Controversial Matters!

This week on SYTYCD the judges made an excellent choice when they sent Cristina home! My bottom 3 and the judges bottom 3 weren't an exact match but Cristina was in both and my choice and their choice were unanimouse that she should be the one going home.

On a high note I loved the performance by Brian Gainer and Remote Control. Great entertainment for us, great exposure for them. See ya next week!

So the big night finally came! Memphis Beat is going to be my all-time new favorite show this summer for a lot of reasons. I love My name is Earl because Jason Lee is just funny & entertaining, period. Now I know he’s also a serious actor. He plays the main character Dwight Hendricks (who loves his mama, his city and his music). His character is an “outstanding detective with laid back style and radar like intuition” and he sings Elvis! Cold Case and Without a Trace were two shows that made me cry by the end of every episode…this show will be no exception. It’s got laughs, drama, great characters (besides Jason they’ve got Alfre Woodard) and great music. It’s another TNT original that airs on Tuesday Nights 10:00pm EST.

First let me address the issue that Nigel was in a funky mood at the start of the evening and was it me or was he especially nit picky with Travis Wall’s choreography because he hinted at it again later in the evening when Tice Diorio’s routine was danced? As most of you who have been watching the show since its inception know Travis is an all-star and an amazing choreographer but Nigel’s problem seemed to be that he couldn’t tell if the routine was contemporary or jazz. It’s not Travis’s problem if he is stupid. One thing that you will notice about the choreographers is that they are somewhat American Idolish, meaning that they create these routines for the dancers but they wait to see what the judges think of the routines and this is important to them the way the American Idol contestants don’t really care what the other judges say, what is important is what does Simon have to say. I think the criticism kind of sucked the air out of Travis’s evening judging by the look on his face every time they panned the camera his way…and usually the judges don’t put down their choreographers work even if the routine wasn’t that great…and this one was actually very good! **To clarify: since the main problem wasn’t the routine but what classification the routine fit into Nigel was really negative about Travis more so than the routine itself.

Most of the dancers were out of their element tonight, but most of them did okay and some really stood out. One thing I keep in mind from past season is that sometimes it’s not the dancers. They have to dance what they are given so even if they dance the routine on point they still get a bad critique. My favorites tonight were Adechike, he danced a very nice contemporary routine with Allison. Ashley who danced with hunky all-star Mark (what a body) did a really good job and I became a fan tonight. Melinda who danced with Ade (He’s a favorite all-star) in a contemporary number was really good. I agree with the judges about Jose, my favorite who danced with Kathryn, he was bad but oh so good. I saw his little hip hop bounce add-ins and he is such a joy to watch it didn’t even matter. Last but not least, my second favorite Kent who danced with another favorite all-star Courtney. He was very good tonight!

It was hard to pick a bottom 3 but since I had to I did…Cristina, Billy (I thought technically he danced the krump very well but the judges don’t seem to understand that he’s a white guy who dances contemporary and he could do no more than he did with this routine. You can’t really make yourself hard if that’s not you. A different person might could have pulled it off better and I thought Billy did a good job. Lauren I’m just sick of…I thought she did a good job on the routine but there is just something kind of phoney about her. There you have it…we’ll see how it turns out on results night!

…Loved the fact that it was another double header this week. I think the choices to go home were good choices. It was nice to see Autumn calm down although I’m no longer a fan but Scott just couldn’t seem to get it together for someone who had so much potential…but he said it best himself he has the technical ability…but apparently he couldn’t cook! Maria…I was just glad to see her go…because like Chef Ramsay, I just thought she was weird. I saved the best for last Fran is 2 hotel floors from the 13th floor and gearing up for a meltdown! ~ciao~

Leverage is one of my favorite television shows since they premiered 3 seasons ago. It’s rare that you like all of the members of a team but I like this entire group of characters. I like the banter and I’m not a banter kind of person, I like the cons they pull. They’re just a likeable cast so if you haven’t checked them out…you should. They are on Sunday Nights at 9:00pm EST on TNT.

Just a quick note to let you know that I was so sad to see Alexie going home on the show tonight. She tried out for four seasons to get here and was the first one to go...not only that but I thought her performance was really good. I would rather have lost Cristina. Melinda would have been my first choice but her solo was nice. See ya next week!

Tonight was amazing! This show is amazing! because even if there is a dancer I don’t like so much I still admire them and wish them well! I’m hard pressed to pick a bottom 3 but I managed because it’s a contest and that’s how it works. I chose Billy, Ashley and Melinda. As for whom I want to go home that will depend on who America puts in the bottom 3.

