Survivor Week 11- His Mind Wasn't On the Game

Colby Donaldson- "I didn't even see what happened. I was watching Treasure Island."

And that, in a nutshell, has been Colby's game this season. He has had no idea what has been going on the entire time. He's on a reward retreat in which everyone and their sister is talking about finding the hidden immunity idol clue that has to be in the house, and he's chilling out watching a movie. Amanda was sitting there on the bed completely miserable because she couldn't stop thinking about where the clue could be. Danielle is sneaking her newly found clue underneath the bed so that the other two didn't notice she had it. And Colby is like, "Ladies! Come on! I'm trying to watch this flick!"

After Amanda realized Danielle was hiding it, she went over to the other side of the bed, found the clue and started running away. The two girls literally started wrestling over the clue (ye-ye-cat fight) and when the girls asked him to intervene and say who gets to keep the clue, his response was, "I didn't even see what happened. I was watching Treasure Island." Wow you quit on this game ever since you're boy Tom left.

What are the rules about a situation like that? Are there any, written or unwritten? Should Danielle get to keep it because she found it first? Or does Amanda have the right to take it because Danielle foolishly left it lying on the floor? I personally think that if it is out in the open it is up for grabs. There is no stealing it off of someone's person, but if it's out there, it's out there.

Back at camp Danielle ended up showing the clue to Russell and Parvati and of course Russell found the idol. He's so mad at Parvati for not show him her last one that he's taking it to the Heroes side and showing Candice. Any thing to gain a new ally huh Russ? Well it worked, but not really for the right reasons. Candice ended up voting with the Villains, but only because she had to.

Candice was telling Russell she was with him, but also staying with the Heroes and their plan to get out Russell. Their plan that came from Sandra, the Villain on the outs. She decided to flip in order to oust the self-proclaimed King. The problem the Heroes ran into was that Candice is not savvy enough to pull something like this off. When Russell asked her who the Heroes were gunning for, she said it was him.

That crucial mistake made for a domino effect of thoughts that led to Candice and Sandra having to vote out Amanda. The Heroes + Sandra now figured that Russell had it in his mind that the Villains' idol would be played on Russell to save himself (which it was). So they decided to vote out Parvati, because no one has mentioned her as a target recently. The problem with that plan for Candice and Sandra is that sure a conniving Villain will be gone, but it won't be the one that the two ladies pledged their allegiance to. With Russell still in the game, and him knowing Candice and Sandra double-crossed him, it would be too risky. By switching back over to the Villains camp, and eliminating Amanda, these two have plenty of more time to figure out their next move.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W11 (56), Idol found (10), Idol misuse (-10)= 56
Danielle (Villains)- W11 (56), Reward (4)= 60
Sandra (Villains)- W11 (56)= 56
JT (Heroes)
Tom (Heroes)
Week 11= 172 Total= 1,035

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W11 (56), Votes (-12)= 44
Colby (Heroes)- W11 (56), Reward (4)= 60
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W11 (56)= 56
Week 11= 160 Total= 904

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W11 (56), Immunity (20)= 76
Rupert (Heroes)- W11 (56)= 56
Amanda (Heroes)- Reward (4), Votes (-24)= -20
Week 11= 112 Total= 773

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)
Courtney (Villains)
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Total= 164

Fantasy Idol Results- Checked Out

Blah, blah, blah. Siobhan is out. Aaron Kelly was not bottom three? Larry is running away with the fantasy title. Adam Lambert, Jason Castro and Blake Lewis aren't walking through that door. I've checked out on this show.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Bottom 3 (-10), Safe (46)= 36
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban
Lee DeWyze- Safe (46)= 46
Week 10= 82 Total= 371

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Safe (46)= 46
John Park
Week 10= 46 Total= 183

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (46)= 46
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 10= 46 Total= 167

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynche- Bottom 3 (-10), Safe (46)= 36
Week 10= 36 Total= 149

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Bottom 3 (-10), Eliminated (-20)= -30
Week 10= -30 Total= 92

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Total= 19

Treme- Play Trumpet, Get High and BBQ

And now with a special guest review of HBO's Treme, here are T-Time's thoughts...

I'm not going to be coy. After two episodes, I love this show. I know there is a camp that “has faith in Simon.” That's not me, I've never seen The Wire. While the show admittedly hits several of my buttons, it hooked me from the beginning with characters. Well, characters and music.


While the cast has shown to be fairly well-rounded, several have already made a solid impression. A lot has been said about Steve Zahn's character already. I'm apparently in the minority in that I like him and he has many of the best lines, but I don't feel he is the most intriguing. John Goodman's Creighton is incredible, with his on-point rants about FEMA and the failing priorities of higher education. Antoine is among my favorites as well, with his embarrassment at playing on Bourbon and his tumultuous relationship with LaDonna. The best performance so far has been Albert, who has shown a few different sides, from his determination to rebuild to his savage beatdown of the tool thief. The best scene of the second episode was the ending, where Albert resumed Indian practice with just one other guy.


The real star so far has been the music. I'm not a big New Orleans music guy, but the breadth of music coming from the city over the past century is unrivaled. From jazz to Dr John, and The Meters to Mystikal, there is plenty to work with. Moreover, using the music-ingrained-in-the-show approach was the right move. Many of the best scenes have involved live music, from the aforementioned Indian practice, to Davis blaring out his neighbors with Shake Ya Ass, the Second Line parade and of course the montage to Louis Prima, supplied by Davis on the radio.


