DEADLIEST CATCH

I love Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch. I don't know what it is that makes this show so compelling, but it rocks. (I have to admit a sort of sick sort of fascination with the episodes with a man overboard. Not the ones where people die, but the ones where the guy falls over and gets rescued.) As a number of major TV shows return from the writers strike, I find I'm less and less enchanted with big network television, and more and more interested in what would be considered niche programming, like Deadliest Catch. This is not to be confused with America's Deadliest Season; another version of the same sort of show.

There's something to be said for Mike Rowe's narration of Catch (I've got a dirty job for you, Mike... hee hee hee), and Catch just has that edge. I have no idea what the relationship of these two, similarly themed shows is... they seem identical in many ways, and a simple Google search of both terms turns up the same set of results. And that horrible Wikipedia (democratic, open, free, my ass!) doesn't shed much light on the subject either.

The one thought running through my head, every time I watch Deadliest Catch: Do we, as a society, really eat that much crab? I guess so.

THE LAST BATTLESTAR SUPPER

Hidden in this recreation of The Last Supper are clues to the final season of Battlestar Galactica.
(Click to enlarge photo.)

VIVA STEREOTYPES!

I have to admit, I love BH1's new show, Viva Hollywood: The Search For El Numero Uno Novella Star. (No, that's not a typo, I wrote BH1, since this is a post all about Latinos, and you know how they e-switch Bs for Vs.) I caught the first episode of this show, and i fell in love. And I mean, love.

Never mind the presence of over the hill star, Maria Conchita Gordita Taco Bell. Never mind the fact that not a single one of these people can act, and not one of them deserves to be on a tela novella (sp?). No, I love this show, in all its tacky, stereotyping glory.

I LOVE...

wii Golf. No, I'm not a Johnny-Come-Lately. I'm just not big on video games. My cousin recently picked one of those wii things up, and I fell in love with the golf game. I wish there was a way to have more of a variety of courses, but I love it, nonetheless.

ALWAYS GOOD ADVICE...

'RUNWAY' ON THE RUN?

Several media sources report Lifetime Networks - the network for women (and their gay male friends) - scored a major coup over NBC/Universal this week. Bravo's hit TV show... no, make that cable's highest rated reality show, Project Runway, will no longer air on Bravo, starting this fall.

Now, these reports are mildly misleading, in that Bravo will air the fifth incarnation of the runway show during the summer, starting in mid-July. So, for now, Project Runway will remain on Bravo. But the next, sixth "season" is slate to go into production for Lifetime, in the fall.

Usually (and I stress the usually part), a season runs for anywhere from 18-22 episodes (less for reality), and run once a year. Some shows, like major network shows, straddle two calendar years, but shows like Project Runway tend to have shortened runs, only appearing once a year.

The changing of the guards, or stations, as it were, means Runway will have multiple seasons in one year. Thus far, the change of networks is under fire, with a lawsuit from NBC/Universal. No word on what the grounds of lawsuit are, but given the volatile nature of the TV world, combined with NBC/U's loosing streak since the 1990s, this fight will be ugly. And I mean ugly.

We'll just have to watch what happens...

500th POST

Thanks to the small, yet faithful crowd reading and commenting on this blog.

I'M ALL FOR LISTS, BUT...

Some lists are just, well... mean. A while back, Maxim magazine listed The Five Ugliest Women on its web site. Usually, men's magazines put together lists like, "The 40 Hottest Women Under 40," or the like. But in this instance, Maxim (which has always been a little iffy, in my book) went over the line of good taste...

Which is what makes it so sinfully, delicious, I think. When I worked at Men and Freshmen we were always putting together lists. Not like the lists at our sister magazine, Unzipped, or our parent' company's "flagship" magazines, Out or the Advocate... no, our lists were geared at our readers. Lists included things like, "Seven New Year's Resolutions We've Already Broken," and "Courses We Wish They Offered In College," - which included 'How To Top (Or Just Act Like One)' - none of these lists I wrote and edited were anywhere near what I would call good taste... so, in that spirit, here are Maxim magazine's Five Ugliest Women:

Sarah Jessica Parker

I'm not a huge fan of Sex & The City - Carrie is too whiny, and too much of a self-destructive victim for my tastes, I have to admit to watching a bunch of episodes on TBS. And while I think SJP isn't ugly, I've pretty much never seen her in an outfit I liked, so she's earned a spot on this list, if you ask me.

Amy Winehouse
I love me some Amy Wino... but she is pretty toe-up. 'Nuff said.

