we can say goodbye to Alison this good eve.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 2:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

If you were wondering how Paula from Real World: Key West  was doing, she just got arrested on assault charges. She's accused of biting her boyfriend a number of times after he reportedly refused to let her into their house in the middle of the night.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
        

Last season on Project Runway, designer Guadalupe Vidal got cut pretty early on in the competition -- and in the reunion show, she proved herself to be pretty darned weird. The girls over at Go Fug Yourself (fret not, it's a fashion blog) have taken aim at Lupe, and it ain't pretty. Her outfit, that is.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 3:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I was pretty darned shocked at the bottom three couples on last night's So You Think You Can Dance. Not Jessica and Jaymz, obviously, since I predicted they'd be there, but Heidi and Ryan? Ivan and Alison? Were these crazy voters watching the same show as I was? Well, once that bottom three was determined, I was pretty sure my Jaymz prediction would come true and that Jessica would be going along with him, and I was right.

But how on earth did Dmitry and Ashlee stay out of the bottom three? They didn't have much to work with, but their performance was not that great. Maybe they will surprise us as a couple if they get a dance form that matches one of their strengths next week. But both of their attitudes are bugging me. Ashlee has been really kind of whiny and bizarrely self-righteous lately ("Oh, we just know we are going to get contemporary or something!"), and Dmitry is being awfully smug. I mean, he is good, so he's earned more than a small degree of confidence, but ...

Anyway, this is why we keep tuning in: to see what will happen next.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 9:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

OK, the Big Brother All-Stars have been announced, so let's get started!

Top 4 women chosen by voting:

• Janelle: Yay!
• Erika: Huh? OK, I guess she's mostly harmless.
• Nakomis: Huzzah (doubly so when Cowboy doesn't make it).
• Diane: Really? Ick.

Top 4 men chosen by voting:

• Howie: Really?
• Kaysar: Yay!
• James: OK, that works. Lots of BB6-ers, though.
• Jase: Ugh, why???

The rest (chosen by producers, I assume):

• Will: Yes!
• Danielle: Eh, OK.
• Marcellas: Ditto.
• Alison: NO. No. NOOOOOO.
• Mike Boogie: Why why why? (Why does he still wear sweatbands?)
• Chicken George: He deems this "so cool." I deem it "so lame."

So here's what that all means:

• Four allies from BB6 in the house, so instant targets.
• Danielle and Marcellas from BB3 both in the house, and they both hate each other. Pretty!
• BB4's Erika and Alison also hate each other. Fun!
• BB2's Mike Boogie thinks Chicken George is a joke and hates him. Even more so when Chicken George raps at him and Boogie (hopefully) realizes that he can't rap in the house anymore without looking like a moron. Gorgeous! He also hates Kaysar. Good luck with that!
• Diane thinks Erika doesn't deserve to be there. Erika doesn't care. Woo!

And here's what all happened:

• Everyone hugs one another, but hardly anyone means it.
• The houseguests learn that there will be two Heads of Household (HOHs) per week, that they have to agree on two nominees or else become the nominees themselves.
• There's an HOH competition that involves throwing a giant fake boulder at other contestants, trying to knock one another off pedastals (yes, literally). This, of course, makes it clear who is gunning for whom.
• Jase and Janelle win.
• Danielle comes up with the plan that Jase purposefully disagree, so Jase and Janelle go on the block, and the rest can vote out Janelle and take aim at the BB6 alliance. She tells Alison and George and tries to get them to tell everyone. That works, but then she tells James herself, spreading it directly to the BB6-ers.
• Jase, who has over-pumped his upper body so as to resemble an action figure (in a bad way), kind of halfway pretends to "infiltrate" the BB6 group.
• James says he trusts Jase more than Kaysar or Janelle. Say what?
• Mike Boogie is wearing a CHILL TOWN HAT. Because he is a MORON.
• They make it seem like Jase is going to go along with the Danielle plan.
• But Janelle and Jase nominate Danielle and Alison. (Ha HA!)
• Then the most hilarious thing happens, and Will and his hair act all outraged about not getting nominated. Hee hee hee.

