Month: January 2008

Prison Break Season 3 Episode 10

After two months on hiatus, Prison Break Season 3 Episode 9 was the first of five new episodes. General Zavala managed to get Susan’s name out of Michael, along with a location of where she would be. She played along as if Zavala had the upper hand, just long enough to take the opportunity to kill him. Meanwhile, inside Sona, the struggle for power continued. Sammy managed to get ahold of a gun thanks to Sucre unintentionally assisting him, a pretty good advantage to have.

Lechero is afraid Scofield’s a hero now, since he survived the box, or so he says. As such, he refuses Sammy’s request to kill him.

Mahone gets a picture of his son in the mail.

Whistler informs Scofield T-Bag’s coming with them. Mahone wants in, too. Michael may as well just accept they’re all in this together whether they want to be or not. Now that last week’s drama’s done, it’s time to start digging again, at least that’s the plan. Michael says it’ll be two days.

Sammy pulls out his gun and lets Lechero know he’s done. Then he lets everybody else know he’s in charge. When nobody objects, he offers a case of rum for whoever brings him Michael.

Lincoln’s trying to find out what he can about Gary Miller.

T-Bag wants to take Sammy out. He doesn’t want to risk his own neck, but he’s got no problem risking Bellick, asking that he chicken foot Sammy and cheat again like he did last time.

Sofia doesn’t want to turn her back on Whistler, even if she doesn’t exactly trust him. She makes Lincoln give her his word that he’ll be okay.

Sucre goes to meet Susan and tells her Lincoln’s not playing any games. She tells him she believes him, then she gives him a cashier’s check for $25,000, with the other half payable later.

Whistler tells Scofield he was supposed to kill him but didn’t. So now apparently he’s supposed to be grateful.

Bellick approaches Sammy asking for the chicken foot. After he does this, though, he realizes he doesn’t have any acetone left, so it looks like the first plan’s out the window. He pretends he made a mistake and wasn’t actually talking about Sammy, but it doesn’t get him anywhere.

Lincoln and Sofia buy some explosives.

Mahone, Scofield, and Whistler use the distraction of the fight as an excuse to come out from digging. They’re quickly stopped by Sammy’s goons. Their location is no longer secret, but at least they’re able to get back into it, well, two of them anyway. Just as Sammy’s about to kill Bellick, they call for him. They threaten to kill Whistler if he doesn’t help them get through the door. Not at all intimidated, Whistler’s request to Michael is simply to not open the door.

Sucre doesn’t bother telling Lincoln the part about how he’s got cash in his pocket. Susan knows something’s up, and she tells Sucre she knows where he sent the money and that if he doesn’t cooperate, she’ll kill Maricruz.

Sammy and his boys get Lechero and go ask him for the combination. Then Michael opens the door. He offers Sammy a deal to go with them. Sammy agrees but not to the part of going with them. He wants their plans all to himself. Michael wants them to take Whistler with them. Obviously a setup. Sammy pokes his head in the tunnel, which comes crashing down around him. Then Lechero kills his goons with his gun.

Bellick wants in, too, and if not, he’ll blow their cover, so T-Bag accepts. McGrady wants to go with them as well, but Michael tells him he doesn’t want any part of it.

Sofia does some digging and finds a briefcase. As we’ve seen before, the show ends with us wondering what’s inside.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Prison Break season 3 episode 11 Under & Out, which airs Monday at 8/7c on Fox.

The Amazing Race 12 Winner

The Amazing Race 10 winner
The Amazing Race 11 winner
The Amazing Race 13 winner
The Amazing Race 14 winner

With Nathan & Jennifer’s inability to work with each other in The Amazing Race 10 Episode 10, the final three teams were revealed: dating couple TK Erwin & Rachel Rosales, father and daughter Ronald Hsu & Christina Hsu, and grandfather and grandson Nicolas Fulks & Donald Jerousek.

They’ve worked hard at trying to convince us that all three of these teams belong in the final three, and there are no doubt those who would argue there’s some truth to that. Despite that, I can’t help but feel things are a bit lacking here.

