GO!
HELL'S KITCHEN
"11 Chef's Compete/10 Chef's Compete"
Directed by Sharon Troja Hollinger
Airdate: 10/6/10 - Viewdate: 10/6/10
If they hadn't done it before, 'Hell's Kitchen has surely jumped the shark by now. Don't get me wrong, I still love it to death - probably has something to do with my man-crush on Gordon Ramsey (or Gordo, as I think of him in my head... actually I don't. And I hope should I ever be famous he would never read this, cuz' 'Gordo' probably wouldn't go over very well) - but it would take Dr. Van Gelder's neural neutralizer on Tantalus V (points if you can identify which show & episode that reference stems from!) to convince me that all the contestants on this season are capable chefs, or that Ramsey is actually considering all of them to run a high-end restaurant in L.A.
Case in point, Sabrina. Can anyone really convince me she's a contender for this? REALLY? (with Seth & Amy!) Sure, she MIGHT be able to cook with some competence, but her attitude is utter garbage, she has no discipline (which Ramsey himself has noticed) and I'm pretty sure the 'Sabrina' we see on TV is totally fake. Why do I think this? In the words of Job "C'MON!" Let's think back to the grand daddy of all reality TV show players - Evil Dr. Wil from Big Brother & Big Brother All Stars. This man knew how to play the game, and play it very, very well. I'm sure if I met him in real life I'd find out he was a total douche (because he seems to be anyways) but when it comes down to competing in the most un-real of all 'reality' TV shows, he had his finger on the pulse of how it was done. Full game mode on the court, complete breaking-the-forth-wall insanity in the confessionals. The Evil Dr. Wil we met in the confessionals was a different animal than the guy who walked around and reacted with the other contestants - and he was the first to admit that. He was present, he was conniving, he was a total bastard, and he won once, and NEARLY won twice, because he could balance the game versus his real intentions.
Now Sabrina shows none of this tact. She plays herself up for the camera as the over-done bratty bimbo both in the confessionals and in the kitchen. She's too unbelievable to be real, and if she let us in on that fact in the confessionals, then I might like her more - but it's obvious she's bought her own hype, and the producers are keeping her around because she makes decent TV, and we don't really need to see the chef's do well until they're all one team anyways, right? But for the sake of my enjoyment of the show, she needs to go, and now.
Who else feels bad for Melissa and Boris? Here I two people I can sympathize with. You can tell they are both decent cooks, but neither of them can handle the pressure Ramsey forces on them. In their drive to work themselves to Gordo's expectations, they're missing the forest for the trees in each dinner service, and it got one of them sent home (Melissa - oh yeah, Melissa went home at the end of the second hour) after she was swapped to the other team, ostensibly to give her a chance, but I believe Ramsey was more interested in getting Trev over to the girls team where he proved just what a whiney bitch he really is. Boris will be gone soon, and it's a shame cuz' you know he really wants to do well and has the drive and desire, just maybe not the head for pressure that others have. Russell is my choice now, though Nona might still pull it off. The Misses has money on Gail, and the ones who fly under the radar like her usually make it all the way to the end.
Emily was sent home in the first hour, and that was just fine with me because when she talked it always looked like she was trying to avoid smudging her lipstick - I HATE that look!
Was anyone else entertained by the narrator's line "Russell's meat has finally made it out to the diners?" Just me, okay. Guess I'm no more mature than those high schoolers that Russell picked a fight with. Because when you're competing for a dream job & a 250K American salary, you really want to be blowing your top at over privileged seventeen year olds.
I'm certain the 'Getty Villa' they used for the reward in the first hour was featured in 'The Godfather'. Had to be, how many places have a reflecting pool like that?
Wicked FOX cross over! Kelli Williams (of 'Lie To Me' fame) sitting at the chef's table? Superb!
NEXT TIME: One of the chef's screws up big time? But which one!?!
AMERICA'S NEXT TOP MODEL
"Karolina Kurkova" Created by Tyra Banks
Airdate: 10/6/10 - Viewdate: 10/6/10
I'm liking this season more than previous ones, and I think it has something to do with the fact that Tyra is barely in it. Dear Tyra, 'The Fresh Prince Of Bell' Air was seventeen years ago, you need to let the bad acting go.
Is anyone else tired of hearing about how the girls want to win this so bad for their son/daughter/husband/family/mother/cat/gynecologist? You're family isn't on the goddamned show, YOU are, so just admit you're doing it because you want to, not because you want to use the money to clothe hungry inuit orphans. (How are the inuit orphans doing these days? Oh... good? They're all good now? Okay, good to know.)
If you want my opinion, (which is probably why you're reading my blog) I think Lexie should've taken the challenge - she nailed it with a straight face. But what do I know? I'm no runway coach, and my eyebrows are of a regular Human size.
Okay, I'll root for the underdog like anyone else, and when it comes to the two meter tall lanky-as-hell dork chosen to compete against the popular girls, it's easy to want Ann to win. But FOUR BEST PHOTO'S IN A ROW? REALLY? I know sometimes Tyra can play favorites (Whitney, with her mouth open all the time?) but this is a little absurd. Sure, Ann's getting some great photo's, (and I personally think that Ann has an edge as she obviously has no conception of how to present herself in an attractive manner, making her a blank slate and a sponge) is one thing, but I feel she's either being set up for failure with all the pressure that's mounting to continue to perform as such, or else Tyra's losing perspective. Surprising the girls haven't turned on Ann... yet.
