Bye Bye Buchanan

This past Monday Bill Buchanan sacrificed his life to save the President of the United States, Allison Taylor. As they do every time a main character dies, the people at '24' used a silent clock to fade out to commercial after the explosion that Bill created.

This is significant to me because Bill Buchanan has been my favorite character during the seven seasons of the show. Sure I've liked Tony and you can't be a 24 fan if you don't love Jack, but Bill really got it done for me day in and day out.

Bill first appears in season 4 when he comes to CTU LA from Division to oversee things. By the end of the season, Tony and Michelle Dessler retire and Bill becomes head of CTU. In season 5 Bill, along with Chloe, spend most of the day helping Jack be Jack behind closed door. They get detained for some of the season because of it. It was actions like this that made Bill and also David Palmer in his day, the best characters on the show.

Ten Most Influential and Heart Wrenching Deaths

10. Paul Raines (Day 4)- After taking a bullet for Jack, Paul is being operated on in CTU, but Jack forces the doctor to switch over to a suspect that they need information out of. Raines dies on the table.

9. Michelle Dessler (Day 5)- At the beginning of season five, Michelle is blown up by a bomb in her car a la Jack McKay.

8. David Palmer (Day 5)- About five minutes before Michelle, Palmer got shot by a sniper within the first five minutes of the season. This death was way to abrupt to get at me the way it should have.

7. Lynn McGill (Day 5)- Rudy really took one for the team after the poisonous gas was released inside of CTU. It would have killed everyone in the building if he didn't go on his suicide mission to stop it from getting to Jack, Chloe and the gang.

6. Bill Buchanan (Day 7)- Another self-sacrifice for the good of others, Bill blew himself up to save the President. Not enough drama leading up to his move, and no slow mo, what's that about?

5. Curtis Manning (Day 6)- After taking bad guy Assad into his clutches and threatening to kill him, Jack tells him to put his gun away or he'll have no other choice. Curtis refuses and Jack shoots and kills the long time CTU agent.

4. George Mason (Day 2)- Mason was hit with poisonous plutonium earlier in the season and was told he would have maybe a week to live. Knowing this he piloted the nuclear bomb so that it was near no one else when it blew up.

3. Milo Pressman (Day 6)- Milo returned to 24 following a five year absence and left in style. When the Chinese bad guys came into CTU to take control they asked who the leader was. To protect Nadia, Milo said it was him, as he stood to face the Chinamen. They shot him instantly.

2. Edgar Stiles (Day 5)- Wow season five was action packed. Edgar was caught in the poisonous gas that McGill eventually stopped. His downfall was filled with slow-mo and a great score that grabbed my heart right out of my chest.

1. Ryan Chapelle (Day 3)- Now Chapelle was a jerk most of the time, but when Stephen Saunders said he wanted Chapelle dead or he would do something really bad, I had a hard time not choking up. Jack ended up shooting Chapelle in the head from point blank.
For a good cry click here.

Idol Does MJ

First week of the finals featured music by the former king of pop and present king of freaky, Michael Jackson.

Vanessa Olivarez Division (Really Bad)

Anoop Desai- (Beat It) At least he finally picked a song that had lyrics and wasn't sung completely by the background vocalists. He didn't come anywhere close to doing this well. It was too soft, not nearly gritty enough for 'Beat It.' I would liked to have seen someone rock it out and do the Fall Out Boy version, but Anoop wasn't going to be that person. I believe he should be going home this week.

Kris Allen- (Remember the Time) The guitar seemed completely unnecessary right from the beginning. It was like he was waiting for the finals to use his guitar and forced it into a song that wasn't right for a guitar. He missed a couple notes and was yelling at times. The terrible judges said it was great to see him with a guitar but Simon agreed with the kid and said the guitar didn't fit the song. Exactly.

Jorge Nunez- (Never Can Say Goodbye) This Jackson Five song was obviously done at a really high tone by Michael as a kid. And Jorge not being able to go high was a downfall. He hit some strong notes at the end but the first half was way too boring for me. Also his accent made it sound weird to me.

