Year: 2007

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 9

In The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 8, we found out that, in addition to Neil’s weight gain, there were a couple other people who claimed to also be involved, but they just didn’t make it blatantly obvious. Isabeau whined nonstop about Neil’s actions, then she herself didn’t lose any weight on purpose. In the end, David was sent home.

This week is green week on The Biggest Loser. They’re all going to be doing some recycling, starting with their teams. They will be dropping down to duos. The challenge here isn’t a temptation, just a guessing game of how many calories are in a large meat pizza and a 32 ounce soda. Pizza’s deceptively high in calories (in addition to the 9 hour insulin spike it causes), so this can be an easy thing to underestimate. The person closest to the correct answer picks the first duo, then they both pick the second duo, then the next duo picks the third duo, then they pick the fourth duo, then there’s a last duo that’s stuck with each other.

Bill: 2145
Nicole: 3240
Kae: 2306
Julie: 2790
Hollie: 4079
Bryan: 3800
Amy: 4024
Isabeau: 3475
Ryan: 3460
Neil: 3496

Actual: 3253 calories

A high number, albeit lower than I would have expected. Nicole, who went with 3240, is the person who is closest. The teams are:

Nicole & Neil
Ryan & Isabeau
Julie & Bill
Hollie & Bryan
Kae & Amy

Neil wanted to protect Ryan but not too much. Isabeau wanted to pick a team that was an all black team. Julie and Bill wanted to protect Hollie. Kae got stuck with Amy, who was most vocal about sending her home, and wasn’t happy.

In keeping with the green week theme, they will not use machines that run on electricity this week.

While Kae’s out running, Amy’s on the couch sleeping. Bob immediately gets concerned about this pairing as well.

Kim’s upset because David’s gone, and she knows Bryan’s in serious danger. And to think just last week Jillian was going on and on about how the black team was being ganged up on. Kim’s very pleased with Bryan’s training but is frustrated with his nutrition. He’s only eating 1200 calories a day and three meals.

Kae’s concerns over her new partner continue to weigh on her. Bob decides to try to lighten the mood a bit, and he puts an X on her back.

Bob takes his team out of the gym and has them climb a huge hill instead. Jillian and Kim stay in the gym but just do things that don’t require electricity.

They show up at a challenge and are greeted by containers of food they used to eat a lot of, like 180 pizza boxes for Bill and Julie. Next to them are two trucks. What’s in the trucks is a much more shocking reality check. They are filled with the soda cans they used to go through. Not surprisingly, they all used to consume soda in excess, which is nothing but a bunch of empty calories. It’s 148,000 cans, which amounts to 2.6 tons and is a lifetime worth of cans for them. Of course, this can’t be done without being heavy on the lesson side, as it’s a reminder to them that next time they have a can they should find the nearest recycling bin. They are given half an hour to recycle their cans. Whoever recycles the most will win. The prize? Brand new hybrid SUV’s. Julie tells the story about how in order to become a stay-at-home mom, she had to get rid of a car. At the halfway mark, Bill & Julie are in first with 41 pounds. Kae & Amy, who are working as a team rather than each one individually, are in second at 40 pounds. Hollie & Bryan are at 35 pounds. Nicole & Neil are out of it at 22 pounds, with Isabeau and Ryan bringing up the rear at 20 pounds.

Isabeau & Ryan: 43.2 pounds
Neil & Nicole: 47.6 pounds
Hollie & Bryan: 75.4 pounds
Kae & Amy: 75.8 pounds
Bill & Julie: 98.4 pounds

Bill & Julie easily win the new vehicles. Black team has to drag Jillian down the hallway to see the prizes because she doesn’t want to know anything that doesn’t have to do with the weigh in. She’s impressed but still wants immunity.

Bryan expresses concern to Kim that he can’t eat when he’s full because that’s how he got fat to begin with. She tells him to just trust her.

