'Hell's Kitchen' - Season Premiere

He's back! In all his fury, it's Chef Gordon Ramsay!

Tonight's season premiere seems to indicate it's going to be another hellish season in Hell's Kitchen. The new crop of top chef wannabes seem to be even more inept than last season's contestants. And, I thought their qualities were more lacking than not.

No one shined tonight. Not a one contestant seemed professional, knowledgeable, skilled, and able to work with others.

The Blue Team, the guys, had many weakest links, and no real leaders... at least none who emerged in tonight's show. Aaron, a 48-year-old overweight emotional Asian man prone to wearing cowboy hats, would probably have been cut had the team not won. Oh, mind you... not one patron was really served a whole dinner and even the appetizers didn't make the rounds. The team won more by default as the Red Team was even worse.

The cooking on the Red Team wasn't worse than the Blue (both teams were horrible), but it was the fighting amongst the team which did them in. In my opinion, the instigator of it all was Joanna. But when they lost, the one who had to name names decided that Joanna and Tiffany would be chosen to stand before Ramsay. A girl named Julia (?) was the more obvious choice for going home -- she works in a waffle house, has no real "big time" restaurant experience, and broke down in tears.

Gordon Ramsay made the wrong choice. He sent Tiffany home. Joanna's behavior was obnoxious and will probably only grow worse the longer she stays.

It's going to take me a few weeks to get a handle on the names, but I think the show is off to a good start. Your thoughts?

TV Newsy Bits - Monday, June 4, 2007

Tonight's biggest newsy bit isn't really a TV Newsy Bit. I broke down and bought a new computer. My other one was starting to flake out a bit (freezing up, starting up really s-l-o-w-l-y). With Big Brother just around the corner, I didn't want it to go kaput on me.

The new one has tons of storage space, is much faster, runs Windows Vista (not necessarily my choice - XP has been fine with me), and has lots of bells and whistles, so to speak. Right now, I have my KVM switch hooking up both computers to the same monitor (new one came without monitor) and keyboard. I have a flash drive to transfer needed files. I've brought the new one online, but need to install my Google stuff, my Firefox browser, gmail, and stuff. So, for the moment, I'm on the old one again.

In TV Newsy Bits:

• I have Creature Comforts (CBS 8 PM ET/PT) on in the background as I write this. It's cute.
• At 9 PM ET/PT, it's the season three premiere of Hell's Kitchen on FOX. Oh, I'll be watching! And, posting about it later, too.
• AOL Television has an interview with Cat Deeley, the host of So You Think You Can Dance.
• Paris Hilton entered jail today, so I don't think she's going to be on Letterman as scheduled this week.

Persnickety Pants - This Week on 'The Late Show with David Letterman' - June 4-8, 2007

Last week's repeats are a thing of the past. Wait, they were a thing of the past before they re-aired them!

Oh, well. It's onto fresh new pants this week on The Late Show with David Letterman. Woohoo! The website has skimpy information as I post this, but here you go:

• Monday, June 4: Matt Damon promoting Ocean's 13, Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti, and musical guest Bright Eyes.
• Tuesday, June 5: Chevy Chase, Amanda Beard, and musical guest Satellite Party. Huh? Chevy Chase is still around? Don't tell me there's another Fletch movie on the horizon!
• Wednesday, June 6: Paris Hilton and Nichole Ritchie (um, isn't one of them in jail?), Artie Lange, and Chrisette Michele. Well, I'm not a big Paris Hilton fan for sure, but the segment should be interesting. Dave's not one to mince words.
• Thursday, June 7: Amy Sedaris, Chuck "The Iceman" Liddell, and Jordan Zevon. Yes, Amy is finally on! She was bumped for Toby Maguire a few weeks back. I enjoy her appearances on the show. She's a kook -- but that's a good thing! And, Jordan is the son of Warren Zevon.
• Friday, June 8: Ellen Barkin and comedian Brian Regan. There's got to be more to the show than just that, I would think. But that's all the web site has listed right now.

'So You Think You Can Dance' - Blog Discussion Post

Um... no. I don't think I can dance. At least not now. As a child I took tap dancing classes for several years. I could kind of sort of dance back then. These days I'm better off sticking to jazz hands.

But the contestants on FOX television's So You Think You Can Dance range from amazing to "no, you can't." While I'm not a huge fan of Dancing With the Stars, I really enjoy this dancing show. As I write this, it's in the audition stages and it's the poppers and break-dancers I enjoy the most. Now, you don't see that on DWTS!

Right now I'm cheering on the break-dancing Asian guy who was sent home last season due to his lack of a work visa. What's really horrible is that I'm forgetting his name. Oy! But I think he's a dazzling entertainer and I'd love to see him go far in the show.

I see Nigel has promised to be nicer this season. I also see he's chomping at the bit sometimes. Heh. If I were to go on the show, I bet I could make him be cruel!

Although I'm sure to be posting on the show on occasion, I'm opening this post for general show discussion and invite y'all to join in with your comments. The official FOX website for the show is here --> So You Think You Can Dance. Right now, of course, the contestants for this season aren't up... because we don't know who's going to make it through the Las Vegas cuts next week. But you can relive the memories of the past two seasons and return once the competition is in full swing.

Are you watching?

TV Newsy Bits - Friday, June 1, 2007

Yeah, I know this isn't my usual TV Newsy Bits graphic. It's the price of gas this morning in the town where I live in New Jersey. It's full serve as it's illegal to pump your own gas in this state. Oh, don't ask me why. I just live here; I'm not from here.

Supposedly we have some of the lowest prices in the nation due to a low state tax on gasoline. Don't worry -- we certainly pay more than enough for living here! What's the cost where you are?

Here are today's TV Newsy Bits:

• Blog reader and commenter Paul Levinson has an interesting TV-themed blog Infinite Regress which has lots of intriguing Lost commentary. We have plenty of time before the new season (February 2008), so reading his posts on the show might keep our appetites whetted. For seven months... um, well.
• Blog reader Sue out in California sent me a link to the latest on our man Yau-Man Chan from Survivor 14: Fiji. Sue rocks!
• And, while I'm on blog reader submitted doings... blog reader JessiesGirl sent me this link to a BBC article about the latest brouhaha going on with the Australian Big Brother show. One of the houseguests on the show entered knowing her father was dying. The family had discussed it and decided that if he died while she was in the house, she wasn't to be told. Well, he died. Now the fans of the show are freaking out.
• I hear the calls for a blog discussion post for So You Think You Can Dance. If I don't get one up tonight, I will do it tomorrow. I've been watching the show, but know I'll have trouble keeping the names straight if I write about it!
• Ohhh... do you want to try to win a date with Survivor 13 winner Yul Kwon? Check it out!
• Are you ready for some spice on this fall's Dancing With the Stars? Former Spice Girl Melanie "Scary Spice" Brown is slated to be on the show according to this Reality TV World article. Tori Spelling is also in talks with the producers.