No USA Miracle On Ice 2: Canada Wins Olympic Hockey Gold in Sudden Death Overtime

The last day of the Winter Olympics is the first day I've watched the Winter Olympics.

As in right now I am waiting for the commercials to end and the end of the Team USA/Team Canada hockey Gold Medal game.

Regulation time ended in a last second USA goal.

I am waiting for the Sudden Death Round to start.

I did not watch the Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony. I knew it was on NBC, the same network that covered the Athens Summer Olympics. Bob Costas, with his non-stop idiotic commentary during the Athens Opening Ceremony, ruined it for me.

I read a lot of commentary about the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver. Bob Costas was back annoying people. I read someone in Seattle say he was close enough that he could try and take Costas out if anyone gave him the go ahead. I assume he was joking.

I've been amazed listening to the non-stop yapping of the play by play guys covering the Gold Medal Hockey Game. On and on they go. How do the keep track of all the names? How do they not give themselves splitting headaches?

Okay, I'm back after watching the brutal end of the game.

Team USA died in Sudden Death. Canada wins the Gold. America is #1 way too often. It's nice Canada won the Gold Medal in their national sport. Well, one of their national sports. I think Curling is another. Scooting a big puck with a broom on ice.

Strange country, Canada. It's like America raised by a very strict mother with an annoying accent.

So, that's my Olympics viewing for the year. See you again at the next Olympics. I think it's in London. Please let it be on a network that does not employ Bob Costas.

Tyler Grady & 3 Others I Don't Remember Sent Home on American Idol

Of the 4 who got sent home, last night, on American Idol's result show, which I did not watch, the only one who's name I recognized and remembered is Tyler Grady.

He was the Jim Morrison wannabe with unfortunate hair and odd body movements. He seemed like a nice guy with a sense of humor.

The other guy to get the boot was Joe Munoz.

The 2 girls going home were Ashley Rodriguez and Janell Wheeler.

I have no mental image of Joe, Ashley or Janell.

American Idol is not working for me this year. The entertainment factor seems to have taken a plummet. I am fairly certain the plummet is not entirely due to the absence of Paula Abdul.

But, Paula Abdul did provide a good measure of amusing banter and sparring with Simon Cowell.

Kara DioGuardi wears on my nerves. I really don't know why. Something about her seems unnatural and forced. A criticism she levels at the singers at times. I don't think it's her faux pas which tire me, things like saying 1901 when she means 2001. If it continues into next week, the swooning over Casey James is going to really cross way over into this is stupid land.

This year Randy Jackson seems different. Like he is talking in complete articulate sentences with a bare minimum of cheesy slang. Maybe he wised up to the fact that it is not a good look for a man closer to retirement age than teen age to be using teenage type hipster slang lingo.

And then there is Ellen DeGeneres. I've always liked her in any venue I've seen her. Til now. Again, I don't quite know why. She really is not being all that funny. At least to me. I heard Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi on the radio, Live with Ryan Seacrest, cracking up over Ellen's ripen like a banana remark she made on Wednesday to one of the boy singers. I don't think Randy and Kara have what might be called a highly evolved sense of humor.

As for Ryan Seacrest. Did he take How To Act Overly Earnest lessons since last season? He does not seem to be cracking wise as often as I used to enjoy.

And then there are the singers this year. This year the only one, so far, who has somewhat stood out to me, is the aforementioned, Casey James. I did find the taking off his shirt thing a bit embarrassing, but not for him, embarrassing for Kara D to have asked him to do so, and thus begin her chronic swooning.

I am not all that great a judge of who is swoonworthy. Casey James seems like a real nice guy, and even to my tone-deaf ears he seems to sing well, but I don't get the swooning or the Jessica Simpson hairstyle.

On more than one occasion, this year, we've heard at least one of the judges remark that this is the best group they've ever found. I take this as double-speak to actually mean this is the worst group they have ever found.

Because, that's how it seems to me. I may keep watching.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 for February 15 - 21

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for February 15 - 21. 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-averange rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average
1.	-	Olympics, Wednesday	NBC	29.4	special event
2.	-	Olympics, Saturday	NBC	26.7	special event
3.	-	Olympics, Monday	NBC	25.2	special event
4.	-	Olympics, Thursday	NBC	24.8	special event
5.	1	American Idol, Tues.	Fox	23.9	27.8
6.	-	Olympics, Friday	NBC	23.3	special event
*	-	Olympics, Sunday	NBC	23.3	special event
8.	-	Olympics, Tuesday	NBC	20.3.	special event
9.	2	American Idol, Wed.	Fox	18.6	25.9
10.	3	Undercover Boss	CBS	13.8	22.9
11.	21	Survivor: Heroes/Villains	CBS	12.0	13.4
12.	4	NCIS	CBS	11.7	20.2
13.	30	The Bachelor	ABC	11.5	11.6
14.	19	60 Minutes	CBS	11.4	13.8
15.	12	Desperate Housewives	ABC	10.9	15.1
16.	13	Two and a Half Men	CBS	10.6	14.9
17.	15	Grey's Anatomy	ABC	10.3	14.6
18.	17	Big Bang Theory	CBS	10.1	14.3
19.	27	Lost	ABC	9.8	12.4
20.	7	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	9.1	16.6

