We've come to an end already?

It's all coming to an end folks. It is mid May so that means that many of our favorite shows are ending for the season. Even some series are ending for good. It's all very bittersweet. While we will be mourning our shows all summer, we do always get a new batch of shows to distract us.

One of my faves, "Vampire Diaries." ended this past Thursday. I was glued to the screen. I was surprised to see that they gave Damon, a vampire, the cure to his werewolf bite, which is deadly to vampires. I really thought that would be a cliffhanger. Instead they threw us a curve and gave him the cure, but took lovable, sweet Stefan away from us. Who knows how they will play out with his relationship with mortal, Elena, and if that will leave her open to Damon, who has been harboring feelings for her since Season One.

Another of my absolute favorites, "Gossip Girl," is ending tonight. I don't know how I feel about what they have set up. Blair is engaged to a prince but clearly still in love with Chuck. While that isn't so bad, you must know that Blair will be held hostage on the roof of a building that Chuck's nemesis is planning to set on fire. Blair included. I know it is supposed to be compelling, but it just seems that it is getting further and further into bad soap opera territory. These plots could have all been found on Dynasty I'm afraid. I'm just not sure what they are trying to do. But I will be glued to the screen tonight to see how they are going to leave us hanging for the rest of the summer.

The finale of "The Office" is also coming up this week. We have had a couple episodes without Michael Scott now and it hasn't been bad. Yes, it is really sad to see Steve Carrell go, but I think this cast can pull it off. In the finale we are going to be seeing a whole cast of characters vying for Michael's old job. Such people as Jim Carey, Ray Romano, Ricky Gervais, and many more will be there to apply. Somehow I think they aren't going to hire an outsider. I think the promotion will come from within. We must wait and see however.

A series that we are all sad to see go is "Smallville." After ten seasons it is finally over. Mild mannered Clark Kent has officially become Superman. In a two hour finale that, at times, confused me a little since I have been slacking in the later seasons, saw Clark's destiny come to fruition. As I was advised by my fiance, this is just one version of his destiny. Apparently in different universes he has different destinies. Even ones where he doesn't become a super hero. Imagine that. Overall I think they ended it well. While at times it did seem to lag, especially through that five minute long feeling clip flashback for Clark, it did move a pretty good clip and ended us with a conclusion we can all be happy with. Well, at least I was happy with it.

Hopefully this summer won't let us down with good offerings to watch. I'm looking forward to the return of "So You Think You Can Dance." Hopefully they return to the old format since I just can't get behind what they did this past couple seasons. Made me not want to watch it. I also hope to see another "Hell's Kitchen" because who can get enough Gordon Ramsey? I know I can't. Let's all cross our fingers folks and hope that we are blessed with good programming this summer and that fall hurries up and gets here so I can see what is going to happen on all of my favorite shows.

Head on over to www.j1studios.com and discuss in the forum what you think of the finales for this season. Also let us know what shows you are looking forward to in the summer.

Until next time kids, this has been Hava!

Ugh

Hell's Kitchen
Channel: FOX
Day/Time: Wednesday at 9pm (Check your local listings)

Ugh. If you watched last night’s Hell’s Kitchen then you know why I said that. In case you didn’t see it I’ll let you know what happened. The season is coming to an end. Just one more episode left now. So you know this means that Gordon Ramsay narrowed the field down to his final two. My exclamation is due to who he chose for the coveted positions. But let me take you through the episode first to get you up to speed.

In the final four we were left with Trev, Jillian, Nona, and Russell. Now, none of these four were someone I originally wanted to win. But since that is all we are left with I’ve decided to pull for Nona. The whole season Trev has been picked on by the other contestants and he just keeps on whining about it. Man I can’t stand that guy. No one can. It is completely understandable. He keeps messing up the food, he can’t cook, and his attitude is grating. He lived up to all of his annoying habits tonight as well by failing at the challenge and then messing up over and over at the dinner service.

