'The Apprentice: L.A.' - Ep. 7 - East Coast Update

I'm not going to be writing up a full review/recap on the show due to its new later hour and the fact it's not making me love it much this season.

But here's a quick lowdown:

• Jennifer was named Project Manager for Kinetic
• The task was to promote a new Lexus
• Arrow won
• The reward was to write a song with Snoop Dogg
• Randal sat in for Ivanka in the Boardroom. He kept interrupting Trump and got snapped at.
• Derek got fired in the main Boardroom for calling himself "white trash." Trump took issue with the phrase and fired him on the spot. For once I agree with Trump.
• Jennifer got fired
  

'The Amazing Race 11: All Stars' - Ep. 3 -or- "Fish Whisperers and Mirna Drama"

Ah, now it's beginning to feel like The Amazing Race! Even though they didn't cover a ton of territory, the challenges were more adventurous and my edge-of-my-seat adrenalin rush came back towards the end of the episode.

Yeah, I know it's purely editing which made the ending so intense, but it could have been either team racing for that Pit Stop eliminated. For all I know, they could have been an hour apart. But that's the magic of TV, right?

"Nine teams remain. Who will be eliminated tonight?" I noted that Phil said "tonight," not "next." To me, that indicated it wasn't quite time for a non-elimination leg. Next week we'll have to see how he phrases it.

The teams left the Valley of the Dead (the last Pit Stop) in the order in which they had arrived. Rob and Amber, the first in last week's leg, left at 11:39pm. David and Mary, the last in the leg, left at 12:55am. So, the lead time has been cut some, but it's still rather substantial. They had to drive four miles to San Pedro, then board flights for Puerto Montt, a port town in Chile.

Once again, we had the inevitable all-too-familiar airport scramble for tickets segment. Didn't I just say last week that these are getting way too tired? I think I did. A few things to note about this segment, though -- Rob and Amber thought to go online to secure tickets for the earliest flight before the counter opened. While David and Mary declared "no more friends" after being burnt by Mirna and Shmirna... er, Charla, Teri and Ian and the Beauty Queens (Dustin and Kandice) decided they'd work together. Other teams also worked together, manning the empty counters and planning to buy tickets for others.

At the airport, Charla eavesdropped on other teams finding out they were on an earlier flight. She pulled the "I can't see over the counter, excuuuuse me" bit and tried to horn in on Teri and Ian's counter transaction. Teri bristled and I loved it! "Do not talk to my person!" Mirna called Ian "the King of Rude" and said she learned her rudeness from him when he called her on her behavior. Aha, a brouhaha!

The teams were soon on their way, with Rob and Amber in the lead. Rob took an unexpected turn which brought out a good Team Guido line (one of a couple tonight) -- "Rob is not Jesus." Well, he may as well be for the purpose of this race. Is Romber unbeatable? It turned out they took a wrong turn, but soon corrected and were back on track unlike so many who roam so lost for so long.

The Roadblock had one member of each team collecting flounder from a pool and loading them into a holding tank. Danielle freaked out, as did Mirna when she later arrived. Amber, on the other hand, didn't hesitate much although she wasn't a happy fisher. Rob brought up a good point about the "encouragement" Eric was giving Danielle. I found it insulting, too. Yay for Rob for noticing and commenting on it!

Uchenna worked like a machine loading the fish, putting his team out of there first. When David and Mary arrived, David was first very timid, then put Uchenna's work to shame. But the best to watch (although not best team at the task) was Team Guido. Joe was in the pool and he became The Fish Whisperer. "Meditate them into submission."

From there, the scenery in Chile was gorgeous as the teams drove on to their next clue, a Detour. They had a choice between two adventures found in the local area. The first choice was Vertical Limit -- both team members had to rock climb a 40-foot mountain-face, retrieve the clue, then descend. In River Wild, teams had to whitewater raft a 2½-mile route down the river. Not one team chose Vertical Limit. There was a pretty large split between the groups of teams with some really trailing behind.

Teaming up with Team Guido not realizing Guido didn't read the whole clue at the fish Detour, were Mirna and Charla. Once they realized that Guido had missed the town name, Petrohue, they almost kicked themselves for helping them. They were amongst the trailing teams as were David and Mary.

Worse than Rob's wrong turn, Dustin and Kandice totally missed the clue which told them of the Detour. They saw the cars from other teams parked, joined them and automatically headed to do the whitewater rafting. Supposedly the rafting was in Class 3 and 4 level waters, but it didn't look it to me. That's something I loved to do back in the day and it looked a 3 tops.

