Friday, May 28, 2010

Second Annual Poolie Awards- Ballots Released

Yes it is finally that time of year. Sadly the 2009-10 television season has come to a close, but here at The Quiet Pool Perspective there is something to look forward to. This weekend the ballots for the Second Annual Quiet Pool Television Awards will be released. Just as I write about what I liked and disliked about what was on tv during the year, the Poolie Awards are all about voting on what you liked or disliked this year on television. As you know, there are no silly categories like best actor or actress. We are all about the characters here at The Pool. I could care less if you're doing well at your job, it's whether or not I'm entertained by you.

In this second year of the esteemed awards, we have both new voters and new categories. Joining originals myself, Bonz, Jack, Jaydon, Larry, Mags and T-time will be Casey, Rizzo, Tyson and maybe one more. A list of all the categories, including seven brand new awards are listed below...

The Dynasty Award for
Best Drama Series

The Dr. Doug Ross Award for
Best Lead Character in a Drama Series

The Noah Hunter Award for
Best Supporting Character in a Drama Series

The Veronica Mars Award for
Best Female Character in a Drama Series

The Marissa Cooper Award for the
Character You Love to Hate in a Drama Series

The 'One Wedding and a Funeral' Award for
Best Episode in a Drama Series

The Seinfeld Award for
Best Comedy Series

The Cory Matthews Award for
Best Lead Character in a Comedy Series

The Arthur Spooner Award for
Best Supporting Character in a Comedy Series

The Phoebe Buffay Award for
Best Female Character in a Comedy Series

The Lily Finerty Award for the
Character You Love to Hate in a Comedy Series

The 'The Dealership' Award for
Best Episode in a Comedy Series

The Sopranos Award for
Best Action Series

The Frank Pembleton Award for
Best Lead Character in an Action Series

The Titus Pullo Award for
Best Supporting Character in an Action Series

The Samantha Marquez Award for
Best Female Character in an Action Series

The Teri Bauer Award for the
Character You Love to Hate in an Action Series

The 'Through the Looking Glass' Award for
Best Episode in an Action Series

The Battle of the Network Stars Award for
Best Reality Competition Series

The Terry Fator Award for
Best Male Reality Competition Contestant

The Kellie Pickler Award for
Best Female Reality Competition Contestant

The 'Crazy' James Zinkand Award for the
Reality Competition Contestant You Love to Hate

The Jonny Carson Award for
Best Late Night Talk Show

The Chris Farley Award for
Best Sketch Show Performer

The Flintstones Award for
Best Animated Series

The Nip/Tuck Award for
Worst Series That You Used to Like

The Cheers Award for
Best Opening Credits/Theme Song

The Zack and Kelly Award for
Best Couple on Television


New Awards in italics.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

24 and Lost- Live Together, Torture Alone

It is the week of Lost and 24 here at the Quiet Pool Perspective. Today I'll give my thoughts on the pair of long-running dramas and we will be graced with Larry's thoughts at some point in the near future.

I've enjoyed tv all of my life. As a kid I loved watching TGIF on Friday nights and Saved by the Bell on Saturday mornings, but I don't remember much more than that. I got into watching Beverly Hills, 90210 and Seinfeld repeats as I got a bit older. I jumped on the American Idol train come season two, which was my junior year of high school, but none of these endeavors made me realize how rewarding television shows can actually be.

During my sophomore year of college, everything changed. My suite-mate Larry brought some tv shows on dvd from home. What were they? 24: seasons one, two and three. Although he had already seen the seasons, he wanted to share them with me and our other roommate, Mags. We rifled through the seasons, albeit those two quicker than me (I was inexplicably more preoccupied with other things at the time). Episode after episode. Disc after disc.

The three seasons were done. We loved it. Lar did his usual, "I told you this was sweet! How cool am I that I knew about this and you didn't?" But we needed more. With Mags's need to have the fourth season dvds in hand, and his lack of wanting to leave the dorm room, he ordered season four online to be delivered. Of course the fourth installment came as an Asian version with crazy subtitles on the screen. We didn't care. We needed more Jack Bauer.

The action. The torture. The real-time format. It was all revolutionary. And because we watched the first four seasons so quickly, it didn't seem to get repetitive to us. We loved it more and more as it went on.  After watching seasons five through eight live, I will admit that it got a bit tiresome (especially six and this final eighth season).

In anticipation of the January 2006 start of the fifth season of 24, we realized we needed another show to hold us over. Enter Lost. It was a different experience. It had action. It had drama. It had comedy. It had mystery. We were once again hooked. As we sped through the first season we realized the second season was currently airing right under our noses. After The Others stole Walt off of the boat we had to watch season two any way we could.

We got into the tv downloading game real quick. We had to see the seven or eight eps of season two immediately so that we could watch it live with the 15 million others that were on board with watching the castaways fight for their lives.

And that is how my love for current television started. Both shows gave us so much to talk about. One was taken at face value, 24. The other was explored in depth, Lost. 24 gave us guns, explosion, car chases, moles, technology, bad guys, etc. Lost gave us flashbacks, intrigue, questions, character development, etc. They were very different, but both of them shaped the view of television I have today.

It is only fitting that they leave our lives within 24 hours of each other. Although under different circumstances, Lost and 24 had their series finales on Sunday and Monday, respectively. The Lost creators set their end date three years ago in order to stop twiddling their thumbs. They finished things on their own terms. 24, which was once a great phenomenon, was growing tiresome and they decided to pull the plug in the midst of its eighth season. They will now move on to making movies for the franchise.

To 24 and Lost, thank you for showing me that much intellect and creativity can be rooted in this medium of television. Am I smarter because I watch such brain wrenching shows like Lost? I like to think so. Have I become a better writer because these shows have ignited my inner-blogger? I also like to think so. So thank you 24 and Lost for this glorious four year ride I've been on with the both of you.

Damn it Chloe! I'll see you in another life.

Fantasy Idol Results- He's No Kris Allen

Yeah I was wrong about Crystal winning. And as I said in my last post, I'm that disappointed that she came in second. However, I did find myself surprisingly angry that Lee DeWyze was this year's American Idol. I know the show isn't what it used to be. It's slowly moving off the radar, and the ratings are dropping, but when they bring back all of the past winners it definitely means something. This is an iconic position to hold and I really don't like that Lee DeWyze is taking one of those nine spots of pop-culture lure.