As someone that has has never seen The Wire, I am impressed that Simon could transition so well to what must surely be a completely different type of show, moving from a crime drama to a character-based drama heavily reliant on music. On the other hand, I can see how the setup used in Treme would be appropriate for a drama like The Wire. Simon spends the first two episodes of Treme introducing us to a large ensemble of characters. In a crime drama, we would be meeting police officers and drug dealers. An underlying tension would be provided by the knowledge that these two factions must eventually collide. This is not the case in Treme and I can see where this might worry people. So where is this going? No events are on the horizon, the major “event” is actually in the past. And while the aftermath of Katrina may provide drama in a variety of ways, it is not likely to pit characters against each other the way the drug war pitted cops against dealers. This is likely going to be a different kind of show, whether or not America accepts that. We don't know where this drama as going at all, if it even goes anywhere. I'm not so sure it has to. When Davis asks Kermit if he all he ever wants to do is play trumpet, get high and barbecue in New Orleans, Kermit responds, “That'll work.” And I believe in a television drama, that'll work for me too.

Tim's fantasy football opinions can be found over at Solomons Lines and can be followed on Twitter @SolomonsLines.

90210- Splashing the Pot

Dixon Wilson- "Have a seat. It'll be a pleasure to take your money."

It's lines like this from the Brandon Walsh equivalent of the new 90210 that got me all riled up and ready to write a scathing review. I wanted to talk about how the show wasn't good at being bad a la Las Vegas. In a similar poker game setting, the main character in that show (the legendary Danny McCoy) acted all high and mighty pretending to know about poker. The genius was in the fact that he was making fun of people like Dixon who think they know what they're doing and come off like an idiot.

My mindset changed after the new semi-villain Mark makes a bet worth more money than Dixon has at the table. As in any poker seen on tv, the character doesn't have that much money. Instead of figuring out that you should only bet up to the amount that the other person has in a friendly game like this, Dixon asks if he can have a marker (again acting like he's some sort of professional) and says he's good for it. Oh what a surprise the jerk won with a four of a kind. The key was that his execution in the scene was great. He grabbed my attention and made the whole thing feel current and actually like something that would happen in real life.

"Unless...wait, do four queens...beat a full house?" in such a snarky and sarcastic yet subtle tone that it reminded me of something one of my buddies would say back in 2005 when poker was in vogue. This guy came and just showed how terrible Tristan Wilds is.

The combination of Mark coming back into focus and Naomi's evil sister Jen entering the picture at the back end of this episode make the future of 90210 a little more interesting. These villains and vixens are exactly what the show was missing in the recent episodes. All of the characters are too similar, and too good. They're all good kids and that just makes for bad television.

Line of the night

Teddy Montgomery- "If I wanna play professional tennis, I have to do it now."
-Yeah especially since you're a 30 year old high school student! There's no telling how many years those knees have left!

American Idol- Hit The Snooze

Ellen DeGeneres- "This is gonna be tough, because everyone is doing well."

I could not disagree more with the woman who tried to use Shania Twain in a terrible train joke twice in one episode. Nobody did well tonight. The only one who didn't embarrass himself this week was Lee DeWyze, whose lackluster You're Still the One was much worse than his past three performances. Lackluster or not, Lee was the only one who didn't have me falling asleep or covering my ears.

Big Mike Lynche had me snoozing a la Lil Rounds. Thank God the director is so bad that he pans the crowd more than the contestant during performances, because he aren't relegated to watching Big Mike's cheesy looks for an entire minute and thirty seconds.

Is it really cold on stage because Casey James seems to be shivering like a mother when he holds long notes...oh that's just his horrible vibrato? Oh yeah I forgot.

Crystal Bowersox was just fine and dandy tonight. But when you portray a certain amount of awesomeness throughout the first nine weeks of a season, and then come up with a boring song at top six, I'm not gonna be happy with it. Did Seacrest really say that Shania Twain "has really white teeth!" right in front of MamaSox? That is a slap in the face if I've ever heard one. Yo Ryan recognize your surroundings. Also on Ms. Boxershorts. Stop talking back to the judges! It was at first a nice confidence, but is now becoming Siobhan-esque and whiny. Take any and all criticism and do your thing. Do not come up with excuses or reasons for what you did!

Oh boy Aaron Kelly. This kid is basically little dude you would find at your run of the mill high school musical. He has no talent but puts on this facade that he has a big voice. The judges week after week have to compliment him, and the rest of these jokes, so that they don't look like complete idiots for not getting any good talent to the finals.

Siobhan Magnus reverted back to her old, terrible self tonight and of course the judges loved it. When she gets in her "zone" she is like a little fat kid that is put in a race. He walks the first 90% of it and then sprints at the end so the parents will clap for him. She goes blah blah blah for the whole song and then screams out a couple of lines at the end that had me running for the other room. This was garbage.

Rizzo quit watching Idol a couple weeks ago, Jaydon tweeted last night that he might be following suit, and JJ said that he'd rather sit in a dark room and think about the season three finale of LOST than watch that sorry excuse for an Idol episode. If I didn't have so many issues I might jump on this bandwagon and stop watching Idol. I have to see this out to the end though. I really hope Idol falls apart when X-Factor comes around. Hopefully they can make some changes that have me excited to watch a singing competition again.

I still can't believe nobody sang Man I Feel Like Some Christmas!

Performance Rankings

1. Lee DeWyze
2. Crystal Bowersox
3. Wow this is pathetic, Casey James
4. Yikes really? Michael Lynche
5. Terrible, Siobhan Magnus
6. As always, Aaron Kelly

Chuck- What the M Stands For

Captain Awesome- "Babe, this didn't happen by accident."

