1/30/04 Short notice on a casting call for a Food network show (from an e-mail):

"The show is called Calorie Commando and we are producing 13 half hour shows for the Food Network and are looking for people who would like to cook healthier versions of their favorite foods.  The guests will appear with Calorie Commando host, Chef Juan Carlos Cruz in our studio. We're casting Jan 28, 29, 30 and Feb 2 and 3 in North Hollywood.

Sorry for the last minute notice. 

I can be reached at 818 301-4520

My best,
Thomas Jaeger, Story Producer
Film Garden Entertainment"

Fox Dwarf-Dating Show Sparks Mixed Emotions: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Critics may roll their eyes at Fox television's upcoming dwarf-dating contest "The Littlest Groom," but the head of the advocacy group Little People of America says the show could end up giving his members a boost (full story).  More info on the show HERE.

Last Night:

On The Apprentice once again - it seems "sex sells" - the women made more money managing Planet Hollywood for a night than the men did.  The women were reprimanded after the competition for using their sex-appeal more than they needed to.  But the guys still had to go to the board room to have a team member fired.   Bowie Hog got the ax even though he wasn't all that bad - but it seems Donald felt he had the least potential of the folks he had to choose from.  Next week the men and women teams will be mixed up.  So far 4 men have been eliminated and no women - maybe next week a women will go.

Had a bit of a mishap yesterday (car accident - gotta love winter driving) - myself and my three rugrats are all ok but it made for a lonnnnng day yesterday!!!  I haven't been able to update the site - will get to it soon!!!

Tonight is Episode 4 of  The Apprentice - I am guessing the men might finally win a competition.

I did watch several shows Tuesday and caught American Idol 3 (yet MORE auditions) and Celebrity Mole II last night - lil "Rudy" (Keshia Knight Pulliam) lost on the mole - either Dave Curry is the Mole or he is trying VERY hard to look like he is.  He just stunk it up last night - one of the challenges involved him describing pictures to the other who had to re-create them in finger-paint - looked to me like he and Ahmad could see what the others were painting and were laughing as Mark gave vague and confusing descriptions.

I missed Todd TV but home to get a replay of it in the next day or two.

I noticed that Fox will be trying to suck yet more ratings out of American Idol 3 by having a "best of" audition feature Monday.

Tonight: The Osbournes Season 3 - Premire

American Idol 3 - Performers audition in Los Angeles and San Francisco.

America's Next Top Model - Episode #3 - The models try to maintain their composure as they show off makeovers during a dangerous photo shoot.

Other Shows: Real World San Diego, Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Last night:

My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance - Well I pegged it - Randi did tear up a few times, but it seems Steve found a little compassion, or maybe it was Randi's thoughts of leaving the show that led him to lighten up a little. Two news articles about Randi: "Fiance's' Fiancee Faces Heat at Work" which was quickly followed by "Obnoxious Fiance' Bride Quits Teaching Job." (Zap2it)

Average Joe II - First of all no one was eliminated last night.  It was back to school where the guys took IQ tests ("average" guys won), climbed ropes and monkey bars ("hunks" won) and finally a "bombardment" or "dodge ball" contest where the "average guys" were completely wiped out.  So the hunks got to go to a "dance" with larrissa where they attempted to "woo" her.  Lots of conflict between the two groups of guys but in the end no one was kicked off, I'd expect several to get dumped next week.

House Of Dreams: Matt and Lisa drew the "red hats" and Lisa was evicted.  The show official site has excellent re-caps here.

The Simple Life:  The lost episode was ok... nothing special, I think they will try another run of this show but I suspect it will flop unless another video of Paris Hilton turns up the week of the premire ;)

My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance - Episode II - I'll bet you anything Randi is in tears again tonight.

Average Joe II - The hunks have arrived - can't wait to see them mix it up with the "average" guys.

Other shows on tonight: Fear Factor Couples, House Of Dreams and Airline and the "Lost Episode" of Simple Life.

The other show to catch would be ToddTV if you missed it - it repeats tonight on FX.

Last night:

I have to admit I liked I Want To Marry Ryan Banks - it poked a bit of fun at reality shows and there were two cameos - one was pretty obvious (Mark L. Wahlberg - Temptation Island), the other was less so (Paige Jones - For Love or Money). For those that watched For Love or Money, Paige was the woman on the show that was considered very young looking.  That made the main scene she is in in  very funny because Jason Priestly's chracter comments on how young she looks.  It should repeat sometime soon although I don't see it listed in the next 2 weeks.

You can also catch episodes 2 & 3 of The Apprentice on NBC.

