Whine & Cheese

Survivor Of The Fittest?

I think I might be done with Survivor.

Pretty much all season long, I haven't been watching the show until at least the next day.  Given how much I surf around the Web, particularly to entertainment-related sites, it is pretty impossible to avoid "morning after" spoilers... so house rule is... always watch reality television on the night it airs.  But for some reason, Survivor did get pushed to the next day... and given our pretty heavy TV schedule/commitment in the fall, Todd jumped off the boat early on (the first Survivor season he's missed since we've been co-habitating).  But it seemed like even the media was tiring of Survivor... most days I did not get spoiled... and when I did,  I really didn't care all that much.

Thanks to the TiVo, I found myself fast-forwarding through much of the challenges... stopping every so often to hear the "strategy" talk...

So it sounds like the show is on pretty shaky status... but the real sign of trouble is that, for the first time in its 14 installments, I didn't watch the Sunday night finale "live"... and yes, I know the winner and even one of the end-game backstab, but again... it was "oh well"/"so what" reaction.   

Obviously, casting is key to any reality show...  so I don't know if this crew just didn't cut it for me... but I can still name people I liked and disliked... and there were the usual unique personalities... this season was a bit low on the "hunk" meter... but I'd like to think I am a little less shallow than that (and most of the times the hunky guys are stupid and/or jerks and/or get voted off early... so usually that ultimately doesn't matter much). 

Or maybe Survivor has finally played itself out (and its not the only show I feel this way about)... is there a new way to mentally and physically play the game?  Plus the challenges just seem like a jigsaw puzzle of things we've seen over and over before... while any twists and tricks just seem lame or trying to hard to do something different.

We'll see... I'll probably give next season's trip to China a tryout... more out of habit than anything else... see what the cast and locale are like ... but if there's more than a two show TiVo conflict ... or if it doesn't immediately draw me in... well this tribe of one will speak with a torch snuffing via the TiVo remote.

Reality Recap

Well, I threw a lot at you yesterday with pix from the upcoming seasons of Survivor, Dancing With the Stars, and The Amazing Race 10... heck, I didn't even have much time to digest it all.

So here are some further thoughts...

Survivor
If the adage that there is "no such thing as bad publicity"... Survivor is already winning with initially splitting the tribes by race.  For a show to be in its 13th iteration, especially a reality show, the mere fact that there is so much press and buzz on the upcoming season is saying something.

A TV Guide online poll shows folks are pretty divided on the tribe divisions... 32% find it "shockingly offensive," 26% say "it might be interesting," and 41% chalk it up as a "typical reality show stunt."  As I said yesterday, I find it kind of interesting... but certainly lean to the belief that it is a smart "stunt."  The way I see it, given that there are only 5 members per tribe, there is going to be some kind of merge fairly early on... remember last season when the tribes were similarly split by age and gender.  So the "race vs. race" thing I see as a "hook" with a limited life span.

Now where things can get potentially ugly/uncomfortable is if the Caucasian team dominates and/or if racial stereotypes surface... i.e. African Americans "can't swim."  An interesting twist on this concept, I think would have been to have the contestants split across tribes... than see if at a merge or a team "shake-up" they are more loyal to their original tribe or to members of their race. 

Dancing With The Stars
Until I see the first episode, I won't make any predictions.... shockingly enough, my picks made the morning after the last season's premiere were pretty darn close.  I had the final 3 as Drew/Cheryl, Stacy/Tony... missing out only on Jerry/Anna with the 4th-placed Lisa/Louis. 

That said, I will predict who some of the early exits will be.  Ok, I am not intending to be sexist here, but I think this show is more difficult for the male "stars"... for two reasons, a) they have to "lead" and b) men generally lack rhythm/can't dance.  So, no big surprise, that I see the two weakest links as Tucker Carlson and Jerry Springer.  And besides, honestly I am not terribly familiar with any of the female "stars."

