Shane

The Amazing Race Wins Another Emmy

In what is becoming an annual tradition, the Amazing Race won an Emmy for Outstanding Reality-competition program. This marks the fifth year in a row that the show has won this Emmy.

The Amazing Race came out ahead of Dancing with the Stars, Project Runway, Top Chef, and American Idol. Even if CBS wants to put it on the backburner and relegate it to midseason status, it’s still the subject of critical acclaim.

“We are so proud to win this again, it’s extraordinary,” said Bertram van Munster, creator and executive producer.

The Biggest Loser 4 Episode 1

I know I’m late with this, but I’ve got excuses. I think. Anyway, it’s time for season 4 of Biggest Loser. I’ve seen season 1 and bits and pieces of the other two, but it’s apparent there’s a big following already established here at this site, so I figured I’d get back into it and start recapping it. As reported previously, the big change this year is that Caroline Rhea has been replaced by Alison Sweeney, a younger, less heavier model. I liked Caroline Rhea, but I never did think she fit in too well with this show considering its theme. This season, there’s also a third team, the black team, led by Jillian Michaels, who returns after her hiatus last year. Bob Harper and Kim Lyons will be returning as well.

We start off in the desert with a lot of hills and sand and heat. Bob and Kim are flying overhead preparing to jump out of a plane. The weight loss starts here. It’s a race to get to them. The first person to catch Bob is the captain of the blue team; the first person to catch Kim is the captain of the red team. The captains will pick the teams, but they can only pick 5 each. The show pretends the other 6 will be going home, but we know better.

Gerry, at age 62 and the oldest contestant ever on Biggest Loser, was the first person to reach Bob. He doesn’t seem quite as out of shape as some of these people, even if he is a lot older. Ex-college football player Phil, 27, was the first person to reach Kim. Amber, 30, finished quite a ways behind everyone else, and once they realized she still hadn’t finished, everybody went out to greet and support her.

Blue Team:
Gerry, 62: 297 lbs
Kae, 27: 225 lbs
Neil, 25: 421 lbs
Patty, 34: 280 lbs
Nicole, 26: 279 lbs
Ryan, 29: 374 lbs
_____
1,876 lbs total

Red Team:
Phil, 27: 403 lbs
Bryan, 29: 346 lbs
Amber, 30: 295 lbs
Amy, 28: 297 lbs
David, 31: 368 lbs
Lezlye, 34: 255 lbs
_____
1,964 lbs total

So that leaves us with a black team of:
Bill, 40: 334 lbs
Hollie, 28: 255 lbs
Isabeau, 21: 298 lbs
Jez, 24: 345 lbs
Jim, 40: 361 lbs
Julie, 34: 218 lbs
_____
1,811 lbs total

As the bus is leaving, it passes a motorcycle going the other way. Now it’s time to break the news to the people and end their agony of being rejected, as Jillian’s back. She will train the black team in secret for a week and a half before they enter the game.

After the weigh in, we go back to Jillian in the desert, and she’s as hardcore as ever. Nothing like working out in the heat of a desert. Pretty primitive workout environment, utilizing tires and sandbags, but it’ll definitely get results. Isabeau falls apart on the hill, which Jillian is displeased with, but she doesn’t quit.

Bob has his first workout in the gym. Everybody says it’s tough, but there are no clear slipups. Kim has her team working out in the yard. Amber, who had so much trouble with the first task, breaks down crying and says she doesn’t want to be there any more. She’s lucky she got a sweet trainer like Kim. If she got Jillian, she would have gotten smacked upside the head. Kim works with Amber to get her to finish.

Next, it’s time to tackle the diet. Bob suggests gum instead of candy bars and emphasizes protein at every meal. Kim’s philosophy is about balance, with carbs, protein, and fat at every meal and snack. They then blindfold their teams and lead them into a room with the lights off. As the lights go on, they reveal on tables what everybody eats in a week, a shocking reality check to all the contestants.

