Thursday, March 20, 2008

MADNESS!

That's right, the most wonderful time of the year is finally here -- and it has nothing to do with Christmas. Instead, the present that we get is hours upon hours of college basketball. And Gus Johnson, the best play-by-play guy in sports. Yes, it's sad that our beloved Orange aren't in the field of 65, but that won't stop me from skipping class to plop down on my sofa and watching basketball from noon to midnight.

For those, like my fellow blogger, who could care less about Xavier averting an upset this afternoon, there is Lost Madness, which is run by the Washington Post. Their bracket is made up of Lost characters, and they're down to their Final Four. Go here to cast your vote.

In case you missed it, the cast of Battlestar Galactice appeared on Letterman last night to read the Top 10 list. Clearly, the audience didn't have a clue what the hell the show was, but any fan will get a kick out of it:



Back to basketball. Lost recap tomorrow!

Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Dancing with the Stars Week 1:Women

I forgot to mention this in the other post, but the pro dance to begin the season yesterday deserves to be mentioned. It was awesome. If you can find it on YouTube, I highly recommend it.

So, to the ladies:

Shannon Elizabeth: her legs are crazy long. She's paired with Derek, who I thought really helped Jennie along last year, and Shannon definitely looks like she has potential. Her arms aren't terrible, and she has nice extension sometimes. Like Len (I think it was Len) pointed out, with legs like those, you better what sure your toes are pointed and extended fully. I think the score of 21 out of 30 was fair.

Monica Seles: Aaand maybe Adam Carolla will stick around for more than one week, because Monica was terrible. There were so many things wrong with that performance, I don't know where to begin. I feel bad for Jonathan. The 15 should have been lower.

Marissa Janet Winokour: Well, she certainly has lots of energy. I was really disappointed in the routine, though. I think she has the natural talent, so why would Tony choreograph a routine that didn't show it off? They stayed glued to the same section of the dance floor, possibly because her heels looked about 4 inches tall. She's short, deal with it! And while everyone enjoys a nice pair of sparkly pants from time to time, Tony's may have crossed into the realm of too distracting. The 18 was fair, but hopefully it'll get better

Priscilla: Can't. look. at. face. I'm afraid it'll turn me to stone. From what I saw through my half-closed eyes, she did a pretty good job. The choreography was tough and she dealt wth it very well. I don't know if I would have gone as high as a 24, but not bad. I wonder how well she'll do with some of the quicker numbers.

Kristi: I think we have a winner. Wow. I mean, Mark is a great partner to have, but Kristi just blew everyone else out of the water. Her 27 is the highest first-week total ever. Well-deserved.

Marlee: I actually watched the intro for once because I was so curious as to how she would, you know, hear the music and keep the beat. I really liked the "Fabian is my music" answer -- that makes so much sense when you think about it. And she was good! It even got to my cold, hard heart: I admit I was touched and even a bit inspired by her. Her arms are kind of wild, but of course she'll improve. Her score was a 22.

After the first week of competition, I think Mario and Kristi established themselves as the ones to beat. Next week, they all dance on Monday and the elimination is on Tuesday.

American Idol Season 7: Top 11


Here's how I watch American Idol without wanting to kill myself: I don't watch until the Top 12. I tape the show and then fast-forward through all of the parts that don't involve singing or judging. This way: no recaps, no minimal Seacrest, and no faux-drama in the contestants' clip packages. I like to think this makes it easier to judge on just performances and not on any personality quirks or sympathy twinges.

So here we go with the Top 11.

Amanda Overmeyer is singing "Back in the U.S.S.R." She asks us if we're ready. I think so, or else I wouldn't be watching you. She's really shouty and loud and it's just not working. This is bad, right? After some waffling from Randy and Paula, Simon agress with me, calling it a "mess" and tells her she's getting repetitive.