But as far as studs for this upcoming season... Mario Lopez is still looking might fine, pro dancer Tony Dovolani will likely continue to retain my attention... but I am guessing first-timer pro Jesse DeSoto may steal some of Tony's spotlight.

The Amazing Race 10
Again, hard to predict success based on pictures alone... but it would not be going out on a limb at all to pencil in the alpha male team for an end run... so that would be modelicious Tyler & James.  Likewise, this year's inspiration team of Peter & Sarah appear primed for good run... and Vipul & Arti seem to what it takes to fill the married/parents slot.

For early exit predictions, I will go with the not terribly well-traveled David & Mary (Kentucky parents) and Team Lyn Squared, Lyn & Karlyn... the Alabama Moms.... and one of the girly-girl teams... Kellie/Jamie or Dustin/Kandice.  On the gay side, Tom & Terry don't strike me as the next Chip & Reichen... but they should best the first leg exit of TAR9's Scott & John.

tags:  survivor, survivor cook islands, dancing with the stars, amazing race, amazing race 10

Survivor Gets Race-y

Ok... to finish off the reality television trifecta today... this morning the cast for 13th (!!!) edition of Survivor was announced.  Here they are... and take note of the groupings...

The Survivor Cook Islands twist is that they will start with 4 tribes with 5 members each... separated by race.  The back row has the Hispanic and African American tribes, the front row the Caucasian and Asian American tribes.  Interesting or inflammatory?  You decide.

I am leaning more to the interesting side... and it probably won't last two long as the tribes will eventually merge.  Also, back this season is the "exile island" component... where at least one tribe member will be sent to solitary each week with the chance to find a hidden immunity idol.

Survivor premieres on Thursday, September 14th.

If you'd like to read more, check these links out:

Segregated 'Survivor'

New 'Survivor' divides groups by race

And some interesting inside stuff via Reality Blurred:

Jeff Probst says 85 percent of racially split Cook Islands cast was recruited

Survivor Cook Islands cast includes at least three actors, 13 people from California

tags:  survivor

Survivor Panama: Exile Island News

I posted this over on Pop Culture Junkies, but thought I would duplicate it here for W&C readers:

The cast for Survivor Panama: Exile Island has been announced.   One of the twists this season is that the contestants will be split into 4 tribes - older men, older women, younger men, and younger women... with the "cut" between young and old being around age 32 (ouch!). The above pic seems to be in "tribe" order:

Back Row (from left to right):
Older Women
Ruth Marie, 48, Director of Retail Leasing
Melinda, 32, Singer
Cirie, 35, Registered Nurse
Tina, 45, Logging Sports Performer/Promoter

Older Men
Bruce, 58, Karate Instructor/High School Arts Teacher
Dan, 42, Retired Astronaut
Shane, 35, Owner Entertainment Marketing Company
Terry, 46, Airline Pilot/Retired Navy Fighter Pilot

Front Row (from left to right)
Younger Men
Nick, 25, Financial Sales
Austin, 24, Author
Bobby, 32, Attorney
Aras, 24, Yoga Instructor

Younger Women
Sally, 27, Social Worker
Misty, 24, Engineer
Courtney, 31, Performance Artist
Danielle, 24, Medical Sales Rep

As previously announced, at least one Survivor each week will be banished to "Exile Island." Torches start getting snuffed out on Thursday, February 2nd on CBS... and our Thursday nights get much more complicated with Dancing With The Stars, NBC Comedies/Olympic coverage & Survivor... yikes!

Friday Catch-All

Just one of those mish-mash posts:

Finally finished The City of Falling Angels last night.  I say finally since it seems like it took a while ... and it is not that I am a slow reader or that the book was not interesting, it just is hard to carve out time to sit down and read, especially this time of year. 