I think my pick though will be a non-reality show that is about a reality show.  I Want To Marry Ryan Banks is on ABC Family tonight - I missed it the 1st go round but its on a couple of times tonight.  Jason Priestly plays a guy who takes part in a show much like The Bachelor.  From the previews I saw before it looked like the movie makes fun of reality show a little - I hope its as good as the previews make it out to be. 

New Bachelor announced.   It will be Jesse Palmer, pro football player. Link to Story.

Last Night:

The Apprentice: Once again the women won and Sam was fired by Donald Trump (no shock there). In my opinion a lot of the reson for the women winning two of the first three competitions was sex appeal - last night they had to basically find bargains - or negotiate.  The women used sex appeal in a big way to get the male salesmen they talk to to give them a break.  Sounds like next week that may catch up with them.  Oh and now its moving BACK to Thursdays - lol.

American Idol 3: Just another audition show, more next week.

Celebrity Mole:  Steven Baldwin got the boot last night, so I guess that ensures the Mole is not one of the returning contestants (since Corbin went the week before).

Bachelorette:  I didn't see it - but it was only show two and those kind of shows don't get real interesting (if ever) until the last few weeks.

Todd TV:  I had mixed feelings about this show after watching it - it seems a bit fake if you ask me.  I mean this guy (todd) is friends with an ex-Survivor player AND was involved with a former cast-member of The Bachelor.  Just not sure if this show will hold my interest (Sorry FX) but I'll try it again next week..

Did you watch Todd TV?  If so (or not) you have until 5am today (Thursday) to call this number and vote for 2 things.  One - Should Todd live the next week with his mom or his therapist.  Two - Should Todd spend the next week working as a Singing Telegram person or as Brett Michael's (Poison) Assistant?

The number to call:
1-866-VOTE TODD (1-866-868-38633)

Voting ends at 5am Eastern Thursday.

Tonight is as bad - or worse than Mondays (so many shows).  Several of these shows will re-peat at a later date - The Apprentice is apparently going to start re-playing CNBC, the MTV shows will of course repeat as I imagine the The Bachelorette 2 will sooner or later (and possibly Celebrity Mole II on ABC Family).  The one show I am 99% sure will not repeat is American Idol 3.  I plan on making sure to check out Todd TV as well as Celebrity Mole II and The Apprentice.

By the way - A&E will do a "Biography" of Simon Cowell (American Idol) tommorow night.

8pm (EST)
American Idol 3: Episode III of the auditions - FOX
The Apprentice: Episode III (new night) - NBC

9pm (EST)
The Bachelorette 2: Episode II - ABC

10pm (EST)
Celebrity Mole II: Episode III - ABC
Todd TV: Premire - FX
Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica: Premire of Season II - MTV

10:30pm (EST)
Til Death Do Us Part: Dave and Carmen: Premire - MTV

Last Night:

American Idol 3: Another parade of bad singers.  You do know that these people are intentionally sent in to sing for Simon & the others. Many much better singers do not get in the final audition, they are weeded out by others earlier in the process.  Those few bad singers that make it make it because the producers probably think it will make good TV.  Also, I suspect many of the bad singers shown during a bit about all the bad singing never made it in the room and simply were filmed auditioning earlier in front of the same backdrop (or an identical one).  Another show of auditions tonight.

America's Next Top Model: Bethany got the heave-ho from the show last night and Camille & Yoanna were rather catty to each other - just like you would stereotype models to be - lol.

Adam

More Casting info - Ladies - if you liked Adam - ya know the "Average" millionaire rejected by Melana on Average Joe I - then you can apply to be on Average Joe III: Adam Returns.  Check the casting page for links to the application. This show is set to air March 15th - deadline to apply is Jan 28th.

Last Night:

Average Joe II - Enough already!! I think they spent 20 minutes of the show teasing the hunks showing up.  We get the point!!  They really milked it - especially since they didn't even show up officially until the end of the show.  Talk a bout a tease.  As for the rest of the show, the "average" guys competed in a mini-triathalon with the prize being a date with Larissa.  Poor Brian and Thom could not complete the swimming part and Dave had to wear a life vest.  Mike won the race and Sean also got a date for finishing last (while still finishing).  Intemixed with the triathalon was more hunk shots and the "hunks" talking about how great they are (lol).  Larissa comes to what we expect to be an elimination night and reads two notes, the 1st says no one will be eliminates (big sign from the guys), the second announces things are going to change - and guess who walks in - yup - the eight hunks. Note to producers - when you flip an image make sure the person does not have an obvous feature - several times Tony's face was shown and his zig/zag 'beard' flipped from side to side while the hunks were walking in.  Anyways, the hunks arrived, larrissa smiled, the "average" guys felt lower than dirt and that was the show.  Man.....  I hope she doesn't choose a hunk like Melana did (yes dear producers, you got me hooked again).

