Age of Love: Typical Ending

Younger woman prevails.

Younger woman who mooned over him THE ENTIRE TIME she was on this show.

Younger woman who DROVE ME NUTS with her whining.

UGH!!!

'Scuse me while this older woman mourns the loss of the true winner - Jen.

You go girl.

When I grow up, I wanna be just like you.

What's Love Got to Do With It?

Age of Love and Rock of Love (with Bret Michaels)

Whooo boy, is there some quality television out there for us, people.

These two shows, Age of Love and Rock of Love (with Bret Michaels) I have to admit I wasn't planning on getting sucked into. I have to blame this all on the Hubby, who asked me to TiVo Age of Love for him and watched Rock of Love while I was away on a business trip to BlogHer. The moral here is that you should never, ever let your husband anywhere near the remote. Just give him one with no batteries so he feels like he has control, but he really doesn't. It's better for all concerned. Trust me.

So, Age of Love. Some tennis goober named Mark Whosewhatsits (Philippoussis) thinks he's going on a dating show, which he is. What he doesn't know is that the producers have set him up with 6 women between the ages of 20-30 and 30-50 - the kittens versus the cougars. I didn't say that, they did.

Pardon me while I clean the barf off my keyboard.

Now, to the credit of the 40 year olds, they are HOT. When I grow up, and become 40+, I want to look just like they do. Honestly, they all looked better in some way, shape or form than the 20 year-olds. Not to mention they acted better. I had forgotten how catty young girls can be until I watched this show. The claws were out! It was sad to watch these young girls rag on the older ones. Unfortunately, it was all they had to fight with, because the older women were so comfortable in their own skins and each other, they hit it off with Mark right away; whereas the younger girls didn't fare as well. They barely spoke to Mark, and shifted around uncomfortably near each other and sizing up the competition. It was painful to watch.

These past weeks we've seen Mark go on dates with all of the women, sometimes in groups, sometimes solo. I think the 40 year olds did much better in this on all fronts because they didn't get all moon faced and attached and jealous. Amanda, one of the 20-somethings, has all but picked out china patterns for her upcoming nuptials to Mark. I think she might win it all, based on where the show is going, but I REALLY hope that Mark is watching the show as it airs and seeing how she acted during the filming. Then I hope, if he's with her, he drops her like a hot potato. But that's just me.

Rock of Love (with Bret Michaels) is the show to watch of you are looking to laugh at stupid people doing stupid things. And they are stupid. And vapid. Oh, and crazy. Every time I watch this show all I can think is just how proud these girls' parents must be right now. That, and there must be at least 20 strip clubs missing a few dancers. Whether they miss them or not is probably up for debate. But there they are, on my TV screen. Comparing breast sizes. Discussing who is better. Coming up with cutesy (and not so cutesy) names for each others' body parts. Some of them are just plain psycho.

Seriously.

Incredibly psycho.

But!!! Its SO FUN to watch. It's like TV Pringles. You start watching one episode, just to see what the hype is all about, and then you find yourself hours later, still on the sofa, wondering where the last 3 hours went. You definitely don't feel smarter, and you feel like you lost a few brain cells in the transaction.

Bret Michaels hasn't aged well. At. All. Bless his heart, but he needs to donate the big trenchcoat jackets to Goodwill. Especially the one that looks like a big cow. He might get milked if he wears that in public. He might need to lay off the sauce too. Man is looking a bit puffy. And if he tells us one more time that these women he gets to choose from are the Best. Women. Ever. I will have to reach through the TV and strangle him. Granted, there are a few that look like they are smarter than the average bear, but then I have to ask; What the hell are they doing THERE?!? Seriously? Because you know Bret is going to pick either the psycho one or the big breasted blonde. Scientific Fact.

The worst part? You KNOW that after this show is over, and Bret has picked his "tru luve" and ridden off into the sunset, yet another aging rocker will pick up his torch and enter the house. Hopefully the next guy won't feel the need to measure the effect of phone sex by putting a sensor on his Johnson. Although, that WAS pretty funny.

I wonder who it will be. Tommy Lee? Stephen Pearcy? David Coverdale? Leif Garrett?

The possibilities are endless...

and sadly, I'll probably be watching.

