Shane

Survivor: China Episode 13

Peih-Gee won immunity to keep herself alive in Survivor: China Episode 12. Unable to convince an admittedly outcast Denise to get rid of Todd, Erik ended up going home as could have been expected.

The reward challenge involves a replica of an early Chinese repeating crossbow. Each contestant gets arrows and must decide who to give them to (anybody but themselves), then they’ll shoot the arrows they get and try to connect with targets containing their name.

Peih-Gee: 1 arrow
Todd: 6 arrows
Denise: 2 arrows
Courtney: 12 arrows
Amanda: 4 arrows

Pretty telling results.

Peih-Gee misses with her only arrow.
Denise connects once.
Amanda hits Denise twice to give her the lead at 3.
Todd scores 5.
Courtney hits herself, Denise, Amanda, Todd, Denise two more times, Todd, and Denise twice more.

Denise wins reward. Because Courtney gave her the reward (albeit accidentally), she chooses her. She’s given the offer to choose another person and decides against Peih-Gee because she says she doesn’t want her to get stronger (but not quietly enough for Peih-Gee to not overhear). Peih-Gee’s clearly upset. Amanda’s left out as well, as Denise picks Todd. The reward is a trip to the Great Wall of China.

While back at camp, Peih-Gee and Amanda take the time to start building a relationship. Todd’s pretty confident Amanda will get over not being taken because he doesn’t think she has any options but to stick with him. Courtney’s also happy with the decision because she’s more afraid of Todd than Amanda.

Amanda tells Peih-Gee she’s open to switching things up. Todd’s also pondering it, and he poses the question whether it would be a good idea to take out Amanda if Peih-Gee wins immunity again. Denise doesn’t know where she stands with Todd.

When they get back from reward, Todd and Courtney are complaining about the food. Neither Peih-Gee nor Amanda are pleased with this.

Amanda doesn’t trust a word Todd says because he’s willing to do whatever it takes to win.

The immunity challenge is a combination of previous challenges. The first round is throwing stars. Peih-Gee scores 2. Denise scores 6. Amanda scores 3. Courtney scores 2. Todd scores 1 and is out. Next is eating balut. Amanda finishes first. Peih-Gee finishes second. Courtney finishes third. Denise is unable to finish as she was the first time and is out. The next round is bouncing a ball on a drum. Amanda finishes first. Peih-Gee finishes second. Courtney is out. The final round is knot cutting/puzzle solving. Amanda gets her puzzle pieces first. Peih-Gee never manages to catch up, and Amanda wins immunity.

If they’re gonna shake things up, now’s the time to do it, and I think most of them are smart enough to realize it. The only question is whether they’re willing to act on it, or just take the easy road and get rid of Peih-Gee.

Amanda pitches the idea of getting rid of Todd to Denise. They’re both considering it but not convincingly behind it. Todd will be pissed off if he gets blindsided, but he’s in this as a player, so he seems like he would understand.

Once again, Peih-Gee’s very vocal at tribal council, letting her feelings about Todd and Courtney be known.

Votes:
Peih-Gee
Todd
Peih-Gee
Peih-Gee

Like her or not, Peih-Gee’s played this game aggressively from the beginning, but the numbers have finally caught up with her. I wouldn’t have wanted to face her in the end either. If nothing else came from this episode, Amanda just secured herself another jury vote.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 14 A Slippery Little Sucker, to be followed by the reunion show, where we will find out who the winner is, which airs Sunday at 8-11/7-10c on CBS.

No Directors Guild Talks Until 2008

As the writers strike continues with no apparent end any time soon, many have been wondering what directors will do. The combination of pressure from the writers and from writer-directors (who are members of both guilds) has caused the Directors Guild of America to move its talks into the new year, reports Show Tracker.

In response to the talks between writers and studios that broke down last week, the DGA stated, “We are deeply disappointed by the breakdown … Like everyone else in the industry, we had hoped that the two parties would be able to reach a fair and reasonable deal.”

The directors’ contract expires June 30.

