Nip/Tuck 4.03 Spoilers

This episode should air on October 3, 2006.

Christian is at the gym with Fabio, his trainer. Christian finds out he is not in the best shape possible. Christian tells Fabio that he has a real job and does not have time to workout that much but then notices another plastic surgeon named Dr. Mike Hamoui having a much easier time working out. Christian later finds himself in the showers at the same time as Mike and checks out his very fit body. Mike notices Christian's staring and starts a conversation with him. Mike knows who Christian is and praises what McNamara/Troy has done for the plastic surgery business. Then Mike reveals that his business is booming and Christian becomes jealous of Mike's body and success. Christian asks Mike how he makes time for both and Mike confesses that he does not eat and goes to the gym any time he has a spare moment.

Just as Christian is about to leave the gym, he spots Matt and confronts him about not calling. Matt is not in a mood to talk and they have a confrontation. Christian makes some reference to Kimber as "Hari Kimber", it seems that she is on some sort of spiritual mission perhaps.

Meanwhile, Sean and Julia are interviewing nurses to help with their soon to be born son. It appears that the baby will be handicapped and need reconstructive plastic surgery. They speak to a woman named Monica Wilder who says all the right things and impresses the McNamaras. After the interview, Monica needs a ride home and Sean offers to take her. Monica and Sean have some small talk in the car but seem to have bonded during their conversation. Suddenly we see that Sean and Monica are at a motel having sex.

Later on Sean calls Julia and tells her that he has run out of gas and will get home as soon as he can. Julia hopes that Monica got home first so that she does not have a bad impression of them. Sean feels the guilt about what he has done and tells Monica that it would not be the best idea if she worked for them. Monica agrees but blames herself for ruining a great opportunity. Sean feels sorry for her and agrees to give her a nose job as a parting gift.

The next day Christian visits Mike's office for a quickie "lunchtime liposuction" procedure. Christian notices that Mike's operating room is better than his. During the procedure, Christian realizes that he feels degraded by having such a successful and toned man see his flaws. They get into a testosterone sparring match and then Mike asks Christian why Sean is not able to perform this procedure on Christian. All Mike gets in response is an excuse.

RW/RR Challenge Scoop

Filming of the next upcoming Real World/Road Rules Challenge is already underway in Brazil. No word on when an airdate but it would likely be after The Real World Key West has its finale on August 8th and the Fresh Meat Challenge has its finale on September 11th. Castmembers we can expect on the Brazil challenge are from Real World Beth S., Aneesa, and another quad group from the most recent Real World season Paula, John, Svetlana and Tyler. Derrick and Tina are the only members from Road Rules known at this time with an exception of Casey (Wes' partner) from the Fresh Meat Challenge, who will potentially become considered part of the Road Rules gang. Further speculation is that Derrick and Casey end up hooking up so I guess that does not mean well for Derrick's romance with Diem. Those people who are already revealed to have made the return trip home from Brazil are John and Paula (big surprise) as well as Tina. No word on weather or not anyone from Austin decided to try their luck again on this challenge.

As for the Fresh Meat Challenge, there is speculation that the winner has already been leaked. Stop reading now if you don't want to know. Ok, fair enough. Supposedly Darrell's winning streak does not end as he and Aviv walk away with the $250k.

TV on DVD Release Dates: 05-06 Season

Over the last couple of weeks I have seen a lot of questions around the net about when our favorite TV series from the 2005-2006 season will be available on DVD. Here is what I have so far and I'll update once more information becomes available.

