Shane

I Hope You Like Reality TV

With the strike going on, the networks have a not so secret weapon: reality TV. Not only does it not require union writers, but it’s also dirt cheap to produce and will still score decent ratings. Now more than ever reality TV will be put to the test. The LA Times took a look at the upcoming reality lineup. (Note: both Fox and The CW plan to introduce additional shows, and some have suggested that The CW could use a prolonged strike in its favor to turn itself into an unscripted network.)

Fox

Returning:
American Idol
Don’t Forget the Lyrics
Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?

New:
Moment of Truth – Polygraph test with increasingly personal questions.
When Women Rule the World – Contestants will be brought to a remote location where women will rule and build their new society.

NBC

Returning:
The Singing Bee
1 Vs. 100
The Biggest Loser
Deal or No Deal
Celebrity Apprentice

New:
American Gladiators – Four men and four women gladiators take on contestants, with host Hulk Hogan.
Amne$ia – Contestants are asked questions from their own lives, with host Dennis Miller.
My Dad Is Better Than Your Dad – Dads will lead competing families in challenges.
Clash of the Choirs – Celebrity artists go back to their hometowns to assemble an amateur singing group of everyday people.
Baby Borrowers – Couples age 16-19 must be parents of a baby, toddler, then pre-teen.
Most Outrageous Moments – Clips show of funny TV moments.

Returning:
America’s Next Top Model
Beauty & The Geek
Pussycat Dolls 2: Girlicious

New:
Farmer Wants a Wife – A farmboy looks for the city girl of his dreams.
Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants – Mother-daughter teams work together to win a beauty pageant.

CBS

Returning:
Survivor
Big Brother
Power of 10

New:
Million Dollar Password – Modern Password show, with host Regis Philbin.
Do You Trust Me? – Asks strangers to wager how much they trust each other, with host Tucker Carlson.

ABC

Returning:
The Bachelor
Dancing with the Stars
Supernanny
Wife Swap
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

New:
Dance War: Bruno Vs. Carrie Ann – Dancing with the Stars spinoff.
Duel – Game show.
The Big Give – Giveaway from Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions.
Just for Laughs – Hidden camera show.
Here Come the Newlyweds – Newly married couples compete for cash.

Big Brother 9 in January?

When the strike began, rumor had it that Big Brother may return as early as March. Now, Entertainment Weekly is suggesting that it may return as early as late January. This is a perfect show in the event of a strike because not only do you not need to rely on union writers, but it’s also aired multiple times per week and could be used to fill in whatever gaps the schedule may have.

Reaper Episode 7

In Reaper episode 6, Andi and Sam made up and decided to just be friends.

Sam’s friends want to hook him up with a girl, since he’s supposedly trying to be just friends with Andi. Somehow, Sock’s dancing attracts a bunch of girls. Eventually, one of them, Taylor, sits down and kisses Sam. But because none of the guys will strip, they’re on their own again.

The vessel is an 8-track tape that’s the soundtrack to Love, Bullets, and Blacktop. Sam runs into Andi, who tells him to come over and play it in her dad’s old cassette player. While they’re talking, Taylor calls, but he doesn’t want to discuss it with Andi.

The Devil transports Sam to the scene of a car crash. A completely flattened car has no victims in it, since they just walked away. He doesn’t get into many details, except where Taylor’s erogenous zones are.

On the news, they see another wreck and decide it’s related. They get a tip from a new guy at work who they hate, Russell, where to find someone selling a car. Sam decides to play the 8-track to get attention, and it makes two people dance. Once the music stops, they’re able to get away, though. After falling off the roof of the building, they get up and drive away. I’ll go out on a limb and say those are the two souls they’re after.

Taylor stops by work looking for Sam and just so happens to bump into Andi there. Andi tells Sam she stopped by and that he should call her.

Ben and Sock decide to pretend to put Russell’s car up for sale to attract the souls.

The Devil says love just comes down to endorphins and genitalia and again tries to talk him into getting with Taylor, who’s a guest at the wedding the Devil takes him to. He reluctantly asks her out.

The bait works, and the souls come to get the car. Only the guy gets out of the car. He drives a tough bargain. He wants to actually get inside the car. That may be tough without keys. He figures out something’s wrong, but they manage to catch him. He says “See you at midnight.” His girl drives away before they can capture her.

They get Love, Bullets, and Blacktop, but it’s on beta. So it’s off to Russell’s house, which looks like the 70s threw up. He puts the movie in but wants to get high first. Before he can carry his plan through, however, Hollie, the female soul, crashes through the house in her car and grabs an 8-track tape.