Kristy Lee Cook should have been forbidden from ever singing again after what she did to "Eight Days a Week" last week. Instead, she narrowly avoided elimination and is back to serenade us with "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away." Sample lyric: "I can see them laugh at me." No kidding. She's bad on the high notes, misses all of the low notes, and boring as heck. Even Paula can only summon up a half-hearted, "Well, at least you look nice!" comment. Simon compares her to "musical wallpaper." I love you, Simon. Shut up, crowd.

David Archuleta has apparently recovered from his memory lapse of last week and is performing "A Long and Winding Road." Ooooh, this was beautiful. His voice is incredible. And he's adorable. Randy says he brought the hotness back. If you say so. Simon tells him he was amazing, and CLAPS. Whoa. David is adorable some more. He's like a boy Polly Pocket!

Aussie Michael Johns sings "Day in the Life." He still hasn't done anything about his weird hair. His performance isn't great, but it's not terrible either. Judges? They were underwhelmed. Simon uses the "mess" designation for the second time tonight.

Brooke White gave my favorite performance from last week, and she's singing "Here Comes the Sun" tonight, dressed in bright yellow. She "woos" in the beginning. And it didn't get better from there. She looked really, really awkward without the piano. The judges kind of rip into her, and she looks really sad. Awww...sympathy votes!

David Cook is singing "Day Tripper" and playing guitar. Let me say this: I think David is a very, very poor man's Chris Daughtry. So it's entirely strange that I loved this performance, even with the Frampton-esque voicebox and the faux-hardcore! poses at the end. I really, really enjoyed that. After waffling from the first two, Simon doesn't think it was all that great. The crowd boos him. Shut up, crowd. Shut up, Paula.

Carly Smithson is singing "Blackbird." This was beautiful. I think it was perfect for her voice. Randy pronouces it"cooliosis." Uh...if you say so, dude. I liked the whole thing...right up until she started talking back to Simon, who didn't like the song. When will the contestants learn?

Jason Castro a.k.a. "The Dirty Hippie," is singing "Michelle." His whole stoner vibe is a take-it-or-leave-it type thing, and I choose to leave it. I don't think his voice is all that strong, he looks frighteningly like a female friend of mine, and he has negligible stage presence. The screaming women in the audience disagree. Simon kind of agrees with me (and that's all that matters), and he tells Jason that the only reason he'll last another week is because some people think he's pretty.

I don't remember Syesha from last week, but now she's singing "Yesterday," accompanied only by one guitarist. It's good, I guess, but it's nothing that's going to make me remember her for next week. Judges are lukewarm-to-positive, with Simon saying he thinks that performance saved her for another week.

Chikezie is singing my favorite Beatles song, "I've Just Seen a Face." I just saw "Across the Universe," and I love Jim Sturgess's version, too. Chikezie, meanwhile, slowed down the whole first part of the song and then midway through kicked it up to a kind of barn-stomping hoedown. Even with the arrangement, I love it. I like his voice, and it's rough and growly and kind of perfect for this song. After waffling from the first two judges, Simon says he didn't like it.

Ramiele (who?) is singing "I Should Have Known Better." Eh. You can hear how thin her voice is, and the wiggling she's substituting for "dancing" is distracting. Simon sums it up nicely, calling it "amateurish."

Top 3: David A., Carly, David C.
Close behind: Chikezie

Bottom 3: Amanda, Kristy Lee, either Jason or Ramiele.

Going home (and not on tour): Kristy Lee


Picture from: http://rickey.org/

The Slacker's Top 5

So, it's about two hours past Top 10 Tuesday and I'm lagging way behind Jenn with my half of this week's Top 10. It's been a crazy day. So crazy that there was no time for TV, which is extremely sad. Also sad is my puny Top 5 list, but without further whining, here are my top 5 reality contenstants:

5) Caridee English, American's Next Top Model, Season 7
4) Harold Dieterle, Top Chef, Season 1
3) Kara Saun, Project Runway, Season 1
2) Kelly Clarkson, American Idol, Season 1
1) Christian Siriano, Project Runway, Season 4 (I know I gave him a tough time on this blog, but I have come to love him)

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Dancing with the Stars, Week 1: Men

First of all, damn you ABC for not putting the full episodes of DwtS on your website. I had set my VCR to record, not realizing that the time was still off from "springing ahead" last week, and missed the whole show. And tonight, I'll be at the SU game at the same time American Idol and DwtS are on. What is a blogger to do?

