Friday Reality Roundup
As I’ve been remiss in writing about Survivor the past few weeks, and I haven’t even mentioned The Apprentice or The Amazing Race 9, I figured I’d just whip off a short posting with some observations about what’s been happening on these shows…
Survivor:
- We’ve now reached the point where I want Shane to stay, if only because morbid curiosity has kicked in, and I want to see just how psycho he can really get…
- God help me, but I’m actually starting to enjoy Cirie & how she’s playing the game strategically…
- Exile Island turned out to be a very interesting twist last night, what with Sally getting sent there instead of heading to certain elimination at tribal council (and kudos to Casaya for recognizing the proper strategic move!)…
- Not only that, but her banishment might just give Sally the opening needed to really go far in the game, post-merge…
- It was too bad to see Dan sent home, but I must say that I was impressed with both his attitude, as well as with the overall mature attitude of all 4 guys in dealing with a bad circumstance…
- No new episodes for 3 weeks is not a good thing…
The Apprentice:
- It’s an interesting group so far, and the first two episodes have been quite enjoyable…
- Ivanka, while certainly being no Carolyn, was surprisingly focused & intelligent…
- Bill has an awesome edge to his comments & insights, and I think I actually prefer him to George…
- Tarek is a pompous ass, and he must be removed from my TV at the earliest moment possible…
- Brent, while certainly a wildcard (social-skills-wise), was completely in the right in his battle with Stacy…
- Roxanne is a player! I like her attitude, and I think she could go far…
- Lenny is awesome. I just hope that (as I read elsewhere) that the situation arises to get him to say the words “moose and squirrel”!
The Amazing Race 9:
- It’s great to see them back where they belong — going to foreign countries with teams of two…
- My favorite team is Dave & Lori — They’re such cute nerds! I find them hugely entertaining, sweetly sincere, and just adorable to watch & root for…
- Teams MoJo & Boricua are current favorites if only because they’re smart, entertaining, and have very, very cute girls (Monica & Desiree, to be precise… :oops:)…
- Team In-The-Closet (Eric & Jeremy) is sooo annoying — I mean, come on, could they be any more blatant in their over-the-top hetero-horndog behavior that seems to be nothing more than a dead giveaway to some painfully obvious homoerotic tendencies (ewww, why did I just type that? :shock:)…
And, finally,
Skating with Celebrities:
- I enjoyed this show far more than I ever thought I would — it was pure cheez, but it was good cheez :wink:…
- The right 2 teams were in the finals (John/Jillian & Lloyd/Kristy)…
- The wrong team won — My take on the competition as a whole, and on the finals in particular, is that John & Jillian far outclassed everyone else, technically and artistically.
- Lloyd & Kristy certainly did improve quite a bit, but not enough, IMO, to legitimately beat out John & Jillian…
- Jillian was far superior to Kristy…
- Lloyd was superior to John…
- In the end, I think that Lloyd being better than John was the significant thing…
- I’m disgusted by what happened with Lloyd & Kristy outside of the show, and that certainly tainted my reaction to what happened in the finals…
- Oh yeah, and Jillian is quite possibly the prototypical “guy’s girl” — hot, into sports, well spoken, hot, athletic, and well you know, hot…
-ghp
The Pretentious Apprentice
I haven’t written about the Fall TV season’s reality shows. I’ve enjoyed them all, but I just haven’t felt the need to express my opinions about what was happening. That was in spite of the fact that there was a whole lot of good & fun to watch stuff happening on Survivor: Guatemala, The Amazing Race: Family Edition, and The Apprentice 4. There were people/teams to love (the Linzes & Bransens on TAR), and villains aplenty (the Weavers on TAR, Judd on Survivor, and Alla on The Apprentice). Just nothing that made me feel like writing.
That continued through the finales of Survivor, where Danni’s win was a deserved one (even though I think Stephenie played a slightly better game), and TAR where the Linzes were fabulously deserving winners (though I would’ve been quite ok with the Bransens winning - just so long as the horridly hypocritical Weavers didn’t win!). In fact, I was looking forward to a relatively easy/pleasant viewing of the Apprentice finale last night, mainly because both Randal and Rebecca were such likable & worth finalists.
Little did I know that the Apprentice finale would be the one that caused me to finally write… 
At this point, let me defer to one of my favorite reality recappers, over at Reality News Online, Betsy Wasser, who concluded her recap of the finale thusly:
Randal is hired.
Randal jumps out of his chair in triumph and goes to shake hands with the other candidates. But wait! There’s more! Trump asks Randal to sit back down, and the music stops just in time, leading me to believe Trump had this trick up his sleeve before this moment. This would be the point that many of my readers predicted. In a season marked by multiple firings, Trump will end with a multiple hiring, offering a job to Rebecca as well.
Trump says that he’s thinking about hiring Rebecca too, and wants Randal’s opinion. Randal says that while she’s good, the name of the show is The Apprentice, not The Apprentii, so there should be only one. Okay, Trump says. He was thinking about hiring Rebecca, but now he won’t. Randal continues to celebrate as the credits roll.