Andi reveals a hideaway at work, complete with TV and refreshments, and she and Sam watch the movie there. He finds out Midnight’s actually the name of an auto body shop. When they get there, Hollie’s there waiting for them and looking for a fight. She’s upset that she can’t figure out how to get a soul out of a random tape that isn’t actually a vessel, so she threatens that she’ll torch the place and only one person will leave alive (Sock asks which one). Just as she’s ready to torture Sam, Sock starts singing the song from the movie, distracting her long enough for Sam to get the real tape and capture her.

Sam asks Taylor if it’s her thing to kiss random guys in bars. She tells him he doesn’t look like the kind of guy to make the first move. He starts mauling her but stops when she asks how he knew about her earlobe being the thing that can get her to do anything. Sam decides he doesn’t want to give up on true love, whether the Devil says it’s fake or not.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Reaper episode 8 The Cop, which airs Tuesday at 9/8c on The CW.

Beauty and the Geek 4 Episode 8

In Beauty and the Geek 4 Episode 6, Sam and Nicole won the challenge because Sam’s superhero, an underwear model who breakdances the bad guys, was on some planet allegedly considered a viable superhero worthy of winning a challenge. They sent best friends Natalie & John and Jesse & Erin to the elimination room, where Jesse & Erin were sent home.

John and Natalie return, and they’re not happy that their friends are gone.

Mike comes upstairs and pretends the game is evolving. But they’re just going to Mexico. Sam’s looking forward to learning the history of… spring break in Mexico.

Jen asked William if she’s fat, and he said yes. He eventually reveals that she reminds him of the kids in high school.

The beauties have to study the Mayans. As usual, Jasmine’s afraid because she knows, well, not much. But that turns out to be completely irrelevant since this challenge basically has nothing to do with the Mayans. It’s a memory game. They must remember symbols with their matching numbers and use them to crack the code. There is no running because it’s sacred ground, but they can walk as fast as they possibly can. I never did figure out where the line is between power walking and running myself. Jen says she can’t come up with a strategy. Sam guesses at the first treasure and gets it correct, with Natalie close behind, and then Jen. Sam gets his second box, with Natalie still close behind. Sam guesses again to get his third, and Natalie’s still on his tail. Sam wins the challenge by a few seconds, which means no revenge this week.

The geeks must learn salsa. Josh is happy because this is something he can actually use when he goes back to normal life. William’s afraid because salsa’s about passion, while he and his partner can’t get to anywhere not resembling hatred. Shay tries to get Joshua to feel sexy. Good luck with that. David shows he can do a roundoff double backhandspring. Then Jasmine kisses him. A drunk Natalie hits on Sam, which she says is strategy, but he’s not falling for it. I think.

Jen tries to convince William to let go of what happened in high school. She tells him she doesn’t have the personality of them, and he asks her if she’s kidding him.

They get new partners, and Jen, who’s allegedly so nice to William, is thrilled because it means she won’t have to dance with him. They’ll dance with experienced dancers. Jasmine tells David to not think. Easy for her to say, but he seems to really be listening to her. Nicole does a good job. David took Jasmine’s advice and did well. John, who we’re supposed to believe is a geek, has no problem getting down the passion aspect of it. Joshua comes in second. David is the winner.

The elimination will take place in Mexico. I thought this was another pointless twist until they revealed the next part. The two teams will be given 30 minutes to unanimously decide who to send home. They agree pretty quickly to keep Shay and Joshua. Sam wants to get rid of the threat. Nicole wants to get rid of the people who hate each other. Jasmine and David don’t seem to say much. In the end, Sam gets his way, and John and Natalie are sent home. Lame. I’m over William and Jen, and it sucks Natalie and John didn’t even get a chance to defend themselves.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Beauty and the Geek 4 episode 9, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW.

Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 11

You want to talk about your bad episodes? Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 10 saw the elimination of Hein, which was later followed by Dyke’s exit, which left me wondering who the heck to root for now.

Lorette wasn’t kidding when she said she would be willing to go after Mandla.

Grant’s continuing to get closer to Angie, which makes for his second (at least) useless/dangerous very close ally thus far.

Lorette gets upset when Angie takes food and cooks it for herself.