Before the next challenge, everybody must get the amount of luggage across the finish line that equals the weight they hope to lose. Seems like a pretty arbitrary way to pick a task, as anybody who shoots high is gonna have a lot to carry. Ah, but there’s a catch. The luggage will be onboard a plane, which weighs 21 tons, and the players must drag it after loading their luggage. As a reward, letters from home will be waiting at the finish line for the winning team. Blue team comes up with a good strategy of having a couple of the players who are likely to run/carry slower just load the plane. Red team catches on to this but not before giving the blue team a lead. Red team, however, comes up with a much better strategy for towing the plane. Phil lines up like the anchor in tug-of-war, while two of the women get down by the wheels and turn the wheels. Red team wins by a good margin.

The first weigh in:

Red Team:
Bryan: 331 lbs (-15)
Lezlye: 246 lbs (-9)
Amy: 287 lbs (-10)
David: 348 lbs (-20)
Amber: 288 lbs (-7)
Phil: 377 lbs (-26)
Total: -87 lbs (4.43%)

Blue Team:
Patty: 267 lbs (-13)
Ryan: 359 lbs (-15)
Nicole: 271 lbs (-8)
Neil: 399 lbs (-22)
Kae: 205 (-20)
Gerry: 266 lbs (-31)
Total: -109 lbs (5.81%)

Awesome job by Kae. Down 9%, easily doubling, if not tripling the percentage of most others. Being that she is the smallest, if she keeps this up, though, she won’t last very long. With her numbers, it became pretty obvious the blue team would win. But to make it a complete blowout, Gerry steps up there and puts up over a 10% loss, and his 31 pound weight loss is a new record. As the smallest guy, he faces the same potential early elimination.

Phil, with a 26 pound (6.5%) weight loss, is the biggest loser for the red team, so he’s safe. Amber’s boot’s a pretty safe prediction here. With that said, the whole group immediately turns on her for lack of drive and repeated talk of quitting. Of course, regardless of what she may have done or not done, it ultimately came down to the other team doing so ridiculously well that they weren’t winning whether she lost another few more pounds or not.

Lezlye: Amber
Amber: Lezlye
Amy: Amber
David: Amber
Phil: Amber

As expected, Amber has been eliminated. Since that time, Amber has continued on the right path, and she has lost a total of 65 pounds and is now down from a size 28 to a size 18. Her goal by the finale is to be a size 10.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Biggest Loser 4 Episode 2, which airs Tuesday at 8/7c on NBC.

Prison Break Season 3 Episode 1

At the conclusion of the second season of Prison Break, Lincoln Burrows was set free, but Michael Scofield found himself back behind bars in Panama. We know he’s gonna break out. It’s just a question of when and how. Some of you may have already watched the first 17 minutes of tonight’s episode online, but either way, there’s still a lot of ground to cover.

The show starts in the middle of a mass of unruly bodies. Lincoln is talking to a night clerk about his brother being innocent and informs him he’s being held in Sona. He informs Link that Sona is the worst of the worst, the guards left a year ago because of a riot, that the government doesn’t get involved, and what goes in doesn’t come out unless it’s dead. Back to the mass of bodies, we see a fight and an ensuing death, where the victim’s body is just left where it falls. The counsellor in the morning requests a move to a facility that’s more moderate.

Lincoln asks about the money, which unsurprisingly seems to have disappeared. He is advised that Michael will be free but still face charges in the US.

Bellick looks rather pitiful. He asks for a mess hall and some water and tells the wrong person to bite him. He’s told to drink the muddy water, which gets stomped in his face. He is befriended by a prisoner who doesn’t have very good news about what life is like there.

Alex Mahone is in there with them, and he’s feeling guilty but to make matters worse, also out of pills. He wants to work with Michael, but the thought of working with the man who killed his father doesn’t sit well with him.