Anyways, Lexie goes home, which makes me sad, I liked her.
CASTLE
"Under The Gun" Created by Andrew W. Marlowe
Written by Alexi Hawley - Directed by Bryan Spicer
Airdate: 10/4/10 - Viewdate: 10/8/10
This show has to be one of the best examples of what happens when everything goes right with an episodic network prime time drama. Like 'Murder She Wrote' meets 'Moonlighting' the classic irreverence of 'Castle' is heartwarming, comforting and intriguing all at the same time.
There's a certain timeless quality to this show. Aside from a few ubiquitous modern influences (cell phone's, computers) this show could really be set in any decade and not lose any of its relevance or charm. Entering into it's third season you can just feel how comfortable the writers are with the banter between Castle & Beckett (the perfectly nuanced canucks Nathan Fillion & Stana Katic). Nice to see they finally ditched the 'will they/won't they' romance angle and settled into an excellent rhythm of teamwork and antagonism. One of the Exec's, Rob Bowman, is a man of long TV history - I remember him well from when he was a director on 'The X-Files' and along with those quirky sensibilities, another producer from the previous two seasons (missing in the latest episodes credits I might add) Rene Echevarria, hails from another true example of timeless entertainment - Star Trek: The Next Generation. The same class and mature humor displayed by that show is on display in Castle most of the time.
So this week treasure maps and jewel heists. Great story once again. I especially liked the old man ditching his walker (obviously stolen from Pixar's 'UP') at the sign of the cops only to scale a fence and leave Ryan & Esposito holding their collective colostomy bag.
"Bikes are what girls want when they realize they're not going to get a pony". I will remember that one for sure. My only real criticism of this show would be wholly unrealistic relationship between Castle and his jailbait daughter. Unlike coy uncertainty displayed by Cal Lightman's daughter Emily from 'Lie To Me', I find Alexis to be completely unbelievable. She's too smart, to witty and too wise for a seventeen year old girl. Nothing against Molly Quinn, the actor. She does great, her character is just written like the heroine from a bad teen novel about vampires.
I must say I really was hoping to get some clues as to the coming Zombie apocalypse from this episode, but alas, until next time. And how can one not appreciate Ryan's observation of Esposito as they search the dark graveyard with heavy weaponry:
Ryan:
"Hispanic and cocky. You'll surely be the first to die!"
As formula fun as this show is, it still manages to surprise me. In a billion years I never would've called Royce being in on the crime. I will give those writers credit where it is due, and once again they get it all bang on here.
NEXT WEEK: Steampunk mayhem!
The Event
"Protect Them From The Truth" Created by Nick Wauters
Written by David H. Goodman & James Wong - Directed by Jeffrey Reinu
Airdate: 10/4/10 - Viewdate: 10/6/10
I wonder if the James Wong who co-wrote this episode is the same James Wong of early season 'X-Files' fame Glen Morgan & James Wong (who went on to make the underrated 'Space: Above And Beyond'.) IMDB will provide me the answer!
This show is being billed as the successor to Lost. Okay, so it isn't THAT engaging, but I will admit it has managed to keep me riveted across three episodes. The show moves at a pace comparable to '24' with the same quality of 'Left Turns' in the plot if you will (A 'Left Turn' is either something I learned in film school or something I made up thinking I learned it in film school - it refers to the concept that a simple, easy plot will be a straight line that makes three right turns to wind up right back where it started. In this example you can see how a 'Left Turn' would completely break that simplicity) as you would expect from a JJ Abrams production (The "King" of the left turn if you will.
One thing I always liked about 'Lost' was how Abrams, Lindeloff & others made a theme out of having characters behave against their nature, and using that to shock the audience. We don't know Sean Walker or the other characters enough yet to evaluate whether they're really doing this or not, but hiding in the trunk of a car that belongs to a Federal agent you just kidnapped so she can drive you into an FBI detachment where you can hack their system and find out who has kidnapped your girlfriend from the pilot episode seems pretty counter productive when you're wanted for murder. So good on the writers for injecting some alacrity and creativity into the Conspiracy/Mindfuck story arc that one would think was in danger of losing steam at any moment, yet finds new ways to intrigue you at every act break.
New ways to intrigue you like the dead coming back to life. Now THAT, I did not see coming. While it may be lacking in refined character development, this show keeps the audience watching by learning some lessons from its predecessor, mainly 'Lost'. Instead of each episode expanding exponentially upon an ever growing mystery, this shows conspiracy and secrets move in a somewhat more linear manner. We get an answer about the people held at Mt. Inustranka (extraterrestrials apparently) but then we get another mystery - Like men dressed as Federal agents shooting up an FBI branch with MP5's.
As you can tell, I am quite enjoying 'The Event' and I will keep watching until A) it's get cancelled (that's what tends to happen to promising new shows) B) It becomes un-watchable as they stop answering questions and return to the old method of stacking unanswered questions on unanswered questions or finally C) Things get answered too quickly and we start a whole NEW conspiracy half way through the season, a'la '24'.
So for those of you out there who haven't tried it out yet, watch 'The Event'. It's face paced, action filled and with enough surprising moments to keep you coming back from the kitchen while making dinner to ask "What happened now?"
Except for that one part with the traffic stop and the dead cop. Saw that coming a mile away.
Happy Thanksgiving all!
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