I think Myles McNutt of Cultural Learnings said it best...
I am not really a “fan” of Kris Allen, but in the context of American Idol he was a quality contestant: he was willing to play around with arrangements, he picked songs which suited his voice and which didn’t offend my sensibilities, and he remained humble and confident throughout the competition. Yes, in the same season Adam Lambert staked his claim as the most original Idol contest of all time and likely deserved to win for taking the risks he did, but Kris Allen was a deserving winner of a theoretical American Idol competition independent of Lambert’s performance.
We cannot, just so we’re clear, say the same thing of Lee DeWyze, unquestionably the worst winner in the series’ history. Now, I would actually rather listen to DeWyze than Taylor Hicks – the new American Idol equivalent to Sophie’s Choice, right there – but at least Hicks was good at what he did even if I have absolutely no interest in it. By comparison, DeWyze is wholly unoriginal, woefully off-key, and worst of all has absolutely no charisma. When the show gave him U2′s “Beautiful Day” as a single, it was the worst thing they could have done to him: already a weak performer, the comparison with Bono of all people was the death knell. At least if DeWyze had been saddled with one of the series’ usual sappy ballads they could have hid his inability to sing on-key beneath the treacle, but here is a good song from a great band being massacred in front of twenty million people.
Although Seacrest claimed this night was about Crystal and Lee, he was wrong. This night was truly all about Simon. Simon might have noted that the contestants were what the show was all about, and America was the true judge, he was also wrong. He was the main cog holding this empire together. Everyone was sucked in by his innate ability to make terrible insults sound compelling. Every time he bashed another contestant, Idol gained another viewer. I think since realizing he had enough of Idol, he has checked out. He has contributed to the decline of Idol by basically taking this season off. And that's okay by me. He's had enough and he's ready to move on to something else. I truly believe that without him the show won't go on. I give it one or two more seasons before FOX pulls the plug and let's X-Factor stand alone.

And Larry takes home the championship in the first Quiet Pool Fantasy American Idol League. Really not as exciting as fantasy Survivor or Big Brother. Maybe I'll start detracting points for talking back to the judges, or adding points for keeping your mouth shut, next season. We'll see. Congrats Lar.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban
Lee DeWyze- Safe (92)= 92
Finale= 92 Total= 762

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Eliminated (-28)= -28
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Finale= -28 Total= 341

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynche
Total= 159

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly
John Park
Total= 150

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus
Total= 92

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

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

American Idol- Crystal Clear

I came into last night's season finale of American Idol wanting to leave thinking that I didn't care who won. When it was all sang and done, I couldn't come to that conclusion. Although I will probably listen to the type of music Lee will make out in the real world, Crystal just destroyed him in this one on one competition. Yeah I thought she was better than entire season, but MamaSox just capped it all off with a vocal beat down tonight.

Having said that, I don't think Lee was nearly as terrible as Idol critic Dan Fienberg seemed to think...

I don't think Lee DeWyze hit a single note in that version of "Everybody Hurts."Wed May 26 00:23:49 via TweetDeck


So Lee destroys another perfectly good song and *Kara* is the only judge who dares to criticize him.Wed May 26 00:43:54 via TweetDeck

He sounded fine to me, just not in any way comparable to what Crystal did. She came back with what was the best performance of the season in Me and Bobby McGee. I literally stopped downloading any songs from this season after she did that, because everything seemed like garbage compared to it. They really could have stopped the competition right then and said, well Crystal wins.

But then she came out with a completely different vibe in Black Velvet, which executive producer Simon Fuller chose. Someone should tell the head honcho to give up making picks as I believe both of his choices tonight were pretty bad for these contestants. Crystal made hers works a lot more than Lee.

Because The Boxer might have been Lee's best of the season, the final round was what made this thing a KO for Crystal. I was very familiar with Beautiful Day, and became painfully familiar with how uninspiring Lee was in performing it about half way in. Crystal, on the other hand, did a song I had never heard of, Up to the Mountain. What a way to go out! It was so moving in its tenderness. She went out the way she came into this competition. Just her and her guitar.

After Adam Lambert lost last season's finale to Kris Allen, I don't think I could gear myself up for really wanting someone to win that badly again. Even though I think Crystal deserves to win this thing as much as any season's winner ever has, I won't be disappointed if she loses. If Lambert can come in second, it's not that big of a deal anymore.

Having said that, I think Crystal will win tonight. She's been the best throughout and she is not polarizing at all. Lambert was clearly hated by a lot of people, and because of that people voted against him by voting for Kris. I don't see that happening with Crystal.

Anyway, this has been a very lackluster season of Idol. Whether it was a terribly lame group of contestants, the structure of Idol getting a bit repetitive, or the fact that I loathe the judges, it just didn't do it for me at all after the first couple weeks of the top 12. Here's hoping X-Factor will be just the kick in the pants we need to make one of the two shows good again.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Lost- Defensive Specialist

As a tv enjoyer first and a critic second I'm going to try and both understand the implications of the finale and the season as a whole better and defend it as an unbelievable piece of entertainment that achieved everything it needed to. In one of a couple of pieces I'll probably do in the next few weeks, I'm going to address one of the biggest criticisms of Lost as a whole entity.

Just because I absolutely loved the finale and thought it was a perfect ending to my favorite television show since I started becoming an enthusiast back in 2004, it doesn't mean I can't understand when others have differing or even opposite feelings towards it. Sawyer was my favorite character on the show, that doesn't mean I don't get why some people enjoy Sayid the most (who I can't stand). And just because I will now go on to explain why I think Lost benefited from one of its most widely hated aspects, that doesn't mean that I don't agree with those critiques in some way. Everyone watches and understands things differently. This is my point of view as a first and foremost Lost defender.

The biggest criticism I've been hearing and reading since the series ended on May 23rd is that the mythology of the show never added up. In a long Gchat with Jaydon this afternoon he talked about how he loved the show, but if the mythology was even 30% better it would have been in a league of its own. In my opinion, the mythology did exactly what it was supposed to do, and I wouldn't have had it any other way.