The Bachelor: The Women Tell All With Rozlyn Stunning Chris Harrison

Well, of course the highlight of the women telling all on The Bachelor was going to be Rozlyn, she being the girl caught canoodling with one of the show's producers, which got her booted in the most shocking booting in the history of TV.

When it came Rozlyn's turn to sit in the witness chair, for her Chris Harrison prosecution, she turned Clintonesque with an "I did not have sex with that man" stance, no matter how many times Chris asked, Rozlyn assured him that absolutely nothing happened.

Then Chris called on some other witnesses. Sweet Ella testified she saw Rozlyn on all fours with her butt stuck in the air, asking for her producer boyfriend because she was ready to be put to bed.

Ashleigh testified she'd seen Rozlyn and her boy friend touching.

Jessie swore she saw the lovebirds on top of each other on the stairs. Jessie swore on her puppy's life that she was telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Which caused Rozlyn to call Jessie's puppy bluff and raise her one by swearing on her child's life that nothing happened. I did not realize Rozlyn had reproduced til then.

The best moment came when Rozlyn turned prosecutorial and put Chris Harrison on the witness stand, accusing Harrison of hitting on her boyfriend's wife while they were in New Zealand. Harrison looked stunned, saying "I will not dignify that with a response." In other words he took the 5th.

I was looking forward to Michelle acting kooky. I was disappointed. Shown clips of her odd behavior, Michelle said she had no regrets.

Elizabeth fessed up to regretting implementing her no kiss plan, the one with all the "you really want to kiss me, don't you, I'm a really good kisser" type teasing.

Watching this train wreck I've long thought Jake is not the brightest candle in the room. The outtake segment had a Jake moment that confirmed that. Jake looks at the camera and asks, "What exactly does self-deprecating mean? That's not the same as self-defecating is it?

I wonder if he got an answer? If not, I hope Jake does not follow anyone's advice to be more self-deprecating, til he learns what it actually means.

Next week we learn how Jake's amazing journey to find a wife ends. And then the week after that is the After The Rose show where we learn that it just didn't work out. I'm guessing.

The Bachelor: The Girls Tell All About The Wings Of Love

I was so over The Bachelor after last week's bloated 2 hours. That staged phone call from Allie was some really bad TV.

Jake pretends he doesn't know something is up. Didn't he notice the camera guy in the bathroom with him when the phone rang? And then they had to do another camera set up for him to take the call.

And of course there was all that video footage of Allie back in San Francisco.

I don't know that I've ever met anyone like Jake. He seems to pretty much talk in cliches. I don't think we've seen him string together more than a couple sentences. And what if he was banned from using the word "amazing." Could he speak?

Jake is just way too earnest. And then he dumped Gia, who seemed real, sweet and so good-looking. Leaving him with Tenley and Vienna.

I would have dropped Tenley after that awful dance she'd choreographed just for him. That was awful to watch. Of course, Jake loved it. Because it was amazing.

All those From Here To Eternity Burt Lancaster/Deborah Kerr rolling in the waves scenes, with Jake and the girls, before their romps in the Fantasy Suite, well, that really never looks all that much fun to me. Sand in places you don't want it to be.

As for the Fantasy Suites. I always have trouble suspending disbelief for those Fantasy Suites and what goes on in them.

Of course, Jake was deeply in love with all three women, so I suppose it makes sense that he might activate his inner Mormon and have himself a real fine time with all three girls. I think Gia and Tenley were probably grateful that they had their special time, with Jake, before he got worked over by Vienna.

Anyway, tonight is the amusing episode where the rejected ladies return and Chris Harrison asks a lot of smarmy questions. I wonder if the girl who got booted for boinking a production staffer will be there. What was her name? Rozlyn? Roslyn? Something like that. I hope Michelle brings a big load of crazy tonight.

I'll probably be disappointed. Such is my lot in life. I've never been in a Fantasy Suite. I'm a bit jealous.

