Droppin

Cough Cough…sorry lots of dust on this thing.  That’s right boys and girls I’m exhuming the dead and buried corpse of the once glorious Reality Rap-Up to give you my thoughts on the Reality show nobody wants to watch but does because its summer and nothing else is on.  That’s right BIG BROTHER IS BACK!!!

Okay I know I have attempted to bring the Rap Up back before with poor results.  That is of course because most reality TV just annoys me now and I get tired of watching much less talking about the shows.  But I feel strangely inspired to write about Big Brother this season.  So while I won’t be attempting to recap the episodes (I don’t have the time and this ain’t a paying gig) I figured I will at least give my thoughts on each episode as I find the time.

So tonight kicked off season 11 of the debacle that is Big Brother.  Another 13 houseguests are being forced upon us and once again I immediately find myself asking “why am I watching this again?”

For tonight’s episode, since they just spent the whole time introducing the characters and introducing this seasons lame-o (copyright Rachel Ray) twist I’m just going to break out each cast member (yes cast member, these people aren’t contestants they are cast) and give my thoughts on each after watching the first show.

So to quote Peter Pan, “hold on tight cause here we GOOOOOOO!”

Braden – Um, um…why am I doing this again?  Okay lets just push through.  Braden is first on this list, namely because I’m doing this in alphabetical order.  I have to say, on looks alone, Braden is the most annoying houseguest.  That said during his time during the competition he didn’t come off completely unbearable (there is much worse).  He should at the very least make for entertaining TV as apparently he frequently makes up his own words because those that have been previously defined in the English language must not be awesome enough for him or something.  I do think he won’t last long in this game because he won’t be able to see the forest for the trees, or the game play for Laura’s chest at least.  Oh I just also have to comment that Braden said when he was introduced that surfing is better then sex because the waves don’t talk back.  I don’t know how to tell you this Braden but if your significant other is talking back to you…well you might be doing it wrong…

Casey-Mike Boogie Sr, come on down!  Seriously I’m convinced this guy has to be related to Mike Boogie someway, somehow.  Not only does he act like him, he looks like him and he was seen wearing Florida Gator shorts during the challenge, the same school that M Boogie frequently wore during his time in the game.  That said he seems to be less annoying, so far.  I actually like his chances.  He seems to be fairly friendly and personable and as long as he can avoid coming off phony he should avoid being a target early on.

Chima-Hmm what to say about Chima, other then she looks like a demon when she laughs and I already can’t take it!!!!  I think Chima is going to rub people the wrong way quickly in this game.  She thinks just a little too highly of herself and I don’t think she is going to be good at making friends with many of these people.

Jeff – I have to say from pictures alone I thought I was going to hate Jeff.  But after watching him during the game tonight I have to say hes one of my early favorites.  Didn’t stand out as a threat during the challenge but I bet he can turn it on when he needs to.  That and it seems like everyone in the house so far either wants to date him or be his BFF.  I like his chances but his biggest downfall may be the fact that he can’t be friends with everyone and we all know what they say about a woman scorned.

Jordan – Considering she was placed in the popular clique I think her best shot in this game early on is to float.  She definitely did a good job of blending into the background during what we saw in episode 1.  I think she is unoffensive and isn’t a threat to anyone and early in the game that’s all you can hope for.  Should carry her for a while.

Kevin – Definitely the most polarizing figure in the house (until Jessie that is) at this point.  He is going to have some strong allies and some big time enemies.  If this house is going to break down into two sides like it always does I can see Kevin being right in the middle of the catfights that ensue.  He’ll make for great TV but won’t be able to avoid the hot seat.

Laura – Jen + Bigger Implants = Laura?

Lydia – Tattoo girl will find herself in trouble if the early friendship (or whatever it is) with Kevin takes.  I don’t think either of them will really be able to hold back their opinions of other people when push comes to shove and she will wind up on the hot seat….as well.

Michele – Don’t really have strong feelings for Michele at this point.  Given the way the first episode was edited she may be a potential floater.  If she pulls that off I think shes the smallest target of the brains clique and that will carry her for a while.

Natalie – Okay talk about stupid gameplay, who on earth is going to believe this girl is 18 and just graduated (not to mention she was drinking champagne, what are the drinking laws in LA again?).  She shot herself in the foot the first minute they were in the house and then made a fool of herself in the HOH challenge.  She is lucky she is part of a strong clique with numbers but I think she is going to annoy everyone, her cliquemates included.