TK & Rachel have performed the best of the three, and for that matter, the best of anyone this season other than Azaria & Hendekea. Their laid back attitude has gotten them criticized by some (namely their bitter opponent Jennifer) for not working hard, but it’s this carefreeness that has gotten them this far. As a team that’s unlikely to bicker, they work together quite well.

Unfortunately, the other two teams have been a bit of a disaster. Ronald & Christina have gotten the dysfunctional father/daughter that have grown closer thanks to the show (we saw that edit with Dick & Danielle in Big Brother 8, and it was a lie there) edit. (Looks like I struck a raw nerve with the BB8 comment. I welcome and encourage feedback on this or any other subject… within the bounds of calm, rational discussion.) While he arguably has been more patient with her the last couple episodes when they were in the lead, he’s been quick to freak out at her and pretty much everybody else on the race with little provocation, a situation that’s been uncomfortable to watch at best. If we leave him aside, I have been impressed with Christina, though.

Then there’s Nicolas & Donald. Donald’s effort for his age is certainly commendable. However, it just hasn’t been enough to hang with the other teams. This team is the #6 team of the season in terms of finishing rankings and has relied primarily on major mistakes by another team and second to last place finishes to limp along and not be eliminated.

With all that said, history has taught us it’s still anybody’s game. Whether it’s a flat tire, someone having an EZPass, or the producers forcing a plane to turn around to let a second team board, you never can tell who’s going to be the winner of this race.

For about the third time this season, the show’s actually starting on time.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ronald & Christina (9:47am)
Second: TK & Rachel (10:30am)
Third: Nicolas & Donald (10:37am)

The final destination city is Anchorage, Alaska, where they’ll first head to 6th Avenue Outfitters to get equipment for the detour. That means just one plane or one set of planes before the final city, which normally magnifies even the smallest of mistakes.

All three teams get on the same flight, a nonstop flight to Anchorage. With the lead they have, Ronald & Christina are using their time to surf the web and get some extra information on the only thing they know they’ll need: where 6th Avenue Outfitters is. Doesn’t much matter since they take a cab there anyway. The first two teams get their gear. Nicolas & Donald, however, grab the clue and forget their gear.

From there, they will head to Ship Creek Boat Launch.

The detour is a choice between cut the cod and grab the crab. In cut the cod, teams must cut through 50 pound fish and search for a clue inside one of the fish. In grab the crab, teams must jump into a boat swarming with over 500 crabs to find one marked with race colors. So it’s a choice between disgusting or risking being clawed.

Donald blames and gets upset with Nicolas (who’s carried him the whole time) for the mistake. They must return to the store and get their gear.

Cut the cod: Ronald & Christina, Nicolas & Donald
Grab the crab: TK & Rachel

Ronald & Christina seem to make easy work of the cod. TK & Rachel get dropped off in the wrong location, putting them in last by about a minute. But since Nicolas & Donald don’t have their bag, those two can’t actually do the task yet.

TK & Rachel struggle quite a bit with the crabs, to the point where they’re still hanging around when Nicolas & Donald get back. It’s apparent that this detour was nowhere near equal, as Nicolas & Donald finish in a few minutes with theirs like Ronald & Christina did. Still, all teams are within probably less than half an hour of each other.

The bad luck doesn’t stop there for TK & Rachel. They’re finding it easier to communicate with taxi drivers in India than in Alaska, placing both of the last two teams within about a minute of each other.

They’ll travel 60 miles to a boat launch, take a high speed ride to 20-Mile River, and climb a glacier to get their next clue. Ronald’s immediately afraid of the glacier, but it’s Christina who struggles. He’s made it to the top, but the she’s still there when the other two teams arrive. It’ll be interesting to see who this task actually favors, as there’s no team that appears so overly dominant in this type of physical task.

Christina manages to keep the lead for her team, but they have lost some of their lead. TK makes short work of the glacier, but Rachel’s no slouch either. Donald gets up quickest of the two members of his team, while it’s Nicolas who struggles for them.

Teams must take a helicopter to Merrill Field, and from there they’ll travel by taxi to Goose Lake Park.