The last time we all watched Chuck, we were reveling in the moment of Chuck saving the day and getting the girl. We come back after a short hiatus to Chuck Season 3.1 and we are exactly where we left off. That is, with Chuck and Sarah simply enjoying each others' company without the worries of the spy world they're planning on leaving behind.

When there is a major change in the main relationship of a show, you can sometimes run into problems. Because these two have been in a fake relationship for so long, this real one doesn't make the series feel all that different. We still got all the silliness, suspense and action we come to expect from an episode of Chuck.

Other than Sarah's act of continually disrobing, Morgan was the star of this week's ep. He has proven to be as good if not better than Chuck was as the spy helper with nerdy knowledge. The way he showed Casey what was what in Castle was fantastic. The CIA needs M Grimes. After all, who else was gonna know that Chuck wasn't gonna leave without picking up the latest Justice League comic book?

We also got a good bit of Ellie and Awesome in our Chuck return. Ellie was just getting hammered and Awesome had the great line, "Babe, this didn't happen by accident" when Ellie ponders why he packed dumbbells in his luggage.

Since the season 3.0 semi-finale was too action packed to fit in an appearance by Jeffster, we were treated to a fantastic performance this week. As Lester said, "Tonight Jeffster goes unplugged" and chugged a bottle of limejuice, I got excited. I don't know what was better, the actual performance of Leaving on a Jetplane, or the glasses Jeff was wearing during it.

Very nice return, and happy that the show seems to work no matter what the different situations the characters find themselves in.

Breaking Bad- Walt Whispers

Jesse Pinkman- "This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed...bitch!"

Last week I complained about the fact that Walt and Jesse continued to be apart. This week I was extremely happy to get the two guys back together, if only for ten minutes. To watch the two guys combining wits again as they fought off an angry DEA agent was like we were back in the saddle again.

After Hank is reminded by his wife that Walt had some sort of relationship with Pinkman, the owner of the meth-lab of an RV Hank is after, the phone call is made. In that phone call both sides of the conversation are great. Both Hank's remorse for having to drag his brother-in-law into something so terrible by asking if Jesse ever said anything about and RV, and Walt's inability to even respond to Hank when prompted was classic. Obviously Walt had so many things running through his head at that moment that he might not have even been able to speak (what does Hank know? what can I do to stop this? when can I get some more of that delicious coffee from my lab assistant?).

It was what that convo led to that made this such a great episode. Walt made his way to the RV and was ready to get rid of it. How was he dumb enough to not tell Brandon to shut his mouth and DON'T CALL JESSE ABOUT THIS? Of course Brandon letting Jesse know that Heisenberg was all up in the RV's business forced Cap'n Cook to make his way to the junkyard and reunite with his favorite chemistry teacher. Too bad for the ex-partners in crime, Hank was on Jesse's tail the entire way.

Have you ever been more scared than when Walt and Jesse closed the shades and Hank snooped around the outside of the RV? Could Hank found out about Walt at this point in the series? I guess not, but I still thought it was possible at the time. Luckily Crazy Karl came in to save the day. After enjoying some delicious Triscut crackers in his car, Karl questioned Hank on whether or not what he was doing was legal. He had no warrant or probable cause claimed Billy Madison's friend. Hank continued to pry before Walt started relaying his words to Jesse in order to get Hank off their backs. Mr. White whispered to Jesse, "this is my private domicile and I won't be harassed." Of course in fantastic Pinkman fashion, Jesse fits it to suit his style, "This is my own private domicile and I will not be harassed...Bitch!" Great stuff.

In a last ditch effort, Walt calls in a favor to Saul. Hank leaves the premises after Saul's secretary tells him that Marie was badly injured in a car accident. It was a big risk by Walter. Is this something that Hank will realize had to come from someone that knows him? Will he know someone is involved that knows his family? Or will he chalk it up to good research done by somebody else entirely?

A couple other things of note. It was so pleasant watching Walt get dressed for his new job and make himself some lunch with the upbeat music playing in the background. He then made his way to his new meth lab where he found his new lab assistant. His new partner in crime was a man of similar ilk to Walt. A normal chemistry-loving man. "It is all still magic. The chemistry," the lab assistant tells Walt. And Walt agrees. The next sequence of the two of them having so much fun cooking their meth was awesome. Great energy and again great score backing them up.

After completely studding out in the cold open, the Two Suits finally spoke at the end of the episode, and lost a lot of cool points in my book. Again with no words, and without walking faster than Anton Chigurh, the Two Suits mirked some cop in Mexico in fine fashion. The One Suit stood with an apple in his hand, while the other Suit came around the back of the cop and chopped him down to size with a giant axe. The first Suit took a big bite into his apple as if he were Mike Dutton coaching a basketball game and the other one handled things. They finally become a couple of chatter boxes when Gus Chiggins tells them that they still are not allowed to kill Walt. They are, on the other hand, allowed to kill the DEA agent who shot Tuco, Hank Schrader. Cue next episode.

One more thing. Where would you rather go to eat some chicken...Los Pollos or Mr. Cluck's?

Catching Up- Dexter Season 3

I started catching up on Dexter because of the awards that both Michael C. Hall and John Lithgow won for season four. I thought that it had to be pretty good with all of the accolades that these two were bringing in. After just finishing up season three of the Showtime drama, I'm wondering how much better Lithgow can be than Jimmy Smits was as the special guest actor. Because after a step backward in season two, the main premise of the third season was right back on the level of the first 12 episodes because of the outstanding work of Smits.