There was more Mirna/Charla drama. Can't they just go away? Please, I beg of you! But, in the end, the finish order was:

1. Rob and Amber - Each won a home gym (remember, they're married)
2. Uchenna and Joyce
3. Eric and Danielle
4. Dustin and Kandice (sent back because they missed the Detour clue, yet they placed the same upon their return)
5. Oswald and Danny
6. Teri and Ian
7. Joe and Bill
8. Charla and Mirna (argh)
9. David and Mary - Philiminated

I didn't think that David and Mary would last long in this race, but I wish that Charla and Mirna were out instead of them this week. I am so sick of Mirna's drama! At least David and Mary threw themselves into the challenges and don't get nasty with others.

And, hey... what about Romber coming in first three times in a row? Not bad, Boston Rob, not bad at all. What did you think of the show?

'The Amazing Race 11: All Stars' - East Coast Update 03/04 - Pit Stop Arrival Order and Philimination

The arrival at the Pit Stop was:

1. Rob and Amber - each won a home gym
2. Uchenna and Joyce
3. Eric and Danielle
4. Dustin and Kandice (Twice at number 4, I'll explain later)
5. Oswald and Danny
6. Teri and Ian
7. Joe and Bill
8. Charla and Mirna
9. David and Mary - Philiminated

A full review/recap will be posted late tonight. Please stop back!

Whatever Will I Watch Tonight? - Sunday, March 4, 2007

Since the big ratings month is over, a lot of the networks have turned to repeats later this week although tonight's programming is all new episodes.

In the 8 PM ET/PT hour, it should go without saying that I'll be watching The Amazing Race 11: All Stars. I'll be posting the finish order at the Pit Stop and eliminated team (if any - I'd say either this week or next week, we're due for a non-elimination leg) in an East Coast Update when the show nears its end at 9 PM ET.

Of course, that's all contingent on the show actually starting on time here. I'll let you know. Late tonight, a full review/recap of the show will be posted. Oh - in regard to some of the comments - I saw Kevin and Drew on The Early Show last week, but it was a fluke that I was home. I don't know if any of the booted have been on besides them.

Also in the 8 PM ET/PT hour, FOX has a new Simpsons followed by a new The Winner. NBC has a new Grease: You're the One That I Want while ABC is airing a new episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. CW is running a repeat America's Next Top Model from 8 to 10 PM.

Come 9 PM ET/PT, CBS has a new episode of Cold Case, FOX has new episodes of Family Guy and The Winner, NBC has a new Deal or No Deal (I still don't understand that show's appeal), and ABC has a new Desperate Housewives.

At 10 PM, The Apprentice: L.A. is at its new time slot with a new episode. I'll post an East Coast Update around 10 PM with the fired information. I'm considering dropping coverage of the show on the blog. Although I'm watching, it's my least favorite season so far and now with the late time slot on the same night as TAR, covering it has to wait until Monday after I get home from work... or not at all. I'll see how I feel about tonight's episode. I don't believe I've ever dropped review/recap coverage of a show mid-season, but maybe it's time.

Also new in that time slot this week are: Without a Trace on CBS and Brothers & Sisters on ABC.

Oh, No! It's Previous Pants - This Week on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' - Mar. 5-9, 2007

Last night was the lunar eclipse (which was way cool, I must say) and we're into the first week out of the February Sweeps period.

What does that mean? Well, in regard to my buddy Dave Letterman, it means a week of repeats. Here's the line-up for this week:

• Monday, Mar. 5: Jack Hanna (always worth the second watching), Katherine Heigl (Grey's Anatomy), music guest Patty Griffin.
• Tuesday, Mar. 6: Tina Fey (30 Rock), Teri and Bindi Irwin. This was a good one. If you've never seen little Bindi Irwin in action, she'll amaze you.
• Wednesday, Mar. 7: Dr. Phil and music guest Fall Out Boy. Again, Dr. Phil and Dave are always entertaining to watch as they mock-battle each other.
• Thursday, Mar. 8: Jim Carrey (The Number 23) and Daytona 500 Winner Kevin Harvick. Eh, an okay show. Carrey was quasi-entertaining.
• Friday, Mar. 9: Ricky Gervais (Extras), Forest Whitaker (The Last King of Scotland) and music guests The Shins. Another "eh" for me. I have no real desire to watch this one again, but if you didn't see it, it's okay.

Again, I'll make my usual fuss about Dave's reruns. They're much too recent. Some of these were just shown a few weeks back. Please, please, hear my plea, the CBS Powers That Be... go back more. Get some shows we didn't just see. It doesn't matter if they're dated. Dated is better than redundant, it surely is.