Monday, August 31, 2009

Macaulay Culkin Is Michael Jackson's Latest Baby Daddy

Michael Jackson is a gift that keeps on giving.

One of the U.K.'s tabloids, The Sun, is reporting that sources close to Michael Jackson are sure that Jackson's 7 year old offspring, Blanket, is the result of a meeting between Macaulay Culkin and a fertile egg.

The Sun's source claims Michael Jackson asked the Home Alone boy to supply baby-making material and "Mack never let him down...Deep down, I think he always wished Mack was his son. Creating Blanket was the next best thing."

Yikes!

Also, according to The Sun's blabbing source, "This isn't just chitter-chatter. Even Culkin suspects he's Blanket's father."

Well, if Macaulay donated the goods, why would he not suspect he's the father? Surely he knows what the goods were good for and he knew a baby was born.

Others are also claiming to be Michael Jackson's baby daddy. There's Dr. Arnold Klein and the child star from Oliver!, now all grown up, Mark Lester, who was friends with Michael Jackson.

Why is some DNA testing not done so we can settle this serious issue?

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Hell's Kitchen: Robert's Gone Again

On this week's Hell's Kitchen, Robert Hesse did not make it back from the hospital in time for the craps reward challenge. Each team was given a dice with 12 letters on it. Then each team member tossed the dice and had to come up with a food item using the letter that came up.

When Dave came up with an "F" he muttered the "F" word, I think, and then stood, baffled for a really long time, while the girls giggled, and then giggled more when he chose figs.

The boys and girls then had to make a dish with their ingredients. The boys were a bit baffled as to what to do with the figs. Their protein was haddock. The girls had an easier time of it, with their rabbit. But, in the end, the girls ruined their rabbit with an overpowering garlic sauce, while the figs turned the sauce, that went over the haddock, into something really tasty.

So, the boys got to go to Vegas, while the girls prepped and unloaded trucks whenever a delivery truck buzzer went off. That is a Hell's Kitchen classic. The girls should have known the delivery truck buzzer was gonna go off again after they were in bed for the night.

The boys had a great time in Vegas, bonding without Robert. They'd done so well on the craps challenge they were sure they'd ace dinner service, particularly without Robert.

But, the boys were barely back in Hell's Kitchen when Robert made a noisy return.

There were chef's table for the first time in Hell's Kitchen. Chefs from Ramsay's restaurants sat at special tables close to the action. The boys and girls had trouble remembering to check in on the chef's tables. In the end the girl's chefs said they'd "return again," the boy's chefs said, "no thanks."

Van had trouble describing the protein options to the chef's table. Van is one very odd looking guy, to my eyes. He is from Dallas. Van also had trouble with two instances of sending out fish with wax paper stuck to it.

The girls had trouble with their chef's table too. The chefs thought Ariel's scallops were not cooked or seasoned properly.

Suzanne was driving all the girls batty with her constant busy body ways. She is really annoying.

Ramsay shut the kitchen down when Robert sent out raw rabbit. Prior to that Robert had mangled a lot of lamb. And he disgusted me by sweating like a fat pig. Well, I don't now if fat pigs sweat, but you get the picture. It was not appetizing. Ramsay seemed to focus more angry ire at competent chef, Kevin, for continuing to toss pasta after the shutdown order.

Ramsay picked one-armed Dave as the best of the worst and told him to pick two of his teammates for elimination. Dave seems like a nice guy. He seemed to sort of agonize over his picking duty. In the end Dave picked Robert and Van, for obvious reasons, one is fat, one is ugly and both botched up their cooking, real bad. Who wants to eat raw rabbit or wax paper?

Ramsay then told Andy to step forward and sent Van back in line. This had Robert acting all triumphant, like justice was being served. Robert then got quite angry in his defense of his indefensible position. In the end Ramsay said Andy's name, which had Andy stepping forward and taking off his jacket, to which Ramsay told him to get back in line, sending the totally deserving Robert home.

I really do not think they should have had Robert back after last season's health issues. There should have been a caveat, as in, lose 200 pounds and we'll be happy to give you another chance. Instead Robert got fatter, is still unhealthy and he really should not be cooking food for people. Raw rabbit. Should that not be a career ender?

Flipping Out Season 3: Jeff Lewis Flips Out Less

I, along with Real New York Housewife, Bethenny Frankel, watched a lot of Flipping Out yesterday.