Ricky Smith Division (Fine, but not going to gain votes)

Alexis Grace- (Dirty Diana) While not terrible (she actually can sing well), she is starting to feel a little pretentious to me. She just tried too hard and was oversinging a bit. It felt a lot like her semifinal performance that most people liked obviously, but I didn't.

Michael Sarver- (You Are Not Alone) MJ did this one as an adult, but did it completely in falsetto. I loved this song back in middle school so I really feel Sarver didn't do it justice. He showed he has strong vocals, it just didn't fit with this song. I might have liked the performance if I didn't know the song.

Lil Rounds- (The Way You Make Me Feel) Although the three stooges loved this performance, as they would have no matter what she did, it was pretty bland for me. It picked up towards the end with some changes into the false, but all in all nothing to email home about.

Scott MacIntyre- (Keep the Faith) I liked him a lot better than in the semi-final. Maybe the judges actually knew what they were talking about, because he actually did seem much more comfortable behind the piano. I didn't really know the song which can help you if you're not that great because no one can do it like Michael. The only thing is that his piano playing didn't really add anything to the performance.

Jasmine Murray- (I'll Be There) I feel the best of this group. She pulled out some runs that I hadn't heard in this song and showed some powerful vocals throughout. I only wish she had thrown in some ad libs like "look over shoulders honey."

Trenyce Division (Hangin' around near the top)

Megan Joy Corkrey- (Rockin' Robin) It might have been a little strange but I really enjoyed it. Unlike Jorge and Sarver, her lower voice fit this song. Maybe it's different when a chick sings in place of the high voiced Michael. Megan Joy has a very Sara Bareilles sound to her voice and it fit well to the 'Rockin Robin.' She goes in between her regular and falsetto at time very well. Although it's not really a powerful sound, it was better than Lil or Alexis trying to be powerful and failing.

Allison Iraheta- (Give In To Me) I thought I might have known the song, but it didn't sound like it because she was giving it such a different feel. She has such a rock star voice. With all of her raspyness I think it sounded great. The downfall for me is that she sounds the same throughout, no big runs or changes.

Matt Giraud- (Human Nature) This guy is the only one who tried to go at the falsetto and take it down. He went into it for about half the song and killed it. The first part of the song, in his lower register, were good and raspy. Unlike Scott, his piano skills added something to the performance. You can tell he really gets into it while tickling the ivories.

Ruben Studdard Division (Contenders)

Danny Gokey- (PYT) All in all a great performance. A very strong vocal performance, with quick changes from raspy lower register to falsetto. He seemed to really get the audience, and me, into the song. It was a fast song and that doesn't usually give the contestant a chance to show off his chops, but Gokey proved he's got what it takes to get to the finals.

Adam Lambert- (Black or White) Problem with Danny is that he's not Adam. Still the favorite to win this thing. In both performances he has gone all out, changed the song up, performed the heck out of it, and showed amazing vocal talents. His stage presence is unbelievable. Adam is extremely weird, but completely fantastic.

Survivor Tocantins- Week 4

Thoughts

So far this season is much less exciting as Randy, Sugar and Kenny of Gabon. Coach is the worst guy ever. Tyson is really the major bright spot. He again talked about his love for seeing people cry and throw tantrums if they get voted out. He thought voting Erinn out would be a good idea for the sole reason that she would get very upset about it.

The secretive four-way alliance looks like a really good idea. It seems similar to Ryan and Josh's alliance in Big Brother 9 that did wonders because nobody thought they liked each other. Brendan and Sierra aren't doing a good enough job of pretending that nothing is going on and from the previews for next week, it seems like something might leak out in a day or two. Oh well.