NPD November 2007

Nintendo DS: 1.53 million
Wii: 981k
Xbox 360: 770k
PSP: 567k
PS2: 496k
PS3: 466k

1. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, Xbox 360) – 1.57 million
2. Super Mario Galaxy (Nintendo, Wii) – 1.12 million
3. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, Xbox 360) – 980k
4. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, PS2) – 967k
5. Wii Play (Nintendo, Wii) – 564k
6. Mass Effect (Microsoft, Xbox 360) – 473k
7. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (Activision, PS3) – 444k
8. Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (Activision, Wii) – 426k
9. Halo 3 (Microsoft, Xbox 360) – 387k
10. Assassin’s Creed (Ubisoft, PS3) – 377k

Nintendo’s systems continue to perform strongly. Sony’s PS3 is showing significant strength on the heels of a price cut, but far from enough for any belief there’s going to be strong enough momentum before the next price cut to really kick into high gear. Call of Duty being added to the already hugely popular Guitar Hero 3 made for another massive month for Activision. Super Mario Galaxy launched well, at least in the US.

America’s Next Top Model 9 Winner

Following Bianca’s elimination last week, we were left with the final three: Jenah, Chantal, and Saleisha. Tonight we find out who the winner of America’s Next Top Model’s 9th cycle is.

After complaining about the show putting too much emphasis on personality, Jenah is the first one to be eliminated of the three.

Miss Jay and Twiggy go with Chantal. Nigel goes with Saleisha. Tyra weighs in and decides. And the winner is… Saleisha.

Cycle 10 will be returning midseason, and after tonight’s finale is the premiere of Crowned, which they will be very aggressively pushing multiple nights a week in an effort to establish another highly female-oriented reality show.

Kid Nation Episode 13

The council left town as instructed by the pioneers, leaving Sheriff Sophia in charge in Kid Nation Episode 12. Contrary to everybody’s fear, Sophia turned out to be a good leader, surely better than Greg and Blaine. As the finale approached, the kids were left to think about how little time they have left and how they shouldn’t waste it playing in the arcade all day.

The episode starts with Mike wandering around at daybreak unable to sleep because he’s reflecting on all the good times they’ve had and the fact that they may never see each other again. As he’s walking, he notices the job board… on fire. For some reason, they all decide to play firefighters, even if it is pretty obvious that somebody had to have set the fire and that nothing else is in any danger of catching fire from it. Jared grabs a tin cup and fills it with water to assist.

Jonathan comes out to tell them the fire was on purpose and that things are about to change a lot. The kids want him to burn the journal as well. They interpret this as an okay to raid the stores and all get massive sugar rushes. Zach and DK are the voices of reason and are disgusted. At dinner, the town council makes a pitch to rebuild tomorrow after the chaos of the day.

Since the job board’s gone, there’s no showdown, but there is a reward. It’s the last $20,000 gold star, which will be awarded now. Guylan suggests Mike. Laurel suggests Sophia should get another gold star because she just works that hard. After discussing it amongst themselves, the council decides that Zach should be awarded the gold star, a well deserved acknowledgement of what he’s done this season.

Yellow district girls want to spend the last night together. Emily’s not having it and wants to fight. Migle takes control and patches things up between them.

There are no $20,000 gold stars, but there are still $50,000 gold stars, three of them.

They must first earn them as a town. They will be throwing a bonanza to celebrate what they’ve done. They’re given one hour to clean the town from top to bottom. First, they need to cook dinner, making pasta from scratch. Zach’s happy to have the microwave, a prize much of the town was upset with originally, to help heat up the sauce. The next step is to build picnic tables. The final task is to bury the trash. They finish this with two minutes left but need to get back to the bell before ringing it. Greg and Blaine carry DK, who is having difficulty with his legs, back to the bell, and they arrive just in time to win the reward.

Also at the party will be their families, who they haven’t seen in 39 days. It’s a very emotional reunion for all. After the party, it’s time to pack up and head to the final town council meeting.