The road block is a field of objects they’ve encountered along the race, 15 total. They must choose one from each leg of the race, with a certain number of items they’ve carried to the pitstop, a certain number of animals, etc. The tricky part is that multiple items can fulfill the requirements. It’s a puzzle, with only one right answer. This is potentially a very confusing and stressful task.

Road block (in order of arrival): Christina, Rachel, Nicolas

All three teams are doing the road block at the same time, so the race now is coming down to who finishes the road block first.

Christina gets 9 out of 10 right on her first try. She rearranges them and goes down to 6 out of 10. Then she starts praying. Her third guess is correct.

Rachel gets 7 out of 10. She realizes it’s crucial to stay calm, something the other two don’t seem to get. Her next guess is correct.

Rachel is the first to finish the road block. Christina is next. I don’t think Nicolas has even registered a guess yet.

The next clue is at the statue of Captain James Cook. They’re told to find the salmon hooker (another statue). It’s a footrace, which favors TK & Rachel.

The final pitstop for this race is Girdwood Airport.

And The Amazing Race 12 winners are… TK & Rachel. It’s a good ending for a change. They say their relationship has only gotten stronger as a result of the race, and they believe they’ve proved nice guys can finish first.

Ronald & Christina finish in second place. I do think they have gotten closer during this. Even though it would take a lot more than this to make him change his spots and become a more patient person, it was a good bonding experience for them nonetheless.

Nicolas & Donald arrive at the pitstop in third. Donald’s the oldest person to have ever made it to the final leg of The Amazing Race.

Because of the delayed start to this season (hopefully this has been a lesson to them to not do that again), we unfortunately won’t be seeing The Amazing Race 13 any time soon. However, CBS has confirmed that it’s picked up The Amazing Race 13, presumably for the fall lineup, if not as a summer show. This season’s ratings have been up sharply, a good sign for things to come.

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 9

Terri & Henry were last in The Amazing Race 2 Episode 8, but they survived due to a lame second non-elimination in a row. It’s like David & Mary from The Amazing Race 10. Just put them out of their misery already.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rovilson & Marc (2:17am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (2:24am)
Third: Ann & Diane (2:40am)
Fourth: Paula & Natasha (3:10am)
Fifth: Vanessa & Pamela (4:17am)
Sixth: Terri & Henry (10:35am)

Teams must travel by train to Prague and find Petrin Hill, where they must climb the 60 meter observation tower and correctly count the 299 steps to the top. The next train is at 4:20am, enough to create some bunching.

Train 1: Rovilson & Marc, Adrian & Collin, Ann & Diane, Paula & Natasha
Train 2: Vanessa & Pamela
Train 3: Terri & Henry

The teams have a new plan to foil Ann & Diane. Refuse to work with them at the intersection.

The next hours of operation are at 9am. More bunching, this time enough for Pamela & Vanessa to catch up. Rather than waiting around aimlessly, Adrian & Collin and Ann & Diane go on Google and figure out how many steps are on the tower. Well played. While this gives Adrian & Collin the lead, though, Rovilson & Marc don’t need the answer beforehand and still place second on this task. Vanessa & Pamela also get it right, followed closely by Ann & Diane. Paula & Natasha, however, guess 311. They get confused the next time on the 52nd step and end up guessing 300. They finally get the right answer after that.

Strelecky Island on the Vltava River is the next destination. It turns out that Adrian & Collin’s foreknowledge of the number of steps did pay off after all. They catch the train before everybody else and are on the island apparently before anybody else leaves for it, though it doesn’t seem like a particularly long distance away.

Once on the island, teams will use a marked row boat to row 140 degrees southeast using the compass provided. A fairly simple task, but it has the potential to confuse some. The rowing could be bad enough, but when the compass is added to it, chaos could ensue. This is another one of those tasks that Rovilson & Marc have absolutely no problem with, while everybody else struggles.

The next clue is located at Prague Castle, the biggest ancient castle in the world. At the castle is the intersection, where each team must team up with another team. Adrian & Collin are first to arrive, and they plan to team up with whoever comes second. Pretty obvious who that will be, and these four together is even more unfair than the rest of the race has been. Shockingly enough, Rovilson & Marc are the next team to arrive.