Week 3 Results

Freecell Makes Me Wanna T-1st (132)



Brendan: 15
Spencer: 11
Sydney: 7
Debbie: 15
Total= 48






Slaughterhouse T-1st (132)



Tyson: 15
Stephen: 11
Taj: 11
Sierra: 15
Total= 52






Rangers Stars Mavericks Cowboys 3rd (57)



JT: 11
Sandy: -16
Coach: 15
Total= 10







The Renegades 4th (28)



Joe: 7
Erinn: 15
Total= 22

Judging Idol

Thoughts

Before I get to all of my complaining about this show, let me preface it with the fact that I enjoy shows that I get angry with. A prime example was how much I hated Mary from Las Vegas. Vegas was definitely one of my favorite character driven shows and hating everything that Mary did made it fun to scream and yell when she did something else that I couldn't stand. That's the way I've been feeling yet again with Idol this season.

Kara DioGuardi is one of the worst additions to a television program in history. I never thought that I wouldn't be able to stand someone more than Paula, but Kara makes Paula refreshing. Kara is the absolute WORST. She blabs and blabs like she thinks she knows what she's talking about. At least Paula knows she's an idiot. Kara is kind of closer to Randy in that sense, she takes the worst parts of Randy and Paula and has created one uber-terrible judge.

I definitely enjoyed the less airtime for auditions this year. I am not one of those people that enjoy watching millions of terrible auditions. It gets old real fast. I feel the change in format for the semi-finals is a good change of pace, it kind of dragged the past couple of years. As a bonus we don't end up with an equal number of guys and girls. Because if you know anything about me, you know that I think guys are better at most things, including Idol.

Quick Summaries

Group 1: Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey (right) and Michael Sarver made it through. Wow early terribleness from America. Sarver, really? Gokey was the best in the group but I agreed with Simon that it was nothing special. Alexis was barely the best girl, none of them were very good in this group.

Group 2: Adam Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta got through from this group. I enjoyed all three of these. Lambert showed a lot of talent in his first performance, but was kinda of crazy at times.

Group 3: Lil Rounds, Scott MacIntyre and Jorge Nunez won this round. Very good group in which I disagreed wholeheartedly with the choices by America. God did the judges praise Lil Rounds (being in the last spot, the producers obviously want her to win). I wasn't impressed. She showed talent but there was nothing special. Blind Scott was not good and Jorge was good but uncomfortable to watch afterward with all his Spanish thinking. I guess in the end I would've gone with Rounds, Ju'not Joyner and Von Smith (but Von greatly disappointed in the wild-card so good job America).

Wildcard Round

Jessica Langseth: wow was this performance bad.

Megan Joy Corkrey (right): also bad but not quite on Jessica's level. Talked through the entire song. Obviously the judges praised her because they need to increase their number of females in the finals.

Matt Giraud: I liked this performance of Who's Loving You. The judges have said it a million times but this was a much better song choice for him and he definitely did enough to make the finals.

Von Smith: Like I said before, he blew it. On Tuesday he was great, switching back and forth from his falsetto do his normal voice but tonight he almost tried to do the whole thing in a high pitch and it didn't work for me or anyone.

Jasmine Murray: She comes out with a powerful Christina Agulaira song and did very well. Randy and Kara are completely idiotic again. Randy says song was too big for her. No, her thing is big songs, she has a big voice just not great control. That's why the Sara Bareilles song last time didn't work. Kara goes "I didn't know you had this big voice." How dumb are you Kara? You all criticized her in week 1 for picking a song that didn't show off her big voice. That's all you knew about her. Wow.

Ricky Braddy: A decent job, but he's just too forgettable.

Tatiana Del Toro: She sings the exact same song she did in group 1. Are you joking? Repeating songs is one thing but in back to back weeks during your first two times in front of America? Soo dumb and the judges criticized her for it. It was a decent performance though.

Anoop Desai: This guy is just being so dumb. He has a big fan base, a big voice and a big personality and he is killing himself with these song choices. He has done two songs in the first two performances that feature a chorus sung completely by backup singers. He adlibs throughout the performance and doesn't get a chance to actually sing. It kills me because he could be real good, I feel.

