Song of Roland

Not only that- there was some discussion about Kate's steak, and earlier, somebody (mayor's wife?) asked Mrs. Burke if she 'could eat' meat. I've been wondering why they use throat-slitting as execution? Is it really scarier to the populace than blowing somebody's brains out with a gun? Have guns been used, at all? Pope had a gun safe, it looked like, but I don't think he or anyone else has actually fired a gun, right? Also, why were those files so carefully hidden? What was in them that required hiding? Does it really matter that Pope's sexretary was born in NJ in 1960?

I have to say, as much as I like the qualtiy of his voice, he does sing everything exactly the same. I like the masculinity of his voice, but I miss- nuance? intelligence?- I don't know; there's something that makes him seem kind of one-dimensional. Well, at least he's getting a chance; it's too bad that recent winners don't really get the kind of money that would give him a significant nest egg to fall back on later.

And in the end, they both end up with a WGWOG winner, only Idol's (ironically) is a lot younger than TV's. And neither will be heard of a year from now. I sometimes wonder if part of the reason for the decline of the young demographic for both of these shows has something to do with the special snowflake attitude of the last generation- contests to see who's 'the best' are uncomfortable for the teens/20 somethings to watch when they're accustomed to getting a medal just for showing up. Although I do think TV's youth demo decline has been accelerated by the number of 'mature' singers they're obliged to include (since age and looks don't matter on TV!).

Mildly disappointed that Jena didn't win, but Caleb is clearly liked by the other contestants, and does have a great (loud) voice. Maybe he's learned a lesson from 'R*****-gate', and will think before he speaks (not that he'll get much media attention, but whatever). I can't even remember the names of those 2 girls who got the boot first, but man, they sounded terrible. That was a fun show- not bad, Per Blankens. Loved the Alex/Mraz duet, the Jena/Paramore performance, and -sue me- the Judge Band. Could KISS be any creepier, though?

I think it's a shame they're forcing them to do reprises, AGAIN. It sealed the deal for me when David Cook refused to do a reprise and did something new instead, but he had the choice- these 2 didn't,I guess. I have to assume Caleb will win, his Dream On was really awesome. Sounds like his voice was almost completely blown by the end, though. Jena did fine, and I'm voting for her, but she didn't have any moments; and Cook aside, moments usually win. Heh at Keith trying to throw shade on the Voice/Grimmie with his claim that Jena was the 'leader' in the battle of Elvis covers.

Grimmie sounds good singing a capella, but Lord, that screeching was a big ol' mute for me. I assume Grimmie's minions were the 'fans' who voted for Set Fire to the Rain for Josh, because that did NOT play to his strengths, at all. I don't blame the show for not wanting a nearly 40 year old gnome as winner (no matter how great his 'Voice' is), though. The Jake thing is a total mystery: he's very unattractive, can barely sing, and has only the most rudimentary stage presence. I suppose that means he'll win, and go on to rival Blake Shelton himself as a country music success story. I don't want to hear Signed,Sealed and Delivered, Every Breath You Take, or Can't Help Falling ever again.

Sorry, but Taran is NOT a 'star'. He hasn't come up with any characters that are really memorable other than Jebediah whatever, who was only really funny the first couple of times. He relies on his surprised baby face look, and a bit of singing/dancing and that's it. Kate is the actual star, IMO, but she doesn't have the attention-hogging/beat-the-joke-into-the-ground quality of a Wiig. On a related subject, I'll say it again: no good impressionists. Last night, they had to bring Bill back to do a couple. Even Andy Samberg does better impressions than any of the current cast. I wonder why they don't use more stand up comedians for host gigs. I would love to see Gabriel Iglesias or Brian Regan or Jim Gaffigan on SNL; they all have very distinct personas that could make interesting additions to the skits. I just looked back at the Wiki list of hosts, and other than Louis C.K. (who I thought was the opposite of entertaining) and Kevin Hart, there haven't been any stand up guys as host for years.

I like them both, too. I was thinking this is probably the most 'equal' match-up since S2. Idol hasn't had a male/female top 2 that were so balanced, ever, IMO; with all the others, it was pretty clear Kelly/Carrie/Taylor/Jordan/Lee/Scotty/PP were going to win; this time, I'm really not sure. Did we see Caleb's parents yet? His brother honestly made Caleb look like Noel Coward.

