Happy Independence Day!

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July! I decided to take it a bit easy today writing-wise because I foresee three months with little sleep.

The NJ city in which I live had their 84th Annual July 4th Parade which happens to go right by my apartment. So I watched that, played with videos I made of it (more to go) and experimented a bit with YouTube since I'm hoping to upload some feeds videos this season.

Right now as I type this, I have the Boston fireworks on in the background. I've done the Charles River and Boston Pops scene a few times in the past, as I have the Philadelphia and New York City celebrations. Tonight, though, it's raining here. I can hear that the local fireworks event went on as scheduled. But it was a good night to stay indoors.

I've been watching the Boston fireworks wondering if Craig Ferguson, the host of the show, will say anything about receiving his US citizenship today. According to one of the NYC WCBS news folks, he was slated to be sworn in (or whatever they do) today.

Sleep well tonight... tomorrow is the start of Big Brother 8!

More 'Big Brother 8' News - Exec. Producer Allison Grodner Talks to GlobalTV (Can)

Although Big Brother 8 executive producer Allison Grodner doesn't seem to realize that Canadians technically are also Americans, there are some juicy tidbits coming out of her interview with the GlobalTV folks.

While I suggest reading the entire interview, I want to bring up some excerpts I thought of particular interest.

The first has to do with America's Player:

While two of the weekly polls will be strategic in nature -- asking viewers who the 'America's Player' should target for a nomination and whom they should vote to evict -- the third poll on Sunday's show will be for fun. For that poll, viewers might be asked who 'America's Player' should start a showmance with or who they should have a meaningful conversation with. If the player makes it to the final seven, the viewers will also have a vote on the 'Big Brother 8' jury.

"The viewers will have a vote every week so that's a big deal. It is the most interactive we have ever been," commented Grodner.

For every five tasks the 'America's Player' completes, they will get a cash bonus. While the other HouseGuests won't know about the 'America's Player' twist until that person is voted out or wins the game, their identity will be revealed to the audience on the debut of 'Big Brother 8' this Thursday night.

"We are really happy with whom this is. We think this person will do a terrific job," said Grodner.

Oh, a possible jury vote for the viewers! I think that when the viewers hold the power entirely they tend to remove the most controversial folks first. It's often those very folks who make the show more interesting. One jury vote if the America's Player makes it through to the jury might be just enough to feel involved. After all, America kept Sanjaya on American Idol way too long. The viewers don't always vote wisely.

Onto the "ememies" twist, there's this excerpt:

In speaking to GlobalTV.com, Grodner was quick to clear up another misconception: Not everyone in the house will be a part of the "rival or enemy" twist. The twist of having to deal with a real life foe in the house will only apply to some of the players.

"There are past relationships that will surprise some of them on opening night. Not all of them will have a past relationship but some of them will and nobody knows any of this when they walk into the house. We will see how this plays out as this is like the 'X Factor' from four years ago," she explained. "You know the old saying...Keep your friends close and your enemies closer? Well, let's see how that plays out this summer. "Expect the Unexpected" doesn't just go for the audience, it goes for us, the producers, too."

I've been comparing the concept to the X-Factor season in my mind and hope it's not quite the same. That wasn't my favorite season. I still have Holly and Cowboy night terrors.

Again in this interview, Allison seems very high on Joe. I can't help but thinking that he could very well be America's Player. But, mind you, that's my personal opinion from seeing how enthralled she is with him.

'Big Brother 8' - ET House Tour and the Latest News

If you missed the house tour on Entertainment Tonight, have no fear... I have it for you here. I kind of like it. I think it certainly presents the opportunity for some unusual happenings, don't you?




In other new show news...

The Early Bird special for the live feeds will be expiring soon. If you're going to spring for them, the time to act is now! I suggest that you get them through a link on your favorite Big Brother website as the sites providing them receive some income from them. No, that wouldn't be me. But Hamsterwatch, Jokers, and more sites have the deals. If you go to RealNetworks, they should be offering the two-week free trial, too. But I think (I could be wrong here) the feeds themselves after the free trial are a bit more than the Early Bird costs.

The official CBS Big Brother 8 website, at the time I'm posting this, has nothing new to offer us. Bah on them so far this year.

Janelle has been quoted on various sites saying than this year's Jen is a ChillTown ringer. Jen has some ties to both Mike Boogie and the Evil Doctor Will. Supposedly Mike is going around saying that if she wins they can claim a third victory for ChillTown. Of course, Jen was the one who turned me off with her "Jenius" t-shirt on The Early Show cast introductions.

The TV Guide House Tour, not as good as the video above, can be found here.