They will head to the Ice Hockey Arena Letnany in Letnany. Each team member must score one goal from three different points on the rink (no goalie).

As the boys are leaving, Ann & Diane show up. Too bad for them, since Adrian & Collin are the only team particularly willing to actually work with them.

On the cab ride there, Rovilson & Marc tell us about the plan. If Paula & Natasha and Pamela & Vanessa team up, Ann & Diane will have to wait for Terri & Henry, putting them so desperately far behind they have no prayer of catching up any time soon. I didn’t get it before (and it appears to me they’re just realizing it, too), but this is absolutely brilliant strategy considering that point.

Too bad they didn’t think of this earlier. Vanessa & Pamela readily agree to work with Ann & Diane. Generally a very good idea, but given the circumstances, there was much strategy to be had with this. They totally forgot about Terri & Henry (who we haven’t seen this entire episode), and like Marc & Rovilson, they didn’t think about it until the cab ride. While they had discussed the yield with the boys, and the boys have discussed the intersection with Paula & Natasha, nobody filled Vanessa & Pamela in on the plans for what to do in the event of an intersection.

Paula & Natasha know they’re screwed. It’s at this point that we finally figure out just how far behind Terri & Henry are. They’re departing over 8 hours behind the first and second place teams. Even with the hours of operation bunching, we’re still looking at a wait time of at least a few hours. This is the same absolutely hideous planning that we saw in the US version (intersection on the leg after a non-elimination leg is almost certain defeat), with the added complication of the last place team being ridiculously far behind. Paula & Natasha are killing time to the extent that it’s just silly.

The detour is a choice between snap or roll. In snap, teams must find and take photos of three historical monuments and bring them to the statue of Josef Manes for verification. In roll, teams must collect two 50 liter beer kegs from a restaurant and deliver them to Admiral Botel.

Roll: Adrian & Collin and Rovilson & Marc, Ann & Diane and Vanessa & Pamela (after trying snap and being unable to either find anything or work together)
Snap: Paula & Natasha and Terri & Henry

After the detour is over, they are released from the intersection. Rovilson & Marc and Collin & Adrian worked together quite well as expected. All four other teams did okay until they got to the detour, where they failed miserably to be cohesive foursomes. They’ll head to the swimming pool in Prague 4.

The road block is a ten meter dive. That’s it? Yep, just as poorly planned as the US one. This will take no time at all. If there were any question before, it’s clear based on this that Terri & Henry are toast considering their 30 minute penalty. Granted, as little time as this did take, Vanessa says she’s delusional and can’t remember what she’s doing afterward. She doesn’t know what she just did or that they’re going to the pitstop. She was bleeding, so it would seem that the impact has caused some momentary short-term memory loss.

Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Collin, Vanessa, Ann, Henry, Natasha

On the way to the pitstop and in a mad dash for last (only not really since the penalty negates any prayer Terri & Henry may have had), Terri & Henry are unable to get a cab, so they walk away. This very same cab picks up Paula & Natasha. Henry comments, “They just were nice to the guy.” It’s here we find out how long Paula & Natasha are behind the other teams: 5 hours. Terri & Henry’s poor performance has the potential to continue impacting the race, as we’re probably heading to an airport leg. 5 hours could mean nothing in that case, but it could mean an even larger gap. The plane here in the first place is what put Terri & Henry so far behind.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Vrtbovska Garden in Mala Strana.

First: Rovilson & Marc (win Sony HD Handycam SR7)
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Ann & Diane
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela
Fifth: Paula & Natasha
Sixth: Terri & Henry (eliminated)

It’s about time. I don’t know if it would have been possible for Terri & Henry to actually get any further behind than they were this leg. At least they’re going out in good spirits, though.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 10, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 3

Curtis & Mallory, who seemed like one of the stronger teams, were eliminated in The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 2, in what was really a rather bad showing by most people considering it was only the second week.