Remember when they got ZZ TOP for D.Cook (S 7 finale)? That was REALLY random. (We'll see if Per Blankens can do this as well as Nigel, who really was great at finales). Caleb's brother on stage made Caleb look petite, and Sprinkles look like a hobbit. I still don't get how a teenager comes to regard freaking Kiss as his favorite band. Alex reacted very professionally, and did a great job on Fairytales. Is Preston a stage name?- his parents both had a last name that started with P, but it wasn't Preston. I think Jena/Caleb will be a good, noisy, bombastic battle; sounds like Caleb's voice has returned and Jena, of course, doesn't seem to have ever lost hers. I don't care who wins, I like them both. Either one will do a fantastic job on the obligatory National Anthems.

That was way more entertaining than most Top 3 nights, possibly because I don't have a favorite. I was strangely intrigued by Caleb's first 2 songs, which he couldn't shout and which were NOT classic rock. I'm trying to remember when in the past they had the doctor come on stage to verify that 'yup, (s)he's really sick'- Lauren Alaina, maybe? Jena's first song was rough, but I kind of liked 'Heart Attack', and 'Creep' was actually better/more controlled than the first time she did it. I like this girl, she has a genuine quality that shines through all the styling and affected pronounciations and all the rest. I don't know that she'll win, but I think she could do something on radio-if only she didn't have that awful name. 'Jena Irene' is dumb, and 'Jena Asciutto' is impossible. Alex was very good on 'Stay', and I loved seeing him drumming, but the reprise seemed kind of perfunctory- maybe I'm just bored with that song. His hometown may have hurt him with that choice. I have to say, tonight was the most personality we've seen from him all season.

Well, to your point, Jena (admittedly with a lot of producer assistance) is being presented as coming on strong at this point, while Alex (in reality, IMO) has been coasting along. Jena's versatility (both in performing different genres and in switching between vocal and piano-driven performances) gives her some advantage over Alex's stand-in-one-place (in every sense of the phrase) style. Maybe she has a better chance than I assume she does.

Well, I'm the one who said way back there that the finale would likely be Caleb/Alex, and I'm sticking with that, unfortunately. I think Caleb/Jena would be far more entertaining a battle. I'm not sure what Caleb/Alex would be like- kind of a dumbed-down Kris/Adam? While Caleb<Adam, Caleb does have a strong, theatrical voice and stage presence, yet doesn't have the 'gay problem' (which I think had at least something to do with Adam's loss). OTOH, Kris isn't much different than Alex (weakish voice, artistic/creative arranging), except for the 'good looks problem'.

Hmm, well that was a bit upexpected. Caleb, I have to admit, was really good on the second and third songs. Jess's third song, Jena's firstand third were quite good. I've been a mild fan of Alex, but those were some bland, flat-line performances. I wouldn't be surprised by anything at this point, but I'm going to guess Jess will still go out tomorrow. After that, I have no idea.

Like 5 years just melted away- so happy to see this show back. There hasn't been anything else to compare; I thought for a while that Homeland would be it, but nope. I always thought Jack looked too old for this job, so he looks the same to me. Now Audrey looks surprisingly rough, IMO.

Wait, what? That was the finale? Does that mean this dumb show has been renewed? Well, whatever..Sheriff Fred is no longer just sketchy, but eeevil or possibly driven mad by his rejection by his long dead cheating wife. The mad scientist sorta-boyfriend isn't a bad sort, now. Agent Bellamy is the son of Jenny's (Jacob's little friend) parents*, but presumably doesn't know it. A cicada(?) turns into a helicopter. * how the heck old is Omar Epps, anyway? Those drowned parents were wearing 50's clothing, and the missing son was their oldest, which would make him now 60-something, right?

I have to say, it tickles me to imagine what Caleb will do on the tour. If he thinks it's hell on earth now just getting tweets from obvested 'r******', wait til some morbidly obese middle aged loon in a puffy paint shirt wants a hug from him after a show. Heh.

What a dunce. After trying out for 3 years, he's lucky enough to finally be selected in a mediocre season, where his narrow but undeniable talent gave him frontrunner status. Then he proceeds to undermine himself. He's not charming or good looking enough to make fans overlook his boorish words. I think if this story does get on TMZ or E, it will affect the vote. If he performs brilliantly next week, he might squeak by, though.

