Author: Shane

NBC Midseason Schedule

Monday as of January
8-10 Superstars of Dance (premieres Sunday January 4 at 9)
10-11 Momma’s Boys

Monday as of February
8-9 Chuck
9-10 Heroes
10-11 Momma’s Boys

Tuesday as of January
8-10 The Biggest Loser Couples
10-11 Law & Order: SVU

Wednesday as of January
8-9 Knight Rider
9-10 Law & Order: SVU encores
10-11 Law & Order

Wednesday as of February
8-9 Knight Rider
9-10 Life
10-11 Law & Order

Thursday as of January 8
8-8:30 My Name Is Earl
8:30-9 Kath & Kim
9-9:31 The Office
9:31-10 30 Rock
10-11 ER

Friday
8-9 Howie Do It (as of January 9)
9-10 Friday Night Lights (as of January 16)
10-11 Dateline NBC (as of December 5)

Heroes Season 3 Episode 10

The last time an eclipse happened, everybody got their powers, and Heroes Season 3 Episode 9 led us up to another impending eclipse. Hiro was reverted back to a 10 year old, which didn’t help Ando any in getting him to stop playing pranks and reading comic books. Sylar saved Elle from herself in an act of empathy he wasn’t sure he was capable of. Parkman managed to reawaken Angela with Daphne’s help. Suresh figured out there’s a human catalyst (a third piece of the formula), and Claire suspects it must be her because she knows she’s different.

Arthur asks Sylar to find Claire and bring her back to him. Elle offers to go with him, saying that being a company girl is all she knows.

Nathan’s going to find the Haitian, Parkman’s going to find Hiro, and Claire, she’s told she has to just hide. Peter wants to go with Nathan, seeing as he doesn’t have any abilities and runs the risk of just getting in the way.

Suresh continues to mutate and wants to know what’s taking Arthur so long. Arthur’s got people working on it, but his concern is how his drawing of Claire dying is possible. There’s an eclipse today, and if Claire dies, the catalyst dies with her, removing Mohinder’s chance of being cured.

Daphne realizes she’s a betrayer, a liar, a thief, and selfish. Nonetheless, Parkman trusts her.

Parkman doesn’t have to look far for Hiro. The comic book says that Parkman has to fix Hiro, so Ando shows up at Matt’s door with a Hiro whose main concern is how he can stop doing the potty dance.

Claire’s been reunited with her dad, who plans to keep her (and by extension the catalyst) safe. She thinks it’s just business.

Daphne says she’s not a nemesis any more. She’s a good guy apparently. Regardless, she runs away, accusing Matt of pausing when he answered the question about whether he trusts her.

Elle’s worried about Sylar becoming a yes man. She wants to know who he really is, so she tells someone he’s a serial killer, which is not entirely untrue.

HRG wants his daughter to stop acting stupid and careless like a girl who can’t get hurt. In addition to insulting her, he wants to train her to make her stronger.

Tracy agrees to do as Arthur says, with Angela standing over her shoulder.

Parkman knows about Lawrence, Kansas from reading Daphne’s mind. With comic book in hand, Hiro agrees to teleport them there. Then they’re distracted by the start of an eclipse.

Whatever’s happened to Suresh, it doesn’t look good. He’s upside down attached to a wall in a cocoon. Strangely, he seems to be fine. Not at all mutating any more.

Nathan’s not sure what happened. He’s gone from flying to falling really fast. He and Peter land in the forest and are still on their quest to find the Haitian, whose village is nearby.

Parkman can’t use his mind control to convince Daphne’s father to let him in. Hiro’s powers are gone as well.

Nathan and Peter get lost, which leads to a fight. Nathan wants credit for saving his brother so many times and wants him to earn some respect. Peter thinks Nathan’s just a puppet of their father. In the future, Nathan chooses Arthur, which doesn’t sit well with Peter.