Jillian has fared better on this show. While her voice is a little annoying to me, I was never impressed with her. She just always went on in the middle of the pack. Tonight she did pretty well though. She won the challenge despite having no clue of how to fuse cuisine from Thailand and Spain. She impressed the judges quite a bit. At the dinner service she did wonderfully on the meat station but messed up a little while running the pass and got screwed by Trev who couldn’t cook a piece of Halibut to save his life.

Nona has always been good. She has personality and never really bothered me. She can also cook very well. While she has messed up from time to time she has deserved to make it this far. On tonight’s episode Nona didn’t impress during the challenge. At dinner service she was great on garnish, which is good since she has fallen apart on that station before. When running the pass she had just one slip up and everything else was great.

Finally we come to the obnoxious Russell. I can’t stand that guy. Before tonight I just disliked him because he was so cocky and had this attitude that he was better than Ramsay. Tonight my dislike for him turned to hate. Yes guys, I said hate. My hate stems from everything I already said and for the fact that in a flashback clip Russell was wearing an old school “white rapper” visor that was cocked to the side. Really Russell? Really? Well tonight he lived up to his (insert expletive here) behaviors. He failed on the challenge and did all right at dinner service.

Now we have come to the big decision. Easy enough Trev was sent home first. He definitely should have left a LONG time ago. Now my mother and I were both hoping to see both girls in the final. But of course we knew better. Russell was named as the first of the final two. Hence my “ugh.” So we then learned that Nona made it to the final two. Sorry Jillian, it just wasn’t meant to be. But be happy, Gordon let you keep your jacket, and he almost never does that. So next week is the final episode of this season. Clearly I am pulling for Nona to win. Russell cannot win this. Even if he does the best next week and really deserves it, I hope Ramsay gives it to Nona just because no one wants to hear that cocky jerk gloat about winning. Let’s get it right this season Gordon!

I give this episode a solid four frames. If you had chosen Jillian and Nona then you would have gotten five frames Gordon.


Head on over to the forum at www.j1studios.com and talk about how horrible it was that Russell made it to the final two. Or you could tell me I'm wrong for hating him. But that probably won't change my mind.

I have to miss my shows for this?

World Series anyone? No? Oh, you all must be Philadelphia Phillies fans like I am then. Yeah it’s true the Phillies didn’t make it. Neither did the Yankees. All we are left with are the Texas Rangers and the San Fransico Giants. Now I’m sure they have fans and all who want to watch them play but how many could there possibly be here in Philly? Since I no longer have a stake in the World Series I am lamenting the fact that I can’t watch my usual FOX programming.

If you follow my writings then you are probably saying to yourselves right now, she doesn’t watch that many shows on FOX. This is true. But the shows that I do watch are now falling on the days when games will be played. The first game is being played on a Wednesday, which we all know is Hell’s Kitchen night. I am horribly devoted to Hell’s Kitchen since its inception. Having it put off for something as trivial as a game between the Rangers and Giants, I mean this is people’s lives here. They don’t make millions of dollars already like the ballplayers do. They need to win this show. And I don’t like to be put off while watching something so serious. It’s like being interrupted for a test of the emergency broadcasting system while in the middle of the State of Union address. It just simply shouldn’t be done. What’s worse is that if the World Series should happen to run into game 6 then I will be missing Hell’s Kitchen TWICE! TWICE! That is just unacceptable!

Other shows I am missing are The Simpsons, Family Guy, and American Dad. I know I don’t speak about them on here but they are a few of my tried and true favorites. I have followed The Simpsons and Family Guy for many years now. I have a lot riding on them making my Sunday evenings comedic and hilarious. Many jokes have spawned from this Sunday evening programming. I didn’t appreciate when my Family Guy was taken away from me all those years ago and I won’t stand for it to be taken away again.

My favorite Saturday evening show, Cops, will also be missed. I love Cops. I have always loved Cops. I think it’s hilarious what some of these people think they can get away with. Now, don’t get me wrong, the caliber of crimes and criminals and chases and all that have severely gone down over the years, but it is still fine quality programming. I don’t like to miss my Cops. I will find myself staying up at 3am on weekdays just watch old reruns of it.

