Gummo

While I can't stand godbotherers on reality TV game shows, Cole's kept it offscreen (with the help of the Amazing Editors), and I gotta admit Sherri has impressed me with her growth and willingness to go for it, no matter what challenges are thrown her way. Unfortunately, that's tempered by the way she babies Cole and enables his grating immaturity. But their underdog triumph last night was really fun to watch and a testament to their persistence. Meanwhile, Burnie's slow-motion meltdown took his team out. Between dithering between detours and wasting way too much energy on being self-righeously angry at other teams (whose only crime was trying to win the game), he got what he deserved. I've enjoyed Tyler & Korey this whole season. I always like racers who race smart, have a good time, and treat each other well. Tyler talks too much to the camera? Again, that's the editors' and producers' decision, not his. Everyone gets interviewed. That downpour really helped us see past the editing tricks and figure out where each team was in relation to each other, time wise. It looked like during the worst of the downpour, when S&C were still learning the gyrohoveruni-things, T&K were already on the way to the pit stop. The rain had mostly let up by the time T&K got to the pit stop, and let up further as they talked to Phil. Meanwhile, the rain was slackening on S&C while they were on their way to the pit stop. In contrast, the rain was just letting up as B&A were leaving the detour, which made it pretty clear they really were in last place. If Sherri could win without Cole, I'd root for her. As it is, T&K are almost certainly going to win, which is fine by me. But as this episode showed, you never know....

Not much to add to the general jubilation. There were shouts & screams at the TV in our house, too! We've seen previous seasons where a person or alliance gains a huge advantage and the rest of the players just kind of deflate and give up. Not this time. The others were immediately conferring and planning on how to neutralize the idols. No drama, no surrender. I was really impressed with their attitudes. And Aubry once again proves that, first & foremost, Survivor is a social game. The Douchebros thought they could just bully their way to the end. But she understood that the weak link in their alliance was Tai and she knew exactly how to approach him. Aubry for the win!

To me, it says they have no faith in their own concept. If you think the game as designed is exciting and intriguing, you don't need freaks and assholes to make it interesting.

The thought that this vile woman-hating lump of suet is raising female children is chilling. Hope they're resilient enough to survive their parenting.

Dear Scott Pollard, I would take one Alecia over a dozen of you. You're a vile poison to any team you're on. Hope when you see this you realize I was only trying to help you. Love, Gummo

Now I know why Jenny was on the brawn tribe: in mere seconds, she managed to completely cover herself in shit, and she didn't even use a shovel! Now that's impressive. And Alecia may be a glassy-eyed dumb blond right out of central casting, but she hacked away at that damn flint for five friggin' hours while the cavemen snoozed. And she got fire. And she had enough cunning to sit back at tribal and let someone else just blather their way right out of the game. Damn, woman. So Debbie is this season's Agent Phil? Oh, her poor tribemates. I did NOT expect the Caleb - Tai scene to go the way it did, I have to admit, and I loved being wrong. What a great reality TV Odd Couple. Can you imagine those two doing The Amazing Race together? So far, a real fun season.

I'm guessing that Colombia is still too dangerous to let the contestants wander around on their own ("Next week on The Amazing Race -- one teams gets kidnaped by a viscious drug cartel and Phil has to negotiate their release!") so we're going to see them more or less chauffered around as long as they're there.

Remember when Race contestants were all these hyperdriven fitness-fanatic Type A's ? This ... is not that group. I get it now -- this is going to be another 'goofy' season, like the dating season. Okay, I can laugh at people and feel superior. That's fun. But geez, Race, you used to be better than that.

So much could have gone wrong with this episode -- instead it was one of the best episodes ever! Quite a statement for a show that's eight years old! Orgasm versus fangasm, fangasm versus orgasm ... I love when they allow Sheldon sensitive moments (as long as it's not too often) ... his 'we'll find out together' was the perfect thing to say in a situation where there are so many wrong things to say ... and so many wrong ways it could have been written. Wil Wheaton is back to being a dick, but this time he's THEIR dick, the friend who majorly embarrasses you in public -- it's a riot to think he's taken over that role from Sheldon! And of course, Bob Newhart is always perfect. This time was no exception. Kudos to everyone involved -- tying these two "momentous" events in together was sitcom genius. It's difficult to write growth into well-worn characters without them losing their essence, but Big Bang has done this successfully with Sheldon, which not long ago I would have thought impossible.