Spoilers Below

Smits was introduced as Miguel Prado, the Assistant District Attorney for Miami. His brother was killed early on in the season (accidentally by Dexter) and he was on a warpath to bring the murderer to justice. When he is out following a lead, Miguel finds Dexter scurrying about after just doing his thing. Miguel realizes what Dexter did and it was all gravy from there.

Miguel figures out that Dexter is some sort of vigilante justice seeker, who kills the bad guys that the police and lawyers can't put away. He immediately wants in. This part of Miguel was an absolute love for me. He's a regular guy that wants to see the bad guys go down, and he's not afraid to tell Dexter that he's okay with how he deals with it. As long as the bad guys are gone. Miguel likes to have a few brews with Dex, cook some steaks, and talk about how they're cleaning up the streets. The fact that he seems so much like a real human being, in comparison to Dexter, makes him so much easier to relate to.

My feeling on Dexter at this point is that he is a hero. I've gotten much more sympathetic towards the character as we've gone on. As long as he sticks to the code of only killing those that kill the innocent, he's a hero in my book. Even when a friend that gets him like Miguel goes awry, he has to take care of business, and I was okay with that.

Miguel turned a corner for me when he went out and killed his rival lawyer because she got bad guys off the hook in court. Me and Dexter definitely saw eye to eye on this. She didn't deserve to die, and for that reason, Miguel did. Sure it was a fun ride watching the inner-destruction of Miguel as the season winded down, but that doesn't mean I enjoyed seeing Dexter finish him off.

The whole season had a real superhero movie feel to it. This new character is introduced early as a good guy and an ally. He sidles up to our favorite superhero and gets on his good side. Boom both the hero and the audience realize that this guy isn't exactly who we thought he was and is in fact the true villain of the story. The hero then has to take out his new found friend before he gets killed or worse, outed for who he really is.

Other Points

- Overall it probably wasn't as good as season one, because it didn't have two awesome stories going at once. The origin story of Dexter's childhood in the first season has been tough to live up to.

- Both Deb and LaGuerta are growing on me. Deb's dirty mouth has become kind of awesome as of late and LaGuerta's ability to bend some of the rules and soften up to her co-workers has made her more enjoyable.

- Looking forward to seeing where Lithgow fits into season four.

Survivor Week 10- Powerful Parvati

Everyone should just sit back and be happy that JT's terrible move last week ended in fine fashion one episode later. He gave the only thing of value in this game to someone on the other team on the fact that he trusted him after shaking hands a few times. Thank you Russell (and mainly Parvati) for getting rid of him for this astronomically big mistake.

On this week's B.S. Report with Bill Simmons, he chatted with his buddy Dave Jacoby about reality tv. During their Survivor chat they agreed that the contestants know exactly who is going home about 90% of the time at tribal council. This was definitely one of those 10% occasions. Parvati had a good feeling it was going to be either Jerri or Sandra that the Heroes were voting out, so she gave each of them a hidden immunity idol. But why those two? What would make her pick those two to try and save?

We saw a couple of the Heroes mentioning that they'd like to pull the switcheroo on Jerri or Sandra, but this never got around to Parvati. All we saw was Parvati getting straight up lied to by Amanda. Of course Parvati saw right through her, but still didn't know what the Heroes actual plan was. Was she just guessing? Or did she have her reasons to believe they were gunning for one of the two old ladies? The end result seemed like a genius move by Parvati, but I wanna know how she came to that decision.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W10 (46)= 46
Danielle (Villains)- W10 (46), Im (20)= 66
Sandra (Villains)- W10 (46)= 46
JT (Heroes)- Votes (-20)= -20
Tom (Heroes)
Week 10= 138 Total= 863

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W10 (46), Idol use (20), Idol misuse (-10)= 56
Colby (Heroes)- W10 (46)= 46
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W10 (46)= 46
Week 10= 148 Total= 744

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W10 (46), Votes (-20)= 26
Rupert (Heroes)- W10 (46)= 46
Amanda (Heroes)- W10 (46)= 46
Week 10= 118 Total= 661

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)
Courtney (Villains)
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Total= 164

Fantasy Idol Results- 20 Minutes Past My DVR

Somewhere in what I imagine is a glorious office with numerous tvs and dvrs surrounding him, Alan Sepinwall is cursing out the director of American Idol to no end. If there's one person out there that can't stand when Idol goes over its allotted time more than me, its Sepinwall. I set my dvr to record five minutes after 10:00 just in case these people had major mistakes that would go longer than they're usual one to two minute overage. You really could have colored me surprised when my dvr ran out and they still had 21 minutes to go, a whole performance, and then the results left!

Screw you Idol director for making me fast forward through almost the entirety of this pointless episode, and then you took away the joy of seeing another sad sap contestant go home. There were six guest performances that I got to see, because the DVR ran out before Sir Elton John got on stage. The only ones I didn't fast forward through? Carrie Underwood and the second half of Alicia Keys.

Black Eyed Peas are really really bad.

@HitFixDaniel tweeted that "Joss Stone would probably be able to win "American Idol." Just sayin'" so I watched the first 20 seconds before fast forwarding through that terrible rendition of I Put a Spell On You.

Once I heard that Alicia Keys was doing Empire State of Mind I got excited. After the first 10 seconds of garbage I fast forwarded to the NYC anthem and enjoyed.

Carrie Underwood was good and very attractive.

I was actually laughing at Wanda Sykes' take on the Idol results show. There are some inherent comedic qualities to the episode week in and week out. She hit them all. I never thought I'd find a single thing she said funny, but she was given great material here..."Let's take a look back at happier times when you thought you were goin' somewhere."

