'Survivor 15: China' - East Coast Update 10/11

This post will be updated as the show airs here in the east -- major events including the boot.

So far, just Sherea and Dave fighting in one camp while Courtney and Jean-Robert go at it in the other.

Cool rewards challenge! Both tribes had to meet at Tribal Council for it, don't think it's a double ouster tonight. Fei Long won -- get a fisherman to teach them to fish, spices, vegies, and they kidnap Dave. Dave? That's odd.

Dave gave Todd the clue. Todd's racking them in, eh?

Another cool challenge for Immunity and Fei Long wins.

Dave was voted off after much discussion -- it was between him and Sherea. He voted for Sherea, but it seems the rest voted for him to go.

UPDATE - My review of this episode is up at TV Squad. Come visit!

TV Newsy Bits, Bloggy Stuff, and Tonight's 'Survivor' Blogging Plans

Sometimes I just take photos of odd things. I liked the symmetry of the windows and mismatched gravel piles at this urban warehouse.

Once again this week, I'll be putting up a Survivor 15: China East Coast Update post for tonight's episode. That post will be updated as important events air here in the NYC area and comments are surely welcome! Later this evening my full review of the episode will be posted at TV Squad.

I'd like to extend belated birthday greetings to blog reader and commenter ORKMommy! I hope it was a great day full of family, love, calories, and gifts!

Also -- welcome back from Vegas, Nana in the NW. No, you better not tell us. What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas. ;-)

On a sadder note, my condolences go out to blog reader and commenter MEB on the loss of her best friend. Hang in there.

In TV Newsy Bits:

• A personal reminder to me and any fans of the show -- Law and Order: Criminal Intent is now on USA at 10 PM on Thursdays.
• In NYC News -- Although Chuck Scarborough isn't my favorite anchorman, I'm kind of getting into watching the local news at 7 PM on WNBC. I don't care all that much for all of the celebrity gossip shows at that hour and if I work late, the timing is good.
• The My Name is Earl folks have a new video online called Respect the Meat. It doesn't want to embed properly here, but you can check it out there.
• Don't forget to stop by the Grey's Anatomy blog discussion post if you watch that one!
  

TV Newsy Bits - Wednesday, Oct. 10, 2007

True, it's another not-TV photo, but when I see a cat four stories off the ground, I have to do it. How he gets up there, I don't know. This cat and his feline friend sleep on the fire escape of one building during the colder weather -- taking in the morning sun. They seem to be local feral cats who come and go at will. I think they must get up there from the back of the buildings somehow. Maybe they fly up there -- Cats in Capes!

On another note, heavy thunderstorms kept me offline most of yesterday evening. We needed the rain and the cooler temps, but I'd rather these storms happen in the overnight hours, please.

In the real TV Newsy Bits --

• My Kid Nation review for TV Squad should be up soon.
• I don't watch the show, but ... Wayne Newton got the boot on Dancing With the Stars? I thought his fans would keep him in until much closer to the end of the show. I must also mention that these folks who should be aging normally are frightening me these days.
• Another show I don't watch, but I know many of you do, is Project Runway. I found this NY Post article about it and thought there might be some interest here.
• TVGuide.com has yet another interview with Leslie Nease, recently ousted from China on Survivor.
• And... yikes! Did you hear about all of the doctors, nurses and other personnel fired or suspended in the George Clooney motorcycle accident brouhaha? Although Clooney has gone on record saying that he thinks the punishment is a bit severe, I think the hospital is right in their actions. I know I wouldn't want people releasing my private health information out and about to the press. Okay, I know the press wouldn't care about me. But it's the principle of the thing!
  

'Heroes' - "Kindred"

Oh, my. Sylar is back. Kinda sorta back, that is. Here's the skinny on tonight's show ... please fill in any blanks I might have missed!

Peter Petrelli (Cork, Ireland)

Peter's still at the devices of the iPod thugs. In order to receive the silver box with his personal belongings (including his identity), he has to help the thugs and the beautiful sister Kaitlyn (which I might be spelling wrong) rob the proceeds of soccer betting from Pinky's Sportsbook. He doesn't want to help them, but doesn't really have much choice in the matter. As they were talking about the theft, Peter used Parkman's mind-reading powers and found out one thug planned on stealing all the money from the rest. They didn't believe him, silly thugs.

Kaitlyn promised to have his back and pointed out that she had told the others nothing about his powers. So, the robbery went down. It would have been messy, but Peter's powers saved the gig for the thieves. Oh, but when they returned with the proceeds, sure enough ... the one thug tried to rob the rest. Peter went all Sylar on his butt, had him up on the wall and was virtually choking him when Kaitlyn stopped him with a look.

Then it got corny as the brother gave Peter the box, but now he's happy with who he is and where he is (seeds planted by Kaitlyn) and kisses her. Aw, right. He doesn't open the box. She gave him a tattoo, but it vanished.

Claire and West (California)

In class, West again brought up regeneration in the guise of talking about a lizard girl who regenerates. This, of course, is due to his Peeping Tom at her cutting off her toe and it regrowing almost immediately. She ran out of the classroom, he followed.

As he kept at her about being herself, she finally broke down and yelled that she was special and he can go ahead and tell the world ... and ruin her life.

In a case of show me yours and I'll show you mine, he took her flying. And then they kissed. That was a bit schmaltzy until she noticed the two marks on his shoulder. He told her that he lost a day a few years back when he lived in St. Louis. He remembers a man staring at him like he was an animal, then woke up the next day.