Kae: 163 pounds (-5)
Amy: 245 pounds (-9)
Total: -14 pounds (3.32%)

Hollie: 212 pounds (-6)
Bryan: 278 pounds (-11)
Total: -17 pounds (3.35%)

Nicole: 229 pounds (-6)
Neil: 321 pounds (-18)
Total: -24 pounds (4.18%)

Last week, Neil’s 33 pound weight loss wasn’t particularly impressive since it was to be expected with the 17 pound weight gain the week before, but this week’s loss following that is very strong and puts him at the 100 pound mark, making him the 5th person in the show’s history to lose that much weight before going home.

Isabeau: 246 pounds (-9)
Ryan: 302 pounds (-6)
Total: -15 pounds (2.66%)

Bill: 242 pounds (-9)
Julie: 180 pounds (-6)
Total: -15 pounds (3.43%)

Despite Isabeau slacking last week, Isabeau and Ryan are below the yellow line, with Ryan putting up the lowest percentage of weight loss of anyone this week. Isabeau tells black team she trusts nobody, a slap in the face to the people who have been loyal to her all along.

Votes:
Kae & Amy: Ryan
Bryan & Hollie: Ryan
Neil & Nicole: Ryan

The fourth vote was probably for Ryan as well. Ryan returns home to his newborn baby. Today, Ryan weighs 265 pounds, down 109 pounds from his starting weight of 374.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 10, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

WGA Strike/Show Status

The networks were originally expecting to have shows continue airing into early next year, but with most hyphenates refusing to perform their non-writing duties, a lot of shows have been impacted earlier than anticipated, despite scripts waiting to be shot. It’ll be interesting to see the longer term consequences for these actions, particularly for the new shows that nobody seems to care about as it is or for returning shows that are fading, but for the time being, here’s the current status of various shows, thanks to LA Times. Keep in mind reality shows are not impacted by the strike and actually will probably be increasingly in demand as it goes on.

ABC
Big Shots – all 13 episodes
Boston Legal – 14 of 22 episodes
Brothers & Sisters – 11-12 of 23 episodes
Carpoolers – all 13 episodes
Cavemen – 12 of 13 episodes
Cashmere Mafia – Delayed due to strike
Desperate Housewives – 9 of 22 episodes
Dirty Sexy Money – 11 of 13 episodes
Eli Stone – all 13 episodes
Grey’s Anatomy – 11 of 22 episodes
Lost – 8 of 16 episodes
Men in Trees – 19 of 27 episodes
Private Practice – 4 episodes left
Pushing Daisies – 9 of 22 episodes
Samantha Who? – 8 episodes left
Ugly Betty – 13 of 24 episodes
Women’s Murder Club – 10 of 13 episodes

CBS
Big Bang Theory – 8-9 of 13 episodes
Cane – all 13 episodes
Criminal Minds – 11-12 of 22 episodes
CSI – 11-12 of 22 episodes
CSI: Miami – 13 of 24 episodes
CSI: NY – 13-14 of 22 episodes
How I Met Your Mother – 11 of 22 episodes
Jericho – all 7 episodes
Moonlight – 11-12 of 13 episodes
NCIS – 13 of 22 episodes
New Adventures of Old Christine – 8-9 of 13 episodes
Numb3rs – 12 of 22 episodes
Rules of Engagement – 9-10 of unknown episodes
Shark – 12 of 22 episodes
The Unit – 11 of 22 episodes
Two and a Half Men – 11 of 22 episodes

NBC
30 Rock – 10 of 22 episodes
Friday Night Lights – 15 of 22 episodes
Heroes – 11 of 24 episodes
Journeyman – 12 of 13 episodes
Law & Order SVU – 14 of 22 episodes
Medium – 9 of 22 episodes
My Name Is Earl – 13 of 22 episodes
The Office – In reruns in a week
Scrubs – 12 of 18 episodes

Fox
24 – Delayed due to strike
American Dad – 19 fresh episodes
Back to You – 9 of 24 episodes
Bones – 12 of 22 episodes
Family Guy – 14 fresh episodes
King of the Hill – 17 fresh episodes
K-Ville – 10 of 13 episodes
Prison Break – 13 of 22 episodes
The Simpsons – 17 fresh episodes

CW
Aliens in America – 17 of 22 episodes
Everybody Hates Chris – all 22 episodes
The Game – 10 of 22 episodes
Girlfriends – 10 of 22 episodes
Gossip Girl – 12 of 22 episodes
Life Is Wild – 12 of 13 episodes
One Tree Hill – 12 of 13 episodes
Reaper – all 13 episodes
Smallville – 12-14 of 22 episodes
Supernatural – 12-14 of 22 episodes

Daytime
Soaps will continue to run into the new year for ABC, CBS, and NBC. Ellen DeGeneres has returned. The View will continue uninterrupted.