I was rooting for Green Team before last night, but ... What. A. Dick. And everyone who says Diana has to get away from that smug passive-aggressive ass: word. Now I have no one to root for because all 3 teams in the finale are obnoxious. The paps are just horrible people doing a horrible job gleefully making the world a more rude, tacky place, which is fitting because they're both foul people who treat each other and everyone else badly. As for the newscasters, and Miss "I'm-a-Christian-and-he's-a-Catholic" -- that's the kind of ignorant entitled fundie talk that raises the hackles on the back of my neck. And that's the ONLY personality either has shown for the entire season. *sigh* Let's get this over with and move on with our lives, shall we?

I'm pretty sure she said her butt was cramping.

His plan of hiding behind "shields" of the showier alpha players is actually working! Between that and his idols, he's got an excellent chance of getting to the end. Yes, Kimmi said "witches," that's who I meant, thank you!

She said her butt was cramping, she was trying to stop the pain, I think. I really enjoyed that episode! Wentworth and Ciera are playing a helluva game from a position of NO power. They got into Steven's head and Jeremy trusts Steven's judgment as to strategy ... and poof, Wigglesworth is gone! Amazing. Actually, Steven/Jeremy/Spencer had a tough balancing act to figure out -- piss off and fracture the majority alliance early or get out a power player -- a challenge threat, liked by everyone and carrying the mystique of being one of the original Survivors -- when they have the chance. Not sure they made the right decision for their games, but for my entertainment as a viewer, it was fantastic. The weather looks brutal. I think it may be the worst since they were starving in Season 2. That rain is unrelenting. There was a quick close-up of Joe's hands during the immunity challenge -- they were wrinkled little pink prunes. And to add to the chorus: I can't believe I was rooting for Abi in the immunity challenge. But I was. What a figure on her! Kimmi really doesn't like women, does she? "Witches," really? Geez, threatened by the young, cute, smart girls much? At least Steven tried to take it in a literary direction, but he beat the metaphor to death and then put the boot in, just to make sure. Damn, Tasha looked pissed. Gonna be a fun walk back to camp. Have I mentioned how much I'm enjoying this season? ETA to correctly identify Kimmi.

Jeez, that sucked. Just bad in every way. A 10-minute skit stretched to 42 minutes with a lot of noise and jumpy cameras. And that good ol' Dr. Who standby, corridors. Lots and lots of corridors. Nonsensical, annoying rather than scary, and unless the Boogerman was an ironic homage to Grade Z moviemaker Larry Buchanan's Eye Creatures, a pathetically stupid monster. I swear I like Capaldi the actor, but I loathe his Dr. Who. There's no charm to him at all, he's just frantic, mumbly and mean. And tiresome. I never wanted to yell, "Will you shut the hell up for one goddamn minute!" at a Dr. Who before. And the character of Clara continues to be a big cipher. One dimensional, flat as a pancake, no personality at all except whatever fits the plot needs of the moment. That's a shadow, not a companion. New Who has given us 3 amazing doctors; but I'm really starting to think the shark has been jumped.

Now THAT was Epic Survivor! So self-righteous moral arbiter Andrew Savage is just a petty, immature little bitch? What a surprise. Savage, you're such a despicable douchebag, you even made me like Abi, and I didn't think that was possible. Kass & Savage -- most miserable Ponderosa ever? One can only hope!

Thank the Survivor gods Kass is gone! That smug arrogant know-nothing can now sit quietly on the jury and smirk all she wants, for all the good it'll do her! Immediately after the merge is NOT the time to start stirring shit. That was a panic move, no matter what she called it -- she saw she was on the wrong side of the numbers and freaked out. No, that's the time to sit back, smile at everybody and start studying relationships, looking for cracks, disagreements, divergences, etc. This game takes patience, timing, an understanding of human nature -- all the things Kass lacks in abundance. Amen to all those who said Ciera's definition of "playing hard" means "doing what I want when it will help ME." Sorry, no one's under any obligation to you, especially when you tie yourself to the newly most-despised person in the game. Real smart play there. That someone as Alpha Maley as Jeremy is basically flying under the radar right now is a testament to his game. I'm very impressed, hope he goes far. And Savage gets thwarted again! His frustration tastes like fine wine! May his defeats be many, public and humiliating! Glad Tasha survived that little scuffle with Kass. I have high hopes for her, want to see her go far. They SHOULD have included that tribe-naming segment in the show. It was sweet & charming and only a minute long! Bad editing decision. I'm in the minority -- I like the individual immunity necklace, think it's one of the prettiest in a long time. Enjoying the hell out of this season. Let the post-merge games begin in earnest!

