Shaq VS

This summer competition show is actually really entertaining. In a society where it seems athletes only spit out cliches during post game press conferences(i.e. "we gotta take it one game at a time") or give scripted mea culpa speeches ala Mike Vick, Shaq VS shows the Diesel just hanging out and having fun with the other star athletes. Last night I say Shaq take on Ben Rothlesberger first in a game of HORSE and then in a 7 on 7 football game. The interactions between Big Ben and Shaq were awkward at times but it was refreshing to see them acting like two guys just hanging out. They didn't pretend to be the best of friends they just played the games and had some uncomfortable moments an conversations. Shaq has a great sense of humor and it really comes through in this unscripted show. I have seen him over the years on talk shows and he always is vastly more interesting than the average athlete. I also like the fact that neither Shaq nor Big Ben are trying to sell a product, promote a new album, or whatever the impetus behind most "surprise" celebrity appearances on reality shows. Overall this show is an entertaining way to spend an hour even for the casual sports fan.

Top Chefs

Rick Bayless wins Top Chef Masters. He is a damn good chef. He forces you to look beyond Chipotle and Chi Chi's and really embrace true Mexican food. Hubert Keller is a great chef too but he's a little old school with his dishes. Too many mousses. Overall Top Chef Masters was a mistake that I pray Bravo does not bring back. If I never see Kelly Choi again, it won't be too soon.

As for the new season of Top Chef Las Vegas, HOW THE HELL DO YOU ONLY HAVE ONE CHEF FROM NEW YORK? I hate New York, but c'mon, the best chefs are in New York and to have three chefs from Atalanta and one from New York, who is not even an executive chef...The producers are trying too hard to be different, but unlike American Idol where a singer is a singer and can be great no matter where he/she is from, if a chef has never worked in New York, or I might argue Las Vegas now, they are not really a "top" chef. I like the brazen L.A. guys so far and the one woman who worked for Eric Ripert. Good to have Padma, Tom and Gail back. I hope the absence of Toby in the first episode lasts for the whole season. He was supposed to be the Simon Cowell of that show, but really showed little respect for the food and cared more about shoehorning in his catchphrases. It felt very scripted with Toby and it might as well have been the Real Housewives.

Govenor Mike

I like to watch Mike Huckabee's show "Huckabee," Sunday nights at 11 on Fox News Channel. I don't know for sure if that's the original air time, but it's really a great show to fall asleep to. Most of Huckabee is filled with his views of evangelical Christian right wing politics. But, the last ten minutes or so he does a jam session with a musical guest or in some cases the guest from the show. Huck slaps on the old bass and jams with his house band and a guest. It makes you kinda wish this guy, and not boring old McCain got the nomination. For one thing he would have nominated Ace Freehly or Les Claypool for VP. He's a bit nutty in his views but this is one of the best talking head shows on TV. I think what makes it great is that Huck is so unpolished. He looks nervous at all times except when he's keepin the rhythm. Great show.

Random Summer Thoughts

Summer kinda stinks for TV. It is the opportunity for the networks to try out these reality shows and game shows. The one show I discovered this summer is Wipeout. It is just funny to watch people fall off stuff and hit their heads. Nothing makes me laugh more than minor concussions. Host John Anderson(winner of ESPN "Dreamjob 1") and John Henson("Talk Soup") add some funny commentary, but this show could have no voice over and still be pretty entertaining.

Paula is out on American Idol. Rumor is that she wanted 20 million a year. I guess they raised the price of prescription drugs. No way is she worth more than Ryan Seacrest. He recently signed for 15 million a year and is worth every penny. He is the conductor that keeps the show running. Paula makes a ridiculous comment a few times a season but mostly she just repeats what the other judges say first. The four judge format was a mistake and this corrects the mistake. I think Cara will be much more comfortable this year and a bigger part of the show overall.

I hate Zoey Deschanel. She was the guest celebrity judge on Top Chef Masters this week and revealed that she is a vegan who is gluten and soy intolerant. Obviously she has no business being on that show. She can't eat at a restaurant without being a pain the the ass for the staff and chef. I know reality shows are merely a conduit for "stars" to plug their latest project, but she is a moron. I hate this show so much.

Entourage, pretty damn good this season, but E's girlfriend is annoying and looks like the long lost Olsen triplet.

Good to see that the ratings for the return of John and Kate plus 8 were down significantly this week. They are horrible people who do horrible things. This week the kids were begging Kate to go camping. Kate then struggled to build and tent to show how independent she is without John. Right after this scene they go to commercial and it is revealed that the main sponsor for this episode is Coleman sporting goods....holy crap. Later in their staged campfire they decide to be a great family who makes s'mores, with the assistance of Production Assistants as any family would do. They conveniently have the ingredients on a tray with a Hershey's bar smack in the middle. The first commercial after this scene, you guessed it. I get that product placement is a part of post-tivo televisoin, but on this show, it comes across as petty and desperate.

Can't wait for the fall.....