The book reminded me quite a bit of John Berendt's first runaway bestseller, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.  Midnight centered around a murder and subsequent trial while introducing us to a handful of quirky characters in the "oozing atmosphere" of Savannah, GA.  Angels centers around the fire (accident? arson?) that destroyed the historic Fenice Opera House and the subsequent trial and bureaucratic mess of rebuilding/restoring it all while introducing us to a handful of quirky charactres in the "oozing atmosphere" setting of Venice, Italy.  So Berendt gets no points for stepping outside the box, but he is masterful story teller and once again proves that "truth is stranger than fiction."  Venice has to be the most unique city in the world and Berendt weaves in the nice mix of history and insider's view of living in a city that really should not exist.  Now, if I can just get there before it really gets swallowed up by the surrounding seas!

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As mentioned, we are off to see Evita tonight as part of our season ticket package.  Evita holds a special place in my heart since it was my very first Broadway show way back in 1980 or 1981.  Patti LuPone had left the show by that time (or at least wasn't doing the matinee performances), but I am pretty sure I saw Mandy Patinkin as Che. 

This is my 3rd time I am seeing it on stage.  I saw it one other time in the early-mid 90's when the show came through town here in Arizona.  That time I had one of my more funny audience moments.  When you have a season ticket package, you likely are going to see shows that you would not see on an a la carte basis.  Older folks seem to have the toughest time with some of the more groundbreaking or rockin' shows. 

I had an older couple next to me... and moments after the lights went up for intermission, the older gentleman turned to his wife and said of Eva... "Why does she have to sing SO LOUD?!"... that still cracks me up to today and I know I have repeated that story way too often over the years.

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WARNING:  Survivor Spoiler - Avert Your Eyes!

Interesting twist on last night's Survivor with playing up the "curse of the car."  Cindy had a tough decision and I can actually defend both sides... but as far as "outwit, outplay, outlast" it was pretty much a blunder.  Now that is easier to say given the result of tribal council, but I think Cindy would have pretty good shape if she made the choice to give the four other folks the vehicle... and, more importantly, ultimately having three of those folks on the jury. 

So as always, here are my fearless finale predictions based on what we know now (granted a lot could change thanks to any last minute backstabbing):

Danni vs. Lydia - Danni wins 6-1
Danni vs. Rafe - Rafe wins 4-3
Danni vs. Steph - Danni wins 6-1
Lydia vs. Rafe - Rafe wins 6-1
Lydia vs. Steph - Steph wins 5-2
Rafe vs. Steph - Rafe wins 7-0

So no surprise that I am not giving Lydia a chance, with Steph not falling too far behind.. while I think she is deserving she will definitely have the most daggers directed at her from the jury box... with Danni vs. Rafe being the most intriguing final two.

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Recently in my pronouncing my undying love of her cover version of "All I Want For Christmas," I admitted to not following Mariah Carey all the much in recent years. (Seen here at this week's announcement of Grammy nomination)

Can someone please tell me when exactly her breasts required their own zip code?

The Emancipation of Mimi?  More like The Emancipation of Mammary!

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Finally, it looks to be a very busy weekend of holiday preparations.  With Christmas falling on a Sunday this year, it seems like time is really short... since we are robbed of an "extra" weekend to prepare for the big day. 

We still have to decorate our tree... and I really need to "deck the halls" a lot more since we will have a higher than normal amount of visitors this year.  In the past few years, we have had Todd's parents up for the day... but this year, his sister and brother's family will either be spending some time here or passing through.

Also, I need to wrap presents and get them ready to ship out early next week so they comfortably arrive well before the holiday for the family back East. 

And we need to start thinking about the holiday menu.  We are hosting Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  Yesterday UPS delivered our traditional Christmas Eve posole soup/stew mix from this place in Santa Fe that we have been using/happy with the last couple of years... the funny thing is the posole & seasonings $5.75 and I had to pay $5.95 for shipping (the lowest, non-rush price available)... that seemed pretty silly, but it is still worth it. 

Last night, we watched a hilarious episode of Paula's Home Cooking on the Food Network, Paula's banana & walnut stuffed french toast looked yummy... so maybe we'll give that a try on Christmas morn'.