Ronnie – Oh wow talk about annoying, can we turn the geek down just a bit there Ronnie?  I will be the first to admit that I am a geek.  However I don’t feel its necessary to carry my geek bat around and beat everyone over the head with it.  That and the guy seems like he needs his meds or something, hes just a little too hyper about being on this show.  I think he can easily rub folks the wrong way in the house just because of how different he is and then, goodbye Ronnie.  Oh I also have to add that I’m not sure how being a member of a nationally ranked debate team is going to help you in this game.  OOOOOOOOhhhh you can out argue someone!  Helpful ability to have in the house, piss everyone off because you can argue with them.  Hows that working for you?

Russel – Um Pass?  Russel appears to be dumb as a brick and I hope for his sake (and mine if he ever reads this) that he isn’t.  I think Russel’s biggest problem may wind up being his own insecurity.  He walks into this house as the big, muscle bound guy and then in walks Jessie who is twice as big (and way way more then twice as stupid) as he is.  I think its going to be a (pardon my english) “pissing contest” as long as they are both around.

That brings us to Jessie.  I have to admit, I was ecstatic to see Cowboy back on my TV screen.  Its nice to know after all this time he is still just sitting there waiting by the phone for CBS to give him a call and invite him back on the show but just like Allstars he misses the cut again.  I would have been happy to see Brian back in the house as well as he never really got a fair shake last season.  Jessica, well if I remember correctly she really bugged me early on but then I ended up liking her when everyone else in the house drove me nuts so she might have been okay.  But Jessie, oh please I would literally take any other houseguest in the history of big brother over Jessie (that may not be true, my memory isn’t what it used to be).  At least The Soup should have some fun material to work with again while he is around (hopefully not long).

So there you have my take on the guests, suppose I should comment on the twist for a bit.  I hate the clique idea but I like the idea of these “teams” where the HOH cannot put up one of their teammates.  Especially when they didn’t get to choose their clique.  Should make for some interesting strategy, when the possible nominees are limited.  That said it can’t go on very long either just because of the nature of the game.  So we shall see.

Let me just wrap things up with my guess on Nominees now that we know Jessie is HOH (wasn’t he first last year too?).  Its a little early for predicitions since the live feeds aren’t up yet and we really don’t know how these guys are interacting but I think Jessie is going to look down upon anyone who doesn’t kiss the ground he walks on so I think the off beats are in trouble.  He might also go after anyone he sees as a threat so that puts Braden in the hot seat.  So lets go with Braden and Kevin as the nominees.

Well that’s my take on Episode 1.  This is the longest I have written for a post on Droppin in a while so lets see if I can ease back into this as the weeks go on.  Thanks to DirecTV’s generous gift of a free year of Showtime (gift or punishment?  Seriously Showtime must be the biggest waste of a channel on TV.  So bad DirecTV is just giving it away) I will be able to watch the after dark show for the first time.  Although I’m not sure I can take 13 unedited morons living in a house for three hours a night so that may not be my cup of tea.  Time will tell.

Join me back here sometime after Sunday (or whenever I get around to watching it thanks to TIVO AKA the real reason the Reality Rap Up died) for another dose of Brother Love.

You’ve just been rapped…CONVINCED?  (Insert other annoying catchphrases here…)

Time once again to reveal another Survivor Cast.  Hard to get excited about this anymore but here you are…

Survivor: Watch Full Episodes and Video and Join the Ultimate Fan Community – CBS.com

I know the once prolific Reality Rap Up is now little more then a distant memory but I am still in fact a big fan of Survivor. Sure with each season I find myself less and less enthused to watch as the show goes on to the point where I almost don’t care about watching the finale but thats besides the point. Each new season I still wait with baited breath to find out where its going to take place and who is going to be on the cast.

So you can imagine my dismay when I found out a few weeks back that the next season of Survivor (the 16th and rumored to be last season although I doubt that will be the case) will be a second take of Survivor Allstars (aka the season that never happened).

Oh sure there have been some enjoyable tribe mates since the last round of all stars that I wouldn’t mind seeing on my TV screen again but for every Tom, Ian, Yao Man or James there has been a Scout, Katie, Peih-Gee or Jean Robert. That and whether anyone wants to admit it or not this show changed after Allstars broke the way it was played and not in a good way in my eyes. So what more damage could be done?

Two words…Johnny Fairplay…

Guess it will finally be easy to make the break and tune my Tivo into something else come Thursday night.

If you are still interested make sure to check out the cast info spoilers below. Thanks to Survivor Fever for putting it all together in a nice, easy to reference list.

