Joystickenvy

I read the forums and watch the show for entertainment value. I don't care much about who wins and I often don't watch the show until the voting window is closed anyway, so I don't usually vote. In DWTS case I have only sporadically watched the show and bailed on most seasons I started. I think I voted for Chaz & Kirstie & that Disney kid Lacey had that one year a couple times, but can't remember any other voting. Unfortunately, most of the celebs I have liked ended up paired with a pro I didn't like. If someone really impresses me in the finale and I watch in time, I might vote, but otherwise I'll leave it up to people who care more. Lacey was a fav of mine from SYTYCD, so I used to vote for whoever she had. I occasionally vote on Idol and the voice and usually on SYTYCD, but it's always more about wanting my favs to stay so I can see more performances than wanting them to win, which is good, because they seldom do. On seasons where I don't have a particular favorite, I skip voting, unless a particular fan base or anti-fan base annoys me to the point of voting against their interests ;)

Between Ice Dance and the ladies event, it was a fine Olympics for conspiracy theories for sure, but that's figure skating for you.

I actually thought "Good Old Boys" was just the theme song of Dukes. Is it a real song? I don't think I've ever heard it in any other context lol. "Run to You" or "Summer of 69" either one would be more interesting than "Heaven." I used to play Bluegrass music on a regular basis and we would sometimes do stuff like The Beverly Hillbillies theme or the Martha White theme song for fun, but not something I'd pick for a competition.

Coping with an aging fan base is an area where both Idol & DWTS has generated some embarrassment for itself. On DWTS they keep casting Disney Kids and members of boy bands. Idol keeps pushing teenage contestants and packing the studio audience with squeeing Tweens. Trying to hang on to past glory by going on about how Idol "makes stars", while also trying to copy The Voice & even X Factor, has also eroded the show's credibility. If the producers would just let the show grow old gracefully and quit trying to make Fetch happen they'd be much better off. People will tire of The Voice eventually too, particularly with it running twice a year, but hopefully they will learn from Idol's mistakes and not hasten the decline by panicking and making things worse.

Kristen - "Gunpower & Lead" -: Not crazy about this song and it has been done to death on singing shows in recent years, but the performance had nice energy and was better than most of the versions I have heard. Josh - "All of Me" - : something about Josh just leaves me cold. Decent vocal, but not my favorite and suffered by comparison to MK's rendition on Idol. Kat - "Chandelier" - : A for effort, but the high notes were screechy and off pitch. Not a fan. Jake - "Good Ol' Boys" - It was OK. Nice tone. Pitch was better than usual. As a person, I just love him to death, but his singing is pretty mediocre. Christina - "Hide and Seek" - : The verses were OK, though I don't think vocal fx have any place in a singing competition. Also thought having a full choir as backup was a bit much. She screwed the pooch on the chorus, which is the part that makes the song interesting. Josh - "Love Runs Out" - : I honestly can't remember anything about this. I'll take y'all's word that it happened. Kat - "Let It Go" - : I have not seen the movie Frozen. I have heard this song about 70 gagillion times on singing shows....or at least it feels like it. I have hated it every time. This was no exception. Lots of pitch problems. Kristen - "Foolish Games - : my favorite of the night. Not quite as haunting as the original and a few of the low notes were rough, but overall a very nice vocal. Christina - "Some Nights" - : Worst performance of the season. Pitch all over the place. Thin & unpleasant tone. Just plain bad. Jake - "Heaven" - Hit some real sour notes in this one and his voice just sounded worn out. My choices for final 3: Kristen, Grimme & Kat Who I think will be there: Kristen, Grimmie & Jake tho Josh could knock one out. I think Kat is a goner. I'll be disappointed if Kristen doesn't make it, since she's the only one I consistently like, other than that I don't much care.

I imagine they are hoping some fans will tune back in to see how the whole mess ends, but with so many characters likely being no shows, except for maybe the very last episode, they are probably going to be disappointed. Whatever they decide on, the shorter the better.

This made me giggle, cuz I was just getting aggravated at myself for accidentally clicking the Maks thread when I meant to skip it. Now I feel a little better about my board navigation ability.

Charlie was the main reason I tuned in this season, but to my surprise I ended up enjoying Meryl more. Whether it was Sharna's choreo or Charlie's dancing I'm not sure, but I just never liked his dancing as much as I wanted to. Still, I'm sad to see him go. I'd rather have seen him dance in the finale than James or Candace. I thought Candace's dances were the weakest this week and I laughed out loud when she said she was only dancing for god, but James was the one I was hoping would go home. His dancing looks clunky to me and Peta's air of desperation causes me 2nd hand embarrassment. Meryl & Charlie didn't make much impression on me good or bad this week. I spent most of Meryl's second dance trying to figure out what she was dressed as. I was like.....is this a country song? Is Max supposed to be a farmer? Are they characters from Petticote Junction? Do they bathe in the water supply? I really liked Amy's quickstep, but was very disappointed in Derek for that table dance. Amy has demonstrated enough dancing ability that there's no good reason to have her rolling around on a table for most of a dance. When Mia did the bench routine, she was blatantly hiding Heidi?'s weaknesses, so her boy Travis wouldn't take a hit. I enjoyed the routine, but I thought it was a definite cop out. For me, Derek's routine was both boring and a cop out and an unnecessary one at that. I hope Derek lets Amy actually dance in the finale.

