TV Newsy Bits - Monday, January 8, 2007

Well, the big Newsy Bit is that today is the first anniversary of this blog! Yep, it all started (at least on this one) a year ago with a post about a show which went away very quickly. Looking back on that month, I have the start of TV Newsy Bits and wrote a lot about American Idol.

Since that time, this blog has had well over a million page views and I've lost count of the comments. The loyal readers have been many and I appreciate each and every one of you! (Even if we disagree about shows...) And now graphic artist Zoetawny gave TV Newsy Bits a flatscreen TV! It's not quite the $70,000 one I saw in a TV bit from the gadget gathering in Las Vegas, but it's still very special.

Here's what I found out and about on the Internet in the way of actual TV Newsy Bits:

• The Survivor Phoenix site takes a very close look at the released promos for the upcoming Survivor 14: Fiji.
• Reality News Online have a new interview with James (of Tyler and James), one of the co-winners of the recent Amazing Race.
• According to Celebrity Spider and other sources, Ugly Betty is now on iTunes. I'm enjoying the show, but once Survivor returns...
• TV Tattler from AOL has an interesting interview with Ashton Kutcher for your reading enjoyment.
• Oh. And now Rosie said more about Donald. They're becoming like Groundhog Day.

Hey What's on TV Tonight?

Finally, we're getting some new shows and new episodes!

Tonight at 8 PM ET I'll be watching the new episodes of How I Met Your Mother and Class. It's the former which holds the attraction for me. I tend to wash my dishes or read while Class is on, occasionally glancing up. For those who don't like the legendary Barney, there's a new Deal or No Deal on at the same time on NBC. I've never made it through that show at all. A new Wife Swap is slated for ABC at the 8 PM time slot.

At 9 PM, CBS has a new episode of Two and a Half Men followed by yet another new episode of The New Adventures of Old Christine at 9:30. NBC has a Heroes repeat in the slot while ABC is airing a new Supernanny. I'll probably stick with CBS for the hour. I got my Heroes fix the other day with a mini-marathon. Now, if it were a new episode, Heroes would win my attention hands down.

At 10 PM, there's a new C.S.I.: Miami on CBS. I rarely, if ever, watch the show. I just can't watch David Caruso - he makes my head tilt to the side or something. NBC has another Heroes repeat - "Fallout." I may re-watch it. I haven't decided yet. ABC has a new episode of What About Brian on. I'll pass on that, thank you.

Of course, the late night market is always Letterman for me, but Jay Leno is new tonight, too.

What are your TV plans?

'The Apprentice: L.A.' Season Premiere -or- "I don't like the way you talk."

Let me preface this with saying, "I don't like Donald Trump." I never really did like him, but his latest publicity fiasco isn't going to stop me from watching the show. I've watched it since the first season. Hey, I don't even like the corporate world much. But I usually enjoy this show despite myself.

One thing I didn't do this season was check out the website prior to the season premiere. I usually do that to get a handle on the names with the faces and such. But this season, I went in blind to anything but first impressions or what I get from the candidates from watching the show itself.

Go figure... the two candidates I decided I liked the least ended up in the boardroom and the one I thought should go, did. But I'm getting ahead of myself here, aren't I? There are a lot of changes this season which need to be addressed before anyone gets fired.

• The Los Angeles location instead of New York City. Now, I enjoyed the NYC location as I know the area so much better. I moved away from the L.A. area after first grade. I don't remember much more than mountain fires and Disneyland. Due to the location, unlike filming in winter in NY, lots of bugs were flying around. Perhaps one will fly into someone's mouth?
  
• No more Carolyn as she's "no longer with the company" as they say. Unless I missed the news, George is still a lawyer on Trump's staff, but not on the show. Instead, there's dear daughter Ivanka and, in the beginning, an empty chair to accompany her on the board with Daddy Trump. I won't be surprised if Donald Jr. doesn't show before the end of the season, but he wasn't in the premiere.
• The Project Manager of the winning team remains the same as long as the team is winning. I'm not sure how much I like this change. It's going to affect the dynamics of the other team members who might not get the chance to step up to the plate if one team keeps trumping. (I couldn't resist.)
• The winning Project Manager fills the empty chair in the boardroom and discusses who will be fired with Trump and Ivanka. Odd move, that one.
• The winning team stays in a luxurious house overlooking the valley, all amenities you could imagine.
• The losing team stays in Tent City. Everything is outdoors, including their showers. They're close enough to peek at the Have's pool and hear them, but they're the Have Nots.
• There's a butler named Otto.
• One of the candidates, Angela, was a winter Olympics gold medalist.
  

With bugs buzzing about their heads, Trump first assigned the whole mob the task of building a huge tent without telling them the losers would be living in it. During the task, they ran amok until one of the women, Heidi, spoke up as she was familiar with camping and tents. Then this really loud excitable boy Frank just took over. Even Trump, who's way too loud for such a teeny mouth himself, told Frank to tone it down. Oh, and Martin, who wears striped suits with checkered shirts (red and white like a picnic tablecloth) and differently patterned tie, decided he was the supervisor and didn't do much at all.

