The Real Housewives of New York City: Greasy Bobby Zarin

Well, currently, my favorite show on TV is The Real Housewives of New York City.

Along with everyone else, I am loving the new housewife, Sonja Morgan.

Also along with most every one else, the behavior of Kelly Bensimon has gone into such weird, new territory, that I'm with the majority. She is so unstable, shown again in 2 incidents in the latest episode, those being her meeting with LuAnn, Jill and Jennifer and then Kelly's confrontation with Ramona at Jill's strange ice skating party.

It is so clear and obvious that Kelly is not well and needs help, Bravo really should sort of be ashamed of itself. Maybe redemption in some form is coming.

With Kelly, I now actually feel sorry for her, due to the shocking revelation of how messed up she is. But I do not feel sorry for Jill Zarin. Jill is one of the most, if not the most reprehensible characters I've ever witnessed on a Reality TV Show.

Go here for a funny take on the mess Jill Zarin has made for herself...

Up til the most recent episode I found Jill's long-suffering husband, Bobby Zarin, to be a somewhat likable sort. But this week he seemed as deluded as Jill regarding their invasion of the St. John's vacation party.

I don't know if you've ever heard this, but Bobby Zarin has a successful business called Zarin Fabrics. His wife Jill pretends to work there. It appears Bobby Zarin is quite wealthy. So, why can't he do something about his appearance? I dunno, maybe hire a makeover artist.

Why is Bobby's hair always so greasy? Why the beard? What's with the constant sunglasses? Bobby Zarin looks like a guy who should be running an Adult Video Store, not a fabric store.

One more episode of RHONY to go. Will Bethenny patch it up with Jill? Will Jill's attempts at damage control do her any good? Will Jill go to Ramona's Renewal Wedding? Will Kelly? Will I want to buy LuAnn's hit single? Is Kelly going to have one more epic breakdown in the final episode? Or will that happen at the reunion, which is being touted as drama filled.

And one more thing, if you would have told me during the first season of RHONY that by season three I would like Simon and Alex, particularly Alex, I would not have been able to imagine how such a thing could happen. But it has. This is the type thing that causes me to like Reality TV.

The Real Housewives of New York City: Wacky Doodle Do Kelly Bensimon

The latest episode of The Real Housewives of New York City was so profoundly disturbing I've put off writing about it, mostly due to it sort of left me speechless.

It left a lot of viewers feeling that way, judging by what I've read on the various TV forums, in news articles and in comments to this very blog.

Like this morning I got a comment from Debby. Along with millions of viewers, Debby thinks Kelly needs serious help, as in she should check into a psychiatric clinic. And that she should not have custody of her kids. Because she is insane.

I saw Sarah Jessica Parker on Watch What Happens Live, after watching the disturbing episode. Both she and host Andy Cohen were among those left speechless. SJP said she'd never seen a person come apart, like Kelly had, before.

Apparently, what BRAVO chose to show us was mild, compared to how bad it really was. Bethenny Frankel has been quoted as saying it got physical and that Kelly was removed from the house the day following what we saw on last week's episode.

It has been 6 months since the disturbing behavior took place in the Virgin Islands. Kelly has not gotten help.

Following what was revealed in the past 2 week's episodes, Kelly at first chose to say she was "embarrassed" on her BRAVO blog. Kelly did not elaborate about what she was embarrassed about. Then, after last week's even more embarrassing episode, Kelly titled her BRAVO blog posting "My Breakthrough." With only 2 lines in the blog posting.

With those 2 lines in Kelly's Bravo blog being...

"I have never endured such a difficult time with four women.

Trust your instincts."

She wrote this after watching that episode? Thus confirming, again, how completely delusional and at odds with reality Kelly is.

When asked by a reporter if that was a Breakdown that we all saw, Kelly said, no, it was a "Breakthrough." Hence the title of Kelly's latest BRAVO blog post.

And then Kelly started Tweeting on Twitter, basically spewing the same type insane, illogical, twisted verbiage we saw on our TVs.