When I blogged about Flipping Out a few days ago I opined that it should be interesting seeing how Jeff Lewis deals with our troubled economic times. Well, I was right, it is interesting.

House flipping has dried up. The Valley Oaks home we saw getting renovated last season, has not sold. So, Jeff moved in. He now contracts out to do, or oversee, remodels and renovations. But no house flipping.

When I watched the first season of Flipping Out I was appalled over and over again seeing what looked to me to be perfectly nice homes, that maybe needed a little work, gutted and redone to a big price tag and then selling for a big price tag with Lewis making a big profit.

There is still gutting of what looks to me to be a perfectly nice house, only it seems to being done with much closer attention paid to costs. The nice house about to be gutted is owned by a couple who met where the wife used to peel. I learned, along with Jeff Lewis, that a peeler is a stripper. The stripper and her husband insisted that Jeff and Jenni come over for Taco Tuesday. In their pajamas. Jeff said something like in these hard times he'll do just about anything to seal a deal.

In the first season of Flipping Out Jeff flipped out a lot. At times it was painful to watch. Now, in Season 3, he seems to be well in tune with why people find him amusing, and so it seems he has amped it up. In a good way. He can turn getting upset about not enough brown salsa into a comedy routine. His attempts to find out Jenni's new address are amusing.

There is a lot that is amusing on Flipping Out. It may be my favorite Bravo show. Or maybe Top Chef is.

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta: Lisa & NeNe Go To LA, Kim Goes To Work On Kandi

I'm days late getting around to watching the latest episode of the The Real Housewives of Atlanta.

So, here's what I think. The whole NeNe going to LA with Lisa thing was strange. It all seemed real forced. Lisa does not act natural. And NeNe is starting to seem like she is constantly way too deep into performance mode. NeNe's trouble at processing Lisa's Asian side was odd. NeNe ended up declaring that Lisa was totally black. The whole graveside thing over the dead gay brother who was the life of the family and who died of mysterious causes, with one of the brother's pouring booze on the grave, was just odd.

NeNe and Lisa's new gay friend they found in the hotel was also strange. Way too much forced laughter at stuff that was not funny.

What was funny was Kim. She went to Kandi's recording studio. And then could not remember the words to "Tardy for the Party." Later Kim called Kandi to arrange a dinner at a steakhouse. Kandi is already seated when Kim arrives, immediately demanding wine. Kandi does not drink, orders a Shirley Temple, with lime, while Kim's eyes roll.

Kim spews so much profanity in public places. I don't see how she does not get a Potty Mouth Ticket from some arbiter of good public taste. Then during the dinner with Kandi, Kim proceeds to do her behind the back cutting that she always denies doing. Kim's main target was her main enemy, Lisa.

And then there is Sheree. The self-proclaimed best designer in Atlanta is getting her first fashion show ready. Of course, she has an event planner. And Mercedes Benz as a sponsor. Sheree's event planners seemed as if they did not quite know what to make of her. It will be fun watching Sheree get her fashion comeuppance again. At least that is what I hope happens.

In the previews Kandi does some crying. That is all I remember.

Top Chef Las Vegas: Eve Packs Her Knives & Leaves

This week's second episode of Top Chef Las Vegas saw Eve Aronoff going home. Eve seemed a bit overwhelmed during her short stay on the show. Eve owns a restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan called Eve. The choice of restaurant name may be an indicator of Eve's creativity in other areas, like maybe cooking. Eve also has had a cookbook published titled Eve: Contemporary Cuisine, Methode Traditionelle.

The Quickfire Challenge this week continued with the Vegas theme. A craps table was rolled into the kitchen. The chefs took turns rolling the dice, the number that came up was the number of ingredients they had to use to prepare a dish. One of the brothers, the younger one, Mike Voltaggio, won the Quickfire, Immunity and $15,000.

For the Elimination Challenge it was the boys against the girls, cooking for a bachelor/bachelorette party. The boys cooked for the bachelorette, and the girls, well, you don't need that spelled out for you.

The future bride and groom brought in trays of shots of three different drinks, like a tequila shot, a sweet one called Golden Delicious. I forget the third.

When the eating began the judges were clearly liking the boy's stuff best, picking both brothers, Hector and last week's winner, Kevin, as the top 4. Though it did not sound like a good thing, older brother, Bryan, won with his Guacamole Macaroon. The judges raved about it, both on the show and in their blogs.

