Thursday, August 18, 2011

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for August 2 - August 8

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for August 2 - August 8. 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
Season-to-date average(in millions)
1. America's Got Talent (Tue.)
NBC
11.5
14.5
2. NCIS
CBS
10.3
17.1
3. America's Got Talent (Wed.)
NBC
9.7
13.2
4. 60 Minutes
CBS
8.6
12.0
5. NCIS: Los Angeles
CBS
8.2
14.5
6. Big Brother (Sun.)
CBS
7.6
8.0
7. Big Brother (Wed.)
CBS
7.4
7.7
* CSI
CBS
7.4
11.9
9. Big Brother (Thu.)
CBS
7.1
7.9
10. Bachelor Pad
ABC
7.0
7.0
* CMA Music Festival
ABC
7.0
--
12. Hell's Kitchen (Mon.)
Fox
6.6
6.6
13. Big Bang Theory
CBS
6.5
11.7
* Dateline
NBC
6.5
4.8
15. Hell's Kitchen (Tue.)
Fox
6.4
6.8
16. The Mentalist
CBS
6.3
--
17. Flashpoint
CBS
6.2
7.0
* Wipeout (Tue.)
ABC
6.2
5.6
19. Masterchef (Tue.)
Fox
6.1
5.8
* So You Think/Dance (Thu.)
Fox
6.1
7.6

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Husband Russell Armstrong Has Allegedly Committed Suicide

Previews of the upcoming September 5 premiere of Season Two of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills seemed to indicate that the marital woes of Russell and Taylor Armstrong had accelerated from Season One.

That indication of marital woes did not indicate how bad it actually was.

Russell Armstrong has allegedly killed himself. Found hanging in a bedroom in his home on Mulholland Drive in Los Angeles.

No suicide note was found.

Russell Armstrong was 47 years old. He was pronounced dead at 8:15 LA (Pacific) Time, on Monday. An autopsy will take place on Wednesday.

Last month Taylor Armstrong filed for divorce, claiming Russell was physically abusive.

My hinky meter is in overdrive. Russell Armstrong did not seem like a kill himself sort of guy. From my point of view he was married to a nutcase who thought it made sense to spend $60K on daughter Kennedy's 3rd (or was it 4th?) year old birthday party.

Something seemed way off, to me, regarding Taylor Armstrong. Not a Kelly Bensimon level of nutcase. but still, someone who's marbles were rattling way out of control.

Whatever the reality of this reality is, it is still very sad.

The ratings for the Second Season of RHOBH will be through the roof. Just saying.

Monday, August 15, 2011

On The Bachelor Pad Ames Leaves With Jackie While Gia Boots Herself From The Pad

That is Ames in the back of Jackie's exit Limo after she was kicked out of the Bachelor Pad Monday night.

When Jackie got the boot instead of Ella, Ames seemed like he did not quite know what to do. He walked Jackie to the limo.

Then he walked back to the non-bootees.

Then Ames robotically ran his red pants towards Jackie's limo, which somehow magically knew to stop.

With cameramen ready to record the reunion.

Ames and Jackie then rode off into the night, while the remaining Bachelor Padders ooh and awed at the romance of it all, with one commenting that babies were about to be made.

This week's Bachelor Pad episode started with a fun competition for this week's dates. All the boys lined up with a bulls eye painted on their backs. One by one, in response to a question, the girls threw a paint ball egg at the guy of their choice. For instance the question might be something like "Which guy do you think would make the ugliest babies." If the girl managed to hit someone, with the paintball exploding, she'd get a point.

Creepy sociopath Jake Pavelka and Princess Erica Rose took the most hits. In the end, Melissa Schreiber and Michael Stagliano won.

Each got to take 3 of the opposite sex on a date. And give one of those three a Sacred Rose.

Michael chose to take his ex, Holly Durst, Michelle Money and Erica Rose. He took Erica because he felt so guilty about almost knocking Erica out by throwing an egg so hard at her, when the question was "Who is the least attractive?"

Melissa chose to take Vienna's boyfriend Casey, Kirk Dewindt and Blake Julian. For reasons that made little sense to me, Melissa told Casey she'd give him the Sacred Rose, even before they went on their yachting date.

However, on the yachting date Blake made what he described as the moves of a prostitute, whoring himself out for a quarter million dollars. Apparently Melissa can tell all sorts of things by how a guy kisses. Armed with this knowledge Blake hit Melissa with one of his awesome kisses. This quickly caused Melissa to give Blake the sacred rose, sending Casey and Kirk off the yacht in a little dinghy.

Melissa and Blake then, in Melissa's words, hooked up all night long. This hooking up caused Melissa to be convinced she was now Blake's girl friend, which caused all sorts of problems for Blake back in the Bachelor Pad when he was caught canoodling with Holly.