Really, really enjoyed the episode. Seeing Savage get his comeuppance - even second-hand - is always a delight. The return of the gross food challenge was fun, Fishbach's tears were ridiculous, Spencer getting saved was great (he's a favorite of mine, though I'd be hard-pressed to say why); the only downside was way too much Kass. She's almost as full of herself as Hantz and that's saying a lot. As long as we're commenting on appearances, though -- and I agree Abi's ass is epic -- I have to put in a word for Tasha, and that word is -- HOT! She's one of those contestants who looks better the longer she's out there -- curvy AND muscular, and the way she rocked the food challenge was just ... wow. And can I just say, while Fishbach was moaning about how shitty he is at challenges, he rocked the gross food challenge -- so we finally found something he's good at! But I have to agree with the commenters who've pointed out how one-dimensional his understanding of the game is. In that, he's a typical Survivor player, who thinks the only important aspect of the game is the one HE's good at, and it's only everyone else's stupidity that they don't see it (I believe this is called Hantz's Disease). There are many routes to the end in Survivor, and it's up to the player to figure out the best gameplay for him/herself. Kudos to Ciera for not taking Savage's patronizing bullpuckey. She swung that around fast. And now, Abi can even go to Savage and say, they all wanted to vote you off but I convinced them to vote Woo so you owe me (don't know if she's that strategic, though). Sorry for the random nature of this, didn't really organize my thoughts before I started typing.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I enjoyed the hell out of this episode. The scenery and photography were consistently gorgeous, the tasks were fun, and despite the take-a-number-and-wait nature of the tasks, the order of the teams kept changing in surprising ways. I'm also in the minority in that I LIKE Justin and Diana. Yes, he's loud and a bit crude, but he's pretty smart and obviously living out the dream of a lifetime. So he's competitive and wants to win all the time -- what's wrong with that! I love racers who love the race. It's pretty obvious that the producers feel the same way about Chris & Logan as we do. Rarely have I seen such a nasty edit this early in the season. And it's completely deserved -- what horrible people. And it's a good thing Chris's job is just to follow other people around and annoy them -- if he had to actually make a decision about which way to go, he'd melt down like a four year old whose ice cream cone had fallen on the pavement. And Logan has raised "I told you so" to an art form. What else ... the slow-motion race to the pit stop was hysterical. The crocs were terrifying -- I'm sorry, cage or no cage, feeding a 12-foot long dinosaur with jaws like a steel trap would scare the crap out of me. Team Texas still bugs, but a little less. And I want to like the cheerleaders, but man, are they annoying.

Beautiful photography in tonight's episode. Fun eppy to watch but as others have mentioned, absolutely NO suspense whatsoever. I think Monica's first confessional was at about the 1 or 2 minute mark - when she was done, I turned to my wife and said, that's it, she's gone. (She was talking about what a good position she was in -- always a dead giveaway). Survivor's editors and producers have to realize that after 15 years of reality game shows, we're all savvy about editing tricks. They need to up their game.

Quite enjoyed last night's episode. And as for all the talk about Tim and Swapnil, has anyone considered that maybe Swapnil was a whole lot WORSE in his work habits than what we were shown, and he actually got a kind edit? After all, we see only a few minutes extracted from hours and hours of footage. We really don't know. Loved Kelly's dress, loved that she took the chance on such a literal interpretation of the challenge and pulled it off. It actually reminded me of some of the womens' clothes in the restored version of Fritz Lang's Metropolis from 1927. Near the beginning of the film there's a short fashion show of the outrageous "fashions of the future" and Kelly's dress would have fit right in. So it was retro-futuristic-avant-garde? Thought the top and bottom were exactly right, except either Merline or Ashley (or both) could have left, for all I cared. Merline's outfit was just dull, not forward-looking at all, and Ashley's Dallas-cheerleaders-meet-sad-clown-with-James-Brown's-cape outfit was just one big w-t-f. And watching Zac when he examines the dresses closely, I think he's quite respectful of the models' bodies -- he takes great pains to handle the garments, not their bodies.

Okay, it's been bugging me since her first season: who does Abi remind me of? And it came to me after this week's episode: Tommy Wiseau. Whew. Now I just need her to walk up to the shelter and say, "Oh, hai, PG" and the circle will complete. (Apologies to those who have no idea what I'm talking about; to anyone who does, don't you see it!?)

I wonder if Kripke is going to insist on calling her "Woxanne."