The mythology of Lost, in my view, has been a vehicle to paint a portrait of these characters and the story they are in. The mystery that arose since the smoke monster was first heard in the Pilot, became a great backdrop to give the audience a great adventure of love, shootouts, revenge, etc. Within each season, and from season to season, new mysteries came about, making the audience ask question after question. While this was a clever way to keep the viewers on the edges of their respective seats, it was never what Lost was about.

Having said that, I still think the mythology all worked out in the end. Across the Sea, although it was questionable in its execution, helped me come up with my own explanation of the mythological aspects. When we were introduced to the Glowing Cave of Light that was the Heart of the Island, I gained a new perspective on the questions I had regarding mythology. Every question I had, in my opinion, I thought I could chalk it up to the Magic of the Island. I knew this was a fantasy show as soon as I saw the Smoke Monster, so I was fine with this magical aspect.

Why were the numbers important? Because the Island is crazy mystical. Why was Walt so special? Because this is a magical, mystical world. So on and so forth.

In a moment during the finale I got a new perspective on things that made me even more of a defender of Lost mythology. When Hugo accepts the position of protector of the Island and signs Ben up to be his number two, Linus conjectures that maybe we can run this Island differently. And in that moment I came up with a new explanation. Jacob was both an angry and crazy man with no real grasp on humanity. I could now chalk a lot of things up to the combination of the magical Light and Jacob running the Island as a complete jerk who really had no idea what he was doing.

Why was there a problem with pregnant women on the Island? Because Jacob ruled the Island that way. Why did it change? Jacob changed his mind on that idea. He never really understood what was the right way to do things and came up with new 'rules' now and again as he protected this place.

Now was there a clever wrap up to any of these burning questions that viewers had? No, but you can easily come up with your own explanation for every single one of them. Now if they had summed up all the mythology in a more concrete answerable way, I argue that the journey could have easily been much, much worse.

The fact that they knew they were going to leave most things unanswered (and up to your imagination), in my case that Jacob and the magical Island were responsible for all of the plot dead ends, they could ignite the viewers' emotions any way they felt like. They came up with interesting story lines, exciting events and burning questions. These were some of the best aspects of Lost. Many of these great moments in the show might not have been attainable if there was a solid mythology involved and the creators knew they were going to have to answer every little thread at the end.

So the way I see it is that when Hugo takes over, the Island becomes a much less complicated place. Sure it is still magical, but because he's such a down to earth guy who loves people, things just make much more sense during his tenure. He helps people out. He doesn't bring people to the Island to kill each other. People can have babies and not die from it. That's just not the story we were watching (although I wouldn't mind seeing Lost 2: Hurley and Linus rule the Island). In our story, these characters were in a battle to survive on this crazy Island that kept on changing as they stayed longer and longer.

So when most current defenders explain it that Lost is a character piece first and the mythology came a distant second, I'll agree to a point. But then again I think the mythology ended up working out, depending on how you watch the show, and in the end it was a way to build great stories. It wasn't just about the characters. The the fantastic action that occurred over the past six seasons was allowed to occur because of the crazy mythological aspects the show introduced. If they didn't all weave together the way you liked the oh well, but for me it worked immensely well.

Chuck- Last Action Beardo

Morgan Grimes- "Reach for the sky dirt bags!"

In one of many moments of this two hour finale where Josh Gomez made his case for renaming the show "Morgan", the bearded wonder screamed this as he wildly waved his machine gun around attempting to capture the Elder leaders of the Ring.

When the show began it was about Chuck as a nerdy guy who helped out a couple of CIA and NSA agents. Sure he had a mega-computer implanted in his brain, but he also helped out by using his geek knowledge and sometimes simply by accident.

That's exactly the role Morgan has taken on since Chuck has become a real spy. Like Casey said, "Don't know when it happened, but our boy became a man." And as Chuck became a man, Morgan became a CIA boy. He's helped out the team immensely. Probably better than Chuck in his first year with the company.

And Morgan definitely is more inclined to make things dramatic as he claims, "No plan? Never stopped me before." Obviously Awesome shuts him down immediately. But the two work together to save the day, if only by arbitrarily pushing buttons a la the guy in the background of Goldmember.

His love for action hasn't stopped him from yukking it up as the crew embarks on their mission to take down the Ring. Chuck pondered stoically stated "the only ones who could pull it off would have to be the best spies in the world." To which Morgan squeamishly accepted the compliment with "Chuck...you're embarrassing me."

With the final bit of Morgan love, I'll just say that it was sweet how much props he gives John Casey on multiple occasions during the episode. First to Ellie and then to Casey's daughter Alex. The student to mentor love is awesome. It was great foreshadowing for when Morgan valiantly accepted Casey's order to break his own thumbs in order to escape from handcuffs. Great partnership there.

(Buy) More Thoughts

- I love that everyone close to Chuck now knows about his spy life. It was a necessary step to make sure the series stays fresh. Ellie has always been the most important person in Chuck's life. If she can accept it than everything will be fine. Woops, she doesn't accept it.

- Speaking of Ellie not accepting Chuck's spy life. Can he really just give it all up because his sister wants him to? Does the CIA allow that sort of thing? Doesn't he have to be killed or go into hiding at least?

- Shaw is alive (I dislike this, but I'll go with it because he's such a fantastic villain). He killed Papa Bartowski which makes him even more of an evil monster.

- So many epic Chuck episodes have been graced by a Jeffster performance. This season's finale had the honor of showcasing the first ever music video by the talented duo.

- So Chuck downloaded a mini-intersect when he was a kid? I'm sure we'll get answers to this next season, but what kind of info did he get from that? And did he ever flash?

- As Chuck doesn't have the ability to murder Shaw with his bare hands the villain claims, "That's what makes you weak" Sarah, like the rest of us, explain "No. That's what makes you great."

- So I guess Schwartz and Fedak didn't think they were getting canceled, because that was quite the little cliffhanger they had there at the end. Papa Bartowski had been looking for Chuck's mom for a long time and now Chuck himself is going to start searching for her? Since he promised Ellie he wouldn't work for the CIA, he'll be doing this all rogue I assume.

Monday, May 24, 2010

Lost- See You All In The Next Life, Brotha

Jack Shephard- "All of this matters."