A little note about these type of elimination "reality" shows.  Since the original Bachelor I have always suspected that the person making the decisions on whom to eliminate gets coached by the producers.  In other words, Larissa may have already decided which of the remaining eight "average" guys she would choose, so the producers might encourage her to keep certain people (like Dave) around because they are fun to watch even if Larissa has no interest in them.  I really thought that was the case in the original Joe Millionaire where the final two women were total opposites - makes much better TV (ie Drama).  The thing that caught my eye tonight was the "Disclaimer" at the end of Average Joe II which reads like this (I am typing with the VCR paused):

"Participants may have consulted with producers regarding their choices and decisions, however all decisions are made solely by the participants"

My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance: Hmmmmmm  this might get even more uncomfortable than I imagined.... For those of you that saw Joe Schmo - this is very similar - a "fake" reality show of sorts. Except while the producers and actors on Joe Schmo seemed to really like and care about Matt Gould  (aka "Joe") - after this episode I don't think the actor playing the fiance (Steve) had anything on his mind but making poor Randi as uncomfortable as possible.  There are lots of laughs but at times you start to feel pretty bad for Randi - at least I did.  Joe Schmo was definitly better - I hope they make another of those!!!

American Idol 3: And here I was looking forward to the audition shows, my favorite part of the 1st two seasons of American Idol, yet last nights show left me feeling kinda empty, they seem to be trying to hard now, or maybe it is that the formula is getting a bit stale.  Two more nights of this.  I was also ticked that Fox pulled the old "run past the hour" trick to keep people tuned in - thats annoying.

House Of Dreams:  John and Amy drew the "red hats" and Amy ended up being voted off even though there was a lot of talk about a potential tie vote before the ceremony.  If there had been a tie then John and Amy would have had to agree on someone else to kick off or they would both go.

The show I am more excited about (sorry Simon) is My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance - from what I have seen it should be pretty good, although there might be a few times where things get uncomfortable.  I have been sent a link to a 2 1/2 minute teaser (you can also get it via the official site).  3 different media types - click any to see the teaser - Windows Media, Real Media, Quicktime.

Fear Factor Couples (90 minutes) continues tonight as does House Of Dreams and Airline.

And lets not forget Average Joe II (90 minutes) where the hunks will arrive to mix things up.

Looks like I am going to be very busy with my viewing.  I plan on catching Idol, Average Joe, Fiance, House of Dreams, and Airline.  Thankfully House of Dreams and Airline is on twice so I can watch them after prime time.  But I will have to run my VCR to catch the overlap of Fiance with Average Joe.  Fear Factor will just have to wait until things settle down.

Casting news: I received a request from someone at MTV to post casting info about one of their shows - the show is called "Pimp My Ride" and involves MTV fixing up your (or your friends) junker car.  See the show's official casting page for more details.

Lastly, if you missed The Surreal Life last night they will re-air the episode Thursday, much like they did during season one.

"The housemates report to work at Mel's Drive-in, a legendary greasy spoon in the heart of the Sunset Strip. All hell breaks loose when acting manager, Gary Coleman, looses control of his inexperienced staff and suffers the biggest meltdown on network TV since the Wicked Witch of the West. To add to the wackiness, Coleman's former co-star Todd Bridges stops by and eventually relieves Coleman of his managing duties." 

"On this episode of Trading Spaces: Family, designer Rick Rifle turns a drab playroom into a zany, magic woodland, complete with fairies, forests and flying fish with feathers. 
Next door, Frank Bielec is full of bright ideas when he paints large lava lamps all over the walls of his family room, and designs a gigantic light switch made by carpenter Carter Oosterhouse! "

I have created a new page for show hosts with links I can find to their personla home pages (if any).  Its a work in progress but I have never really seen anything similar out there so it seems like it would be a cool thing to make :)  Link

Check out the Casting Page - I will be adding a couple items in the next day or two - one is of an MTV show that centers on fixing up your car.

Thursday on The Apprentice then men lost again and the person that coordinated their ad campaign, Jason, was fired.