Eve, Preeti, Jesse and Ashley were the worst of the worst. Ashley whined way too much about not wanting to participate in any wedding ritual, due to she being unable to legally marry someone of her own sex. A rude person in Survivor Sucks suggested that Ashley could easily get around this problem by simply saying she was a man and marry the woman of her choice.

I'd like Jesse if she'd lose the lip piercings. The brother rivalry plot line may grow tired, too. It seems as if there are way more really good cooks this time around than we've seen before.

Thursday, August 27, 2009

American Idol: Blake Lewis & The IRS

On July 10 the Internal Revenue Service filed a $124,798 lien against the season 6 runner up on American Idol, Blake Lewis.

The lien was filed in the Los Angeles County Recorder of Deeds Office. A spokesperson for Blake said, "Everything has been resolved with the IRS."

But, as of yesterday, that being Wednesday, no lien release has been filed. Had a lien release been filed it would mean the back taxes had been paid off.

Last year Blake Lewis bought a home north of Seattle that cost a bit over a $1 million.

Who won on season 6? Jordin Sparks? I was not a fan of Blake Lewis. I cringed whenever the beat boxing started up.

Anderson Cooper Baffled By Heidi Montag



The above is a funny clip of Anderson Cooper being perplexed by Heidi Montag's bizarre act that gummed and dumbed up the Miss Universe Pageant last Sunday. Anderson's co-commentator is pretty amusing, too.

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

American Idol: Neil Patrick Harris Replaces Paula Abdul

Is there nothing Doogie Hauser can not do? A few months ago I saw Neil Patrick Harris be a food judge on Top Chef. Which would seem to indicate he has one of those refined palates some people are blessed with.

Apparently, the How I Met Your Mother star's musical expertise comes from having sung on Broadway in Cabaret and Sweeney Todd.

Yesterday Neil Patrick Harris was here, in Dallas, replacing Paula Abdul at auditions, that I think actually did not take place in Dallas, but instead took place in Arlington, at the new Dallas Cowboy stadium.

After Paula Abdul's shocking exit from American Idol due to producers refusing to meet her money demands, those same producers have been scrambled to come up with familiar faces to replace Ms. Abdul.

The familiar faces include Mary J. Blige, Shania Twain, David Beckham's wife and Katy Perry. With the former Doogie Hauser the latest in the lineup.

On another note, nothing to do with American Idol, I think Neil Patrick Harris' How I Met Your Mother sit-com is very funny, with he being the funniest of the funny people on it.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 August 17 - August 23


The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for August 17 - August 23. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

Rank Show name Network Viewers in millions
1. America's Got Talent (Tuesday, 9) NBC 11.9
2. America's Got Talent (Wednesday, 9) NBC 10.7
3. NCIS (repeat) CBS 9.9
4. Two and a Half Men (repeat) CBS 8.5
5. The Big Bang Theory CBS 8.0
* Big Brother (Tuesday) CBS 8.0
7. The Mentalist CBS 7.8
* 60 Minutes CBS 7.8
9. Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Sunday. special) ABC 7.6
10. Hell's Kitchen Fox 7.5
* Big Brother (Sunday) CBS 7.5
12. CSI CBS 7.4
13. Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Monday. special) ABC 7.1
14. Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Wednesday. special) ABC 6.9
* Dateline NBC (Monday) NBC 6.9
16. America's Funniest Home Videos ABC 6.8
* Criminal Minds CBS 6.8
* Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Thursday, special) ABC 6.8
19. Big Brother (Thursday) CBS 6.7
* NFL: Titans/Cowboys (special) Fox 6.7

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

Project Runway On Lifetime: Ari Fish Gets Cut

I've watched an episode or two of Project Runway over the years, but I never get hooked, like I do with Top Chef. I think it has something to do with the fact that I like to eat and cook, while I really don't have a whole lot of interest in making a dress. I also have found that those who do have an interest in making a dress are a bit on the odd side.

Like this one guy or girl (I was a little confused about the guy/girl thing with this one) named Malvin Vien. This person is a dress designer, supposedly in tune with what is fashionable, yet this person's sense of style, as reflected in hairstyle choice, did not look all that fashionable to me. It did say goofy and fruitcakey to me.