Survivor Season 16 Cast Information

Oh and by the way I’m appalled that after trying to apply for this show on multiple occasions on years gone by that I was not included for this “super fans” season. Guess Probst thought I wouldn’t want to be on the show anymore since I stopped writing the Rap-Up.

Well it appears that the speculation flying over the ominously placed Big Brother audition commercials all over CBS the past couple of weeks may in fact be true. With the writers strike CBS has decided to fast track a winter edition of nobodies favorite Reality show. And the best news of all, rumor has it that this will be a celebrity edition. I myself have doubts (or is that wishful thinking) since if this was in fact a celebrity edition then CBS wouldn’t be airing the open casting call commercials 24-7, that is unless the twist is to have both celebrities and regular folk, aww who am I kidding this show is cast with wannabe actors and actresses anyway. Thats no different then pulling on a few D list celebs…

Check out this TV Guide link for the info:

Strike KOs CBS Men, Six Others; Big Brother Fast-tracked – WGA Strike Watch: How This Season Is Being Rewritten | TVGuide.com

EDIT: This just in, Big Brother season 9 has now officially been confirmed for a February start date, assuming that the writers strike runs into the new year, and its not going to be a celebrity edition.  Good news or bad?  You make the call!

Are you ready?  Probst and the new cast of Survivors are on deck as the new season will begin on Sept. 20th.  With the dismal failure that is Big Brother 8, I really need Survivor China to be great.

Survivor: China on CBS

So yes, those of you who happen to be familiar with my body of work will already  know that I am a pretty big Big Brother fan and yes it does pain me to say that.  Anyway I have been refraining from discussing the show up to this point because, well its been a pretty painful season thus far to say the least.  I know going into these things that at somepoint in time over the course of the show I will stand up and say “Hey!  These guys are losers and I don’t want any of them to win!”.  That of course is usually followed by me continuing to watch the show if only because I have invested so much of my blasted time watching it and I want to see things through.

That said I don’t think I have ever come to that point this early on in a season.  I’m faced with the Reality (Reality in a Reality TV show?  It will never fly) that there is no likable person to cheer for left in the house.  I mean lets consider our options:

Amber-Bah I don’t even think we need to discuss Wah-mber.  The self proclaimed “truth-teller” has told so many lies that she has her own thread on Survivor Sucks tracking her lies from day to day.  Add to that the fact that she seems bent on telling everyone in the house (and by default, those of us watching at home) the most horrendous stories you can imagine.  Far be it from me to judge but this girl has serious issues and I don’t think the best place for her to be right now is away from her two kids (her daughter and her dog).  That and she had a rant this last week about how she hates Jewish people and she should have known better then to trust Eric because he is Jewish.  So yeah cross her off.

Dick -  Dick could have been a fun player to watch in this game but he obviously has no self control.  Hey I’ll even try to forgive the guy of his occasional rant but the problem is that he goes off on the same exact rant over and over and over and over and over (get my point) and over again until everyone just becomes completely numb to it.  If he cut that down even by half he might make for entertaining TV.  As it is right now he’s just a bad game player who makes situations completely uncomfortable.

Danielle – She definately has the benifit of a kind edit on TV this season.  The live feeds have shown the true Danielle, a whinny self absorbed me first girl who led Nick on and then when Nick decided he had enough of her she got mad and started throwing herself at him.  I hate to say it but Jen was kinda right about her (of course thats pot calling the kettle black I’m sure).  Then she tops it off with the bonehead move of winning HOH and deciding to flush her alliance down the toilet when she doesn’t have the votes to come out on top.  When are people going to get it through their thick heads that when you are HOH you don’t controll the votes so the only thing you can do is to put up TWO people you want gone.  Enough of this pawning, back dooring crap.

Jen – I don’t even think I need to discuss this, are you watching the show?

Eric – America’s player needs to get his eyebrows in check stat.  If I have to watch one more diary room session where is eyebrows wander off his head again I’m going to lose it.  That said the whole America’s twist thing is a complete waste because Amercia gets no benefit to Eric succeeding.  What are we all going to go down to the wrap party after he wins for some cake and ice cream?  NO!  We get jack squat which leads to America deciding to just mess with Eric.  He is in a horrible situation because all of this and basically can’t make a plan from week to week because he can’t even decide who he is going to vote for.  He thinks he is a genius when it comes to the game but the smartest move he could have made was to admit to the votes he cast and came up with a reason why he did it.  Like he knew it wouldn’t change the outcome so he was just casting a couple courtesy votes.  That was it.  He could have admitted to it from day 1 but he didn’t and now he is hosed.  I would have liked to see Eric in the house without the handicapping of America’s lame twist but that will never happen.