Hello, all. I haven't commented on this particular board before, but as a fan who's watched the show since its beginnings, I do have a few comments to make on the current direction: 1. The money issue is distracting. The show persists in portraying the guys more like struggling graduate students than established research professors. As the female characters are allowed to grow and change -- at least professionally -- it's harder and harder to hide this discrepancy. 2. I think this season has finally clarified for me that Sheldon's emotional age is approximately 12 -- the age when boys are just starting to notice girls, but are still utterly confused by them, and by their own feelings towards them. Thus, Sheldon oscillating uncontrollably between rage at Amy, then missing her, then stalking her, then being angry again -- it all makes a lot more sense if I think of him as a 12 year old in a grown man's body. It also helps explain his misuse of sexual taunting and innuendo -- it's like a kid trying to tell a dirty joke they don't really understand. 3. I don't know that any of the male characters have ever been portrayed as nice guys. Leonard's always been a needy, insecure, neurotic mess. He WANTS to be the nice guy, in the worst way, but usually sabotages his own efforts (as we've seen so memorably with the wedding). Raj has always been a shallow, selfish stinker. Sheldon's utter self-absorption and humongous ego is too well-known to need comment. The one character with a big redemption arc has been Howard, who was the last character anyone would have chosen for a long-term successful marriage! Luckily, eppy 2 was funnier that eppy 1. That's pretty much all I ask, give me a few laughs and some nerdy references. I still think Penny & Leonard getting married was a mistake, though, one that will be very difficult to write through.

Thrilled that TAR is back, loved the first destination and the tasks, but.... OMG, the casting this season! What. The. Hell. We have at least THREE teams (off the top of my head) from the media: dating local TV "news" people (i.e., vacuous blow-dried cardboard cutouts who can read a teleprompter); papparazzi (aka the scum of the earth) and the blessedly-now-gone talentless shallow snipes from TMZ (basically papparazzi wanna-be's who are too lazy to chase celebrities and too dumb to learn how to use a camera). In other words, out of 22 people, we started with six who are media-savvy and would be playing to the cameras all season. Ugh. At least 3 more teams could be classified as "performers" -- the cheerleaders, the street dancers and yet another "Youtube sensation" (though at least this one is TAR-related). And it sounded like one of the cousins is also a stage actor, perhaps professionally (though this was left unclear). Is there ANYONE on this show anymore who isn't a media personality or recruited by the producers? Sadly, it does take some of the fun out of the proceedings. And yes, it's rare for Phil to be so distracted by a greeter's appearance -- but that woman was ridiculously beautiful. Actually, it was kinda fun to see the normally unflappable Phil lose it a little. There was a huge sigh of relief in the Gummo household when it became clear TMZ was leaving. We couldn't have stood their junior-high-school-level insults much longer. My only clear favorite so far are the cousins (I think they're cousins -- the two guys with the mild dwarfism?). I was surprised that I didn't hate Team Beefcake (yet). Early favorites for elimination: the news anchors, the paparrazi, annoying Alabama mom (though her son can stick around). Annoying cast or not, let the games begin! ETA: I would have sucked at either challenge! MIght have been able to squeak by on the puzzle, though.

Survivor is back! That means fall is officially here and all is right with the world. Normally, I hate 'returning players' seasons but the way they've set up this one -- all are returning players who've played exactly once -- puts everyone on an even playing field. All are hungry for redemption and there's no 'recruits' wandering around who have no idea how the game is played and are just worrying about getting screen time. Too bad the first elimination couldn't have been a double, then we could have gotten rid of sleazy Vytas AND psycho Abi. I was surprised, but not disappointed, that sleazy Vytas went first. He must have been even more objectionable than what we saw, and what we saw was objectionable enough! The 'second-unit' photography is more beautiful than ever. Half of the pleasure in this show is the establishing shots. Generally pleased with the cast, though I could easily do without psycho Abi, sociopath Kass, clueless Wu, and 'poor pitiful me' Steven. But it's early yet, and there's a lot of deadwood to get rid of before the game hits high gear. On the other hand, I'm really glad Shirin's back -- she may be crazy annoying IRL but I love watching her play Survivor. A couple of neat new twists in the very first episode, both of which added, rather than detracted, from the game -- the idol placement smack in the middle of a challenge, and holding tribal right afterwards. Simpler and more interesting than some of the convoluted crap they've tried and discarded in previous seasons. Now if only they're smart enough not to run the new gimmicks into the ground....