So they end up taking four from the wildcard instead of three. Matt Giraud, Jasmine Murray, Megan Joy Corkrey and Anoop Desai. I agree with everything except there was no need for Corkrey.

Finals predictions

13. Michael Sarver
12. Megan Joy Corkrey
11. Kris Allen
10. Jasmine Murray
9. Matt Giraud
8. Jorge Nunez
7. Alexis Grace
6. Anooop Desai
5. Scott MacIntyre
4. Allison Iraheta
3. Lil Rounds
2. Danny Gokey
1. Adam Lambert (right)

Still LOST

Straight up, Lost is still the best show on television. Last night's ep forced me to post about it. This could have been my favorite hour of television this year. Not only did we get to see Herc (FNL) and Michelle Dessler (24) in the ep, but it centered around one of my favorite tv characters of all time, James 'Sawyer' 'LaFleur' Ford. It was real sweet watching Sawyer take control immediately following the action Locke took to stop the time traveling. But then as they skip forward three years, you get to see how he is basically running the Dharma Initiative, and he is killing it.

Now to the juicy part...Sawyer and Juliet. I've spent a lot of time watching Lost and the fight between Jack and Sawyer over Kate was always a hot topic. Not liking Jack and loving Sawyer, I've always wanted Sawyer to win Kate. Here's the thing, I've always dislike Kate as well, so why would I want Sawyer to be stuck with her. I definitely like Juliet (and not just because she's Santa's wife). So it only makes sense to love it that Sawyer and Juliet got together over the three year span. Too bad it seems like things will get ruined now that everyone is back on the island.

The main thing that I love about Lost is how they continue to answer questions and get you to ask more every episode. This is what Heroes fails to do on a regular basis. You can't keep stringing a viewer on and not give them any candy along the way.

My only quarrel with Lost is that during the first couple of seasons the writers were making the stuff up as they went along. I think it might be weird to go back and re-watch because I think some of the details wouldn't make sense. Once Lindelof and Cuse set an end date and figured out exactly where they were going with the whole thing, the show got better for me.

Combining Lists

I don't know how I could live with myself if I didn't take all of these top ten lists I've been compiling and put them to good use. Let's see who ended up as the consensus top character based on the lists I used. Also I will be figuring out who the top actor from the lists. Normal scoring was used, with 10 points for a number one, 9 for second and so on. You needed to make two lists to be considered. Oh and Ty's list was thrown out.