The two and a half hour series finale of Lost was quite honestly the best one sitting watching something I've ever gone through. No other tv episode or movie has ever moved me in such a way. There were so many moments on and off the Island that were of great importance that I can in no way discuss how all of them made me bawl like a little girl.

One of, if not the biggest question of this entire last season, has been what is the sideways universe and how is going to relate to the Island lives we've been watching these characters live for the past six seasons? Well although it ended up being one of the first ideas that people talked about when the season started, I was still a good deal surprised when it became clear that the sideways world was some type of purgatory.

After Juliet died in Sawyer's arms during LA X, Miles relayed her final thought, which was "it worked." Now most people took this and ran with it, thinking it meant that once someone dies on the Island they transfer over to the sideways world where the bomb actually changed history and everyone can live happily ever after with no Island. After a while this theory fell out of vogue as it seemed more and more likely that these two worlds were coming to some kind of convergence.

And technically they were. All of these characters that we have grown to love over the past six years have been living in this in between state of life and the afterlife. In an ironic turn of events, the first major theory about was Lost really was ended up being a major factor in the end game. Not at all in the way people thought four or so years ago, but these people were in purgatory.

Now I am not a religious man by any means, but I was completely satisfied with this ending. I'm curious as to what people of religions that don't have anything resembling this type of life/afterlife situation, would feel about this type of ending to Lost.

Everybody dies at some point. And for our watching purposes, everyone on the Island died at some point. Some before Jack Shephard (Boone, Sun, Libby, etc.) and some long after the good doctor's eye closed in the bamboo forest (Hugo, Ben, Kate, etc.). They all died and somehow they all created this sideways universe in order to find each other, remember, and let go. How they created this world I'm not sure. Was it the a-bomb back in the incident? Or something completely different that we'll never understand?

With the help of one another, beginning with Charlie helping Desmond, which led to Desmond and Hugo helping everybody else, everyone began to remember their lives and let go. In this sideways purgatory they might have thought they were living, but it all seemed like a shallow existence once each one of them remembered the life they once lived. And once they all did this remembering and letting go, they were ready to move on to what some might call heaven.

And it was in these flashes of remembering that I completely lost it every single time. It was almost as if Cuselof figured how they could make the finale in a way that it would be impossible for the audience to not get multiple chills moment, and then came up with doing the sideways universe. This entire season of sideways moments led us to these moments where we got to see these Zombie-like versions of our favorite characters turn back into the ones that we love right before our very eyes.

Whether it was Jin and Sun snapping back to themselves and immediatly learning Enlish after seeing Ji Yeon on the baby monitor, or Sawyer and Juliet crying in each other's arms once all of their memories of each other come flowing through, I couldn't help but be extremely happy. And it was just that. Flash after flash coming at us time and time again until everyone that we've watched over the years had remembered their time on the Island and was ready to move on to the next life, brotha.

But how did this story of our friends finish up on the Island before they all eventually died and met up in purgatory? Well it was in fantastic fashion as well. Before this journey concluded, almost everyone got their 'moment' and that is what I was happy with. Whether all of the intracies of the Island actually make sense to me, I could care less. But the fact that we got to watch Jack sacrifice himself, Kate save the day by shooting MIB, or Hugo take the reins as the new protector of the Island, was a completely satisfying ending to this story.

As the story began to unfold, the Smoke Monster wanting to feel human became a great irony as returning to human form for a few minutes was what gave our heroes the time they needed to kill him for good. In the first of several heroic moments on the Island, Desmond was lowered down the Waterfall into the glowing Light. The MIB thought bringing him down there would help destroy the Island, while Jack believed it would help save the day and kill Smokey. Although they both claimed they were each wrong, they ended up both being right.

After Desmond released the plug to the Light, the Island did start to destroy itself. It also took away Smokey's smokiness. It returned him to a human form which made it possible for Jack to make him bleed when he did a jump punch on the cliffs that would have made Johnny Cage extremely proud. Fake Locke one the battle between the two, as he stabbed Jack in the gut, but the castaways won the war as Kate came up with her heroic moment, shooting MIB in the back.

Now the terrible beast that haunted this Island for a long time was dead, but the Island was still destroying itself and Jack wasn't going to let everyone die. So in the biggest stud moment in television history, Jack decides that he is going to sacrifice himself by plugging the cork back into the light whole in order to save the Island.

But he's the protector of the Island, how could he go on such a suicide mission? We all asked the question, including Hugo. The simple answer. This is what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to protect the Island for one day so that he could sacrifice himself to save it. He would obviously have to pass the torch on to someone else. And how is everyone in the world not happy that Hugo got to take on this new role. And that was the biggest moment of all for me. When Jack said "it needs to be you Hugo" I completely lost it.

So after Jack saved the day by plugging the hole, Hugo took on the job of protector. In a truly epic good guy moment, Benjamin Linus was right there next to Jumbotron, ready to help him accept his new responsibilites. Hugo is scared and Ben helps him understand that he is someone who has always helped people. As the new ruler of the Island he can help as many people as he wants to. He doesn't have to run things the way Jacob did. And in that moment Ben had his redemption, and Hugo makes the whole thing that much better when he asks Dr. Linus to be his #2.

So Hurley and Ben rule the Island for who knows how long after that moment. Sawyer, Kate, Miles, Claire, Lapidus and now an aging Richard Alpert leave the Island on the Ajira plane. Rose and Bernard will continue to camp out like Robinson Crusoe. Desmond is still hanging out on the Island, but I'm assuming Hugo found a way to get him off the Island quickly so that he could spend the rest of his life with Penny and baby Charlie. And this part of the story ends in a complete full circle moment. Jack is spit out by the waterfall and travels around the jungle until he lays down in the bamboo forest and dies as his eye lid closes ever so slowly.

Thank you all for a great six years. Through it all, Lost was the best television series I've ever watched. And it ended in a way that I am completely happy with. I will re-watch this show from The Pilot to The End many times over to enjoy the journey time and time again.

Other Thoughts

-There were more Sawyer jokes in the first segment of this episode than the rest of this entire season.

-I loved that we got a couple of Star Wars lines from Hurley..."He's worse than Yoda"..."I got a bad feeling about this."

-I honestly don't think I could have been more excited than when I heard Juliet's voice say "am I interrupting?"

