Survivor Week 8- Slay or be Slayed

I can't believe Russell continues to go far in this game, and eliminate all of my favorite players in the process. Coach had this coming to him though. After being one of the two people that could've helped keep Boston Rob last week, he did nothing but complain about how hard it is to play without his best friends Tyson and Boston Rob.

This fantasy season is still anybody's game, well except for Larry who is seemingly done with only Courtney left. Jaydon still holds onto the lead but these people get their act together and get rid of Russell, he could take a drop as we move forward. I like that momentum that my Candice was making over in Heroes camp. She's right on the money with having to get rid of JT. The guy has been controlling everything over there since day one.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Danielle (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Sandra (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
JT (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Tom (Heroes)
Week 8= 128 Total= 529

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)
Parvati (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Colby (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Week 8= 111 Total= 431

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W8 (29)= 29
Rupert (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Amanda (Heroes)- W8 (29), Reward (4), Im (8)= 41
Week 8= 111 Total= 392

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)- Votes (-16)= -16
Courtney (Villains)- W8 (29), Votes (-12)= 17
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Week 8= 1 Total= 180

Fantasy Idol Results- A Save and a Slap

During my vacation I don't feel like complaining about how much I hate Kara DioGuardi or the fact that she was all excited/shocked when Michael Lynche was saved. Kara, you realize it was your decision as the judges to save him so wipe that smug surprised smile off of your face before I do it for you.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (22)= 22
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Safe (22)= 22
Lee DeWyze- Safe (22)= 22
Week 7= 66 Total= 172

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
John Park
Week 7= 30 Total= 104

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (22)= 22
Week 7= 22 Total= 56

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (22)= 22
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 7= 22 Total= 55

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynch- Bottom 3 (-7), Safe (22)= 15
Week 7= 15 Total= 55

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Safe (22)= 22
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Week 7= 22 Total= 43

LOST- Desmond Game Changer

Desmond Hume- "You told me you brought me here to The Island to do something very important...when do we start?"

Well as Audrey Griswold screamed in Vegas Vacation while dancing on top of a gigantic neon sign, "I'm starting my vacation!!!!" I just finished watching last night's mammouth episode of LOST while on a flight from Baltimore to Jacksonville. Yes sir head to the Happiest Place on Earth for a couple days before spending the rest of the week in Savannah.

This probably won't be my finest post (are any of them decent?) but I'll give it my best shot before I need to turn all my electronic devices off before landing. As Lindelof said, Happily Ever After sure was a game-changer. Desmond is the root of all awesomeness. It's that simple.

This sideways story was so intriguing and enlightening that I didn't even realize that we were off The Island from the 8:30 mark to the 37:20 mark until Widmore and the gang opened the garage door to the electromagnetic room to a wakening Desmond.

With all that is going around me (wind, turbulence, switching planes) I'm not sure if I truly grasped what the heck is actually going right now, but I do know that I love every second of it. When Charlie drives the car into the water and Des tries to save him, he has his first flash of something from The Island, Charlie's hand that said "Not Penny's Boat."

Okay. Okay. That didn't have to be major. But then we get Charlie telling him there's something major going on with love at first sight with him and Claire and he thinks Des and Penny (later on we also get Daniel and Charlotte). And then we meet Eloise and Daniel as part of Widmore's family and everything takes a turn.

Eloise obvsiously knows more about what in the f is going on and doesn't want Desmond to know about it. Faraday also knows something huge is at play, because he wrote a whole bunch of physics equations even though he is just an aspiring musician. Daniel claims that he thinks he set off an atomic bomb that created this whole sideways universe. Sure this is what we all assumed, but what does it have to do with the two seperate worlds and how we're going to get anything out of it?

Here's how. Desmond goes to find his beloved Penny and after shaking hands with the beauty he faints. During this faint we get cut to him waking up in the electromagnetic room. The hostiles claim he's been out for only a few seconds, but by the look on his face it seems that this Island Desmond was experiencing everything in the Sideways world (or at least can remember it).

That's when he buys into the fact that he truly is meant for greatness. He is needed to help the whole situation and tells Widmore, "You told me you brought me here to The Island to do something very important...when do we start?" Does it get much better than this dude?