They could but they won't. I didn't like it when they cut the SYTYCD results show, more because the group performance was actually a highlight for me on that show, but I got used to it and it beat losing the show entirely. They preserved the group routine by moving it to performance night. Getting eliminated after having a good performance happens, but under the normal format, they'd have already been eliminated and not performed at all, so I wouldn't say it's any less fair and they get one additional performance for their fans. It beats practicing the number all week and not getting to perform like when they eliminated them before performances.

I assume they will follow the same pattern as DWTS & SYTYCD, which both lost their results shows when ratings declined. The results are announced at some point during the following week's performance show. Currently, both those shows let everyone perform and then they announce who got eliminated in the last few minutes, though SYTYCD initially tried doing eliminations at the beginning. I don't see Fox wanting to dedicate two nights a week to a show with sub 2 ratings and the announcement seems to indicate they don't plan to after auditions. I suppose if some half hour comedy gets pulled mid-season they might use it as schedule spackle, but otherwise I expect it to be just one night a week.

I wouldn't call myself a horror enthusiast and my interest in vampire & monster stories is generally pretty low but I thought I'd give it a shot. It's not must see TV, but I thought it was interesting and plan to keep watching for now. My favorite part was Frankenstein & his monster. I liked that they didn't explain everything (like why our lady of paleness could stop the Egyptian vampire thing) right away. I guess I must have a bright TV, because I never have issues seeing shows people complain about being too dark or maybe it's just years of playing poorly lit video games lol Downloading the second ep from On Demand.

I was enjoying the episode right up to the point where it dawned on me that the mystery woman was going to be Marion and Regina would blame Emma for RUINING MY LIFE! However, the fact that Snow did point out how stupid Regina's reasons for blaming her were in the time travel sequence gives me a shred of hope that Emma will be like bitch please.....and not be all groveling at Regina's feet for breaking her up with the dude who's wife Regina murdered. Regina can revert back to evil or not, as long as everyone is not acting like Regina is the innocent victim of the evil Charming family. I also think reminding us about the tattoo may be a hint that Robin wasn't actually her one true love anyway and there is in fact somebody else out there with that same tattoo. Haven't seen Frozen, so I don't care one way or the other there and don't blame them for trying to make hay while the sun shines.

I'm assuming there were more kicks than we were shown and after a certain number they were instructed to let them in. I'm OK with that, though I'd prefer they just be honest and say ok, you get x amount of time or # of attempts and then you go through. That way teams can still get a leg up by doing well, but it doesn't make it look like some teams are getting passed through without a full effort.

My predictions for song choices: Alex: Judges' Choice: I Luh ya Papi Randy's Pick: Who Let the Dawgs Out? Hometown Pick: My Cup Jena: Judges' Choice: Say my Name Randy's Choice: Don't Speak Hometown Pick: You Say it Best (when you say nothing at all) Caleb will choose his own songs, because as we all know, he doesn't take requests.

The Yara storyline was pretty unsatisfying and felt much like the Craster's SL.....something inserted merely to get a bit if screen time for those characters that ultimately doesn't advance the story much. Anyone else get a serious Gollum vibe from Reek? The trial probably would have been more fun if I didn't know what would happen. I don't like the idea of Shae turning on Tyrion because of jealousy. I'm hoping she was paid off or otherwise co-ereced. Her body language and facial expressions looked more like regret than anger, but maybe that's wishful thinking. My unsullied mom loved the trial and was surprised Shae turned on him. I agree that Tywin was probably planning on sending Tyrion to the wall all along. I'm inclined to believe maneuvering Tyrion to the wall & getting Tommen as an upgrade to Joff was motivation for Tywin to be involved in the Joff plot. Jaime going to Casterly Rock is the cherry on top....until Cersei's plotting ruined it all by bringing in Shae anyhow.

Note to producers: please cast at least one or two likable teams who might make the finale next season So, Dave & Conner are possibly the worst soccer players ever. The Country gals finally find a task they are good at. The Brenchels are saved from being Globetrottered by the Afghanimals cowboying themselves. The Country Singers whined at the goalie. Conner whined at the poetry judge and Rachel whined at god. The finale should be a blast. Brendan actually annoyed me more with his blaming Rachel, when he could and should have double checked the boot himself than Rachel did with her whining, particularly when he drug the god helped us stay in the race card out. The Country Singers' "we love you long time!" was a definite WTF? moment. I'm not sure if she meant something like, "love you lots" and it came out wrong or if it was an inside joke or they have a side business we don't know about. I'm on team anyone but D&C for the finale. Dave is even more worthless than the country singers and after dragging them along, they deserve to lose to them. Brenchel is annoying, but they are still less annoying than the whiny, sanctimonious D&C. Preparing to be super annoyed when they let Conner do all the remaining taskes, so Dave can brag about being the oldest winner, in spite of kvetching about how unfair the race treats his 60 year old self and refusing to do most of the detours. I hope we get to hear about his Achilles one more time.