And...oh, there's still gift shopping too!

And... oh... oh!   Another milestone here at W&C, this is my 700th post (yikes!) and also just passed the 600 mark with comments... and TypePad tells me I am nearing the 200,000 page view mark (just under 197k at the moment).

Ok, enough rambling... have a great weekend!

Scumbags!

What a tasty episode of Survivor last night.   I am not going to say much since I am definitely saving this one for Todd when he gets home... but what do you think of our gal Steph?!

There seems to be considerable backlash regarding Steph on the boards... heck, she is giving Lost's fictional Ana Lucia a run for her money in the "like" department... but I am still a fan... but this is coming from a former Jersey boy.

But that got me thinking about Steph ... since she is from New Jersey and I am guessing Italian (with a last name like LaGrossa!), I think she may be taking her cues from some of Jersey's most infamous fictional characters... throw in the "mob boss" mentality of Tony Soprano ... wrap that in the guise of Adriana... and the end product is Steph.

Now, will her fate be the ever-elusive Tony or crawling thru the woods like Adriana?  You just never know when it comes to Survivor, but I thinking it just may be the latter.

Random Friday Ramblings

We built this beautiful new stadium and no one shows up! 

That is what the folks in Shanghai have been saying this week. It has not been a good first year for the brand spanking new Qi Zhong Stadium.  The stadium is supposed to resemble a magnolia blossom... and even cooler yet, the roof is retractable!

But the stadium is probably the biggest attraction at this year's Tennis Masters Cup - the big year-ending event on the professional men's tennis tour.

The event is supposed to feature the Top 8 players of the year in a round-robin event.  Astonishingly enough, 3 of those 8 either did not make over to China due to injury/personal reasons and 2 more withdrew prior to or shortly after their first match.  The ATP Tour is having a hard time explaining this to tournament officials... calling it a "perfect storm" and promising there will likely not be a repeat any time soon. 

I am guessing those who do not follow tennis likely are more familiar with the players NOT playing... Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Andre Agassi, and Marat Safin... than those who ARE on the court.  So the Cup is pretty much just left with #1 Roger Federer, who has been a bit hobbled with an ankle injury of his own.  Heck, even as a pretty rabid tennis fan, I am finding it hard to muster up some enthusiam over a Nikolay Davydenko vs. Mariano Puerta match!

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What exactly did Jennifer Aniston do to be named "Woman of the Year"?  Well, except to agree to be photographed on the cover of a men's magazine with half a breast exposed.

Despite being accused of some recent Jen bashing in my household, I really do like her just fine... she genuinely seems like a nice person and I do think she is quite a attractive.  It is just every so often, I experience some "Jen fatigue."  Like when news of the divorce from Brad Pitt hit... or during the never-ending "Friends is ending" media coverage... or when she got married to Brad Pitt... or when "the Rachel" hair-do was all the rage... but other than those times, I really don't mind her at all... seriously!

Now she has publicly handled the divorce with all the grace and dignity you can ask ... but I just tired of seeing her have to dance around the topic on every single talk show in the country (and also her new non-relationship with Vince Vaughn)... it is really no one's business, despite these talks shows trying to convince us otherwise.

But Woman of the Year?  Now, I realizes this is not Time Magazine... so it is of no real consequence... more of a marketing ploy... but c'mon she got a divorce, made a movie (or two), and had to go on the press junket from hell... is this really an accomplishment?  Now, Angelina Jolie wooing Pitt away from America's Sweetheart... now that's doing something!

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Note to future Survivors:  You want to keep the annoying guy!

It was another classic Survivor repeat blunder on last night's show.  With all the tribe shuffling, I have lost track of who was on what tribe... but going into the merge it was 6 vs. 4... the plan (as it always is) is for the 6 to get rid of 4 before turning on each other.  But this never ends up happening... and "the plan" got thrown to the curb again last night.