After Sayid takes care of the hostiles and captures Desmond, he's completely fine with it. He's ready to go along with whatever ride comes his way. But then we get back to his Sideways (did he faint in the jungle at that moment?) where he is waking up from his fainting with Penny. She is really likening to Des and they agree to go get coffee.

Once he gets back into the limo driven by a bearded Daniel Negreanu, he has come up with an idea. What idea? To get the manifest from his Oceanic Flight 815. He just needs to show the passengers something. What in the world is he going to show everyone. How is his strange, maybe unctrollable, ability to switch back and forth between worlds going to be shown to others? And how will they then be able to do the same? Will the two worlds still be able to be combined or will all of the people he shows be able to come and go between the two worlds? Game-changer.

American Idol- No Tim! Good Performance

Randy Jackson- "It was a good Tim performance."

While Simon is one of the meanest people in television history, Randy's treatment of Tim Urban last night might have been more cruel than anything the cranky Brit has ever done. At least Simon makes sense with his criticism. Randy saying that he is not judging Tim in a comparison to any other contestant is just wrong and unfair to the contestants and the audience. Figure it out dawg and learn how to judge or I'm gonna be forced to fast forward through you.

Speaking of this "good Tim performance" I actually agreed with Simon that it was decent. The thing about Urban is that half of the time he's a pleasant listen. You know he's never going to try to hard with the vocals, so it never sounds strained (unlike his young teenybopping partner). I'd rather listen to this performance by Urban any day of the week than sit through another Aaron Kelly hatchet job.

Aaron is always straining and it just gets worse and worse every week I have to sit through his performance. Whichever judge said it last night was right on the money with the fact that it was "a long and winding song." It was both annoying and boring. When is this youngster going to realize you can't just put a country voice on any song without rearranging it to give it a country feel. It's just felt like a mutant cousin of The Long and Winding Road.

While we're on the topic of performances I really couldn't stand...Andrew Garcia aka President Omar Hassan went back to his other identity this week as he just butchered Can't Buy Me Love. I was bored throughout and it is a very upbeat song. Not usually the combination you think of.

My favorite this week was once again Crystal Bowersox. MamaSox has proven she can do anything, even smile while hugging a didgeridoo player. I really don't like Come Together, but like Adam Lambert used to do last year, she made me a fan of it with her performance.

I also really liked Siobhan Magnus and Katie Stevens last night. The Glass Blower really stepped with a Lambert/Tracks of My Tears moment in her rendition of Across the Universe. Now it wasn't as enjoyable as Michael Johns's rock out a couple years ago, but it was so tender and controlled that it was a pleasant change from her normal garbage. Ms. Stevens just flat out sang and performed well. I know Rizzo thinks she's the best every single week, but for me this is different. She made Let It Be seem real current.

Casey James, Le DeWyze and Michael Lynche were all subpar for me this week. I think Big Mike was my favorite of the group because he didn't something interesting that fit his style. I wanted to write that his Eleanor Rigby didn't even compare to Larry's Eleanor and CJ version but I think he was okay here. Casey, on the other hand, was not good at all. He was loving the vibrato this week as every time he went into a long note I thought I was getting shot at by a machine gun "eheheheheheheh". Oh Lee DeWyze. I wanted to really like you this week, but you brought a crazy bagpipe player on stage in the middle of your performance and I just couldn't concentrate. It was like Lee was the opening act and the Bagpipe Guy was the main attraction.

My prediction is the Tim Urban finally leaves us tonight.

Performance Rankings

1. Crystal Bowersox
2. Siobhan Magnus
3. Katie Stevens
4. Michael Lynche
5. Lee DeWyze
6. Tim Urban
7. Casey James
8. Andrew Garcia
9. Aaron Kelly

Chuck- To Paris With Love

Sarah Walker- "Once we get back, it's all gonna happen. You and me."

Wow. We're all kidding ourselves if we think that television gets better than that episode right there. It was so fantastic that I almost wish that there weren't six more episodes this season. Needless to say, Schwartz and Fedak knew what they were doing when they originally planned out this 13 episode season. Chuck vs. the Other Guy had it all and then some.

I really don't like the full episode recap as a post, but I feel that everything that happened during this 42 minute journey was worth talking about, so I might hate myself after seeing how long this post gets.