June 13: Medium (S1)
June 27: Project Runway (S2)
July 11: 30 Days (S1)
July 18: Carnivale (S2)
August 8: Prision Break (S1)
August 22: House (S2), Veronica Mars (S2)
August 29: Arrested Develop. (S3), Desp. Housewives (S2), Nip/Tuck (S3)
September 5: Lost (S2), Supernatural (S1)
September 12: Grey's Anatomy (S2), The Office (S2), Smallville (S5)
September 19: Gilmore Girls (S6)
September 26: One Tree Hill (S3)
November: Alias (S5)

30 Days News & Update

One of the summer's best reality TV shows is coming back soon! 30 Days will be back on air on Wednesday, July 26th at 10pm eastern on FX. If you have not heard of this show or watched it when it was on last summer, it is a documentary about someone who lives a life drastically different from their own for 30 days. This show is produced by Morgan Spurlock, who is the genius behind the movie Super Size Me. If you want to catch up on last season's 6 life changing episodes, the first season DVD will be released on July 11th in anticipation of the season 2 premiere. Those of you who are familiar with the show will be happy to know that Morgan was the subject of one of the episodes again for the upcoming season. While there are no details yet about what the topic of this episode entails, it is sure to be a great follow up to Morgan and Alex's minimum wage experiment last season. Speaking of Morgan and Alex, you all will be happy to know that they got married in Fiji on May 3rd this year. Best wishes to them!

Update on 6.15.06: Want to know where Morgan Spurlock will be spending his 30 days in season 2? That would be at the Henrico County Jail in Virginia. The episode was filmed in February and will focus on drug addiction rehabilitation as well. Some other topics that will be covered in the second season of 30 Days are immigration (immigrant family living with border patrol officer), abortion and outsourcing. This six episode season will end on August 30th.

Update on 7.21.06: I'm anxiously awaiting the premiere of this wonderful and thought provoking series. I have learned the topic of this season's 6 episodes, they are in order: Immigration 9anti-immigation man living with immigrant family), Outsourcing (man who los job due to outsourcing goes to India to live with the people who replaced him) , Athism (Athiest mom lives with evangelical christian family) , New age therapies (man with anger issues learns new age techniques), Abortion (pro choice woman who has had an abortion lives and works in a pro life center) and Incarceration (Morgan gets thrown in jail).

Nip/Tuck 4.02 Spoilers

This episode will air on September 26, 2006.

The episode opens with Christian at a strip club and has taking a liking to a huge breasted woman named Blu Mondae. Blu is talking about how her breasts are natural and they bother her. Christian tells her to stop talking. When Blu finds out that Christian is a plastic surgeon, they end up in Christian's bedroom having sex. Blu proposes working out a deal with Christian to get her breasts reduced but Christian says he does not do favors anymore. They continue to have sex.

Sean and Christian are getting used to having Michelle (from 4.01) involved at the office. Then Christian meets with a man named Mitchell and his much older sugar daddy boyfriend named Arthur. Turns out that Arthur wants work done on Mitchell but Christian senses that Mitchell is not too interested in having plastic surgery. Christian asks Mitchell to come back another time for a private consultation.

After the credits we see Sean and Matt are having a conversation at home. Sean and Julia want Matt to attend a gym so that he can become more social and give him something to do. Matt is not too interested, he'd rather work out in the garage.

Mitchell comes to visit Christian in private and Mitchell confesses that he is not sure that he is gay, he just likes the perks that come with a rich boyfriend. Christian tries to convince Mitchell that receiving those perks is not worth going through surgery. Mitchell asks Christian if he is "bi" as well. Christian says no, he just does not like to see people getting taken advantage of. Christian offers to help get Mitchell out of the situation and asks Mitchell to hang out with him sometime, to show him some options.

Meanwhile, Sean meets a man named Alex at a coffee shop who has a facial deformity. Sean offers his help. At first Alex is not interested but then Alex takes Sean's card and visits Sean at the office. Sean asks Alex why his parents never took Alex to get corrective surgery but Alex says that his parents did not have the money. Sean then offers to perform corrective surgery on Alex for free.

Later on Christian and Mitchell go to the strip club. Christian spots Blu Mondae and asks her to help out Mitchell and get him to leave the gay boyfriend. Blue agrees but then Christian asks her to have sex with Mitchell. Blue is appalled but when Christian offers to do her breast reduction for free, Blue has a change of heart. Blue and Mitchell end up having a good time but they only pretend to have sex for Christian's sake.