The first one cut was this very odd space cadet named Ari Fish. She did not seem to know what she was doing. She was supposed to make something that could be worn at a red carpet event. She said her ridiculous looking mess was from the future, where it was to be worn to a Nobel Prize winning red carpet event combined with some other red carpet event that I can't remember. While the others sketched their designs, Ari said she does not sketch, she lets the inspiration come to her by meditating, upside down against a wall.

I thought it would be the dressmaker named Mitchell Hall who got cut. He made his first dress too small for his model. He had very little material left to work with, just sheer see-through material. So, he pretty much sent a naked model out to walk the runway. Much fuss was made over the nakedness, but all I saw was some nipplage.

Gordana Gehlhausen stood out. She's a 45 year old emigre from the former Yugoslavia, so she has that cool accent thing going on. I don't remember if her dress was liked or not.

We spent a lot of time watching the angst of a 30 year old former meth head, named Johnny Sakalis, who broke down early in the dress making process, overwhelmed by it all. Johnny left the dressmaking zone to seek solace in a private place. Soon Tim Gunn arrived to buck him up and get Johnny back in there dressmaking. In the end, Johnny's dress was one of the favorites.

I must say, I find Tim Gunn very amusing.

Since this is a Reality TV Show it's the law in California that you must have at least on Texan on board. Project Runway's token Texan is a 32 year old neighbor of mine named Louise Black, from Dallas. She has black hair.

The winner this week was a guy from Shakopee, Minnesota, 30 year old Christopher Straub. He seemed very emotional. He's had no formal dressmaking training and did not know the meaning of various terms being used by the trained dressmakers. But, Shakopee is some sort of fashion hub, with everyone, including guest judge, Lindsay Lohan, liking his dress. The dress looked weird to me. Obviously I am not fashion savvy and there are many reasons I have trouble getting hooked on this show.

I may watch again. I set the DVR to record the series.

Flipping Out On Bravo With Jeff Lewis

I need some sort of TV guide. I did not realize til channel chasing over lunch that the 3rd season of Flipping Out had started up. Bravo seemed to be running a bit of a Flipping Out Marathon today. So, I set the DVR to record tonight's new episode and the season opener from last week.

I find Jeff Lewis to be highly amusing. As is his assistant, Jenni and his housekeeper, Zoila. I also like seeing the renovations done to the big houses he buys and tries to flip.

It should also be interesting to see how Jeff Lewis is coping with these troubled times and the housing market woes. Maybe he's had to take a part time job at McDonald's.

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta: Kim's Hit Tardy For The Party



The Real Housewife of Atlanta, Kim Zolciak, who is not married, and thus not a wife, claims that her smash hit single, Tardy for the Party was released to the Internet without her permission and that she is trying to get the song removed from various sites, to no avail. Who knows how long this YouTube version will last?

I think it's a catchy tune. Sort of.

Monday, August 24, 2009

Heidi Montag Is Not Miss Universe, Miss Venezuela Is

I had no idea who Heidi Montag or her husband, Spencer Pratt, were before they showed their bratty, pseudo-Christian selves on I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. Heidi Montag and her husband are on a MTV reality show called The Hills that I've never seen.

Lately Heidi Montag had some fresh notoriety due to appearing in that very Christian magazine called Playboy. Heidi's photos tastefully never got out of PG-13 territory, due to the artful placement of mud.

I do not find Heidi Montag at all attractive. It's mostly her personality that makes her unattractive. Her sister, Holly, on the other hand, is very attractive.

Heidi Montag got people talking, again, last night, well, at least those few who watched The Miss Universe Pageant. In addition to being an Oscar-worthy actress and a Playboy worthy naked girl, Heidi is now a singer, with a single called "Body Language" which she sang at The Miss Universe Pageant.

Heidi walked on stage wearing flesh-colored pants with a black jacket covering her upper regions, which she soon removed to reveal an equally flesh-colored bra. Heidi then proceeded to lip sync her song along with what I guess were supposed to be sexy moves worthy of a song called "Body Language." Unfortunately, Heidi's body does not move all that well in dance mode, as you can sort of tell in the photo at the top.

So, that was the highlight of The Miss Universe Pageant, Heidi Montag causing me to cringe yet again. Oh, and Miss Venezuela won again. Last year's Venezuelan Miss Universe, Dayna Mendoza, passed the coveted crown to the latest Venezuelan Miss Universe, Sefania Fernandez Krupij.

