Month: January 2008

The Mole Returning This Summer to ABC

I’ve said on more than one occasion that ABC should bring back The Mole, particularly with the strike going on now. This summer, they’ll be doing just that, Variety reports, marking my first excuse in years to actually watch something on the alphabet network.

Stone Stanley Prods., producer of the first four seasons, folded in 2004, but Scott Stone is back with a new company and has achieved his goal of bringing the show back as well.

“This is a show we honestly love and people ask us about all the time,” said ABC Entertainment alternative series senior VP John Saade, though he says the timing is coincidental. “We were looking to bring the show back even when the writers were working.”

“If anyone asks me what my favorite show has been, I’ve answered ‘The Mole,'” Stone said. “Not surprisingly, this has been a passion of mine since the option lapsed three or four years ago. In my staff meeting every week, people would say, ‘Don’t even bring it up.’ I kept throwing it out that it was eventually going to be the right time. And it perennially ends up on lists of people’s favorite reality shows. That kept the fires burning inside me.”

He has suggested that there will be some changes to the show’s format. “We simplified it to where the people at home can play along,” Stone said. “And the quiz will be much shorter than in the past.” I’m getting a Mole Australia 5 vibe from that (not a good thing), but I’m definitely willing to give it a chance.

CNN’s Anderson Cooper, host of the first two seasons, is not available to host. Ahmad Rashad, who hosted seasons three and four, has not been asked return. “We’re looking for someone in the Anderson mode, a little mysterious but full of comedy,” Stone said. “It could be a breakout role for someone.”

Dexter to CBS

As expected, Dexter will be making its way to CBS. Starting Sunday February 17, the entire first season of Showtime’s crime drama Dexter will air on CBS.

“We’re excited to work with our corporate cousins at Showtime on this unique programming opportunity,” said Nina Tassler, President of CBS Entertainment. “Dexter is a high-quality, compelling series that will be new and original programming for most CBS viewers. It ‘s also a great match with our existing lineup, affording us the opportunity to promote this critically decorated series in CBS’s top-rated crime dramas.”

“We’re thrilled to have the chance to expose Dexter to a wider audience on CBS,” said Robert Greenblatt, President, Entertainment, Showtime Networks. “I think it will be very compatible with their lineup as well as be a great opportunity to promote our brand on a platform that reaches every home in America.”

The Amazing Race 12 Episode 9

Kynt & Vyxsin had a chance to change their fate in The Amazing Race 12 Episode 8 but chose to U-turn the wrong team instead of the team that they knew for a fact were going to get there right around the same time as them, which caused Kynt & Vyxsin to be eliminated from the race. That brings us down to the final four, and, well, there’s not really much good I can say about any of them, except for TK & Rachel, who are good racers and overall just calm people. Christina’s likeable, if only she had a different partner. Grandpa Donald’s been on a vacation, but to be fair, he is one of the older contestants. Nathan & Jennifer may arguably deserve each other.

In addition to the scheduling change from 8 to 8:30, there was also a football overrun of about 15 minutes, putting the start time at around 8:45. I will begin a live blog once 60 Minutes is over.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: TK & Rachel (1:25pm)
Second: Nicolas & Donald (1:33pm)
Third: Ronald & Christina (1:44pm)
Fourth: Nathan & Jennifer (2:38pm)

The next stop is Kishiwada Castle in Osaka, Japan, 4000 miles away.

Rachel suggests she has problems with self confidence but is able to feel better with TK around.

Ronald acknowledges his behavior has not been right (again… didn’t seem to matter last time, though). Christina’s excited to go to Japan because she lived there for half a year.

Nathan & Jennifer discuss not arguing with each other. Yeah, I heard this story before, too.

First flight (via New Delhi and Beijing): TK & Rachel
Second flight (via Hong Kong): Nicolas & Donald, Ronald & Christina, Nathan & Jennifer

TK & Rachel leave first, but it’s unclear whether they’ve made a good choice or not. Nobody knows where they are, and they don’t know where anybody else is.

With one less stop, the second plane arrives in Japan first. Uh oh. If TK & Rachel don’t catch up, this is a disaster waiting to happen, although it should be a NEL.

The next stop is Noda Station, where they’ll look for the cleaning man to give them a road block clue. On the way there, they’re discussing the confusing signs, and Christina says she’s never driving in Japan. We know what that means.