Now I could certainly sympathize with the Survivors, we only saw part of Jamie's paranoic ramblings on last night's show and I was rolling my eyes and thinking to myself "shuuuut the ff&$#ck up" ... but this is the under-rated "survival" part of Survivor.  Sure the elements, lack of food, physical contests, being away from your family are all tough... but keeping around a person you (and no one else!) can't stand ultimately ends up being the one challenge most Survivor contestants fail at.

I think anyone could have won in the finale over Jamie.  Heck, even Lydia... who Probst just stopped short of calling a "capital-L" Loser during last night's challenges.

Now, we'll just see if the women are smart enough to take advantage of this abandonment of the 6 vs. 4 plan.  The ladies now have a 4-3 advantage... pick off each of the guys.... barring an individual immunity the following week the original trio of Steph, Cindy and Lydia then knock out Danni... Steph and Cindy battle it out to take Lydia to the final and take the crown.  Easy, huh?  But we all know that is not going to happen... it never does!

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Finally (!!), Oprah's topic yesterday was When I Knew I Was Gay. 

Well, actually the first half hour was devoted to that specific topic... with the remainder of the show focused on an 18 year old lesbian dealing with her mother's not-so wonderful reaction to her relationship with a 21 year old "I never was attracted to another woman before her" girlfriend (in the name of Anne Heche, run young girl run!)

So that got me thinking... when did I know?  "Know" not being acceptance or action (that's a whole other post...or not!). 

But one memory does stand out to me... and as embarrassing as it is, I guess I will fess up.  One time when I was shopping for spiral-bound single-topic notebooks for the new school year, I remember being drawn to one featuring a shirtless Dirk Benedict of Battlestar Galatica... well, not he had a sweater with the sleeves thrown over his shoulders and tied together over his chest (quite the fashion statement, huh?).  Not this picture here... which is really quite more gay than this particular notebook cover (don't you just love the unbuttoned denim shorts?).  The funny thing is I don't even remember if I watched the show... but Dirk was pretty hunky at the time.  So how old did that make me... well a quick check shows Battlestar aired in 1978... so that would have made me 10 or 11.

But I am sure I "knew" well before that... flipping through 70s pictures to find that Dirk picture stirred up some other memories.  I seem to remember being a fan of Nancy Drew (played by future Dynasty star, Pamela Sue Martin), but having a pull towards the Hardy Boys (Shaun Cassidy and Parker Stevenson)... both of those were circa 1977... and I think I was even guilty of getting an issue of Tiger Beat (or two)... so gay, gay, gay, gay...  I guess I should stop my mental teasing of Carson Kressley!

Another Round of Drink(ard)

Needless to say, I was happy to see Bobby Jon Drinkard return to Survivor (not that I am a fan of "second chances" on these shows... but if they had to do it Bobby and Steph were probably high on my list).  You may remember Bobby John was a former Fine-Winer and I assumed he would probably be quickly re-instated...

However, I think I just might wait a week or tow until th boy gets re-hydrated!

Things were looking good at the beginning...it looked like BJ had put on a little weight, still had those flowing locks and aw-shucks kind of charm... that we all fell in love with last season.

But then things started to go downhill.  The 11-mile hike through the Guatemalan jungle just about did our poor BJ in... first he tumbled to the ground multiple times with severe cramping... and upon getting to the camp collapsed... eyes rolling to the back of his head... he was not alone ... many of the other men in the tribe suffered similar fits of nausea and cramping... but BJ's was definitely the most dramatic and, okay a bit downright scary.   I have a feeling the tribe will be keeping the nurse practitioner (Margaret) around for awhile!

We'll see how Bobby Jon fares next week... he seems somewhat recovered in the preview clips, but is freaky/screaming about something!

Fine Wine All-Time #2

We're down to the Final 2...

At #2, with 87 days on the list is... Jeff Probst.   