-The quick moment when Miles pulls a grey hair off of Richard's head was so poignant because of how good Ab Aeterno was in showing us the man that Ricardo was.

-As Locke, Desmond and Ben meet Jack, Sawyer, Kate and Hugo in the field we got a classic encounter as UnLocke claims, "well this is gonna be interesting" and then tells Jack what we've all been thinking "you're kind of the obvious choice don't you think?"

-Even though Desmond says none of it matters, in fact like Jack said "all of this matters." They are living life, and although they get to end up with the ones they love in the afterlife, the current life still matters. And saving the Island is a major achievement. Why does Desmond think that they can just go to the sideways and live happily ever after. It seems like he knows exactly what's going on in the sideways, but doesn't really seem to have a grasp on what the sideways is while he's on the Island.

-Almost a comical moment by MIB as he tells Jack "if there was a button down there to push we could fight about whether or not to push it. Just like old times" Doc then gives Locke his heroic moment in giving him almost all the credit for Jack saving the day, "turns out he was right about most every thing. I just wish I could've told him that while he was still alive."

-Why are Linus and others not ready to move on? Does he have a different group of people he needs to move on with? Unlike Faraday and Charlotte who haven't quite flashed, Ben seems to remember everything and still isn't ready to leave? Interesting.

Friday, May 21, 2010

Thursday Comedy- Guest Starry Night

Because there's never that much to talk about when it comes to comedies, I like the idea of reviewing all of NBC's Thursday night shows in one post. Last night was finale time for comedy night done right, and who came up big? The wily old veterans that's who. In a season in which The Office and 30 Rock are getting trashed (somewhat by me, but mostly be critics other than Tim Goodman), both stepped up to the plate and out did the up-and-comers known as Community and Parks and Rec.

Community
Two things held it back this week for me. The abundance of recurring characters that returned for the finale kind of took away from the stars that we should have following more closely as the season came to a close. I really don't need to see Vaughn, the British professor, or John Michael Higgins seizing the day, if it means that I get much less of Abed and Pierce. Which is exactly what happened.

The other thing was how much sappy romantic stuff there was. As Alan Sepinwall loves to complain about, the Jeff/Britta thing was terrible for this show and it definitely hurt it again tonight. The whole scene at the Tranny Dance when Jeff was caught between Slater and a Buzzkill was terrible. That is until the entire crowd started getting in on it. Now that is the type of stuff we watch Community for. The crowd yelling out, "Team Britta!" or "Bring Conan back!" was hilarious.

Parks and Recreation
I definitely haven't turned to the dark side yet, but Ron Swanson is definitely getting better in the last few episodes. He's being much less like Ron Swanson, that's what's better about him. If his character can continue this turn around into someone who hates on city government openly and giddily, instead of quietly and boringly, I'll enjoy him much more.

Through two episodes with guest stars Adam Scott and Rob Lowe and the latter is stealing the show. Again, Scott is being completely under-utilized as a dull straight man, considering the hilarious comedy chops he showed in Step Brothers. Lowe's character reminds me of his Benjamin from Wayne's World on cocaine. Between his "goal to run to the moon," pointing at Ann Perkins every time he sees her, and telling Ron to "focus up buddy" when he stopped massaging for two seconds, Lowe's Chris should definitely stick around in Pawnee.

The Office
Michael Scott absolutely held this season together. Last night that didn't change, he continued to shine the brightest, but everybody else seemed to step their games up as well. The cold open was again good with a great moment of Michael hating that the baby otter video was being watched over his, and then obviously gave into the cuteness and couldn't turn away from the screen while watching it. I also loved that his plan for punishment was make them work...and pay them...and give them their Christmas bonuses.

There was good Kevin stuff, we finally got an awesome Creed moment and Ryan was on point with his Woof bit. I love that he had a "woof on line one." And to boot, Jim didn't make me want to punch him in the face. He wasn't funny, a la the early seasons when he ragged on Dwight constantly, but at least he wasn't detestable like he's been the rest of this season.

30 Rock
Now maybe because it's because he is a two-time Oscar nominated actor, but boy did Matt Damon make his straight man guest starring role on 30 Rock look Oscar-worthy in comparison to Adam Scott on Parks and Recreation. Then again, maybe it was the writing by this once fantastic group at 30 Rock. It's hard to make lines like "Does that sound like more fun than me eating alone at the LaGuardia Chilis?" not hilarious. But then again Matt Damon did have a way of making it funny that he wished he had a terrorist on his plane, so I don't know.

The scene in which the loud music was playing and you couldn't hear Jack's voice was classic 30 Rock silliness without the complete weirdness they've had lately. The only man sitting there with a stereo? Great gag. That being said, I hope the whole Jack deciding between women thing is over because that got old half a season ago. We need new stories for Jacky D and quick.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

The Good Guys- The Mustachioed Gentleman

The network upfronts were this week and I'm going to do some coverage on them next week once most seasons are over, but FOX brought out of one its new shows last night as a preview event. The Good Guys, starring Bradley Whitford, Colin Hanks and Bradley Whitford's mustache, premiered last night before Idol. It's basically a buddy cop action/comedy that feels very 1980s-esque.

Why does it feel 1980s-esque? Well besides the kitchy editing and graphics, it's because Whitford's character Dan Stark is a cop legend from the 80s that is still bumming around today. After one episode, Whitford is killing it and making it worthy of a watch. The jokes are corny, but funny. Everything about Stark is ridiculous and that works. He has a giant mustache, he drinks on the job, and he hates new technology. I'm pretty sure he used the phrase 'computer-machine' three times in this episode. He also brings to the table a great nostalgia for his glory days of the mid-80s. Every time he starts to tell a story about him and his famous partner from the good old days it was funny.

The Goody Guys had a very Chuck Season One feel, in that it is an action show that isn't taking anything serious at all. There is ridiculous crime going, guns a blazin' and everything is a joke. It's a nice change of pace to all of the serious action shows out there.

The editing and graphics that I mentioned earlier, plus a bit of weird pacing to the pilot, are a couple of the early mis-steps. The pilot should have focused a bit more on the two partners and less on the criminals. Kind of like Justified split its stories in half, between Raylan and the criminals early on, The Good Guys kinda did that last night and it felt weird. Maybe it was because Mikhail from Lost is supposed to be Russian, not latino, but nothing clicked on that side of the story.

