Wednesday, December 10, 2008

TV head

Wednesday has arrived, which means another new episode of Top Chef tonight! 

I've decided to root for Jamie. It would be awesome if a bad-ass girl won the whole thing (no offense to Stephanie, but she was little too timid for my liking). I also must admit that Fabio is growing on me. There was something endearing about him last week. However, I still have no love for Stefan. I don't doubt that he's an awesome chef, but on a reality TV competition, personality has to count for something and, so far, his seems to suck...although I am interested in seeing what this hype about him having a crush on Jamie is about. 

Since we're talking about TV, I should mention that I feel bad having not mentioned the season finale of The Amazing Race. **If you don't want to know who won, stop reading now.**

So, Nick and Starr winning wasn't all that climactic -- not like when TK and Rachel won last season -- but what I was more interested in at the finish line was figuring out what the hell happened to poor Toni and Dallas. 

I had been cheering for them all season and was hoping that the whole losing the passport thing in the previous episode had been done mostly for dramatic effect. I mean, I knew Dallas had actually lost his passport, but I felt like the camera crew had to have been able to grab it or at least track down the cab...I mean, they've got it all on film, right? But then when the mother and son team weren't at the finish line with the other contestants I realized he really did lose his passport. So I suppose it's good that they got eliminated because they wouldn't have been able to finish the race anyway. 

Since the show aired, I did some Googling and found an interview with Toni and Dallas that told me the following:

1) In Russia, anyone can be a cab driver - there's zero regulation (scary?) - so there was no way to track down the cab. 

2) The reason his pack with his passport and all their money got left in the cab is because the crew made him take it off so they could replace his mic battery and then with all the rushing around, it got left on the floor. Bummer! 

3) A good samaritan ended up turning in his passport to the consulate, so even though they missed the finale, Toni and Dallas did make it back home.  

You'd kind of think the producers would have an action plan in the event of a lost passport, but maybe even the almighty Amazing Race crew can't get around the government. Oh well.

In other reality TV news, Lauri left The Real Housewives of Orange County! Clearly, as the only one remotely in touch with reality, she didn't fit in, but do you think it was really her decision to leave or do you think the whole my-son-is-a-drug-addict story line was just too heavy for an otherwise completely shallow program? Hmmm...I can't say I'm interested in meeting yet another new housewife, but Vicki's insanity keeps me coming back every time. 

And finally, did you watch the premiere of Secret Millionaire last week? For those unfamiliar, the premise is that millionaires are sent to live in impoverished areas for a week and they can't tell anyone who they are and then at the end of the week, they have to give away at least $100k of their own money (they can give more if they want). I know, I know, it's Fox, so it's a little smarmy, but I do love the idea of totally unsuspecting and deserving people being handed large sums of money that would probably otherwise be spent some millionaire's next dinner party. 

The little girl with cancer whose parents didn't have medical insurance made me sob. I kind of thought the millionaires would ask how much they owed in medical bills and just write them a check for that amount, but I suppose $50k will make at least a small dent in their debt. 

Then, of course, you throw in anything related to Hurricane Katrina and you've got me sobbing again. I know it's been said a million times, but it's really unbelievable that so many of these people still have nothing more than 3 years later. To throw anyone into that situation and ask them to decide how much of their own money to give is almost cruel in a way, but I was happy to see them handing out checks for $100k right and left. 

And the moral of this story? Reality TV is making the world a better place...okay, well sometimes, at least.

3 comments:

Twocherries said...

I hope Dallas forgets about Star. that gave me the creeps

KK said...

According to that interview they are dating long distance.

Laura said...

Well I'm all about low brow tv, but I've got to tell you, none of these shows are entertaining in my opinion. The Secret Millionaire show bothers me because I believe a true good deed is one for which you receive nothing in return, not gratitude and certainly not celebrity or PR. Plus it was snoozefest in my opinion. And the "real" housewives make me want to impale myself.