'Survivor 14: Fiji' - East Coast Update - Feb. 8, 2007 Booted

Jessica was voted off. If you click on the Survivor label at the bottom of this post, she's detailed in one of the intro posts. We barely got to know her.

A full review/recap will be posted later tonight.

Tonight's 'Survivor 14: Fiji' Premiere Blogging Schedule

Yes! In just a few minutes here on the East Coast, I'll be watching the premiere of Survivor 14: Fiji. It's only an hour tonight, so I'll be posting an East Coast Spoiler for the boot at approximately 9 PM ET. If you don't wish to know, please take measures to cover your eyes... or something.

Later this evening, I'll post a full review/recap on the show. It probably won't be up before 11 PM at the earliest as I want to catch C.S.I. - that looks like a good one tonight! But, please stop on back!

Survivors ready?

'Lost' - "Not in Portland"

Aha, last night, in addition to American Idol, it was the long awaited return of Lost! Now we're in for sixteen new episodes and no repeats until it vanishes for a while once again.

There was an hour-long review and informative Lost Guide which aired before the show. Alas, I taped that and won't have time to watch the tape until over the weekend. So, I'll have to go guide-less as I did watch the new episode last night.

Remember, when we last left the show, Jack had nicked an artery during Ben's spinal tumor operation. He did that to blackmail the Others so they would let Sawyer and Kate escape.

So they we were... (I remember it as if it was only three darn months ago)...

Juliet was actually the focus of this episode for the most part. Her flashback sequences showed that she was stealing some sort of drug from the hospital (clinic?) run by her ex-husband, Edmond. She was experimenting with her sister, trying to allow a pregnancy (or create one, I'm a bit fuzzy on that).

Her ex caught her, a research facility in Portland tried to hire her, but she turned them down as her ex-husband would "never allow it." In her interview, she broke down and told them that she wished Edmond would get "hit by a bus." And, guess what? He sure 'nuff was! And, it seems that the Portland lab isn't exactly in Portland. Whether it's tied in with DHARMA, I don't know, but it's definitely tied to the Island. Oh... and Ethan was there.

Back to the Island stuff --
Juliet, who once asked Jack to let Ben die on the operating table, told him she'd help Kate and Sawyer escape if he'd fix the nick. Jack accidentally nicked another artery and Ben unexpectedly awakened. Jack told Ben that Juliet had asked that he let him die. Ben talked to Juliet alone for minute, then she was off. When Jack asked Tom (the Other) what was going on, Tom told him that Juliet and Ben "had history."
Meanwhile, Alex (Ben's daughter) had saved Kate and Sawyer from the Others and offered a boat for the escape. Now, all three hostages - Jack, Kate, Sawyer - know they are on a smaller island two miles from their own island.

There was a hitch to her rescue and boat offer, though. She wanted them to go with her to save her boyfriend who was being held captive in the only place she hadn't been able to enter. The boyfriend, Karl, was the kid who escaped from the bear cage when Sawyer was first tossed in one.

He was being held captive and Kate showed she doesn't mess around. She was ready to shoot the guard's knee if he didn't tell them where Karl was. Once they found him (in Room 23), he was in a brainwashing sensory-explosion kind of room which reminded me of the scene in A Clockwork Orange where they propped the main's eyes open and played Beethoven's 9th Symphony over and over again. Messages were going over a screen amidst images and things you'd liken to an LSD trip while Karl was strapped to a chair with bizarre goggles on and forced to watch. The "Everything Changes" image here was one of the ones on the screen as were messages like, "We are the cause of our own suffering."

Sawyer, Alex, and Kate dragged Karl out to the boat where they were met by Danny (Other) with a gun. Just when it looked like they were goners, Juliet showed up and shot him to save them. She told them that Alex had to stay because Karl would die if Alex wasn't on the island when her father's surgery was done. So, Kate and Sawyer took off for their island with Karl slowly coming to his senses. Jack had told Kate not to return to try to save him.

Jack asked Juliet what had changed her mind and what Ben had said to her. She told him that Ben agreed to release her and let her go home if she saved him. She's been on the island(s) for 3 years, 2 months and 28 days.

And, there it was. We have some new numbers to play with and more background on Juliet, too. I have to say, although I enjoyed the show, now that I've gotten hooked on Heroes, I prefer the pace of that show.

What did you think of the episode?

