Author: Shane

The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 2

Omarosa was as bad as we expected her to be in The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 1. So of course, she didn’t get fired, despite sending her team off to die from the very first minute she took the project manager role. Instead, Tiffany Fallon was fired, supposedly because she didn’t call Hugh Heffner and ask him to buy a hot dog.

Omarosa and Carol Alt make a pact that what happens in the boardroom stays in the boardroom. Piers Morgan doesn’t buy it. Omarosa calls him an alcoholic for drinking some wine. He calls her a mutant and again makes fun of how she did on season 1.

Stephen Baldwin brings his mother’s breast cancer foundation a check for the total of the previous task, $69,000.

This week’s task is to create a 30 second commercial for the Pedigree Adoption Drive, created because 4 million dogs are put into shelters yearly.

Nely Galan and Gene Simmons are chosen as project managers. Gene says he’s ruthless and will fire anybody, including Donald Trump.

Nely starts off the meeting with stretching, deep breaths, seeing bright lights, and holding hands. Alrighty then. They first sit with the client, and one thing they’re told is celebrities are fine, but what they really need is stories about people with their pets.

Gene considers meeting someone from Pedigree to be a waste of time. Stephen Baldwin takes charge because he tells us he’s been in film for 20 years. He wants Lennox Lewis to be the star of the commercial, and they nominate Baldwin as the director. The guys believe celebrity’s important, perhaps more important than the pets.

Ivanka, whose usefulness in the show I have still yet to figure out, shows up to meet with the guys. Gene starts off by hitting on her. Then he rushes her out of the room and insults her by asking her if she’s going to share the information with the girls just because she’s a woman. Yeah, I expect some serious whining to come from her about that.

Piers wants to head down to the shelter. Stephen shoots this idea down, which upsets Piers because he believes Gene and Stephen are trying to control everything. Instead, they head outside in the streets of New York and try to shoot a scene. The crowds and honking horns prevent them from getting anything done.

Omarosa knows what she needs to do to keep from being fired. It’s not about performing well. It’s about skating from doing anything or taking responsibility (then being as obnoxious as possible in the boardroom should someone point a finger your way). So she avoids being involved in the creative.

Nely doesn’t believe Nadia Comaneci, who’s essentially been assigned to be a gopher, is any good.

Vincent Pastore wants to see the commercial before they leave. Gene doesn’t want to hear it and instead wants to go with Stephen and edit it themselves without input.

On the contrary, the women get together as a group to edit the commercial. At times, this produces too much potential for conflicting viewpoints (i.e. a couple of the women find the dog unappealing… and they pick now to say it instead of doing so before or at some point during the shooting), but Nely keeps things reasonably under control. Marilu, who directed the video, is also taking a lead role in the editing process.

After sitting around for a while, Piers, Lennox, and Tito Ortiz barge into the editing room because they want to know what’s going on. They’re promptly thrown out and not happy about it.

The women focus on the dogs with little effort at showing any celebrities. The men show Lennox prominently but have a good story with a voiceover by Trace Adkins to go along with it. Pedigree is impressed by both commercials but feels one of the commercials is much stronger.

After Trump mentions that Pedigree felt slighted by the men not taking some face time before shooting the commercial, Ivanka starts off the boardroom by saying “Wah! Wah! Wah!” as expected. Gene apologizes for what he said.

The men win pretty easily, and it’s well deserved. The ad the women did wasn’t necessarily bad, but as with last week, they just didn’t live up to the standard the men set. Better script and a better concept.

The women are criticized for having too many dogs, which is true. Too much squeezed into too little time. A theme for them, as they also did (wasted time on) radio and Internet ads, when all they had to do was a TV commercial.

As with last week, there is criticism over lack of celebrity. Marilu did the voiceover, but there’s concern nobody really recognizes her voice.

Jennie Finch reluctantly suggests Nadia (because Nadia wasn’t really given a task) or Carol Alt (have we seen her at all this episode?) should be fired. Carol picks Nadia as well. Despite Trump’s clear attempt to indicate that a good choice to bring back would be Marilu, Nely chooses Carol and Nadia. Nobody can figure out why Carol’s being brought back, but nobody’s real impressed with Nadia.

The judges question how Nely got so far off course considering this is what she does for a living. Trump wants to know why Marilu wasn’t brought back and says Carol definitely won’t be fired. Like last week with Tiffany, Nadia’s having difficulty fighting for herself. Before she can even spit out much of a defense, not that it appears she has one anyway other than that she wasn’t assigned a real task, Trump fires Nadia because he doesn’t see her as a leader.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of The Celebrity Apprentice Episode 3, which airs Thursday at 9/8c on NBC.

Britney Spears’ Family Upset by Dr. Phil

Britney Spears’ family responded to Dr. Phil’s claims that she needs an intervention (as if it were some big secret).

“Here you have Britney, who needs to have some security somewhere that every single thing she does and every single person she has a relationship with doesn’t become an opportunity to be exploited,” said Lou Taylor, the family’s business manager. “I mean, when do you ever rest if you’re in constant fear of being exploited, of being taken advantage of?”

The family believes Dr. Phil acted inappropriately because as a doctor, he should have honored her privacy, even though he’s not actually her doctor.

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 2

The Biggest Loser 5 Episode 1 saw the elimination of someone who stole the spot of someone who actually wanted to be there, Lynn, with his daughter Jenni being dragged down with him. 8 teams weighed in with losses of over 5%, with half of them above 6%.

