Shane

American Idol Season 8 Episode 36

The top 4 sang in American Idol 8 Episode 35, and tonight one more will go home.

With only 4 people remaining, pretty much the entire night is filler, even more than usual.

40 minutes in, it’s finally time for Seacrest to actually start saying something worth blogging about.

Kris Allen is the first person to return to safety.

Seacrest promises he has the results next. That’s a good thing considering there’s like 6 minutes of unwasted time left.

Adam Lambert is safe.

Danny Gokey is also safe. Allison Iraheta has been eliminated. Interesting considering it was rock week, but she got a lot further than a lot of people expected.

That brings it down to an all male finale, hardly a surprise, as we’ve been expecting from the beginning of the season that this was the guys’ season.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 37, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on Fox.

Lost Season 5 Episode 15

Faraday came up with a plan in Lost Season 5 Episode 14. He’s going to stop the events of the last 5 seasons from happening by activating a hydrogen bomb. Upon requesting said bomb, he was shot in the back by his mom.

Not wanting to be additional victims of the shooting, Kate and Jack hope to run, but they’re unable to get away in time. Jack begins getting beaten, while Kate is told to not move at gunpoint. Eloise asks for them to be put in her tent because she knows they’re not from the Dharma Initiative.

Flash forward thirty years. Richard gets a visit from John Locke. It’s been a while. He’ll explain what happened on the way, but he doesn’t have a lot of time to talk. Ben and Sun are with him. Ben says that Richard is a kind of advisor, and he’s had that job for a very, very long time. Sun asks him if he was there in 1977 and if he remembers Jack, Kate, and Hurley. He remembers very clearly because he watched them all die.

Before he leaves, Locke gives Sun his word that, if there’s a way to save Jin and their people, he’ll find it.

Kate wants to know: what about them? If they change the plane crash, they’ve never met. It was not all misery.

Eloise asks why Daniel needed the bomb. She met a man from the future when she was younger, the same man she just shot in the back. One additional benefit to changing the future/past would be that Dan doesn’t have to be dead. She agrees to take them to the bomb. There’s a problem, though. They secured it in the ground, but since that time, someone has built an entire village over it.

Now Sawyer’s being roughed up. They want to know where Kate is. He ain’t talking. Juliet starts to say something, but Sawyer tells her not to. After beating him for a while and not getting anywhere, they realize perhaps Hugo might know something.

Since they’re outnumbered and outgunned, Miles and Jin are in the process of leaving with Hurley. They run into Dr. Chang. He believes this future story. Hugo says that’s ridiculous. What year was he born? 1931. So he’s 46 and fought in the Korean War? There’s no such thing as the Korean War. Who’s the President of the United States? Okay, enough questions. They’re from the future, and Miles is his son. Miles says that Faraday’s been right about everything, so if he said to get people off the island, it’s probably a good idea to listen.

Locke wants Richard to take him to see Jacob after they get to the plane. That’s not going to be a problem, is it? First, he takes him to the Nigerian plane. Richard must go see a man come out of the jungle who’s been shot in the leg, and tell him to bring everybody back to the island by dying. That man is/was John Locke. He knew when to be there because the island told him. Richard’s sure glad that John didn’t actually end up dying, except he did.

Dr. Chang goes to warn everyone to get off the island, and he finds Sawyer being tortured. Stuart tells him they’re going to proceed as planned, and that he’s now the one in charge. Sawyer asks that they put the women and children on the sub and get them out of there, and they’ll tell him anything they need to know if they put him and Juliet on that sub as well.

Kate has decided she doesn’t want to keep going. Maybe the gun will change her mind. Nope, she keeps walking. Shots are fired from the woods. It’s Sayid.

Sayid believes he already changed things by killing Ben. Yeah, about that, Kate saved him by taking him to the others. She doesn’t believe that killing kids and detonating bombs is okay, and she’s going back to find the rest of their people because maybe they can stop Jack if she can’t.

Sawyer is sorry he didn’t listen to Juliet when she wanted to get on the sub three years ago, but she’s glad he talked her out of it. He bids the island good riddance.