Top Characters

15. Chester Lee- Rodney Dangerfield in Ladybugs (5 points)

14. Jack Kelly- Christian Bale in Newsies (6 points)

11. Frank Slade (left)- Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman (8 points)



11. R.P. McMurphy- Jack Nicholson in Cuckoo's Nest (8 points)

11. Ron Burgundy- Will Ferrell in Anchorman (8 points)

10. Doc Holliday- Val Kilmer in Tombstone (9 points)

8. Tyler Durden (left)- Brad Pitt in Fight Club (10 points)



8. Buddy the Elf- Will Ferrell in Elf (10 points)

6. The Joker- Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight (11 points)

6. Will Hunting (left)- Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting (11 points)

5. Jack Sparrow- Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean (15 points)



4. Bob Wiley- Bill Murray in What About Bob? (16 points)

2. Roy O'Bannon- Owen Wilson in Shanghai Noon (19 points)

2. Bartholomew Hunt- Chris Farley in Almost Heroes (19 points)

1. Verbal Kint (left)- Kevin Spacey in Usual Suspects (25 points)



Top Actors

15. Val Kilmer- 9 points (2 selections)

15. Dustin Hoffman- 9 points (2 selections)

11. Brad Pitt- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Humphrey Bogart (left)- 10 points (2 selections)

11. Jack Nicholson- 10 points(3 selections)



11. Christian Bale- 10 points (3 selections)

10. Matt Damon- 11 points (2 selections)

9. Marlon Brando- 13 points (2 selections)

8. Bill Murray (left)- 16 points (2 selections)

6. Morgan Freeman- 18 points (2 selections)

6. Will Ferrell- 18 points (4 selections)



5. Chris Farley- 19 points (2 selections)

4. Heath Ledger- 20 points (3 selections)

3. Johnny Depp- 22 points (3 selections)

2. Kevin Spacey- 25 points (3 selections)

1. Owen Wilson (left)- 37 points (4 selections)





I haven't seen a smokeshow this bad since Mr.Piglover Jordan was talkin' smack back in '06. O-Dog brought home the 'chip and did it in style. Give it up for Mr. Owen K. Wilson III.

Ty B-O-M-B

I'll preface this with the fact that this is not an actual list, but definitely a funny one. Anyone who knows Ty well, knows that he loves Brendan Fraser. When we would play B-O-M-B in college, Ty would use Brendan Fraser any chance he could get. For those of you unfamiliar to the game of B-O-M-B, it was brought to VC through the Juice Box (someone correct me if I am wrong). It is a game played with two-100 players, but best to start with 7-10 players. The player to start names a movie, the next player names an actor from that movie, and the next names a different movie that actor is in. For example, Lar would always start with Ocean's Eleven, I would say Scott Caan, Mags would say Varsity Blues, Skip would then say Jon Voight. Then it would get to Stumpy, who would have no idea and he could then take a guess or challenge Skip to name another Jon Voight movie. If Skip names one, Stumpy gets a letter, if he doesn't Skip gets the letter. Once you get B-O-M-B you're out and play continues with the next player. Obviously no repeat movies or actors are allowed in one round of play. A round being the time it takes for someone to get a letter.

The interesting thing about Ty playing this game would be that if he didn't know an actor from a movie, he would always say Brenden Fraser. I'd say Bottle Rocket, Ty would have no idea and he'd say Brendan Fraser. When Ty would start a game or a round it was most certainly the Mummy or The Mummy Returns. To this day I still don't know if he was faking a little with his lack of knowledge for the comedic value of guessing Brendan Fraser or School Ties every time a difficult one came around.

Ty's Top Ten

10. David Greene- Brendan Fraser– School Ties

9. George of the Jungle- Brendan Fraser- George of the Jungle

8. Dudley Do Right- Brendan Fraser- Dudley Do Right

7. No Such Character- Brendan Fraser- The Godfather

6. Link- Brendan Fraser- Link

5. Trevor Anderson- Brendan Fraser- Journey to the Center of the Earth (hasn't seen it yet)

4. Elliot Richards- Brendan Fraser- Bedazzled

3. Rick O'Connell- Brendan Fraser- Mummy In the Orient (not actual title)

2. Rick O'Connell- Brendan Fraser- Mummy Returns

1. Rick O'Connell (left)- Brendan Fraser- The Mummy

Silver Fox and Chicks

Here we are with the final top ten list. The Silver Fox made a list of 25 which included many repeat actors and more than a few chicks. What is that? Does he actually think women could crack a top 100 list, let alone top 25? Lets get serious fox. Also I know you are a Dylan fan, but the late great Heath Ledger as Robbie in I'm Not There at number two? Ridiculous. Did you not see Dark Knight?

Silver Fox's Top Ten

10. Lewis Scott- Damon Wayans- Celtic Pride

9. JJ Jake Gittes- Jack Nicholson- Chinatown

8. Frank Slade- Al Pacino- Scent of a Woman

7. Thomas Fowler- Michael Caine- Quiet American

6. Idi Amin- Forest Whitaker- Last King of Scotland

5. Walter E. Kurtz- Marlon Brando- Apocalypse Now

4. Llewellyn Moss (left)- Josh Brolin- No Country For Old Men

3. Mookie- Spike Lee- Do the Right Thing

2. Robbie- Heath Ledger- I'm Not There

1. Matthew Poncelet- Sean Penn- Dead Man Walking