Claire’s got some anger issues to address. She wants to know why her father always leaves. Just then, Elle shows up, powerless like the rest. Sylar’s surprised by his powerlessness as well. So Elle will just have to do things the old fashioned way. She shoots Claire. HRG has managed to knock both Sylar and Elle to the ground and grabs Claire and flees. He takes her home but insists that no call be made to the hospital because gunshot wounds are reported to the police. Claire’s just happy to be feeling pain.

Parkman doesn’t think he can do anything without his powers, but Hiro wants him to know this is part of the hero’s quest, to triumph without powers. Either that or Hiro will continue to throw corn at him.

Arthur wants Suresh to get everybody’s abilities back. Or else.

Hiro and Ando head to a comic book store. It’s Wednesday. New comic book day.

As they’re walking with the Haitian, men with guns capture Nathan. His father warned them he was coming.

When Daphne’s father leaves, Parkman takes the opportunity to go to talk to her. He’s never giving up because he loves her. When he walks in, he sees her back in her old life, the one she was so afraid of going back to. It turns out she’s crippled.

Sylar’s relieved to not have powers. Elle blames herself for pushing him to become a monster.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Heroes Season 3 episode 11 The Eclipse Part II, which airs Monday at 9/8c on NBC.

Prison Break Season 4 Episode 12

After they came up with a plan to break through the impossible to get through Scylla security system, taking extra special care to not set off any alarms and alert the general, Prison Break Season 4 Episode 11 ended with the general being alerted and on his way down to see Michael.

The general arrives to a group of ex-cons holding guns at his head. He asks his team to lower their weapons. Michael’s got news for the general. He just brought them the one missing piece of the puzzle: his sixth Scylla card. The general’s not overly concerned about handing over his card, seeing as they need five more.

Trishanne’s not happy being held hostage, and she starts taking it out on Self. The yelling is all part of a plot to distract them, though. Self grabs a gun, starts shooting, and they both escape. In order to save Self, however, she has to shoot Fang, who they needed.

T-Bag’s boss comes in and notices that they’re holding some rather large guns. He’s smooth about it, but Gretchen doesn’t buy, knowing their cover’s been blown. She runs through the office, gun in hand, and creates mass chaos.

With their hands on Scylla, the boys escape. The general tells them they’re not even close to getting out. They’re not taking any chances and will be taking him with them.

The general tells Scofield that the whole building is under lockdown, that nothing will get in or out, and whatever he’s waiting for isn’t coming.

Trishanne arrives to see Gretchen and T-Bag’s little hostage situation. T-Bag wants to get out of there, but Gretchen tells him to just suck it up.

The general has Lincoln pull out a photo from his desk. It’s his father. He warns him he doesn’t want to make the same misguided fatal mistake he did. Then he tries to get to Sucre by promising to pay for his little girl’s college education. Then Mahone and how Pam needs him. Then Michael and some airline tickets for him and Sara. They don’t want any of this, though. Michael wants to see the company burned to the ground and the general in prison.

He warns them that if they shoot him, they lose their leverage. Seems Sara’s been getting them some leverage of her own, as she’s kidnapped Lisa and has her call to tell him that he either needs to let them leave or Sara will kill her. “Dad, please.”

Michael agrees to leave Lisa alone as long as the general holds up his end of the deal. He agrees to walk them out.

Trishanne sneaks in and wants to sneak people out two at a time to see how many she can get out before they notice. Unfortunately, T-Bag’s boss is a bit of a dumbass who insists on running out without even trying to hide it, which causes Gretchen to begin firing. In the ensuing firefight, Gretchen and T-Bag leave, but not before the boss is shot.

Lisa wants Sara to realize that Scofield and Burrows are bad men. Apparently she’s an innocent woman who just so happens to work for a homicidal company.

Gretchen convinces T-Bag to put down his weapon. Then she pulls hers on him. They can ID him, but without him, nobody knows who she is. He manages to get away as Trishanne’s car approaches and Gretchen gets distracted. Gretchen flees while T-Bag gets grabbed.

When they get outside, the general’s got some news for them. Their father was an executioner, who trained the men who will be coming after them.

