Watching Reality TV

Yep, it’s that time again!

First up, we had “Deadliest Catch”, which NEVER fails to enthrall me. It’s on during dinner time around here, so we keep the television on. Though, I started thinking twice about eating dinner and watching it at the same time when one of the guys cut his finger pretty bad and they insisted on SHOWING it and then showing the doctor sew it back up again. Yeesh. Both the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern are having truly crappy seasons. It’s surprising because they are always leading the pack. I find myself hoping that the tide turns for these fishing giants soon because I want to see them do well. Meanwhile, the “newbie” captain on the Maverick (please correct me if I’m wrong and that’s the wrong boat) is getting hazed right and left and it’s funny as heck. It’s nice to see everyone enjoying themselves, despite the ever-present danger inherent in the job. I’ll say it again, if you aren’t watching this show, you need to start. Discovery runs “marathons” of it all the time, usually on the weekends and it’s super easy to catch up. Just watch, you won’t be disappointed.

Now, for “Idol”. We all know the real story here: Sanjaya. And ya’ll? It’s over. It’s not even funny any more. He just HAS to go. He completely murdered Bonnie Raitt’s totally awesome “Something to Talk About” and I literally felt ill just watching him. It’s retarded. If there is a God, this boy will be going home. He. Needs. To. Leave. Period, end of sentence. Fun’s over. In other “Idol” news, Phil did not bother me as much this week. He wasn’t great (is he ever?), but he wasn’t awful either. I actually think I liked his performance better than Blake’s which has to tell you something because I loves me some Blake. Lakisha was so-so. Chris made me want to murder him. Melinda was completely fabulous. I like how she had her hair done this week, it de-emphasized her lack of a neck. She looked great. And she sounded even better.

Tonight was also the results show for “Dancing with the Stars”. It was nice to see not only Clyde in the bottom two (which, DUH), but Heather as well. Was she worse on Monday than John or Billy Ray? Not especially. But she did fall and I don’t like her. Two big strikes against her. It was nice to see, even though I knew she was safe. Because it tells me America ain’t falling for her bullshit either. Yes, it was Clyde that went home. Thank GOD. Next week we’ll get to see the remaining contestants do the Jive and the Swing. The Jive… eh, we’ve seen it. But I am looking forward to the Swing. That should be a lot of fun. Apolo and Julianne got the encore performance, rightly so. They’re just so fun to watch. Easily my favorite so far this season. I loves me some Joey too, but Apolo is the bomb. And, I’m still annoyed with how they drag out these results shows. Just GET TO IT. I’m getting old here, people.

Coming up tomorrow? The “Idol” results show. Will Sanjaya FINALLY go home (please oh please oh please)? If Blake goes home I may have to throw something through my television screen and then how will I watch my tv?

Wow, how refreshing was it to not have to watch Leeza Gibbons last night? I know, there are a lot of people that are offended by her ouster, thinking it refers to the fact that she is a) middle aged and b) a woman (since there are only two female “stars” left in the competition). I really don’t think there’s anything to that. Leeza just wasn’t up to par with some of the other dancers. The judges and the viewers called her on that. End of story. If you wanna blame anyone, blame the producers for not casting better female dancers. Can I get an amen?

Anyhow, onto the night’s dancing. Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke danced the samba and it was okay but it wasn’t great. He’s a competant dancer, but he doesn’t stand out in the pack by any means. I don’t think he’ll unnecessarily need to worry this week, but when things get down to the wire, he may be the first to go. Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko danced the rumba and he was truly atrocious. I’m starting to feel bad for Elena because she deserves a better partner than him. He doesn’t even seem to be trying at this point. Does he even show up for practices? The judges gave him a scathing 13 and he deserved it, along with the unofficial title of “Worst Dancer in the Competition”. Yikes. He’ll be gone. He has to be. America, I implore you. Get this thing off my tv screen.