The reward challenge is a matter of balance, which seems more suitable to an immunity. Reward is a ski trip, in addition to a map with directions to an immunity idol. Okay, I was ready for a lame twist as much as the next guy, but hidden immunity idol sucks worse than any twist not created by Big Brother producers. The first stage of the competition is standing on a post on one foot. Angie’s out first, followed by her buddy Grant. The next stage is crossing a chain using a rope for support. Mandla crosses first, then Angela. Lastly, they get on a log, where Mandla outruns Angela to win reward. As if he needs a bigger target on his back, though the idol will definitely be nice to have.

It takes him a while to find the idol, but it doesn’t appear to be that difficult. He pretends he doesn’t have it, though.

Angela and Amanda approach Angie to again propose an alliance with her. The thing about Angie is that, while you can’t trust her at all, she is quite likely to jump ship. She says she wants to target Lorette. But then Angela comes up with a final three plan, with Mandla as the actual third.

Angie puts her plan into motion, working on Mandla and then Grant. Mandla’s annoyed with her, but Grant’s looking at taking someone everyone hates to the end.

After Lorette tells Amanda about Angie taking the tapioca for herself, Amanda tells Lorette about what Angie’s plans are, leaving out the part about how they were thrilled with the plan. Except with the food bit, which upsets everybody, now they’re not interested in that plan any more and want to get rid of Angie.

The immunity challenge is named simply: hold your breath. Angela’s out at 25 seconds. Amanda and Lorette are out at 50 seconds. Mandla’s out at 1:10. The final two are Angie and Grant. They must untie and release two buoys and return to shore. Angie releases her first buoy first, and Grant eventually ties it at 1. Angie gets her second buoy up and gets to shore to win immunity. Plans. Foiled. So now what?

Grant confronts Angie about the food, and her defense is that it was actually coconut, not tapioca. The only thing I know about tapioca is that it’s in pudding, so I don’t know what actually happened. So anyway, now Angie tells Grant she’s back on their side, since he told her they approached Lorette about targetting her. She ponders keeping that information to herself, but instead opts to ask Angela about it, who denies it, as does Amanda. Angie gets confused who to believe. Here’s a hint: don’t believe any of them. Later, Lorette and Angie discuss everything… with Amanda and Angela sitting right there in plain sight. Amanda views this as an opportunity to keep pot stirring. During this, Grant’s name comes up because he was an idiot and tried to make everybody else look like the bad guy without getting any actual facts.

Votes:
Angela
Angela
Grant
Grant
Angela
Angela

By a vote of 4-2, Angela has been voted off the island, as the alliance of 4 sticks together. Next time we’ll see if someone’s smart enough to realize 5 is a great chance to pull in a swing vote.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia episode 12, and don’t forget our Survivor: China coverage.

Heroes Season 2 Episode 7

In Heroes Season 2 Episode 6, Peter and Caitlin went to Montreal (leading up to a future that’s been destroyed), Claire and West got even with the head cheerleader for not letting Claire on the squad, and Kensei turned on Hiro after he found him kissing Yaeko.

Kensei reveals White Beard offered anything he wanted to capture Hiro, and he asked for half the country and Yaeko as his princess. She tells him she loves Hiro. Kensei says he’ll change history. Too late.

HRG calls Suresh asking about the paintings he’s found, one of which shows Suresh with a gun. Suresh warns that he’s been given a partner, who’s watching his every move. Then Noah burns the paintings.

Matt and Nathan show up at the Company to prevent Matt’s father Maury from killing Bob.

Peter’s screaming for someone, but nobody’s around since the whole city’s been evacuated. Caitlin asks him what he did. They’re jumped by men in biohazard suits who question whether they’re sick and take them away to be decontaminated.

West makes waffles and brings them to Claire, who suggests it’s rude for him to come over without being invited. He shows her the newspaper article where Debbie the drunk cheerleader claimed she saw a boy who could fly.

Bob offers to be bait to attract Maury. He then tells Suresh he’s the one who has to administer the virus to Maury, and it’s Parkman’s job to deal with his father, seeing as they have the same abilities, even if Matt’s are untapped.

Yaeko’s father blames himself for what’s happening, since he forged the guns. Hiro’s high, so he doesn’t look like he’ll be much help, but he does manage to use his powers to get them out of there.

Peter’s told he’s a dead man and brought his death certificate. Then they tell him Caitlin’s been deported because she’s a foreigner. The Shanti virus, which Suresh is dead set against giving to people, has killed 93% of the population, and the rest are quarantined.

Parkman goes to see Molly to apologize, and he notices a spike in brain activity when telling her he loves her.

Niki says she’s been cured and is now able to have a life, but she questions that when she sees her husband telling her it’s not true, thanks to Maury.