Paul & Kelly, the other team below the yellow line last week, have an interesting relationship. She left the marriage and wants no part of him. He still wants her back, though, or so we’re hearing from the other contestants.

Jay & Mark and Jackie & Dan openly acknowledge that they’re there to play the game.

Jackie & Dan are The Biggest Loser team of the week. To earn their reward, they must perform the first challenge again, hiking up to the top of the hill. At the top, they must choose between luxury, family, and gameplay as their prize. Jackie’s initial worry was just about surviving, but now she’s focusing on how they can win. Dan thinks they’re due for some luxury. Jackie goes with gameplay because she’s concerned that since they had such good weeks they’re both going to have a target on their back and may hit a wall this week. It’s not extra pounds like she’d hoped. However, it is an extra vote at the next elimination. With only seven votes now available, this gives them a good amount of power. The family choice would have been a visit from the family member of their choice for 24 hours, a lot better than the letters they were expecting. The luxury choice was free massages for them and another team of their choice for the week, potentially very good but also very dangerous.

Neill & Amanda are trying to convince us Neill’s not lazy any more. Jenn’s not buying it.

Ali eats because she has a fear of abandonment. Following her parents’ divorce, she can now use being fat as the excuse for people leaving her. Jillian wants her to confront Bette-Sue about this.

The challenge is a dirty one, in more than one sense. Alison hopes by now they’ve formed friendships and hopefully some alliances. One team member will race through muddy water, grab a medicine ball, race back, and put the ball in another team’s rack. When a team’s rack is full, they’re out of the game. A little early to be playing the pecking order challenge, but it’s normally pretty revealing. One player will run, while the other player will help decide where to put the balls. In addition to all this, the reward will be immunity.

Mark & Jay, concerned people will target them first, start plotting. They go to Ali & Bette-Sue for an alliance, and decide to make it a three-way alliance with Roger & Trent. They want to target Bernie & Brittany. Bernie & Brittany are looking at targetting Mark & Jay, as are Jackie & Dan, and the next target for these two teams is Roger & Trent. These alliances are strange. People are pretty much just joining up with whoever’s standing next to them. Beyond that, they’re being overly vocal about their plans, and it’s no secret what’s going on.

Elimination order:
Jackie & Dan
Neill & Amanda (odd… do people just want Neill gone?)
Mark & Jay (their elimination causes an argument… between each other)
Paul & Kelly
Bette-Sue & Ali
Bernie & Brittany (Maggie chooses she’d rather see Roger & Trent be safe than these two)
Maggie & Jenn

Roger & Trent win the challenge and immunity.

Amanda’s worried that Neill’s personality is getting them in trouble.

Unlike the others, Jackie & Dan don’t want to go back to their room to discuss what happened at the challenge. They’ve decided instead that they’re going to discuss things but will do so on the treadmill.

All the teams are getting more concerned about the black team (mainly Mark because he yelled at his brother). Mark couldn’t care less. He just wants to stay above the yellow line and says he acts obnoxious like that at home, too, so it’s okay. But he apologizes anyway, quite reluctantly. Not that it matters since this meeting that’s supposed to be them getting in everybody’s good graces just blows up into a big argument between everybody.

During the workout, Neill’s warned not to touch the treadmill, or the entire group will be punished by an additional 5 minutes on the treadmill. With less than 10 seconds left, he just can’t resist the temptation, hoping Jillian’s looking at her watch instead of at him. She catches him, and the group is angered that they have to keep going. This is how Neill operates. If he thinks someone’s not looking, he’ll try to take the lazy route. He does it again but doesn’t get caught.

After the workout, Jillian pulls Bette-Sue aside to tell her about what she discussed with Ali. Following their chat, she goes to get Ali and helps the two of them talk and start to get over the past.

Bob hopes this week sucks less worse than last week.