Saturday, August 22, 2009

The Real Housewives Of Atlanta: All The Girls Get Together With Kim Meeting Kandi & No Fighting

I am days late with watching this week's episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta. I like my housewives fighting. This week there was not a lot of fighting.

The strangest thing happened to me while I was watching. I found myself thinking I like Kim the best of all of them. She is funny. And she seems to have more common sense than a couple of the other ones. But that is not saying much.

Kim walks in to get her wig trimmed. Pretty much the first thing she says is she'd like wine. Her wigcutter asked how many glasses of wine that'd been today. Kim said, "6 or 7."

Why does one get ones wig cut? While getting her wig trimmed Kim's daughter called to say the nanny had locked the 2 girls out, while she rushed to the store for an emergency tampon. Earlier we'd seen the Nanny tell Kim's oldest that she'd go to hell for rapping in Spanish, while they were trying to figure out if siteseeing is a verb. Kim's oldest seems to be a sharp kid.

And I'm starting to think Kim is a lot more wily than it appeared previously. I mean, the woman has no noticeable job. Yet she has a nanny, an assistant, sends her kids to private school, pays 3000 bucks to have her fat melted and who knows what else I'm forgetting. Then she somehow gets Kandi Burress to help produce Kim's, uh, hit single, "Tardy for the Party." There is a functioning, conniving brain under all that fake hair.

We saw the genesis of the Kim and Kandi music collaboration tonight. That's another thing. At NeNe's King Tut party, where she arranged for all the combatants to be together for the first time since their last battle, Kim arrived first, fortified herself with more wine, then acted perfectly appropriate when meeting Kandi for the first time. Kandi liked Kim. While at the same time we saw NeNe, Sheree and Lisa being, well, sort of catty bitches. Particulary NeNe. For a woman who gets so bent out of shape over something Kim did or did not say, NeNe can be quite rude with her remarks. Funny, but rude.

I hope Kim's "Tardy for the Party" song release is included in this season of the show. I doubt it though. It'll be amusing how those woman deal with Kim actually getting the song made. That's another thing, Kim has the self-awareness to be quite self-deprecating. As in when Dwight got them all dancing while he sang, Kim joked about his bad singing. And then joked about her own bad singing.

I think of all those Atlanta Housewives I'd find Kim the most amusing to know. It'd take some time getting used to those lively boobs of hers, but one can cope with such things with enough wine.

Friday, August 21, 2009

Top Chef: Jennifer Zavala Packs Her Knives And Leaves

Good first episode of the new season of Bravo's Top Chef. The Chef'testants appear to be an interesting mix, including 2 brothers, last name Voltaggio, first names Bryan and Michael.

It is hard to remember names and not get confused in the early episodes of Top Chef when there are just way too many chefs running around.

I've never seen so many tattoos on a reality show before, let alone a cooking reality show. I am not a fan of tattoos. Or piercings. Or doing odd things to ones ears. The chef who got sent home had enormous earrings, at least that's what I thought they were, til near the end when I realized her ears had been stretched by, I guess, a metal ring, that I mistook for an earring. Why do people do these things to themselves?

I found chef Jesse Sandlin actually rather likable. She seems like she may do well. She has tattoos and piercings through her lip area. I would think this would interfere with ones tasting and cooking. But, apparently not.

The Quickfire Challenge was the Top Chef staple where the chefs are divided into 4 teams and then have to shuck clams, break down lobsters, cut up beef and one other thing I'm forgetting. To divide up the teams a herd of Vegas Showgirls sashayed in. I was distracted. I forget how they helped divide the teams. Suffice to say colored chips were drawn in 4 colors and one gold chip. The gold chip ended up with an older lady chef, maybe the name was Robin. For her gold chip she won immunity. And maybe money. I really need to take notes.

One of the Quickfire Challenge chefs doomed her team due to her inability to open a clam. I think her name is Preeti. Then there was a cook off deal using the food they'd just prepared. After an awful lot of motion, Jennifer Carroll was declared the winner. I think she won $15,000. I remember she kissed Tom Collochio, who seemed a tad surprised. I don't believe she won immunity. Isn't that usually part of winning the Quickfire?

Jennifer Carroll appears to be a very competent cooker. And a bit of a looker. Top Chef is a little weak in the looker department this time. One or two I was not quite certain which gender category they went in. A name like Ashley can go either way.