Link visits Michael in Sona. His question after finding he’ll be transferred is about Sara Tancredi, but we know Sara’s not returning.

Michael is informed that it’s orientation time, which he’s not interested in but is informed he doesn’t have a choice. The man who arranges this orientation seems to be very much in charge of the place. He’s well aware of the prison break. When he approaches the guy standing next to Alex, the guy proceeds to pee his pants, receiving a reaction of having his ass kicked, to which Scofield responds, “I think he gets the message,” completely unafraid of the guy attempting to intimidate everyone.

And in walks T-Bag. The gang’s all here, and it’s unlikely any of them will be pleased to see this guy.

Michael receives an offer from an attorney “of sorts” of assistance to breakout once he gets past the wall. He promptly walks away. He’s then attacked by a guy who accuses him of stealing from him, and upon checking his area, it’s realized that he did, or at least that’s what someone wants everybody to think.

The prisoner who was Bellick’s friend, if there is such a thing in a place like this, finally gets fed up with the conditions of not being able to eat anything and jumps out the window and proceeds to run. He is shot and killed, a clear sign of how they treat people who attempt to escape. This is about the only involvement the government has in this place.

A woman matching Sara’s description has been found… at the morgue. Lincoln goes there and confirms it’s not her. I don’t think they’ll kill her off just yet. They’ll probably at least leave the window open.

Michael is told there’s a system in Sona and that he’d better adhere to it, a system where they must fight to resolve their disputes. He then tells the man who thinks he’s in charge that he knows he set him up because he’s the only one with a problem with him.

Link gets a call from his son LJ, who just so happens to be in Panama, too. He says he got his number from Sara.

Before the fight, Alex offers some advice: fight dirty and go for the kneecap. These two will be on the same team eventually, perhaps starting now. When the fight begins, Scofield yells he’s not going to fight, then follows it up by going for the kneecap, making quick work of his opponent. He attempts to turn around but is told that only one man leaves alive.

Michael knocks him down again and tries to walk away again. At this point, a knife is thrown in from the crowd. Mahone jumps into the fight because Michael was about to be stabbed from behind, and he obviously has no problem killing the guy, justifying his interference by saying that weapons are against the rules.

Outside the gate, a woman screams that she wants to bury the dead men. Earlier, Bellick was forced underground, where he met a man (James Whistler) who asked him to help him out in exchange for food. He handed him a cryptic message that was stuffed in one of the dead man’s pockets. As it turned out, the man looking for help is the one Scofield was approached about earlier, and he has to stay in prison to break him out (big surprise) because LJ and Sara have been kidnapped as leverage.

This was a great to start to what I expect to be another great season.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Prison Break Season 3 episode 2, which airs Monday at 8/7c on Fox.

Watch Prison Break Online!

Big Brother 8 Episode 32

Warning: Tonight’s show has the potential to be one of the worst, most irritating shows in the history of Big Brother. This is CBS’ attempt to convince us their storyline was great. Dick/Danielle fans may love it. Anyone else, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Just in case anyone still cares, welcome to another live blog of Big Brother 8. It’s a recap episode, so basically a way to waste time. We get to take a look back at the season with one of the more horrendous final twos in the show’s history. Great. An hour with Delusional and his daughter, More Delusional (and whiny). And she’ll probably still be whining, despite her place in the finals.

We start off with her day one supposedly not having talked to him for two years because he loaned her money once or something. Back when she didn’t want to even hug him. At least now she pretends she wants to hug him. Then three weeks later, she gets upset with him and storms off. Then the next day, more whining and crying. Oh god. This show’s going to suck worse than I originally anticipated.

Now we’re looking back at day 74 and the HOH competition. This was last week. Why do we need to see this crap again? It didn’t work to convince us the season was fair the first time, and it’s not working tonight.

Good. We’re done with that garbage. Now a look back at something that’s somewhat more interesting. Starting with Dick attacking Jen. He’s going to be pissed off when he gets out of the house and realizes he personally made Jen one of the more popular houseguests. I’ve got bad news for you, Dick. Jen actually talks to her father, and is far less self centered than Danielle.

