Donny Ketchum

Okay. I've brought it up twice on a different thread and have been ignored. So let's see if it fares better on this thread. The nutcase mother in "Poison," who poisoned her daughter into a coma, and then into virtual mental retardation for no other reason but she felt too much pressure raising too many children. Case should've been a slam dunk, but she got off from what was obviously one of the most biased judges ever, who did so only because he approved of her level of social class, but had meanwhile convicted a woman ten years prior over a similar crime of which she was innocent just because she was of a lower social class. And then, as soon as the terrible mother gets off, she then, at the very judge's suggestion (via an ex parte communication during a recess in the trial, apparently), finishes the job on her poisoned daughter by smothering her to death. Only then does she finally get the conviction she so deserves. Only way that would've been more satisfying was if Judge Taft had gotten some kind of penalty harsher than a simple censure. Still, as I said on another thread, if you were a fan of Casey, that was probably one of her best episodes.

I'm actually shocked they're revealing the killer's identity so soon. We just barely had two victims in Serena and Paige!

Well, rereading the thread, and getting up to the awesome week when Clay and Shelli pretty much burned themselves, I came across this from prior to Jason's eviction: Looks like that came to fruition.

Ah, I almost forgot. Yesterday, I saw that Hayden had been added to the opening. And today, I saw that Paul has also been added, so I guess Richard Burgi is here to stay for the long haul. And unless he's already been added, I can see that Nathan is now on it, too.

About the best thing was Rollins subtly telling off Olivia, Fin, and Amaro at the end. I loved her so much for that.

So episode six took the teams to Brazil. Once there, the teams had to face a Botch or Watch, in which one member of each team had to stick their hands into a sack in which some deadly ants were lurking to get a travel tip, which only Taylor avoided by simply blowing it out. Some carelessness on Jay & Mickey's behalf results in Laurie's face getting bloated on ant bites. Ennui clearly felt pain, but blew it off like it was nothing. And Spud didn't register a thing. Other teams' efforts were either not as spectacular or not shown as often. The teams then have to get across a wide ravine to reach a hoard of coconuts, either by swinging it or stepping across a fallen tree. Then, they'd have to crack open coconuts for their next travel tips. About the highlight there was Jacques & Josee breaking coconuts with travel tips inside on Owen's face, and then next to Dwayne & Junior. Ah, but their status as the villain team was all but confirmed when, out of desperation, Josee tackled Dwayne to try and get the travel tip, and when that didn't work, Jacques tried to attack Junior to get it. Yep. He tried to attack a little boy. Not cool! But Junior was thankfully saved when Josee tried to bean him with a coconut, but hit Jacques instead. And it contained a travel tip, as well, so they could move on. The next task was an All-In, and in this one, they had to put together feathered costumes for Carnivale. Somehow, Jacques & Josee, despite ending up behind from the coconuts, jumped right toward the front of the group. Other teams did well, too, with only Sanders & MacArthur faltering when MacArthur made a costume that was far too simple twice. And Ennui & Crimson got through despite using darker colors. Laurie & Miles arrived at the Chill Zone first, despite a lot of factors against them. But at the All-In, only Miles had made the costume due to Laurie being unable to see all that well. Nonetheless, she was supposed to have helped in some way with at least one component of it. The penalty was for thirty minutes. Easy to beat, right? Well . . . not so much. For one thing, Jacques & Josee managed to take first place despite being on the later-arriving flight and having the bad luck they did at the coconuts. Ennui & Crimson were a close second, so they continued doing well after winning the Iceland challenge. The other teams kept trickling into the Chill Zone during the Vegans' penalty until it was just down to their final seconds of said penalty and Rock & Spud. It looked like the Rockers wouldn't make it, at first . . . but then, Spud suddenly got a kick in the pants when his ant bites started hurting, and he and Rock ran the rest of the way to the Chill Zone and checked in just in the nick of time to beat out the penalty. So Laurie & Miles were eliminated, meaning that the second straight women's team was booted. So far, I still like all of the teams except for Lorenzo & Chet. I don't know if they'll ever stop fighting. And I do wish that Kelly would be an actual mother and shut Taylor's brattiness down. But other than that, this cast is pretty damn good.