Although he doesn't know what happened to him, he'll never forget the man with the horn-rimmed glasses. (Cue organ music here.)

Maya and Alejandro (Mexico)

I guess we're just going to see these two keep getting in trouble or captured, her using her bleeding-eyes power to kill the captors, Alejandro curing her by holding her hands and shaking a lot. This time Alejandro got put in jail after being caught trying to break in a car, then it happened as expected. A prisoner Maya-eyed and brought back went with them offering his car. There was a brief close-up of a sticker on the bumper, but the only part I caught was "coil" -- did anyone get the whole thing?

Hiro and Kensei (1671 Japan) and Ando (present day Japan)

Poor Ando. He's really lost without Hiro, playing video games at work instead of working. He goes to the sword in the drawer as he thinks of his friend. Lo and behold ... since Hiro is in the past, he can send Ando updates about what he's doing in the form of little scrolls hidden inside the Kensei sword.

But, what is Hiro doing? He's still working on Takezo Kensei trying to shape him up into the legend he's supposed to be.

Hiro tired to convince Kensei that he has powers, too. Kensei decided he was the devil. When Hiro showed him a brief smattering of his own time and space continuum powers, Kensei wanted to use his powers for gaining wealth for himself. No, no, no!

Hiro swooped up Kensei, forcing him to use his powers by facing 90 angry Ronin to retrieve the fire scroll from some sort of temple. He abandoned him there figuring he'd do what he had to.

As Hiro and the beautiful swordsmith's daugher talked, she mentioned how Kensei seemed to be two different people ... and how the cherry blossoms bit was so gentle and special. Then Kensei returned, scroll in hand.
Poor Hiro. He thought his work there was done and he also fleetingly felt love, but the swordsmith's daughter was meant to be with Kensei, not Hiro.

Kensei seems to have gone all nicey-nice, and worthy of legend. As he and the swordsmith's daughter walked through the cherry trees, the blossoms floated through the air. All of a sudden, Hiro decided he must stay longer in that time.

Micah, Niki, and D.L.

They're back! Well, D.L. is but a gravestone, but Micah and Niki were in this episode. She's leaving him with an older woman relative in New Orleans (why does that woman look so familiar?). He can't show his powers and Niki said she would return for him after she was cured.

Then she turned up at The Company's new office turning herself into Mohinder's new boss for treatment. Cure, huh? The new boss told her he would only need one thing from her in return for curing her. He didn't say what the one thing was. Run, Micah, run!

Sylar and Candace/Michelle

Candace, the illusionist, is calling herself Michelle now. She's been assigned to help Sylar heal from his Kirby Plaza sword impalement. She's made the illusion that they're in Maui, but it's all just an illusion. She also made the illusion that his wounds look healed, but they're not.

He demands reality and finds himself in a bunker triage kind of place alone with Candace... er, Michelle. He's hooked up to IVs and really in bad shape.

Nonetheless, he decides to do his Sylar bit on her, stealing her powers. It doesn't really work. She's dead (maybe) and fat, he seems to be in agony with no powers in the middle of nowhere.

Mohinder's New NYC Office and Mr. Bennet (CA)

Mohinder's returned to NYC, visiting Parkman and Molly. He told them his new office was going to be in town which didn't thrill Parkman too much, but hey. Where the new Company office is turned out to be the kicker -- Isaac Mendez ex-studio!

So now Mohinder is going to be under the watchful eye of The Company. The Haitian could have been a mistake, but it seems like it cast suspicion upon him. When Mohinder was left alone for the boss to meet Niki, he looked at stored canvases. He found the one marked 8/8 -- the last of the set. Uh-oh. He called Mr. Bennet to report his findings. A dead man wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

Run, Noah Bennet, run!

TV Newsy Bits - Monday, Oct. 8, 2007

Oh, I know this isn't a television image. It's a gas station I walk by on the way to the train each morning. They have a brand new spiffy lighted sign. Unfortunately, they offer break service (on both sides of the sign) as well as wheel alingment. If your wheels need to be alinged, it may be a symptom of a more serious problem. Tomorrow I may have to go in and set myself down in a chair in their office to have my break service.

I'll be watching and reporting on Heroes later tonight -- so, if you're a show fan, stop back!

Here are some other TV Newsy Bits of interest:

• Buddy TV has an exclusive interview with Chuck star Yvonne Strahovski. I personally watched one Chuck, but like the hour of How I Met Your Mother and The Big Bang Theory better.
• I found a very lengthy interview with recent Survivor castoff Leslie on the Fans of Reality TV website. Interesting read, but l-o-n-g.
  
• The DIY network has Burt Reynolds and car contest a'going on. According the the information I received -- "Celebrity Rides: Burt Builds a Bandit features the star and a top team of experts who lovingly restore the vehicles. Five great episodes of Celebrity Rides: Burt Builds a Bandit will air on Friday nights at 10 pm Eastern/ 9 Central, starting October 19.
  
  You don’t have to sit on the sidelines watching this amazing machine, you can win a Limited Edition Burt Reynolds Trans Am! Submit a video to Heavy.com telling Burt and his co-judges why you deserve the car. That’s right – you have to impress the man himself with your video.
  The deadline for submissions is November 30, so get a move on it.
  The winner will be announced on the series finale (December 14) and the winning video may be aired then too!"
  
  The video below will clue you in on the rules.
  

• Blog reader Sydney found an interesting interview with Jessica from Big Brother 8. Yay, Sydney!