Heather Mills and Jonathan Roberts danced the samba and, well, she just shouldn’t have made the guy wax his chest. Why she made him do it, I have no idea. She didn’t want to put her foot on a hairy chest? Anyhow, somehow this baby-smooth chest caused her to fall. Yes, fall. It finally happened! Oh how my heart sings! Sorry, I’m just not a Heather fan folks. I’m not about to change now. The judges were very kind to her and gave her a score of 21 since the rest of the dance was technically good. I don’t know as if I would have been that kind. I have the feeling that they’re giving her a break because of that leg and that really drives me nuts. I don’t think it’s fair to the other dancers. Thankfully, next we had Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson dancing the rumba and once again, he brought it. The Len and Carrie Ann were a little harsh with his scores, but Bruno gave him the props he deserved and they earned a respectable 25. John Ratzenberger and Edyta Sliwinska danced the samba and… well, he tries hard. You can say that about him, if not about Clyde. He’s charming and he’s fun, and though he got a rather low 18 from the judges, I am hoping he’ll be in the competition at least another week. Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy danced the rumba and boy, they blew the doors off. The sexy was back in a big way and any misstepping last week has been long forgotten as the judges gave them an awesome 28.

Next came Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough dancing the samba and yet again we had a completely awesome performance. Having just seen Laila burn up the floor, we were now treated to Apolo incinerating it. Who knew the cute couple could do sexy and do it so danged well? He wanted a perfect score and he got it, 3 10’s from the judges for a score of 30! It was almost a letdown to see Billy Ray Cyrus and Karina Smirnoff dance the rumba next. The sexiness did not translate at ALL and instead Billy Ray came off as rather creepy and slimy. Not the image he wants to project, I’m thinking. The judges didn’t think so either and gave him a 17. I thought that score was deserved.

So who do you think is going home? I think it HAS to be Clyde. He’s killing me here, ya’ll.

This is starting to be a regular feature here on Watching Reality TV. But Tuesday night is such a good night of reality, that I the first thing I want to talk about on Wednesday mornings is how annoying Sanjaya is getting and has Leeza gone home YET? So without further ado, let’s talk some “American Idol”, shall we?

Nice facial hair, eh? I guess he actually grew that? Weird. I guess he was going for the Latin Lover look or something. But looking at him makes me want to be ill so that effect was sure lost on me. Surprisingly, though, he wasn’t awful last night. Not as awful as Chris Richardson, in my opinion, who completely ruined his song choice of “Smooth”. The judges didn’t think it was bad but I sure did. Yow. Also not that great were Melinda Doolittle (yawn) and LaKisha (she could have done better). Haley was downright horrible. Seriously, I didn’t even think she looked cute last night. Something about her hairdo, with the fake eyelashes, the weird eyebrow shaping and the red lips just looked downright awful. And her singing, I swear, I felt like I was on a cruise ship. I expected a waiter to deliver me little drinks with umbrellas in them at any moment. I’m going to go out on a limb and predict that Haley is going home tonight. Yep, I think this is her week.

The best of the night, by far, was Blake Lewis. He sung Marc Anthony’s “Need to Know” and he burned up the stage. He had it RIGHT ON. Easily, he’s the best of the male singers. I don’t think a guy has a chance of winning this thing this year, but if one did, it’d be Blake. Either way, I think he’s got a future. He’s just awesome. The judges thought he was pretty good too. It’ll be interesting to see how it shakes down tonight. I have given up all hope on Sanjaya ever going home. I’m thinking next year he’ll be there as an honorary judge.

What about “Dancing with the Stars”? I’m thinking they could take a few cues from “American Idol” in how they present the results show. They draw it out WAY too much. There just isn’t an hours worth of content there. They would be best served to present the next week’s dances and then get to the results. None of the silliness and pretty-footing they do. Just a thought. I mean, I know ABC wants to milk this cash cow as much as they can, but enough is enough.

So what are next week’s dances (see how I did that? Just like the Big Boys, I’m delaying the results for dramatic effect. I watch a little too much reality tv, methinks)? Next week we have the Samba and the Rumba. Ole! Personally, I can barely tell all the dances apart, so I just have to take their word for it. What I can tell is when I think a dancer stinks and there’s a few in this group that are just plain rotten.

Clyde Drexler is pretty rotten. Not only can’t he dance, but he can’t keep his mouth shut either. I’m going to make a bold proclamation and predict that he’s gone next week. He can’t be winning too many people over with his cocky antics and I think he’s just pissing everyone off, judges included. Mark my words, people.