The Amazing Race Season 16 Episode 2: The Cowboys Turn Into Wily Smart Boys

I did not enjoy the first episode of the new The Amazing Race. Was considering ceasing watching.

But, with episode 2, The Amazing Race redeemed itself.

I didn't like the Granny Team of Jody & Shannon getting eliminated, particularly after Granny Jody got kicked in the head while milking a cow. She is one tough granny.

The Roadblock that involved the cow milking was a good one, gathering up ingredients to make some German cake, called kucken at a farm called Onces Bellavista. One of the ingredients was a baker's dozen of eggs. I was sure one of the racers would not know what a baker's dozen was, with being certain that model, Brent, would not know.

Brent & Caite, she of beauty queen fame, trying to redeem herself from some horrible beauty queen faux pas that became a national joke that I don't remember, whined about the others thinking she's stupid and making jokes about her.

Several of the teams are quite amusing. Like the brothers, Dan and Jordan. And the Big Brother team of Jordan and Jeff. I thought they were dummies at first. I was wrong.

And then we have undercover detectives, Louis & Michael. They seem like nice guys. But they seem to have a lot of trouble detecting where they are supposed to go.

But, the ones who really changed my opinion of them on this leg of the race were the Oklahoma cowboys, Jet & Cord. They came in first. And won a pair of sailboats. Jet & Cord are being lone rangers, not relying on anyone but themselves. Watching them outsmart Brent & Caite and Jordan & Jeff by getting to the correct bus terminal was amusing.

Jet & Cord say funny things, like "good gravy" over and over again. Their interaction is funny too.

The lesbian daters appear to get cranky with each other next week, according to the previews. I have been around cranky lesbians. It's never a pretty sight.

For the detour teams choose between dressing an llama or flying like a condor into a lake to retrieve their clue. I've dealt with an irascible llama before, so I would have chosen to fly like a condor. At least one teammate was kicked by an llama. A lot of animal violence this episode.

Looking forward to next week's The Amazing Race now.

24 Shut Down So Jack Bauer, I Mean Kiefer Sutherland Can Recover From a Ruptured Cyst

In the picture you are looking at 24's Jack Bauer being tortured by a Russian bad guy on this week's episode.

I think we are only on hour 5 or 6 and Jack has already suffered 2 rather severe beatings. The first one was by a New York City cop who gave Jack a sound thrashing because he thought Jack was a cop killer.

Jack seemed to really quickly heal from the cop beating. Jack is always a quick healer. Even from things like Deadly Toxins.

This week's Russian administered torture was particularly brutal. A hole had been cut in Jack. I think the hole was by a kidney and was used to administer extreme pain, along with what looked to be an electric taser.

Of course, Jack quickly got the upper hand and dispatched his torturer. And quickly recovered from the torture. Maybe being tortured is not as bad as it is reputed to be.

There is an entire website devoted to the voluminous torturing of Jack Bauer. It is called "Jack Bauer Torture Report."

In other Jack Bauer news this week, there were reports that Jack's Kiefer Sutherland alter ego had been hospitalized due to a ruptured cyst, with 6 weeks of show production remaining to complete this year's 24 hours.

Is Jack's hospitalization the result of a particularly brutal torture episode? It looks as if filming those torture scenes would be torture. It would not shock me too much to learn that it was the filming of a torture scene that ended up with Kiefer Sutherland in the hospital. Something that never happens to Jack Bauer after he's endured yet one more epic torture.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 for February 8 - 14

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for February 8 - 14. 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-averange rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average
1.	-	Olympics, Friday	NBC	32.6	special event
2.	1	American Idol, Tuesday	Fox	27.9	29.1
3.	-	Olympics, Sunday	NBC	26.4	special event
4.	-	Olympics, Saturday	NBC	26.2	special event
5.	3	American Idol, Wed.	Fox	25.2	27.2
6.	4	NCIS	CBS	19.7	20.7
7.	7	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	17.9	17.0
8.	13	Two and a Half Men	CBS	17.7	15.1
9.	16	Big Bang Theory	CBS	16.3	14.5
10.	8	The Mentalist	CBS	15.9	16.8
11.	2	Undercover Boss	CBS	15.4	27.4
12.	22	The Good Wife	CBS	14.8	13.6
13.	13	Criminal Minds	CBS	14.3	15.2
14.	19	Survivor: Heroes	CBS	14.2	14.2
15.	18	House	Fox	13.6	14.3
16.	22	CSI: Miami	CBS	13.5	13.7
17.	19	CSI: NY	CBS	13.0	14.1
18.	15	Grey's Anatomy	ABC	12.7	14.9
19.	30	The Bachelor	ABC	12.3	11.6
20.	25	Lost	ABC	11.0	13.2

The Amazing Race: Not Off To A Good Start

I don't know what it was about the first episode of Edition 16 of The Amazing Race that seemed off. But it seemed off.