One other thing that didn't work for me at all was Colin Hanks. I know he's basically the straight man in this situation but he couldn't have been less entertaining in the pilot.

The Good Guys will air again this summer and be on the fall schedule for FOX in 2010.

Fantasy Idol Results- Personality of a Mailbox

Pops- "I'll be right back, I'm gonna go put my head in the oven."

That is absolutely how bad the conversation between Seacrest and the final three contestants was last night. I envy those who fast forwarded to the end last night, don't watch the results show at all, or have quit on Idol all together, because the ten minute heart to heart between Seacrest, Casey, Lee and Crystal was brutal to watch. Honestly I haven't heard a more boring conversation since Andy Stitzer rambled about making an egg salad sandwich. At first I thought that they need to stop talking to the contestants because it's just completely awkward, but then I realized that it was just the fact that no one on this season has a speck of personality. If Adam Lambert were being asked the questions, I'd be engaged. Even David Cook was a good speaker. But these three? Terrible.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Eliminated (-26)= -26
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban
Lee DeWyze- Safe (79)= 79
Week 13= 53 Total= 670

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (79)= 79
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 13= 79 Total= 369

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynche
Total= 159

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly
John Park
Total= 150

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus
Total= 92

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

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Lost- Fireside Chat

Jacob- "You should get your friends...we're very close to the end Hugo."

It's as if Cuselof were sitting back and enjoying all of the criticism that came from Across the Sea, because they knew that everyone and their mother was going to love What They Died For. Like it or dislike it, the back story of both Jacob/Man In Black and The Island Light completely enhanced the pleasure of this fantastic penultimate episode of Lost.

The whole episode had more of a 'we're leading up to the end' feeling than anything I've ever seen. In both timelines we got everyone coming together to start the formation of what the finality of Lost is going to be.  What that actually is, well that's yet to be determined.

In the sideways we got Desmond doing his best 'get the band back together' roundup as he pushed Locke towards Jack, before turning himself into the police for running Locke over with his car and beating up Dr. Linus. Everything in that parallel seems to be leading to this concert in which Kate will be wearing a pretty dress. After Desmond figured out a way to sneak Kate and Sayid out of police custody (paying off Ana Lucia with Hurley's money), the gang of fools was on their way to the concert. How awesome was Hugo when he pulled up in his Hummer with all of his Island memories asking if Ana Lucia was coming too?

On the Island it was MIB and a Widmore-killing Ben on their way to find the remaining candidates so that Ben could kill them too. MIB says this is to get him off the Island and allow Ben to have it all to himself. Is Ben going along with this or is he now pulling some sort of hoax on old Smokey in order to help bring him down?

On the other side of the Island little Jacob shows up to steal big Jacob's ashes from the tubby Hugo. I'm still a little fuzzy on this because when Hugo runs him down, he finds big Jacob sitting next to a fire. What was up with that transition?  This whole section of the episode was one of the best moments of all time. After telling Hugo that the ashes are in the fire and once it goes out he will be gone, he explains to Hugo that the end is near and he needs all of his friends to come.

"Come and sit down and I'll tell you what they died for," Jacob tells Jack, Kate, Sawyer and Hugo. Powerful stuff here. Hugo asks why he brought them to the Island and Jacob explains that they are all flawed and weren't good people off the Island. He talks to them about protecting the Island because one of them will have to start doing it. Instead of picking one of them, he gives them "the one thing he was never given, a choice." (Another moment that is amplified by the great character story of the last episode) Of course Jack volunteers for the position unwittingly. After all, he is supposed to do it. Absolute stud moment for the doctor. What were the other three thinking in that moment? (well we know Hugo was just happy it wasn't him) Jack drank the holy water that Jacob gave to him as he proclaimed, "now you're like me." I could feel all of that Island power flowing through Jack at that moment and it was glorious.

Now we have a new Protector in Jack, an old one's ghost that claims to be disappearing in front of our eyes, and still this feisty Smoke Monster coming to kill everyone so that he can go home. This final two and a half hours has the potential to be masterful.

Other Thoughts

- Who is Jack's ex-wife in the sideways? By not showing or mentioning her the entire season it has to be someone important right? Juliet? Kate? Could it still be Claire Dunphy?

- Again we get reference to how special Desmond is. In an ironic choice of words MIB explains to Ben that he is Jacob's fail safe. He is Jacob's last resort to save the Island just in case MIB kills all the candidates. Is this important because all of the candidates are going to die? Yikes.

- Kate was only crossed off the list because she became a mother. She shouldn't be relegated to a life on the Island if she has a baby to take care of. Didn't stop him from keeping Kwon on the cave wall though.

- Jack stitching up Kate at the beginning of the ep was a great call back to the Pilot when Kate stitched up Jack.

- "We insist. Even if we have to kidnap you," Rousseau explained to sideways Linus. Funny how a bunch of these lines come out the other way around in this parallel universe.

- Did the MIB as the Smoke Monster kill Richard. I thought that wasn't possible. He asked to never die, not just never age.

Your thoughts?

American Idol- Dear America

Dear America,
In case you haven't noticed, we want Lee DeWyze to win this season of American Idol. We see him as a much more commercial artist than Crystal Bowersox and therefore it would be in our best interest to have him win our reality show. Last night we did everything we could to get Lee into the finale and hopefully continued our run of making him the champion come next week. Honestly what else do we have to do? We gave him the pimp spot of singing last. For judges pick, he got his song from the most respected reality man in the biz. His pick? Only one of the best songs, and one of the easiest to perform extremely well, Hallelujah. Even Tim Urban had a moment with this song. To cap it all off we brought back the gospel choir for the first time since what seems the Ruben/Clay finale to perform with Lee. Thankfully Mr. DeWyze helped us out by doing Hallelujah really well. In doing so he made it much less uncomfortable when our judges made him out to be the best thing since The Shawshank Redemption without even paying attention to the performance. So if you didn't pick up on it from last night's show, we want Lee to win and we will stop at nothing to make this happen. Good luck voting. Remember we have AT&T employees sent out all over the country teaching how to cheat in order to mult-vote for Lee.
Thank You,
American Idol Producers

That about sums up last night show for me. Don't get me wrong, Lee was really good on the night. Maybe slightly better than MamaSox, but I might be being swayed by the choir and the judges. Who knows? All I know is if Lee and Crystal aren't in the finale it will a travesty of the Fantasia vs. Diana DeGarmo nature. Goodbye Casey James.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

Chuck- I Can't Kill It

Big Mike- "You have the hips of a six year old girl."