Sean performs Alex's surgery but during the procedure he discovers that Alex's deformity is too severe to be fixed all in one surgery. Once Alex wakes up, Sean explains the problems and offers to do a number of procedures and braces to fix Alex completely. Alex declines because he would not want to go through the pain and look even worse than he already does for a payoff in the far future, he is used to the way he looks anyway.

Michelle is surprised by a woman named James. Michelle does not like the surprise and makes sure nobody is watching but then gives James a bottle of pills. James unbuttons her shirt then first caresses and kisses Michelle. Liz watches from afar.

Sean and Christian are talking about some sort of intervention with Matt. Christian wants to tighten the purse strings but wants Julia on board with the plan so that everyone is united. Sean agrees to the plan. When they talk to Julia, they find out that she has already given Matt some money.

Mitchell comes to visit Christian at his apartment and tells Christian that Arthur found out about the strip club and threw him out. Christian feels for Mitchell and gives him some money and offers to set Mitchell up in a nice hotel for a while until he gets back on his feet. Mitchell asks to use the bathroom and Christian lets him in. Mitchell then appears out of the bathroom completely naked and offers to give Christian a blow job. Christian freaks out and tells Mitchell to leave. Once Mitchell continues to pursue Christian, Mitchell gets punched in the nose and Christian throws him out.

Later on Julia talks to Sean and agrees to the plan about Matt. Julia is toughened by the fact that the baby is going to have some developmental problems and reveals that she has decided to name the baby Conor.

Christian goes to visit Blu at the strip club after she has her breasts done. Blu is wearing a black wig and has decided to change her persona to Ashley Wednesday. Christian displays ambivalence as the show ends with him in contemplation of what he has become.

Rescue Me 3.10 Spoilers

This episode will air August 8, 2006.

Tommy hires a cab driver to take him to Rockaway when he sees that an Escalade belonging to him is stolen. Tommy gets into the driver's seat of the cab to chase after the Escalade. The cabbie is upset but when Tommy agrees to give him $100, he lets Tommy take over the wheel. When Tommy catches up with the Escalade and has a confrontation with the driver. Jerry is in a club dancing with Karlene when he is offered some weed, Jerry declines. Later on Tommy visits Stack who is still in the hospital. Stack's wife Deb asks Tommy to do her a favor. The crew also learns that Probie wants to transfer.

Big Brother Top 20 Update

I'm updating my previous post about the potential list of Big Brother Top 20 candidates. This week CBS has made another mistake and revealed the identity of those potential contestants that was supposed to be kept secret until the June 21st special edition of Big Brother. CBS has made similar goofs like this in the past so its fairly certain that these 20 will be the ones we can vote for. The link has since been taken down or else I would provide it so you could see for yourself but this fact adds more credibility to the mistake. If you also go back to the post I made a week or so ago, you will see that most of the 20 I had is listed here and gives us another reason to believe this is the top 20. The ones with ^ by their name are assumed from my previous list because of some common names that could be several people.

BB1: George
BB2: Bunky, Mike^, Monica, Will^
BB3: Danielle, Lisa, Marcellas
BB4: Alison, Dana, Erika
BB5: Diane, Jase, Nakomis
BB6: Howie, Ivette, James, Janelle, Kaysar, Michael^

As for who I'm voting for and would like to see in the house are Diane, Nakomis and Janelle for the women and George, Kaysar and Marcellas for the men. It was a tough choice for me and I would like to see most of the 20 on BB7 but I have to make a selection because I can't vote for all of them. I am not voting for previous winners because I think they will be targeted and ousted early anyway but Alison and Will would certainly make for an interesting house dynamic.