As the title portrays, this week's ep was a battle between the lead Nerd Herder and Special Agent Daniel Shaw. We start out with Shawsy and Sarah going into a deserted warehouse where it is assumed by Chuck and me that he is going to kill her for killing his wife. After getting a gigantic strike force together, thanks to Colonel Sanders, Chuck's mission ends abruptly as Shaw in no way attempts to end Sarah's life. Was anyone fooled by this? I wrote at the time, 'he's really dragging this thing along.'

After everyone is informed on the goodness of Shaw, he heads up another mission to get the Ring Leader. This time Chuck tags along. Once inside the fortress, Chuck and Sarah find a way to get the Ring Leader in the grasp and have everything under control. That is until the elevator they are holding him in continues to open with more and more Ring agents joining the hostage situation. It soon elevates to where the spies are completely outnumbered and don't stand a chance. Who comes to the rescue? Not John Casey, but Daniel Shaw. Again I said to myself, 'very nice setup.' And what happened next? Yes all of the Ring members that Shaw just fake killed got up, while the Leader announced, "Good work Daniel...I think they bought it."

Yes they might have but I and my little bearded friend didn't. It took Morgan Grimes one watch to realize that the footage of Shaw beating up the Ring operatives was fake. The man knows his action movies. All of these CIA and NSA people on the scene and it took a lolely Buy More assistant Manager to figure out that Shawsy was working with the Ring. What does that mean for Morgan? Yes an actual spot on Team Bartowski. Although he won't play a major role in the action I'm sure, Morgan will be a part of the spy stuff from here on out I'm assuming.

So now yet a third mission to get the Ring Leader is under way. This time just Shaw and Sarah again. On their way to Paris. After Morgan let's Chuck in on the little secret about Shaw, he convinces Casey (through a fantastic motivational speech) to go and help out Mr. Bartowski. Once in "The Land of France", as I call it to a friend of mine, things continued to heat up.

Shawsy brings Sarah to the exact spot she killed his wife and he plans to return the favor. He drugs her and brings in the Ring Leader to hand over important intelligence on the Intersect. Boy things are going down hill fast. But no Chuck shows up as a waiter and gets down to business with Shaw. For the first time though, a flashed Chuck can not win in a fight as Shaw takes him out and takes Sarah with him to throw over a bridge.

Chuck makes his final attempt to save the love of his life. He draws his gun and threatens to kill the double agent. Casey calls his bluff, but it is too late as Chuck shoots Shawsy in the chest a couple times. In a last ditch effort to get revenge for his fallen wife, Shaw grabs Sarah to pull her over the bridge with him, but Chuck steps in and grabs her as Shaw falls to his death. Wow. Doesn't get much better than that.

Actually it does. It's called Sarah waking up in a Paris hotel room with the words, "You saved me" spraying out of her mouth before she commits one of the greatest "WHAT A KISS!!!" moments in the history of pop culture smooches. And they all lived happily ever after...well until they come back in a few weeks with a whole new mess on their hands.

Other Points

- Even though Chuck's first attempt to save Sarah was unnecessary she was still thankful for his extensive rescue mission, "Thank you for saving me. I appreciate the tank."

- We didn't get much of Jeffster this week, but the little we did was great, especially them accepting Casey into their crew.

- After a drunk Chuck ties up Morgan and starts singing Morgan gets me slapping my knee with, "You are misquoting the line and you are ruining Pretty in Pink for me."

- We got a couple more great mushy Sarah lines that we've all been waiting for. "You're still Chuck.  You're still my Chuck" and at the top of the post, "Once we get back, it's all gonna happen. You and me."

- Before Casey convince Beckman to let Morgan on Team Bartowski we got this gem from the saddened Buy Morian, "My time as a spy was pretty exciting...a bit brief."

Breaking Bad- An Honesty Bomb

Walter White- "Honesty is good...don't you think?"

That honesty bomb that Walter dropped on Skyler at the beginning of this season has done wonders to his personality. I loved watching him go from manic to depressive throughout this episode. Sure the depressing Walt moments aren't all that great, like being frustrated that Skyler won't let him in the bedroom so he pees in the sink. But the highest of highs are such a joy to witness, like when Skyler gets home and Walter has an ear to ear grin claiming that he's cooking dinner. Yes the meth cook was once again wearing his apron, only this time instead of drugs it was a big ole pot roast.