This marks the second week in a row where I've had a problem with a storyline in Chuck. Last episode it was all of the dream stuff and this time around it was Daniel Shaw still being alive. We never actually got to see his face, so if we find out next week that it is an impostor, I will be relieved. But if Shaw is still alive that will be disappointing and Heroes-esque. When you have an epic, heroic moment like Chuck did when he saved Sarah and killed Shaw, it's time to move on to the next stage. Don't bring him back just because you liked the job the actor was doing. This is just another example of why it wasn't a smart move to give Schwartz and Fedak six more episodes. What can you do with six episodes? Come up with silly ideas like bringing Shaw back to life apparently.

On the other hand, we got the return of Chuck's dad. Scott Bakula doesn't really bring much to the table in this role, but it was nice to see him getting all gung ho about making Chuck a governor 2.0 to keep his brain under control and out of dementia.

One of Chuck's best attributes is the way they cut from a semi-serious moment to something completely ridiculous that parallels the previous conversation. We got two of these great moments this week. The first was when Morgan is specifically told to not touch anything when he gets to hide out in Castle and then we cut to Morgan trying on bullet proof vests and playing with the guns. The second was when Chuck was lying to his dad via a serious convo about not being a spy anymore, and then they cut to him struggling with climbing up the face of a building. Brilliant work.

Finally, my favorite moment of the night was the convo between Awesome and Morgan in the kitchen. I can't figure out which was better, Awesome rambling about all of the ridiculously awesome stuff he does for Ellie, or the trance that Morgan gets in listening to the whole thing.

Let's hope that the end of this six episode season 3.1 ends with some sort of cliff hanger now that we know we're getting a fourth season next year.

Monday, May 17, 2010

Survivor Finale- That's The Way The Game Is Played

Tom Westman- "Whoever wins a season, deserves to win that season."

And that quote, in the end, is what makes the game of Survivor so good. There is probably no perfect way to play the game, and if there is it uses a lot of luck. I was pretty mad when Russell didn't win last season in Samoa. This year, not only did I begin to hate him as a player, but it became more and more evident that his style of play just isn't suited to win Survivor.

No matter how many times he states that he's the best player, or he should have won the game, or Parvati should have won over Sandra, it's not going to change the fact that Survivor doesn't work that way. As Tom so elegantly said, "whoever wins a season, deserves to win that season." Whether it is more luck or more planning, if you make it to the end and get the most votes from the jury, you played the best game that time around.

So how'd we get to the point where Sandra became the first ever two-time Survivor winner? Well let's start with the first immunity challenge of the episode where Colby finally came alive. It took him 37 days, but he finally started trying, both athletically and strategically. He barely lost to Parvati in the plates and bowls challenge and then decided to play the game for the first time in over a month. He claimed "I don't know how to quit. It's not in me," even though we've all witnessed him quitting this entire season. He finally made a move in trying to convince Russell to get rid of Sandra and keep him. A valiant effort, but an unsuccessful one as he went home that night.

Before the final immunity challenge, the final four went on the famous journey of fallen survivors. Although the contestants never have anything of substance to say about their comrades when they get to their stick, this is always a nice moment to relive all of the contestants in that given season.

The last challenge was a great one. A blindfolded maze which got me all nerved up as Parvati, Jerri and Russell all wondered towards the finish line at the same time. I was very surprised to see Russ grab the necklace first. Back during the Samoa Finale everyone said that Russell was so sad and emotional about losing because he had already filmed Heroes vs. Villains and had gotten out early enough to know he wasn't winning. Of course it ended up being that he was in the final three, but knew he had absolutely no chance of winning it.

When we get to the final elimination, I was absolutely thinking Parvati was going home. It was a great editing trick by them, because I usually can figure out who is going home before the vote. During the tribal council, we see that Russell is completely oblivious to what is actually going on in the game, because he thinks he "protected Parvati" and not the other way around. As Parvati so nicely put it, they "protected each other."

Anyway. Jerri went home. It's so hard to figure out who would vote for who if someone else was in the final three, but I think Parvati would have won if it were Russell, Parv and Jerri.

It's always interesting when we get to final council. This was the first time in four seasons that we had three players that all were strategic players and could easily make great cases for themselves. Parvati had the best opening statement by a mile and that wasn't even that great. "Russell was the dragon," she said. "And instead of slaying him, I kept him...as my pet." Just an epic line. Russell, for how great and long of a speech he made last season, it seemed like he didn't say a word this time around. He never even claimed that he had control of Parvati the entire time. Maybe because he knew how dumb that would be, given that she ruled this game. Sandra didn't make many good points either.

And in the end, Russell got shut out. Parvati got three votes, and Sandra got six for the win. Obviously Russell dominated the reunion show with many complaints about losing. Last season I was with him, and this year I wanted to slap him in the face. How dumb is this guy? Even when everyone on the stage is trying to explain it to him, he still keeps coming back to "I play as hard as I can." I know it's cliched, but it's not playing hard, but playing smart that's gets it done. Going all out with manipulation is a decent way to make it to the final three, but as we've seen, it's not a good way to win the game. To paraphrase Boston Rob, Russell doesn't play this game to win. I really don't think that is Russell's mindset, but it is absolutely the reality of it.

Russell thinks America needs a percent of the vote, but Probst shoots him down with the fact that Survivor is not that. Survivor is what it is. And if you're able to win the game of Survivor, you deserve to win Survivor. It doesn't matter if America likes that way you're playing or not. On a related note, how did this idiot win America's Player of the Season Award? I was one of the biggest Russell fans in Samoa, but I couldn't have disliked him more this season. He was just a complete idiot that was becoming played out because he did the same things over and over again. My favorites of the season were Boston Rob and Coach, but I think Parvati played the best overall game of the season. And Rupert was second in the voting? What a joke. This guy was the absolute worst.