Nathan asks who Adam is, and Bob says he’s “complicated,” revealing that Adam’s the actual killer and Maury’s just the weapon. They locked him up and threw away the key, but he escaped two weeks ago. Nathan asks why he should care, and the response is because Peter’s still alive.

Peter’s greeted by his mom, who he doesn’t know. She tells him about his abilities and how he has a brother, or at least had one until the first outbreak. As they’re talking, he starts flashing back to his past and remembers everything.

Claire starts to break the truth to West, but she changes her mind. So of course the next thing we know her father walks in the door. West starts running because it’s the man who abducted him, and when Claire tells him it’s her father, he flies away because he thinks it’s a trap.

Hiro plans to destroy the guns, since that would make White Beard powerless. As for Kensei, Hiro thinks he’s still good inside. He’s greeted by Kensei as he’s working on destroying the guns. Despite being attacked by Kensei, Hiro still refuses to kill him. While they’re fighting, they accidentally set the place on fire. Hiro asks Kensei to go with him, but he doesn’t want to, so Hiro bails but must leave Kensei in the explosion.

Niki starts talking to herself again, as a result of another forced vision from Maury. DL tries to convince her the Company is evil, then Bob comes in and shoots him. Suresh tries to help her, but she just slams him across the room.

Bob informs Nathan they lost track of Peter. Then Niki starts bashing through walls and interrupts them, and she follows that up by injecting herself.

Parkman figures out how to use his abilities and traps his father, and in the process, he realizes he’s no longer scared of him. Doing this frees Molly from her nightmare.

Peter meets up with Caitlin and accidentally warps himself again when she asks him not to let them take her.

After the explosion has passed, Hiro picks up Kensei’s mask, knowing he killed him. Then he goes to Yaeko, who tells him he’s the real hero who did everything, but he tells her that they won’t end up together, as the story actually ended with Kensei cutting out his own heart to save her and his country. Now it’s time for Hiro to leave, but she promises to tell the tales of Kensei so he will have them in his childhood. He returns home to see Ando, who tells him it’s been months and there’s been no bomb, but that his father is dead.

While working on curing Niki, Suresh figures out that she’s got another strain of the virus, for which his blood is no longer a cure. Bob promises to keep Maury sedated and destroy the virus, then he shows him Claire’s file (her regenerative abilities are the key), to which he adds that her father is getting sloppy, emotional, and dangerous. So of course the response to this is that he’s been working with Noah to take down the Company.

Claire’s mom tells her father about West. He does a bit of snooping and finds the newspaper article about how she fell 50 feet to her death. When confronted about this, she tells him nobody actually believes he was at a copy conference. To end the discussion, he says it’s not safe there any more and that they’re leaving. Well, at least he thinks they are because she doesn’t plan to go with him.

Peter tries to figure out who Adam is, since he doesn’t know any Adam. In walks Kensei. Or should I say Adam?

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Heroes Season 2 episode 8 Four Months Ago, which airs Monday at 9/8c on NBC.

Watch Heroes Online

The Bachelor 11 Episode 7

On The Bachelor 11 Episode 6, Brad took the women home and met their families. Sheena’s mother was very welcoming, albeit a bit creepy and already planning a wedding. Jenni’s and DeAnna’s families were also very welcoming. Bettina’s family, however, disapproved of both him and her, and they refused to treat him with any indication of common decency. So, of course, at the end of the show, she survived, and he sent Sheena home instead.

They go to Cabo San Lucas. The first overnight date is with Jenni, and they start off by swimming with the dolphins. Jenni’s afraid to tell him how she feels because she doesn’t want to set herself up. He wants her to just be herself and say how she really feels, which is easy enough for him to say because at the end of the day he gets the girl, whichever one that may be. That night, they meet for dinner. He waits for the right moment to present the fantasy suite card, but she doesn’t want to wait and just comes right out with it and attacks him to grab the card. She thanks him for being the man she dreams about.

The next date is with Bettina. They start off sailing and swimming on a private beach. He says this is make or break for both of them… shouldn’t it be made already? She tells us she’s holding back because she’s scared. She pretends her family’s only concern was whether it was a two way street. We know better than that. They think he’s too low class for them. He asks about her moving to Austin, and she says she’ll do it without giving it a thought. When they head off to the fantasy suite, he thinks it feels a lot more comfortable and right, and he continues to be thrilled with how good she looks.

DeAnna’s up next, and they go racing on their date, where she beats him without trying. Unlike the other girls who are being more reserved, she tells him she’s falling in love. Brad tells us he can see a lifetime with DeAnna.