My favorite of the evening was Jose and he got most of my votes, ok Jose is my all time favorite because not only is adorable with a likable personality but so far his dancing is impeccable and he's a hometown boy…but don’t forget I adore Kent so he got a lot of votes from me and Robert was really good so he got some votes. Alexie danced with Twitch (who is one of my favorite all-stars and the season he danced I rooted for him to win but he missed it by one) and became a favorite tonight because contrary to what the judges said I think she danced that hip hop routine fantabulously! So I voted a lot for her. I also gave 3 votes each to Ade`chike1 and Lauren. They both danced their routines very well technically but like the judges said Ade`chike` had no chemistry and Kathryn is hot (loved her from last season) and Lauren played to the audience too much instead of focusing on her partner. Ade is an amazing partner!

TrueBlood on HBO          TrueBlood Store          TrueBlood Music

My favorite summer show so imagine how excited I was when they served it up twice last year. Everything about this show excites me but I must say that I am a little disappointed this year with the change of letting only 10 (11) dancers into the finals and using all-star members. I feel it does the competition a disservice because there were some really amazing dancers that didn’t make it into the finals because of this change and the limited competitors. Two that I especially liked and hope they will return next year are “Adrian Lee” and “Anthony Burrell”. From what I have heard from people who read the article with details of the why the change was made it all comes down to them trying to get more viewers to watch the show which is so unnecessary because word of mouth is how all the people in my family started watching the show. It was also stated that they felt the all-stars would be a draw for the new audience. My opinion is that if no one knows who the all-stars are they are less of a draw because they are not competing and if you know who they are you’re already a watcher of the show.

Two things I’m most excited about this season are “Kent Boyd” and “Jose Ruiz”! These are two guys I was really rooting for to make the finals. I will be supporting them throughout the competition along with Lauren Froderman and Adechike Torbert. All in all I’m looking forward to an awesome season!

The Jude Alex show premiered on September 12, 2005 (doesn't seem like it was that long ago but it has been almost 5 years)! Now I’ve been watching court shows for years starting with the original People's Court with Judge Wapner so when they announced the new judge in town I just wasn't that excited and might have even been determined in the back of my mind that I wasn't going to like him. Could this maybe be because men judges tend to be boring? Judge Wapner was a stern, no nonsense, and uneventful man and believe it or not the show actually seemed geared to the older generation. Don’t get me wrong I loved watching the show in spite of this. This was also the case with Judge Gerry Sheindlin; unlike Judge Judy (his wife) he had no funny bone. Judge Joe Brown lacks entertainment value because his ego is bigger than he is therefore he can only be taken in teeny tiny doses. Judge Mathis has a good show but one thing he has done for many years that I hate (and he has toned it down in the last season or two) is he belittles the people that come through his court. I understand he is there to entertain and there is a lot of court show competition but I feel there is a line you should not cross because at the end of the day you are 1) still a judge and 2) these people have real feelings. Also alot of his cases have all seemed to blend into one type of case and about 50% of them are boring and predictable. Don't get me wrong, I still watch the show, I just mute certain cases.

...in walks Judge Alex and after watching the first episode I didn’t watch again until the 2nd season when I found myself at home during the day and what do you do if you're at home during the day. You watch, soap operas, talk shows or court shows or a combination of all 3. Me, I watch court shows so I gave Judge Alex another shot. What I thought while watching Judge Alex the 1st time around was that he was boring and his cases were boring but when I started to watch again it was like watching a totally different show, the atmosphere had changed. The cases were intriguing. I realized more than anything that Judge Alex is a fair judge with a lot of integrity (and that’s important to me because it says a lot about who he is as a person), he doesn't make fun of the people in his court room, he's ALWAYS fair and always in control of his courtroom. I guess the first season he was getting used to the new gig and we were getting used to him. As time has gone by I also find Judge Alex to be a very handsome man, charming, funny, and exciting as well as still being the fairest judge on TV. He is a very likeable person and sometimes he comes back with lines that are just so incredibly funny but he’s laughing with the people not at them! Not smile or giggle funny but actually laugh out loud funny. No other judge on television can entertain so well on a daily basis and according to half the women that come through his court room they feel the same way.

So if you've never checked out the best judge on television you really should it will be worth your time! Judge Alex is a former police officer, trial attorney and Florida Circuit Court Judge. The show airs at 12:00 noon Mon-Fri on the east coast.