Sandra Oh
I first saw Miss Oh when she made a cameo on Popular (I own both season box sets, bitches), and I loved her as a lesbian in that Tuscan movie... but since ascending to the heights of Hollywood, she gave into the anorexic look most actresses on that show have. She makes the list just for being on that lame show, as far as I'm concerned.

Madonna
This one is debatable. She's never been a looker, but managed to really work with what she's got. (See previous post about here image here.) But as she ages, she's looking rougher and rougher. I understand why the unimaginative, immature editors at Maxim would be afraid of an older, powerful woman like her, so we'll give them this one.

Britney Spears
I know there have been tons of stories about her mental health, but there's only one reason why a cute, all-American girl turns into a bag lady... drugs. Which would explain the way she's been looking for the past few years.

WAY TO BE ORIGINAL, BRAVO

I'll admit I've enjoyed Make Me A Supermodel, on Bravo, from time to time. I found the format fresh, and the weekly voting sessions a nice change from other reality shows. Instead of recording all the episodes at once, and airing them months later, this show held its vote on Thursday, kicked someone off on Friday, and started filming the next week's episode that same day. (American Idol does something similar, recording "live" episodes, but the format of the show - performances recorded all at once - lends itself to this weekly, live(ish) format. Model, on the other hand required several days of filming and editing before an episode was ready to air.)

I thought Bravo was finally on to something: reality programming, in near-real time. Wow, I thought, Bravo really stepped it up a notch with this show.

Boy, was I wrong.

It turns out, a show with the same exact name and format already ran in the U.K. In fact, once the American version concluded, Bravo ran a marathon of the British version. So much for original. Much like its parent network's new fall schedule (NBC, which is running not one, but four "adaptations" of previously produced shows), Bravo is suffering from a complete lack of originality.

Bravo: watch what happens, if you haven't seen the original version of the program they are ripping off.

EVERYDAY IS LIKE...

This morning, I woke up, and clicked a random tune on iTunes... Everyday Is Like Sunday by Morrissey came up, setting the tone for another beautiful Sunday morning; hit the treadmill, down some b'fast and just lounge, soaking life up.

FOUR SHOTS OF FOUR MINUTES

Here are four screencaps from the new Madonna video, 4 Minutes featuring Justin Timberlake and Timbaland.

NONE OF THIS HAS HAPPENED BEFORE...

and it will never happen again. After a year of waiting, and three years of watching, Battlestar Galactica begins the long road home... tonight.

RANDOM QUESTION:

Do you sniff your clothes before you sort them, when doing laundry?

To see another set of hilarious images I almost used for this post, click here.

CRUSH OF THE MONTH: April

My crush of the month for April are the men of Battlestar Galactica. No matter what kind of guy you're in to, BSG has some sort of tasty man candy for you to enjoy... and most of them can act, too. (Actually, they all can. It is a shame many of these actors haven't seen much work outside this show, as they are so talented.) I've singled three men out for extra attention: the actors portraying Lee "Apollo" Adama, Karl "Heilo" Agathon and Sam Anders (shown in order, below).

For additional pictures of the cast of BSG, including an extra yummy one of Anders, click here.

NO, YOU CAN'T HAVE MORE TOWELS...

STEP WHAT UP, BRAVO?

If you watch TV - even only a handful of select shows, here and there - you're probably aware of Bravo TV. The Bravo TV network is one of the cable networks in the NBC - Universal family. It started out, before the shows about housewives and haircuts, as a network devoted to the performing arts... but now, it is the "high end," or, "high concept," reality show network.

Along with shows like Project Runway, Top Chef and The Real Housewives of Orange County, there are a number of new, largely contest-based reality shows. The newest, is a dance competition called, Step It Up And Dance, hosted by Elizabeth Berkley.

Bravo heavily promos the show on all of the NBC - Universal networks, in the hopes of driving up viewer interest. But two main thoughts creep in to my head when I see the commercials for SIU&D:

1. Another dance show? Really??? Is this the best you could come up with? Maybe you should step your game up, Bravo, and try and come up with something original. At least Fox, when they steal an idea, offers a twist: when ABC found viewer ratings gold with Dancing With The Stars, Fox rolled out Skating With The Stars. While neither show boasts actual "stars" on its cast, at least the second, ripoff show tried to aim for something new and interesting. What, exactly, is Bravo aiming for in rolling this show out?