Jack follows Richard underwater to the tunnels, and Sayid decides to go with them. Either they’re going to be saved, or they’ll be put out of their misery.

Seeing as Jacob is telling them what to do, Locke wants to know who he is, especially since nobody has ever seen him before. Richard will be taking him to Jacob, and Locke invites everybody along with them for the journey. Ben’s starting to think Locke is going to be trouble. Why do you think he tried to kill him?

Sawyer’s plan is to get back to the real world, where they will be free because the Dharma Initiative has no power there.

Kate will be joining them on the sub. She’s been caught coming back.

They’ve arrived at the bomb. Now what?

Locke tells Ben the real reason they’re going to Jacob is so he can kill him.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Lost Season 5 Episodes 16 and 17 The Incident, Parts 1 and 2, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on ABC.

American Idol Season 8 Episode 35

Matt Giraud was sent home by America (again) in American Idol 8 Episode 34. Tonight the top 4 sing.

Apparently, the tower on the stage is about to collapse, so the contestants have not been able to do a full run through in preparation, but the show must go on. The contestants will pair up and do duets, a rather odd twist that doesn’t make a lot of sense, but they will also be doing solo performances. I suppose it’s better than trying to give them two songs each and the incompetent producers running over by 10 minutes. Slash of Guns N Roses is the mentor. He never thought he would be a mentor on American Idol. Yeah, me neither.

Adam Lambert
Song: Whole Lot of Love by Led Zeppelin
Randy: You are a rock star tonight.
Kara: You’re a rock god.
Paula: You’re a whole lot of perfect.
Simon: One of my favorite performances you’ve ever done. Nobody can top that now.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-01 or 1-866-IDOLS-05

This is finally something I could actually see Adam doing. As technically great as he is, I can’t see most of his performances on the radio.

Allison Iraheta
Song: Cry Baby by Janis Joplin
Randy: Did not love the song choice for you.
Kara: See your personality in the performances.
Paula: Downright fearless. Great job.
Simon: Staggering difference over the course of the season. Not much originality.
Numbers: 1-866-IDOLS-02 or 1-866-IDOLS-06

Kris Allen and Danny Gokey
Song: Renegade by Styx
Randy: Really liked the harmonies. The individual vocals were okay.
Kara: Some pitchy moments but united and strong together.
Paula: Powerful and compelling.
Simon: Danny was better than Kris.

Kris Allen
Song: Come Together by The Beatles (playing guitar)
Randy: Appreciate you picking something you can still be yourself. Loved the guitar playing.
Kara: Not a great performance. Trying too hard.
Paula: Your signature’s all over it. Need to have a little more energy.
Simon: Didn’t like it that much. Like eating ice for lunch.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-03 or 1-866-IDOLS-07

Danny Gokey
Song: Dream On by Aerosmith
Randy: Alright. A+ for a valiant effort.
Kara: Took it a little too far. Like to see growth, risks, and more edge, though.
Paula: Don’t know if this was the right song for you.
Simon: The last note was like watching a horror movie. Still think you’re going to be safe tonight.
Number: 1-866-IDOLS-04 or 1-866-IDOLS-08

Allison Iraheta and Adam Lambert
Song: Slow Ride by Foghat
Randy: You guys are two seasoned rock stars. You should do a duet on your albums.
Kara: Rock god and rock goddess.
Paula: Perfect blend.
Simon: You win the battle of the duets (against two guys who aren’t rockers… but still).

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of American Idol Season 8 episode 36, which airs Wednesday at 9/8c on Fox.

The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 18

Filipe was voted out in The Biggest Loser Couples 2 Episode 17.

The final four contestants will be heading home for 30 days before returning for one final weigh-in before the finale.

Mike’s afraid of returning to his old habits, including his biggest problem, the fast food restaurants, which for some reason need to be blurred out by the show, as does the non-show sponsor gym 100 yards away from the fast food place he used to work.

Helen starts going through her closet. Are the pants hers or her husband’s?