I have been a fan of this show since it premiered in 2005 and have not missed an episode. Last night’s season opener was as mad and engrossing as ever, new twists, finishing a dinner service on the first night and sending almost half of the staff to the dorms in the middle of service.

Do you ever get the impression when you hear the chef’s talking smack right out the gate that they have not watched past seasons of the show? They all come with the attitude that they are the best and of course chef Ramsay has to shatter that dream during the “signature dish test”.

Autumn and Mikey became two of my fast favorites. Autumn I liked because she has a take charge attitude but she wasn’t overbearing and Mikey because he’s different with the weird hair and tattoos but I think he has the talent. I didn’t agree with the choice to send Stacey home, I thought it should have been Fran.

I first want to say that I am so happy that “Lee DeWyze is our newest American Idol Winner! I felt Lee was the most deserving and the most humble and he has a great voice so I voted as much as I could and I asked all my Myspace friends that are into idol to vote for him as well. I can’t wait for his first album!

Now with that said I want to say that I think American Idol has become one of the cheesiest reality shows on television. I didn’t particularly like Paula Abdul but she was an Idol fixture so you cannot begin to imagine the dismay I felt when the network brought in Kara Dioguardi under the guise of being an additional judge when it was all done with the design to replace Paula.

It does not surprise me that Simon is leaving now. The show ain’t what it used to be. The format quality is down, the judge’s comments are repetitive and the talent is lacking. The one thing that was a constant was Simon Cowells honesty and genuine desire to give constructive criticism. It might not have always sounded constructive but I believe that he cared about what he was doing and if you ever took a good look at the contestants when they were getting judge critiques they would listen to everyone else, thank them and smile in all the right places and then when it became Simon’s turn they looked at him expectantly and when it was positive their face looked like a ray of sunshine. Simon’s opinion was the one that really mattered. Simon cannot be replaced!!!!

Now I have been watching idol for 7 out of the 10 years. I quit on the show ½ way through the year “David Cook” won but other than that I have been a loyal watcher and I will probably be there when next season starts because I’m very loyal to my regular shows but unless something changes and makes this show better rather than worse I’m not so sure that I will hang in there too much longer. Let me know what you think.

The evening was fun for all and the final results weren’t exactly the outcome I was hoping for because Evan Lysacek was my choice to win but I was okay with Nicole winning because she was my 2nd choice! Nicole is an amazing dancer and she deserved this win. I loved seeing Kate Gosselin. She was looking especially pretty and it was nice to see her have fun with her dance. Now the real highlight of my evening besides the crowning of the Season 10 winner was watching Neicy Nash, jiggly parts and all and Pam Anderson do their sexy dances. See ya next season…the burning question is do you think they’ll let Fergie dance on the show next season?

Last night was another wonderful night of dancing. Evan Lysacek (my choice to win that mirror ball trophy) dazzled me with his Foxtrot and blew me away with his Paso Doble. My second choice to win Nicole Scherzinger had a really good Argentine Tango and Cha Cha Cha. I’ve found that more seasons than not since I’ve been watching the show my 2nd choice wins over my 1st.

I think that the semi-finals should be Erin, Nicole and Evan and that the finals should be Evan and Nicole. However it stacks up I’m looking forward to the freestyle round next week. Last season the freestyle round was disappointing so I’m hoping for something spectacular this season.

Out of the 3 final candidates are you really surprised at who won? I didn’t like any of the final 3 but since someone did have to win Sandra was the lesser of the 3 evils. Russell although winning the Sprint player of the year 2 seasons in a row and walking away with $100,000.00 each time I feel has nothing to complain about but I think he really took this 2nd loss hard because he gave the impression at the reunion of having tossed a few back. He was quite talkative and was slurring his speech.

It was nice to see Boston Rob again who has a beautiful daughter who looks just like her daddy. Boston Rob feels he and Russell if they could have worked together would have done well but the problem with Russell is he plays to get to the end while Boston Rob plays to win, meaning Russell loses sight of the fact that the people he double crosses will be on the jury so you should strategize well but maintain the social aspects of the game. I tend to agree. See you next season when Survivor goes to Nicaragua!

Candice Eliminated 1st Danielle Eliminated 2nd

This week on survivor not only was I pleased with the blind sides but I found myself actually rooting for Rupert and Colby to pull off the big upset and stay in the game and I was pleased as punch when they made it happen.