And speaking of predictions, I was SO RIGHT. I love being right. While I suppose it doesn’t count as a legitimate prediction, Leeza Gibbons going home was something I’ve predicted for weeks, including Monday night. So bonus points go to me for that one. I’m just glad I won’t have to watch her struggle through another dance again. Next on my list are the loveable Clyde and then Heather Mills. I still don’t like her. ABC wants me to like her, but I don’t like her. Do you like her? Does anyone?

I’ve noticed in past weeks (and past seasons) that the judges are very conservative with their scores. A lot of times (I’m thinking of last week in particular), there is such a little difference between the contestants scores. So it was nice, this week, to see the judges using the broad range of scores to really delineate between who they thought were true contenders and who they thought needed to go home (or just really really WORK ON IT). Some good examples of that from last night were Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko, who got the first “4″ of the season and a total of 15 points. Truthfully, he just wasn’t that fun to look at last night. He wasn’t making it interesting and I know he’s not using his full potential. Which is a shame, cuz he could be going home tomorrow. Though, I still hope Leeza is the one to go home. She scored barely above him with a 16 and the judges had some harsh words for her Paso Doble. I’m just tired of watching her. It’s time for her to go.

The performers of the night were Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough dancing the Waltz and garnering a very respectable 26 from the judges. I thought they were going to be the best of the evening but then Joey Fatone went last with Kym Johnson and blew that out of the water. His Paso Doble was literally on fire (at least according to Carrie Ann) and the judges gave him the first “10″ of the season for an overall score of 28. WOW. No worrying about him going home this week. Or ever, most likely. The boy just can’t seem to go wrong.

Don’t forget to vote for your favorites!

Wow, last night was a good night for reality tv. At least from where I’m sitting. And while “House” did win out over the “Dancing with the Stars” results show, I was still very interested in the results. But let’s go in order, shall we?

***

“Deadliest Catch” premiered it’s third season last night and I was in crab heaven. And we haven’t even seen any crab yet! It was that good. It was great to see some returning favorites, like the crews of the Cornelia Marie and the Northwestern among others. It felt like being reunited with old friends. Being the premiere episode, we got to see the crews preparing for the king crab season. That included a pretty amusing segment where they shopped for supplies. The “ship mother” with her shopping list and recipes to buy for and the men who simply walked down aisles and knocked food into the cart willy nilly.

The big news of the episode was tragedy. I’m not sure of the details, but there was another fishing vessel that encountered distress and the crew abandoned ship. Which, during the fall in the Baring Sea is no small feat considering the near-Arctic temperatures of the water. We followed the Coast Guard on the rescue and witness the ominous discovery of the empty survival suit and the even more ominous discovery of the completely empty life-raft. The episode closed out with the rescue of one guy, in his survival suit in the ocean. As they cut him out of his suit, he was shaking so hard he was nearly a blur. And that’s where the episode ended. Dude. That’s just intense, right there. If you missed it, you can catch the episode online here: “Deadliest Catch” fansite.

***

We were treated to yet another episode of “American Idol” tonight. And I was pleasantly surprised by the pairing of Tony Bennett with the contestants. That man is class. The Way You Look Tonight was the song my husband and I danced to at our wedding. And the songs everyone chose were pretty good, for the most part. I am not including, of course, Sanjaya. He aggravates me and makes me want to tear my ears off. I don’t have any idea WHY he’s still on that show. But I do enjoy Simon’s snarky comments to him each week. He’s getting meaner. Meaner to Hayley as well, though she rightly deserves most of it. Despite looking bodacious in a jewel green dress, her singing was subpar at best. Simon’s comment to her? “Your legs look great.” I’m sure he meant another part of her anatomy, but legs works. The best of the bunch were Lakisha (of course) and Melinda (who looked so much better in a more modernly stylish dress and new hairstyle). This comes as no surprise, I’m sure. If I had to bet on who would be going home, I’d say either Hayley or Phil (who was tone-deaf tonight), since we KNOW Sanjaya won’t be going home. Bah!