And so, it's begun. For my own sanity, I will try to not spend too many hours in front of the computer screen watching these dorks, but I can't make too many claims yet. I'm just glad it's started. And that Cowboy didn't make the cut.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 10:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

I got drawn into a late-night showing of The Lost Boys on Bravo yesterday (bleached and baby-faced Kiefer Sutherland! The Coreys! Vampires!) and was treated to approximately 745,943 promos for Project Runway's new season. The new cast looks like it could have some characters, and they are really excited about the "Project Runway first" of having to kick someone off the show for breaking some rule. Intriguing. That all starts next Wednesday.

I also saw approximately the same number of ads for the new Bravo show Work Out, which is like Blow Out, but about a crazy lady who runs a gym instead of a crazy guy who runs a hair salon. I noticed someone who looked suspiciously like Rebecca from The Amazing Race during a talk with staff on the promo. Not for total sure it was her, but she was a personal trainer, so it would make sense. That starts July 19.

======

And tonight, we find out who's been chosen for the Big Brother All-Stars. I'll try to contain my excitement, but ... WOOOOOOO!

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 1:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

Now that we are down to 14 competitors in So You Think You Can Dance, which means only seven dances, you might think the show could be shorter than two hours. But not yet. So we were randomly treated to more memorable auditions that we so memorable they were of people who didn't make it to the finals, so why care? Hopefully the filler will be decreased soon. In the meantime, here's how it all went:

• Heidi and Ryan: The ballroom and jazz dancer drew hip-hop and worked with Shane Sparks. Their routine was a lot of fun, and considering how alien hip-hop is to both of them, it could have been horrendous. But it wasn't. Judge Dan Karaty didn't love it, but it was entertaining, so it ought to keep them free of the bottom three.
• Martha and Travis: These two contemporary dancers finally drew ballroom and were assigned salsa. In rehearsal, it looked like it was going to be a disaster, but they did pretty well in their performance. Judge Mary Murphy wasn't totally impressed, but they sure did try.
• Ashlee and Dmitry: Ballroom dancer Dmitry was with his third partner of the competition, pop-and-locker Ashlee, and they drew contemporary. This meant that they did a totally bizarre dance to Fall Out Boy's "Dance Dance" that supposedly told a story of Ashlee being a doll brought to life by crazy magician Dmitry. It was odd and not really that engaging or impressive. (And how about that, there was choroegrapher Brian Friedman being a jerk again.) I laughed, however, when Karaty was going on about how Ashlee dropped her doll character in the middle of the performance. Yeah, dude, that would be the part of the story when she had been brought to life. Hate the choreographer, not the dancer on that one, at least. Anyway, I have no doubt these two will be in the bottom three. The big question is whether the judges will finally decide that Dmitry isn't helping his partners enough and kick him out, too.
• Natalie and Musa: Disco to "Hot Stuff" was in the cards for these two, and they danced hard. For some reason, it cracks me up that disco still counts as a viable style of dance in a modern competition, but the performance was a blast to watch.
• Donyelle and Benji: No, they couldn't say "Viennese Waltz" (it kept coming out "Vietnese" and, occasionally, "Vietnamese"), but they danced the heck out of it (even though it was to one of the lamest songs in the history of the universe, Bryan Adams' "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman"). It was amusing watching the choreographer try to bring out the "romantic lead" out of Benji in place of his "boyishly charming" side. But, again, they were amazing. Even more so when it came out later that Donyelle likely has a broken toe.
• Ivan and Allison: The hip-hopper and the contemporary dancer drew West Coast Swing (Benji's specialty), and it was again a case of a dance that could have gone horribly awry, but they were really great. I agree with the judges that Ivan is getting better and better, and possibly with Mary Murphy that Allison could win this thing. They are adorable together, though I couldn't argue with them when they said they look 12. (Not that I have that much room to talk.)
• Jessica and Jaymz: They are finally spelling Jaymz's name consistently, so that's something. The ballet and jazz dancers drew hip-hop and worked hard at Shane Sparks' routine. They thought they did really well, but Karaty didn't, and their disappointment was palpable. (Also, every time Jaymz said, "You have a ballet dancer doing hip-hop," it sounded like he was saying "belly dancer." Now that would be interesting!) They haven't really clicked with the audience, I don't think.