I thought taking public transportation to get to LAX might be fun to watch. It wasn't. But I did get to see LA's light rail trail for the first time.

There seems to be a high level of dumb in this group. The pair of Rhode Island detectives, Louie and Michael. What could that pair detect? Thinking that painting over graffiti was the right thing to do?

And that Father/Daughter team, Steve and Allie, walking into someone's house and starting to paint. That was at least amusing, as the homeowners, speaking Spanish, had no idea why these people were doing this.

The first leg of the race had them flying to Santiago, Chile. A plane malfunction had all teams on the same flight. Landing in Chile they had to make their way to another town, the name of which I don't know, but it's known as the San Fransisco of South America.

I hated the Roadblock, walking a high wire. It was not entertaining to watch. The Brandy half of the Carol/Brandy Lesbian team had a few humorous remarks, all of which I've forgotten. I think some of them were said during her laboriously long crossing of the high wire. Adrian, married to Dana, could not make it across. Phil had to come Philiminate the team after all the others had arrived at the Pitstop, with Adrian still at the start of the high wire.

After crossing the high wire the next clue told them to take one of 2 funiculars down the hill. I don't think a single team knew what a funicular is. Several of the teams seem to have trouble reading. Like the model Brent and the beauty queen, Caite. They walked to the bottom of the hill, got to the Pitstop in 2nd place, but incurred a 30 minute penalty due to not taking a funicular.

There was no Detour on this episode. Just the Roadblock and then this task, which seemed very simple. Carry 4 cans of paint, a ladder and 2 brushes to paint a small swatch of the outside wall of a house. The clue told them what street to walk on to find the houses to paint. There were several street signs with the name.

Several teams wandered all over, up and down hills, carrying the paint and ladders. I can't remember who made what mistake. I do remember being shocked that the cowboy brothers, Jet and Cord McCoy got to the Pitstop in 3rd place. The boys got to the high wire late, but somehow moved ahead. The cowboys seem like nice guys, but, well, they were heading to Chile, but had their money changed to Brazilian currency. Stuff like that.

I liked the Grandma/Granddaughter team of Jody and Shannon. Grandma's a spunky gal who runs marathons. I found her amusing. The non-cowboy brothers, Dan and Jordan, they are likable and somewhat funny. Jordan is the gay brother, but he is not the Jordon who won Big Brother, that'd be the Jordan paired with Jeff. I think it was they who got to the Pitstop in 1st place.

I wonder if the producers purposefully cast for a lot of not so bright types this time? Hoping hilarity would ensue. Is this why the tasks seemed rather simple, thinking department wise?

Time will tell. I don't know if I'll be watching.

The Bachelor's Jake's Girl Friend Vienna's Bikini & Topless Mom

That's a new look at The Bachelor Jake's girl friend, Vienna Girardi, in an itsy bitsy, teensy weeny, yellow, un-polka dotted bikini.

I do not know what beauty pageant Vienna is strutting in here.

We already learned that Vienna used to work at Hooters. That's not really a shocking bit of news.

This week we learned that Vienna's mom used to work topless in a topless joint. I don't know if that is shocking or not. But it sure makes Vienna into an even more interesting gal for Jake to bring home to meet his mom and dad, who reside, I think, in Dallas, in the Buckle of the Bible Belt.

There are plenty of Hooters in Dallas. And topless joints. So, maybe Hooters and a topless mother-in-law, for Jake, will be no big deal for Jake's parental units.

I got email yesterday from Erin who works for a Bachelor show fan website. Erin told me they've been following my blog for awhile and really enjoy all my recaps of The Bachelor. Erin would love to partner with me, to make our sites even better, with guest blogging and content quoting.

I looked at the website Erin works for. Good stuff. I was amazed at the amount of content for each episode. As in the latest was, I think, Episode 14. There were several of these Top 10 YouTube videos for the latest episode, Like Top 10 Most Awkward Moments. Or Top 10 Worst Cliches About Love. Stuff like that. I was surprised ABC was letting these videos exist, instead of banning them on YouTube, like what was quickly done with Adam Lambert's embarrassing American Music Awards massive mistake.

On The Bachelor Show website you'll also see this hilarious thing that Reality Steve was the source for, that being a video showing how blatantly staged The Bachelor is, showing how totally fake and staged Ali's call to Jake, saying she wants to come back, was.

Now, we'll see if I hear from Erin again, after seeing that I have linked to their Bachelor website, indicating that they actually do follow my blog.