What the hell was that? Randal has been saying all along that Rebecca is a worthy oppontent, and that he respects her and thinks she’s talented. But he doesn’t want Trump to give her a job. Not because she’s not good enough, but because he doesn’t want to share the glory? And Trump decides to take the advice from someone who has worked for him for less time than it takes to pour a cup of coffee? That’s pitiful. This doesn’t have to be a zero sum “I win, you lose†game for Randal. He’d still have the job he wanted, and he’d still be Trump’s first choice, but Rebecca would have a great opportunity as well. Yet Randal refuses to share even a little bit of the glory. In that very quick moment, I was no longer able to feel as happy for Randal. This really ended things on a sour note, and I’m disappointed.
I agree. I was aghast at how selfishly & gracelessly Randal handled that opportunity. IMO, he took all the goodwill that he had banked over the course of the season, including his rep as a truly nice guy, and flushed it right down the crapper. He acted like a selfish, cutthroat, arrogant prick.
He had already won. Trump made the choice — Randal was the best. The first choice got job of his choice. He was then given an opportunity to be gracious — in a way that would have only burnished his status, and IN NO WAY would’ve EVER diminished his status as the “Apprentice.”
If the goal of the show/job-interview was truly to get to work for Trump, then Randal achieved that goal. Now, if the goal is to hog all the glory to yourself, no matter how classlessly you have to act to do it… well, then I guess Randal achieved that goal too. During a process in which Randal had consistently raised himself above the fray, he ultimately sullied his accomplishment by lowering himself to Alla’s petty, vindictive level.
And that’s sad.
-ghp
3/25 - Reality roundup
I’ve been ignoring the non-American Idol reality shows of late, so here’s a quick roundup of my thoughts…
Survivor: Ulong has got to be the most pathetic, inept, dysfunctional, & stupid tribe that Survivor has ever seen. 6 immunity losses in a row! Nary a lucid strategic thought to be found! I had hopes for at least Stephenie being the single intelligent member of that tribe, but I cannot understand just what she was thinking with her stupid, stupid vote in this last tribal council — she had nothing to gain from reneging on Bobby John. In the end, she voted against James anyway (rightly so, as there was no need to put herself at risk of elimination by the fabled “Purple Rock o’ Death”…), so forcing an initial tie vote did nothing but weaken her position. Stooopid! Ulong’s soon-to-be-legendary ineptitude has, rightly, kept the focus off of Koror. Soon enough, however, they’ll have to turn on themselves, and it’ll be interesting to watch unfold.
The Apprentice: Last night was a treat to watch, if only to see video proof of the fact that pride does indeed goeth before the fall. Erin deserved to be fired because she gave up on her team, and thought that she could just talk & charm her way out of any danger. I think she’s probably a great lawyer, but someone who has that high an opinion of themselves needs some seasoning before they’ll impress someone like Carolyn, George, or the Donald! At this point, with 8 folks left, I really would like to see Tana win, and I think we’ll see a Tana/Kendra final.
The Amazing Race: Ah, my favorite, saved for last… 
The stars of this edition of TAR are most definitely Romber (Rob & Amber) of Survivor fame. The other teams are focusing on Romber to the point of obsession, and Romber are using that antipathy to their advantage. It’s truly amazing (no pun intended) just how much Rob has been able to use Survivor-style manipulation in a more seemingly straightforward game like TAR. It’s just way too enjoyable to watch Romber yank the chains of the other teams (especially Team Birdcage, with their stereotypical flaming gay behavior). It’s also nice to see that there is such genuine affection between Rob & Amber — as much as he can antagonize the other teams, he treats her like gold, and he’s also unfailingly nice to folks who are a part of the race (e.g., drivers, guides, locals, etc…). Oddly enough, considering that I usually have 2 or 3 teams I would like to see win the race, I’d have a real hard time picking who I’d like to see win in the unfortunate event that Romber doesn’t win.
Well, there you go — a nice quick tour of my thoughts on matters of significance in our culture!
-ghp
Mind Candy
Well, given that the only feedback to my inquiry was positive, y’all have only yourselves to blame…
TV — I watch it, and like watching it, both probably more than I should. My mind is cluttered with a plethora of useless pop-culture trivia… TV, movies, music, sports, etc. - particularly as relates to the 80’s. I must also confess that I like “reality” TV. I know it’s not “real” reality, it’s unscripted TV, where the Heisenberg Principle is fully in effect; however, when it’s well done, it can be highly entertaining without being unduly exploitative.
My wife & I started watching the genre back with what I would contend is the granddaddy of them all, The Real World. The first season (New York) was actually quite interesting, and nowhere near the cesspool that TRW has become. The 2nd (L.A.) season went downhill & wasn’t all that good, and the 3rd season (San Francisco), while beginning to show signs of the seedier side of the genre (e.g., Puck), was quite interesting. The 4th season (London), quite honestly, sucked, and we stopped watching TRW.
All was quiet, then, until Survivor arrived. I fought getting drawn into the hype, until about halfway through that first edition. After that, though, I was hooked. In many ways, that first Survivor was the best, because it was the “purest” - the participants more or less invented the game, while those since have merely refined it. The strategic & interpersonal elements of Survivor are also quite interesting to watch. It’s not high art/culture, but it is entertaining.
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