Late Night
Mostly in reruns already. There is talk of guest hosts on some shows. Jimmy Kimmel will probably go into reruns but may do the show on his own. Nightline will remain in originals.

USA
Burn Notice – Production starts in January
In Plain Sight – Nearly wrapped
Law & Order: Criminal Intent – Second half of season will be impacted
Monk – Full second half of season
Psych – Full second half of season
Starter Wife – Production starts in March

Sci-Fi
Battlestar Galactica – 10 episodes and a two hour movie
Eureka – Will be impacted
Stargate Atlantis – Not expected to be impacted

FX
Dirt – Will be impacted
Nip/Tuck – 14 of 22 episodes
Rescue Me – Will be impacted
The Riches – 7 of 13 episodes
The Shield – Final season is written
Thirty Days – Not expected to be impacted

HBO
12 Miles of Bad Road – In production
In Treatment – Will not be impacted
True Blood – In production
The Wire – all episodes completed

Showtime
New Tracey Ullman series – all 5 episodes
The Tudors – 12 episodes completed

A Grip’s View of the Strike

From Dale Alexander, a key grip on The Office, via LA Times.

“Our show was shut down and we were all laid off this week. I’ve been watching the news since the WGA strike was announced and I have yet to see any coverage dedicated to the effect that this strike will have on the below the line employees.

“I respect the WGA’s position. They probably do deserve a larger percentage of profit participation, but a lengthy strike will affect more than just the writers and studios. On my show we had 14 writers. There were also 2 cameramen, 2 camera assistants, 4 hair stylists, 4 makeup artists, 7 wardrobe people, 4 grips, 4 electricians, 2 craft service, 4 props people, 6 construction, 1 medic, 3 art department, 5 set dressers, 3 sound men, 3 stand-ins, 2 set PAs, 4 assistant directors, 1 DGA trainee, 1 unit manager, 6 production office personnel, 3 casting people, 4 writers assistants, 1 script supervisor, 2 editors, 2 editors assistants, 3 post production personnel, 1 facilities manager, 8 drivers, 2 location managers, 3 accountants, 4 caterers and a producer who’s not a writer. All 102 of us are now out of work.

“I have been in the motion picture business for 33 years and have survived three major strikes. None of which have been by any of the below the line unions. During the 1988 WGA strike many of my friends lost their homes, cars and even spouses. Many actors are publicly backing the writers, some have even said that they would find a way to help pay bills for the striking writers. When the networks run out of new shows and they air repeats the writers will be paid residuals. The lowest paid writer in television makes roughly twice the salary than the below the line crewmember makes. Everyone should be paid their fair share, but does it have to be at the expense of the other 90% of the crewmembers. Nobody ever recoups from a strike, lost wages are just that, lost.

“We all know that the strike will be resolved. Eventually both sides will return to the bargaining table and make a deal. The only uncertainty is how many of our houses, livelihoods, college educations and retirement funds will pay for it.”

CSI: Season 8, Episode 6 – Who and What

Last week, the CSI team investigates the murder, which turned out to be an accident that was covered up by the production, of a horror queen, Weatherly Adams. This week, the CSI team is faced with multiple questions when they discover their case is part of the FBI’s 6-year-old serial killer unsolved case.

The episode starts with a lady playing a game board with a boy. Since the boy seems uninterested, the lady just leaves him in the living room as she takes a shower. A few minutes later, she hears the kid fall and shocked by a man that attacks her. The victim, Carmen Davis and the boy “Evan” were both left dead.

Greg and Catherine has been processing the crime scene for six hours. They receive a call from the FBI ordering them to stop, so as soon as Grissom came, the FBI lands down from the helicopter. Jack Malone introduces himself to Jim Brass, Grissom and the rest of the team. He discloses to them about a kidnapping that took place six years ago. The kid was kidnapped in the babysitter’s apartment, while the babysitter was left for dead and the FBI believes the dead kid is their missing kid.

