Meryl & Maks Win The Mirror Ball Trophy After An Excellent Edition Of Dancing With The Stars

To the right you are looking at Meryl Davis & Maksim Chmerkovskiy a moment or two before they won the coveted mirror ball trophy in the latest  iteration of Dancing with the Stars.

This makes two Reality TV competition shows with satisfying endings this week. First was Dave & Connor winning The Amazing Race All Stars, and now Meryl and Maks winning DWTS.

It would have also been a satisfying win if Amy Purdy and Derek Hough had won the mirror ball. But Derek has won something like five times, whilst Maks never won til last night.

Everything about Dancing with the Stars seemed to be a vast improvement this season.

The guest judges added an interesting element. The production values of the dance numbers and the stage sets and the packaged pieces seemed greatly amped up.

Cheesy, sort of embarrassing elements, like Dance Center with Kenny Maynes, or whatever his name is, were axed.

And the new co-host, Erin Andrews, was such a witty, funny, likable change from the previous rather wooden, leaden, dull, humorless co-hosts who came before her.

And then there were the dancers,  I mean, celebrities. I knew who more of them were this time than ever before. And some were  actual celebrities. Like Drew Carey.

And some with whom I was not familiar, as in James Maslow, Amy Purdy, the Olympic Gold Medalists, Charlie White and his skating partner, the winner, Meryl Davis, I came to like and to understand why they could be considered celebrities.

The effect Meryl had on Maks, changing him from the Bad Boy of the Ballroom, into a Teddy Bear, including a scene of Maks crying and getting comforted by Tony Dovolni, well this was not the Maks we'd seen before.

I half expected Maks to actually spout off an actual marriage proposal in the chaos which ensued after he and Meryl won. That would have been Reality TV Gold.

The next season of Dancing with the Stars has its work cut out for it if it is going to top what the show did this year.

Dave & Connnor O'Leary Win The Amazing Race All-Stars

That is Dave & Connor O'leary "Currently in 3rd Place" in the screen cap on the left.

However that "Currently" word is very outdated because this screen cap was from the first time Dave & Connor were on The Amazing Race, a couple seasons ago, knocked early out of the race due to Dave tearing his Achilles tendon.

When the cast of The Amazing Race All-Stars was announced I was perplexed as to why some where "All-Stars". Among those who perplexed me were Dave & Connor.

Why were John & Jessica All-Stars I wondered? Remembered for being eliminated when they had an Express Pass. I did not much remember the country singers, Jennifer & Jessica.

I can see where a case could be made that Natalie & Nadiya, Leo & Jamal, Flight Time & Big Easy, Joey & Meghan, Brendan & Rachel, Margie & Luke and Jet & Cord were All-Stars. Or memorable. Or both.

But this was twice now The Cowboys and Margie & Luke have been on an All-Star edition.

So, it is just a bit ironic that those country singers I didn't remember came in second, while Dave & Connor, won The Amazing Race All-Stars, with what seemed to me to be the best finish to The Amazing Race ever.

No taxi cab race to the end. No boring memory test at the end. Several cool tasks in Las Vegas and then one final Roadblock, parachuting to the finish line, with Connor and either Jennifer or Jessica (I can't remember which country singer parachuted) waiting to see who landed first to win the million bucks.

By the finale, well actually for several episodes, leading to the finale, I've been thinking that Dave & Connor had become worthy All-Stars, as had Jennifer & Jessica. While Brendan & Rachel, who came in 3rd, remained as annoying as the first time were on The Amazing Race.

All in all, a very satisfying, entertaining edition of The Amazing Race. But, please, let's lay the All-Star thing to rest and stay with The Amazing Race old school, with racers we have not met before, and who have not won some other CBS Reality TV Show....

An Afghanimal U-Turn Eliminates The Cowboys From Amazing Race All-Stars

I am not a fan of The Amazing Race when it goes into All-Star mode. The latest Amazing Race All-Stars really only had a couple of memorable teams from seasons past.

With one of those memorable teams, actual Amazing Race All-Stars, the Cowboys, Jet & Cord McCoy.

The Cowboys have now run The Amazing Race three times. Their initial season, followed by a previous All-Stars race, followed by the current All-Stars race, where the Cowboys got eliminated on the latest episode, eliminated by the Afghanimals, Leo & Jamal, U-Turning them.

If I remember right the Cowboys got eliminated on their previous race by being U-Turned.

I really do not like The Amazing Race U-Turn gimmick.

I also do not like The Amazing Race All-Stars gimmick.

I'm not a fan of any Reality TV Show in All-Star mode. I never have watched another episode of Big Brother after repugnant, creepy Mike Boogie won Big Brother All-Stars, with the only reason Boogie was on Big Brother All-Stars being because actual Big Brother All-Star, Will Kirby, insisted the non-All-Star best friend of his, the creepy Boogie, be included.

