Reality Shows, part 2

(susan)
I watch some of these occasionally, when I remember, others I watch each week. Many of them show up on TheSoup each Friday and we talk about them on #TweetSoup. BTW, whatever happened to Ma's Roadhouse? That was a crazy show!

Survivor (CBS)

They’re back in Samoa with two tribes of newbies & two veterans to “lead” them. Did they learn anything from last season with Boston Rob & Russell? If not, who do you think will win, Coach or Ozzy? I hear this season on America’s Next Top Model, they’re doing an all-star competition. They don’t have any winners or newbies in the game. The competitors have all done this before. So if I were casting Survivor, I’d bring back the veterans as advisers, not competitors.

Top Chef: Just Desserts (Bravo)

It’s the best pastry chef competition ever. The Willy Wonka challenge, how cool was that!! I want to learn how to make a few of those things. I just love seeing what they create, haven’t picked a winner in this season yet.

Project Runway (Lifetime)

I’m not a fashionista, but there’s something about this show that I find interesting. Like Top Chef, I love seeing what the contestants will create. This season, they’re doing a lot of team challenges and no one wants to work with Burt!

Top Shot (Hist)

Really? This show gives me a nice survey of weapons available for protection in the zombie apocalypse. They combine physical obstacles and target shooting with a variety of weapons. The host is Colby Donaldson, from Survivor. He definitely has learned a lot from Jeff Probst. They’re currently in season 3. There are a few women in the show, but so far, none has made it past a few weeks. Maybe next year…

Tattoo shows LA Ink/NY Ink (TLC)

The final episode of LA Ink has aired. I’ve been watching it when I remember that it’s on. When the tattoo shows began, it was cool to hear people’s stories about the art they’re putting on their bodies permanently. That’s still my favorite part of the shows. The shop drama is not all that interesting to me, but seems to be more and more of the show.

Storage Wars (A&E)

This is one of those shows that I started watching on vacation. I was in the hotel room waiting around to go to dinner & it caught my eye while channel surfing. In each show a group of resale store owners and collectors bids on storage units then searches through them to find out if they got a good deal or not. There are good guys, villains, and comic relief among the cast and that’s why each show is different – you never know what you’re going to find in the lockers.

Whisker Wars (IFC)

Who knew facial hair was a sport?!?!? Is it a surprise to anyone that the rest of the country hates the Texas team? I’ve seen a couple of episodes of season 1 and I can’t tell what’s makes beard great. The competitions shown in season 1 are all in preparation for the World Beard competition in Norway in Freestyle, Natural Beard, and other categories.

Hoarders (A&E)/Hoarders Buried Alive (TLC)

The first time I saw Hoarders, I purged and cleaned for a few hours. Friends tell me this is a common reaction. Both shows are basically the same – a person has experienced a trauma, then starts hoarding. Each season, they find people who are more and more damaged, or are facing legal trouble, including jail time. I can’t watch this show every week.

Others...yes, there will be more. The Amazing Race starts again next weekend, and I'm sure Joel McHale will tell me about crazy new shows when we "get together" Friday evenings.

The freak circle is complete

(susan)

Charlie Hunnam’s back, with his American accent, and so are the rest of the Sons of Anarchy. I was so excited for the return of SAMCRO last week that I watched the first 3 seasons in August so I would be all caught up again for the 4^th season premiere on September 7^th.  Season 4 starts fourteen months later as the guys are released from prison.  There’s a new sheriff in town who’s not as cooperative as Unser. Hale is the new mayor and the biggest real estate developer in Charming. There’s also a new assistant US attorney who is investigating the Sons and their associates. Jax & Tara got engaged and he’s telling her everything as they agreed in season 1. Not sure if he knows about Maureen's letters yet, I don't think so. Opie & Lyla got married and they’re both keeping big secrets. Juice has some new business partners too. He owns 20% of the new wellness center so he gave Opie & Lyla each 10 colon cleansing sessions. There are new rifts in the club as well as between Gemma & Tara. We're going to learn more about the death of John Teller. The Russians are out this season and the Sons are working with the Mexican gang, The Mayans. Two of the new business partners are Benito Martinez, formerly Captain Aceveda of The Shield, and Danny Trejo. I can’t wait to see what happens!

This fangirl is thrilled to see Danny Trejo this season, even if he is only in a few episodes! You’ve seen him before he’s that guy, you know…  He’s played lots of bad guys, gang members, and miscellaneous bad-asses.  I had seen him many times, but first remembered his name after seeing him (and his arm) in ConAir. He’s shorter than I had imagined, but don’t tell him I said that.  ;-)

GGS Reality...part 1

(susan)

One of the things Amelia and I do is live tweet E!’s show The Soup on Friday nights at 9C. Follow us on Twitter @GeekGirlSoup, @AmeliaAvalos, and @barbisu to play along. In preparation for Friday night’s #TweetSoup, here’s an update on some of the reality shows I’ll admit to watching.