Ron hopes for a better life with his family, including his sons that he’s enabled to become 400 pounds. Mike now enjoys exercising, but they need to work on his other son Max.

Tara is ready to start living. She heads right away to her favorite restaurant from before she left, where she’s hoping to be able to make smarter choices.

On day 4, Mike’s hungry all the time. Tara misses Jillian already.

Tara has decided to give her $25,000 kitchen makeover to her mom.

As with the last time they went home, they’ve received some packages from The Biggest Loser. They get DVDs from Allison. In 26 days, they will all run a marathon. For real. With no producers giving them a ride the last 6 miles (apparently). The last time they went home, they all had to run half a marathon, which they did sucessfully (Ron notwithstanding).

Jillian will surprise her people and pay them a visit. Mike had better be at the gym, or there will be hell to pay. He is at the gym, and he’s there with his brother Max. He’s doing okay. Not amazing. Actually, not even okay. He says the marathon is stressing him out because it’s constantly in the back of his mind, and he also has a lot to focus on with worrying about not only his goals but his brother as well. Jillian’s lesson for him is that he doesn’t need to make his brother better just to feel better himself. He needs to allow himself to feel the pain of what he’s been through.

Then she heads to see Tara, whose room is a disaster. She’s gone from one extreme to another and needs to find some balance. Jillian’s plan: go workout and then go get a drink. One drink and one dessert won’t kill her, as long as she doesn’t go too far back in that direction.

Now it’s Bob’s turn. He stops off to see Ron. Like everybody else, he’s stressed out about the marathon. Bob doesn’t think he should put his body through that stress. His previous half marathon effort ended at the 4 mile mark, but he says he’s going to give it a shot. While he’s there, Bob wants to help out Max, who he sees as the third member of the brown team. Could have done without seeing the vomit. Once they’re done with the workout, Bob sends him out to get whatever it is he would normally eat on the weekend. He gets a double cheeseburger, large chocolate shake, and french fries. Not as bad as I would have expected. Bob cuts his meal in half and tells him that would be sufficient, but instead he will eat at Subway.

Jillian’s last stop is Helen’s house. She’s at a restaurant where she got fat, realizing she can’t eat a lot from that menu. Same strategy as with Tara: give her a drink. Helen says that she’s so tired, but she has to keep going.

The full marathon will take them across 26.2 miles of farmland, mountains, hiking trails, and the Pacific Ocean coastline. If they finish the marathon, they will receive $10,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. Due to an injury 4 days before the marathon, Mike has been instructed by the doctors to not run, but he will participate anyway and will be walking. At mile marker 4, their loved ones are there to join them for as long as they can. Even Max has decided to join in the walk alongside his brother. He gets in about 4 miles, a good amount over the tough terrain considering he’s over 400 pounds. Ron’s knees are starting to bother him about mile 5. Eventually, Ali Vincent from season 5 joins Tara for a bit, and she says she’s been inspired by her. As for Helen, she gets a visit from Michelle Aguilar from season 6, the second person to prove this is not just a man’s game. Mike gets a visit from Bernie from season 5, who won the at home prize. Bernie tells him that he’s still going to finish 26.2 miles, whether he’s walking it or not, so he should give himself some credit. Jillian’s waiting at mile 25, and she’s not surprised that Tara is the first person she sees. Tara hopes Jillian can keep up. She crosses the finish line in a time of 4:55:09. Helen has also finished, and she crosses the finish line in 5:48:45. Mike is done as well, and he crosses at 8:58:03.

Ron is still on the course, somewhere. At mile 16, he’s being tended to by the paramedics due to elevated blood pressure that came on all of a sudden, as well as continuing pain in his knee. Dr. H leaves it up to him whether he wants to continue. If he has to stop and rest for an hour, that’s what he’ll do. At mile 17, he’s greeted by the whole lot of previous Biggest Loser contestants, and they’re all going to walk with him to the finish to make sure he arrives. Then Bob joins him at mile 21, and eventually the other contestants join in as well, walking through the night. Ron ends up completing the marathon and crosses the finish line at 13 hours 16 minutes. He’s come quite a long way even since just week 11 and the half marathon.