Stanley Cup Finals

With the television season and its spoilers being on hiatus for the time being, it is time to look at one of the more exciting final match ups in the world of sports and make some predictions. The NHL finally has their Stanley Cup finals schedule and teams set. In keeping with my tradition of looking at the odds, here are the current series odds courtesy of bodog.com:

Edmonton to win in 4 games: +1500
Edmonton to win in 5 games: +700
Edmonton to win in 6 games: +400
Edmonton to win in 7 games: +500
Carolina to win in 4 games: +1200
Carolina to win in 5 games: +450
Carolina to win in 6 games: +425
Carolina to win in 7 games: +350

My take on these odds: The best odds to make a bet would be Edmonton in 7 for sure. I think either team has a shot to win the Cup and a 7 game series is very possible. I'm worried about the rust factor that has plagued each team in the Western Conference coming off of convincingly winning the previous series. That is why I look for Carolina to have the edge coming out of the gates at home. I'll guess Carolina in 5 because I think Edmonton may have to much rust and pressure on them. Either way, I'm looking forward to the first game tonight and a very good match up for the finals.

Rescue Me 3.09 Spoilers

This episode will air August 1, 2006.

This episode pretty much picks up where the 3.08 left off. Tommy is visiting Stack in the hospital. Stack's wife Deb is crying because his other leg has been amputated. Tommy tells Deb that he will stick around and watch Stack for he so she can go home for a little while.

Franco finds out that his new girl Natalie is living with a guy but it turns out that its her brother Richard who has some disabilities. But when Natalie is out of the room Franco finds out that Richard has it out for him. Later on the three of them go out to dinner and when they are walking back Richard calls Franco a black racial slur. Franco says the he is Puerto Rican while Natalie blames her brother's outburst on Tourette's. In the end they all pretty much offend everyone on the street.

Jerry visits his wife at the nursing home and Jerry becomes upset because she does not have any idea who he is, she won't even call him Bud anymore. Kathleen, a woman who works at the home, tells Jerry that it may be better if he forgets about his wife. Jerry is offended and the next day Kathleen comes all the way down to the station to apologize.

Meanwhile, Lou is still doing yoga with Epiphany, Mike is trying to break up with Chris and Sheila also appears.

List of CW Affiliates

One of the concerns I hear about the most from TV viewers is whether or not they will be able to get the new CW channel in the fall. I found a great list of all the announced CW affiliates and will name the specific channel that the CW will be on in that market. This list is updated all the time as the CW adds more stations and is a great resource for information. Here is the link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_CW_affiliates

Another thing that is important to note is that the WB or UPN station that is not going to carry the CW will likely contain either the FOX owned My Network TV or local programming and syndicated shows. So, its not like one channel is going to go black or disappear on the launch date of September 18th.

If you have any questions about what channel your CW will be on, I'll be happy to answer them. Some states have a lot of different markets and I have a great resource for finding out which market people are in. This is a big change merging two networks and I know we all want to make sure we will be able to watch the CW in the fall.

Nip/Tuck 4.01 Spoilers

Here are some spoilers for the first episode of the new season of Nip/Tuck that will premiere on September 19, 2006.

Christian and Sean meet a couple of pretty women in a bar. Turns out they are a mother-daughter pair named Jill and Riley. Sean decides to go home to Julia while Christian takes the ladies back to his place. Sean and Christian trying to have sex at the same time in each of their respective houses. Sean tries to have sex with a six months pregnant Julie but she is too uncomfortable and asks him to stop. Christian gets Jill and Riley in bed but gets into a fight with them as soon as Riley realizes Christian won't kiss either of them. Christian then throws the girls out because Jill tells him he is going to die alone because he won't let anyone get close to him.

The next day at the office, Sean and Christian are interviewing a man named Burt Landau who is in his 70's and his young wife named Michelle. Burt had testicular cancer and is not happy with the small size of testicular implants. Burt has something larger in mind and asks the guys for help. Later on it appears that Sean and Christian have made a business deal with the Landaus concerning the practice.

Julia goes to the doctor and they discuss something that may be wrong with the baby. Julia reveals that she has not told Sean because he may have not wanted to continue the pregnancy had he known.

Sean interviews another patient named Cindy Plumb who is in her 50's. Cindy's request is to get a voice lift because she is a phone sex operator. Cindy has been a drinker and smoker for many years but has found joy in the 1-900 business to get over a painful divorce. Sean sympathetically agrees to perform the surgery.