BIG BROTHER

So, 2011 was the year to reward bad behavior on Big Brother. The show ended without any big surprises. The last show where there was any excitement was the double eviction show in which Danielle and Jeff were evicted. They were the leaders of the factions of the house, which left their minions to play the game for themselves. Kalia had been playing with a strategy, but the rest were left to flounder & figure out the game for themselves.

Brendon and Rachel will have the wedding of their dreams, good for them - and they just won a honeymoon trip to Aruba on today's The Talk. The only real mystery was Adam’s vote, which went to Porsche. *shocker* This summer I was on Team Dani & Team Kalia, so my fun ended when Kalia got evicted from the final five. Can we get a recount on America’s Favorite Player vote - Jeff? He was America’s Bully, but I guess now he can buy a nice engagement ring for Jordan when he’s not busy making ignorant homophobic comments. I’ll try not to watch next year, but I’m sure I’ll get sucked in all over again *sigh*

SURVIVOR

They’re back in Samoa with two tribes of newbies & two veterans to “lead” them. Did they learn anything from last season with Boston Rob & Russell? If not, who do you think will win, Coach or Ozzy?

LIFE AFTER

One of my favorite lesser known reality shows (that never makes it onto TheSoup) is “Life After.” There are just a few episodes shown at seemingly random times on TVOne interviewing people who used to be famous. Everyone they have interviewed gives frank, honest answers about life in the limelight and how their lives have changed since they’re not the superstars they used to be. Some of the people profiled include Ruben Studdard, Taimak, Ron Artest, Jaimee Foxworth, Al Reynolds, Shar Jackson, and the woman who spoke my favorite quotation from the series, Janet Hubert – “If you want me to kiss your ass, you’ve got to put it in my contract.”

OTHER

Reality shows that shouldn’t be more than one episode (or one season at the most), but I'm glad they keep going so we can enjoy them on The Soup.

Hillbilly Handfishin’

I Didn’t Know I Was Pregnant

I Faked My Own Death

My Super Sweet 16/Kid Parties

Toddlers & Tiaras

Bachelor Pad

Bridezillas

Any show with Paris Hilton and/or a Kardashian

In the next installment of GGS Reality, we'll talk more Survivor, Project Runway, and Top Chef: Just Desserts

You wanna hug it out?

(Amelia)

I don’t think I was supposed to like Entourage. At its surface the male-centric series doesn’t seem like the kind of show a woman can take comfort in; particularly a woman who finds very little appealing about getting drunk, getting high, and getting laid with a guy who is most likely not going to call the next day.

Will y’all lose faith in me if I whine, “but Entourage is different”?

The show about four guys trying to navigate their way through Hollywood, to varying degrees, did more for me in Sunday night’s finale than Sex & the City ever did in its 6 year run or two subsequent films. I think because the female bond is so easily achieved and depicted. A true male bond is not something we regularly bare witness to. Sure guys probably get along better and quicker than chicks but the Musketeer-esque link between Vince, E, Turtle, and Drama isn’t your typical friendship. They’re brothers – two in the actual sense, all in a very real sense. No matter what commotion filled their lives at the end of the day they were all on this journey for the greater good of the team.

And we were all happy to take the back seat and watch.

There’s been talk of a film. I think a film would do them good. We could hopefully see what plays out when they all got on their planes in that last scene, though chances are it would skip ahead in time. Did Vince and Sophia get married? Is there a baby E running around somewhere? Has Ari really changed?

For future reference, Hollywood, this is what a series finale should be. Don’t tie everything up with a nice little bow (Friends) but don’t leave us completely in the dark either (The Sopranos). Satisfy your audience but, in the words of P.T. Barnum, “Always leave them wanting more”. 

The Last DVD

(susan)

Like many people, I decided to keep Netflix streaming and cancel the DVD service, so today I'm watching my last DVD. I've been a Netflix subscriber on & off since 2003. In the beginning I used it to watch the Babylon 5 series. I decided to drop the DVD service because of the Sept 1 price increase & my great ability to procrastinate. The record for a Netflix DVD to stay at my house was about 6 weeks.Now I'll be getting my DVD rentals from Redbox at $1 per night. Unfortunately, they only have new release movies, no TV series, so I'll have to check out Hulu or some other source for those (suggestions are welcome).

My final DVD is disc 2 of 3 from Undeclared, the Complete Series. For some reason, I didn't watch this in the brief time in which it was on ten years ago, but I'll watch the reruns whenever they're on IFC. So now, even though I've seen each episode at least twice, I'm loving the DVD. Undeclared is a Judd Apatow show about a group of college freshman, kind of like Freaks and Geeks goes to college. The deleted scenes and commentaries are just as hilarious as the show itself. The show stars Seth Rogen, Charlie Hunnam (Jax, but with a British accent!!!), Jay Baruchel, Carla Gallo, Monica Keena, Timm Sharp, and Jason Segel. I still can't believe that Charlie Hunnam from Undeclared is the same Charlie Hunnam currently in Sons of Anarchy. He may be the reason why I started watching Undeclared, just to see what he had been doing before he played a bad-ass outlaw biker on TV. Unless I know someone who owns the DVD set, I'll have to wait until I own it to see the final disc.