2. Would it kill you to cast some good looking contestants, Bravo? I mean, this isn't Project Runway, where personal appearance doesn't factor in to the actual content of the contest. Dancers are cast for their talent and their looks. What's with the uggos? Have you seen Manuel, the weirdo? And while we're on this subject, what's with casting the guys who just have to brag about how they are straight in an all-gay field? Internalize your homophobia much, Bravo programmers? I guess not, as your self-hating homo tendencies now rise to the surface of casting.

I know which of these two concerns is the more serious... but if you're going to stuff bland, seen-it-before programs down our throats, how about a little eye candy to go with it?

EXCLUSIVE SNEEK AT NEW "STAR TREK"

These photos were sent to me, from one of the shoots for JJ Abrams' new movie, Star Trek. It appears to be the set for Starfleet Academy, with tons of blue screen special effects (on campus at CSUN). I must admit, I'm not a fan of Abrams' work, but I'm more and more curious to see this film.

THE SECRET OF "CASTAWAY"

I have to admit, when I tried watching Castaway, I couldn't handle that much Tom Hanks in one sitting. In fact, I would say this film falls somewhere in the top 50 most boring films I've ever seen. So I never gave any thought as to what was in the package Tom Hanks was delivering... until now. I was reading a trivia book (no jokes, Marz) that mentioned how you find out what was in that FedEx box: on disc two, there is an Easter Egg, or bonus, unmarked material on a DVD. According to the bonus feature, inside the box Hanks is delivering, when stranded on a desert island is: a satellite phone!

APRIL TUNES

Fuego (Album Version) The Cheetah Girls - The more I hear this song, the more I love it. Yes, it (heavily) samples Lionel Richie's All Night Long, but this song is a fresh take on a classic melody.

4 Minutes (Album Version) Madonna feat Justin Timberlake - I'm sad that Madonna is using this song to shill Sunsilk hair products, before the song is even out, but I must admit this song kinda rocks. Kinda...

I recently discovered a bunch of remixes by Bimbo Jones, one of my favorite remixers. Bimbo Jones takes hot pop music, and remixes the sh!t out of them (in a good way). Here are some of the remixes by B-Jones currently rocking my iPod:

Come Back To Me (Club Mix) Vanessa Hudgens
Piece Of Me (Club Mix) Britney Spears
Like A Boy (Club Mix) Ciara
U+Ur Hand (Club Mix) P!nk

Cities In Dust (Album Version) Siouxsie & the Banshees - A classic 80s alternative rock song, still rocking me out, after all these years. I'm not going to pretend to have been so cool as to have liked the song back then, but I remember loving the strange melody, and not knowing what the lyrics were. Now that I'm older, and I've tracked the song (and its lyrics) down, I love this song.

Do You Want To (Album Version / Mirwais Remix) Franz Ferdinand - This song came out a while ago, but something about its upbeat, crazy (mildly homo) energy gets me bouncing, first thing in the morning. Better than caffeine, if you ask me

Stranger (Smax & Gold Remix) Hilary Duff - I love, love, love this remix, and I've become borderline obsessed with it, when I'm driving. I'm not a huge Hilary Duff fan, but this last album of hers has some gems.

Hi N Bye (Smax & Gold Remix) Till West & Eddie Thoenick feat Alexandra Price - Another remix obsession of mine: great breaks, hot vocals and synths, but the disco string and horns breakdown in the middle is to die for.

APRIL IS FOR NERDS

It is a sad, sad sign of just how lame (and old) I am, that I'm so excited about Friday nights this month. No, I'm not planning on going out or anything. I'll be staying in, and watching TV. But not just any TV. This month sees the return of two of my favorite TV shows.

Battlestar Galactica enters its fourth, and final season this week. I'm sad to see the show go, but in the end, I think it is what's best: the show can go out on top, and not worry about getting stale, or run-down. I'm looking forward to the resolution of several plot arcs, and answers to several key questions about the show. (The opening credits always mention a Cylon plan... just what is that plan?)

Doctor Who is, hands-down, one of the best imports to American TV in a long time. Never mind the show has been running, in one form or another, for several decades... this newest incarnation rocks, and I can't wait to see what Cycle Four (Season Four to us Yanks) brings.

A couple of thoughts about both shows, both of which will air on Friday nights on the Sci Fi Channel: Both are in their fourth seasons, airing in the fourth month of the year. Nerdy of me to notice, huh? Both shows are re-makes of shows from another era, and both offer fresh, bold perspectives on their respective sub-genres. While both qualify as science fiction, one (BSG) offers a dark, post-modern take on human struggles, while the other (Dr Who) takes a more upbeat, and at times, comical look at man's place in the cosmos.

If it is a Friday night, you'll know where to find me...