I also do not like Survivor in its multiple forms of  "All-Star" seasons, be it Fan Favorites, Heroes vs. Villains, Significant Others or any other version which brings back, yet again, Rupert, any of the Hantz family, Ozzie, Colby and others who were fun to watch once, maybe twice,  but never thrice.

The current version of Survivor, the one with the Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty gimmick, with the entire cast being people we've never met before, going back to old school Survivor, is being the best season of Survivor in a long long time, with the best blindsides ever.

Now, if CBS puts the Cowboys on Big Brother, well, that  I might watch....

Jack Bauer & Chloe Back to Live Another Day in 24 Monday May 5 on FOX

It seems not all that long since Jack Bauer last walked off into the sunset and off my TV screen, but it was way back in 2010 that the last minute of 24 aired.

For awhile there was talk of a movie version of 24. That seemed a bit problematic, what with 24's real time way of telling its story. Would that be a 24 hour long movie?

And now on May 5, 2014 Fox is bring Jack Bauer back in 24 Live Another Day, with a two hour premiere starting at 8/7C.

This new version of 24 will not be 24 hour long episodes. Instead there will be 12 episodes, I assume with each episode covering two hours.

Chloe is back helping Jack.

24 would not be the same without Chloe.

Back in 2010 24 and LOST were my favorite TV shows. I think LOST was still on the air at that point in time.

I Wanna Marry Harry With One Royal Hoax & Twelve Single Ladies

The past month or so when I fast forward past commercials when watching some FOX production I noticed a time or two someone who looked like Prince Harry flashing by.

A couple days ago I paused the DVR when I saw Prince Harry and watched the promo.

For a second or two I thought I was seeing the real Prince Harry and wondered what in the world is this?

And then I realized what it was. A Bachelor type Reality TV Show with, once again, a Joe Millionaire twist.

Twelve single American ladies are duped into thinking they are being romanced by Prince Harry. I should have said twelve really dumb single American ladies are duped into thinking they are being romanced by Prince Harry.

Infosearching for information about this upcoming FOX exploration, (or is that exploitation?) of how low American tastes can go, it appears being appalled at the concept is pretty much the universal reaction.

That and most say they will be watching.

I think I will be among them. I Wanna Marry Harry would seem to have the possibility of being funny.

If I Wanna Marry Harry follows the Bachelor formula it will be very amusing when the final four potential princesses take Prince Harry home to meet the family.

Followed by the final three getting invited to Prince Harry's Fantasy Suite.

And then how does the final part happen? Does a fake Queen Elizabeth and her hubbie Phillip show up? Along with a fake Prince Charles and Camilla?

I suspect FOX will have itself a rare hit.

I Wanna Marry Harry starts up Tuesday, May 27 at 8/7C. Is that on the same night and the same time as the new iteration of The Bachelorette?

The Spectacular Sochi 2014 Winter Olympic's Opening Ceremony Telecast Was Not Totally Ruined By NBC's Bob Costas

Friday night's NBC telecast of the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics was the first time in a long time I made it through one of these events without bailing.

With that bailing caused by no longer being able to tolerate listening to the constant, interrupting, mostly pointless, blathering of Bob Costas and his cohorts.

The blathering and interrupting ruined the Opening Ceremony of the London Olympics for me.

My view on the blathering babbling is that I have invited these people into my TV viewing area to watch an event with me. I did not invite them to be constantly talking, telling me useless trivia, which I have no interest in. If an in the flesh person were watching one of these events with me and they were constantly babbling, telling me tidibits of info about what we were viewing, I'd give that person one "shut up" warning and then with the next violation ask them to leave.

Now, with the Sochi Opening Ceremony we did have that regular NBC Olympic irritant, Bob Costas. And other information providers.

However, the incredible spectacle that was the Sochi Opening Ceremony overwhelmed the annoyance of  the NBC babbling. That and there seemed to be a lot less of it the babbling this time.

Perhaps the complaints by the millions of annoyed viewers have been heard.

One of the few times I did find the babbling annoying I think it was Bob Costas providing the annoyance. I am not sure, because the voice was not identified, but it sounded like him. It was when the USA team came into the stadium. A female voice said something like "Let's listen to the reaction as the USA team enters the arena."

I thought, yes, that will be interesting to see how the Russians react to the incoming Americans.

However, what I believe to be the Bob Costas voice began incessant babbling, with the volume of the babbling overwhelming whatever noise the Russians were making. Bob Costas felt we needed to know about the guy who was carrying the American flag, and to speculate as to how proud the guy's kids must be to see dad carrying the flag.

Yes, this was a very important observation for Bob Costas to share with us, much more important than just letting us peacefully, quietly watch and listen.

If Bob Costas had been in my TV viewing room, in person, that point in the ceremony would have been when he would have been asked to leave my abode.

Anyway, good job, so far, Russia, and Mr. Putin. Let's hope the whole show keeps going as well as the opening.