A Very Bruised X Factor Limps Toward The End

One does not have to do much info searching to learn that I am not alone in finding Simon Cowell's US version of The X Factor to be a major disappointment and an over all big DUD.

I'm glad to learn I am not the only one appalled by how badly produced this overly slick train wreck is. And that the host, Steve Jones, just is really not American TV worthy or ready. Send him back to his home island.

An article in Reuters pretty much says all that needs to be said about the failure of The X Factor to have the necessary X Factor to be a hit on American TV....

Bruised "X Factor" limps toward finals

(Reuters) - American viewers have chosen the three singers who will compete in the finals of "The X Factor" after a first season that underwhelmed critics and raised questions about audience fatigue ahead of returning TV contests "American Idol" and "The Voice."

Power ballad singer Melanie Amaro, 19, bluesy Josh Krajcik, 30, and troubled rapper Chris Rene, 28, will sing for a $5 million recording contract in next week's two-part finale of the Fox show.

But after major hype from creator and judge Simon Cowell -- who had initially predicted "X Factor" would replace "American Idol" as the most-watched show on U.S. television -- the program's bickering mentor-judges, big production numbers and flashing lights has left many critics scratching their heads.

"As a viewer, it is agonizing to watch and just so fake that none of it is compelling, " said Annie Barrett, who covers "X Factor" for Entertainment Weekly.

"Everything is a gimmick. It is a glossy, shiny version of a reality show that might give you a seizure because of all the lasers and lights," Barrett told Reuters.

Thursday's semi-final, in which 20-year-old hopeful Marcus Canty was eliminated, drew 9.6 million viewers -- below the audience for a repeat of CBS comedy "The Big Bang Theory" and less than half the regular audience for "American Idol" earlier this year.

Fox executives say they are happy with the viewer numbers, especially among teens, and the show has helped the network reverse its historically patchy fall ratings in the 18-49 viewer group most coveted by advertisers.

Fox has already ordered a second season for the fall of 2012, calling "X Factor" a "monumental success."

CRYING FOR CROW

Andy Dehnart, editor of realityblurred.com, said that for all the new tweaks in the singing contest formula, few were for the better.

"There is no real national buzz about it. I don't think 'X Factor' has broken through the zeitgeist in the same way as 'American Idol'," said Dehnart.

Indeed, it seems the first season's most memorable moment came a week ago when bubbly 13-year-old Rachel Crow collapsed in tears on being sent home, sparking viewer outrage against judge Nicole Scherzinger.

Whoever wins after public votes are announced next Thursday, Cowell's hopes of discovering a new global singing star -- who will be signed to his Sony Music-owned record label SyCo -- may be dashed.

None of the instantly downloadable songs from this week's semi-final were in the Top 50 iTunes singles charts on Friday.

"I don't see anyone here who is going to be the next Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, which is what the show claimed it was going to do," said Dehnart.

Barrett said that four months of "X Factor" twice a week had made her appreciate "American Idol".

But with NBC's surprise hit "The Voice" returning in February and "Idol's" 11th season beginning in mid-January on Fox, Americans may soon lose their appetite for lengthy singing contests.

"I do think there will be some fatigue going into next season with both 'American Idol' and 'The Voice.' Two nights a week is a huge commitment," Barrett said.

But Dehnart was more optimistic. "If we are going to see any kind of fatigue with this kind of show, it is going to show up now. But I wouldn't be surprised if they all work on their own level."

Top Chef Texas Cooks In Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro Where Dakota & Nyesha Are Sent Home For Raw Venison

Tim Love Drinking Tequila with Padma

That is Padma on the left, Tim Love in the middle, and Formerly Fat Chris on the right, during the Quickfire Challenge on this week's Top Chef Texas.

The Quickfire Challenge this week had to do with choosing a specific Don Julio tequila selection and somehow making it taste good with some food item of the chef's creation.

Tim Love and Padma then sampled the tequila wares, taking shots of tequila as they did so, with each sampling. By the end of the sampling Padma and Tim did not seem too tipsy.