Some blonde lady started singing with a montage going on behind her. I think it might have been either Carol or Brandy from the team of lesbians on The Amazing Race.

And just before my DVR ran out Mary J Blige, with her blonde bowl cut tried to do Stairway to Heaven with her "all-star band". After failing for the first 30 seconds, I fast forwarded through the rest.

Oh yeah and Tim Urban left us tonight.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Bottom 3 (-9), Safe (37)= 28
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Bottom 3 (-9), Eliminated (-18)= -27
Lee DeWyze- Safe (37)= 37
Week 9= 38 Total= 289

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Bottom 3 (-9), Safe (37)= 28
John Park
Week 9= 28 Total= 137

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (37)= 37
Week 9= 37 Total= 122

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (37)= 37
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 9= 37 Total= 121

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynch- Safe (37)= 37
Week 9= 37 Total= 113

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Total= 19

LOST- All Hands On Deck

Jack Shephard- "Maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay."

I usually do all my writing before I read anyone else's ideas on an episode, but after seeing Larry tweet "Lots of walking around the island tonight on LOST...when's chuck back?" I figured I'd look around the blogoshpere to see if I was in the minority in thinking that last night's LOST was fantastic television. I made sure not to check out those with LOST biases (Doc Jensen at EW and Ryan McGee at Zap2It) and still everyone seemed to be on the same page as me. Alan Sepinwall from the Star Ledger, Kristin Dos Santos at E! and everyone in between had nothing but good things to say about last night's The Last Recruit.

And why not? We got one of those LOST episodes that didn't focus on just one character, but gave us a little bit of everyone. On both the Island, and the sideways world, all of our favorite characters were reuniting in one way or another. All the relationships that we hadn't seen for a while (Hurley and Claire, Jack and Sawyer to name a couple) were brought back to us and gave us a chance think about everything these people have been through together.

Sure there was a lot of walking around the island, but there was also swimming and sailing. And does that mean that nothing really happened? No. We start up where we left off. With the reunion of Jack and unLocke. "Hello Jack, I was hoping you'd come back...I think we have some catching up to do" the Man In Black says. Jack goes with him to have a chat and the good doctor continues his journey to being an enjoyable character. He starts asking the MIB questions.

Jack- "My third day here I chased my father through the jungle...my dead father...was that you?
MIB- "Yes that was me."

UnLocke claims that he did all of those things to help him and the people on the Island. In this case it was because Jack needed to find water in the jungle. Do we believe the Man In Black or is he just trying to get Dr. Shephard on his side? But at least we know that the MIB has been taking on the shapes of many of the figments we've seen over the years.

Meanwhile over in sideways universe all of our favorites are meeting up. Sun, Locke, Ben and Jack all end up in the hospital together. What did Sun recognize when she saw Locke in the stretcher next to her? Did she have her memory moment? Did she remember him as the Man In Black? When Jack was about to start his surgery he recognized Locke as well, but this was probably because of the convo they had at the airport right? Not all of their Island history.

Sideways Jack also found out that Claire is his sister when Desmond pushes her to see his attorney Ilana. We also get Sawyer and Kate with a whole mess of chemistry at the police station and then Sawyer and Miles taking down Sayid to bring him downtown. Aren't all of these interchanges just awesome to watch?

Back in Island world the Man In Black comes up with a plan to bring every one over to Hydra Island to battle Widmore. My man James Ford has other ideas. He has decided to get the heck out of this place with Jack, Kate, Hugo, Sun and "that pilot that looks like he stepped off the set of some Burt Reynolds movie" (Sawyer's words not mine). Why no Sayid or Claire? Because they've always been terrible characters? True but not the reason. They've gone over to the dark side Sawyer explains to Hurley. Hugo, the pop-culture fan that he is, explains that you can come back, like Anakin.

Of course Claire has to follow the group of studs and ruin everything. Kate convinces her to come with them, against Sawyer's wishes. Oh well. But who comes up big as a huge stud once again this ep? Jacko. He is just chilling on the end of the boat pondering to himself about the big picture of life ya know? Sawyer confronts him and Jack realizes that this whole plan is wrong. And I agree with him totally.

Like I said before, why would Sawyer's mighty plan be to leave the Island. They've already left the Island. That's not gonna change anything. Jack's right in that "The Island's not done with us yet." The Man In Black is trying to get everyone to leave, so why would you leave? You all know that he is a bad dude. As Jack said, "Maybe he's afraid of what happens if we stay." Exactly. The old man of science has become the man of faith and it shows once again that he may be the man to take Jacob's place.

American Idol- Cry, Cry, Crystal

Simon Cowell- "This may have been a step too high this week, in terms of actually believing in the perormance...having said that, you have improved over the weeks."

It seems that Simon decided to pay a bit of homage to Larry David after new broke today that Curb Your Enthusiasm will return for an eighth season in 2011. Nice work Simon. Other notes on the judges: Kara needs to stop using metaphors. Ellen is getting better since she started coming up with jokes before the show starts. I don't think Randy knows a single thing about music.

Tonight was inspirational songs week, and unlike the judges and many others, I'm not going to goo and gush over how moving Crystal Bowersox's performance was. Her People Get Ready was the best of the night sure, but is that saying much? There are only two other contestants that should make a normal season's top 24. MamaSox starting acapella was quite a moment but what was absolutely shocking to me was that she cried during her performance! The funny thing is that if a lesser contestant would have done that, they would've been killed for it. Since Boxershorts is the only commodity Idol has right now, she was commended for it. Brilliant.