Turn to YouTube, of course. I wasn't very surprised by any of the performances tonight. Adam and Penn were terrible, Steve and Cristian were middling, and Jason and especially Mario seem like they're the guys to beat.

I realize Kym has a lot of experience with dancing around her partner (see: Springer, Jerry and Cuban, Marc) and she showed off that particular talent again last night with Penn, who stomped around the dance floor while Kym tried her best to draw attention away from him. He's justly punished with a score of 16 out of 30.

Jason seemed pretty nervous, but like the judges pointed out, he had great posture in his foxtrot and will probably only get better as the season goes on. Once he loosens up a bit and gets used to the steps, he'll be great. His score of 22 is well-earned.

Cristian and Cheryl were up next, and while his footwork was pretty good, his hunched posture was really distracting. Cristian's also the least well-known contestant, so hopefully he'll hang aound a couple weeks, because it seems like he'll only get better with time. Score: 21.

The producers must be getting back at Julianne for winning twice in a row, because clearly she will not be extending the streak this year with Adam Carolla. He was awful, and his score of 15 reflected that.

Mario was amazing. He clearly has natural rhythm and dance ability, and pretty much established himself as a front-runner. He's rewarded with the highest score of the night, a 24.

Steve Guttenberg is so clearly happy to be here that you kind of ignore the fact that he's not a great dancer. His foxtrot wasn't the greatest, but you know he'll do whatever he can to get better for next week. Score: 18.

Bring on the women! Bring on Mark Ballas and Johnathan Roberts! Recap of the second night will be tomorrow, once I find everything on YouTube again. Also, American Idol Top 11 tonight: will Archuleta recover from his disastrous first week? Will Seacrest annoy the poop out of me? Will I ever learn how to spell Chikezie's name without looking it up first? (Answers: Probably, definitely, and no.) Stay tuned.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Tuesday Top Ten: Reality Contestants

With the massive amounts of reality TV coverage coming to TCB over the next few weeks, we thought we should embrace it and celebrate it with a Top 10 list of our favorite reality contestants. Admittedly, the lists are pretty limited, because Allie and I don't watch too many reality competitions, but here's my half of the list.

5) Danny Tidwell (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 3) I loved almost all of the men of season 3 (Jesus, Hok, Cedric, Dom, Pasha, Neil), but in terms of sheer breathtaking talent, Danny leaped above the rest (literally). Incredibly, he landed in the bottom three couples several times, but he always saved himself with his solos, and made it all the way to the finals, where his solo to "We Are the Champions" was my favorite solo dance ever.

4) Clay Aiken (American Idol, Season 2) If this list had been complied, say, four years ago, Clay would have been #1. I was as big a Claymate as there was - his finale performance of "Bridge Over Troubled Water" gave me chills for years after. I maintain to this day that something went wrong with the phone lines and/or Fox fixed the outcome, and he's the true winner of Season 2.

3) Benji Schwimmer (So You Think You Can Dance, Season 2) During his run to the Season 2 crown, Benji took adorkable-ness to a new level. He was a geek and was seriously proud of it. He had a magnetic personality and I looked forward to watching him dance every week.

2) Elliott Yamin (American Idol, Season 5) While Taylor Hicks was twitching and stomping his way to the S5 crown, Elliott was tearing it up week after week, starting in the early semifinal rounds. His performance of "Trouble" during Top 4 week was my favorite of many great performances that year. When Hicks and the talent-less Katherine McPhee made it past him into the finals, I lost all faith in American Idol, and gave it up for good.

1) Apolo Anton Ohno (Dancing With the Stars, Season 4) Partially due to the cuteness of his pairing with Julianne Hough, but Apolo (who I already loved from the Olympics) won me over by being funny, charming, and a great dancer.

