Brrr! Brrr! As you may or may not know, where I live hasn't made it up to the freezing point in over a week. This morning, neither did my apartment. Well, I exaggerate a bit. The temperature in here was in the 40s (F) as the building's boiler apparently decided to go whimper in the corner or something.
Thankfully, Zoetawny created a fireplace Newsy Bits graphic for me. And, more thankfully, the heat's on again... but I wouldn't call it warm in here. It's slowly creeping up to a normal temperature, though.
So... what do you all think of the sudden death of Anna Nicole Smith? What a shocker, eh? A train friend told me about it as I headed home from work last night. In some ways, I'm not surprised. I think her life was such a series of highs and lows and, especially since her son died, everything may have caught up with her. I wasn't necessarily a fan of hers, but she sure was a part of pop culture. It's a sad ending. Now Zsa Zsa Gabor's husband is claiming that her baby is his. Yikes.
In other TV Newsy Bits:
- One of the candidates from The Apprentice: L.A. dropped me a note about my Lost review/recap. He only briefly mentioned the Apprentice reviews. Since he's still on the show and didn't post to the Lost entry publicly, I won't reveal the name. But I will ask him for some sort of interview after either he gets fired or wins it all. After all, now I have his email address!
- I heard more from Primatech Paper. Apparently the two files I couldn't open before now can be accessed. When I check them out, I'll report back.
- According to an article on Reality TV World, it seems FOX itself blocked Akron Watson's golden ticket to Hollywood, not the producers of American Idol. An excerpt: "We are informed at the end of the day [by Fox] that you can't invite this person or persons, and we don't ask why," Lythgoe told reporters during a conference call on Thursday, according to Newsday. "To be frank, we're not interested [in why]. If Fox believes it will damage the show... then it's best they just don't come along." They also explain why his segment stayed in the auditions show. Hmmm... the plot thickens.
- Celebrity Spider is reporting that last night's Survivor 14: Fiji premiere won the ratings race in its time period, beating out Ugly Betty.
- In Big Brother news, the Jokers Updates site has what it says is the last chat transcript we'll see from Marcellas Reynolds. Do you think it's the last we'll see of him? Oh, well, I have a white robe which reminds me of him and there's a guy named Boo (as opposed to a gnome named Boo) on Survivor. I'll live.
- We haven't seen the last of George Takei on Heroes. Inside Pulse has an extensive interview with him.
It's a Survivor start unlike any we've seen before.
Now, we're a bit cognizant of what was to happen because of the Internet. But, even knowing bits and pieces ahead of time, I was still almost as dazed and confused as the castaways more than halfway into the show.
That's good, of course. I've watched every season and so many premiere episodes just didn't hit the mark with me even if the season redeemed itself as it unfolded.
Jeff expounded on the dangers of the island and the isolation, citing those as reasons a castaway dropped out shortly before being sent to the island. With the odd number of nineteen, the castaways all headed to shore together. Instead of being split into teams or hearing from Jeff, they found a set of blueprints for setting up a shelter, kitchen, toilet and more. Oh, they also had tools. Nature provided lots of fruit and they were eager to explore.
One castaway, Sylvia, is an architect. So she took over the shelter-building directions. I thought she was slightly pushy, but the castaways took to her direction fairly well. I think that since she actually knew what she was doing, that helped not to alienate the others.
Even with the supplies, directions and such, they still didn't finish their shelter on the first night and the heavens broke loose with a storm. That gave them a bit of incentive to get their butts in gear and get the job done.
By the third day, all nineteen were still together -- a tribe without a name, castaways without a cause. Other than the scroll with the blueprints, they had been given no information about what they could expect. They kept thinking Jeff would show up and they kept bonding as time went on. There was a tad of anti-bonding between Andre (who wants to be called "Dreamz") and James (who wants to be called "Rocky," but some call him "Boston"). For the most part, they all got along.
Jeff showed up during Day 3, quizzing the castaways about who came forward as a leader. When Sylvia was mentioned, he called her aside and told her she would pick the tribes. Her choices:
- Green Tribe - Moto: Cassandra, Liliana, Stacy, Lisi, Dreamz, Boo, Gary (Papa Smurf), Alex, Edgardo
- Orange Tribe - Ravu: Michelle, Erica, Rita, Jessica, Rocky, Earl, Yau-Man, Anthony, Mookie
As she was odd woman out, Sylvia was sent to Exile Island. Jeff told her she can expect poisonous sea snakes, a clue to one of two hidden Immunity Idols, and immunity from the next Tribal Council. She would return after the Tribal Council and join the losing tribe.
The Immunity Challenge was a mix of similar challenges in the past, but not quite done before. Two members of each tribe were in a chariot pulled by the remaining tribe members. They had to travel about a quarter of a mile, picking up bags of puzzle pieces as they went along. Once the bags were collected, four members had to solve a puzzle, spin a puzzle wheel, retrieve a machete, and cut a rope to release their flag. Sounds a bit familiar, eh?
Jeff told them that the winning team would also win luxuries including dinnerware and even a couch! The losing team would not only go to Tribal Council and lose a member, but would be sent to a new beach where they would have only one pot and one machete. Moto won the challenge.
While Ravu talked about who to vote out, Sylvia found the clue on Exile Island. It indicated that the Idol was hid nearby the camp. So, there wasn't much else she could do but avoid the deadly sea snakes and bide her time.
A quasi-alliance had formed between Rocky, Erica, and Jessica. While everyone basically liked each other, they decided to push for a Michelle vote. All of the others were thinking Jessica should go as she was a part of why the team lost (slow on the puzzle). In the end, their three votes were scattered and it was indeed Jessica voted off.
Now that's out of the way, what do I think?
I think the players to watch or, more accurately, the ones I like are: Yau-Man, Earl, Michelle, and Sylvia (if she doesn't continue to lead). I'm still iffy about most of them. Yau-Man should be careful as he's showing how strong he is, perhaps 
not physically, but mentally and in the knowledge of the area. That could swing him through to the merge, at least. I think Rocky/James started out better than I thought he would, but I think he's going to self-implode. I'm straddling the fence on Erica. She could be very strong, but I think latching onto James is sort of like taking a long walk off a short pier.
Overall, I'm content with the start of this season. I think we're in for a good one. Your thoughts?
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.
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?
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?