Pardon this tabloid shot of the Survivor host... but it pretty difficult to find shirtless Probst pix!    I am thinking may be the only other public one... other than the cute one (with his pants down revealing Taz boxer shorts) that I posted originally.  Without much eye candy on last season's Vanuatu (unlike the recently completed Palau), Jeff pretty much remained on the FW list for that entire season... I like his snarky attitude... and heck these pix show there something going on beneath those button-down island attire.

Have you guessed who our top guy is?  Hit reload tomorrow to find out!

W&C is on vacation. Feel free to leave a comment, but this post will be deleted upon our return and replaced with a real vacation diary entry.

TV Talk: Lost, Survivor, WW

Spoiler Alert:  If you have NOT watched the latest episodes of Lost, Survivor, and West Wing... probably best just to skip by this post.

Lost
Well, JJ Abrams pulled a good one on us... doing a little reverse psychology and not doing a surprise twist with the death of Boone.  Even when Boone was on his last breath, I still half expected something else to happen... say that crazy French chick coming out of nowhere and gunning someone down.  Kind of ironic that Boone dies in a plane crash, huh? 

While I certainly appreciated the eye candy, I admit to being not quite as devastated as someone else in our household.  I can understand the whole "circle of life" thing that was going on in the episode (a surprisingly cheesy move) and how this will shake things up on the island.  Any bets that Claire will name the baby Boone?? And with his death, Boone takes to the grave that he made contact with the outside world... so that is pretty convenient as well (although I suspect the radio was probably irreparably damaged in the re-crash).

But be prepared for another lengthy wait between episodes, I hear we won't see another new Lost episode until May -- with the show ultimately closing out its first season (no surprise that it has been officially renewed) with a 3 hour "event" airing over two weeks (with a 2 hour season finale).

Survivor
Well, it was the Worst Week Ever for pretty boys on the island... as an increasingly skeletal looking Bobby Jon got knocked out of Survivor... as Ulong continued its winless streak in immunity challenges.  What do you think will happen next week?  Do you think they will just have Stephenie compete in an immunity challenge with Koror and if she doesn't win, she's out??   Have to give the show credit for surprising us and just letting the Ulongs disappear without an emergency/intervention tribe merger.

Am I the only one who feel that they don't even know some of the members of Koror?  I see some of the women every week and I honestly could not tell you their names!  I don't think we have ever got this far into a season, where I feel that I do not have clue about some of the participants... but you only get to really know them once the mental game begins... and with only one trick tribal council, Koror hasn't yet had to start scheming.

Alas, we will probably be bidding a Fine Wine adieu to Bobby Jon soon... but I will let him hang on for a few more days.

West Wing
A pretty good season finale for The West Wing ... no big surprise, that Jimmy Smits/Matt Santos pulled out the nomination at the divisive Democratic Convention (c'mon did you think Ed O'Neill/Al Bundy was going to pull the upset?)... but I am glad I remained spoiler-free that Leo ended up being the surprise VP nominee.  While it is a big surprise that a man who just had a serious heart-attack accepted the job, I guess there is a current "real-life" precedent that makes it a bit more easy to believe.  I am pretty optimistic that next season is going to be pretty darn good.  And if that was'n't enough, what about CJ?  Will she be exposed as the source of the leak about the potential use of a military space shuttle to save the stranded astronauts or do you think we are being mislead?   Tune back in this September (or even October if the show decides to go "non-stop" again)!

The Weekend
Probably be a fairly busy weekend, as you see the days are getting teasingly close with regards to our vacation... so will probably look into getting our LA flights an overnight LAX hotel booked this weekend... also get the doggies reserved at the kennel.  We are also dog sitting next week... our guest pup arrives Sunday morning.   

Tonight, we are off to our local independent bookstore to see former Secretary of State Maddy Albright... she is on tour promoting the paperback release of her memoir.  I hope Todd is able to get his hardcover edition signed as well... he is quite atwitter about meeting up Madame Secretary.  Ok, I better shut up as I think I just got myself into some trouble!

Have a great weekend!