Lake and Michelle, The Amazing Race
Lake and Michelle of CBS' The Amazing Race (Wednesdays at 8 pm/ET) have been called this season's Jonathan and Victoria. Argumentative. Snappy. They pecked at each other almost right up to the moment they were eliminated in Greece. Married for almost 15 years, the Mississippi dental team — he's a dentist, she's his office assistant — swear they're a lot nicer to each other in real life. No, really.
TVGuide.com: Your accents are so charming — except for when you're mad!Lake: Well...Michelle: When else do you get to hear us talking? [Laughs]
TVGuide.com: Speaking of that, Lake, you were really mean to Michelle. At one point in Greece you even said something like, "Bitch, just shut up!" How did you explain tha
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Veronica Mars Ah yes, the infamous rat-taped-under-the-bus-seat reveal — a delicious stinger for an otherwise solid episode. This one's chock-full of blasts from the past, isn't it? Aaron Echolls, Abel Koontz, Clarence Weidman... sort of like a Season 1 reunion tour. And then there's the one-two cameo punch of Kim from Top Model and Buffy mastermind Joss Whedon. Aww, Joss, good to see you, buddy! Now stop goofing off and make me a Serenity sequel, would you? All those November sweeps stunts aside, the stuff that really tickles me pink got even better upon viewing them for a second time:
1) Cliff McCormack is officially my favorite lawyer on television. (Don't cry, Denny Crane.) Hearing our trusty ambulance-chaser/public
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Nicole, America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model"I'm extremely confused by the entire competition," Jayla said, uttering her first sincere words of the entire competition, and I couldn't agree more. How was she still there after both Lisa and Kim got the boot? Tyra's usual pop-psych pronouncements haven't really shed light on the situation. At least she could have used those speeches to smooth out the tension between the girls. Though past cycles have had their Robins and Keenyas, this is by far the bitchiest cast yet. But amazingly, all it took was a few glasses of wine and some sightseeing to make Nicole and Bre forget the great granola-Red Bull incident of last week, and Jayla and Nik dismiss their nightlight catfight of yore. So o
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Veronica Mars
America's Next Top ModelI wonder if today's lesson in paparazzi management was a reaction to a specific Top Model incident, to the Kate Moss thing (I don't know when this was filmed) or to model misbehavior in general? It was much-needed. They're on a bleeping reality show, surrounded by cameras 24/7, and still the contestants were completely surprised by the stills taken of them on the sly. Kim has been the most oblivious of them all, not only getting caught in the act of imitating Tyra's elimination routine, but then getting called out for all of her (very funny) commentary about everyone else. Now we all know that every single girl on the show talks about her competitors — except maybe Nik, because she can't think of anything to say — so the
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Lost
America's Next Top ModelLet's start with last things first, shall we? I was wondering why they were already down to six and there was still no sign of a fabulous trip. So the second Tyra emphasized how interesting the judges' decision was, it did seem kind of plausible that they wouldn't eliminate anyone. It also helped that all of the girls performed fairly equally this week — in the judges' opinions, that is; I'm tiring of Nik and her sudden onset of lame panic every time she's asked to show a little bit of personality.
Eva the Diva, otherwise known as the only Top Model grad visible in a single magazine right now, got to show the girls "the life of what a winner of Top Model really does." OK. Grammar aside, it was nice to see her a
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The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Not too shabby for a clip show. It actually delivered a satisfying serving of never-before-seen footage. The highlights:1) Ashley (remember her?) being annoying about her fabulous life as her mom's salon's guinea pig. 2) Jayla being a bitch long before the Nik-nightlight incident, telling Kim she needs to suck in her gut. 3) Nicole convincing Kyle that "all birds are blind," based on the evidence of the bird that lives in the model house.4) More of Jayla being bitchy.5) Coryn bringing a fart machine from home.6) Lisa is actually way more lovable than previously thought. And her impromptu dance routines and dress-up games are adorable.7) Inspired by Jayla's 10-inch !*@#-me heels, the girls pole-dance on the kitchen counter. Hope they don't actually prepare food there.8) Kim learning the harmonica.9) Coryn actually writing Lisa a note of apology and the two making up before Coryn ge
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Miss J. is making this show lately. From her Esther Williams flipper ensemble to her Fashion Police Witch to her sweet little schoolgirl cornrows, she's a burst of fresh air among all these young things who take themselves so damn seriously and forget that fashion is fun. Thank god Cassandra took her last remaining inches of hair so seriously; we can be done with her, and she can go home to put in hair extensions and become Miss USA — her words, not mine. Fashion is also about transforming yourself constantly, Cassie; otherwise, we might as well wear uniforms. Meanwhile, Miss J. astutely notes that "Sarah is one big huge ball of confusion," and in more ways than one. After two makeout sessions with Kim, a quarter of the way through the show we finally find out that she has a boyfriend back home. And Kim laments that she knows straight girls "like the back of my hand." Love that Bre thinks Kim should stick to getting girls ins
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I've been looking forward to this all summer, but hurry up and break some hearts, Tyra; I need to see what's in the hatch! It looks like ANTM got its budget back after last cycle's cramped, inner-city digs and cheap excursions. Now the squealing poseurs get a posh Beverly Hills mansion and a stretch SUV to call their own. There are going to be some good catfights this fall, and a couple of good sob stories, too. I will definitely love to hate Texas beauty queen Cassandra, who explains that she's not icy because she doesn't like sharing her feelings with people, she just doesn't have any feelings. Ashley "Pretty Gene" was too easy to loathe, so I'm glad she's gone. I hope Ebony stays longer than I think her first photo indicates, 'cause she's going to be fun to quote — "Don't get it twisted!" And with her frank commentary about stuffing Nicole in a closet, Bre is close behind in the quote race. Kim the lesbian isn't quite
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If you can't stand reality shows then this one is probably akin to one of Dante's circles of Hell. But for unscripted-TV fans this is the equivalent of giving a junkie crack. The show combines reality "stars" from nearly every show, like Joe Schmo, The Amazing Race, Survivor and even The Swan. While it's missing the charm of the original '70s series — less hair flipping makes a big difference — it still includes all the silly games like the dunk tank and the obstacle course. Just good old-fashioned fun. And I think that the cast members of the Real World/Road Rules Challenge, like Mike the Miz and Coral, have an advantage because they've been doing contests like this for years on MTV. But the real problem with this show is the fact that teams have to vote to evict one of their players each week. Because fan favorites like Charla and Chip's wife, Kim, are nice compared to the brute force of so
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