I think that worked for me because I've thought for a long time that Nicole had always been subconsciously horrified by that part of her past. Then, in some ways, being forced to confront that part of herself through this scumbag she married must've horrified her more. I can't blame her for wanting to do everything possible to save that little girl. She didn't want her to go through the same thing she'd put her own daughter through. I can actually see why she didn't go to the cops with her fears of what the douchebag would do (even though I might have gone to them). Given her history, she knew they likely wouldn't have believed her. Due to his fascination with her, though, Goren might've believed her, but he would've been the only one who did.

Just remembered someone I can't believe no one else remembered. Deedee from "Diamond Dogs." Dumps her own son, Johnny, into foster care, rips him from the foster family who's actually raising him well when he's old enough, gets him hooked onto drugs, and coaxes him into robbing jewelry stores for her so she can use the money from each robbery to pay for her drug habit. And what's worse than that, she offs his girlfriend, Maya, the girl scouting out each store for them, with a heroin overdose when she fears she might've talked to Logan and Barek (even though she gave them nothing). Gotta at least give her a mention. Rebecca Wisocky was excellent in the role, though, I've gotta say.

Speaking of Theresa, she still doesn't know, does she? Eve really should've called her by now.

I suppose. I just hope he doesn't fall right back into full-on ass-kissing mode. In a perfect world, they'd have a full talk, a full discussion, about the A.J. murder, and then decide how they'll proceed from there. But since this is heading back to Sonny and Carly being the focal point of the show once more, they probably won't.

So am I guessing that Angie didn't come back upon the Dome coming down? Nor the fat girl Big Jim killed at the end of season one or Linda, the cop, who got killed by that car when the Dome got magnetized at the start of season two? Because I thought that that's what was implied would happen once the Dome did come down.

Oh. It seems as though Tiffany & Christa not only made the F4, but apparently have a good chance of being part of the F3. A Hong Kong local saw them in first place by a pretty wide margin upon their arrival: http://forum.realityfanforum.com/index.php/topic,31228.msg1120103.html#msg1120103. They must've gotten a good flight. And someone who apparently saw them getting a cab later confirmed they were well ahead. So if this holds out, we might have a women's team in the F3 this season! Good way to make up for having none whatsoever in the cast last season!

Not only did Carly tell Michael that he made his way back, but in the previews, he's shown saying, "I love you, Dad" to Sonny at his bedside. Ugh. Well . . . ten months wasn't bad. Actually, if anything, that's gotta be a new record in terms of someone staying mad at Sonny. As long as he still maintains a relationship with Tracy, Monica, and possibly Dillon, then at least that'll be something of a silver lining.