The men who were with Lisa are getting suspicious, so they barge into the ladies room to find her tied up. Sara just left. Michael and the boys are on their way to the rendezvous in the company’s armored truck. When they arrive at the airport, every single flight is delayed. Scofield and Burrows stick together inside the airport, while Sucre and Mahone are outside to place a phone call. Michael hands over his bag to the general’s guy as requested, and as the guy holding the bag, the security people want to talk to him. When they empty out his bag, he doesn’t have what he wanted, but he does have a copy of the book All’s Well That Ends Well.

They hand over Scylla to Self, who agrees to live up to his end of the bargain. Some vans will be meeting them, along with an ambulance so Michael can get some medical attention.

Sucre and Mahone are looking forward to simple things like going to a restaurant or a game.

Burrows tells Mahone that things are okay between them.

Sara starts to get worried that it’s been an hour and the convoy has not yet arrived. Michael calls Self. His number has been disconnected. Meanwhile, Self is busy eliminating Trishanne, as he has no more use for her since she doesn’t know of any more buyers for Scylla. Michael opens the envelope they were given and sees nothing but some blank pages.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Prison Break season 4 episode 13 Deal or No Deal, which airs Monday at 9/8c on Fox.

The Amazing Race 13 Episode 9

Terence & Sarah made a dumb mistake in The Amazing Race 13 Episode 8 and paid for it. After they and Nick & Starr insisted on going for the fast forward knowing that whoever didn’t get it would probably be screwed, Terence & Sarah were unable to catch up to the rest of the pack and were eliminated. Having won the fast forward, Nick & Starr continued their winning ways. Meanwhile, Andrew & Dan as presumably part of some cosmic joke managed to get into the final four in spite of themselves.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Nick & Starr – 9:21PM
Second: Toni & Dallas – 10:47PM
Third: Ken & Tina – 11:17PM
Fourth: Andrew & Dan – 12:41AM

Dallas and Starr are continuing to get closer, but they still know they’re in a race. The way this whole thing’s played out, it’s helped them, rather than hindering them. Andrew & Dan, having left their shoes at the detour (they may as well have just gone back and gotten them considering how far behind they are anyway), are now in slippers they got from the hotel. It turns out there’s a 24 hour shoe store in the airport, and they have a good amount of money left, so they make sure they’re properly outfitted before leaving. They just hope they don’t run out of money after dropping $160 on shoes.

Teams will fly nearly 2000 miles to Moscow, Russia. This late at night we’re probably looking at an airport equalizer. When Nick & Starr arrive, they’re told the earliest flight leaves at 6:05AM. All teams are on the same flight.

When they arrive in Moscow, it’s back to the not being able to communicate with anybody problem again. Nick & Starr follow Toni & Dallas and are the first two teams to arrive. Dallas just wonders if Andrew & Dan are even in the right country. Andrew & Dan are next to arrive, followed closely by Ken & Tina.

From the monastery, teams will go to the outskirts of Moscow to a decommissioned military base Kolosok Camp. Toni & Dallas seem to have lost Nick & Starr somewhere along the way. Andrew & Dan and Ken & Tina are neck and neck, but Nick & Starr are in the unfamiliar position of last place.

The detour is a choice between boots or borscht. In boots, they will learn a traditional parade march. In borscht, teams will need to serve borscht to 75 Russian soldiers. Apparently the catch is if they’re sloppy, they’ll have to repeat part of the task. In each detour, teams will need to get properly dressed in full military gear.

Andrew stumbles over figuring out how to get dressed, so they decide to switch to the borscht detour hoping that they won’t have to wear the military outfit, but after switching they realize they still have to wear the uniform no matter what. They’re finally dressed but are in their traditional last place. Once that’s done, they provide much comic relief for the soldiers, as Dan has no coordination. So then they switch back to borscht. Lucky for them the borscht task seems pretty simple.