I've thought Kelly was nuts from almost the first moment we met her. There just was something way off about her. And then that "I'm up here, you're down here" confrontation with Bethenny. Well, Bethenny knew then that Kelly was nuts. I never understood how Kelly survived that particular, weird embarrassment.

Yet, she did. It was barely touched on at the reunion show for that season.

The reunion show for the current season airs soon. I think it may have already been filmed. How will they deal with the Kelly insanity?

Last week's episode was the highest rated in Real Housewive's history. That moment where Bethenny screams at Kelly, "go to sleep, you're insane," with Kelly recoiling with a shocked looked, had been promoted over and over again, all season, which had a lot of people tuning in. Little did we know that that moment was just one little part of the Kelly insanity.

Now, what bothered me when I watched the Kelly insanity unfold was that BRAVO and the show's producers may be doing a wrong thing in continuing to have this obviously ill woman as one of the housewives.

I think my new favorite housewife, Sonja Morgan, spoke for the majority of viewers when she told the other housewives that we are fighting with a sick girl here, we need to try and help her.

Maybe BRAVO should insist Kelly get medical attention as a condition of remaining on the show, with the doctor's visits taped for our voyeuristic viewing pleasure.

Or not.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 for May 17 - May 23

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for May 17 - May 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.

The last of LOST made it into the Nielsen Rating's Top 10. American Idol and Dancing with the Stars tied for #1.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average (in millions)
1.	American Idol (Tues.)	Fox	19.0	23.4
*	Dancing with the Stars	ABC	19.0	19.7
3.	American Idol (Tues)	Fox	18.7	24.9
4.	NCIS	CBS	16.0	18.8
5.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	15.3	15.7
6.	Grey's Anatomy	ABC	15.2	13.6
*	The Mentalist	CBS	15.2	16.8
8.	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	15.0	14.2
9.	CSI	CBS	14.3	15.8
10.	Lost: The End	ABC	13.6	--
11.	Criminal Minds	CBS	13.3	13.6
*	Two and a Half Men	CBS	13.3	14.6
13.	Dancing with the Stars Results	ABC	13.2	15.0
14.	The Good Wife	CBS	12.0	12.8
15.	Glee	Fox	11.5	9.6
16.	CSI: NY	CBS	11.3	12.3
17.	House	Fox	11.1	12.6
18.	CSI: Miami	CBS	10.5	12.6
*	Lost	ABC	10.5	11.6
20.	Brooks & Dunn: Last Rodeo	CBS	10.2	--

The End Of LOST & 24, One Jack Dies, One Jack Lives

Sunday night the last LOST episode aired. Monday night the last 24 episode aired. In one the Jack character dies, in the other the Jack character lives to fight another day.

In the Battle of the Finales, for me, 24 was a much better closing act than what LOST came up with.

Now, I enjoyed watching the final LOST.

But.

I thought promises were made that LOST mysteries would be explained. That did not really much happen.

And I thought, way back when, early on with LOST, that the creators clearly said that the explanation was not that they were all already DEAD. Now, I may be somewhat imagination challenged, but isn't that basically what it came down to?

But, dead from the start? Killed in the first plane crash? Or later. Who knows? What about the season ender that had the Oceanic 6 getting off the island? But, then, if you start down the path of asking questions, you've given up on suspending disbelief, which is what you basically agree to do when you start watching an imagination epic like LOST.

Now, with 24, a suspension of disbelief is also required. But, I've always found that easy to do with 24. The thrill ride has always been so entertaining. The ending seemed perfect to me. We sort of had a plotline resolution. President Taylor wised up in the end. Chloe came to Jack's rescue. Again. Convincing Jack not to do a really bad thing, talking him out of assassinating the Russian president.

And once more we see Jack walk off into the sunset, pretty much a fugitive, with Chloe promising to look out for him.

There seemed to be plenty of unresolved plot to give 24: The Movie a good start. Punishing the Russians for their bad behavior. Then there is that peace agreement with Dalia Hassan's IRK, or whatever it is called, country, that still needs to happen.