Well, it's great that a forum for this show has been created! We're already five episodes in, but I like the show a lot. Don, while he seems to have his douche-y moments, is still a lot nicer guy than Chris. And just like Chris seems like a parody of Jeff Probst from Survivor, Don looks like a near-perfect parody of Phil Keoghan from TAR. He's got the eyebrow pop Phil does, for one thing, and dresses the same way he does. Only thing he has that Phil doesn't is a tendency to not hold back against teams he clearly doesn't like. Phil holds back his dislike for teams and only expresses it in interviews. Or at least hints at it. One thing I like about this show is that there is more shuffling in the ranks than there is in TAR. Yeah, part of it is the animated take on the show, so they have writers to move everyone's positions around. There's no one or two teams dominating the race (there are strong and weak ones, but even the weaker ones get higher finishes, unlike the predictably low finishes the underdog teams get on TAR). The one thing I don't love is the skipping of several teams' arrivals. We see the first- and second-place teams arrive, and then just pictures of most of the other teams before they show the bottom group of teams check in. I'd rather see their arrivals and reactions. Then again, TAR is currently montaging team arrivals, too, so maybe they're on to something here. Anyway, the cast is pretty good and diverse, though eighteen teams leaves plenty of room for several teams being under the radar in each episode. I'm actually impressed that the show didn't go the route of the original TD series by only casting sixteen-year-olds. The cast is mostly teens, but there are some twenty-somethings in the cast. There is also an older woman, three older men, and, to hit the other extreme, even a prepubescent kid! So nice age diversity! I like a good number of the teams. In fact, there's probably really only one I can't stand right now. I'm generally a pundit for all-female teams, so I like Kelly & Taylor (the mother daughter who were probably named after the Melrose Place character of the same name), Emma & Kitty (the Asian sisters, with the untrusting, overachieving older sister and the sweet, fun-loving younger sister who wears her hair like a Japanese schoolgirl), Laurie & Miles (the vegans), and especially Sanders & MacArthur (the police cadets). I also liked Mary & Ellody (the geniuses), but they're gone now. There are six coed teams, and of them all, I think my favorite of them is Tom & Jen (the fashion bloggers). But I also like Ennui & Crimson (the Goths), Carrie & Devin (the best friends, though she clearly wants to be more, even though he is involved with what sounds like a very crappy girlfriend back home), Jacques & Josee (the ice dancers, whom I think might be the villains of the season with their fake-ass smiles), and Ryan & Stephanie (the black dating couple that is so in love, despite being together for only two months, and her being way too intense for her own good at times). I did like Leonard & Tammy (the LARPers), for the most part, even though Leonard clearly learned nothing from his time on Pahkitew Island and got eliminated again over magic that didn't exist. There are seven all-male teams, and of them, I'd say my favorite of them is Dwayne & Junior (the father and son), though from what little we're allowed to see of them, I also enjoy Rock & Spud (the rockers, though one clearly contributes more than the other). I'm also a fan of Jay & Mickey (the Adversity Twins, though they probably won't last too much longer), Owen & Noah (nice to see two TD contestants on the show, though we'll see how long they last), and Geoff & Brody (it'll be interesting to see Geoff without Bridgette since we got to see Bridgette without Geoff in TDWT). I also liked Gerry & Pete (the tennis rivals), but they're gone now. I absolutely cannot stand Lorenzo & Chet (the stepbrothers), though. Just like on TAR, teams who bicker and fight like babies are not fun to watch in any way. And they do so even more immaturely than teams on TAR. So to start out the actual episodes, so far, I've liked the locations. A nice first half of the first leg in Canada with a visit to the CN Tower, whatever that is. The teams either go to the top via stairs or via elevator in an Either-Or, the equivalent of TAR's Detours. It was then off to Morocco for an All-In, something both team members do, like a Route Info task in TAR. The Botch or Watch task of eating soups made of spices picked out by the teams work like Roadblocks in TAR, and only one team member does them. This task was mostly uneventful, other than watching one racer be so desperate for water, he drinks down camel drool! (Barf!) Carrie & Devin took the first win through amazing teamwork, while Leonard & Tammy's need to use magic every time resulted in them being booted first. Paris comes next, and the first task here is to have the team member who didn't do the Botch and Watch in Morocco do the one here by drawing a caricature of his or her partner. (I like that they're forced to alternate on these tasks. On TAR, one person might do a string of Roadblocks before the other person might do one.) Then, it's off to the catacombs of Paris (are there catacombs there?) to find a way out leading to large cheese wheels, which must be sailed to the Chill Zone (the equivalent of the Pit Stop) at the Louvre. Sanders & MacArthur take the win here, while Owen & Noah incur a penalty that nearly eliminates them. But they survive, and Gerry & Pete take their leave due to taxi troubles and a lack of physical strength in getting to the Chill Zone in time. Next up is the Mediterranean, where the teams have to swim with sharks and get travel tips (the equivalent of clues in TAR) off the dorsal fins of these sharks. Then, they must build sandcastles resembling the Palace of Versailles before riding jetskis to the Chill Zone in Iceland. Jacques & Josee take the gold (something they want to do to make up for taking silver in the Olympics), while serious overthinking and overcomplicating things results in Mary & Ellody taking the loss without even reaching the Chill Zone. Like they said, geniuses aren't always as smart as they think they are. The next challenge (the equivalent of a leg in TAR) is a run through Iceland. The teams must first memorize an Icelandic saying before then choosing an Either-Or between eating an Icelandic Thanksgiving feast or finding a fossil in ice. Ennui & Crimson come out of the woodwork after hanging near the back of the pack and dominate the challenge, coming in first using their knowledge of Icelandic culture to memorize the sayiing right away and then plowing their way through the feast. Dwayne & Junior fall behind early on due to Dwayne's inability to remember the saying, and are only saved through Junior remembering it later, and then being lucky to get the fossil that Laurie & Miles found when they stupidly put thanking the universe over trying to get it to the Chill Zone. Kelly & Taylor incur a penalty when Kelly goes back to hear the phrase after they barely botch it, but Taylor refuses to go with her. They barely overcome it. Laurie & Miles find themselves in last place after then having to go back to eat the feast, even though they hate meat. They then find out it's a non-elimination checkpoint, and that they didn't have to eat the meat. But unlike TAR, there's no penalty imposed upon them. So now we're at the present. Can't wait to hear any thoughts about this.