Remember last week when the first challenge was a competition to get the trainer the teams preferred? Yeah, never mind that. Jillian and Bob have teamed up and will train people together. Partly because none of us could tell who was on which side anyway (seriously, which trainer’s team went home last week?). Partly because they plan to gather ’round the campfire and sing Kumbaya.

The biggest drama of the first training session besides that is Bette-Sue falling on the treadmill and yet still getting back up and continuing.

Now it’s time to disgust the players by showing them how much fat/sugar/calories/etc. they eat.

The difference between Neill and Amanda continues to be a topic of discussion. It was no surprise that she lost more weight than he did last week. As before, Jillian gets on his case. She asks why he’s there. He says to get thin. Wrong answer. True but wrong answer. This time, she won’t let anybody else leave the gym until he walks for an hour.

For the challenge, the teams get massive seesaws, on which they must go up and down 100 times. The reward is calling cards for calls home. After about a dozen reps, Trent is out to avoid being injured. As with last week, Jay & Mark are going head to head with Bernie & Brittany for the win, with Jay & Mark a bit ahead. Jay & Mark manage to pull out the win, a bit ahead of Bernie & Brittany, and Curtis & Mallory a bit behind them. The second and third place teams continue until they hit 100. After they get their prize, Alison tells them they can choose three other teams who will receive calls home as well.

Curtis & Mallory, Trent & Roger, and Amanda & Neill are their choices. While I get their reasoning about picking people with young kids, it’s a low blow not to give one set of cards to the team that was right behind them, while giving two of the sets of cards to the teams that performed the worst (granted, Trent & Roger at least had a reasonable excuse for performing poorly, while Neill just simply doesn’t try). Allegedly, giving the card to Neill is supposed to give him a wakeup call. Demonstrating that he’s been awakened, Neill tells Jillian he’s going to use his call in the middle of the workout. She pulls him outside to talk to him one on one, taking a kinder, gentler approach than she normally does. I say just slap him upside the head.

Damn local NBC affiliate decided to waste about 10 minutes of my time with something I didn’t care about. Apparently there’s an election going on or… something. So I missed a few minutes before finally deciding I had to switch to the other NBC to see if they were back on or not.

Alison asks one member from every team to get up and leave. It’s time for the first temptation. There’s a feast, and they’ll have 4 minutes to eat as much as they want. The first set of people will go first, then the second set will go later. The team that eats the most will win $5,000.

Of the first set, most people just walk around sniffing stuff. Amanda says she’s not going to eat and hopes Neill does the same. Paul says he’s got about 900 calories left in his daily allotment that he hasn’t eaten yet. Should have kept it to himself because he convinces Mark to do the same. Mallory grabs some M&M’s.

Mallory ate 210 calories, while Curtis didn’t eat anything.
Paul ate 912 calories, while Kelly didn’t eat anything.
Mark ate 925 calories, while Jay didn’t eat anything.
None of the other teams ate anything.

Paul blew it, giving Mark the win. Needless to say, Jillian and Bob are upset.

Roger: 340 (-3)
Trent: 401 (-6)
Total: -9 pounds, 1.20%

Bernie: 261 (-5)
Brittany: 210 (-1)
Total: -6 pounds, 1.26%

Paul: 283 (-3)
Kelly: 257 (-1)
Total: -4 pounds, 0.74%

Jay: 275 (-5)
Mark: 261 (-7)
Total: -12 pounds, 2.19%

Maggie: 227 (-2)
Jenn: 240 (-2)
Total: -4 pounds, 0.85%

Bette-Sue: 239 (-6)
Ali: 212 (-3)
Total: -9 pounds, 1.96%

Jackie: 223 (-8)
Dan: 277 (-8)
Total: -16 pounds, 3.10%

Curtis: 356 (-3)
Mallory: 204 (+1)
Total: -2 pounds, 0.36%

Neill: 298 (-6)
Amanda: 190 (no change)
Total: -6 pounds, 1.21%

Brutal second week. 6 of the remaining people lost two pounds or less, up to and including one who gained weight, something we normally don’t see for at least a few weeks. The women in particular had a pretty disastrous showing. There were some bright spots, though. Jackie & Dan are proving to be a force to be reckoned with. Mark & Jay continue to be very strong. A very surprisingly strong team is Bette-Sue & Ali.

The two teams below the yellow line are Curtis & Mallory and Paul & Kelly, two of the three teams with members who gave into temptation. While they may try to play this up, they didn’t spend much time on the fact that Mark lost 5 pounds, regardless of having won the temptation. Curtis & Mallory seem to be the more dangerous team of the two, and it would be smart to get rid of them while they can, though I’d expect most of the teams to be closer to them than Paul & Kelly.

Votes:
Neill & Amanda: Paul & Kelly
Bette-Sue & Ali: Curtis & Mallory
Roger & Trent: Paul & Kelly
Mark & Jay: Paul & Kelly
Maggie & Jenn: Curtis & Mallory
Jackie & Dan: Curtis & Mallory
Bernie & Brittany: Curtis & Mallory

The message seems to be that Paul & Kelly aren’t yet ready to go home, whereas Curtis & Mallory are much stronger and more likely to succeed should they go home. An accurate assessment. A classy team to be getting booted, though.

Curtis is down now from 381 pounds to 298; Mallory is down from 217 to 184.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser: Couples episode 3, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

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).