AGT

If you haven't been watching America's Got Talent this summer, you haven't missed too much. I watch this show every week and kick myself the whole time, but I still watch. Where to start....the judges:

Piers Morgan : Before winning "celebrity" Apprentice this guy's claim to fame was being the other guy with Simon Cowel on Britain's Got Talent. I am not sure what Piers has ever done in the entertainment business to make him qualified, but I think he is qualified by virtue of his British accent. He tries to play the Simon role, but Simon is far more intelligent and in on the joke. Where Piers takes himself too serious, Simon is laughing at how ridiculous reality shows are, but counting his millions.

Sharon Osbourne: Imagine Paula Abdul, without the crazy clothes, ridiculous proclamations and overall craziness. She brings nothing to this show. The producers broke the formula when they replaced pop diva and star of "Moesha" Brandy with Sharon. They have two Brits on the panel and it is like watching one of those comedies on PBS that aren't funny but the British studio audience is cracking up. How cheeky.

David Hasselhoff: Moronic, sub-moronic. He might be the least intelligent person posing as a person with intelligence on television(David Gregory a close second). He has his catch phrase, "you are what this show's all about," and finds a away to work it into every episode. By now it is so scripted they don't even need to have the judges in the same room as the acts. Hasselhoff drools over any female contestant in booty shorts regardless of age(I've seen him scoping some of those teenage dance troupes).

Nick Cannon: I actually like him. He replaced an all time Bump favorite, Jerry Springer and has done a decent job actually keeping the show moving. His side comments and ability to handle the freakier guests make him a pretty good host. They definitely cut to him way too much but that's the producers/directors not Nick's fault.

Anyway, I bitch and moan but I will watch this until the finale in September. This show has actually produced one star, season two winner and ventriloquist Terry Fador. He headlines the main show at the Mirage a spot formerly held by Sigfried and Roy. That one success is more than have ever been on the Bachelor or Bachelorette. My only advice is stop putting through so many singers, if we want singers we can watch American Idol. This show should focus more on the contortionists, jugglers, magicians, acrobats, slam dunk teams, rollerskating break dancers.
Tune in on Tuesday night and check out the next act who is what that show's about.

Masters

I have watched every episode of Top Chef Masters this season, and for those who say that a host doesn't matter much on a reality show, you are wrong. The replacement of Padma with this Kelly Choi has been a disaster. Choi should be doing the weather weekends on channel 9 not hosting one of the few reality shows that actually keeps my attention and does as it promises, produces top chefs. How many top models can you name that are actually working as a "top" model? All the class and pseudo-intelligence that Padma brings is lost on this public access moron. The judges are also horrific. They will write scathing reviews in their respective publications, but when it comes time to criticize these established chefs, they are starstruck and wimp out. Some of the dishes produced have been real crap and nobody calls them on it. Also, why do they do so much dubbing? The editing is so poor you can obviously tell that most of Choi's lines are done in a post production sound booth. While immensely successful, the chefs on this show are not competitive enough to make it interesting. I miss Marcel and Hung and all the a-holes of years gone by. I did enjoy that one french chef from L.A., Ludo Lefebvre. He was competitive and didn't hesitate to say that he wanted to win for pride and oh yeah the charity. Bring back Tom, Padma, and Gail. Bring back the chef wannabes. This summer edition is terrible. I only hope that Hubert Keller wins, since he is far and away a the best chef on the show. It's still better than anything with Gordon Ramsay

The Home Box

I remember some great HBO shows of the past, Larry Sanders, The Wire, Six Feet Under, Eastbound and Down..now we have three shows currently on Sunday nights....

True Blood....Lauryn got me into this show and right away it has the best opening credits of any show on TV. Great song. I find Anna Paquin kind of annoying but the acting on the show is overall pretty strong. My only knock on this show is that sometimes I feel as if they make up vampire "rules" in order to fill in the plot. Like they need to get from New York to L.A. in 20 minutes and all the sudden there is a line of dialogue like this, "you KNOW that vampires are capable of flying," a fact they neglected to mention for the first season and a half. I think season two is trying to play more on the good vs evil thing which has been done before.

Hung....I tried to watch the pilot and turned it off about half way. What a slow moving and boring show. The dialogue is so poor and obvious that when I laughed, I don't think it was the writer's intention. The acting is pretty crappy. With the Aaron Eckhart wannabe and the weird sister from Happiness as the pimp. She's a blind man's Andie Mcdowell. Awful show

Entourage...so far so good. What they are doing this season, which they failed to do in the past two, is develop the characters. Vince and his crew were stagnant caricatures for two seasons. Now with Turtle and Jamie Lynne Siegler, Ari working with that other agent dude. Even Lloyd moving up in the world. I don't know much about Hollywood, but I don't think Lloyd would stay so long with the same agency without promotion. He would have probably jumped ship to another agency by now. Good job so far.

Side note, on Showtime they have Nurse Jackie. It marks Edie Falco's return to pay cable drama. I liked this show for the first couple episodes but they are taking way to long to move the story. Also I have been to emergency rooms, and none of them have ever been as insane or staffed with quirky, funny folks. I like the subplot of Jackie dealing with addiction, but they have strayed away from that in the last couple episodes. Also her husband on this show kinda looks like her son. Poor casting. I guess I'll stick with it, but can't wait 'till the fall and the return of Curb Your Enthusiasm and Big Love