***

And, lastly, “Dancing with the Stars”. Turns out that Shandi the beauty queen went home. I can understand that. Her dancing is okay, but nothing remarkable and she doesn’t have a strong tie to the fans the way some of the other contestants do. And how pleased was I that Leeza ended up in the bottom two. Is that mean spirited of me? Heh. Even though the judges were pleased with her on Monday, it was nice to see the audience speak out. I don’t think she’ll be around for too much longer. Mark my words people. And though the judges weren’t happy with Apolo and Laila this week, the fans were. And that’s what matters. Now, if this were a perfect world, Leeza would be going home next week, followed rather unceremoniously by Heather Mills (before she milks any more publicity, GOD). But we all know this isn’t a perfect world and my dreams are destined to be dashed. Dangit.

It’s cheesy, that’s true, but “Dancing with the Stars” is fine reality fun. Much better than, say, “The Bachelor” which premiered last night and I refused to watch. I do have standards and I feel “The Bachelor” represents the worst side of reality TV. But “Dancing with the Stars” is harmless fun. And the dresses are incredible. Last night was a great night, I thought. After last night’s episode (which consisted of Tangos and Jives), there were four couples tied for first place with 24 points. Those couples were: Joey Fatone and Kym Johnson who danced the Tango, Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke who danced the Jive, Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovolani (seriously!) who danced the Tango and Heather Mills and Jonathan Roberts who danced a surprising Jive. At the bottom of the pack were John Ratzenberger and Edyta Sliwinska who danced the Tango and got a score of 20 and Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko who danced a Jive and got an embarassing 16 from the judges. Ouch. I don’t think I agreed with all of the scores. I didn’t see Leeza deserving her 24 and thought Laila Ali did deserve a 24. Same with Apolo Anton Ohno, his “Pulp Fiction” themed Jive was fun and fantastic and though he fell just a point short of 24, I thought he deserved the higher score. Joey Fatone brought the fun yet again with a “Star Wars” themed Tango. No, seriously! They even played the “Star Wars” themed music (disco-ized which I think is a crime against nature, but whatever) and Kym sported a very Princess Leia-esqe “slave girl” outfit. Points to them for creativity and I was glad they were in the top four. I just thought that Laila Ali and Apolo Anton Ohno deserved to be there too. And perhaps no Leeza or Heather. I’m still ticked at Heather for being Heather (reasonable, I know) and Leeza, try as she might, just bores me.

So those are my thoughts, what did YOU think?

So last night the fans let me down and eliminated Paulina Porizkova from “Dancing with the Stars” instead of Leeza has I had commanded. Boo! Leeza wasn’t even in the bottom two with poor Paulina, Shandi was. Which, while her performance on Monday wasn’t that good it wasn’t that bad either. Neither of them were. Bah! Reality tv, once again, leaves me cold and disappointed.

Speaking of disappointments, did you catch Sanjaya on “American Idol” last night? Holy train wrecks! First off, we must talk about the hair. What was up with the HAIR? Sanjaya chose a rather punk-ish faux-hawk (as is the style these days, but no one told Sanjaya it is more a style with celebrity babies and not grown men) to wow the audience last night. And his choice of song, “Bathwater” by No Doubt was painful at best. Even poor Gwen Stefani (tutoring the finalists last night) was cringing. It was, in a word, bad. To quote Simon Cowell, Sanjaya is in his own universe. It certainly doesn’t seem to matter what the judges say because I doubt he’ll be going home this week. And that is just really, really pathetic.

No, Heather Mills’ leg did not fall off for the second week in a row, for those of you keeping track at home. But Joey Fatone is quickly becoming a favorite in this competition as he charms the socks off everyone in his path. And if there’s one personality trait that is essential to winning “Dancing with the Stars”, it’s charm. In a departure from previous seasons, no teams have been eliminated quite yet, giving all the stars two weeks to dance before the voting takes place. If you want to place your vote for this week, visit the ABC.com website.

Who had the lowest score from last night? That would be Clyde Drexler and Elena Grinenko, unfortunately. See, it’s that charm thing again and Clyde is having a hard time being charming and dancing at the same time. However, he wasn’t that bad, I think the scoring was a little low on that one. I thought Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovolani were worse though they scored all 7’s from the judges. Leeza just doesn’t seem cut out for this show and I’ll predict right now that she’s the one to go home. Of course, it could be that that is just what I’d like to see happen.