For the elimination round the chefs stayed with the same teams with each member creating a dish based on their own signature vices. The judges, including the extremely amusing Wolfgang Puck, then picked the best and worst of each team's dishes.


The worst seemed to be the worst by quite a margin. Jen Zavala, she with the big ears, made a chile relleno. Even I can make a good chile relleno. And I'm not chef. She stuffed her relleno with some strange gooey protein. Her relleno just looked nasty on the plate, unlike any relleno I've ever seen.

Kevin Gillespie's fish dish ended up being the judge's favorite. And so he won. They liked whatever it was that Jennifer Carroll cooked too. I thought it was she who was going to win. They also like the Haitian boat person, Ron Duprat's, seafood concoction. Michael Isabella was the other who won in his group. I don't remember what his vice was or what he cooked. He seemed a tad cocky, but I liked him okay.

The brother team seem likable and competent. Most all the chefs seem to be real good this time. Except for the relleno girl who was sent home. She appeared to be a single mom who had hoped to win Top Chef and send her son to Yale. I hope that works out for her.

Previews made it appear that a lot of drama and shouting will ensue through the rest of the season.

Lou Ferrigno's Incredible Sulk Over Dancing With The Stars Rejection

Apparently Lou Ferrigno thought he was a sure thing to be picked to thud around the ballroom on the latest iteration of Dancing With The Stars.

The Incredible Hulk's manager wife, Carla, thought it was such a sure thing that Lou would be doing some dancing in skimpy clothes, she put him on diet that dropping 25 pounds of the Hulk's bulk.

Carla even went to so far as to tango with her husband. All to no avail. This was the second time Dancing With The Stars has rejected Ferrigno.

Carla whined to Radar Online saying, "The producers told us he would have made an excellent contestant, and when you compare him to some of the 'so-called' celebrities they picked, it just does not make any sense at all. The producers never even had the class to give Lou a call and tell him that he was not going to be chosen. Lou is an American icon."

I did not realize Lou was an American icon.

Carla want on to say, "We couldn't believe some of the people they picked. Lou was more surprised than upset that he wasn't chosen because we know he would have been great. I mean, Tom Delay, a corrupt politician, a skateboarder who nobody has ever heard of, and what exactly has Ashley Hamilton ever done?"

Well, I do sort of agree. At least I know who Lou Ferrigno is, unlike most of those picked to twirl around the dance floor. I think it may have been painful watching the Incredible Hulk trying to be graceful. Probably not as painful as watching Tom Delay try to be graceful will likely be.

Thursday, August 20, 2009

Top Chef Masters: Rick Bayless Wins

I was wrong when I blogged about Top Chef Masters yesterday. It was not a two part ending and it was not only season 1 winner, Harold Dieterle being a guest judge, it was all the Top Chef winners. My DVR sorted it all out for me and recorded what it needed to record.

I'm a fan of Top Chef Masters and its winner, Rick Bayless. I want to eat his Mexican food.

There was no Quickfire Challenge. The 3 remaining masters were driven to the Getty Villa, it being a huge mansion in the Los Angeles zone. There they were told to prepare a 4 course meal, with course 1 representing their first food memory and other courses representing things like their first success and where they are now.

Part way into the prepping the chefs were surprised to get a helper in the form of one of the chefs from their own restaurants.

I have trouble remember details, so there is no way I can remember the names of the dishes these guys cooked. Suffice to say it was all complicated, all looked good and, apparently, judging by the swooning of the judges, for the most part, tasted incredible.

When the time came to count those stars, Hubert Keller came in third. And then Rick Bayless got one more star than Michael Chiarello. Making him Top Chef Master.

The judges waxed poetic about the revelatory nature of the Mexican cuisine, with one commenting that Rick Bayless has shown them that Mexican cuisine is on par with French and Italian in terms of complexity and sophistication.

I want some of that mole with all those ingredients that caused more food swooning than I've ever heard.

At the end, Rick Bayless was sort of touching when he said of all the chefs he was the one with no formal training. He is a self taught chef. His dad ran a BBQ joint in which dad was the Pit Master. Rick Bayless said his dad, the Pit Master, would be so proud that his son was the Top Chef Master.

Tonight I hope to manage to watch last night's Padma show and see the new Top Chef'testants.