Cath determines the murder weapon used is a hammer and Dr. Robbins confirms this by stating the cause of death – multiple blood force trauma – for both Evan and Carmen Davis. However, his examination also suggested that Carmen Davis was raped before she died.

At the crime scene, the team finds the vic’s ID on top of her credit card. However, Greg finds an empty jewelry box, while Stokes sees several pictures of Davis wearing jewelries. Warrick investigates around the desk and finds a list of poker player statistics (marking #273) and a laptop with several online gambling websites open.

Brown and Malone visits the nearest casino with poker competition to look for contestant #273. The man tries to run, but Malone catches him before he escapes. Brown obtains Tom Michaels’ finger prints and DNA while Malone interrogates him. Michaels admits that he listened to the voice inside his head rather than listening to Brother Willard, his spiritual adviser. Just as Malone gets pissed with Michaels, Brass stops the interrogation and a picture of the dead Evan falls. As it turns out, Tom Michaels was Evan’s father and Carmen Davis was his ex-girlfriend.

Wendy finds out that there were two semen donors from Carmen Davis – one from Tom Michaels and the other was listed in two unsolved cases in New York and Idaho.

At a jewelry store, the team finds Carmen’s missing jewelries. They acquired the video tape from the store to get a look at the suspect, but only a cap with Hartgreen Harvest logo was seen. At the nearest casino, they discovered the suspect wearing the same cap, but are still unable to get a clear picture.

Sarah finds herself in another crime scene when a bloody man asks for the neighborhood kids’ help.Sara and the police searches for the man’s house only to find his wife raped and dead, leaving the murder weapon (a hammer) behind and replaced it with a 45-auto gun. With the same crime scene patterns, such as the ID left above the credit card and covered raped victim, the CSI team links this crime scene with the first murder.

While Grissom and Sara was talking about the suspect, Grissom hears the sound of the railroad a few blocks away from the crime scene. He tells Malone that the two crime scenes were both near the rails and their killer is escaping through the railroad.

Stokes and Archie checks out the security cam from the South Point casino. Studies the suspect’s actions and sees that he was particularly attentive to a poster. They discovered that the suspect was calling information to get the home number and address of the waitress,Gina Ferantino. Unable to get what he wants, he gets pissed and smashes his hands on the phone booth.

Upon interviewing the manager of the casino, the team finds out that Gina met the suspect when he won 2,500 in the slot machines the day before. Stokes asks for the reward claim slip to get the suspect’s fingerprints.

The suspect, identified as Terry Lee Wicker, was once married to Gina Ferantino. A police car finds Ferantino’s car, but the suspect shoots him dead. When the team arrives, Grissom discovers that there is a railroad just 16 miles away from the latest crime scene.

As they arrive the railroad tracks, both Malone and Grissom searches the trains for Wicker. Unfortunately,Terry Wicker was smart enough to hire a homeless guy and pay him $100 to wear his cap and get on the train. Back at the railroad port, the team finds Ferantino’s car, where she was left dead in the compartment.

As it turns out, Terry Wicker visited Las Vegas for a reunion with his ex-wife and to pick up his kid (Coby) from school. The episode ends with Coby sitting in one of the trains while Terry Wicker sings to him.

Will the CSI team and FBI still catch this serial killer?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of CSI: Las Vegas Season 8 episode 7, which airs Thursday at 9pm on CBS.

Watch CSI Online

Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 12

I’m not sure whether Angie ever actually figured out which side she was on in Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 11, but in the end, she won immunity, so she was safe from everybody turning on her. Angela followed her buddy Hein out of the game.

Amanda hasn’t lost hope yet. She continues to scramble, questioning Lorette as to why the alleged alliance is really just Grant and Angie calling the shots, as it has been. At this point, for someone to take on the swing vote would be smart, as it’s final three rather than final four. Of course, there is the added danger of the jury being heavily stacked in Amanda’s favor, though a 5 person jury detracts from that. Lorette and Angie remain sick of each other. Now Mandla’s joining in. Angie hopes they’ll (continue to) be stupid enough to keep her around to honor their word.