Walt also finally got a chance to explain himself to his wife this week. His long plea for why he started cooking in the first place was so heartfelt that I definitely would've taken the man back. "The things I've had to do, I've got to live with them." I mean come on Sky, have a heart. No instead of welcoming him back with open arms, she went to work and got her some Ted. "Honesty is good" Walt said. So the cold hearted b*tch let Walter know what she had been up to with her boss. And roll credits. Can everyone admit that Skyler is the absolute worst?

And now a word to the Albuquerque phone department. Thank you for disconnecting Jane's number. If I had to watch Jesse Pinkman call that voicemail one more time I was going to throw a fit! Why don't you take one of my favorite characters on tv and turn him into a complete waste? I get that his gf just died, but man has this dude been a buzzkill the first few eps of this season. Cutting off that cellphone was the best thing that could've happened to Jesse. Let's get down to business with some meth cookin'.

It was nice to see more development on the Gus Chiggins situation with the Cartel. Obviously they have some deal worked out with Gus controlling his area. The fact that Walt is a part of his plan is the only thing keeping the cook alive at this point, but as the Cartel boss told Gus those Two Suits aren't like the rest of them. They will do whatever they want to get revenge for their fallen cousin, Tuco. The fact that Tuco was their cousin makes the Two Suits that much sweeter. P.S. are either one of them going to say a word this entire season?

Hank's partner at the DEA, Steven Gomez, and T-time would get along really well..."We shoulda went to Chilis."

Update: This from Todd VanDerWerff at HitFix.com

I can get rooting for Walter over, say, the cousins, who are simply forces of a dark and implacable evil that cannot be stopped (whereas Walter remains at least somewhat human), but I have trouble seeing why anyone would call Skyler "whiny." She's a woman who's just had everything she ever worked toward or hoped for yanked out from under her, and she's reacting like any of us would if we found out that our spouses were meth kingpins. Hell, she's probably acting BETTER than any of us would.

This guy has to be kidding. She is "whiny." Isn't one of the fun parts about watching tv hating on the terrible "whiny" characters? I could care less if she's acting in a better fashion than I would given the situation. What she's doing, and how she's acting, is the epitome of someone that no one would ever want to hang out with. She's lame and that's what makes her fun to watch. I can't stand her and its truly engaging.

Survivor Week 7- I Think I'd Go With Boston

Coach Wade- "I came here to win this game...not at all costs."

So we lost Boston Rob Mariano this week. Was he one my favorites on the show? Yes. Am I that upset that he's gone? No. That's just the nature of the beast. I respect the game play done by the Villains this week. They can smell the merge coming and realize that it is now about getting rid of some big time players. Who cares if Courtney stays or goes at this point? If you're Russell or Coach, you want Rob gone. If you're with Russell or Coach, you also want him gone.

I'm not surprised that it was Boston Rob and not Russell who left the Villains. For as big of an egomaniac Russell is, the rest of the players haven't gotten a chance to witness it on television. Boston Rob had a built in reputation of being a good challenge player and a good strategic player form past seasons. Jerri and Coach haven't really seen what Russell is doing behind the scenes so they're much more likely to fall for his lies than they would be for Rob's lies.

So we ended up with Russell, Parvati and Danielle vs. Rob, Courtney and Sandra. Jerri and Coach could be swayed either way. When Russ was spilling his plea to the two floaters, I was amazed that Jerri ate the whole thing up and Coach of all people called BS! This guy believes anything you throw at him. If HE knows Russell is spinning a web of lies then we know Russ is off his game.

But Coach being the non-loyal warrior that he is, voted off Rob and sided with Darth Russell. On the bright side though, we got another legendary quote from the Dragonslayer, "At the dawn of every morning, hope springs eternal." What that had to do with the given situation, I have no idea.

The Heroes won both challenges this week in what has become a ritual of Survivor. The team that continues to lose tribe members, begins to come together as the group gets smaller and smaller. The Heroes, down to only the Fantastic Five as Rupert named them, has no choice but to get along with each other. This new spirit and team cohesion leads to challenge victories and a nice momentum boost as that merge gets closer.