I was the one who called for the forum, so I'm so happy it went through! :)

I think the final "busting" scene that always happens in CI was very . . . CI-like. But yeah, the rest was more like the Mothership. But don't forget the scenes that only showed Deedee and Johnny. Those were also CI-like, as it's the only one of the L&O shows that shows villain-only scenes. (Well, SVU started doing it, too, after Warren started running that show, but still . . . at the time, only CI did scenes like those.)

Wait. I thought Hayley Erin was brought on just to wrap up Kiki's storyline when Kristen Alderson suddenly left. Something must've changed, and she's here to stay, because I just saw her added to the opening today. Also, Dillon and Valerie have been added, as well.

I really think it's Ben. He wants Chad out of Abigail's life, after all. What better way than to frame him for the murders?

Ah, another one to add. Yes, she was kinda brainwashed into it, though just a bit, but what the hell? Let's throw in Margie from "Pas de Deux," who was ready to abandon her husband and children for a more exciting life with Charles Rocket's sleazy character, who was plotting to kill them both by cop all along because he didn't want to die of his terminal illness. That earns a mention here, doesn't it?

The problem I had was the lack of reactions to seeing most things related to him. He was very obviously not from their era. They should've been more curious about his attire and the technology he had with him like his microphone, his monitors, and his cameras. Not to mention being in his studio several times. That's another thing that took me out of the episode. I'll give you "Married with Fishsticks," though. That was terrible.

After just watching it on Netflix, I have to ask how "You are There" has not ended up here? Sure, it was a rather original way of moving along a Xena story, but Nigel, the reporter, was greatly annoying, and him obviously being from the present took me way out of the episode, as were the interviews. About the only enjoyable thing was the collection of reactions the various characters had to him. (Of everyone, I think Aphrodite was the only one one-hundred-percent pleasant to him.) Honestly, in my viewing of season six so far, I can sort of understand why almost no episode from that season has been considered in the thread of favorite episodes. The whole tone of the show seems to have drastically changed by that season, and not in a fully enjoyable way.

Yeah, if Lisa & Michelle and Dennis & Isabelle had gone farther than Michael & Scott and Brooke & Robbie, then it's very likely that TAR25 improves exponentially. And no, that was actually the second time. TAR21 also had an underdog team overtake two overdog teams at the final memory challenge.

Uh . . . call me crazy, but wasn't Sloane supposed to be into Anna? If so, I don't see why he once again betrayed her in Friday's episode. That's not exactly something I'd do to someone I'm interested in. Anna's gonna be pissed at him, for sure. I'm one of the few apparently who was excited about the original Sloane coming back, but after Friday's display, he can happily go, for all I care. I think that every now and then, Carly will show some lucidity and self-awareness like that moment you mentioned with Kristina (got a link to that one, though? I've missed that scene and have wanted to catch it again!). So I don't necessarily think that Friday's episode was self-delusion so much as her just trying to convince herself that everything's going to be different this time. Like maybe a way of trying to shove down her own doubts. Though I'm sure that'll be over once she learns of Sonny getting shot.

No, only Danielle was under duress. Logan watched every one of his tapes, and every other woman slept with him without hesitation.

She insulted Edward and Lila's memory by voting in favor of Nikolas for probably the worst possible reasons ever. She deserves to be dumped, if she is.