Ty-Lor, he of last week's BBQ steak cut hand disaster, won the Quickfire. But no Immunity. The pain of the lack of immunity was somewhat mitigated by winning $5,000.

For the Elimination Challenge Tim Love flew in some of his chef friends for Game Night at his Lonesome Dove Western Bistro in the Fort Worth Stockyards. The chefs were paired with whoever they were standing next to.

That had Heather and Bev cooking together. Heather being the Big Bully who picked on Beverly last week, but won a new car anyway.

The chefs were told what game they would be cooking. Wild things like quail, venison, elk and duck.

And that they would be cooking in the kitchen of Tim Love's Lonesome Dove Western Bistro.

This is the first time whilst watching Top Chef that the cooking took place in the town I am living in and in a restaurant with which I was familiar.

I thought to myself, Lonesome Dove is not very big, how are they all going to cook there? Turns out, the size and lack of air-conditioning of Tim Love's kitchen did turn out to be an issue with the sweating chefs.

On his Bravo Blog, judge Hugh Acheson had this to say about Tim Love and his kitchen, "Time to get to Ft. Worth. Tim Love owns this town. It’s a great honky-tonk town. The tiny kitchen was about 150 degrees and the chefs are vying for space in an already emotional clusterf---ed space."

We only saw a short flash of the Fort Worth Stockyards before we entered the Lonesome Dove Western Bistro. We saw no Cattle Drive down the Stockyards main drag, no cowboy on a horse.

The chefs were tasked with judging each other's cooking, deciding who the 3 worst teams were, with the regular judges judging who got told to pack their knives and go.

I am liking Top Chef Texas. But, I am not liking all the team challenges. When do we get to the part where the chefs are judging solely on their own cooking?

And this week's teaming was the most unfair. Double elimination. Worst team totally goes. Dakota told Nyesha she was a whiz at cooking venison. Nyesha trusted Dakota. Nyesha's part of the dish was not criticized. Both were told to pack their knives and go due to Dakota's undercooked venison.

Meanwhile, Quickfire winner Ty-Lor, teamed with Edward, cooked quail, deemed by Acheson as the best dish, to him, of the season, giving them the win. And $10,000 to split. This was a good payday for Ty-Lor.

Next week the chefs leave the Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex and head to Austin. I hope it is not another team cooking challenge.

Survivor South Pacific's Brandon Hantz Gives Away His Immunity to Albert & Then Gets Kicked Out of the Tribe

Brandon Hantz in Pain

Wednesday night's Survivor: South Pacific episode was the last regular episode before this coming Sunday's bloated 3 hour finale.

For me this has been the most off-putting season of Survivor yet.

Methinks if Survivor wants to survive it needs to drop the returning of past survivors for redemption.

For me, the gimmick has not worked.

And no more Hantz's on Survivor.

I would think that actual practitioners of the Christian faith would find offensive the way some reality shows use pseudo-Christians as comic fodder. Maybe pseudo is the wrong word. Maybe illegit would be more appropriate.

The prayer rings led by Ben Wade and Brandon Hantz were embarrassing to witness. It appeared it was embarrassing to some of those in the ring who felt they had to pretend to participate.

Brandon's idiotic concept of his religion, where he thinks God monitors reality TV game shows, with a Godly interest in the outcome, is so incredibly self-centered. Not to mention stupid. Brandon verbalizes thinking that God has all of his life planned out for him, with Brandon, apparently, thinking that Brandon has no say in the matter.

So, apparently, Brandon believes God's plan for him is to make him look to be very naive and stupid.

And then there is that phony buffoon, Ben Wade, who insists being called "Coach."

Bending over, with his forehead to the ground, praying for God to give him a vision as to who he should kick out of the tribe.

With the Survivor editors putting visions of the possible kickees on the screen.

Coach must really have an extremely low opinion of this God he speaks to, if he thinks that this God has time for such trivial, meaningless matters.

