Monday, March 13, 2006

Today's TV Newsy Bits - Mar. 13, 2006


Bunches o' Bits! Get yer bits here!


Here are the television and entertainment related newsy bits links I found on the web today:



'Apprentice 5' - Ep. 3 -or- "Chaos on the Course"

Are you ready for more Brent shenanigans? Well, I think that as long as he lasts on the show, they should be expected.

After the recap of last week's show, we see Andrea absolutely freaking out because Brent wasn't fired. Oh, not to his face. She shut herself in a room for some cry time, then announced she was okay. She decided she wanted to be the Project Manager on the next task and she will manage Brent. Will she get her wish? Will she be able to manage him? Heck, it sure gives more incentive to watch after the debacle with Brent Management (or lack thereof) last week!

Over on the Gold Rush team, much to the dismay of Lenny, both Lee and Dan leave the team to observe the Jewish holiday. Lenny claims to be Jewish himself, but wouldn't desert the team. Dan and Lee feel they have a right to go and I agree with them, although I may have stayed had it been me. But I feel religion is a personal thing and no one can really dictate to another how strongly to follow their beliefs. Lenny, however, is very judgmental and says that if the team loses the task, he will blame them because they left. Bryce, barely seen in the last two episodes, agreed with Lenny and was quite outspoken about both Dan and Lee.

I found this week's task a bit more challenging than the ones so far this season. The teams had to organize a corporate retreat and introduction of the 2007 to General Motors sales folks. It was supposed to be classy, motivational and informational. Now, you could tell something was going to have to be improvised or changed as Trump did a bit on "Plan B" - flexibility is needed or you'll never be successful. Hmmm.

Gold Rush headed to the War Room and promptly went into a cacophony of ideas with Theresa as the Project Manager. She appointed Tarek in charge of creative ideas and then promptly interrupted him every time he tried to talk. She started going on about models, comedians, golf courses and horse-drawn buggies. Yipes! As I was thinking she was all over the place and what the heck did any of those things have to do with the task, both Tarek and Lenny voiced the same concern in confessional segments.

Meanwhile, over at Synergy, the flow was unbelievable. They started talking about the Tahoe and learning about the vehicle, connecting it with both nature and class. William came up with a theme of "Nature Refined" and they worked off that. Um ... Brent said something about being naked, but they shut him down pretty quickly. Leading the task, Andrea pulled the team together on a nature inspired rock climbing, fly fishing and skeet shooting bit while promoting the Tahoe.

For Trump's side, it was Carolyn and Bill checking out the tasks as George was observing the Jewish holiday. (Clue 1 to Gold Rush: Don't trash someone for observing the holiday!) At Gold Rush, they encountered chaos -- the models who supposedly learned about the car and were to teach the GM folks knew nothing, horses (horses?), a golf course set in what looked like a dog park run, a comedian (Cory Kahaney from 'Last Comic Standing') who was lewd and inappropriate for the event and just a total disaster. The team was fighting amongst itself and it was horrid all the way around.

As for Synergy, at the last minute they found out that skeet shooting wasn't allowed in the park. Andrea substituted golf cart racing which ended up being a big hit with the GM people. Andrea even managed Brent. She gave him important tasks such as strategically setting out the trash cans. Brent had spent a good chunk of the War Room time chowing down and not being helpful, but at least he didn't really hinder the team.

When the teams were brought into the Boardroom after the tasks, there really weren't any surprises. Synergy won the task while Gold Rush couldn't have done any worse. So, it would be reward for Synergy and the Boardroom where one person would be fired for Gold Rush. Synergy's reward was a trip to Atlantis Marine World where they swam with sharks, bonded and had a grand ol' time.

Dan and Lee returned to join their team in the Boardroom. Blame got tossed at everyone except perhaps for one who really made bad choices -- Charmaine. Lenny blamed Dan and Lee because they left and Theresa for being a bad leader. Bryce blamed Lenny as he didn't get a generator (which Bryce secured without incident). Theresa's dislike of Lenny made him the scapegoat for all going wrong. It was just as much a mess as the task was. I noticed that Charmaine wasn't mentioned at all when it was she who secured and paid the comedian who so turned off the crowd. Oh ... Tarek was also blamed.

Theresa chose Tarek and Lenny to go to the Boardroom. Trump did the right thing -- "Theresa, you're fired." She led the task and, inevitably, she was responsible for its failure. Trump said she should have brought Charmaine in. I disagree. In my opinion, Theresa was the one to fire. What do you think?

Dollar bills, y'all...

Sunday, March 12, 2006

TV Newsy Bits Weekend Edition - Mar. 11-12, 2006


It's the weekend! It's the weekend! Ack! It's the almost over weekend!


Waaah!

Here are the television and entertainment related newsy bits links I found while being a desk chair potato this weekend:

'Survivor' Scheduling Heads Up!

Folks --
Thanks to blog reader John, I went looking for this week's Survivor: Panama - Exile Island scheduling. Apparently there is no show on Thursday. On Wednesday at 8 PM ET/PT in most viewing areas will be the typical filler show we see each season full of recaps of what's gone on thus far and the oh-so-special previously unseen footage. (Can you tell how thrilled I am?)

Alas, I have plans to be at B.B. King's Blues Club in Manhattan on Wednesday night reviewing a concert for Blogcritics.org. Now I'll have to make the decision between taping a recap of Survivor or Bones. I'll probably go with Survivor, but it better be darned exciting unseen footage, not Shane scratching bug bites! American Idol is down to a half hour that night starting at 9 PM and I'm actually grateful that Lost is yet another repeat.

So, I feel safe rockin', rollin' and singing the blues in the city.
Okay.
I won't sing.

Friday, March 10, 2006

'Survivor" Exile Island' - Dan Barry on 'The Early Show'

CBS has posted its 'The Early Show' interview with the latest 'Survivor: Panama - Exile Island' castoff, retired astronaut Dan Barry. In the website article Astronaut Blasted Off 'Survivor' - CBS News Barry mentions his feeling of being let down by his friend Terry.

I found this bit interesting -
"I loved that place. It was so beautiful," he told Smith. "Every morning it became a saying around camp. I would get up and say, 'Another beautiful day in paradise.' I saw two new species of birds every day. The iguanas would come up to the fire and you could just pet them. They hadn't seen people. It was completely back to nature."
Cool!