Next, the moment CBS considers pure gold: Dick’s “brilliant” attempt to get himself so hated that he gets kicked out of the house. Wouldn’t it have been smarter to just wait for veto, then go off on everybody after it was over? Nope, not Dick. Act first, think later… maybe.

Then it’s time for some more prayer with Jameka and Amber, followed by Dick mocking their religion and lots of aruging. Yeah, because this wasn’t uncomfortable enough to watch the first time.

And of course, this recap show wouldn’t be complete without Danielle’s “love interest,” the guy she knew for like three weeks, Nick. This is as ridiculous as Janelle and Michael, which lasted all of about two minutes once they got out of the house and realized not only did they not love each other… they didn’t even like each other. Does anybody honestly care about Danielle and Nick? I see more hope in the Jessica/Eric relationship, so the look back at these two is not quite as nauseating.

Then we go back to when everybody hated Jen, when she cried about her picture on the wall. Hey, CBS, you forgot that the currently #1 houseguest on your popularity poll is Zach, though that’s largely in protest of the final two. Don’t forget to try to make us hate him, too. The crying over the picture is followed by when people started to really like Jen, when Dick dumped iced tea on her head, then when she got revenge by destroying his cigarettes, and when CBS allowed him to get away with burning her and physically intimidating her.

Did we need to see an Amber crying montage and her delusion over being a model, of course, followed by her going insane and pretending Eric is evil?

50 minutes into the show, we finally get something not bitter, hateful, and mean-spirited. Zach streaking, Eric dressing in Jessica’s clothing, Jen and Eric wrestling, various fun veto competitions (since HOH is never fun). After that, Dick and Danielle start planning their trip to Europe, and Danielle makes sure she says they won’t be going together, also emphasizing that if she wins, he ain’t getting any of it. Yeah, great reunion. About three minutes of being positive. Could there possibly be a worse final two in this respect, too? Nick notwithstanding, these two hate and have absolutely no use for anybody else in the house, including each other.

Well, that wraps up a particularly pointless episode. Why didn’t they just reveal the winner tonight? Speaking of the winner, I will be doing a live blog of the finale on Tuesday… again, just in case anybody cares.

Next Survivor to be Survivor All Stars 2?

There’s been buzz about a second Survivor All Stars since the first one ended, and that has been gaining steam lately since it’s been a few years since the last one. The first one was season 8, so it’s only natural that they would do one for season 16, which would be the one after Survivor: China.

Nothing’s official and probably won’t be until December or January, though no doubt a cast list would be leaked prior to that, but Reality TV World reports that Jeff Probst told reporters that “We’re going into our sixteenth season, it wouldn’t be a bad idea.” This follows Probst’s comments in May that the show is “due” for a second all star season.

“The only thing I can say is that I’ve come around to understanding that even though the All-Stars we did was a pain-in-the-ass from a production point of view, it was one of our best seasons,” Probst said. “And it was our best season because we had our best people back. I get that.”

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying that the original Survivor All Stars was a huge success. The premiere to 33.54 million viewers was the highest rated Survivor since the season 2 finale and the second highest rated premiere other than Outback, the average viewers of 21.49 million is third all time (behind seasons 1 and 2), and the 28 million people who tuned in to watch Rob propose to Amber was similarly highly ranked for a reunion show. Not to mention that CBS has been able to milk Romber for all it’s worth since then, very successfully in the case of The Amazing Race 7. Since All Stars, ratings have slowly eroded, to a series low of just shy of 15 million viewers in Fiji (still good enough to be a top 20 show, though).