Dear LOST Writers,

First of all, I understand why you had to kill Eko. It's November, we have one episode left until you go on hiatus until February. As a side note; what the hell? FEBRUARY? Who came up with that one? Did we not show our support all through the summer by playing the game online? Have you not been reading the forums all over and seeing how frustrated die-hard fans are with this show? So your answer to that is to only give us 8 episodes until a TWO MONTH and change HIATUS!?!?
We'll get to those episodes later....I need to stifle a yawn.
But I digress. Eko. Moving on.

Really? What do you have against your cast (or I daresay your viewers!) that they can't catch up with their backstory before you kill them off? (see: Boone and Shannon; Ana-Lucia and Libby.) Then, in a last ditch effort to try and tie up loose ends, you rush through enough of their story so we feel like we're "caught up" so to speak. This was not the case in Eko's Eko-centric story last night, let me tell you. I'm still confused. How and why did Eko go to Australia? In his "flashback", he was on his way to London. Was it by way of Australia? That's quite a hike. Also, what about the black fog thing? Was that to signify that he's really bad??? We kinda knew that. I suspect he knew it too, judging by his speech to his brother Yemi.

Oh!!! And how is it that he can carry on a conversation with Yemi and Locke can talk to Boone, but Jack could only see his daddy mirage? Is there some sort of fever going on that only the strong guys get? I'm totally willing to go with you on the fever thing, just provide some clarity on how only select castaways get to have a fireside chat and others don't. A hint would suffice. Subtitles would be good. Just give us SOMETHING.

We KNOW Kate really loves Sawyer. WE GET IT. Stop playing that storyline up ad nauseum. Please.

The Others storyline is definitely your strongest one right now. Me likee. I'm dying to see who in that group is the most sinister; and so far my money's on the chickie-poo who brings Jack his food. Jack should be careful though; if she's willing to go to those lengths to kill off Ben; what does she have in store for him, I wonder?

But here's the thing. I'm hooked, but this wait until February might be a deal breaker. I was patient through the summer, but a girl can only take so much. You have heard of a cool new show called Heroes, haven't you? I'm quickly discovering that my imagination and my discussion skills can only handle so many shows; and I have to admit, ya'all haven't really delivered the goods so far this season overall. I'm just sayin'

So, go and enjoy your hiatus. Reread, rewrite and retool. Give us longtime viewers a reason to tune back in come February, because right now, you are on my shortlist of shows I'm thinking about removing from the auto record on my TiVo. And that thought alone makes me want to cry.

That thought should make you afraid. I'm sure there is more of us out there.

Sincerely and With Mucho Love,

Shash

Happiness is...

Getting caught up on your TiVo viewing so you can welcome the new week in with all new shows!

The only thing left to catch up on is Dexter from last week.

Huzzah!

Scenes From a TiVo

The programming gods finally have timed things right for us and our TiVo viewing this fall. With House on hiatus while they figure out who will win the World Series, and the World Series of Poker having been won for this year; Tuesday nights are catch-up night in our house for our TiVo.

We are grateful for this, because things tend to get a bit backlogged on the old TiVo, and we start seeing that little hourglass that is all hurry up and watch these shows, or I'll start deleting them... and we hate that.

So, let's move on to Tuesday and Wednesday viewing, shall we? We'll pretend that House is not on hiatus for this exercise.

Tuesday:

• House (8pm, FOX). Hugh Laurie rocks my socks. If you get a chance to hear him speak with his normal British accent, you quickly realize just how good he is at playing Dr. Gregory House. I wasn't thrilled with the House/Stacy storyline; I just didn't really see a whole lot of chemistry there, even though they had a past together. I do see chemistry with Dr. Cuddy though, and would like to see that story evolve further.
  