Sophia apologizes if she’s bossed around, screamed at, or offended anyone, but she’s really the most obvious person to get one of the gold stars because she did it to help the town.

The first two gold stars will go to previous gold star winners. The third one will go to anybody.

Sophia wins the first gold star because of her leadership and hard work. Morgan wins the second gold star because she’s been the mother figure of the group. The final gold star goes to Migle for the improvement she’s made as time has gone on and for her kindness. I was expecting this when she went from nearly invisible to a standout character in the past couple episodes.

Following the meeting, it’s time to say goodbye to Bonanza City.

Based on the show’s poor ratings, it’s unlikely we’ll end up seeing a Kid Nation 2, which is too bad because it’s a good concept. However, in the event of a prolonged strike, there may be hope yet. It probably just makes more sense to shop around and get Disney to pick this up, though.

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 14

Black team continued to extend its dominance due to having largely non-threatening players in The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 13 by voting out Nicole, this season’s second most successful female. We’re now down to the final 5, so it’s just a question of whether Neil can stay above the yellow line for one more week.

It’s the last challenge. Will Neil finally win one? It’s time to bury their lost weight forever. At each stop, they must load scales with the weight they lost for each week. They’ll go from station to station dragging the weight behind them. May prove easier for the people who haven’t done very well. Isabeau is the first one to the halfway mark, but Bill, despite his 121 pound weight loss, is on her heels. Julie’s right behind them. Not close enough, though, as Isabeau wins the challenge, with a reward of $10,000.

Jillian’s still hearing “I can’t” in the episode leading up to the finale, this time from Isabeau.

Neil: 278 pounds (-10, 3.47%)

Neil’s total weight loss is 143 pounds, with 11 of 14 of these weeks being double digit losses.

Hollie: 191 pounds (-5, 2.55%)
Bill: 204 pounds (-9, 4.23%)

With his total weight loss of 130 pounds, Bill continues to be particularly dominant. As I’ve said before, they dropped the wrong brother.

Julie: 160 pounds (-8, 4.76%)
Isabeau: 217 pounds (-7, 3.56%)

Isabeau, who has been the strongest of the black team women (whining notwithstanding), has lost a total of 81 pounds, which is a new record for female competitors.

Despite the fact that he lost 10 pounds, Neil’s still below the yellow line, along with Hollie. The odds of a Neil boot are about as good as the odds of a Nicole boot were last week.

Here are the final standings of those who remain:

Bill 334 204 -38.92%
Neil 421 278 -33.97%
Isabeau 298 217 -27.18%
Julie 218 160 -26.61%
Hollie 255 191 -25.10%

Votes
Bill: Neil
Isabeau: Neil

Isabeau’s still whining about Neil’s weight gain that one week? Oh please. She’s been playing this as a game just as hard as he has, if not harder. I guess tonight’s vote just shows that, at the end of the day, this is a game show.

So now that Neil’s out, here’s hoping Bill’s the winner. He’s certainly earned it. Not to take anything away from the other three in the final four, who have definitely come a long way, but they’ve taken the spots away from three others who are more deserving.

Neil now weighs 256 pounds, down 165 pounds from his starting weight of 421 pounds.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Biggest Loser 4 episode 15, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on NBC.

Bonus Episodes of The Hills This Spring

MTV is extending The Hills season 3 with 8 bonus episodes this spring, which will start with Lauren and Whitney’s adventures in Paris.

“MTV is giving the passionate fans of ‘The Hills’ what they deserve — an extended season to catch up on cast relationships and finally see Lauren realize a long-awaited dream,” said Tony DiSanto, EVP of Series Development & Programming, MTV. “The success of the series, both on air and online, has been tremendous and as it continues to grow, we look forward to taking this season into the new year.”

The Amazing Race 13 Official

Given the strength of the show this season, this was to be expected. CBS has picked up The Amazing Race for a 13th season. Due to the delayed premiere of season 12, however, it does not look like it will be back in time for the spring. They could certainly fill in some time in the summer like they used to, but it’s more likely that we’ll be seeing it again at the start of next fall.