Is the show just getting old, now in its 8th year? Are attempts to “ethnically diversify,” which seems to not be the case in Survivor: China, the least diverse cast since season 12, just neither working to keep old viewers nor draw new viewers? Are people tired of the complete lack of strategy lately? Does everyone just think Exile Island is stupid (which it is, but thankfully they’re killing that concept for China, to be replaced by the reward winners being allowed to kidnap a member of the losing tribe until the next immunity challenge, which is a concept that I do like)? Have competing networks finally found something to crack Survivor’s stranglehold on Thursdays at 8PM? Whatever the case, based on the performance of the last one, an All Stars 2 may be just the shot in the arm this thing needs to keep going.

Update: as annouced during the Survivor: China finale, this season will actually feature half lifelong fans and half former players. It will be Fans Vs. Favorites.

Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 4

In Survivor South Africa Malaysia episode 3, lazy Lisa dodged yet another bullet, as her former ally Viwe was eliminated. Hopefully the other side realizes they still have the numbers to dump her. Granted, I think she can wait. I’d much rather see the other tribe lose so that Elsie, one of the most obnoxious reality contestants ever, gets the boot. Speaking of the other tribe, we also saw Survivor history when Hein made fire without anything manmade.

Angela states the obvious: Hein and Dyke are the only ones doing any work on the tribe. Elsie, aside from being obnoxious, is also the laziest. Nichal fishes in the morning, but that’s about it. Both Angela and Rijesh complain about Amanda being lazy.

Rijesh believes he’s being a puppetmaster, and nobody’s noticing. Oh, they’re noticing alright. This guy’s way too transparent. Grant doesn’t want anybody to know he’s an attorney, a wise move to make. He’s a much less transparent puppetmaster.

The reward challenge is called the fish bucket. Tribes must select two people to get in their canoes and paddle to the raft. One person will get off the canoe and start loading fish, then they paddle back to shore, where someone else will unload the fish. The person unloading the fish must throw it to the next person down the line until it gets to the scale to reach 25 kilos, with multiple trips if necessary. Bajau selects Hein and Dyke as can be expected. Iban selects Irshaad and Mandla. Iban seems more fit, but the Bajau team seems better. The reward is a harpoon, mask, flippers, snorkel, and rice. Bajau is offered flint because they never got it, but they already know they don’t want flint. What if their fire goes out, though? It could take days to remake it. I’m surprised that, since they made fire on their own, they don’t just automatically get flint. Elsie sits out for Bajau. Iban heads off into the middle of nowhere in their canoe, giving Bajau a big lead. Iban finally gets to the raft, then Irshaad promptly floats away after Mandla starts loading fish. There isn’t any suspense here at all. Bajau wins before Irshaad even makes it back to the raft. Additionally, Bajau is rewarded with the two biggest fish from their haul.

The tribe blames Irshaad for the loss. They probably would have lost either way, but blaming Irshaad is very convenient. Irshaad says he thought nobody knew how to paddle, and if somebody else knew, they should have spoken up. Lisa pretends that everybody thought he knew how to paddle (based on what?).

Not surprisingly, Dyke is familiar with all the fishing gear they won, which will allow him to work even harder at providing. He does share his knowledge with the rest of the tribe. Let’s see if they use it.

Angela, who doesn’t trust Rijesh any more than anyone else, makes an alliance with Rijesh and Nichal. She knows up front she will probably need to break this alliance and is willing to do so, which she foolishly openly tells Rijesh. Just play along and pretend you’re with him. She then quickly relays to Amanda that Rijesh will be targetting Amanda, who is also on to the fact that Rijesh is playing too hard. Everybody, finally, is now realizing that it was stupid to even discuss getting rid of Hein or Dyke, so now it will become a matter of who can position themselves better in their eyes.

The tribes get a communique before immunity, one which sounds like a tribe shuffle. Somebody always gets screwed by this, while somebody else normally gets helped. Either way, Dyke and Hein will be hugely valuable (and hopefully still on the same tribe), while Lisa and Elsie will still be useless (and for the sake of everybody else, hopefully not on the same tribe).