Reward challenge is an interesting one. They will hang and support their own body weight while trying to remember a sequence of numbers. When all of them drop, they’ll then need to record those numbers. All of them will start the memory part of the challenge at the same time, so the longer they can hang on, the longer they will have to memorize and also the less time they will have to forget. Reward is a visit from family and friends. Mandla’s mom and sister, Angie’s friends, Lorette’s husband and best friend, Grant’s wife and best friend, and Amanda’s mom and sister are all there to greet them. And for some reason it’s sponsored by KFC. The winner will get a feast with their loved ones at camp.

Grant drops first, closely followed by Angie, Amanda, and then Lorette. A buff Mandla obviously hangs in the longest. Angie barely bothered to fill it out, not even making an effort to put something random. She’s first out. Amanda is out after another two numbers. Lorette is out after the first number of the second line. Grant’s next out, and Mandla wins reward. The thing about Mandla is that, despite how much of a physical threat he is, everybody’s so caught up in personality clashes they’re not even concerned about him. Everybody is happy to have someone new to talk with and seems to appreciate having Mandla’s family there.

The tribe has run out of rice and tapioca. Angie considers the hunt for new food sources a waste of energy. While they’re searching, Mandla says “I’ll let you into a secret” to Angie. Then he sees Lorette standing right there. So no secret is shared. Lorette gets (more) suspicious of Angie. In the process, Grant gets dragged into it. Angie ultimately shakes Lorette’s hand and promises to take her to the final four. Mandla offers his immunity idol to Lorette as a gesture to gain her trust, but she doesn’t want it.

The immunity challenge is called the abdominator. They are stretched out across a rack, hands on one set of bars, feet on another. After the first person drops out, they will move their hands one bar forward, then they will move their feet up further after the next person it out, then they will move their hands out further after the last. Grant’s out first. He is followed by Angie. Amanda goes to switch positions and drops down in the process, so she also is eliminated. Angie starts to root for Lorette during the challenge. Lorette asks Mandla to throw the challenge for her, and he does. A little too obviously, though, as Angie knows what happened.

Angie asks Mandla if he knows who he’s voting for. He says he hasn’t decided. She knows that means it’s between her and Amanda. Angie feels pretty safe because she got Lorette’s word, and she feels this is Survivor: Brady Bunch, where nobody wants to actually play the game.

Mandla uses the hidden idol because this is the last time he can use it.

Votes:
Amanda
Angie
Amanda
Angie
Angie

As much as I’ve disliked Angie, I was starting to like her. She and Grant may not exactly be playing the game well, but at least they’re playing, whereas Lorette and Mandla have just been along for the ride until now. Like he did with Lisa, Grant again found himself backing the wrong horse for too long.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 13, and don’t forget our continuing coverage of Survivor: China.

Survivor: China Episode 8

Survivor: China Episode 7 proved to be as predictable as expected. Despite some very questionable loyalties, the tribe that was up 6-4 pre-merge stuck together and booted one of the others, Jaime.

James catches some fish without trying and discusses how his team came together despite being complete opposites of each other.

Tribes will get in boats with holes in them and try to sink each other twice in the reward challenge. Peih-Gee and Jean-Robert are captains. Jean-Robert picks James, James picks Todd, and Todd picks Amanda. Peih-Gee picks Frosti, Frosti picks Erik, and Erik picks Courtney. Denise will not participate in the challenge. The lightest team members, Todd and Courtney, get in the boats. In the first round, Courtney gets completely crushed. They picked her because she was light, but they didn’t take into account that she sucked. Frosti and Amanda get in the boats next. Frosti, likewise, gets crushed. Amanda, James, Todd, and Jean-Robert win reward.

Reward is a visit to a Chinese village. They get the final clue to the hidden immunity idols, both of which have been found already. Jean-Robert is completely surprised, though the other people on the reward already know about the idols, and he’s the only person in his tribe who has not been informed of the state of idols. Then they get to eat some Chinese food, only there they just call it food.

Denise, who was the only person not picked for the reward challenge, starts to get worried that they’ll also choose her last when it comes to later on in the game. Perhaps sensing this, Peih-Gee tries to get something going, and Denise says she’s open to the idea but will do whatever is best for her.