'American Idol 6' - "The Best of the Rest" Audition Show

See the look on Simon's face? I believe that's how I felt by show end tonight. If that was the best of the best, this season may be in trouble. With the exception of one singer, Lakeesha Jones, once again I wasn't blown away by the talent.

The show itself had some amusing moments. Instead of the typical audition format, we really didn't see too many actual auditions, per se. We saw a lot of bits and pieces of auditions and other shenanigans. (Ah, that word is right up there with brouhaha in respect to words I love to use.)

They divided the show into "lessons" for those who might want to be the next American Idol. Some lessons used examples of what not to do, others showed folks who learned the lesson.

Lesson One was "The Look." Obviously, the young lady pictured on the right was going for a look. Perhaps she was going for a stare. Oh, wait... maybe she was from the dancing lesson.

One person featured who didn't go for a look other than being herself was Denver pedicab operator, Tami Gosnell. Her look didn't thrill me, but her voice was decent and she went on through to Hollywood.

Lesson Two was to look for inspiration, then follow it. Alas, many of the blurb-ditions may have had great inspiration, but no way could their talents live up to the task at hand.

William Hung was the inspiration for Paul Kim. Ah, but it's a reverse-inspiration! Paul wants to represent Asian-Americans and their talent possibilities. Is he going to be the new Asian hunk of reality TV? Internet scuttlebutt has him going far. And, unlike Hung, he's an actual singer.

In the "Never Give Up" lesson, previous contestant (with a Simon crush) Gina Glocksen went through to Hollywood. Why, I don't know. I didn't think she sang "Black Velvet" well at all. Unlike the contestant last night with the song, I could understand the words, but... feh. Her audition and crush set off a huge Simon Love segment. Okay, that was funny. I like Simon, but there are some things I just would not do in public.

In the "Never Audition in a Group" segment, there were three rollerskating carhops, all young kids. Two made it through to Hollywood with one getting lots of praise. I didn't quite feel the love, but maybe it was just me. I felt bad for the one who didn't make it.
The next lesson was "Don't Sing Odd Songs." One contestant, William Emil Samland (prefers to be called by his initials - WES), touted himself as a singer/songwriter. He didn't mention an Odd Clogger. His song was odd; he was odd. If I were doing my "Most Notable of the Odd" format tonight, he'd be right up there.

There was an extended "Shake Your Moneymaker" dance segment which may or may not have been a lesson. It most certainly wasn't a dance lesson.

The final lesson was "Clarity." They ran through several blurb-ditions in which the hopefuls were singing familiar songs, but no way on earth would anyone recognize them. Even when they flashed the song name across the screen, I still didn't recognize them. Oh, I know the songs, but I don't think those were the songs they were singing. Then came Lakeesha, my new bet for the women. She has the Frenchie Davis build and amazing old-Motown kind of talent. Aretha must be smiling if she saw that one.

I can't do it. I can't write up the last article on the audition phase without a Most Notable of the Odd. I tried because of the format change in the show itself tonight.

But, I'm weak. I have to do it. Tonight's Most Notable of the Odd award goes to Paula Abdul for being quasi-reminiscent of Michael Jackson at times. Am I going crazy or do you see it, too?

Next week, 172 dreamers will meet in Hollywood. I'll be there. Well, to be honest, I'll be here watching them.

TV Newsy Bits - Wednesday, February 7, 2007

American Idol news is topping the TV Newsy Bits today. I had on the local FOX 5 News (NYC area) and caught mention that two of last night's through-to-Hollywood contestants have arrest records and one was booted before the Hollywood round even took place.

Both were contestants I mentioned in last night's article about the San Antonio auditions. It seems that the first-ever second chance audition candidate Ashlyn Carr was arrested for putting sugar in the tank of either her ex-boyfriend or his new girlfriend's car (I can't recall which, but the act is right). She seems to be remaining in the running.

The more disturbing news concerns Akron Watson, the cousin who sang well. The local FOX News show said he's off the show due to a marijuana bust. I'm personally surprised that something like that would get him booted, but I'm only reporting what I heard. Rats. I liked him. I found this article out there as I searched to verify the story. Uninvited two days before he was to go on to Hollywood, why bother showing his segment on last night's show at all?

On their Idol Chatter section of the MyFox website, I saw an article about Queens Idol Wannabe Porcelana Portino's father being hit by a hit-and-run driver. I recall hearing about the accident on the news the other day, but didn't know the AI connection.