Leading the pack yet again is Apolo Anton Ohno and Julianne Hough and Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy. I am really enjoying Laila, more than I thought I would and I hope the fans respond to her.

Tonight, expect to see a recap show at 8pm to catch people up with the last two performances, followed by the results show at 9pm. Tune in and root for your favorites!

ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” premiered it’s fourth season last night and the show seems to have gotten off to a good start. Leading the pack with the highest scores are Joey Fatone an Kym Johnson, Laila Ali and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, and Ian Ziering and Cheryl Burke. Joey Fatone clearly came out on top with the highest score of 24 from the judges. The man can cut a rug. The worst of the night were Billy Ray Cyrus and Karina Smirnoff with a grand total of 13 points and Leeza Gibbons and Tony Dovolani with 15 points. Leeza has her age as a good excuse (plus, apparently she and partner Tony locked horns during rehearsals which couldn’t have helped). Billy Ray seemed all over the place and his partner Karina’s hair issues did nothing for the performance as well. Truly a disappointment because I couldn’t help but hope for some sort of comeback for Billy Ray. Yes, appears I have forgiven him for his mullet. And for all the hype over Heather Mills, her performance was actually pretty blah. There was a tragedy, however, in her choice of costume for the evening. YIKES. That was one scary dress (I can’t find a picture of it, or else I’d share with the rest of you all). But no, no legs went flying. Yeah, I was kinda disappointed about that too.

All in all, it was a solid premiere. Enjoyable dancers, fun costumes, fun music. Everyone (well, almost everyone) looked like they were having a good time. If you want to vote for your favorites, go to ABC.com. And tune next Monday at 8pm to see Round 2. Maybe we’ll get some legs a-flyin’ then, right?

The fourth season of “Dancing with the Stars” starts on Monday, March 19th on ABC. Last season was such a sensation with Mario Lopez and the infamous Emmitt Smith, it’s natural to wonder if this season will measure up. Will Billy Ray Cyrus wow us with his moves and will Heather Mills’ prosthetic leg fly off mid-dance? (The latter being something that people are genuinely interested in and I’m telling you, people are placing BETS.) The show has moved from it’s usual Tuesday night to a Monday night airing. Wisely so, as ABC isn’t about to put it’s big reality draw up against the monster that is “American Idol” (however, the results shows will air on Tuesdays). We’re left to wonder if “Dancing” will suffer the fourth-season slump that many of it’s predecessors have suffered. By now, the bloom is off the rose and it’s time for the show to really prove itself as having staying power.

And, the bigger question, can these stars dance? If you hope on over to this MSNBC article, you’ll see some profiles of each of the celebrities and any advantages or disadvantages they might having going into the competition. My favorite was this about Joey Fatone:

It seems odd that Joey Fatone still lists his profession as “NSync Star,� since the band made its last album in 2001. Nevertheless, the “former teen idol and/or boy-band member� spot has to be filled by someone, and even if you’re “the less cute one,� it might as well be you. While Fatone probably can’t get Justin Timberlake to hoot for him in the audience, don’t be surprised if you see Lance Bass. Nostalgia acts in general and boy-band members in particular have strong track records, so don’t count Fatone out.

Are you planning to tune in this season? Is there any celebrity that you’re going to be rooting for? Do you think Heather Mills’ leg will fall off?

Dancing with the Stars, Heather Mills, Joey Fatone, Billy Ray Cyrus

Vincent Pastore, of HBO’s “The Sopranos” fame, has had second thoughts. He was announced as one of the contestants for season four of “Dancing with the Stars” (premiering on March 19 on ABC), but now he’s dropped out as a contestant. His reasoning? His health status. Pastore simply didn’t feel he was up to the physical challenge of the competition after one week of training.

“When I initially committed to joining Dancing with the Stars, I didn’t realize just how physically demanding it would be for me,” Pastore said in a statement released by ABC. “Unable to put forth my best effort, I felt it appropriate to step aside and give someone else the opportunity.”