There is still a lot of speculation on various couplings as far as the "enemies" and "unfinished business" twists go. Dick and Daniele, father and estranged daughter, are the most obvious. Carol and Jessica, both hailing from the same town in Kansas, are a strong possibility. Joe and Dustin are both living in Chicago and gay. But the vision clouds when you consider Dustin is from Minnesota and so is Nick.

Executive Producer Allison Grodner told WeLoveBigBrother.com that Samantha, the 15th houseguest seen on the TV Guide interview, is merely an alternative who won't be on the show. I still think that was a rather odd mistake to make, don't you? In regard to America's Player, she had this to say: "We chose someone who we felt could pull this off," she explained. "This is a daunting challenge because it's a secret to the rest of the houseguests and yet this person will have to balance their own sort of strategy and stay in the house as long as they can while possibly making some erratic moves that the viewers have him or her make."

I'm expecting the traditional "slip" on the live feeds sometime tomorrow. I tried to check them a few minutes ago, but they just kept loading to no fruition for me. Up until that I had a message that the feeds would be coming soon and bizarre music. I prefer the trunk monkeys a few weeks ago - an ad for some car dealer.

So there's your Big Brother fix for the morning. As I hear or see news, I'll get it posted for you!

'Hell's Kitchen' - A Quick Take on Episode 5

My goodness, each week it seems like someone on the show becomes the demon seed of Gordon Ramsay.

But, the problem is... Gordon Ramsay can get away with it and the chef-wannabe can't.

Tonight it was Melissa. She's been a bit in the background for the last few episodes, so it was her turn to shine. Well, perhaps not shine, but go nuclear.

We knew from the promos for this episode that some fools... er, a bride and groom, chose Hell's Kitchen to serve their reception. I find something inherently wrong with the concept, but they never ask for my opinion.

The challenge had the Red Team (women) and Blue Team (men) shopping for ingredients for an appetizer, meat, and fish entree. They had $100 to spend. The women got off to a good start coming in at $97.50 while the men overspent and had to lose ingredients they needed to knock off nearly forty bucks. Remind me not to send them shopping with my grocery budget money.

In the kitchen, it started -- Melissa decided she was the only one who knows anything and started bullying and bossing the other women. And, mind you... she was totally wrong in her direction! Julia tried to speak up. She had taken the duck out of the stove so the other dishes could catch up and it wouldn't be overcooked. Melissa slammed it back in the oven. The men weren't doing great, but they didn't have a misguided maniac bullying them.

The bride and groom to be were the ones to judge the challenge. Melissa, much to Ramsay's spitting rage, tried to block the duck dish from being served. There it was. The men won their first challenge. The women got the nod for their crab appetizer, but the men won for both the meat and the fish. The men were off to a spa for some pampering while the women had to decorate the restaurant (with the help of an overly stereotypically gay decorator) for the reception.

The men relaxed and rebuilt their spirit while the women started bickering over the decoration task. Oh, it was actually Melissa trying to boss the others and the others not wanting to be bossed by her. It wasn't quite a brouhaha. Where the Bonnie, Julie, and Jen made their mistake was by not mutinying on the spot. It could have saved them.

As the teams cooked for the actual reception, Melissa not only kept up her dictating and nasty ways, but she was making costly mistakes. The men finished serving three minutes ahead of the women. For the first time, the teams served the entire dinner to all of the patrons.

The men won for both the time factor and better teamwork. Ramsay chose Jen to decide which two from her team would be nominated for elimination. She's soft on Bonnie. We knew that. But she also respects Julia. It was pretty much a given that Melissa should be nominated -- it was just the second person up on the chopping block which created her dilemma.

In the end, she chose Melissa for the night's performance and lack of being able to work with others. Then, to Bonnie's shock, she chose her. Later Jen told Bonnie that she loved her and thought that given the choice between the two, Ramsay would definitely choose to send Melissa home.

But it wasn't meant to be. Nope. He sent her to the Blue Team and Bonnie back to the Red Team. No one went home.

Next week should be interesting as Rock and Melissa had a dust-up during the wedding service tonight. She botched her potatoes after he explained to her several times how to do them, then tried to say he mislead her. I want a brouhaha!

'Big Brother 8' - A 15th Houseguest?

Thanks to the rockin' Dreamer, this video from the TV Guide channel was posted over at Jokers.

I missed the TV Guide segment, but the video seems to nail it. The hosts talk to all of the houseguests we've already seen... but there's one more. Samantha.

Say what? Is it an error? Is she an alternate? Has CBS tipped us to yet another twist? I couldn't get the video to embed properly in this entry, but head on over to the Jokers link above to check it out.

Curiouser and curiouser...

But here's a guy we won't see on the show. We won't see his "hideous cat" either.