Leading up to the boot time there was a lot of scrambling in the Bachelor Pad.

I find Casey really annoying, self-satisfied mumbling nitwit that he is. He tried to manipulate fellow nitwit, Gia, which soon backfired, with Gia confronting Graham, which then had Gia suddenly leaving the Bachelor Pad. For good. Gia decided she was just not cut out for Bachelor Pad shenanigans.

Jake's plot to save himself was to try and make a plea to Vienna to do a kind thing and save him. That did not work out too well for him.

But then Chris Harrison arrived to announce the producers had come up with a scheme to save Jake one more week. That scheme being that this week two ladies would be sent home, with all the guys safe from getting the Pad boot.

This had Vienna calling a foul, saying this was cheating. Vienna sort of had a point.

But, Jake makes for good TV. Everyone enjoys watching a clueless sociopath try and fool people into thinking he really is a nice guy.

I like Jackie. She is real cute and spunky. I also like Ames. He is sort of a one of kind. He has a very interesting demeanor about him. Will Jackie Gordon become Mrs. Ames Brown. It would not surprise me if this becomes one of the few Bachelor franchise successful relationships.

I'm sure I watched the previews of next week's Bachelor Pad, but right now I am drawing a blank. I'm guessing we were shown some fresh Jake and Vienna drama. With Casey mumbling.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Is Bravo Going to Do the Right Thing & Remove Cindy, Kelly & Jill from The Real Housewives of New York City?

The Real Housewives of New York City Reunion shot video for 9 exhausting hours. The majority of the footage shot did not make it to the 2 part, 3 hour Reunion Show.

One of those moments we did not see on the Reunion Show was Alex collapsing in relief, I assume, that the nightmare of dealing with the 4 Shrieking Monkeys known as the Gang of Brunettes, also known as Cindy Barshop, Krazy Kelly Bensimon, Jealous Jill Zarin and Classless Countess LouAnn, was over.

Of the Gang of Brunette housewives only one is an actual wife, that being Jill Zarin.

The male population of the planet is not big enough to find a mate for the sourpuss Barshop woman, so she had to couple with a turkey baster in order to become a mother.

I do not know if the reason Alex fainted on the couch was because Jill Zarin heartfeltedly apologized for being such a mean-spirited, bullying, heartless bitch to her, followed by the hug we see in the picture.

The Interwebs are full or rumors that a major shakeup is in the works for the Real Housewives of New York City. Andy Cohen made it real clear on Facebook and Twitter that he has heard, loud and clear, the viewer's disgust with the low-level of discourse on display by Cindy, Jill, Kelly and to a lesser degree, LouAnn.

Neil Patrick Harris told Andy Cohen on Watch What Happens Live to dump the entire cast. That seems a bit drastic to me. The consensus on the Interwebs seems to be that definitely Cindy, Jill and Kelly need to go.

And that Kelly is definitely intellectually challenged. And mentally ill. I know I was very surprised that Bravo brought Kelly back after the entire St. John's mental meltdown spectacle. It seemed as if Bravo was exploiting mental illness for its entertainment value. Trouble is, viewer's do not find Kelly's mental illness entertaining, they find it troubling.

Supposedly filming for the 5th season of RHONY is to begin Labor Day weekend. Methinks somehow Bethenny Frankel, now that she actually is a New York housewife, needs to come back, combined with Ramona, Sonja and Alex, plus a couple other real housewives, who pass a psych test, and I think this failing Housewife franchise might recover its formerly high viewer numbers.

But, if Bravo brings back Cindy, Kelly and Jill, the viewers will indicate they have had enough. By not watching. I know I want to see, or hear, no more of those three.

I think it is Jill who soured the franchise. Last season with her insane vendetta against Bethenny. This season it was Alex and Ramona who Jill targeted.

Simply put, Jill is creepy. A very creepy mean girl consumed by jealousy. Think about who Jill really is. She is married to a shopkeeper. Jill does not own her own business, or have a job. Her husband, Bobby, may be a nice guy, but he seems clueless as to what an Uber Bitch he is married to. Defending her on St. Johns, talking to Simon about his non-existent mean Tweeting.

Meanwhile, Ramona is married to Mario. Mario is a good looking guy. Combining Mario's DNA with Ramona got them Avery. Combining Jill's DNA with Bobby got them Ally. Ramona has 5 businesses. She is a successful, talented woman. And much better looking than Jill.

Ramona can rock a bikini. Jill can not. Ramona is older than Jill. Yet in much better shape. Ramona is more popular with viewers than Jill. Which is yet one more thing Jill is jealous about. In her core Ramona is a nice person. In her core Jill is a bitter shrew.

Jill is also jealous of Alex. Alex is also better looking than Jill. And younger. And happily married. And talented. With a job, or two. In her core, Alex is a nice person. Very articulate. And sensitive. And, unlike Jill, not a bitch.