Fantasy Results

Punch Face Champions

Russell (Villains)- W7 (22), Votes (-12)= 10
Danielle (Villains)- W7 (22)= 22
Sandra (Villains)- W7 (22)= 22
JT (Heroes)- W7 (22), Reward (4), Im (8)= 34
Tom (Heroes)
Week 7= 88 Total= 401

Redwood Original

Boston Rob (Villains)- Votes (-16)= -16
Parvati (Villains)- W7 (22)= 22
Colby (Heroes)- W7 (22), Reward (4), Im (8)= 34
Sugar (Heroes)
Candice (Heroes)- W7 (22), Reward (4), Im (8)= 34
Week 7= 74 Total= 320

DJ Roomba

Tyson (Villains)
Randy (Villains)
Jerri (Villains)- W7 (22)= 22
Rupert (Heroes)- W7 (22), Reward (4), Im (8)= 34
Amanda (Heroes)- W7 (22), Reward (4), Im (8)= 34
Week 7= 90 Total= 281

Kick Puncher III

Coach (Villains)- W7 (22)= 22
Courtney (Villains)- W7 (22), Votes (-4)= 18
James (Heroes)
Stephenie (Heroes)
Cirie (Heroes)
Week 7= 40 Total= 179

Fantasy Idol Results- Take All the Chips Away

Al Pacino's character, Walter Abrams in Two For the Money, is a gambling addict. He kept on making bets because he said that there's no better feeling in the world than when they dragged your chips away from you. That, in a nutshell, is the same reason I keep coming back to American Idol every season.

I know that a couple times per season that America is going to do something completely ridiculous, like eliminate the fantastic Didi Benami in 10th place, and it will make me so very unhappy. It's that knot in the pit of my stomach that makes the results show so exciting. If it were a forgone conclusion that the worst contestant (Tim Urban) was going to leave every week, what would be the point of watching?

Now I know the judges haven't been as high on her as most of the critics and viewers have, but if you're gonna have the judges save why not use it now? Didi has shown a ton of talent. The judges loved her Rhiannon. They loved her Play With Fire. Are they just gonna hold out until the final week it can be used and waste it on someone who will only make it one more week further in the game? If Didi was saved this week she might have been propelled to a top 5 or 6 spot. The same could have been said for Alexis Grace last season. The top nine to 11 is the time to use it, not at the very end.

What a night for R&B/Soul Music. Probably three of the worst performances of the season (and yes I'm including all of Tim Urban's and Paige Miles's Smile). Ruben was a great contestant, singing famous songs of old, but he is no original artist. Usher is a great dancer so it was nice to watch him combine the styles of Michael Jackson and Russian folk dance up on stage, but he can't sing a lick. And then there was Diddy. Or the 45 seconds of Diddy I put up with before fast forwarding through that garbage.

Your bottom three from last night. Didi Benami, Tim Urban and Katie Stevens. That's two weeks in a row for the latter pair. Didi made her first appearance in the group but ended up being the one to leave after doing another great rendition of Rhiannon. Oh well. Another week of Tim Urban awaits us.

Fantasy Scores

The Rock Bodega
Casey James- Safe (16)= 16
Janell Wheeler
Tim Urban- Bottom 3 (-6), Safe (16)= 10
Lee DeWyze- Safe (16)= 16
Week 6= 42 Total= 106

You're Coming With Me Leather
Andrew Garcia- Safe (16)= 16
Paige Miles
Aaron Kelly- Safe (16)= 16
John Park
Week 6= 32 Total= 74

Diabolical Haters
Didi Benami- Bottom 3 (-6), Eliminated (-12)= -18
Lilly Scott
Lacey Brown
Michael Lynch- Safe (16)= 16
Week 6= -2 Total= 40

The Curlgar
Ashley Rodriguez
Joe Muñoz
Haley Vaughn
Siobhan Magnus- Safe (16)= 16
Week 6= 16 Total= 34

Splash Downs All Around
Todrick Hall
Crystal Bowersox- Safe (16)= 16
Tyler Grady
Michelle Delamor
Week 6= 16 Total= 33

HashTag Katie Stevens Is Only 16
Katie Stevens- Bottom 3 (-6), Safe (16)= 10
Jermaine Sellers
Katelyn Epperly
Alex Lambert
Week 6= 10 Total= 21