"The second episode--titled "sex, lies and attitude"--involves an ad campaign. Trump sends the contestants to Deutsch Inc., where they are introduced to Donny Deutsch. It's their job to create a 30-second TV commercial and print ad campaign for the Marquis Jet Card, which provides access to the NetJets fleet. The two teams pitch Deutsch and his team. The winning team gets wined and dined aboard the jet and the losing team faces Trump and loses one member." (Full Article Here)

Last night:

The Simple Life - DANG my VCR!!!  Missed it - ah well - I am sure I will eventually see it - either on Fox or on The Simple Life DVD ($13.99 at Amazon) if I decide to get it.  By the way - its not over - the Reunion Show will be on again tonight and a "Lost" episode will air on Monday 1/26.
 

Celebrity Mole II:  Corbin is gone!!!  Yikes!!  Ya know when the 1st celebrity mole was on I was sorta wishy washy on it, I thought it wouldn't be as good as the non-celebrity version.  I have been enjoying it more than I expected - but Corbin will be missed as he was "executed" on last night's episode.  One complaint - Ahmad actually said it was going to be the "most shocking execution ever" - ARGGHHHHH - shades of, "the mose shocking rose ceremony every" that we heard every week on The Bachelorette last year.

Speaking of Bachelorette 2 - its the 1st episode - not much to say on it yet (and I haven't finished watching it yet either!!).

Last Night:

I watched Celebrity Poker - which is not a "Reality" show in my opinion, but I still enjoyed it.  So I have the Simple Life Reunion show on tape and America's Next Top Model as well.  I will update this area once I have watched them ;)

Update - Simple Life Reunion was ok, nothing great - they showed some stuff that didn't make the show and you got to meet the family with out all the edits they do on the show. America's Next Top Model - the plus-size mother (Anna) was eliminated, most likely because she refused to do a photo session where all the girls wore was paint.  Another of the girls (Jenascia) was almost 3 hours late to the shoot because no one woke her up - she said if she made it to the next round she would be ruthless - so expect some major drama next time.  You can see the pictures on the official page.

Last Night:

House of Dreams:  another participant was evicted - this show is growing on me even though there have only been 2 episodes.  I plan on continuing watching it and the nice thing is that you can catch it later in the week if you miss it (unlike the reality shows on the 'broadcast' channels).  I'm not going to reveal who was evicted since you might want to catch it and be surprised :)

Average Joe: Last nights show featured a group boxing event with Heavyweight champ Roy Jones Jr.  It was pretty much all in fun but Larissa was a bit bothered by Tim's aggressive behavior in the ring.  Then the guys split up and went on 3 group dates with Larissa and at the end of each she chose one guy to continue the date into the evening.  Date one ended up with Casrrot Top wanna be David winning the 'alone time' where he got a peck from Larissa after singing for her.  Date two found Fredo and Larissa alone and their kiss was a bit more than a peck.  Lastly Larissa picked Tony for some private time and the two painted/drew portraits of each other and finished the evening with several kisses.  Next came the eliminations and five guys were let go leaving eight guys for next week, when the "hunks" will be introduced. Eliminated last night were Phuc, Tim, Bill, Donato and Samuel.

Airline: This show follows House of Dreams- its 2 half-hour shows back to back and I like it - its a no-punches pulled look at Southwest Airlines.  Last nights second half hour looked at the nightmare of the East coast power-outtage from last summer and everything Southwest had to do to try to keep the customer's happy.

In other reality news:

The cast of Survivor All-Stars was announced and my source was correct - Rupert is on and Johnny Fairplay isn't.  The entire cast is as follows:

• Season 1: Richard Hatch, Rudy Boesch, Sue Hawk and Jenna Lewis.
• Season 2: Tina Wesson, Colby Donaldson, Amber Brkich, Jerri Manthey and Alicia Calaway. 
• Season 3: Ethan Zohn, Lex van den Berghe and Tom Buchanan. 
• Season 4: Kathy Vavrick-O'Brien and Rob Mariano.
• Season 5: Shii Ann Huang.
• Season 6: Jenna Morasca and Rob Cesternino.
• Season 7: Rupert Boneham

Fox has ordered 25 episodes of a show that was created as a result of the popularity of Paradise Hotel.  It could in theory go on for years.  The show is titled "Forever Eden" and you can read an article on it here.

A tiny bit of 'rumor' about Survivor All Stars..  I have info from a source that Rupert will be on the show (which was filmed before the last Survivor Finali), and Jon (Jonny Fairplay) won't.  I guess they will announce some or all of the cast this morning on the "Early Show."

Tonight you can see the beginning of the Fear Factor "Million Dollar" couples competition - this will last about 7 weeks.

Average Joe II enters week 2 - should be another interesting hour.  The hunks won't show up this week so expect 2 or 3 group dates and at least 4 more guys to be eliminated. 