That leaves us with Dustin (glory hogging ego maniac who now thinks he runs the game), Zach (odd man out is an understatement), Jameka (I strangely find myself not hating her but she seems to pick and chose when her religion comes into play and regardless of what she says she is not playing the game, she is floating) and lastly Jessica.  Bimbo Jessica who on night 1 I swore she was going to drive me up the wall with her empty head and annoying voice but now I find myself dislinking her the least!  HOW DID THIS HAPPEN!?!?!  I personally blame Julie Chen.

So that leads me to wanting to make a quick predicition on the rest of the season.  I think Dick definately goes home this week and Danielle will win HOH because Big Brother will rig it for her.  She will likely get rid of Eric or Dustin.  Danielle, Jen and Zach will team up to fight the remaining LNC and from there…well I pray the house wakes up to Amber sooner then later so count her out.  I would have to assume that everyone will remember at some point in time that they hate Jen and she is considered to be more of a threat then Dani at this point so throw her out.  Zach will probably go by default at some point and that leaves…Jessica, Jameka and Danielle in the final three ?!?!? YIKES!!!  If that is the final three then Danielle has a good shot at making final two.  I have a feeling though that the Jury isn’t going to want to reward the whinny princess.  She does have a built in vote from daddy dearest though so who knows…

Yes boys and girls its time once again to throw another summer away to the Reality Time Sink that is BIG BROTHER!!!  Yours truly was less then thrilled after seeing the cast revealed last week but being the die hard fan that I am I have to watch.  After tonights episode though it turned out to be worse then I thought.  Have you ever seen more models/actors/wanabes cast for a Reality show?  What am I watching Big Brother or freaking Temptation Island?

That said I haven’t had time to gather my thoughts yet enough to put any kind of predictions in place at this point, perhaps after Sunday’s episode I will have had a chance to scan the live feeds and see whats up.  One concern I do have however is America’s Houseguest.  This could turn out to be a total disaster for CBS if the guy isn’t extemely likable and you don’t come off as extremely likable when you start bragging about being a master game player from day one.  Sometimes I wish there was no twists and we just played the freaking game…

Yes I still watch Survivor each week.  I know its a shocker to me to.  I’m compelled once again to write a little something about the show after last weeks phenomenal episode.

That was one of the most entertaining episodes of the show I have seen in a long long time and that doesn’t just include this season.  Who would have thunk my favorite part would be the moments leading up to tribal council and tribal council itself?  Those are usually my two least favorite portions of the show but nothing is more entertaining then watching a guy who thinks he has the game in his back pocket (Alex) get the carpet yanked out from under him.  I do feel bad for Dre (aka Dreamz but I refuse to call him that) though as he basically sacrificed himself and was rewarded by having his new alliance throw him under the bus by leaving his vote for Mookie.  The smart play would have been to have Dre vote for Cassandra with the other guys since Stacy and Boo gave them more then enough votes to take out Edgardo.  That way they wouldn’t have had to worry about switching the vote on Dre and not telling him, basically saying they don’t trust him and it would have kept Dre hidden as the traitor.  Now he is painted into a corner as Alex and Mookie are going to hate him but he knows the other side still doesn’t fully trust him (although they should now).

I do have one problem however.  And that is Earl and Yao Man thinking that the brilliant move last night was their doing.  Plain and simple they got lucky when Dre decided to spill everything to them and they got even luckier when Stacy decided to jump for no apparent reason.  Not sure what her flip flop was all about.  Even more strange though is that Boo is sticking with Earl and Yao Man.  Why wouldn’t he jump back to Alex & Edgardo when he got the first chance to do so?  Color me confused.

Anyway I am honestly left wondering where the game will go from here.  There are way to many roosters in the hen house at the moment as an alliance of 6 cannot survive and we have seen enough flip flopping (Dre, Stacy I’m looking at you) to know that once they realize they are on the outside looking in at the final 3 or four they will jump to do something desperate again and likely blow everything up.  I want Yao Man to win it all more then just about any Survivor in the history of the show but I just don’t see how anybody will allow themselves to go to the final two with him because he is so likable and has played the game so well.  So I highly doubt that will happen except for the fact that he has proven himself as a solid competitor again and again so I wouldn’t put it past him to win immunity for himself and stay in the game  That’s more then I can say for Earl.  What the heck has he ever won…

That said I’d like to toss my hat into the world of Survivor Predictions by Breaking down your final 8.  So without further adu here is my one and only bootlist for Survivor Fiji

• Alex
• Mookie
• Boo
• Stacy
• Yao Man
• Cassandra
• Dre (dreamz if you must)
• Earl

And there you have it!