The road block is to become a taxi driver. They’ll deliver passengers 5 miles without assistance from the passengers or other drivers, and the address isn’t in English, so first of all they have to figure out where they’re going. The bunch of one way roads and signs all in Japanese don’t help.

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

Jennifer’s first concern is how she looks in the taxi hat. Christina’s not a good driver to begin with, and she relies on public transportation herself.

As the others are completing the road block, we’re finally seeing TK & Rachel, who seem to have gotten stuck with the plane that left first, rather than the plane that landed first. Unclear whether it was their error or not. The fact that everybody else is arriving at every task in the same order (Nathan & Jennifer, then Ronald & Christina, then Nicolas & Donald) and are within 10 minutes of each other doesn’t bode well.

The next stop is Kita-Mido Temple.

The detour is a choice between sense of touch or sense of smell. In sense of touch, teams must use miniature robots controlled by cell phones to play soccer, and each teammate much score a goal. In sense of smell, they need to find one real flower hidden among thousands of artificial ones, using only their noses.

Sense of smell: Nathan & Jennifer, Ronald & Christina, TK & Rachel
Sense of touch: Nicolas & Donald

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Tempozan Park in Osaka. Forgetting that he got bent out of shape about the cab dropping them too far from the airport terminal, Christina claims this is the first leg in which Ronald hasn’t lost his temper, but he has been pretty mild. Jennifer believes everything could cost them the race.

First: Ronald & Christina (each win an electric vehicle)
Second: Nathan & Jennifer
Third: Nicolas & Donald
Fourth: TK & Rachel (non-eliminated)

Thank goodness for non-elimination legs. A final three without TK & Rachel would quite possibly be the worst final three ever. It’s not even close, and this was rather an obvious episode. TK & Rachel are now 3 hours behind, and it’s night, so there won’t be hours of operation, leaving the airport as their only hope. Given what leg they’re on now, it’s pretty safe to say there will be a flight in the next episode. In addition to the current gap, they’ll hit a speedbump.

Nate’s Freudian slip regarding the finale is “The best team’s gonna finish last, and that’s gonna be us.”

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 12 episode 10, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS (should be on time for a change).

The CW Schedule Changes

What’s a half dead network to do in the face of a strike? Apparently screw with its lineup and completely confuse everybody. The shows that are typically the network’s biggest remain unchanged: Beauty and the Geek, America’s Next Top Model, Smallville, and WWE Smackdown (CW Now’s in its same timeslot as well for the two people who care).

Monday
8-9 Gossip Girl (as of January 28)
9-10 Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious (as of February 18)

Tuesday
8-9 Reaper (as of January 15)
8-9 Beauty and the Geek 5 (as of March 11)
9-10 One Tree Hill

Wednesday (as of February 20)
8-9 America’s Next Top Model
9-10 Pussycat Dolls Present: Girlicious Rerun

Thursday
8-9 Smallville
9-10 Reaper (as of February 28)

Friday
8-10 WWE Friday Night Smackdown

Sunday (as of February 10)
7-7:30 CW Now
7:30-8 Everybody Hates Chris Rerun
8-8:30 Everybody Hates Chris
8:30-9 Aliens in America
9-9:30 Girlfriends
9:30-10 The Game

The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 7

Following a strong leg in their home country of Japan, Daichi & Sawaka stumbled and were eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 2 Episode 6.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Rovilson & Marc (10:30am)
Second: Adrian & Collin (10:32am)
Third: Terri & Henry (10:43am)
Fourth: Vanessa & Pamela (10:46am)
Fifth: Paula & Natasha (10:47am)
Sixth: Ann & Diane (11:00am)

With the teams all being within half an hour of each other, it’s pretty tight already. Teams must drive to a soybean farm in Anseong, 80km south of Seoul. Rovilson & Marc get a police escort to the destination. The teams are having trouble adjusting to having to drive on the other side of the road. Marc comments, “I’m just used to driving in the Philippines, where you can drive on any side of the road.” The signs being entirely in Korean doesn’t help matters any. On the way there, Paula & Natasha get a flat tire. Ann & Diane, who had started off quite a ways behind the rest, spot Terri & Henry while heading there. Like Paula & Natasha, they hit (apparently) a curb, but they don’t get a flat from it. Not that it’s a news flash or anything, but Terri screamed at the top of her lungs as Henry drove.

