Stop Feeding Yourself And Help Feed Others

Like many reality shows, The Biggest Loser is working with a charity. But I find it ironic that the one they have chosen is Feeding America - which donates money and food to local food banks.

American Idol - The Second Group Of 12

Jasmine Murray - I remember her as being one of the strongest singers during Hollywood week. She didn’t sound that great this week to me. I think the song was in too low a key for her to really give it her best.
Matt Giraud - very average. Not a particularly good performance, and I don’t remember him at all from Hollywood week, so he’s probably gone.
Jeanine Vailes - Oh good God - a sequined tuxedo jacket with rolled up Daisy Dukes? No, no - not a good choice. She looked like she was attending a formal backyard barbecue. And the singing was worse.
Nick Mitchell aka Norman Gentle - I really don’t know what to say about this guy. I will admit that his alter ego is amusing to a point, but when he is in character he doesn’t sing all that well, as opposed to the one moment in the initial audition when he showed he actually has a nice voice. Given that this is a one in a lifetime chance, I don’t see why he can’t just drop the persona a little bit and really show his talent.
Allison Iraheta - Finally, a good singer. She picked a good song for her voice (and look), and she gave an entertaining, honest performance.
Kris Allen - Bad first note, boring performance, never seen him before as far as I can remember - he’s gone.
Megan Joy Corkrey - One of the most beautiful contestants ever, and she has a nice voice too. Her little hip shimmy and wiggling was a bit odd, but in an endearing way. And she was dressed like an 8 year old on the first day of school - but it worked. I liked her. Also pretty much the only one who sang the right song.
Matt Breitzke - First guy to actually have a chance. He has a tough guy vibe, and despite the judge’s opinion I thought he sang a nice rockin’ song that fit him.
Jesse Langseth - Eh. I think she sang well, but I just wasn’t reall interested by this performance. I can’t put my finger on what it was missing, but it was something.
Kai Kalama - Nice singer, and a good looking guy, but he has got to get a grip on his hair. ‘Fro it out or cut it off dude, cause right now it is just unkempt and crazy and you kind of look like a mugger.
Mishavonna Henson - She started like she was in pain, and then spent the rest of the time looking vaguely angry at the camera. And it may be mean to say, but she had a piggy nose that was really distracting to me. Not that that should have any bearing on whether or not she advances. I’m just saying.
Adam Lambert - Great performer - and he should be since he has worked in shows like Wicked. This was a little overdone, and his voice paid the price - he can really sing but he didn’t sound so good last night - very affected and almost screechy at times.
So this is where the new voting starts to show how unfair it is - there were at least 4 people eliminated last week who deserved to be around longer than almost anyone in this group. Make the voting fair, or split the groups better.
By the way - this was a two hour show that I taped and watched in 38 minutes by skipping all the filler. Way to waste our time, Fox.

I'll Take A Donut, But I Pass On The Jeans

There is a SlimFast commercial currently airing that features a woman fighting off giant donuts to illustrate how SlimFast gives you the power to refuse treats by eliminating hunger for four hours. I have two problems with this ad: the first is that when she gives a big kick to a donut (and yes I know I'm spelling it wrong - it's the slang way and it's faster, deal) she aims it dead center and the donut flies apart. Now, I could be wrong, not being all that acquainted with donuts (haha), but don't they have a big hole in the middle? And if you really kicked at the middle would your leg just go into the hole? It may be a dumb issue but it bugs me. The other thing I don't like is that they have her in mid rise jeans (ie mom jeans) that are at least one size too small, with her shirt tucked in. I realize this is so that when she tightens her belt to accentuate losing weight we can see it - but the result is that a woman with a perfectly nice figure ends up looking dumpy. And maybe the point is to show she still has weight to lose, but it certainly doesn't flatter her figure. Personally I think weight loss tools are better served by showing people who are already at their best - which this woman would be if she had the correct size of pants.

Some SAG Members Must Already Be Striking

Last week, while watching my shows, I noticed no less than five of my shows had the same guest stars: Leverage shared actors with Dollhouse and Burn Notice (possibly two with Burn Notice*), and the patient on House helped Shawn and Gus catch a serial killer on Psych. There may even have been a crossover of Monk and Dollhouse on the same night, *but I couldn't find a full cast list (these were very small parts) to verify. Now, obviously this is not the first time I noticed guest stars I have seen previously - almost every killer on any version of Law and Order has been on at least one of the other shows - sometimes they have been on all three, and there are cross overs with CSI, Without A Trace, etc. One actor - Zeljko Ivanek- has been on House, The Mentalist, Heroes and Damages just this season. But never before have I seen so many of the same actors in episodes all airing at the same time - these guys must have been busy! It makes you wonder where all the other actors are.

addition - we have another one - Tuesday 2/24/9's Leverage and Wednesday 2/25/9's Life shared a costar.

Smarts - None, Fiber - Yes

FiberOne has some vaguely funny ads where people refuse to believe that the FiberOne product they are eating has any fiber in it. The best of these is about the yogurt - and a cranky old lady who says that you must have to eat the box to get the fiber. They also have a lame add where a guy is writing on theFiberOne cereal boxes to make it read Fiber None. Now, as a selling point on something that doesn't obviously contain fiber (ie the yogurt) this would be funny - on cereal, which is made of grains and pretty clearly is going to contain at least some fiber, it is just stupid. And annoying to me because it doesn't comply with logic, and we all know how I like my logic.

I Play With Dolls

Tonight is the second episode of Dollhouse, and I am greatly looking forward to it. The premiere episode was pretty good, and I'm thinking I'm going to like this show alot (not surprising since I've like all of Joss Whedon's previous efforts). If you've got nothing better to do than sit in front of the TV on a Friday night, then check it out. Tape it and watch it after Monk and Psych like I do.

American Idol - The Votes

Last night watching the results for the first twelve contestants I wasn't so sure about the new voting system - it seemed to have pros and cons. After thinking about it however, I think I have to say that I don't like it. Yes, it does eliminate the seemingly endless weeks of results shows where they ever so slowly kick of people two by two. And I suppose it will prevent such travesties (travestys? neither looks right) as the Sanjaya debacle, where an obviously sub par singer keeps getting advanced because of their popularity (although it didn't preven the judges from putting Bikini Girl through to Hollywood despite her sucking, so I guess that issue only applies to us stupid non-experts). But isn't this supposed to be about America's choice? If we want to pick someone because of personality over singing ability than we should be able to do that - Britney Spears made a pretty good career off of just that principle. Besides these factors, I feel that this new voting system offers a huge disadvantage to every contestant who wasn't extensively showcased during the audition process. One song is not enough to allow the voters to really know each contestant and vote for their favorite - it seems really unfair to expect each singer to adequately showcase not only their ability, but their potential and their charms with only one song. having several weeks of voting allows the audience to really see who is improving as well as get to know each hopeful better and determine who they like. I was certainly happy with the choices made last night for the three advancing to the top twelve, but there were at least four other people I was sad to see the last of - I would have liked to hear them sing a few more times to watch them develop as performers. And to be honest, I'm not sure that everyone voted into the top twelve would make it given a few more weeks. So all in all I'm pretty disappointed with the new voting system - I don't think that we sholud go back to the endless weeks of eliminating people in pairs, but one or two more chances would level the playing field a little better and give America a better chance to judge and decide who is truly the most deserving. But heck, Tatiana was eliminated so I guess I really can't be too picky.