The other two that deserve to make an Idol semifinals. Lee DeWyze and Siobhan Magnus both had good performances tonight. Seriously how much better would Simon and DeWyze been than Simon and Garfunkel. Garfunkel might not have been able to cover Sam Cooke during the third season of Saturday Night Live, but Lee sure as heck could cover Garfunkel here. Was I the only one surprised that the judges killed Siobhan's When You Believe? I thought she killed it without throwing in a ridiculous scream and the falsetto was pumpin'. Why do they always let Siobhan babble after her performance. This is the main reason for going over the alotted time every week.

Everyone else was bad. Casey James was better than last week if only because the vibrato died down. He seems to run out of breath while standing still, which is never a good thing. Tim Urban, for the first time in a couple of weeks, was completely over powered by this Goo Goo Dolls song. Aaron Kelly. Oh boy. I'm so tired of talking about how much I hate him. I think JJ said it best when he tweeted "my performance of I Believe I Can Fly at Pleasure Island was better than Aaron Kelly's", but that may have been 'cause he took his shirt off. For the first time ever, Michael 'Will Kieffer' Lynche had a bunch of bum notes. That combined with his corniness will get him knocked out of the competition this week.

My Performance Rankings

1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Lee DeWyze
3. Siobhan Magnus
4. Casey James
5. Tim Urban
6. Michael Lynche
7. Aaron Kelly

24- Jack's Crying Game

It's been a long time since I've written about 24, mainly because this season has been so bad, but a couple of developments from the past two episodes have made my typing fingers itchy.

We got ourselves another silent clock with the death of Renee Walker. Other than the first one ever, I always seem to get a little sad when the clock is silent. It's the realization that another main character has left us. The first one ever was, of course, the death of Teri Bauer. I was so happy to see that terribly annoying character gone that I had no way of feeling sorry for Jacky B. As I look back on it, maybe it would've been worth having to see Teri through the years if it meant that Jack wouldn't turn into a sad sack over every new girl he finds.

I really love watching Jack Bauer torture people, scream at the top of his lungs, chase down terrorists and everything else that makes him the baddest dude on the planet. But what I don't love is when he becomes a sappy sad sack. If I want to see an action star with a sensitive side, I'm gonna break out the tissues and turn on an episode of Chuck.

He had his wife of so many years die in his arms, and since then it's been Kate Warner, Claudia Hernandez, Audrey Raines, Diane Huxley and most recently Renee Walker. I mean I'm all for Jack being a ladies man, but why does he have to act like a pathetic sap when they get shot, go mentally insane or go back to Texas? I'm not saying there should be only one woman for every man, but there is no way he should be crying over six different women in eight seasons? Give me a break Jack.

Our favorite criminal President has returned. This was the first thing to get me excited about this season. An older, more doubly chinned Charles Logan is back to help with the U.S./Russia relationship. Sure he committed treason as the President of the United States, helping terrorists enact a terrible crime on his own country, but the good people of America could always use his help right? Awesome. He's up to no good an I love every second of it. Take that woman President down a few notches. Show her how we really do things in the oval office.

And finally Dana Walsh. It's incredible how 24 can change the appearance of a character after we find out who they really are. Although I couldn't stand a second of her in the early going, I still found Dana Walsh dumb and unassuming; not evil. Now that the audience has been let in on the secret that she is dirty and was a mole for the terrorists she just looks like pure evil every time she's on screen. Is it just that I'm looking for it now? Or does she has an evil scowl on her face 24/7 at this point?

Still not a great season so far. Let's see if Logan, and hopefully an improvement from Cole Ortiz, can pick things back up down the home stretch.

Treme- The City, The Music and Steve Zahn

Davis McAlary- "Now where the f*ck am I gonna eat breakfast?"

Treme is the highly anticipated New Orleans drama from the mind of The Wire creator David Simon. I have yet to watch The Wire, but I couldn't help but have really high expectations for the second creation from the guy who everyone seems to think made the best television show in the history of the world. Through a long series premier, and now the second episode, I'm a bit disappointed. I know it is just a drama, and therefore won't have the added plot intrigue of a LOST or Breaking Bad, but that doesn't mean I can't be disappointed in that.

The things that work great so far are the city, the music and Steve Zahn. New Orleans is a fantastic background, and like How to Make it in America does with New York, Treme really uses the city as a character. If you went into this with no knowledge, at no point are you wondering where it takes place. It's as much about New Orleans as it is about any of the characters.

The music that comes with New Orleans is also great. Everything from the opening credits, to Louis Prima's Buona Sera at the midpoint of the premier. From the authentic music jazz you get by the characters in the show, to the southern hip hop that Davis blasts form his window to annoy his neighbors. The city is so rich in music that it can not help but play a huge role in the show.

Even a legend like Elvis Costello has decided to take part in the project, appearing in each of the first two episodes. He has taken an integral in two great moments so far this season. In the premier he was merely watching the local band, as Steve Zahn's Davis tried to talk to him. It led to this gem from Davis who was quite terrified to be talking to Costello, "I taught him everything he knows...about Keynesian economics." In this week's episode Costello was working with a band in the studio and came up with 101 excuses not to join them for a night on the town. My favorite was when he tried to use tea and toast to get out of it.

Steve Zahn's Davis McAlary has easily been the best character in the show so far. He's so cynical and against the man of New Orleans, and so gung-ho about the history and local flavor of New Orleans. We've had only two episodes thus far and he's been fired from two jobs. The first, a local disc jockey position, came to an end when a legend of a guitar player sacrificed a chicken in the studio. "Ladies and gentlemen. Live chicken in the studio." The second, a bell hop at a hotel, came to an end when he started telling the tourists to go random sketchy places in the city. He couldn't help himself from letting these people see the real New Orleans, not just what the hotel wants the tourists to see. The anguish on his face when he started that job was fantastic. Even after he was fired, he told the tourists about the best breakfast place in town, only to realize "Now where the f*ck am I gonna eat breakfast?"