Roses:
Jenni
DeAnna

It’s the end of the road for Bettina. I wouldn’t have been completely surprised if he kept her around as a trophy, but it was obvious these two were doomed with that aside. She asks why, and he tells her he wonders if he knows who she really is. It’s a pretty good final two. Jenni’s been someone he’s liked all along, and if we discount the way she’s treated the other women this season, DeAnna’s not so bad.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Bachelor 11 episode 8, which airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Watch The Bachelor 11 Online

Prison Break Season 3 Episode 7

In Prison Break Season 3 episode 6, they continued to prepare for the breakout. Mahone accepted a plea agreement and got out of prison the old fashioned way. Lincoln finally had to tell Michael the truth about Sara, and we left off with him blaming Whistler and throwing down the chicken foot.

They are to return in 15 minutes for the chicken foot fight. This looks like the replacement distraction for the now cancelled soccer game.

Mahone’s on his way to meet with the special prosecutor, which is a “formality.” They promise him he’s got full immunity and that it will be over within the hour.

As I expected, the fight was just a setup. It’s a diversion to help them get out of there without being seen. Michael tells Whistler not to mention the name Sara again and says he’s going to kill whoever’s responsible for killing her.

Bellick asks whether it’s true about Sara and says he’s sorry and she was a good person.

Sucre’s sticking around, and this time he’s near the van where they’re holding LJ, preparing for the exchange.

As they’re breaking the bars off their windows, Whistler gets concerned that Mahone might rat them out. Mahone faces some complications, as some people are getting “cold feet.” He’s told he’s got no better choice unless someone else is offering a get out of Sona free card.

A few seconds after 3:13, the second guard is distracted by the glare they anticipated. As they’re trying to break out, though, they hear Sammy, who gets in and out fairly quickly, though he does hesitate. They hop out the window and climb down the rope ladder. Only problem is the weather’s not cooperating, and although Michael’s made it to the ground, Whistler’s still at the top when the clouds start to cover the glare.

They’re both forced to climb back up the ladder. The ladder gets stuck, so they stash it just as Sammy comes looking for them for the fight.

When they get into the yard, they tell Lechero it’s been a terrible mistake and that everything’s been settled. He doesn’t care and insists they settle it in a fight to the death. Finally, Whistler decides to punch Michael to get things started. The crowd’s unhappy with the quality of the fight, however, and one of the guys watching it throws something at Whistler to make things more interesting.

Sofia pulls a gun on Lincoln and tells him she can’t let him hand Whistler over.

Susan threatens LJ, but he’s not afraid because he knows she needs him. She says if it’s not over by today, she doesn’t need to bargain any more, though.

The second guard finally realizes his coworker is missing and radios down for a replacement. After some investigation, they find the rope ladder, which is now hanging out the window.

Then they sound the alarm and storm the prison. Now the fight’s over at least.

Susan calls Lincoln, who pretends they made it out safely.

They know one thing. The cell belongs to members of Lechero’s crew. So then they shoot one of his men at random. He follows this up by turning his attention to Lechero, blaming him for the escape attempt. He may have fooled the guards, but Scofield’s not fooling anyone inside the prison, as they know the only guy who would actually make an attempt like that.

Lang asks Mahone about the men he killed, and he suspects she’s setting him up.

Susan receives confirmation that the escape didn’t go down as planned. They pack up the van and take off. Lincoln tells Sucre not to let them leave. Sucre complies… and his car is hit at top speed. I won’t be surprised if he doesn’t survive the episode.

Lincoln drives up to the scene of the wreck. Susan and her buddy are injured. Lincoln shoots the driver and grabs her. The guy in the back has a gun to LJ, though. Susan tells Lincoln to go ahead and kill her, but he refuses to do so in order to save LJ. He asks for one more chance. She seems to accept and takes off, but they leave behind some body bags in their haste to leave. The good news is that Sucre is okay.

Sammy grabs Scofield and brings him in to see Lechero. Lechero asks a straightforward question: whether Michael’s trying to break out of the prison. Michael refuses to tell the truth, but because nobody trusts him any more, Lechero doesn’t kill Scofield. Instead, he tells him he’s breaking out, and he’s taking him along.

Mahone’s told he needs to wait until the next morning, but he demands that it needs to happen right now. He gets no cooperation.

Susan goes to the prison, where she meets with Whistler. He asks for four more days. We find out her real name is Gretchen.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Prison Break Season 3 episode 8 Bang and Burn, which airs Monday at 8/7c on Fox.

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