The road block is to search through 1500 soybean jars. Some of the jars hide clues. One jar hides a $50 bonus in addition to the clue. Not a good task for the taller racers, as it means they’ll have to bend over more, leading to aching backs. Even though she doesn’t fall into this category, as usual, Terri needs to take time to pout.

Road block (in order of arrival): Rovilson, Pamela, Collin (gets the clue with the bonus), Natasha, Diane, Terri

The next stop is Woncheon Resort, an amusement park in Suwon, where they must find a flagged boat and paddle to a buoy to find their next clue. From there, they will head to the Korean folk village in Yongin, a living open air folk museum.

This seems to be a very good leg in terms of cooperative locals. From start to finish, multiple teams have been finding people willing to drive to the destinations and let them follow them.

Pamela does a remarkable impression of Terri on the way to the village. Vanessa makes a wrong turn, and they’re unable to get themselves to calm down and just keep yelling. Vanessa asks her to calm down and apologizes again and again, but Pamela just keeps harping on it. The (other) problem is that Vanessa keeps enabling this behavior, continuing to say she’s stupid and that it’s her fault.

The detour is a choice between too ho or too heavy. In too ho, teams must toss bamboo sticks into a cylinder from 4.5 meters away. In too heavy, teams must deliver 30 logs to a house using a traditional carrying device known as a jigei.

Too heavy: Adrian & Collin, Paula & Natasha, Ann & Diane (after trying too ho)
Too ho: Rovilson & Marc, Vanessa & Pamela, Terri & Henry

Surprising to see Rovilson & Marc opt for the task that’s not just sheer strength. Seems like a botched opportunity to gain some time, but regardless, they still manage to pass Adrian & Collin and take the lead. For some reason, Paula & Natasha choose to do the log carrying task, but that works out okay except for the few logs Natasha takes to the head. Despite this, though, she remains level-headed and doesn’t freak out.

At 8PM, as the other teams are either checked in or finishing up the detour, Terri & Henry are still looking for the boats. The good news is that, even though it’s dark, they still don’t run into an hours of operation problem.

The pitstop for this leg of the race is Peace Plaza Olympic Park in Seoul.

First: Rovilson & Marc
Second: Adrian & Collin
Third: Pamela & Vanessa
Fourth: Ann & Diane
Fifth: Paula & Natasha
Sixth: Terri & Henry (non-eliminated)

Toward the end of the episode, we get what’s apparently a goodbye video, but even with this build up, it’s still a non-elimination leg. There’s a montage of Terri yelling at Henry, then in the confessional, Henry starts crying, which is followed by her crying as well. When they’re given the news that this is a NEL, they’re probably the least excited team ever to not be eliminated. To make matters worse, mugging’s back. They got rid of it in the US version because it was a disgusting twist, but Terri & Henry will start the next leg with no money.

As usual, Rovilson & Marc get first, while Adrian & Collin get second. These two teams have to be in the finals.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Amazing Race Asia 2 episode 8, and don’t forget our live blogs of The Amazing Race 12.

Warner Bros. Supporting Blu-ray Exclusively

The high-def DVD war that had previously been argued to be anybody’s game may now be over. Warner Bros. has abandoned the HD DVD format and will be releasing all future titles on Blu-ray as of May 2008.

“Warner Bros.’ move to exclusively release in the Blu-ray disc format is a strategic decision focused on the long term and the most direct way to give consumers what they want,” said Barry Meyer, Chairman & Ceo, Warner Bros. “The window of opportunity for high-definition DVD could be missed if format confusion continues to linger. We believe that exclusively distributing in Blu-ray will further the potential for mass market success and ultimately benefit retailers, producers, and most importantly, consumers.”

20th Century Fox, Walt Disney, Sony, and Lionsgate are current Blu-ray backers. Paramount, Dreamworks, and NBC Universal are the studios on the other side of the fence. Prior to this announcement, the support was pretty even, as each side controlled about 45% of DVD unit sales.

Despite the early struggles Sony has seen with its PS3 as a result of including the Blu-ray player, this move helps make it clearer than ever the gamble will pay off for the company as a whole.