What with all the actual real problems in the world that God created, which is obviously a horrible headache for Him to try and control with any semblance of reasonable order, what with so many outbreaks of the devil's work.

And then there is Brandon Hantz with his bizarre need for overt displays of his Holy Goodness. Brandon wins the Immunity Idol. And then to show his loyalty to his word somehow decides it makes sense to give the Immunity Necklace to Albert, to the astonishment of everyone at the Tribal Council, including us watching on our TV screens.

Brandon then gets the predictable boot, with us learning that it was Brandon who God's vision told Coach to boot, despite Coach's promises to Brandon, and Coach's extremely highly evolved concept of honor and integrity.

I can not be the only viewer who finds Coach's talk of being a warrior to be embarrassing. Telling Ozzy he wants to take Ozzy to the end where it will be an honorable battle between two warriors.

Warriors.

On a game show.

What an idiot.

I can not be the only viewer who thinks that if Ben Wade was actually confronted with a situation which required the skills of an actual warrior, and real courage, that Coach would run away screaming like a scared school girl.

At this point I really don't care who wins Survivor.

Poetic would be if God's will were done and Brandon beats Ozzy at the final Redemption Island Duel and then goes on to win the remaining Immunity Challenges, pretty much then guaranteeing Brandon the million bucks and a resulting lifelong unshakable belief that God truly has a plan for him.

Another good scenario would be Albert winning the remaining Immunity Challenges. I think he'd likely win the million.

Another good scenario would be Ozzy beating Brandon to get off Redemption Island, and then going on to be in the Final 3. Ozzy would be the winner of the million at that point, I do believe.

I don't know if I'll be watching. It is far less exhausting just to read the result the next morning.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for December 5 - December 11

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for December 5 - December 11. 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.

Two and a Half Men has popped way back up in the ratings, to the #2 spot. X Factor continues to be a dud, with its Wednesday performance show coming in at #20, not quite the HUGE hit Simon Cowell hoped for, instead X Factor is being widely viewed as an overly produced Train Wreck, with a really bad host. The Amazing Race came in at #14, one place ahead of Survivor: South Pacific. Even though both ran re-runs, NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles ranked #8 and #12.

Rank	Show name	Network	Viewers in millions	Season-to-date average(in millions)
1.	NFL: Giants/Cowboys	NBC	24.5	20.9
2.	Two and a Half Men	CBS	15.2	19.3
3.	60 Minutes	CBS	14.7	14.3
4.	Big Bang Theory	CBS	14.0	16.7
5.	Football Nt. Pt. 3	NBC	13.3	11.7
6.	The Mentalist	CBS	13.0	14.7
7.	2 Broke Girls	CBS	12.8	13.7
8.	Mike & Molly	CBS	12.7	13.6
*	NCIS	CBS	12.7	21.7
*	Person of Interest	CBS	12.7	13.5
11.	Criminal Minds	CBS	12.4	14.5
12.	Modern Family	ABC	12.2	15.9
*	NCIS: Los Angeles	CBS	12.2	17.5
14.	Amazing Race	CBS	11.7	11.0
15.	Survivor: South Pacific	CBS	11.6	12.5
*	The Good Wife	CBS	11.6	11.8
17.	How I Met Your Mother	CBS	11.5	11.5
18.	CSI	CBS	11.1	13.3
19.	Hawaii Five-0	CBS	11.0	13.6
20.	X Factor (Wed.)	Fox	10.7	12.6

Jennifer Anniston is Obviously the Most Beautiful Hottest Sexiest Woman the World has Ever Known

I can not tell you how pleased I was this past week when Jennifer Anniston was finally recognized as the "Hottest, Sexiest, Most Beautiful, Most Wonderful, Kindest Woman Ever To Grace Planet Earth Going Back to the Dawn of Time When God Supposedly Created Eve."

It was Men's Health Magazine that finally stepped up and said out loud what all of  us were thinking, dubbing the former Mrs. Brad Pitt the "#1 Hottest Woman of All Time."