Christian decides to see a therapist named Faith to talk about his issues after observing Sean and his family happy together. Christian and Faith discuss the fact that Christian only likes to have sex with women doggy style because he does not want to be intimate with them and see their faces. The next day we see that Christian is having sex with Faith in her office doggy style.

The episode ends with Christian alone at a bar. When a young beautiful woman approaches him, Christian declines and continues to sit alone.

Bachelor 9: Lorenzo

After taking last fall off, ABC is bringing back the ninth edition of The Bachelor to its fall 2006 schedule airing 1t 9pm eastern on Mondays. ABC has also decided to reveal the identity of the next Bachelor and he is Lorenzo Borghese, a member of an Italian royal family. The Borghese family is also famous for its cosmetics business where Lorenzo oversees a line of pet care cosmetic products. No word yet if Lorenzo's career will be gone into detail on the show. The season will be filmed in Rome in keeping with the Italian theme. I'm not so sure that this is the proper set up for an actual successful match but we'll have fun watching the crazy women think they are going to become royalty overnight.

Six Degrees Pilot Review

I'm going to give a little sample and review of a couple of the more interesting fall pilots as we wait for the summer TV to really begin. I'll write up what the first episode is about and my review at the end. This process should give us all a good idea if we will be interested in watching the show come fall.

The main characters are Carlos (a public defender), Mae *pictured* (a troubled and mysterious woman), Whitney (a powerful executive), Damian (a gambler and chauffeur), Laura (a mom with a failed marriage), and Steven (a recovering addict and a photographer).

Carlos is assigned to help Mae out of trouble when she is charged with indecent exposure. Carlos makes a deal with a judge to get Mae out of trouble because he feels something for her. Later on Carlos tells his friends with benefits girl Sandy that he has met someone and wants to break it off.

We meet Whitney as she finds out that she has made partner at her PR firm. Whitney's boyfriend Roy helps her celebrate as she asks him to marry her. Roy likes the idea but wants to be the one to surprise her with a ring.

Steven appears as he has snuck to his son's school to see him. It seems that his ex will not let Steven see his son, Max. Steven gets upset and goes to a bar where Damian is as well, they do not know each other.

Damian is at the bar watching a race that he has bet on. He loses and then goes to pick up a client in his Town Car. The client is none other than Roy on his way to see Whitney.

Later on Mae is on a pay phone talking to an Eric who is upset that she got in trouble with the law because she is supposed to be on the run. Mae tells Eric she has a plan.

Laura is at lunch with a friend Bonnie about how she is going back to work. Laura is hiding the reason of her broken marriage as the reason she needs to back to work.

Damian is waiting for a client who actually turns out to be his brother Michael. Its seems that Michael wants to help Damian out of his gambling debt. Damian does not take the offer but keeps it in mind.

Whitney has found one of Steven's photos by coincidence and has asked to have a meeting with him. Whitney offers Steven a job for a perfume client but Steven becomes upset and walks out. Whitney goes after him but instead sees one of her co-workers looking at a profile of Roy on a dating website. Whitney confronts Roy who says it was done as a joke and he is not looking for someone to date.

After Mae changes her appearance with a drastic haircut and color, she goes in for a live-in nanny interview at Laura's house. Laura is impressed with Mae and offers her a job since her references checked out . Later on Mae talks to Eric on the phone and commends his fine job pretending to be a reference. They talk about how the job is great because Mae will get paid cash and does not have to sign a lease to live anywhere, no trail. Later on Mae goes on a walk with Laura's daughter Eliza and gets scared because she thinks someone is following her. Mae considers quitting the job, it may be too dangerous.

Steven goes back to a gallery where his work used to be shown and regrets that his addiction had ruined his old life. Steven asks the owner to show his old photos but the owner suggests that Steven make new work to make people forget about what happened. Steven says that he does not have the inspiration anymore and doubts this idea would work.

Later on Whitney coincidently talks at a nail salon with a stranger who happens to be Laura. They talk about the dating website Whitney found Roy's profile on and Laura agrees to help Whitney.