House of Dreams - I caught a replay of the first episode and I like what I see.  It looks like you can also see the 1st episode right before the second episode premires tonight.  Some of the folks on this show are competing to give the house away, one guy is homeless and wants to give it to his wife.  Potential tear-jerking material here.

Also the Surreal World will re-play tonight.  I LOVED IT last night - as did my wife (who hates reality shows).  She just could not get over Ron Jeremy (porn star) living and interacting with Tammy Fay.  Ron is going to be the Vince Neil of this group.  Speaking of Vince, it looks like he and several other cast members from the first season may make appearances.  Once again, I can give no higher endorsement of this show but to say my wife liked it.  If you watch it understand that you can't take it seriously, its full of innuendo and sight gags :)

A few other shows I watch when I can also usually premire tonight (Mondays).  They are all on the Discovery Channel and are Monster House, Monster Garage and American Chopper - all worth checking out tonight or other nights when they repeat.

Last Comic Standing open audition dates (go to the official casting page for more details) - all times 10am:

1/13 - Improv-Hollywood, 1/17 Punchline-San Francisco, 1/19 Improv-Addison (Dallas), 1/22 The Comic Strip-New York City, 1/25 
Comedy Connection-Boston, 1/27 Zanies'-Nashville, 1/29 Zanies'-Chicago, 1/31 Improv-Tampa
 

Part of the Real World info: - go to the official casting page for more details: 

"We are holding just a few open calls in the following cities on the following dates:

TBA – Saturday, January 17
Breckenridge, CO – Wednesday, January 21
Ft. Lauderdale, FL – Saturday, January 24

Specific location info will be posted as soon as we know them, and all of the casting calls will be from 10am-5pm. If you're planning on attending, you will need to be between the ages of 18-24 and bring a photo (it can be snapshot, it doesn't have to be fancy) and a vaild ID."

"We have been made aware of a tour that is traveling the country called "Reality Bar Crawl". They advertise that cast members will be there and that they will be holding a casting call for the shows. Please DO NOT be scammed by this!! They have a tour bus with "Real World" written on it. Ex-cast memebrs are likely to be there - we do not own the cast members and cannot tell them what to do. However, we ARE NOT HOLDING CASTINGS at these things. We are ONLY casting at the above-mentioned casting calls. If you want to pay $15 to see old cast-members, feel free, but the "audition" tapes will never reach us and by attending these things, you will not have a chance to be on either of our shows!"

Average Joe II - I missed the premire of the 1st 'season' so this was all new to me - but I will be sure to catch it all - even though I am 99% sure she will end up choosing one of the hunks that will be introduced soon.  All the plot has not been revealed but it appears they guys may be able to eliminate each other this time as well.

Celebrity Mole II - if you can't have the regular Mole (I miss Anderson Cooper!!!) this fills the bill pretty well. The only person I don't think is the Mole for sure is Traci Gold.  When one of the other people won immunity she looked really disgusted - as in she was ticked off that her odds of being eliminated were that much higher - I don't think the Mole would have shown that as a bluff.  Just my opinion though.

Monday - 1/5 Average Joe II (NBC) - for the second time a group of average guys try to win a beautiful woman's heart.

Tuesday - 1/6 Real World San Diego (MTV) - another installment of one of the grandaddy's of reality TV.
House of Dreams (A&E) - 16 'builders' build a house and eliminate each other from the chance to win it.

Wednesday 1/7 Celebrity Mole II (ABC) - Corbin Bernsen and Stephen Baldwin return from the 1st season and are joined by 6 others.

Thursday 1/8 The Apprentice (NBC) - People compete to earn an intership with Donald Trump.

Sunday 1/11 The Surreal Life 2 (WB) - No, Corey Feldman is not in this one, but they sure did get an interesting group of people!!

Monday 1/12 Fear Factor (NBC) - ok, not really a premire - but it is the beginning of a 7 week "Million Dollar" couples challenge.

Tuesday 1/13 America's Next Top Model (UPN) - The style of this show is similar to Real World (same production company if I remember right) - if you can find it you should check it out.
The Osbournes Season 3 (MTV) - Yup, Ozzie and company are <bleep>ing back.

Wednesday 1/14 The Bachelorette 2 (ABC) - Not chosen by Bob, Meredith gets to choose the guy this go round.

Saturday 1/17 Star Search 3 (CBS) - Apparently they added a twist this time and will have past champion's compete.

Monday 1/19 American Idol 3 (FOX) - What more to say but here we go again!
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance (FOX) - Only 6 shows, but this one might be pretty funny.

Wednesday 1/21 Todd TV (FX) - I really don't know too much about this one - reminds me of ED TV (the movie) a bit.