Sure I like John Goodman's character and the trombone guy who can't find a job, but Zahn has won me over early. Early on in the series it just seems like everyone is just living life. Sure they have problems and they need to work through things, but there's nothing that puts this show over the edge for me early on. I'm sure it will suck me in with some sort of twist as it moves along, but for now I'm in for the city, the music and Steve Zahn.

Breaking Bad- Walt's In. Jesse's Out.

Walter White- "I'm in. You're out."

Breaking Bad has used different types of story telling structures throughout its first three seasons. They've done flash forwards of scenes we would see down the road. They've done flashbacks to moments far back in the history of the characters' lives. This week we started the episode with a flash back to a time period that we knew very well. A new way of executing great story telling. They used both 1)old footage that we had already seen (Walt with a full head of hair giving Jesse a bunch of money to buy an RV) and 2)new scenes that we had not scene before (Jesse and Combo stealing the RV from his mom and living it up at the strip club). After the cold open ended and the opening credits began to roll, I knew it was all going to come back to Hank finding out about that same story one way or another.

It took a heck of a lot of stuff in the middle of the episode before we saw Hank take a look at the picture of Combo, Jesse and a stripper. Hank is now on Jesse's tail and seems to be the beginning of the end for our favorite meth cooking duo (of course something will trip Hank up).

But Walt and Jesse aren't much of a duo at this point, which both saddens me and detracts a bit from the show. I know you can't do the same thing over and over again, but the buddy buddy give and take between Walt and Jesse are what made the show good in the early going. With Walt going nutso selfish with is meth and kicking Jesse out of the meth scene by way of Gus Chiggins, we are forced to deal with the two of them separately.

Sure they're both great characters on their own, but no where near as good as together. Jesse giving it to Walt over the phone was fantastic. He has gotten back to his old self. We had lost him to depression for the first few episodes of this season and he was not nearly as enjoyable to watch. The amped up, ready to brawl Jesse is the Jesse I learned to love in season one.

Meanwhile, Walt on his own was good only because he slowly but surely was lured back into the meth game. Thanks to Gus Chiggins pronouncement that, "A man provides...And he does it even if he's not appreciated...or respected...or even loved. He simply bears up and does it because he's a man." After that Walt went home, signed the divorce papers and figuratively put his apron back on. His showdown with Jesse at Saul's office (where he let Jesse know that he was back in the game) "I'm in. You're out" was both chilling and a sad state of affairs on the relationship of Walt and Jesse.

Seven Restaurants In Seven Nights

Recently I spent seven days in the great south region of our United States. I was much too busy hanging out at Disney hotels, going to the beach and playing outdoor basketball to watch any tv (hence why I am so far behind on many shows now that I'm back in the cold northeast). What I did do while I was on my seven day vacation was go out to dinner at seven different restaurants. I'm taking a break from writing about television this weekend to blog about every fat kid's second greatest passion, food.

My Top Seven Restaurants on Vacation

7. Sonic- Savannah, GA
Jayj and I drove from the Happiest Place on Earth to Savannah on Friday. Once we finished the four hour trip, and stopped at the outlets in St. Augustine to check out the Tommy Bahama gear, we were as hungry as cats. A quick trip to everybody's favorite Drive In hit the spot. I love my chicken toaster sandwich as much as the next guy, but the good people at Sonic were way to skimpy on my tots, and JJ's fries, to get anything but last place.

6. Tubby's Tank House- Savannah, GA
On our last night in Savannah JJ, the parents and I hit up Tubby's Tank House right on the river in Savannah. Although Jayj insisted that they let me eat free because the restaurant was named after me, we had no such luck. The chicken salad sandwich was great and the live music was a bonus, but the second floor deck right on the river made everything a bit too chilly for my liking.

5. Seven Bridges- Jacksonville, FL
A somewhat ale house type establishment right outside Jacksonville. We hit it up on my last night down south before getting on a plane early Wednesday morning. It was good food and good service. Well excellent and terrific if you were to ask our waiter. Really? Does every response have to be such a hyperbole? We're just eating a normal meal here. The hickory burger hit the spot, but not enough in the surrounding area to get me excited.

4. Fudruckers- Savannah, GA
I had been hearing stories of the famous Fudrucker burger from T-time and JJ for quite some time. It was definitely going to be hard to live up to. I hadn't been to one since I was like eight, so there wasn't much to remember. Much more than fast food, but a bit less than a sit down restaurant, Fudruckers was solid but not much more. The burger was great, but i did have to put on my own accouterments.

3. ESPN Club- Lake Buena Vista, FL
I have been to this ESPN Club so many times that it feels like a second home. That is exactly why I won the bet with Case the Base that it was not ESPN Zone. Anyway Disney's Boardwalk as the atmosphere, a perfect buffalo chicken sandwich, and the gigantic flat screen all made for a fantastic experience. Our annoying waitress didn't help its cause of getting the title on this list though.

2. Moon River- Savannah, GA
My first experience in downtown Savannah was accompanied by a visit to Moon River, the city's only microbrewery. The pub atmosphere was nice, the bacon burger was great, but it was everything else that came with the great downtown Savannah that gets Moon River runner-up status. You can't beat that first time walking into the River Street Sweets and picking up your free sample praline and then walking right out.