It’s time for one final weigh-in after having been home for 30 days. The two people with the highest weight loss will be guaranteed a spot in the final three, and America will choose from whoever falls below the yellow line.

Ron: 279 pounds (-10, 3.46%)

Mike: 214 pounds (-10, 4.46%)

Helen: 147 pounds (-7, 4.55%)

Tara: 159 pounds (-10, 5.92%)

Helen and Tara are in the final three, leaving America to decide between Mike and his father Ron. As much credit as Ron deserves for going as far as he’s gone, the finale would not be complete without Mike, who’s lost the most weight in the history of the show. Ron asks for America to vote for his son. Mike says he’d be okay either way.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Biggest Loser 7 Episode 19, where we will find out who The Biggest Loser Couples 2 winner is, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Prison Break Season 4 Episode 19

In the race for Scylla, Lincoln beat Michael to the punch and captured Vincent Sandinsky in Prison Break Season 4 Episode 18, leaving Michael only holding Sandinsky’s phone. T-Bag, meanwhile, sold them out and told the general that their mom has Scylla.

Michael calls Lincoln to tell him that Sandinsky’s not some innocent victim, as he’s been exchanging e-mails and phone calls with Christina. When asked what he’s going to do, Lincoln responds “Leave town, Michael” and hangs up.

Scofield calls his mom back on Sandinsky’s phone. He wants Scylla and will call her back only one more time in 10 minutes for an answer. They’ve managed to track him down.

Sandinsky continues to play dumb. Lincoln gives him three seconds to talk or die, and just then the general and his armed men come up from behind. He’d like to talk with Vincent. There’s a new deal, and Vincent and the general are old friends. Sandinsky has been a company operative for 21 years. He’s in Miami because he is working with Christina. They learn that T-Bag betrayed them. Lincoln and his boys have one day to find their mom, and Sandinsky knows where she’s staying.

Christina arrives at the location she traced Michael to. She’s found a phone. No Michael, though. They won’t be able to follow him either since he just trashed their car. As they’re all gasping for air on the ground, he grabs mom and tosses her in the trunk. Such a close family.

She wants to work out a deal because she doesn’t want to see Scylla go back to the company either.

Lincoln and the others barge in where Sandinsky told them to go to find Christina. Nobody there. Mahone’s regretting having gotten involved in this. Somebody else will be waiting to stab them in the back, and they won’t get out of this well.

Sandinsky’s in the process of being tortured. He’d like to see something happen. They’ll all be dead before the general’s plans pay off.

Sarah would like a chance to talk to Christina, who knows she’s pregnant.

Lincoln arrives at Dade Miami Bank looking to get in a security box. They don’t want anybody else to access the box, including an agent from Homeland Security. Box 6468 was already accessed a minute ago. The guy with the silver suitcase just left. They proceed to follow Downey, who gets a call from Naveen saying that the deal’s off if he can’t talk to Christina before 5.

Scofield makes his mom a final offer: take him to Scylla and walk free. Lincoln would never be okay with that. Oh, and Lincoln isn’t his brother. He’s never seen pictures of Lincoln as a baby because there aren’t any. They adopted him when he was 3 after his parents were killed as part of the company. That said, Lincoln was more of a brother than she was ever a mother. She suggests calling Lincoln, but he’s in the middle of a high speed chase, so he won’t be answering. Most people would. They’d be text messaging at the same time.

Michael’s had enough of this game, so he drags her to the tub and starts running the water. She gives him directions to Lincoln. Sarah will stay behind and watch her. Might want to keep a close eye on her because she’s already looking for a way to break free.

T-Bag will be rewarded as a special liaison to the company. Once he passes his final exam anyway. When Burrows brings Scylla back, T-Bag will be the one to shoot him.

Christina calls Sarah into the bathroom to taunt her some more. When Sarah pulls the door shut, the dental floss Christina’s tied to the door stopper rips it off the wall.

Krantz recognizes Naveen’s name on the list T-Bag has made. He has a known interest in solar weapons technology.