Whatever direction they go, I have the sinking feeling that most of what we'll get is RM using Rachel's glee knockoff SL to tell the few remaining fans still watching the show how very awful they are for not loving his creative masterpiece in the way he intended. Jane oughta shill for Hollywood Game Night over Glee. I've actually laughed while watching it the past season.

I always assume they have a specific cast of characters they want to fill and that is why some returnees make it on later seasons. His first time they already had James as their rocker. Last year there was a moratorium on casting guys they thought anyone would actually vote for. I do wish they'd cast more for talent and less for personality, but then again every year there's the Sams and Jessicas and Krees, etc who get ragged on endlessly for being " boring" so I guess I get why they do it.

Kind of surprised about J Lo if she comes back. Didn't think they'd want to pay her salary for another year, plus I think she had a new show in development she was supposed to star in. Fewer hours should mean less filler, which is good. It will be interesting to see how they handle eliminations. So far, cutting out the results show has been an awkward transition for DWTS & SyTYCD. At least it sounds like they are being realistic.

Personally, I hated the theme nights and almost every "reworked" version of a song that was any good was an exact copy of somebody's cover. If the themes weren't so out of date and hokey and/or easily circumvented I might feel differently, but it's good riddance to bad rubbish for me. The lack of interesting contestants and blandy mcblandersons that the Frau keep voting through in the wgwg era has been what has dulled the show for me....other than last season, which was ruined by the effort to secure a female winner. Caleb isnt my favorite contestant by any means, but at least he's not another John Mayer/Mraz wannabe or country singer.

In the creepy flashback, I assumed they were inseminating her, though that isn't normally how it would be done and I was only kinda side eying the scene cuz it was so squicky, but after seeing creepy big love scientist, I assumed they actually extracted some eggs and fertilized them outside the body so they could implant any resulting embryos (probably in that soulless ginger).I suppose they could have removed parts, but that's not what it looked like and I'd think they'd want to leave them in place in case they needed more eggs. I suppose if creepy big love scientist knows more about the clones than we do, it also leaves open the possibility that he knows how to trigger the asexual reproduction some theorized about.....if that turned out to be correct.

The Voice: Likes: Judges - though I am tiring of Adam & Blake Blind auditions No novelty/bad auditions Treats contestants with respect No "shocking twists" or elimination night non-sense Worthwhile mentoring with credible industry folks Confessionals usually amusing Dislikes: Knockout rounds too long and outcomes often feel pre-determined. I'd prefer they do one round, collect their steals and then go to playoffs & let viewers vote with the coaches getting one pick each to go lives. Lives feel like an after thought with the endless blinds, knockouts, etc then Lickety split lives. Shorten the former & slightly lengthen the latter. Winners - usually boring and/or mediocre, but that's probably a side effect of having to have mass appeal, though built in fan bases seem to have more impact on this show than others Song selections - almost all the judges pick terrible songs....let the contestants pick their own terrible songs with the advise of their mentor Twitter save - just no American Idol: Likes: More memorable contestants over the years than The Voice Hollywood week usually has some fun moments Enough live performances to develop favorites Dislikes: Judges are usually annoying and their feedback is not usually constructive and sometimes mean Mean spirited "shock twists" and elimination night non-sense Mean spirited novelty & bad auditions - not as bad in recent seasons Randy Jackson - annoying & gives bad advice They always tease us with a few amazing auditions and then cast the same bland group of contestants every year Seems to drag on forever Out dated or stupid theme nights - not as bad this year Blatant and excessive producer manipulation Scripted fake dinners & such Winners are usually bland and/or mediocre -see above

Cosima told Sarah that Sarah was originally supposed to go to the Leda parents, but when Sarah was smuggled to S instead, they got Rachel in her place. Whether all that is actual info or conjecture, like the spitballing about how Rachel was raised, that appeared to be wrong, I don't know.

Sure lots of things don't make sense but IDGAF. I'm glad the torture scene got cut short.....no pun intended, and that final scene with Helena was crazy, in a good way. I really hope we don't end up with two separate ongoing jr. Clone chasing/running/kidnapping plots though. Maybe the big love clone baby won't take. That flashback scene was super creepy and very alien abductionesque. It appears S is familiar with project Leda, but didn't know that was Sarah's origin.....unless she's just being uber careful with her old pal. I definitely had a "I have a bad feeling about this" moment when Sarah told Cal about Dyad, but I hope he's not in on it....there's enough players as it is. Maybe he had some past dealings with Dyad as part of his work.

I don't know about reruns, but if you have nat geo, they run originals on Monday nights, which is a less busy night for me, plus they have multiple showings.