After trying to call Mae and finding the number disconnected, Carlos sees Mae go into a nightclub and tries to get in but the bouncer won't let him. Carlos spots Damian and his Town Car and asks for a ride down the street back to the nightclub in order to look like a VIP. Damian offers Carlos some advice and clothing to look more the part of a VIP.

The next day Carlos' boss finds out about the deal with the judge and is not happy but admires his passion for wanting to help Mae out. He suspends Carlos but does not fire him.

Laura finally decides to confront her failed marriage and sends her husband's things away in a moving van. Once the van is out of sight, Laura breaks down on the street.

Steven runs home and turns his bathroom into a darkroom. It seems that he has captured something on film that inspired him. As the image develops we see that it is Laura during her break down.

That night Laura and Whitney have set Roy up by getting him to come to a fake date to meet Laura. Once Roy arrives, Whitney gets upset and knows that Roy was lying and is a cheater. Roy says that he knew it was a set up and he came to surprise Whitney with an engagement ring and pops the question.

Damian is off to pick up Michael and wants to accept his offer for help. Michael appears out of a building with another man and what appears to be a body bag. Michael asks Damian to pop the trunk. The next day Michael thanks Damian for helping him out the previous night and pays him a large sum of cash. Damian is dealing with the fact that he shot someone. Michael asks Damian to keep working with him and asks Damian to keep an eye out for a girl he is looking for, the photo reveals that it is Mae.

My take on the pilot: I liked reading this pilot more than I expected. I liked the characters right away and it was interesting how they were all slightly connected. There were several other coincidental ways that the character's crossed paths that I did not write about. I am interested to see where this story is going but I don't know if it is going to evolve into a big mystery or if all six are going to finally meet and become one big group of friends. I'll have to wait and see the show to really grasp the tone and direction but so far so good. And with a slot after Grey's Anatomy, Six Degrees has a good chance to become a hit.

Updated 5.27.06

Upfront Review

Since I missed the boat on all the upfront news while I was away, I'll spare you all with the endless recap of all the schedules and pickups. I'm sure you all have seen the list and grids 10 times by now anyway. But, I will highlight some things I found interesting and newsworthy.

First of all, one of the biggest surprises came with the pick of 7th Heaven, which will be back on the CW in its 8pm eastern slot on Mondays. After the super lame finale I am a little glad that the show will be back in hopes of a decent ending but I'm upset that we were tricked into thinking this was the real series finale we saw. Too bad for the Everwood fans who got the shaft with this move but we'll have fun watching the writers get out of the hole they wrote themselves in with the multiple twin pregnancies and the ambiguous Sandy-Simon storyline. I should also not that I heard that there may only be 13 episodes of 7th Heaven's eleventh season. That makes no sense to me at all since I have no idea why they would bring this show back from the dead for half a season. But, its something to keep our eyes and ears open for nonetheless.

Another pickup that was a surprise is that What About Brian will be back in the fall. I like that the show is sticking around in its 10pm eastern slot on the ABC Monday schedule and I'm glad that the network decided to give the show another chance. What About Brian seemed to get stronger as the season went on so I have high hopes for the next season. No word yet about what will become of the 3 unaired episodes.

It was interesting to see ABC move Grey's Anatomy to the ultimate competition spot at 9pm eastern on Thursdays. I will be fun to see if this mega hit show will be able to knock CSI down a peg. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy CSI but it could stand to lose a little hype and actually have to work a bit harder to captivate the audience.

The OC will also remain in 9pm eastern Thursday slot for FOX but its going to be impossible to get better ratings against both Grey's and CSI. I'm just hoping that the fourth season's storylines will be better than the ones we had to endure this season. It will be also fun to wait and see how long it will take before the inevitable Marissa flashback/dream/alternate universe scenes happen once Mishca Barton realizes her movie career isn't going to take off. I heard that Volchok will be back for the aftermath, I wonder where they are going witht that one. Its also important to note that rumor has it that season four of the OC will not premiere until after the World Series concludes, which means mark your calendars for November.