  
• Boston Legal (10pm, ABC). I have to admit, I couldn't watch this show when it first aired. I'm not a big fan of William Shatner (Sorry, Bill!). I guess it's from my childhood, when my mom watched the original Star Trek and he chewed up the scenery and spit it out each week (see David Caruso: CSI Miami). But I wanted to watch this show, because I have always harbored a secret crush on James Spader. When Candice Bergen joined the cast, I decided to give it a try, because she makes any show she's in better. Trust me, she does. This is a great show. Spader and Shatner play off each other so well, I can tolerate Shatner for longer periods of time. The rest of the ensemble is hit or miss though, while I love Mark Valley (who was amazing in Keen Eddie) I'm not really sure what his purpose is on this show besides being lovely to look at. Julie Bowen can definitely act (see LOST for proof) but this is not her best effort. Rene Auberjonois, who I was glad to see back on a show because he was so amazing in Benson as the butler has had a small storyline that has just fizzled out this season. Constance Zimmer is a breath of fresh air this season, and as a parent of a child who has Asperger's Syndrome, I'm thrilled to see a show delve deeper with an adult character who is trying to work with the syndrome and some of the repercussions and quirks of it.
  
  
• House Hunters International (1:30am, HGTV). We tape this later than when it airs on Monday night because out TiVo is busy at 10pm. Who doesn't like to see houses in places far-off?
  

See? I told you Tuesday is a light TiVo day. Thank you programming people!

Wednesday creates overload for my TiVo. This is a busy day for us, so let's get to it!

• Criminal Minds (9pm, CBS). I'll admit, at first I wasn't thrilled about seeing Thomas Gibson in a drama role. He'll forever be remembered as Greg, as in Dharma and Greg. But Shemar Moore (swoon!) and Mandy Patankin? Sign me up for that! Out of all the crime shows out there, this one stands head and shoulders above them all. This is the only one that each week my husband has difficulty figuring it out, and usually he can tell you whodunit in the first 10 minutes of a show. When you can stump my husband, that's a winner in our house.
  
  
• LOST (9pm, ABC) Duh. I was a fan from the get-go. Even when it got to be a bit tedious (season two, anyone?) I still hung in there. I even played the online game during the summer break. I read spoilers, and chatted in forums about theories. Then I decided to stop reading and just be surprised each week. So far this season I have enjoyed the show more because of it. I am concerned with the plethora of shows now out there taking a page from the LOST playbook, because I don't want every show to be like this one, but it does keep me tuned in, so I guess they are doing something right. SO far the only show to do the LOST playbook steal and get it right is Heroes. Not to mention, I loves me some Sayid.
  
  
• The Nine (10pm, ABC). I'm trying to like this, but already I'm not really into this show. I think a lot of it has to do with the fact that the lead-in show is already taxing my brain, and I can't concentrate on this show. This show might be better of on Tuesday, without LOST in front of it. I'm just sayin'.
  
  
• Project Runway/Top Chef (10pm; BRAVO). Tonight is the season finale of Project Runway3, but does Bravo rest on it's laurels? No way! This slot will be filled with Top Chef, and this time they actually got a chef to be the host instead of Billy Joel's current wife. I'm sure Katie Lee Joel is very nice, but Padma Lakshmi (I'm hoping!) will be a much better fit for this task. I will miss PR though, this season has been the best yet. Uli should win in my opinion, but I think Jeffrey will take top prize.
  

Tomorrow is Thursday and Friday's offerings, and if your house is like my house, the programming gods made me cry when they moved Grey's Anatomy to go up against CSI. Thanks to trusty TiVo, these are both viewed commercial free!

What a wonderful world we live in.

Tuesday Morning TiVobacking

So I'm all caught up from those other shows, and now have more to watch. Such is the life of a TiVoist.

Let's discuss some of the shows I think are the best on television, better known as the shows I TiVo each week. Today's installment is Sunday and Monday.

Starting with Sunday Night:

• America's Funniest Home Videos (7pm, ABC). Tom Bergeron is, bar none, the best host for this show that has been on practically forever. Bob Saget should be jealous. America, keep sending the videos in, please.
  
  
• The Amazing Race 10 (8pm, CBS). We made the mistake of applying for that ill-fated Family season, and the Weaver Family was picked to represent Central Florida. I'm embarrassed, but not deterred. The only problem is my husband and I are really normal and we travel well, so of course we will never get picked. We don't make good TV.
  
  
• Desperate Housewives
(9pm, ABC). Yes, I'm still TiVoing this. It allows me to fast forward through all the Teri Hatcher parts and get to all the other stuff I actually do enjoy. When I do that, it cuts this show into a thirty minute show that is much more palatable; at least for me.