At the immunity challenge, the tribes must line up on opposite ends of a bar and will be pushing against each other. At the challenge, everybody must remove their buffs and put them in bags, men in one bag and women in another. The new tribes are…

Iban:
Irshaad
Angie
Rijesh (previously Bajau)
Amanda (previously Bajau)
Elsie (previously Bajau, and not hiding the fact that she’s pissed off about moving)
Dyke (previously Bajau)

Bajau:
Angela
Nichal
Hein
Lisa (previously Iban)
Lorette (previously Iban)
Mandla (previously Iban)
Grant (previously Iban)

First the bad news. Both Lisa and Elsie are in the majority numbers on their new tribes, which means both have good potential to be kept around for the numbers. I didn’t like seeing the Dyke/Hein split up, as they made a good team, but it could prove beneficial if both are able to establish relationships with their new tribes. Lorette is unlikely to be as useful as she was on her old tribe, but I suspect she’ll hit it off with Hein as his new coworker. While Dyke is safe, he’s safe with three people I doubt he has any use for. Grant will continue to stick up for Lisa, but the third member of that alliance, Angie, got screwed, as she’s now in the position of being one of the easiest choices to boot.

Angela sits out for Bajau. She got screwed, too. I sense her as the first boot unless she can somehow weasel Nichal out of there. I don’t see the other tribe breaking up, regardless of how useless Lisa is. The losing tribe will go straight to tribal council, which means no plotting. I can’t decide if this is lame or not, but we will get an honest vote that may give whoever’s in the minority a shot at shaking things up.

This challenge is all about brute strength. Following the shuffle, it’s clear Bajau has the advantage. The tribes were well balanced before the shuffle, but now it’s just a ridiculous mismatch. They just completely bulldoze over Iban. And in a challenge that looks like it was designed by the producers of Big Brother, the way they’re shoving, it’s pretty clear there’s serious danger of something going wrong… which it does. In the replay, we see that Elsie, who was in the middle, for whatever reason decides to run to the side. In the process, her hand gets crushed by the huge wooden bar. Mark’s at least not afraid to jump right in and lend a hand to prevent it from getting worse than it could have been.

When they get to Bajau, the former members of Iban are completely blown away. Life is much different on this side of the island. It’s like when people went to Chapera in Survivor All Stars. Fire, good shelter, extra food, and on and on.

As they walk to tribal council, it’s obvious Elsie’s injuries (one hand, other arm, back) will make her useless (moreso than she was already). She won’t be able to effectively participate in any challenges. Even if they do vote her out (or if she’s forced to leave for medical reasons), the old Bajau tribe will still be up 3-2, though new Bajau will be up 7-5 in total numbers, and it’s primarily composed of ex-Iban members. Ultimateily, though, if new Bajau continues to steamroll over Iban in challenges and Iban just gets rid of ex-Iban members, we could be looking at strong numbers for ex-Bajau post-merge. Before going to tribal council, they figure out that they can’t sit Elsie out of challenges any more. That’s about all it will take to get Dyke to turn, and the others will follow if they’re smart. At tribal council, Elsie says if she was in their position, she would vote out the injured person. Is she trying to get them to send her home?

It’s time to vote:
Elsie
Angie
Elsie
Elsie

5-1 Elsie’s gone. Wouldn’t have happened without the injury. I suppose it would be more politically correct to feel sorry for her, and while she wasn’t too bad this episode, based on her actions (and mostly her big mouth) in prior episodes, I say good riddance.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of Survivor South Africa: Malaysia Episode 5.

Bionic Woman Episode 1

Bionic Woman is a “reimagining” of the 1970s TV show where a woman has bionic strength. We start off with soldiers walking through a bloodbath. They come upon a woman (who we half an hour in learn is named Sarah Corvis, played by Katee Sackhoff, best known as Captain Kara “Starbuck” Thrace in Battlestar Galactica) bent over a mutilated body. She says she didn’t want to and is out of control, then asks the head soldier (Jay, played by Will Yun Lee) to tell him he loves her, she lunges at him, and he shoots her. He then tells her he loves her.