So another season of Survivor has come or gone and well…WHO CARES!!! Maybe its just me but was this not the worst season ever? I mean really I should care about these guys as Ozzy played one of the best physical games in Survivor history and Yul played one of the best mental games we have ever seen but I almost feel like I need to see them compete against some of the Survivor greats of the past to see if they are really any good as I don’t think the competition they played against was all that great. So maybe thats why I feel empty about this season, maybe I just don’t like Survivor anymore but when a season finale rolls around and I’m not sure if I even want to watch it or just let the TIVO get it and watch it another night thats saying something.

Regardless I do have to give Yul props. Early on I took a liking to how he was playing the game as he took a very positive approach rather then making gameplay moves just to make moves as most Survivor “gamers” do. So I am happy by the result and congrats goes out to Yul.

I do have to add that this was a decidedly nice Jury to deal with as nobody seemed to be overly bitter and respected the game which is waaaay more then we can expect from this show after so many seasons.

That and the firemaking tie breaker was one of the funniest/most pathetic things I have ever seen on Survivor. How do you go to this point of the game and can’t make a fire…WITH MATCHES!?!?! Seriously they should have just kicked the both of them off and been done with it.

With all that said the way I determine how good a season was is by how memorable the cast was. In otherwords, if they ever did another season of all stars (oh and the first one never happened we have agreed to that right?) then who would I put on it. Ozzy and Yul plain and simple. They make Jonathan out to be this fantastic player/villan but he only looks that way because nobody else could fill the role. So with only two quality memorable players, I put this season down on the low end of the spectrum.

See ya in Fiji…

Yes its late and no I don’t care. Chances are I’ll probably take a few episodes off in order to catch up. What can I say life happens. Here were my thoughts from week two in case anyone cares:

• Sundra says that she wants to represent well but they have all this added pressure being the African American tribe. Yes as opposed to the pressure free of the latin tribe, Asian tribe or white tribe.
• The Latin tribe all gets up and goes and gets fish because, “Latinos are all hard workers” Seriously what is up with these people?
• Ozzy doesn’t get along well with Christina because “She’s a cop”. Okay then.
• Then the Asian tribe catches two chickens in a crate moments after Ozzy from the Latin trbie caught one. Okay are these like plant chickens or something? They are everywhere on these islands and just walk blindly into traps. Have you ever tried to catch a chicken before? It doesn’t go quite this smoothly. Only in reality TV.
• The Latrin tribe busts out another 15 fish caught every time they turn around. Wait I thought the racial stereotype handbook said that the Asians were the fishermen…
• Billy tells his tribemate that he doesn’t fit in because he doesn’t feel Hispanic. This after the first episode where he told us that their team would do great because they are all from the Caribbean.
• Jenny gets a headache and once again Cao Boi steps up and releases her from the Bad Wind with another patented pinch o’ doom. In a few weeks everyone will be walking around with red dots.
• Back at the Latin tribe nobody can sleep because Billy is snoring. So Ozzy brings up the idea of throwing the challenge to get rid of Billy. Has this ever gone well in the history of Survivor?
• Challenge time, Nate uses his funky math to tell us that they have to win because they are four down and everyone else has five. Four down? So Nate is the only person left on his tribe? He thinks that he is everybody!
• JP tells them that they can stop at the beginning to read a copy of the story but it might take precious time. So of course the Latin tribe does so. Wow that wasn’t set up for them to throw it or anything was it?
• The latin tribe does everything short of going backwards and giving up to throw the challenge. Boy that wasn’t obvious or anything was it? How bad do you have to feel if you are Billy. Your tribe hates you bad enough to throw the second immunity challenge in the game to get rid of you. Ouch!
• Yul gets sent to exile island. Yeah I didn’t know who that was either.
• Before they all separate Billy leans over the the white tribe and tells them that he is next and then says “I love you” Umm okay then.
• Yul gets to exile island, reads the clue, walks out, digs a hole and finds the immunity idol. You gotta love a twist that gets blown on week 2! Here is hoping that it actually comes into play. I’m tired of twists in reality shows that don’t do anything.
• Billy then ends the show by saying goodbye and tells everyone that his prize is that he fell in love with Candace from the other tribe. JP is like what the crap?!?!

I’ll chime in later on in the week with my thoughts when I’ve had a chance to watch a few episodes and catch up.