Going back to the CW, I like the pairings for the most part. Especially Gilmore Girls with Veronica Mars on Tuesday. America's Next Top Model with One Tree Hill should work out nice too. I was a bit disappointed to see the pilot "Split Decision" did not make the cut but maybe it will be resurrected at some point.

Over at NBC, the one of only interesting things going on is Sunday Night Football begins fall this season. I still don't understand which game will be the "big game of the week". Is it the Sunday one on primetime national television or the one on the traditional Monday night slot on ESPN? My gut tells me the Sunday night one will end up getting the biggest billing and hype, thus becoming the big game of the week but its still a toss up.

Also on NBC, I like the concept of the Heroes pilot. I'm not big into Sci-Fi or anything that is too high concept but I know that Heroes sounds like a good character study so I'm going to give it a chance. Anyway, I'm going to review the pilot script and post about it sometime soon. Its not exactly a spoiler per se but since it has not aired yet some of you might find it interesting to read about anyhow.

Another thing to note about NBC is that they are only going to have one cycle of the Apprentice next season as it will not premiere until the spring and will be one of the shows to replace Sunday Night Football. I wonder how the Donald feels that his "hit show" is getting reduced to once a year. I'd love to hear his ridiculous spin on this issue.

Another show that is moving to Sundays is The Amazing Race. I like that the show is still in a 8pm eastern slot but being against football is not going to be pretty. I like its chances better once football is over and makes a nice combo with Desperate Housewives on ABC at 9pm. The Amazing Race is one of my absolute favorite reality shows and I hope it will be on for a very long time. Here is to hoping it can find a good home on Sunday.

Just a last general comment is that I am surprised that the networks are trying to block program their shows more. Meaning that some are being rolled out late or held off until midseason in order to keep the audience's attention and repeat less. I also noticed less new shows will premiere this fall and more favorites with less than stellar ratings given a chance. If all this means less cancelled shows, I am all for it. So far it is shaping up to be a great fall!

Big Brother All-Stars Voting Update

Its almost time to get out to the polls and vote for your favorite former Big Brother contestant to compete on this season of Big Brother All-Stars. CBS has announced that on Wednesday, June 21st at 8pm eastern there will be a Big Brother preview show where Julie Chen will reveal the 20 candidates to vote for and will kick off the online vote that night. Rumor has it that the top 3 guys and girls with the most votes will be automatically on the show while the producers get to select the other 6 to round out the cast. Here is to hoping that there will be some great people to choose from!

Updating this one day later, I found a list of potential Big Brother All-Stars contestants who will comprise the top 20 for the audience to vote for. This list is not sent in stone as all of these contestants might not have commited to the season yet or CBS may change their minds but here is what the top 20 looks like now. The 5 with * by their name have appeared on another list, alternates perhaps? We'll find out on June 21st.

BB1: George Boswell
BB2: Will Kirby, Mike “Boogie” Malin, Bill “Bunky” Miller, Monica Bailey, Shannon Dragoo*, Sheryl Braxton*
BB3: Lisa Donahue, Danielle Reyes, Marcellas Reynolds
BB4: Jun Song, Erika Landin
BB5: Diane Henry, Jase Wirey, Holly King, Scott Long, Will Wikle*, Lori Valenti
BB6: Ivette Corredero, James Rhine, Ashlea Evans*, Janelle Pierzina, Howie Gordon, Kaysar Ridha, Michael Donnellan*

Veronica Mars Renewed!

Just a quick update from the high seas to shout from the rooftops that Veronica Mars will be back for a third season. I hope this comes as wonderful news if you have not already heard. Veronica Mars will be a part of the new CW schedule on Tuesday nights at 9pm eastern following Gilmore Girls. But, the renewal comes with one catch, the season (and presumably the show) can be cancelled after 13 episodes if the ratings are low. This would be such a huge disappointment so please get everyone you know to watch Veronica Mars this fall!