Hotter than Elizabeth Taylor, Marilyn Monroe, Angelina Jolie, Raquel Welch, Audrey Hepburn, Natalie Wood, Jean Harlow, Brigitte Bardot, Cleopatra, Jane Russell, Katharine Hepburn, Courtney Cox, Sophia Loren, Grace Kelly, Lauren Bacall, Jennifer Lopez.

And my personal favorite, Myrna Loy, back in the early Thin Man movies.

Now that Jennifer Anniston has been acknowledged as the Hottest Woman the World has Ever Known will she finally be able to snag herself a husband? And keep him? Will Ms. Anniston now get better movie roles and perhaps that long deserved Academy Award for Best Actress?

Only time will tell.

On The Amazing Race Ernie & Cindy Win the Million First to Finish in Atlanta

The moment when Phil told Ernie & Cindy they had won
The Amazing Race

Tonight's final leg of the latest Amazing Race was one of the best finishes I remember.

Not in the close race to the finish type good finish. But in there was no possible villain team in the final 3, type good finish. That and the final challenges were not too ridiculous.

I was good with Ernie & Cindy or Marcus & Armani or Jeremy & Sandy winning.

When we learned in Panama City that the final destination city was Atlanta, hometown of Marcus & Armani, all presumed this gave them a big advantage.

No one, at that point in time knew they would be having to fly a flight simulator. With Marcus repeatedly going off the runway. This soon knocked Marcus & Armani out of the race.

The next clue told teams to find the residence known as The Dump. Ernie & Cindy had some Google help to find out it was the house where Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With The Wind. Ernie & Sandy were told by a local that The Dump was a Home Depot. Which, it was, but not The Dump they were looking for.

Jeremy & Sandy spent a long time in the wrong dump, before they figured out they needed to find a different dump.

The Dump was a Roadblock. Typing out a couple sentences on the type typewriter Margaret Mitchell used, correctly got them their next clue. The wrinkle was having to figure out what key to use to make up for the missing number 1 key.

Ernie was amusing with the typing. I don't think we saw Ernie even remotely lose his temper the entire race.

Ernie & Cindy were long gone from Margaret Mitchell's house before Jeremy & Sandy arrived.

The clue from Margaret Mitchell's house was 3 numbers. I think the first of which was Hank Aaron's jersey number, the second was the number of home runs he hit to break Babe Ruth's record, with the third being the year he hit that record, something like 45-705-74. I may be way off with those numbers.

Ernie & Cindy used Googling to figure out it had to do with Hank Aaron and then quickly figured out they needed to go to Turner Field. Once there is was a big map challenge where one team mate had to rappel a rope through each of the countries they visited. In order.

Cindy quickly nailed it. It was then off to something called, I think, Swan House, which was their final destination.

Of course it was edited to make it look like Ernie & Cindy had trouble finding the final destination and that Jeremy & Sandy were catching up.

But it was Ernie & Cindy first through gates to the cheers of those eliminated before them. Soon Jeremy & Sandy arrived, followed by Marcus & Armani.

Phil teased Marcus about his flying skills. Marcus & Armani are obviously very nice people.

Like I said, I would have been good with any of the 3 teams winning.

Had the snowboarders, Tommy & Andy, not been eliminated last week, in Panama City, where God's plan had been to confuse them and send them on wild goose chases, while the other 3 teams, who did not wear their religion on their sleeves, were blessed by God with cooperative, sneaky taxi drivers, well, if Tommy & Andy had still been in it tonight, I would have been wanting them to mess up bad at Martha Mitchell's.

Messing up with something like ending up in the Home Depot version of The Dump, but not figuring out they were in the wrong spot, til they got word the winner had already crossed the finish line.

Ernie & Cindy are going to use their million dollars by turning the million into more millions, so they can go around the world again, helping all the poor people they saw contribute to the global economy. This plan will likely get the pair nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.