And. President Logan bungled killing himself? He survives? Will he be a vegetable? Or an even better villain?

I can't remember the last time I went to a movie. I'd be tempted to see 24 on the big screen. If the reviews are good.

LOST: The Final Episode of The Final Season

Saturday night ABC ran the first two episodes of LOST. The DVR recorded it, but I've not watched. I assume the episodes have been re-done with captions to point out various bits of information that were a mystery when first viewed.

Tonight is the End of LOST. It does not seem all that long ago since Oceanic Flight 815 crashed on a tropical island. But that happened on September 22, 2004. Who would have thought when LOST started that it would take viewers to places TV viewers have really not gone before, not courtesy of a single TV show.

LOST sparked debates about philosophy, science vs. faith, numerology, literature, history, love, hate and a whole slew of blogs and on-line discussions full of doctorate level analyzing.

LOST is promising that tonight will be a satisfying ending, with most questions answered and mysteries resolved. Tonight's LOST viewing starts at 7 Eastern Time, 6 Central. The first 2 hours will be a re-cap of the past 119 episodes, followed by the 2 and 1/2 hour finale, title "The End."

I really don't see how LOST can be wrapped up in 2 and 1/2 hours. There is an awful lot of explaining to do.

The Real Housewives of New York City's Kelly Bensimon's Insane Craziness

I have not watched, yet, the latest episode of The Real Housewives of New York City. I did see, this morning, that people were Googling various variations of "Kelly Bensimon Insane."

Up til last week's episode I'd been sort of slightly liking Kelly, this season. She seemed to be somewhat redeeming herself from last season's bizarre senseless confrontations with fan favorite, Bethenny Frankel.

And then we get last week's episode, aboard a yacht named Olga, where Kelly reverted to crazy, even crazier than any of the crazy Kelly behavior we'd seen before.

It started when Kelly tried to shut the other women down when the subject of the other mentally ill housewife, Jill Zarin, came up. Kelly said they were making lemonade out of lemons, and, with that bit of nonsense, Kelly got up and crashed into a glass door, spewing more nonsense on her way.

A short time later Kelly returns, references her timeout, seems to be acting normal. Now, me sitting there watching, thought to myself, what did she do? Leave the ladies so that she could take some medication because she had detected she'd slipped into a psychotic episode?

Later, after it appeared too much alcohol had been consumed, Kelly, stone cold sober Bethenny and my new favorite housewife, Sonja Morgan, sat talking. Ramona and Alex had escaped to the Hooters Yacht. Bethenny and Sonja were having a perfectly normal conversation when suddenly Kelly turned in to a Psycho Bitch again.

Kelly heaped all sorts of mean things on newly pregnant, newly fatherless, Bethenny, topping it off with the extremely strange assertion that Bethenny is a cook, not a chef.

In the week since her most recent humiliation, Kelly wrote, on her Bravo blog, that she was embarrassed, but did not elaborate. However, despite her alleged embarrassment, this week, on her Twitter account, Kelly has been Tweeting more insanity.

Now, I agree with Bethenny that this is one stupid broad. She seems befuddled by the simplest of things. I mean, it has been a year and she still does not understand Bethenny's Madonna remark or the Kelly comes from a place of no remark, blowing the remarks way way out of proportion.

We have now seen enough of Kelly's psychotic behavior to see how it is she came to assault her ex-boyfriend, Nicholas Stefanov.

Now, while I find watching a train wreck like Kelly Bensimon to be entertaining, I'm also thinking that this is a much more serious case of mental illness than we are watching with Jill Zarin. I think Kelly is in dire need of serious help, while I think Jill is in dire need of a spanking, a time out and a bitch slapping, more harshly delivered than those administered by Alex.

I am looking forward, sort of, to seeing how demented Kelly behaved this week. I know that accusing Bethenny of trying to kill her is part of it. And fellow mentally ill housewife, Jill, shows up briefly, likely amping up the insanity.

The reunion show for this season should deliver. Unless Kelly is thoroughly sedated.