With the door stopper in hand, Christina breaks the tape off her wrists, and now she’s got a gun, too.

Lincoln’s boys are chasing after the man with the silver briefcase when they realize they’re at the building of the energy conference, and his mother must be there as well. The rental van is for a getaway.

Christina’s doing fine and right on time. She opts to not kill Sarah. Maybe she could meet her grandson one day.

Because he has not been able to speak to the doctor, Naveen amends his offer: $1 million in exploratory research, with the rest to follow in the weeks to come.

The rental van is in Lincoln’s name, and the passports are all of them. They’re being set up.

The general seems to be behind. It takes the local news to point out where Naveen will be. He instructs T-Bag to kill Sandinsky. Done.

Lincoln has entered the convention. He sees a shooter kill Naveen. Michael’s on the scene as well when the rest of the place is in a panic. They realize their mom set the whole thing up. The van was there with the passports, the bank has clean video of Burrows trying to access the box, and Lincoln’s hands were all over the shells planted by the shooter.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Prison Break season 4 episode 20 Cowboys & Indians, which airs Friday at 8/7c on Fox.

Heroes Season 4

This has been expected for a while now, but NBC today officially confirmed that Heroes will return for season 4. It is currently expected that the season will be slightly abridged from normal and from the current lengthy 25 episode season 3, but no confirmation has been made available at this time.

Fringe Season 2

Fox has announced the renewal of Fringe for season 2.

“FRINGE proved to be a notable addition to our schedule all season and it really has fans buzzing as it builds to a fantastic season finale,” said Kevin Reilly, President, Entertainment for Fox Broadcasting Company. “J.J. and the whole Bad Robot team have been phenomenal partners, and we look forward to years of making great television with them.”

“FRINGE continues to gain momentum, creatively and with viewers,” said J.J. Abrams, series co-creator and executive producer. “We couldn’t be more thrilled that FRINGE will continue to freak people out for at least another season!”

The Celebrity Apprentice 2 Episode 10

Melissa Rivers was finally eliminated in The Celebrity Apprentice 2 Episode 9, after which she promply stormed off the show like a two year old, except with a more foul mouth. Her mommy was not far behind her, saying she was quitting because her daughter was treated unfairly.

Brande Roderick would like to see Joan Rivers come back. She’d like to go against her and win, which she’s done so consistently throughout the season already, proving who’s the dumb blonde.

They walk in to get their task, and Joan is not there. Is she coming back, or are we down to the final four? She’s back, despite the fact that she’s got a(nother) personal vendetta, or perhaps because of it.

The task is to create a new jingle for Chicken of the Sea, while retaining the original lyrics, and also they will make a radio commercial. Annie Duke and Brande are afraid. Kotu for once has an advantage. They’ve got Grammy award winner Clint Black.

Annie will be the project manager for Athena since Brande was last time. At Joan’s suggestion, Clint will again be the project manager for Kotu, and Jesse has decided he doesn’t mind.

Annie’s pretty comfortable with the commercial, but the jingle scares her. She considers her musical ability to be slim, while Brande’s is none.

Joan is worried that the commercial will not be funny, which does not sit well with her because she doesn’t know how to do anything else.

Jesse and Joan will work on the commercial, while Clint works on the jingle.

Clint’s already got his jingle done. Joan and Jesse considered it brilliant until they actually start to record it. Joan makes Jesse tell Clint that she wants the jingle to be peppier. Clint agrees to record both but likes the slower one better. Joan even wants to add her own brand of humor to the end of the jingle, finishing it with cluck cluck cluck splash, which he quickly rejects. Ivanka cautions Clint that it sounds old fashioned.

Kotu has hired some professional actors, but Joan and Jesse have decided to just do it on their own because the guy sounds like a boring game show announcer.

Having finished with their radio spot, Annie’s still struggling with their jingle.

As for Kotu, it seemed like they already finished the jingle, but Clint’s a perfectionist and keeps plugging along, nitpicking at every little thing. Joan wants just 15 minutes so they can get the commercial done. He gives them two takes, and then it’s back to the jingle.