Boots: Toni & Dallas, Ken & Tina, Nick & Starr
Borscht: Andrew & Dan (switched from boots to borscht to boots to borscht)

From there, teams will go to a bakery in Zhukovsky. The road block is to be a delivery person, unloading fifty 55 pound bags of flour to an unpleasant counter person. Dallas knows this is his time to shine, and he insists on grabbing two bags at a time, even though his mom wants him to slow down a bit. He manages to get about 15 bags ahead of Ken by the time he arrives. Although Ken’s older, he is an ex-pro athlete. An exhausted Dallas retains a lead of about 8 bags and finishes first, but Ken’s not far behind. Nick & Starr are lost again, while Andrew & Dan have probably been at the detour for hours. When they arrive, Nick & Starr tell their cab driver to get lost, hoping they’ll be able to find another one if they need to. Nick tries to do two at once, but he’ll have to settle for one, as does Dan.

Road block (in order of arrival): Dallas, Ken, Nick, Dan

The pit stop for this leg of the race is Neskuchny Sad, which means it’s back through the crowded streets of Moscow they go. Looks like Nick & Starr will have to find a new cab. Too bad this guy doesn’t know any more than the last one, as Starr begins to have a nervous breakdown while Nick remains calm. Andrew & Dan have run out of money and are hoping their cab driver is understanding. Dan offers him his newly bought and expensive shoes, but he’s not interested. They do finally manage to make a deal with him, though.

First: Toni & Dallas (win a trip to the Dominican Republic)
Second: Ken & Tina
Third: Nick & Starr
Non-eliminated: Andrew & Dan

Non-elimination? Is this a joke? This is like when David & Mary just refused to be stepped on. Andrew & Dan will need to complete one additional task, a speed bump, which doesn’t bode well for them considering that they’re horrible at tasks. To further compound matters, they’re out of money, and cabs in Moscow seem to be pretty expensive.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Amazing Race 13 Episode 10 You’re Gonna Get Me Killed, which airs Sunday at 8/7cish on CBS.

The Amazing Race Asia 3 Winner

Having ambled their way through the race, AD & Fuzzie were finally eliminated in The Amazing Race Asia 3 Episode 10. That leaves us with a final three of Geoff Rodriguez & Tisha Silang from the Philippines, Ida Nerina & Tania Khan from Malaysia, and Sam Wu & Vince Chung from Hong Kong.

Vince & Sam have had an excellent run, placing in the top three in 8 of the last 9 legs, although they did have a couple close calls (the bad flight where Henry & Bernie were eliminated instead, and the 4 hour penalty last time). Geoff & Tisha were a middle of the road team that didn’t really come on strong until the last half of the season, where they’ve proved to be one of the top teams. Ida & Tania have had a mixed run, including being saved by non-elimination legs twice following a 7 hour gap the leaders opened up on them. All three teams have had their share of success, splitting all of the last 7 first place finishes between them.

Teams depart in the order in which they arrived.

First: Ida & Tania – 5:42AM
Second: Geoff & Tisha – 5:54AM
Third: Vince & Sam – 10:04aM

Teams will drive themselves to the Governorate of Muscat office, about an hour and a half away. The hours of operation is 8AM, which will allow Vince & Sam to make up about half an hour.

From there, they will head to Said’s Camel Farm in Al Abyad to transfer 10 camels to a holding pit. Geoff & Tisha had planned to follow Ida & Tania, but they don’t want to stop for breakfast like Ida & Tania do, so they just apparently get lost instead. And then they get stuck in the sand. Geoff manages to get them out and decides to do the driving in the sand. All the girls think the camels are cute, but Geoff just doesn’t want to be spit on. The camels don’t seem too fond of him either. As Geoff & Tisha are heading to the road block, they pass Vince & Sam going the other way.

The road block is to drive to Hubra Sands and use a metal detector to find a key buried (fortunately not very deep) in the sand. Only 7 of the 70+ keys will actually open the clue box, and teams will be digging with temperatures well over 100F degrees.