American Idol: Paula Really Gone?

Paula Abdul's manager, David Sonenberg says Paula has been talking to every network but FOX about new Paula opportunities. Sonenberg claims there have been no discussions whatsoever about American Idol.

Paula Abdul's salary demands were in the Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest range, which FOX thought her not worthy of, apparently.

FOX is believed to be doing some audience reaction focus group studying to determine what, if any, damage will be done to American Idol if Paula Abdul is gone.

Presumably, if the focus group studying shows that the show will be hurt, American Idol will then make Paula an offer she won't refuse.

Paula's manager also claimed she "feels fabulous, she feels free", that "I think in some ways she was typecast in Idol and she was kind of restricted from doing anything she wanted to do---and now she's free to decide. She really is very excited about the future and that there's support for her."

I am betting on those focus groups showing that American Idol will survive just fine without Ms. Abdul.

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Hell's Kitchen: Hospital For Robert, Home For Jim

Episode 6 of Season 6 of Hell's Kitchen was one more entertaining, loud hour. The day started with a low calorie challenge where each team had to create an appetizer, entree and dessert that totalled no more than 700 calories.

Robert said he usually eats 700 calories in one bite. Very foretelling for Robert's fate later in the hour.

The Blue Boys team had trouble getting the calories down. The Red Girls team was much more organized. So, of course, they won. The Blue Boys then had a very interesting task, while the Red Girls went to Venice Beach for a volleyball lesson.

While the girls had fun in the sun, the boys also had fun in the sun. They had to pedal a bizarre bicycle contraption from Hell's Kitchen to a store to pick up some produce. Robert did not have an easy time of it. All the boys had a hard time pedaling that thing.

Eventually the boys got their bike back to Hell's Kitchen. Robert was wiped out. A medic was called in, who then called 911, with an ambulance soon taking Robert to the hospital. He did not make it back for the dinner service.

When it came time to open Hell's Kitchen both teams did not do well. Jim kept ruining risotto and looked like a zombie while doing so. He was likely mourning the loss of Tek, who we found out this week is now his girlfriend.

Over at the Red Girls Chef Ramsay got into a yelling match with Tennile after she messed up on the garnishes a couple times. He kicked her out of the kitchen and then followed her for some more yelling. After the yelling was done Tennile went back to cooking.

Sabrina sent out raw pork. Apparently that is a big no-no in the restaurant world. She also wrongly cooked lamb.

Andy had all sorts of troubles on the boy's team. He could not cook halibut correctly. Which got him increasingly flustered from all the shouting directed his way.

Ramsay had had enough. He shut down the kitchen. Then told both teams they'd lost and for each team to pick one person to get possibly sent home. The girls picked Sabrina, the boys quickly picked Andy. But Ramsay sent neither of them home. Instead he told Jim to take his jacket off and get the hell out of Hell's Kitchen.

Next week it looks like, maybe, Robert is back. And it appears that one-armed Dave has a major meltdown. He's been one of the competent ones.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 for August 10 - August 16


The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for August 10 - August 16. The first number is the ranking, the second number is the season average, then the show name and network. The last number represents the number of viewers in millions. An asterisk * indicates a tie.

Rank Season average Show name Network Viewers in millions
1.
12
America's Got Talent (Tuesday, 9) NBC 12.9
2.
15
60 Minutes CBS 12.0
3.
20
America's Got Talent (Wednesday, 9) NBC 11.8
4. 6 NCIS CBS 9.2
5.
11
Two and a Half Men CBS 8.8
6.
38
Big Bang Theory CBS 8.6
7.
76
Big Brother (Sunday) CBS 7.6
*
8
The Mentalist CBS 7.6
9.
76
Big Brother (Thursday) CBS 7.5
10.
x
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Monday) ABC 7.3
11.
x
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Thusday) ABC 7.2
12.
15
CSI: Miami CBS 7.1
13.
x
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Sunday) ABC 7.0
14.
53
Hell's Kitchen Fox 6.9
15.
80
Big Brother (Tuesday) CBS 6.8
*
7
CSI CBS 6.8
17.
20
CSI: NY CBS 6.7
18.
x
Who Wants to be a Millionaire (Wednesday) ABC 6.5
19.
65
America's Got Talent (Tuesday, 8) NBC 6.3
*
95
Dateline NBC 6.3