Roger: 331 (-9)
Trent: 388 (-13)
Total: -22 pounds, 2.97%

Jackie: 216 (-7)
Dan: 265 (-12)
Total: -19 pounds, 3.80%

Maggie: 221 (-6)
Jenn: 236 (-4)
Total: -10 pounds, 2.14%

Mark: 249 (-12)
Jay: 268 (-7)
Total: -19 pounds, 3.54%

Bette-Sue: 231 (-8)
Ali: 206 (-6)
Total: -14 pounds, 3.10%

Bernie: 248 (-13)
Brittany: 203 (-7)
Total: -20 pounds, 4.25%

Neill: 292 (-6)
Amanda: 185 (-5)
Total: -11 pounds, 2.25%

Paul: 269 (-14)
Kelly: 248 (-9)
Total: -23 pounds, 4.26%

By .01%, Paul & Kelly are the team of the week. Not so good news for Neill & Amanda or Maggie & Jenn, though, as they are below the yellow line, Maggie & Jenn for the second time. The thing the girls have going for them is that nobody likes Neill, and nobody really sees them as a threat either. Amanda’s very emotional about staying, but Neill can’t muster the same level of concern. At the voting table, he tells one of his jokes that Amanda warned us about, saying she spoke because she can turn on the tears, which draws looks of shock/disgust/nothing good from others.

Votes
Mark & Jay: Neill & Amanda
Bernie & Brittany: Neill & Amanda
Roger & Trent: Neill & Amanda
Jackie: Neill & Amanda

It’s unanimous. People like Amanda, but Neill’s gotta go. We saw this week one as well with Lynn. It doesn’t end there, though. Alison poses the question: if you could vote off one more team, right now, who would it be? Let’s hope this isn’t a lame twist, but we’ll find out the answer next week.

Neill has lost a total of 48 pounds. Amanda, meanwhile, has lost a total of 43 pounds. Despite being half his size, she continues to kick his butt.

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

The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 3

For the second week in a row, Donald Trump took out the woman least willing to scream in the boardroom in The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 2 and fired Nadia Comaneci, who didn’t do much of anything last week because Nely Galan wanted her out of the way.

Jennie Finch says she would feel terrible if Nadia went home. Nely Galan breaks down crying before they return.

Jim Kramer is this week’s guest judge. At least I recognize the judge this week.

Gene Simmons as the project manager last week won $20,000 for the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Now he’s got another offer. Trump says it’s optional but that he recommends it. Yeah, right. Optional? Anyway, he wants Gene to be the project manager again, this time for the women instead. Gene accepts. He says he’s a “benevolent dictator.” Omarosa’s not impressed.

This week’s task is a marketing campaign, which will be judged on originality, brand messaging, and profit. So what if the originality and branding suck but the team makes three times as much?

Following in his footsteps last week where the Pedigree guy felt snubbed, Gene doesn’t feel like he should waste his time visiting Kodak either.

Tito Ortiz has been nominated as project manager for Hydra. His team goes to meet the executives, who stress affordable ink.

Nely and Carol Alt are nominated as the two people to go to Kodak from their team. Nely just keeps going on and on and doesn’t actually hear what the executives have to say. They bring this misinformation back to Gene, but he doesn’t care anyway. He says the Kodak execs don’t understand Kodak.

Piers Morgan comes up with a “knockout” deal campaign, featuring Tito and Lennox Lewis. Stephen Baldwin’s in charge of taking the photos. He gets on top of a table and shoots the guys laying down from above. They get off the table… and it goes flying. They have one laptop (and only one laptop) storing all their artwork. Along with the guys going flying, the cup of coffee next to the laptop does, too, thus ruining their previous artwork. They now have to scramble and hope they can get something done at the last minute. Jim Kramer thinks their efforts look like a dumpster.

Gene’s primarily interested in being the king of the women. What he’s actually doing on the task is unclear. I just hope his arm doesn’t get tired from patting himself on the back.

Alec Baldwin is there but not to beat up his little brother. He grabs two printers for $1,000 each. Piers is happy to have a Baldwin people actually know around.

As expected, the Kodak folks are not impressed by the sloppy presentation by Hydra, but they do like their slogan.

Trump wants to know why Gene didn’t go see the executives again. Gene just couldn’t be bothered like last week.

Hydra easily wins because they got exactly what the execs were looking for, and the reason why they got the idea is because they listened to what Kodak had to say.

As the winning project manager, Tito gets $20,000 for St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.