Now I know this whole post is somewhat hypocritical since if the Phillies had made it to the World Series to play the Rangers it’s very possible that I wouldn’t care that I’m missing these shows. And since the Phillies didn’t make it I care immensely. I fully admit to my hypocriticalness and I’m okay with it. Standing on this side of the World Series I mourn my regularly scheduled programming. I’m sure you do too.

So head over to j1studios.com in the forum and tell me what shows you are missing on FOX because of the World Series or just tell me to stop whining cause my team did itself in. Either way, I can take it.

Until next time kids, this has been Hava.

"Hell's Kitchen" Premiere: If you can't take the heat...well you know the rest

“Hell’s Kitchen”
Channel: FOX (Check your local listings)
Time/Day: 8pm Tuesdays

If you have never seen FOX’s reality show “Hell’s Kitchen” then you have been missing out. The general premise is this foul-mouthed master chef, Gordon Ramsey, is looking for the best chef to run the kitchen in a big restaurant (this year it is the Araxi restaurant in Wistler, British Columbia, Canada. The site of the 2010 winter Olympics). The chefs have to prove themselves through a series of challenges and dinner services and the whole time Ramsey is yelling at them and calling them some pretty funny names.

This season in the two hour premiere we were introduced to 16 new chefs (find their profiles here http://www.fox.com/hellskitchen) who all think they have what it takes. The 16 are divided in two teams of 8, the men against the women. The chefs have to first make their signature dishes for Ramsey with the hopes of impressing him. Well let’s say that out of the 16 only 5 got favorable reviews. After that it is on the punishments and rewards. Whenever a team wins a challenge they get a reward that usually affords them time with Ramsey. That is valuable. This time the men won dinner and a little celebrating upstairs in the apartments. The women had to clean up the kitchen. Fast forward to dinner service. In a few brief words, it was horrible. One of the male contestants was thrown out and off the show. The women never even served any appetizers. So of course they lost. When you lose you have to put up people for elimination that you think messed up the most and Ramsey then decides who should go home. This time around it was Melinda for being a deer caught in headlights. What was so great about this first half though was that it was the return of Robert, a contestant from last season who had to leave for medical reasons. Ramsey thought he would do better on the women’s team.

In the second half of the show we get another challenge where the teams have to clean whole shrimp perfectly. Again the men win by just one prawn. They were rewarded with a lunch with Ramsey where we find that ex-marine Joseph has no desire to pal around with Gordon. He just wants to cook and win. The women had to clean all of the shrimp that would be used for the next dinner service. The personalities really start to come out amongst the women and you can see that some people aren’t as great as they think they are. At dinner service people are butting heads all over the place. The maitre ‘d, Jean-Philippe (JP), got into with Van, the country Texas boy. Tennille (No, the captain isn’t there) almost served raw shrimp to a pregnant woman. People were all over the place and couldn’t cook right. The kitchen was shut down prematurely again. This time both teams lost and had to pick two people each to be put up for elimination. The best part of this show was the very end. The women put up their people without a problem but when Joseph was asked to say who the first person up was and why he just couldn’t get it together. It evolved into him saying he “ain’t no bitch” and going to get up in Ramsey’s face. Then of course the screen goes black and we have to wait till next week to see what happens.

I must say that I am biased towards loving this show because I love cooking and cursing and I get all of that and then some with “Hell’s Kitchen” and Gordon Ramsey. This season however looks very promising. The personalities are getting stronger and you never know what’s going to happen. Hell, next week there may even be punches thrown. Although I have to say, Joseph, I think you have some anger issues you need to resolve. Can we say PTSD people? Cause I think his therapist can.

I give this episode, and probably the whole season, 5 frames out of 5. I just prefer my food with a side of bitchiness and excessive cursing.




Head on over to J1studios to discuss reality, cursing, and the genius that is Gordon Ramsey.

Until next time kids, this has been Hava.