Jill Zarin is also very sensitive, but only as it pertains to her own hypersensitive feelings. Jill Zarin seems unable to empathize with others in a real way that involves being sensitive to the feelings of others.

Jill is consumed anger over how much the viewers have come to despise her once they figured out what a horrible human she is.

Some of the stunts Jill Zarin has pulled have been astonishing. Jill penned a bad advice book with her equally vile mother, Gloria, and her sister. The book tanked, sales-wise. Jill then made fake positive reviews on Amazon, using a fake name, Susann Saunders. Jill is so sloppy these comments were traced back to her computer's IP address.

Jill later had her hapless husband buy thousands of copies of her book so as to make it look like the anemic sales figures were not anemic sales figures. Meanwhile Bethenny had several best sellers, fueling Jill's seething jealousy.

To counter all the accurate comments on Jill's Facebook fan page, Twitter and who knows where else, Jill somehow hired minions to delete accurate comments from Facebook and post false positive comments.

On Jill's Bravo Blog there are two types of comments. Those that seem real, on target and legitimate and those that seem like they come from a boilerplate template, all with a "We love you Jill" theme.

No one in their right mind could possibly love Jill Zarin, reprehensible mean bullying lying rat that she is.

If Andy Cohen and Bravo want to have a large number of viewers for the opening of Season 5 of RHONY, let it be known that the firing of Jill, Kelly and Cindy will be shown.

If Andy Cohen and Bravo want their New York City Housewive franchise to totally tank, bring back Cindy, Kelly and Jill, for one more round of disgusting the viewers.

If Andy Cohen really heard loud and clear what the viewers where saying, what he heard.

Loud and Clear.

Was.

Get rid of Cindy, Kelly and Jill.

Thank you. I feel better now.

Thursday, August 11, 2011

On Flipping Out Jeff Flips Out & Fires Trace

On Flipping Out Jeff's boyfriend/office helper, Gage Edward, seems to be gradually purging Jeff's office.

Last week it was Sarah who got the well-deserved heave-ho.

This week it was meek, mild-mannered, supposedly talented, Trace Lehnhoff, who got fired after Gage found some supposedly incriminating closet drawings on Trace's computer.

Jeff seemed to think Trace must have wasted hours of office time on those auto-cad drawings. Jeff has no computer auto-cad skills and would not know how long such a thing took. Jeff might have considered the possibility that Trace was using working on the closet drawings to help his creative flow when stymied on figuring out something work-related.

So, Jeff fired Trace and replaced him with the professional poop picker upper, Jett Pink, who is not a design school graduate.

Gage voted to fire Jett too. But that part of the purge plan did not work. So far.

Trace seemed to take the firing with style and grace and is further stylish and gracious on his Bravo blog, regarding the firing. Trace thinks it may have been time to move on. And has now started his own design business. Methinks Trace will have no trouble finding clients.

 In the previews for next week's Flipping Out we actually see Jeff come to the defense of Jenni, against the bullying rudeness of his client from Hell, Stacey Farish.

Viewers have not reacted well to this abusive woman's abuse of the popular Jenni. Stacey Faris works for the Los Angeles Times and has been taking a lot of heat at the newspaper for her bad behavior on Flipping Out.

Next week's Stacey/Jeff Showdown looks like it may have a high entertainment factor.

It Bravo going to give Trace his own show? It could be called Not Flipping Out.

Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for July 25 - August 1

The Nielsen Rating's Top 20 TV Shows for July 25 - August 1. 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
Season-to-date average (in millions)
1. America's Got Talent (Tue.)
NBC
11.9
14.6
2. America's Got Talent (Wed.)
NBC
10.0
13.4
3. The Bachelorette
ABC
9.8
9.0
4. NCIS
CBS
9.7
17.2
5. Bachelorette: After the Rose
ABC
9.3
--
6. 60 Minutes
CBS
8.9
12.1
7. NCIS: Los Angeles
CBS
8.1
14.6
8. Big Brother (Sun.)
CBS
7.8
7.9
9. Big Brother (Thu.)
CBS
7.4
7.8
10. Big Brother (Wed.)
CBS
6.9
7.5
11. Wipeout (Thu.)
ABC
6.6
5.5
* Wipeout (Tue.)
ABC
6.6
7.2
13. Flashpoint
CBS
6.3
6.9
* Hell's Kitchen
Fox
6.3
6.5
* The Big Bang Theory
CBS
6.3
11.8
16. Blue Bloods
CBS
6.0
11.0
* Criminal Minds
CBS
6.0
12.4
18. CSI: NY
CBS
5.9
9.6
* Masterchef
Fox
5.9
5.6
* The Mentalist
CBS
5.9
13.6