In the middle of the night, Jean-Robert just stays up and searches for the idol. A smart move if the idols weren’t already taken.

Todd, who’s a bit bitter that James took his idols and ran, comes up with a new plan. Blindside James and take him out to avoid the danger of a physical threat with two hidden immunity idols. Absolutely brilliant plan, though it will piss off the large amount of James fans. This is a good idea because if they don’t take out James and his idols now, they may as well just write the check out to him rather than going through with the formality of the rest of the season. Frosti’s down with this move. Amanda’s a bit skeptical.

Immunity challenge is a balancing act. They sit on barrels filled with water, which is slowly emptying out a hole in the bottom. Jean-Robert is first out. Denise follows. James falls next. Obviously, this challenge wasn’t designed with bigger people in mind. Erik falls fourth. He is followed by Peih-Gee. Amanda is disqualified for touching the structure in front of her. Todd goes next. It’s between Courtney and Frosti. Courtney hasn’t budged at all during the whole challenge, and she keeps it up and wins immunity.

Jean-Robert thinks things have changed, and he also thinks he has the hidden immunity idol. Erik tells him he doesn’t and that James does. Jean-Robert also raises the concept of pulling the fast one on James, as he finally realizes his tribe’s been leaving him out of the loop. He offers James an alliance, but James has no interest because… he’s Jean-Robert.

Now Todd wants to get rid of Jean-Robert, since he also came up with the idea of going after James. The rest of the tribe is happy with a Jean-Robert boot, except for Amanda, who still wants to get rid of Peih-Gee.

Jeff points out the obvious at tribal council: James is a physical threat. James says there are bigger threats, those who talk too much and are willing to shake things up. Erik and Peih-Gee are the only ones who bothered to pack.

Votes:
Jean-Robert
Jean-Robert
Peih-Gee
James
James
James
Jean-Robert
Jean-Robert
Jean-Robert

Jean-Robert finally bites the dust. I’m not so sure it was good to throw the votes James’ way, but it will probably cause him to be skeptical of his current alliance. If it’s a physical challenge, he’ll likely win. If he doesn’t, he’ll use his idols. Either way, I’d say the window of opportunity to safely remove James from the game has now passed. Interestingly, Denise was kept out of the loop, which won’t help her get any closer to her tribe.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 9 Just Don’t Eat the Apple, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Watch Survivor: China Online

Prison Break Season 3 Episode 8 Preview

Official description and promo of Prison Break Season 3 Episode 8 Bang & Burn. I’ll work on another preview before the episode airs, and as always, stick around for a live recap.

SUSAN TAKES THE ESCAPE INTO HER OWN HANDS;
LECHERO REVEALS A SECRET BURIED UNDER SONA;
SOFIA IS UNNERVED BY CLUES TO WHISTLER’S PAST;
MAHONE’S FREEDOM HINGES ON HIS TESTIMONY
ON “PRISON BREAK”
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 12, ON FOX

Susan takes the escape into her own hands, leaving Michael’s life hanging in the balance; Lechero reveals a secret buried beneath Sona; Sofia uncovers more of Whistler’s past; Mahone’s freedom hinges on his testimony; and Lincoln and Sucre are targeted by The Company on the “Bang & Burn” episode of PRISON BREAK airing Monday, Nov. 12 (8:00-10:00 PM ET/PT) on FOX. (PB-308) (TV-14 D, L, V)

Cast: Dominic Purcell as Lincoln Burrows; Wentworth Miller as Michael Scofield; Amaury Nolasco as Fernando Sucre; Robert Knepper as Theodore “T-Bag” Bagwell; Wade Williams as Brad Bellick; Robert Wisdom as Lechero; Chris Vance as James Whistler; Danay Garcia as Sofia Lugo; and Jodi Lyn O’Keefe as Susan B. Anthony; with William Fichtner as Alexander Mahone

Guest Cast: Barbara Eve Harris as Lang; Kim Coates as Richard Sullins; Laurence Mason as Sammy; Carlo Alban as McGrady; John S. Davies as Agent Elliot Pike