Annie has finished her jingle. It doesn’t suck.

Joan still wants to add comedy to Clint’s jingle. Can this one trick pony be fired already?

Annie gives the presentation for Athena, and she’s quite happy with what she’s come up with. Their commercial is two moms having a conversation about making food for their kids, which is perfectly in line with the targeted consumers.

Clint does the presentation and the singing for his team.

Joan thought Athena’s jingle was adorable, but she found their commercial boring because it didn’t have any humor in it. Clint found it to be very musical. Jesse thought it was not bad.

Annie thinks Kotu’s is really different, but since it’s from Clint Black, they have to give him credit for it sounding good.

The executives found Athena’s jingle catchy and liked how the commercial said it was fast, fresh, and convenient. The one negative is that they didn’t mention the tuna in pouches.

The execs liked Kotu’s jingle performance and the focus on naturalness and health. They liked the comedy in the commercial. The negatives were that they didn’t think everyone necessarily loved country music, and they wished there was more focus on the convenience of the product, which was ultimately what they were trying to highlight.

Athena has won because of their broader appeal. It’s an emotional win for Annie, who initially was in such despair that they didn’t have a chance, and she will be receiving an additional $20,000 for Refugees International.

Jesse blames the fact that it was Clint’s show again, and he didn’t really listen to their ideas.

Joan felt she was being restrained. She still wants cluck cluck cluck splash. Ivanka responds that not including that was correct.

Joan would fire the project manager. Trump agrees, and Clint Black has been fired. He is unsurprised that he’s been fired. As he’s walking out, he asks Joan to stop being mean to people. Good luck with that.

Clint joins Brande and Athena on the couch. Final four. Yay. Except Joan won’t even look at them, and then she walks out. Now the others can celebrate.

The night’s not over yet, though. They can all return to the boardroom.

Piers Morgan, the original The Celebrity Apprentice winner, will interview all of them, and then two more people will be fired.

Brande is up first. The first question is about the people who have suggested she’s not the sharpest tool in the shed. She knows that came from Joan, who initially said she was surprisingly smart but then changed her tune when she made it personal. She’d like to be the dumb blonde who ends up winning. Piers, however, doesn’t think she’s smart enough to move on to the final two.

Piers found Joan to be complicated. He asks her if she’s a quitter, since she previously admitted to him that she would quit. Her principles only apply to her daughter. Annie is a poker player, and she’s playing Joan. If it came down between her and Annie, Joan would kill to win. That’s something Trump would like to see.

Piers calls Annie the smartest contestant by quite a long way. Everybody wants to shoot the fastest gun. She thinks everybody else doesn’t understand the game, whereas she does.

He thinks Jesse, who hasn’t brought in any money despite being married to one of the richest movie stars in the world, must have a lot more than he’s showing us. Jesse says he’s there to prove a regular guy can do the same things as someone in a suit, and he says that he just leads a regular life.

If Annie makes it to the final two, she’d like to compete against Joan, the weakest player considering she should easily be able to raise money.

Brande thinks she’s the only one who could compete with Annie because neither of the other two have raised any money.

The Trumps respond that Brande’s been riding Annie’s coattails. Joan agrees.

Trump doesn’t think Brande has what it takes to be The Celebrity Apprentice, so she has been fired.

Trump asks Jesse whether he’s been holding back. He denies that he’s been holding back.

Joan says that she’s got the stamina to keep up.

When asked why he should stay around, Jesse responds that this competition is a little bit bigger than Joan.

Jesse hasn’t decided whether he’ll use his big knockout punch for the finale.

Due to his lack of fundraising, Jesse has been fired.

That brings us down to an Annie vs. Joan final two. Wow, big surprise. Annie’s the only one who belongs there, and I guess she’s got to compete against somebody. That somebody is Joan, who’s very unhappy who she will be competing against, like she’s unhappy about everything else.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice 2 episode 11, where we will find out who The Celebrity Apprentice 2 winner is, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on NBC.