My predictions are: Ashlee and Dmitry, Jessica and Jaymz and ... I don't know, maybe Martha and Travis for the bottom three. (Only because they did SO well the first couple of weeks and then not quite as amazingly well the last couple.) For going home, I'm going to say Ashlee and Jaymz. Ashlee just doesn't have that much versatility, and the judges were so annoyed with Jaymz's solo last week. We shall see this evening.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 1:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
        

At long last, a bunch of my friends are coming out of the woodwork to admit that they, too, are addicted to So You Think You Can Dance. It's been a trip so far. Here's a rundown on the couples:

Ashlee Nino and Ben Susak: These two I'm surprised made it to last week's performance show. A disastrous disco and juvenile jive were pretty tough to watch. But they finally drew hip-hop last week, and Ashlee got to show the skills that got her to the finals in the first place. Ben, on the other hand, really tried, but hip-hop is definitely not his forte. They ended up in the bottom three, and Ben, despite what seemed to me to be a strong solo, got sent home.

Heidi Groskreutz and Ryan Rankine: These two have had some ups and downs, starting with Ryan not appearing that thrilled to be paired up with Heidi. But this week, they were assigned the Cuban rumba, which neither of them was at all familiar with, and yet they tore it up. The performance was so good, and it definitely raised their stock in my book.

Allison Holker and Ivan Koumaev: These two haven't always seemed like the best match. Allison has shown a lot of strength in a variety of styles, and Ivan has seemed to only shine in hip-hop. Last week, they drew Argentine tango out of the hat, and Ivan held his own more than in their previous non-hip-hop dances. Most of the rest of the time, it's looked like Allison was trying to dance enough for both of them. But they pulled it off. I'm not sure how much longer that's going to continue, though.

Dmitry Chaplin and Aleksandra Wojda: Dmitry and Aleks lost Joy and Jason, their original partners, week before last, so they hadn't danced together before. They waltzed to Kenny Rogers, which wasn't the most lovely thing I had ever seen, and after three weeks in the bottom three, Aleks was sent home. (This means that Dmitry and Ashlee will now be partners, which I cannot even imagine.)

Donyelle Jones and Benji Schwimmer: These two have long been one of my favorites, pretty much since Benji proved he really could do more than just swing (and how). Last week they had to dance pop-jazz, and though the choreography and outfits were a little weird, they worked it. (One question, though: Why is Brian Friedman always such a jerk when he is choreographing for contestants? Maybe cutting his hair took away his ability to be nice.)

Musa Cooper and Natalie Fotopoulos: I really like Musa and I think Natalie is a good dancer (though she needs to tone down the "I'm so cute" histrionics a little), but last week was not great for them. They were assigned the quick step, a super-fast ballroom dance that has tripped up many a contestant on many a dance show. Neither of them has a ballroom background, so the actual steps were not great, but they still performed as hard as they could.

Jessica Fernandez and Jaymz Tuaileva: These two contemporary dancers haven't been getting a ton of votes, though they've been working hard. Last week, they drew their strength, contemporary, choreographed by Brian again (who again was pretty jerky to them). The worked the entire stage, and I thought it was pretty lovely. But they were in the bottom three again, causing Jessica to go on a tear about how America hasn't seen her personality and she really is loud and funny, and it was really awkward and odd. They survived on to this week, though.

Martha Nichols and Travis Wall: These two have had mostly pretty strong weeks, but they set such a high standard for themselves that they didn't seem to be as good this week, even though they were still better than a lot of their competitors, to my eye. They danced a hip-hop routine and got dinged for taking different approaches to it -- Martha was flowy and Travis was "hard." Seems to me, though, that at some point their choreographer should have pointed that out to them. Oh well.

So that's where we are coming into tonight's two-hour performance show. If you are watching, who are you rooting for?

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 12:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
        

Maybe you heard yesterday about David Hasselhoff -- one of the judges of America's Got Talent -- going on a drunken rampage and getting kicked out of Wimbeldon this weekend. (Reports even had him saying, "Don't you know who I am? I am THE HOFF." Anyway, now those reports are getting debunked. Sad because the mental image of him declaring himself "THE HOFF" is priceless. But OK because if it had been true, it would mean he was off the wagon, and that's never good news.

Posted by Sarah Kickler Kelber at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)