Dancing with the Stars Preview


I know the first episode is airing now (I'm taping it so I can fast-forward through the annoying parts), but I wanted to put up a quick preview before my first recap tomorrow. The way I see it, the 12 teams fall into 4 distinct categories:

The "Tucker Carlson" Division: Adam Carolla & Julianne Hough, Priscilla Presley & Louis van Amstel, and Penn Jillette & Kym Johnson. These guys will be competing only for the right to stay longer than the first couple weeks. Two-time defending champ Julianne will have her hands full with Carolla, who seems about as graceful as a coffee table. Viewers watching in HD will be so terrified of Priscilla's face that they may be scarred forever, and though Kym dragged Marc Cuban into the middle rounds last year, I doubt she can do it again this year with Jillette.

The "Mario Lopez/Joey Fatone" Division: Mario & Karina Smirnoff, Kristi Yamaguchi & Mark Ballas, Marissa Janet Winokur & tony Dovolani. These are your frontrunners. The ones who, on paper, look like they've got all of the advantages. If Kristi's that graceful on ice, she's got to be even better on solid ground, right? Plus, she's paired with Ballas, who, except for some freak voting last year, would have won with Sabrina Bryan. Mario has the R&B rhythm thing going for him, and Winokur spent years as Tracy Turnblad on Broadway. However, it's worth noting that neither Lopez nor Fatone actually won their respective years. The winner may come from...

The "Jerry Rice/Apolo Anton Ohno" Division: Cristian de la Fuente & Cheryl Burke, Jason Taylor & Edyta Sliwinska, Shannon Elizabeth & Derek Hough. The dark horses. Cristian has Cheryl, who has won twice and gotten a third partner to the semi-finals. Football players have done well before, so the question is whether or not Jason can live up to the standard set by Jerry Rice and Emmitt Smith. And Shannon has Derek, who did so well with Jennie Garth last season. Who knows, maybe one of these three will be the surprise of the season.

The "Heather Mills/Marie Osmond" Division: Steve Guttenberg & Anna Trebunskya, Marlee Matlin & Fabian Sanchez, Monica Seles & Jonathan Roberts. The unknowns. They could be really, really great and make a deep run a la Marie in Season 4, or they could fizzle out somewhere in the middle.

My prediction: I think Kristi takes this one, proving that a woman can indeed win the competition. Dark horse: I think Jason Taylor will live up to the standards of the football-playing alumni, and make a real race of it. Thing I'm most looking forward to: Tom Bergeron, who puts Seacrest to shame with his all-around awesomeness.

TCB Returns

Aaaaand we're back! Allie and I have returned from our respective spring breaks, a little tanner, much poorer, and ready to get back to watching lots and lots of television. We've both seen "The Wire" series finale, and I think we're both still letting it sink in. I was pleased at how it wrapped up -- for good or for evil. I was happy that the stories all had some kind of resolution and we're not sitting here today analyzing ten seconds of black screen.

Anyway, thanks again to Reed for stepping up and recapping the finale in our absence. Coming up this week on the blog: LOTS of reality coverage while we wait for real television to return next month. Dancing with the Stars starts tonight, so I'm all over that. I'm giving in and watching the American Idol final rounds, even though that show has twice ruined my life because I get so drawn into it. It's like an addictive drug for me, but I'll try to remain professionally distanced from it this year. I watched last week's Top 12 so that I would be prepped and ready to go. Thankfully, I don't think there's anyone I'll get unreasonably attached to and then cry when they get voted off. (Yes, it's happened to me before. CoughClayAikenElliottYamincough)

Allie, having finished Project Runway, will be watching Top Chef starting Wednesday. I'm so desperate for decent television that I may watch it, too. Thursday is the last new Lost episode before it goes on a five-week hiatus, and it looks to be a doozy. Of course, my attention will be split between the NCAA Tournament and regular TV over the next two weeks, but something tells me Allie won't have that problem.