American Idol Final Three: BLAH!!!!

Well. Only one more week of the worst season of American Idol to go and this train wreck will be off the rails.

Tuesday night's sing-off between Casey James, Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze, for me, only really came alive at the end, with DeWyze's version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah."

Does that song ever sound bad? And when you get it pimped with a backup chorus, it's even better.

Casey James started off the night in the dreaded first position, singing a song few had heard of, "OK, It's All Right With Me." Pretty much Casey was left on the stage with his guitar and nothing tarting up the production. No back up singers, no flashing lights, no smoke, no mirrors, no nothing, but James singing a boring song.

Casey's second song, John Mayer's "Daughters" is a song I don't care for. Again the production was barebones, compared to the big production numbers surrounding Crystal Bowersox and Lee DeWyze. The judges did not throw Casey so heavily under the bus for his second song. Then again, I found Simon Cowell's bizarre laughing when the judges got into judging mode, of Caseys final song, to be all sorts of wrong, with no good explanation forthcoming for the laughing.

DeWyze's first song was "Simple Man." Praise was heaped. I didn't feel it. Though one of those annoying judges said he'd crushed the competition. I don't know if this was a subtle reference to DeWyze appearing to be slightly overweight or totally a comment about his singing quality.

Bowersox sang the Melissa Etheridge classic, "Come To My Window," as her first choice. I hated the harmonica and I hate her under the lip stud piercing. The judges' chose the McCartney classic, "Maybe I'm Amazed" as Crystal's second song. I liked that okay, but I didn't like her doing the cliched wandering around the stage.

Who decides how these songs are produced? Did Casey James choose not to have a production number? It somehow seems unfair to me.

And another thing, what a difference between this season and the same point last season. You never knew what Adam Lambert was going to do. Last year's final 3, Lambert, Kris Allen and Allison Iraheta, were always entertaining. None of this final 3 comes close to being that entertaining.

Anyway, I don't know if I'll bother suffering through the bloated finale. I really don't care who "wins." That and I'll be exhausted from too much television due to watching the bloated finales of LOST and 24.

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

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for May 10 - May 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.

American Idol (the Results Show) is back in the #1 Nielsen Ratings spot this week. The American Idol Performance Show is tied with Dancing With The Stars for the #2 spot. The Survivor Heroes vs. Villains finale came in at #9. Didn't Survivor used to be #1? LOST does not show up in the Top 20, even though LOST is nearing its end.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average (in millions)
1.	American Idol (Wed.)	Fox	19.6	23.5
*	American Idol (Tues.)	Fox	19.2	25.0
3.	Dancing with the Stars	ABC	19.2	19.7
4.	NCIS	CBS	17.2	18.8
5.	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	16.0	15.7
6.	The Mentalist	CBS	14.8	16.8
7.	Two and a Half Men	CBS	13.9	14.6
8.	The Big Bang Theory	CBS	13.7	14.1
9.	Survivor: Heroes	CBS	13.5	--
10.	CSI	CBS	13.4	15.8
11.	Survivor: Heroes	CBS	13.3	13.6
12.	Criminal Minds	CBS	13.1	13.5
*	The Good Wife	CBS	12.9	12.8
14.	Desperate Housewives	ABC	12.5	14.0
15.	Dancing with the Stars Results	ABC	12.5	15.0
16.	Glee	Fox	11.6	9.4
17.	60 Minutes	CBS	11.4	13.4
*	CSI: NY	CBS	11.4	12.3
19.	Grey's Anatomy	ABC	11.1	13.3
20.	CSI: Miami	CBS	11.0	12.6

Sandra Beats Parvati & Russell to Win Survivor Heroes vs. Villains

That's the look on Sandra Diaz-Twine's face when Jeff Probst flipped over a ballot while saying the winner of Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, is, revealing "Sandra" as the winner.

This makes two times, now, that having Sandra win made it a good ending for me, for Survivor. More often than not I'm not all that thrilled with the winner.