It’s three years later at a bar in San Francisco, and we then shift to an apartment. Why we went from that to this wasn’t made apparent until much later in the episode. Becca Sommers (played by Lucy Hale) and her college aged sister Jaime (played by Michelle Ryan, best known as Zoe in EastEnders, a British soap opera) get into a typical teenager/parent argument, with the exception that for whatever reason it’s about Becca having a court order against using a computer hooked up to the Internet, which Becca conceals by hiding it out the window. On the way to school, they get into an argument about their father, who disappeared and left Becca to be raised by her sister.

Jaime sneaks into her college class late, and they coincidentally enough happen to be discussing people enhancing their bodies through medical means. But she’s dating the professor, Will, who says he’s with her because she’s different and unplanned by his father. Upon meeting him for a date, she leaves her sister with her friends, essentially babysitters.

At dinner, Will asks her to go to Paris with him, and she lets him know she’s pregnant. He asks her to marry him, which makes perfect sense since they’ve been dating all of 5 months, 14 days. While driving home, he’s trying to pick out baby names… and then out of nowhere here comes the car crash we’ve been waiting for. As it turns out, the wreck wasn’t exactly what you would call accidental. Out of the car steps Sarah. Jaime’s still conscious but seriously injured and in need of massive reconstructive surgery. As luck would have it, her boyfriend is a doctor with the capability to give her bionic powers.

Afterwards, the military group responsible for the project calls a meeting to decide what to do with the “subject.” The concept of killing her is brought up, as is making her combat ready, to which Will is obviously opposed. In the meantime, they hold her captive, hoping she won’t realize they can’t possibly hold her captive. While evaluating her, they see she draws Sarah, who they thought they killed three years ago. Will helps Jaime to escape, and on the way home, she realizes just what she can do. Her initial reaction is freaking out, but she decides to accept it and test herself by jumping from one rooftop to the next.

Will is displeased when compared to his father. Jay later visits his father (Anthony Anthros, played by Mark Sheppard) in the slammer 1000 feet underground, in an attempt to figure out how Sarah’s still alive. He’s apparently unable to get a useful answer.

Sarah stops by the bar and makes sure Jaime knows she knows who she is and what she’s capable of. Upon leaving the bar, Jaime makes quick work of a thug who pulls a knife on her, stopping just short of killing him. Tough chicks kick ass. She doesn’t think so, though, and is afraid that she fought him without having control over what she was doing until she managed to stop herself.

She goes to see Will to find out what he knows, mentions the name Sarah Corvis, and immediately after, Will gets shot by Sarah, who seems tough until she sees Jay and takes off. Jaime chases after her and finds out that Sarah was the first bionic woman, who is slowly replacing her weak human parts. A tough chick fight ensues. Jaime starts off getting her ass kicked but eventually gets into the groove and dishes as well as she got.

At the end of the episode, after being threatened by Jonas Bledsoe (played by Miguel Ferrer, Dr. Garret Macy on Crossing Jordan), who’s apparently the head of this whole operation, her response is, “If we do this, whatever this is, we do it on my terms. If that’s not okay with you, I know what I’m capable of now, so you send whoever you send, and I’ll bury one guy after the next.”

We then close things off with Anthony getting out of jail.

So what did I think? The first episode, attempting to establish the basis for a story line, was at times all over the place and hard to follow. Not a particulary thrilling start, but this looks like it’s worth watching, so I look forward to seeing what the future episodes have in store.

Bionic Woman premieres on NBC Wednesday September 26th at 9/8c, but thanks to Amazon Unbox, the pilot is available to watch online for free. To download it, go to Amazon Unbox, select the Bionic Woman Pilot, and choose to buy the episode for $0.00. After that, it will take you to the download screen. You just need an Amazon account and to be located in the US.