Well, that either means Caleb was being phony dramatic when he went on a rant to People about how much he hates the asteroid song, or the other 2 songs were even worse. OTOH, I can see Jena thinking Valerie would be good for her. I don't think who voted yes or no will have any effect at all unless TMZ did a piece on it, maybe. Most of the world doesn't know or care about the back stage machinations of Idol, even regular viewers. And it doesn't even send a message about 'the audience vote doesn't count', since you don't vote against someone.

That was certainly the most interesting thing to happen on Idol in the last several weeks, IMO. Very entertaining. I agree it was more about creating drama, since Sam lasting one more week can't really be that important to TPTB (can it??). Sam went out like a trouper. The theme for top 4 is some amorphous 'love' theme, can be plain ol' love, lost love, etc. Or 'loaf', if you're Jena/Gina.

I'm not a Voice watcher, but saw the last 2 performance shows because I happened to see- and really liked-Josh. If I hadn't watched previously, I certainly wouldn't have been impressed with him after tonight's performance. Usher is acting so gloomy that I'm guessing he was told to throw some roadblocks in front of Josh, lest he derail the Grimmie Train. Grimmie herself was good. Delvin was great. Jake is horrifying, first time I've seen/heard him- why is he here? He makes Scotty McCreery sound like Johnny Cash. Sisaundra is very skillful, but watching her reminded me of how older people at weddings and such, dance in this very self conscious, 'Hey look kids, Mom can still shake her groove thang' way. Which is weird, because she's younger than I am; must be the white hair? I had to change the channel for 'Bria', who made a noise that just...eh, I couldn't handle it. All the other females were just kind of there- OK, but I won't remember them.

It's like these writers aren't even capable of putting themselves into the situation that they're writing about. The reason a show like Walking Dead succeeds is because the story it's taken from was written from that standpoint- what would it be like, on a day to day basis, to live in this world? Resurrection is going the same stupid route as Terra Nova and Revolution (and Believe, for that matter). The initial concept was intriguing, but the writers are just soap opera quality. Lots of 'confrontations' and shallow philosophising, romantic tangles, etc. They haven't set up a world view and stuck to it...case in point, isn't Arcadia a very small town? How do they have like 20 deputies in the police station, to say nothing of (presumably) cops out in squad cars, and others off -duty? A town of 5,000 or so (?) wouldn't have more than 5 or 6 on their police force. But the worst, of course, is the ignoring of modern social media in this story- the very first inkling of a person returned from the dead, there would have been Instagrams of Jacob, Vines of him playing in the park, and tweets galore going out all over the WORLD. The idea that this would be kept secret for weeks(?) is too stupid to be believed. The whole aura is so dreamlike and irrational that it's impossible to really engage with this story. I have to assume it's being written by old hacks who still use typewriters or something. That said, I think Jacob is the most empathetic and charming child I've seen on TV in a while. Sigh, I'll probably watch til he's gone.

Sick of the 'I have a movie coming out this week' host and 'I have a record coming out this week' musical guest. Especially when the musical guest is a big name and already getting free PR via their frontman's high profile divorce and hosting gig on a reality show. I wish SNL would go cold turkey on that for a year, and see if it makes any difference with their ratings. Personally, I'm more likely to watch it when someone more obscure is on; I feel real delight when I can 'discover' someone like Sam Smith.

Better to be cool and lonely than super-sweaty-hot and lonely, IMO. The couple in Qn Charlotte Islands place last night were such starry-eyed dreamers (as all of these Off the Grid-ers seem to be). I just can't imagine anyone being OK with climbing a narrow rocky path in a wet, slippery environment and then up several STAIRS to get to the doorless outhouse. Imagine as a woman coping with sanitary necessities in that situation! The house was kind of cute and of course the mossy forest/ocean settings were breath taking. I must have missed how they were going to make a living-she seemed to have an agricultural background, but with the rainy climate, not sure how successful commercial farming would be. The guy didn't seem to have any skills beyond surfing. The place seemed to be kind of a resort for wealthy, guilty-liberal eco tourists.

I'm liking these Off the Grid epis, pretty interesting. Enjoyed the Copenhagen to Australian desert one, but I had to wonder why they didn't just stop in North Dakota- it would have been more familiar weather for the Danish wife, and he could make big money fast as a heavy machine operator. Housing is tricky there, too, but at least you'd have the above-ground house she seemed to long for. The Svalbard sweetheart was, well, a sweetie. Hang on to that one, guy. The less said about the Bhutan story, the better. Kind of disturbing.

FINALLY! CJ is gone. Just to repeat one more time...Nice guy, cute baby; can't carry a tune.