The show’s producers don’t have someone to replace Pastore yet, but the announcement is expected soon. And this isn’t the first time a contestant has had to be replaced at the last minute.

Prior to its second season, rapper Romeo had to drop-out of the competition due to a basketball injury. He was replaced by his father, rapper Master P.

I’ll admit my first thought when I heard he was withdrawing was because he saw the contestant roster and was horrified by the “D-list-ness” of it all. This season seems to utterly be without big names, with Heather Mills (that’s the ex-Mrs. McCartney to you all) being the biggest draw. “Dancing with the Stars“, indeed.

Emmitt Smith, the NFC’s career rushing leader and manly man, has been changing men’s minds about dancing. There’s a good portion of men out there who simply aren’t interested in dancing or learning to dance. They don’t see it as a very masculine activity and are perhaps a little nervous about looking silly while doing it. Then Emmitt Smith went on “Dancing with the Stars” and changed all of that. Men don’t get much more manly than Emmitt, and yet, here he was dancing. Having a good time. And winning!

This has caused the “Emmitt Effect”, now more men all across the country are giving dancing a try. Dance studios have seen a significant increase in the number of enrollments lately, from men who all cite Emmitt Smith as a reason to give it a try. I’m sure this is welcome news for women around the country who’ve been after their husbands to dance with them.

Dancing with the Stars, Emmitt Smith, ballroom dancing, The Emmitt Effect

I’ve been out of the loop for a while now and I apologize to all you reality tv fans out there. I had a very, very sick baby on my hands and (perhaps foolishly) we went out of town for the holidays as well. But I’m back home and the baby is on the mend, so it’s time to get back to the news!

• I’m sure you’ve all heard (if you’re not currently residing under a rock) about the mega-feud between Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump (creator and head honcho type over at “The Apprentice”). The battle, which originated when Donald granted a pardon to disgraced the Miss USA, has heated back up again after a cool holiday truce between the two personalities. I rather liken it to watching six-year olds fight on the playground. Regardless, it brings good press to “The Apprentice 6″ and the new season airing in January.
• Jenna Fisher of NBC’s “The Office” reportedly wanted to be on the first season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” but was turned down by the show’s producers! At the time, she wasn’t sure that “The Office” gig would last and wanted perhaps another shot at fame. Maybe she’ll get another shot at it in the future? That is, if she’s interested since “The Office” has gained such popularity and probably keeps the young actress pretty busy these days. At any rate, it’s yet another celeb who has wanted to be on that show.
• “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood is dating Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo. This quashes the rumors that Romo was seeing “Newlyweds” star Jessica Simpson. The two were spotted together on the field at Texas Stadium before the game on Christmas Day. The sports commentators even speculated that perhaps she was too big a distraction for Romo and what is why the Cowboys lost the game to the Philadelphia Eagles.

That should cover the highlights and hopefully sate your reality tv news-lust for the time being. I’m sorry for being gone and a Merry Belated Christmas to you all. Have a great New Years weekend!

Despite having turned down all three seasons of “Dancing with the Stars”, former N’Sync-er Joey Fatone says he has changed his mind about the reality tv show and would like to be on it. Apparently the shows producers asked him three times to be on the show and he refused each time. But now, he told a Florida radio station, he’d like a chance to do the cha-cha. He says it’s because the show has turned out to be quite popular (though one has to wonder where he’s been; this show has been a hit since it first hit the air in the summer of 2005).

Of course, there is no verification that Fatone or anyone else (such as the Duchess) will actually be on season 4 of “Dancing with the Stars” but this is a pretty good lead. Hopefully we’ll hear the full contestant listing here soon!

Remember yesterday when I reported that Sarah Furguson was going to be a contestant for “Dancing with the Stars”, but that I wasn’t sure about the veracity of the newsbite? Apparently, I had good reason to doubt. A representative for the show told MSNBC that they won’t confirm or deny reports that the Duchess of York is cast for the next season to air in March, but that the quote being attributed to show’s producer Conrad Green was “completely fabricated”. Yikes! Well I don’t know what the real story is here. I’m thinking that until I hear some sort of official word from NBC about the show and the casting, I’m going to assume that everything is up in the air.