Big Brother 8 Episode 31

In episode 30, Danielle won veto, sending Jameka home, which brought us to a final HOH competition with the final three: Dick, Danielle, and Zach.

2 and a half hours into the competition, Dick continues his “brilliant” strategy of attempting to knock people off their game in competitions, which he and Danielle spent a long time plotting. He screams and shouts at Zach, yelling various insults at him, for what Julie later reveals was hours. Putz. Zach initially stays quiet. He then proceeds cracking up at Dick and mocking him, completely unphased.

As expected, the cold water played a role, like it did in season 3. Danielle is shivering and falls off first. Dick is also shivering, and Zach eventually starts as well. By this time, the lame rabbit has broken (gee, another poorly designed competition), so it’s all about freezing them down.

At the 7 hour 32 minute mark, Dick quits, and Zach wins part one of the HOH competition. At least we get another “touching” father/daughter moment. Too bad we know these two still don’t like each other very much. Zach is pleased he managed to finally break Dick, who was rather pitiful following the competition.

Neither Dick nor Danielle are particularly confident in their ability to answer questions for round three, which are largely luck anyway, so they decide to just both try their hardest because it doesn’t matter which one wins. In part two, the players must grab puzzle pieces from a tank and connect the HOH order in another tank. The HOH order part is pretty easy if they’ve studied at all, so the biggest part of it is being able to hold their breath. Danielle finished in 24:09. Dick finished in 12:48. Danielle proceeds to whine some more.

So it’s going to be Dick up against Zach in the final part of the competition to determine who wins HOH and decides who to take to the final two. If Dick wins, it’s Danielle. If Zach wins, it’ll probably be Dick.

An upset jury is greeted by Jameka, when all were hoping for one of the Donatos. When discussing Eric and Jessica, Dustin says the walls are thin. The jury seemed to like Zach’s nomination speech.

It’s time for the final part of the final HOH competition, which as usual is about questions asked to the jury.

Amber: The moment in the house that irritated me the most was: when Jen cried about her picture. Dick is correct.
Jen: The strongest competitor in the house was: Jen. Both are incorrect.
Jameka: The fatal error I made in the house was: not looking out for myself earlier. Both are correct.
Dustin: The most shocking moment in the house was when: Amber went off on Eric. Both are incorrect.
Eric: The funniest moment in the house this summer was: when Jameka told Dick that his mama was a bitch. Both are correct.
Jessica: The person whose gameplay I respected most was: Jessica. Both are incorrect.

Dick wins the final HOH 3-2. Congrats, CBS. You got what you wanted. The “estranged” father and daughter have been “reunited.” Does it even matter which of these two wins? I’ll tune in on Tuesday, but it’s kind of like watching Maggie take on Ivette (only worse, since those two were at least the dominant players their season). No doubt the jury will feel the same. The only even likely vote at this point is America’s, as America will most likely vote for Dick. Beyond that, it’s tough to say. People hate Dick, but they’re not much more fond of Danielle.

Dick insults Zach in his final comments to him, telling him he’s in for a surprise when he gets out. He’s lucky Zach probably won’t take it personal, but this is just another fine example of Dick’s genius at work. Then again, Danielle’s not much better and tells him he hurt her feelings.

Oh god. It gets worse. Not only is Eric’s final vote forced on him by America, but he must also campaign for that person in the jury house. This twist has sucked since it was announced. Let it die already. At least let the guy who was in the house for 3 months cast his own vote for once. Of course, I wouldn’t expect that. In the event Zach did win this final HOH, they had to give whoever he took with him another unfair chance at winning.

And we close the show off with the most delusional statement of the season: Dick believes he and Danielle are better than Will/Boogie and Jason/Danielle.

Sunday’s show will be jury questions. Tuesday’s show will be the winner announcement.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Big Brother 8 episode 32, which airs Sunday at 8/7c on CBS.