Right off the bat, I didn't like either Frank or Martin. Martin also, upon first meeting Trump during introductions, asked about going to the bathroom. Can you just see my eyes rolling? @@

From the tent-building, Trump met up with the candidates in the boardroom and asked them who they thought took over the task and displayed leadership. Heidi and Frank were chosen by their peers as the leaders and became the Project Managers getting to choose their teams. Martin was the last chosen despite his high opinion of himself.

Teams then went off to run a car wash - the team earning the most money would win. Heidi's team played it right. They enlisted two shirtless guys in a mainly gay area to hold up cardboard signs touting a free lunch (hot dog) with a car wash. They went for quantity more than quality - get the cars in and out as quickly as they could. They ended up backlogged, but the whole team really hustled and worked hard.

With Frank's team, I don't know what the hell was going on. Frank and Aaron went off to make flyers for handing out on a busy street? Duh, guys. They wanted to push detailing vehicles for $100. Now, if I decided to have an impromptu wash of my car, it wouldn't be a full detailing. The team didn't work together at all.

What surprised me was that Heidi's team didn't win by a huge margin. Less than a hundred dollars separated the winners from the losers. The winners got to go off to dinner with Donald Trump at Wolfgang Puck's restaurant Spago. Trump told the losers they'd have to build another tent and live outdoors while the others moved into their fancy digs.

Excitable Boy Frank got all excited and Martin thought he got shrewd and psychological as both campaigned against each other in the tent talks before the boardroom. I expected Frank to thump his chest and, by golly, he did! All their actions really did was to conceal any faults others might have had and make them larger targets for the rest of the team. Silly boys.

In the boardroom, most of the candidates seemed to think the Frank or both should go. If it was time for a double firing, I'm sure both would be gone. Ivanka is sounding more like Dad as she talks - her voice seems to be lower even. She's pursing her lips. We better watch her hair! She came across as quite surly at times... to the point of telling Martin, "I don't like how you talk." Huh? Say what? What kind of reasoning is that? If she's going to mention that, she should have mentioned the checkered shirt business, right?

Even though Excitable Boy lost his composure on a major basis, it was still Martin who heard the words...

"Martin, you're fired."

A good choice, but I don't think Frank's long for the show. Passion is a good thing, but self-control in stressful situations is a much better thing.

A few random closing thoughts after this week:

• I think that the man named Tim looks like Fred Savage.
• A perfect pot calling the kettle black scenario happened - Trump to candidate Stefani in the boardroom - "You're very vicious... oh, but you're a lawyer." Reality check. Trump isn't a lawyer.

Dollar bills, y'all...

Tonight, Tonight... Sunday, January 7, 2007

Okay, I know this isn't a television screen cap. But a dandelion in New Jersey in January is a rare sight. I took this shot yesterday when the temperatures climbed into the 70s (F).

Weird, weird weather.

However, television might be even a bit weirder. Earlier, while flipping stations, I came across the movie Lake Placid on AMC. I had no clue what I was watching, never saw the movie in its theater run, and only went to the TV listings when I saw Betty White feeding a cow to a monster crocodile. When I saw that bit, I had to find out. Weird movie, I say. Weird. Evil Betty White!

The latest season of The Apprentice will be starting in a few minutes here on the East Coast. I'm going into this season blind, not even having read the show's website. All I know is the California location instead of here in the NYC area and the fact that the losing team will reside in a tent while the winners will live in the life of luxury. I'll be taking my notes and posting an entry about the show either very late tonight (hate that 11 PM ET end time) or sometime tomorrow. Whether I do full reviews/recaps on it this season depends on how I take to it tonight.

Will you be watching The Apprentice: LA?

Pimpin' the Pants - Guests on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' This Week Jan. 8 - 12, 2007

A blog reader asked about a band she saw on the repeats during the holidays. Just in case my answer was missed as it was an older entry, here we go again - the band in question is Robert Randolph and the Family Band. It wasn't their first appearance on the show; Letterman's where I discovered them some time ago even though the band has local roots. If you like steel guitar and want to rock the house, they're the band who will do it for you. Their latest CD is Colorblind and both music and video streams are available on their site.

Who does The Dave have on his guest list this week?

• Monday, Jan. 8: David Arquette (now on the new sitcom In Case of Emergency) and American Idol ex-finalist Jennifer Hudson who's creating a lot of buzz with her role in the movie Dreamgirls.
• Tuesday, Jan. 9: Penelope Cruz (Volver), Gary Muledeer and musical guest Ben E. King. I'm already humming "Stand by Me" as I write this...
• Wednesday, Jan. 10: Peter O'Toole (Venus) and Marc Maron.
• Thursday, Jan. 11: Julianne Moore (appearing in the play The Vertical Hour) and musical guest Hold Steady whose CD is Boys and Girls in America.
• Friday, Jan. 12: John Witherspoon

Hmmm... I get the guest list from the Late Show website, but this list doesn't look all that complete at this time. While I know that Letterman thinks a lot of John Witherspoon, I doubt he's the only guest that night. If you just can't get enough of the Donald Trump/Rosie O'Donnell fiasco and missed Trump's appearance this past Friday night, there's a clip available on the show's website for you.