1. Earl of Sandwich- Lake Buena Vista, FL
Sure it had the added bonus of being in Downtown Disney on my first night of vacation, but the real reason Earl of Sandwich gets my best dinner of the week is because of who was accompanying me. During my last trip to Disney, The Bonz, Jon the Bon and myself thought it would be a nice place to eat. Of course JJ and T-time couldn't eat there because they hated sandwiches. The argument went on from there...Everything from how can you 'hate sandwiches'? That's such a broad generalization. To what is actually a sandwich? Does it have to be a deli sandwich? Could a hamburger be a sandwich? What makes a chicken sandwich a sandwich?

Either way I found out recently that JJ decided to eat at Earl of Sandwich in February while he was at ESPN The Weekend. He scarfed down a meatball sandwich. His main motivation for eating at the Downtown Disney hot spot? To watch Mike Greenberg eat dinner. Well that might be a stretch. Either way he was eating at a place that he threw a hissy fit about us eating at less than a year earlier. When I sat down with my Hawaiian BBQ Chicken and watched him take down their Meatballs! it brought a great joy to my soul. Especially when I snapped a pic of him in the act and put it on Twitter for all my 34 followers to see.

Survivor Week 9- Take My Idol, Please

Russell Hantz- "Now I don't even have to find idols...People are actually giving me idols."

Was this entire episode just a dream? Or did I witness the most ridiculous move in the history of mankind? You're a member of the Heroes tribe. If you win the final immunity challenge you go into the merge at an even five to five against the Villains. Instead of taking your chances against what you think is an "all girl alliance" of five, you hand over the most coveted commodity on Survivor? Yes JT's plan, which was eventually enacted with only one slight questioning by Amanda, was to give Russell his hidden immunity idol so that he could save himself and join forces with the Heroes after the merge.

"Granted I get a chance to talk to Russell at the next immunity challenge and we win...I give him the hidden immunity idol, he votes out Parvati- Bam!- Done."

What?!? First of all the guy admitted the biggest problem with this plan. He's guessing as to what is going on inside the Villains tribe. Of course we know that his guess is completely wrong. You're guessing on the situation! You have maybe 10 minutes of contact per day with the opposing tribe and you think you can get a feel on what is going on? I thought you guys played this game before. Well when you have a guy like JT in charge, a guy who didn't do any game play his first time on Survivor, you are gonna be in trouble.

"We're gonna make Survivor history with this one today guys," JT said. Well you're right brotha. You're making history as one of the worst moves of all time. As Parvati so succinctly put it, "You don't hand the enemy idols." What you do with hidden immunity idols is what Parvati did with her new found one. You keep them hidden.

Unlike JT who gave his away, and Russell who once again showed the whole tribe his shiny new toy, Parvati used a strategy closest to what I think should be done. She showed only one person her hidden immunity idol clue and later on the idol itself. She showed Danielle and kept it a secret so that she can create a strong bond with her and only her. If you tell the whole world, then you lose that bond and have less trust with your idol buddy. Good work Parvati. What do I know? She'll probably get eliminated for it soon.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W9 (37), Merge (8)= 45
Danielle (Villains)- W9 (37), Reward (4), Merge (8)= 49
Sandra (Villains)- W9 (37), Reward (4), Merge (8)= 49
JT (Heroes)- W9 (37), Im (8), Merge (8)= 53
Tom (Heroes)
Week 9= 196 Total= 725

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W9 (37), Reward (4), Merge (8), Idol (10)= 59
Colby (Heroes)- W9 (37), Im (8), Merge (8)= 53
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W9 (37), Im (8), Merge (8)= 53
Week 9= 165 Total= 596

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W9 (37), Reward (4), Votes (-4), Merge (8)= 45
Rupert (Heroes)- W9 (37), Im (8), Merge (8)= 53
Amanda (Heroes)- W9 (37), Im (8), Merge (8)= 53
Week 9= 151 Total= 543

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)
Courtney (Villains)- Reward (4), Votes (-20)= -16
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Week 9= -16 Total= 164

Fantasy Idol Results- A Poor Man's Didi Benami

Pretty low key night compared to last week's epic save spectacular. Seacrest spent no time getting rid of Garcia before any of the guest performances. Speaking of...for as much as I loved Adam Lambert as an Idol contestant last year, and a mentor last night, his original stuff is less than fantastic. I'm as likely to download his album as it is likely that Tyson would eat a pickle. We also got a nice duet with Brooke White of season seven and Justin Gaston of If I Can Dream. Gaston seemed really nervous, but satisfactory, and Brooke as Dan Feinberg said via Twitter "remains a poor man's Didi Benami." Once the rest of the bottom four was created (Michael Lynche, Tim Urban and Katie Stevens) the young Connecticut hopeful was sent packing. Ho hum, just another day. The save did its job once again. It kept somebody in the competition longer than they deserved.

Rizzo is now eliminated from play as Katie was his last contestant. Larry continues to kill it with the rock boys and Turban Tim. Tyson takes a hit with the loss of Garcia and Mags and I take a few more strides towards second and third place.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (29)= 29
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Safe (29), Bottom 4 (-8)= 21
Lee DeWyze- Safe (29)= 29
Week 8= 79 Total= 251

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Bottom 4 (-8), Eliminated (-16)= -24
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Safe (29)= 29
John Park
Week 8= 5 Total= 109

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (29)= 29
Week 8= 29 Total= 85

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (29)= 29
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 8= 29 Total= 84

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynch- Bottom 4 (-8), Safe (29)= 21
Week 8= 21 Total= 76

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Bottom 4 (-8), Eliminated (-16)= -24
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Week 8= -24 Total= 19