Congratulations to Sandra for becoming the first person to win Survivor twice. I don't know if that makes her the best player ever, but it certainly could be. She definitely played a good game this time around. She was hindered by the fact that she was on the outs for most of the way, but she benefited from the fact that no one thought much about her. Always a bit of luck that comes from playing that type of game. But when you get to the end like that, you have a good chance at winning. And she is now two for two.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W15 (106), W16 (121), Immunity (20)= 247
Danielle (Villains)
Sandra (Villains)- W15 (106), W16 (121), Votes (-4), Win (137)= 360
JT (Heroes)
Tom (Heroes)
This Week= 607 Total= 2,199

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W15 (106), W16 (121), Immunity (20), Votes (-4)= 243
Colby (Heroes)- Vots (-16)= -16
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)
This Week= 227 Total= 1,627

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W15 (106), Votes (-12)= 94
Rupert (Heroes)
Amanda (Heroes)
This Week 94= 94 Total= 1,221

Kick Puncher III

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

Friday, May 14, 2010

Lost- Changing the Rules

It has been three days since the airing of what I think was a fantastic episode of Lost. What made Across the Sea so good was that it was so very polarizing. So many people either really liked, or really hated this episode. Anything that is close enough to the median where the majority of people are thinking it's just okay, it obviously is the wrong thing. As James Poniewozik of Time said, "'Awesome' and 'awful' are actually closer to each other on the continuum of quality than either is to 'meh'." What an ep like this does is get people to talk about the show. For better or for worse, it was an epic episode.

A few more things about the substance of the episode. A question has been raised about whether the Fake Mother is actually the protector of the Island or actually a previous version of the Smoke Monster. Well first off, maybe she's both. But in the favor of protector are that she talks about it like she is (although we've seen what a liar she can be), we never saw her take the form of the smoke, and she accepted her death just as Jacob did in The Incident. Reasons she could be Smokey are that she destroyed the Roman Others and filled in the well so quickly and easily, she may have been using smokey to appear as dead Claudia, and she might have wanted to die to get out of the terror of being a monster.

Speaking of Smokey. Another question out there is about whether or not the Light went out once MIB was flushed down the chute and came out as Smokey. It is hard to tell if the Light actually went out when Smokey emerged from the cave. It most certainly could have been put out, but it also could have been that the smoke coming out of the tunnel was blocking our view of the Light. The Light shouldn't have been put out, because isn't the Light what helps turn the donkey wheel into a transporter? We've seen it get used for such a thing a long time after Smokey emerges. But if the Light did go out, does that mean that the Smoke Monster took all of its energy and now is the Light in which Jacob is protecting (hence why Jacob can't let him leave)?

So how about all of the rules? The Mother keeps talking about all the different rules she put in place. The fact that Jacob and MIB can't hurt each other or the fact that MIB can never leave the Island. Or even the idea of the Light and someone needing to protect it. Did we ever actually see either of them try to kill each other? Did MIB ever attempt to leave the Island and fail? We know that the Mother is a liar. What if she was lying about all these rules? And these two boys just never tried to disobey any of them, because they were continually looking for ways around them. This has really been a recurring theme in Lost. Whether it was Ben, Widmore, Locke or Jack, they've all used manipulation to get what they wanted.

So what's the end game gonna look like with Lost? Across the Sea showed us that the game has been played for a long, long time. Stealing babies, manipulating, trying to leave the Island, crazy mothers. In other words, "They come. They fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same." Well in Ryan McGee's Lost Podcast he thinks that it will either end with a new iteration of the game beginning, or the destruction of the game for all of time. Although the ending scene of Jack and Locke sitting on the beach talking about how much they want to kill each other would be great, I think I'd rather see our favorite characters be the reason this horrible game of senet came to an end.

You see as Jacob said, "It only ends once. Anything that happens before that is just progress." I thought they were epic words at the time and I can't disagree with myself now. Just as Smokey has been spending an eternity manipulating people into getting what he needed to win the game versus Jacob and get off the Island, Jacob too has been structuring everything just right so that he can win and end this thing so that it never happens again. You see when MIB made up the rules to their game of senet, Jacob complained and was told by his brother that some day he'd be able to make up his own rules. I think he did.

Maybe MIB has been playing by an outdated set of rules this whole time, so killing Jacob and the rest of the candidates isn't really going to help him get off the Island. Jacob made his own set of rules and is making it so that whatever Jack, Hurley, Sawyer, etc. do in the next few hours will stop all of the horrible Island stuff from happening to anyone ever again. It will be very satisfying to see that our favorite characters are the ones that help save the day.

I'll come back after this Tuesday's episode and apologize to myself for how wrong all of this is.

Survivor Week 14- What Are The Chances?

Me- "What are the chances Colby makes it longer than a minute in this challenge?"

And 15 seconds later Colby dropped out of a contest that took 20 minutes to knock everyone else out. This has been the epitome of the highly touted Colby's season. He has either been giving absolutely no effort, or somehow became the worst competitor in the history of Survivor. This guy was my first pick on the Heroes side because of his reputation for winning challenges. Fortunately he is keeping me in the hunt because of his complete lack of effort. Nobody seems to have a need to get rid of him, because he's done absolutely nothing to make anyone afraid of him. Nice move Donaldson.

Nothing too exciting on the strategy side of things, except for the fact Russell continues to make himself out to be more of an idiot than I could have ever imagined. He was completely surprised to find out that Danielle was close with Parvati? You mean the fact that the three of you have been in an alliance for the past eight weeks didn't tip you off that they might like each other? Wow you are dense.

The most annoying aspect of Survivor? The fact that these people get so emotional when their relatives come to see them. Seriously people, you've been away from your families for a month. Did you all cry your eyes out when you came home on Thanksgiving break from college? What a joke.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W14 (92)= 92
Danielle (Villains)
Sandra (Villains)- W14 (92), Idol use on last day (-)= 92
JT (Heroes)
Tom (Heroes)
Weeks 14= 184 Total= 1,592

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W14 (92), Immunity (20)= 112
Colby (Heroes)- W14 (92)= 92
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)
Week 14= 204 Total= 1,400

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W14 (92), Reward (10)= 102
Rupert (Heroes)- Votes (-16)= -16
Amanda (Heroes)
Week 14= 86 Total= 1,127

Kick Puncher III

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