Like the previous outing on Samoa. I want Russell Hantz to win. It seemed ridiculous that Natalie won. Russell seemed to have the majority with him that time. In the audience, I mean.

This time, not so much. Back to back Survivors had turned Russell into a really nasty mouthed Super Villain.

Good natured JT continued to be a good-natured guy, taking the ribbing and the trophy for making the Dumbest Move in Survivor History, with a laugh and a smile.

Some of these Survivors really need to not show up on Survivor again. Old Grumpy Man, Colby Donaldson, is one. Colby's anger management issues, as revealed when he kept yelling at his big brother, Reid, in the Toss Water Challenge, was pretty embarrassing. What is Colby like when cameras are not on him, one can not help but wonder?

Another who really really wore out his welcome, with me, is Rupert Boneham. Enough with the antique hippie/pirate act. Lose the beard and the tie-dye. Drop the sanctimonious holier than thou act.

Creepy Coach, Ben Wade, toned it down, somewhat, from the demented crazy man act he perpetrated when we first met him. But, still, we need not see this guy again. His style of sanctimoniousness manages to be even more annoying than Rupert's. And all his warrior talk. What makes me think that if this boy ever got into a real situation that called for a warrior mentality that he'd wet his pants and run away screaming like a scared school girl?

I would not be too bothered if CBS put Parvati on my Survivor screen again. Nothing about her really annoys me. Well, there is that tramp stamp tattoo she has on her lower back. Those lose BIG points with me.

I don't know what happened with Jerri Manthey between when she was in the Australian Outback, lusting after Colby, and the 2010 Samoa version, with no lust for Colby, with the lust replaced by the assessment that Colby has no personality. I found the 2010 Jerri very likable. Had she ended up in the Final 3, I'm thinking Jerri may have beaten Sandra for the win.

As for Russell Hantz. I actually like Russell. Probst said he's gotten a lot of feedback telling him Heroes vs. Villains was the best Survivor ever. I pretty much agree with that. Highly entertaining. Largely due to Russell. But, how can Russell be such a fan of Survivor without getting that his Hitlerian Blitzkrieg way of playing is no way to actually win, anymore than it worked for Adolf? In the end, the good guys win, both in Survivor and World War II.

Anyway, I've not made it to the end of the Reunion Show, so I don't know where the next Survivor is going to take place. I suspect it will be somewhere tropical.

American Idol: Casey James Makes Final 3 Along with Crystal Bowersox & Lee DeWyze

The American Idol judges, or whatever the proper name might be for the goonballs who make comments after one of the singers sings on American Idol, have thrown the Cool, Texas boy, Casey James, under the bus so many times, who would have ever predicted he would be one of the last 3 standing, in this, the lamest season of American Idol yet?

Actually, in my tone deaf view, Casey James is the only one of the remaining 3 who does seem, sorta, Idol-worthy.

Even my aforementioned tone-deafness can detect that sometimes Lee DeWyze goes way into wrong note mode.

I know she's been pimped from the start, but to me, Crystal Bowersox, nice girl may she be, just seems really generic. Previous seasons of American Idol I don't think she would have gone so far. And, tattoo bigot that I am, I'm really offput by that monstrosity she's got painted on her back.

I think Michael Lynche really overstayed, and should never have been saved. Seeing a song from Free Willy, a movie about a whale, seemed perfectly ironic.

The final 3 now get the American Idol cliched, contrived hometown visits. Casey James' hometown visit will be a visit to his new hometown, Fort Worth. He will be in a parade down Exchange Avenue in the Fort Worth Stockyards, at 4pm, tomorrow, Friday, afternoon.

The Fort Worth Stockyards is about 9 miles from my abode. Am I motivated to go videotape and photograph this? I don't know. Years ago, I went to Burleson, hometown of the first American Idol, Kelly Clarkson, to witness the macabre scene outside the theater that was premierring her movie. It was all so contrived and fake. But amusing to watch.

I'll see if I can motivate myself to go to the Stockyards tomorrow afternoon to see the kid from Cool, Texas.