• Brothers and Sisters (10pm, ABC)/Footballers Wives:Overtime (1opm, BBCAmerica)/Mile High (10:30pm, BBCAmerica). This is where my TiVo comes in handy. I'm trying out this new show Brothers and Sisters. So far, so good. I could live without Calista Flockhart's character, or maybe it's just her; I'm not sure. I'm not a big fan. I'm sure she's very nice in real life, but she plays such wooden characters that I have a hard time enjoying her character. It's not you, Calista, it's me.
  
  Footballers Wives:Overtime is purely fluff television, and no offence, but the Brits have this down pat. On TiVo, this is the best waste of 15 minutes of television, once you edit out the KABOOM! commercials. This is Jackie Collins television, plain and simple.
  
  Mile High is also on BBCAmerica, and this show I found by happy accident. Since then, the show has gotten more airplay and more visibility on the channel. It's set on a ficticious airline, Fresh, and centers around the airline crew and their exploits. Very funny, and very good. Catch it while BBCAmerica shows it, for I think it is off the air in Britain.
  
  
• Dexter (10pm, Showtime). Showtime does it again. This show is so good. The character of Dexter is marvelously played by Michael C. Hall, the brother in Six Feet Under. He's deliciously creepy as Dexter, a blood spatter specialist by day, a serial killer by night. Like The Sopranos, you find yourself liking Dexter even though he does things that may not fit your moral code. Between this and Weeds, Showtime is the new HBO.

Moving on to Monday:

• How I Met Your Mother (8pm; CBS). Welcome back, Neil Patrick Harris. I missed you. Seeing as I'm such a fan, I just want you to know that you make this show. For added laughs, check out Barney's Blog on the CBS website. It's hilarious. Suit Up!
  
  
• Two and a Half Men (9pm; CBS)/Heroes (9pm; NBC).
  Two and a Half Men is a show I started watching after several episodes were under way. I was surprised at how much I like it, and credit the wonderful comedic timing of Jon Cryer and Charlie Sheen. Plus, both of these men figured prominently in my teenage years, in Pretty in Pink and Ferris Bueller's Day Off respectively.
  
  Heroes is the best show on television. This is the type of show that LOST was in the beginning; the kind that you talk about all week and can't wait for the next episode to air. You read the graphic novel on the website for clues. You find yourself thinking about the characters and what will happen next. Great story, great characters. A must TiVo show.
  
  
• CSI:Miami (10pm; CBS). Yeah, still watching this. I can't tell who's more annoying, Horatio or his sidekick, Mr. Wolfe. Both try to outdo each other chewing up the scenery. I don't know why I watch this anymore, except the colors of the show look awesome in High Definition on a big screen TV. Other than that, not much here to keep me interested, but it is good for a laugh when the Hubby watches with me.
  
  
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (10pm; NBC). I wasn't a West Wing fan, but I loved Sports Night, so Aaron Sorkin is alright by me. Great show, great casting, and Matthew Perry can finally put Chandler Bing to rest. This is the role he should be remembered for in television history.
  
  
• Weeds (10pm; Showtime). Already in it's second season, this show rocks my socks. This is an ensemble cast at it's finest. Everyone, no matter what the role, plays an integral part of this story. The brother of Nancy Botwin makes the show hilarious. View his explanation about how to pleasure oneself to Nancy's 12 year old son and try not to laugh. It's impossible. I tried.


So that is what we have on out TiVo right now. I guess I should get caught up so I can tell you what we watch on Tuesday and Wednesday tomorrow!

Catching Up On My Fave Shows

Can't blog. Too many backlogged shows to watch on TiVo before they disappear.

Currently Watching:

• CSI (from last Thursday)
• Footballers Wives: Overtime (from Sunday)
• Mile High (from Sunday and this morning)
• Numb3rs (from the last two Friday nights)
• Heroes (from Monday)
• Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (did you know USA replayed the pilot last night? My TiVo did!)
• CSI: Miami (from Monday)
• Weeds
• Dexter
• and whatever I have TiVo-ed on Tuesdays, my brian is fried.

I have a post in the hopper, and will get in up as soon as I make a dent in this list. Ciao!