"Chris Daughtry" is the answer to what burning question?
As American Idol's "elite eight" await their fate, TV Guide calls a time-out to ask — and get answers to — some of the more-popular-than-ever contest's burning questions. Such as:
1. Is it us, or are Paula and Randy trying to be tougher this season?Seems so. "People aren't stupid," says American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, explaining that Simon's brand of brutal honesty has rubbed off on both of his less-acidic sidekicks. "Paula and Randy are not just going to sit there and say, 'Oh, you're wonderful' when they know some of the singers aren't." So that explains why Pollyanna Abdul keeps getting tongue-tied: She's just trying to find the sweetest insult possible without having to "dawg" anyone!
2. W
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"Chris Daughtry" is the answer to what burning question?
As American Idol's "elite eight" await their fate, TV Guide calls a time-out to ask — and get answers to — some of the more-popular-than-ever contest's burning questions. Such as:
1. Is it us, or are Paula and Randy trying to be tougher this season?Seems so. "People aren't stupid," says American Idol executive producer Nigel Lythgoe, explaining that Simon's brand of brutal honesty has rubbed off on both of his less-acidic sidekicks. "Paula and Randy are not just going to sit there and say, 'Oh, you're wonderful' when they know some of the singers aren't." So that explains why Pollyanna Abdul keeps getting tongue-tied: She's just trying to find the sweetest insult possible without having to "dawg" anyone!
2. W
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Survivor: Panama — Exile IslandFirst of all, I'm not shocked that Terry, of all people, managed to find the immunity idol. The question now is will he have to use it, and if so, when? That man is following the Tom Westman playbook perfectly so far, with both Austin and Dan playing the part of Ian, the loyal-till-the-end pal. It must've hurt La Mina to lose both challenges while tribe "Casargue" won, even though the immunity challenge was thisclose. Ah, Casaya, I have to say I'm enjoying their bickering, and it seems to me that Aras is riding the old "align with the most annoying person in the tribe" strategy, just like Thailand's Brian did with Clay and the aforementioned Tom did with Katie. Even though Danielle loved getting the towels and three "b
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Survivor: Panama — Exile IslandFirst of all, I'm not shocked that Terry, of all people, managed to find the immunity idol. The question now is will he have to use it, and if so, when? That man is following the Tom Westman playbook perfectly so far, with both Austin and Dan playing the part of Ian, the loyal-till-the-end pal. It must've hurt La Mina to lose both challenges while tribe "Casargue" won, even though the immunity challenge was thisclose. Ah, Casaya, I have to say I'm enjoying their bickering, and it seems to me that Aras is riding the old "align with the most annoying person in the tribe" strategy, just like Thailand's Brian did with Clay and the aforementioned Tom did with Katie. Even though Danielle loved getting the towels and three "b
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The Apprentice "It's about to get crazy." Randal, buddy, I think you're greatly overestimating your potential for on-screen drama as you and Rebecca square off in the final task. But if by "crazy" you mean civilized and sportsmanlike, well, OK. I mean, come on, when the biggest wild card on your resurrected team is Toral, we can't really expect much in the way of stellar meltdowns. What about Clay? Or Markus? Or even that spunky little loudmouthed Kristi? Give us something to work with here — it's reality television, for crying out loud! If Omarosa, Raj or heck, even Wendy Pepper doesn't show up soon, we may be in for a loooong finale, folks. As usual, the season's going to end with a pair of big charity events: Randal
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The ApprenticeMark Burnett's grand experiment in product placement continues with the mother of all items needing a boost in the public-consciousness department. Seriously, folks, those Revenge of the Sith DVDs ain't gonna sell themselves. The teams square off on a Star Wars-themed task, and the project manager round-robin begins: Since exempt Randal's forced to keep his inner Jedi on the bench for Excel, Brian reluctantly steps up to the challenge. Over at Capital Edge, an oh-so-bitter Clay commandeers the reigns from his team, although it must be said that last week's project manager Adam begged, "I personally do not want to be PM on this task." So wait, this kid doesn't know anything about sex or Star Wars? I'm so confused
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You know how your version of what's sexy and your mom's version of what's sexy don't exactly reside in the same zip code? Well, just imagine your mom's version gets let loose on a reality show. Carolyn's all tarted up in the boardroom (hellooo, ladies!); Trump's asking his candidates point-blank whether they're gay or virgins; and George is… alright, fortunately for everyone involved, George sees fit to stay above the fray on this one. But alas, the permanent damage to my psyche's been done. It all starts out innocently enough: The teams tackle the wild and wacky world of continuing education, with slapped-together seminars at the Learning Annex. Teflon Ping-Pong ball Randal leads Excel to a fairly painless victory, while Adam takes the I-might-throw-up-at-any-given-moment approach to project management. Despite their leader's squeamishness, Capital Edge takes a cue from Salt-N-Pepa and decides to talk about sex — and it all goes downhil
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I couldn't have been less surprised by this week's firing if NBC had posted a giant "Countdown to Toral's Pink Slip" clock on the screen; of course, I still thoroughly enjoyed watching her squirm for an hour straight. If you tuned in, you had the good fortune to witness Mean Girls in their natural habitat — singling out one of the herd for swift and merciless disposal. Awe-inspiring, really. And when they weren't channeling Animal Planet, Capital Edge was busy tanking the design-a-new-promotional-character-for-Dairy-Queen task; honestly, I felt a twinge of vertigo coming on every time I tried to look at that googly-eyed "Zip" thing. Meanwhile, Excel came together in a glorious display of teamwork and really snippy leadership to create "Jenny the Genie" — a rather clever 2-D sketch that materialized into every Kabuki nightmare I've ever had, once good ol' boy Mark slipped into that soft-serve wig. (And let us not forget the delightfully traumatic experience of listening to
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This week's task plays into the notion that old people can't get their VCRs to stop blinking 12:00, and also into the one that says we viewers at home really, really like Best Buy and should consider purchasing products there. But before we can ogle the shiny new gadgets and ponder their respective MSRPs, we've got to decide who's gonna be project manager. Let's see, who's been through the most hardship recently, and would therefore be nearly bulletproof in the boardroom… Randal! You just got back from your grandmother's funeral — I'd say you're looking pretty keen to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and lead Team Excel to a win. And Rebecca! You've got a freshly broken ankle — let's grab those crutches and get Capital Edge crackin'.
What we learn: Seniors aren't actually that clueless about technology; reborn scapegoat Markus thrives when you hand him a TiVo remote and a captive audience and Jennifer W.'s concept of "party planning" involves fruit pun
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