Going Away

Just so you know I'll be gone on vacation for about a week and there will not be any updates. When I get back there should be plenty of news about the upfronts and the fall schedule. In case you missed my earlier posting of the upfront schedule I have it posted below. Also in the meantime, here is a repost of the remaining finales that are sceduled to air this season.

2006 Network Upfront Schedule
Monday, May 15th (4pm): NBC
Tuesday, May 16th, (morning): MyNetworkTV
Tuesday, May 16th, (4pm): ABC
Wednesday, May 17th, (4pm): CBS
Thursday, May 18th, (mid to late morning): The CW
Thursday, May 18th, (4pm): FOX

Finale Schedule
May 14 (Sunday): L&O: CI, Malcom, Simpsons, Survivor, West Wing
May 15 (Monday): How I Met YM, Grey's Anatomy, Medium, Prision Break
May 16 (Tuesday): Boston Legal, L&O: SVU, NCIS, Scrubs, The Unit
May 17 (Wednesday): Amazing Race, Bones, CSI: NY, Invasion
May 17 (Continued): America's Next Top Model, Law & Order
May 18 (Thursday): CSI, ER, The OC, Will & Grace, Without a Trace
May 19 (Friday): Close to Home, Conviction, Numbers
May 21 (Sunday): Charmed, Cold Case, Desperate Housewives
May 22 (Monday): 24, Alias, The Apprentice, CSI: Miami, Deal or No Deal
May 22 (Continued): King/Queens, Medium, Old Christine, Two & Half Men
May 23 (Tuesday): House
May 24 (Wednesday): American Idol, Lost
June 4 (Sunday): Big Love, The Sopranos
June 5 (Monday): Everwood

Veronica Mars Season 2 Repeats

I just wanted to let you all know that beginning Tuesday, May 16th at 9pm UPN is rerunning the complete second season of Veroncia Mars. From what I have heard the entire season will be shown this summer with some back to back showings to get all 22 episodes in before fall. This is a great opportunity to catch up on missed episodes or a way to watch and catch clues about the mysteries and Beaver's evilness. Either way its a chance to watch a great show and get ready for season 3 (fingers crossed).

RW/RR Fresh Meat Challenge Update

The premiere date for this Real World/ Road Rules Fresh Meat Challenge has been set and it will begin on Monday, May 29th. The cast list has been released as well. Here is the list of returning favorites and new "fresh meat" members courtesy of rrrwblog.com. It appears that one "fresh" will be paired with a veteran.

Returning Cast Members:
Coral (Back To New York)
Danny (Austin)
Darrell (Campus Crawl)
Derrick (Extreme)
Johanna (Austin)
Katie (The Quest)
Melinda (Austin)
Shane (Campus Crawl)
Theo (Maximum Velocity Tour)
Tina (South Pacific)
Tonya (Chicago)
Wes (Austin)

New Cast Members:
Aviv, 21 - Columbus, OH
Casey, 18 - Houston, TX
Chanda, 21 - Huntington, NY
Diem, 25 - West Hollywood, CA
Eric, 23 - Nicholasville, KY
Ev, 18 - Harrison, NY
Evan, 20 - Ithica, NY
Jesse, 19 - Albuquerque, NM
Johnnie, 24 - Brooklyn, NY
Kenny, 22 - Cedar Grove, NJ
Linette, 21 - Palmetto, FL
Ryan, 24 - New York, NY

Survivor Panama Episode 14 (finale) Spoilers

CBS did a nice little trick by not showing us the outcome of the fire making tiebreaker challenge but its very likely that the spoiler I posted yesterday will come true and Cirie will be the one who does not make it to the final 3.

This would confirm my long range spoilers it will be Aras, Terry and Danielle in the final 3. It appears that Aras wins the final 3 endurance immunity challenge on a colored incline and chooses Danielle to go to the finals with him. As for who wins, there was been information for both Aras and Danielle taking home the $million but my money is on Aras. Danielle has a few too many enemies to make the vote come out in her way. The winner on Survivor is always hardest to spoil because very few actually have that information but I'll trust the spoilers on this one and say Aras will be the winner.