Gene doesn’t believe his team could have done a single thing better. He still believes Kodak is wrong. Omarosa blames Gene refusing to go to the meeting.

Kodak didn’t like that Nely spoke so much and wouldn’t listen. Nely claims she did listen. Carol willingly takes the fall along with her rather than pointing the finger like she should.

Omarosa points out that Gene doesn’t even know the name of the product. She’s right.

Carol very reluctantly answers the question as to who should be fired. Once again, she slams herself, saying it would be either her or Nely. Is this chick giving up or something?

Jennie, Omarosa, and Marilu would fire Gene.

Nely would fire Jennie. Huh?

Gene is given the choice of bringing back two people. He wants to bring back just one. Omarosa. Okay, so Omarosa sucks. But what the hell is up with this? After initially saying bringing back one person is okay, now Trump says he wants a second name. He obviously doesn’t want to fire Gene, but Gene’s not giving him a great deal of choice. Trump indicates very clearly that Nely should be coming back. Trump desperately wants to fire Nely (he had his chance last week). So who does Gene choose? Jennie. This guy’s got some serious problems.

Trump reiterates that he can’t fire either Omarosa or Jennie because they didn’t do anything wrong. And Gene is fired. Well deserved. Putz. I considered him one of the favorites to win the last two weeks, too, but his ego’s just not big enough to fit in the same room with Trump’s.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 4, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Directors Guild of America Reaches Deal

After just five days of negotiation, the Directors Guild of America has reached a deal with the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers. Terms of the deal include:

• Increases both wages and residual bases for each year of the contract.
• Establishes DGA jurisdiction over programs produced for distribution on the Internet.
• Establishes new residuals formula for paid Internet downloads (electronic sell-through) that essentially doubles the rate currently paid by employers.
• Establishes residual rates for ad-supported streaming and use of clips on the Internet.

“Our industry’s creative talent will now participate financially in every emerging area of new media. The agreement demonstrates beyond any doubt that our industry’s producers are willing and able to work with the creators of entertainment content to establish fair and flexible rules for this fast-changing marketplace,” the studios said in a statement.

The WGA commented, “They have chosen to negotiate with the DGA instead. Now that those negotiations are completed, the AMPTP must return to the process of bargaining with the WGA. We hope that the DGA’s tentative agreement will be a step forward in our effort to negotiate an agreement that is in the best interests of all writers.”

NPD December 2007

Nintendo DS 2.47 million
Wii 1.35 million
Xbox 360 1.26 million
PlayStation 2 1.1 million
PlayStation Portable 1.06 million
PlayStation 3 797.6k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) 1.47 million
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Wii) 1.40 million
3. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, PS2) 1.25 million
4. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) 1.08 million
5. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, Xbox 360) 893.7k
6. Halo 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) 742.7k
7. Brain Age 2: More Training in Minutes a Day (Nintendo, DS) 659.5k
8. Madden NFL 08 (Electronic Arts, PS2) 655.2k
9. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Xbox 360) 624.6k
10. Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games (Sega, Wii) 613k

December, typically the biggest month of the year with holiday sales, was no slouch as could be expected. Nintendo DS has now firmly replaced the GameBoy Advance and taken its place at the top of the hardware charts. By a slight margin, Wii retains the console lead. Xbox 360 now in its third holiday season came a close second and up from last year, but even still, it’s a questionable performance for a system that’s been on the market for so long. Granted, with only one very small price cut in over two years, it’s not overly surprising. PS2, with over 130 million sales and counting, continues to refuse to die. Its younger sibling, however, came up short as usual, although 800k units is pretty good for a $500 system.

On the software side, the story remains Xbox 360, Activision, and Nintendo. Activision, which throughout the year has shown itself to be as strong as Electronic Arts in terms of sales, continues to get a strong performance out of Guitar Hero and now Call of Duty. Wii Play, the second best selling game of the year behind Halo 3, is still selling strong nearly a year after its release, while Super Mario Galaxy, despite struggling in Japan, has been a strong performer as we’ve come to expect from other Nintendo first party efforts.