The war is on between Parvati and Russell and as much as I love to hate Russell (I really like Russell because my opinion is that in real life he is a really sweet down to earth guy but he good at this game) I’m behind him 100%. I’ve never liked Parvati because she thinks that shitty little smile will get her through.

How pathetic was Danielle. It’s bad enough she let her mouth overload her ass but then she cried about it. Regardless of how it turns out don’t show weakness, it makes you look like you didn’t know what you were doing. I can’t figure out whose been the biggest fence straddler, Jerri or Sandra but it’s time for them to go.

On a final note. We got the boys pitted against the girls and I’m rooting for the boys. Now I don’t see Russell taking either Colby or Rupert to the final 3 (he’s just pissed right now) because I think he would lose based on the likeability factor but things sure are interesting right now and I can’t wait for next week to see who gets their scramble on.

This was an amazing week on Idol. Last year on Idol they had Sinatra week and since I do not listen to Sinatra music I figured this week will be boring so I will tape it. I did however watch it back the same night (unfortunately not early enough to vote)…who would I have voted for?…ok, you twisted my arm.Out of the remaining contestants Casey James, Lee Dewyze and Aaron Kelly have been favorites since auditions. I still like Casey but I’m over him and while I love Aaron’s voice I don’t think he’s ready yet (nevertheless I was sad to see him go) but I would have voted for him anyway and I would have without a doubt voted for Lee because he too has an amazing voice but also star potential. I could see me running out and buying his album the minute it becomes available. So ok, you’ve guessed I want Lee to win the title of American Idol. My son once pointed out to me that on the night that someone gets sent home they sing better than they did the night before and he’s right. I believe that if Aaron had sung the night before like he did on results night (because he was awesome) he would still be there!!!

Let me start with Harry Connick Jr, he like Adam Lambert a few weeks ago was an incredible mentor. The entire evening was so much fun. He was funny, charming, engaging, entertaining and he put all the contestants at ease. He went way beyond what he had to and I think it made all the difference. Everybody sang really well. Lee was the best of the evening. The biggest shocker for me this season was that Lee was so shy and introverted and it was really nice to see him relax and come alive on stage. I think he’s is finally starting to believe in his self and if he can remain outside the box I believe that he can win this. All that believe with me make sure you vote for Lee.

On a final note: results night for me is just that. Sometimes they have good entertainment, sometimes not. I wasn’t at all impressed by the talent this week but I was impressed with the quality of songs sang by the idol contestants especially the Harry Connick Jr medley.

I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to things I like and one of the things I like on Monday nights is Dancing with the Stars! It was another awesome night of dancing! Evan besides being very sexy when he dances was on point getting the first perfect score of the season with a 30 for his Argentine Tango with Nicole and Derek holding down the number 2 spot as well they should be because they have been hot all season.

One of the highlights of the night was the Cha Cha Challenge where they separated into two teams of 3 couples each to gain extra points for the night. This gives low scoring couples a chance to gain extra points. My team of choice was Team Madonna because Evan is my choice to win the Mirror Ball Trophy but also because I adore Niecy and support her and Erin with random votes. I agree with the final scoring on the two teams although my team did not come out ahead. The judges were all in a good mood and a good time was had by all.

TEAM GAGA Chad & Cheryl Nicole & Derek Pamela & Damian

TEAM MADONNA Niecy & Louis Evan & Anna Erin & Max

How the candidates stack up for me and the order in which I think they should be eliminated:

* Chad Ochocinco
* Pamela Anderson
* Niecy Nash
* Erin Andrews
* Nicole Scherzinger
* Evan Lysacek (MIRROR BALL TROPHY WINNER)

...Survivor is all about strategy. Now some could say that Russell is a very good strategist. The same could be said for Parvati. I’ll give them credit but I think it’s more because the Heroes have played such an atrocious game. Every guess they have made as to what is going on the villain tribe has been wrong and have you every seen anything like JT giving the idol to the enemy, with a love letter no less. That not only gave the villains a chuckle but I think everybody at home was having a good laugh as well. That was even worse that James going home in Survivor China with two idols and we didn’t think anything could top that! Sandra can’t figure out which side of the fence she wants to play on so she keeps straddling the fence which will be her downfall. Actually I wanted her gone several episodes ago. Candace is a stone cold traitor and is too stupid to know that Russell will not let her get anywhere near the top 3.

My only regrets are James and Boston Rob. James although misguided in his thinking was a good guy and Boston Rob was just hot and I loved listening to him….and I think he was a good guy too! I would rather he was running the villains instead of Russell. Oh Well!