Road block (in order of arrival): Tania, Tisha, Sam

As Ida & Tania are leaving the road block (and stuck in the sand), they see Geoff & Tisha (who get stuck in the sand again). Both teams manage to get free. Then Ida & Tania get stuck again. Geoff & Tisha finish the road block, which gives them the lead. One of the locals gets Ida & Tania free. Both teams pass Vince & Sam as they’re leaving. Vince warns Sam not to stop in sand, but he doesn’t listen and gets stuck, too.

Once they finish the road block, teams will fly to their final destination Phuket, Thailand. Given the time they’re leaving, the distance they’ll be travelling, and where they’re travelling from (there are likely to be few flights, all of which will include potentially lengthy layovers), the airport could be a great equalizer or could just simply put one team out of reach. Vince & Sam manage to catch up and get the same flight as Geoff & Tisha. It’s unclear why Ida & Tania did not, as they’re opting to go via Singapore rather than Bangkok.

First flight (Muscat to Dubai to Bangkok to Phuket for a total of 6160km): Geoff & Tisha, Vince & Sam
Second flight (to Dubai, where they will try their luck): Ida & Tania

When Ida & Tania arrive in Dubai, the service they receive from the ticket agents is poor, and they miss the flight they’d hoped to get to Singapore. After some begging, they manage to get a later flight to Phuket via Singapore, for a total of 6400km. When the other two teams land, there’s daylight, an indication that Ida & Tania’s hopes of winning are gone.

If teams thought the road block was too hot, they now get to go to an ice factory to dig through a barrel of ice shavings for an ice cube. Geoff & Tisha have the lead out of the airport, but they get a cab driver who doesn’t have a clue, whereas Vince & Sam get a cab driver who has a rough idea.

From there, they will go to the Lam Hin Pier. Vince & Sam catch another break. Their cab driver came to pick them up with an empty gas tank, but his friend was behind them, so they just switch cabs. As for Geoff & Tisha, their cab driver at least knows where this place is. The task here is to take a traditional longtail Thai fishing boat to search for a fisherman.

The detour is a choice between pull or plunge. In pull, teams must pull up as many as 900 oyster lines until they find the marked oyster shell. In plunge, teams must search the sea floor for a giant clam shell that contains a pearl. It looks like the entire race hinges on this detour, unless Vince & Sam have managed to get an insurmountable lead.

Pull: Vince & Sam (switched from plunge), Geoff & Tisha
Plunge: Ida & Tania

As they’re heading to the detour (and not getting anywhere because they can’t figure out how to row), Geoff & Tisha see that Vince & Sam have finished.

The last task for the race is to dig through a marked area and find a buried treasure chest containing $100,000. The question now becomes just how difficult this digging task is. We’ve seen in the past where digging tasks have cost teams the race (The Amazing Race 5 and The Amazing Race Asia 1) because they couldn’t find anything for hours. It will presumably still be between Vince & Sam and Geoff & Tisha, unless it’s so difficult that somehow Ida & Tania can manage to catch up.

Both teams have found their treasure chests. Now they just need to dig them out.

First: Vince & Sam
Second: Geoff & Tisha
Third: Ida & Tania

The Amazing Race 3 winners are Vince & Sam. I’d suggest it’s a bit tainted by the fact that they quit a task just one leg ago and would have been eliminated if AD & Fuzzie weren’t still in the race, but that notwithstanding, they have run perhaps the best race of any of the teams.

Given the continued ratings success of The Amazing Race Asia, it’s safe to assume we will see The Amazing Race Asia 4 this time next year. In the meantime, stick around for live recaps of the US version, currently The Amazing Race 13.

ABC Midseason Schedule Changes

ABC will be moving the struggling Grey’s Anatomy spinoff Private Practice to the only time that makes sense… Thursday at 10 after Grey’s Anatomy as of December 11. Current time slot occupant Life on Mars will be moving to Wednesdays in Private Practice’s current spot. Beginning January 28, Life on Mars will follow Lost, which moves back to Wednesday.

As for the rest of ABC’s Wednesday lineup, it looks unlikely that Pushing Daisies or Dirty Sexy Money will be renewed.

Scrubs, which moved from NBC, will debut on ABC on January 6 and air on Tuesdays at 9.