Sorry to have left you hanging yesterday, but there was sooo much on TV Sunday night that I needed an extra night to catch up!Which, of course, now leaves me behind on Monday night ...Anyway, let's begin with the Amazing Race (Sunday, CBS, 8 p.m.)! God I love this show!

Season 13 contestants
Eleven teams of two, each with preexisting relationship, started the race at the Los Angeles Coliseum for Season 13. First stop was Salvador, Brazil, where the teams had to choose a local vending cart, wheel it thru the narrow streets of Salvador to a popular plaza and deliver the cart to Indio in exchange for their next clue.After an overnight hold, the teams encountered their first Detour, choosing between the Hard Way Up and Soft Way Down. In the first, teams had to climb up a stone staircase on their hands and knees, while the second task revealed teams climbing to the top of a 240-feet building and climbing down a cargo net on the outside!Siblings Nick & Starr came out as Team No. 1, while older, hippy couple Anita & Arthur arrived at the Pit Stop last and were thus eliminated. This season is shaping up to be as controversial as past ones ... with Starr already putting the moves on Dallas (of the mother/son team). And tempers are flaring ... looks like next week will be pretty interesting ...To watch this episode or for a detailed recap, visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/
At 9 p.m. Sunday night I couldn't decide whether to watch HBO's vampire drama True Blood or Showtime's season 3 opener for everybody's fave serial killer Dexter. So I pointlessly tried to watch both (you know, just flicking between the two every so many minutes). While I love Dexter, the season opener was just basically set-up, and shortly into it, True Blood captured my full attention with an episode that finally got interesting!This week's ep featured heroine Sookie Stackhouse getting her vampire-love interest to take her to the local vamp bar "Fangtasia" so she could question some fellow bloodsuckers regarding the murder of her coworker. What made this interesting was the we finally got to meet the "leader" of the local vamps, hot, hot, hot Eric!

It was only just a short tease though, but Eric's brief performance was enough to keep me interested and coming back for future eps.
http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/
Back to Dexter - I think my sister (who hasn't watched before, but tuned in just to see Dexter's new boss, played by her fave Jimmy Smits) summed it up best ... "he didn't kill anybody this week. That was disappointing."http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do
Following True Blood at 10 p.m. was another great episode of HBO's current biggest hit Entourage. Poor Johnny Drama, not only is his younger brother the "hot one" and he recently ruined his hot French romance, but now his costars on his first hit in ages made an ass out of him on The View! It was hilarious. Definitely a show worth tuning into. http://www.hbo.com/entourage/

Luckily, Showtime repeated the 10 p.m. season 2 debut of David Duchovny's Californication, so I switched over there at 10:30 p.m. for what was instantly a reminder of why I like this show! When we last saw Hank Moody at the end of the first season, he was driving away from his ex's wedding with their daughter, only to have Karen (his beloved ex) run out and jump in the car too.So Hank and Karen are back together, but things aren't all rosy. The episode started out with Hank getting a vasectomy and then having a hard time abstaining ... you know, till things healed ... it didn't help that during an evening out with his agent Charlie (Evan Handler) and his wife Marcy, they got invited to a sexually loose party in the Hollywood Hills. As usual with Hank, he means well, but things get hilariously out of hand and he ended up in jail by the end and Karen's not willing to bail him out this time ... For more information or to watch this episode, visit http://www.sho.com/site/californication/home.do
Yeah, I also watched Desperate Housewives and wasn't too impressed. But for now I'll stay tuned, mostly because it's all the talk on Mondays around here. At the behest of a coworker, I taped but didn't watch yet, Brothers & Sisters. I know it's a good show, but being that's it's already in the third season, I don't know if I can get into it at this point. Especially with so much else to watch.

And, I'm just about caught up on BBC America's popular new teen drama Skins. This racy British export is the perfect antidote to all the Gossip Girl, new 90210, One Tree Hill, Friday Night Lights dribble on American TV right now. I love it ... of course, you can probably look forward to some Americanized version of this one soon. But I recommend watching the original. Look for more information here http://www.bbcamerica.com/content/328/index.jsp
Still haven't watched Mad Men yet, maybe tonight ... probably not though, because I'm clearing the evening's schedule to watch the DVD of Iron Man. Saw it in the theater and loved it!! And I didn't know anything about iron man going into it. Maybe I'm just really pleased to see Robert Downey Jr. doing something good again!
So I pretty much missed Monday night television. Saw a little of the Lost marathon over on Sci-Fi. And I wouldn't miss The Big Bang Theory - love those guys (CBS 8 p.m.). I'm about done with Dancing with the Stars (taped it but couldn't bring myself to watch it this morning).

Everybody's Favorite Gladiator
However, one bright spot in last night's entertainment came later on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. I had put a reminder on the TV that Russell Crowe was going to be on promoting his new Ridley Scott-directed Body of Lies with Leonardo DiCaprio (two of my faves, can't wait for this one!) Interestingly enough, it seems Crowe has a solution to all our financial problems in the US. Since the government wants to "lend" $700 billion to "save" the financial crisis, and there are roughly 300 million American citizens, Crowe's revelation would be to give $1 million to every citizen, allowing them to pay their mortgages and pump money back into the economy. I'm all for it. Shame he can't run for Prez.
On TV tonight: Back for another thrilling episode surely will be Fringe at 9 p.m. on Fox. Dancing with the Stars results show airs at 9 p.m. on ABC.
Over on Bravo at 10 p.m. an all new Rachel Zoe Project airs. I just got into this show over the weekend after a coworker recommended it. I like it! Rachel Zoe is a stylist-to-the-stars and its compelling to watch how her mind/business works. Most of the time, she's running (with her 2 assistants) all over Los Angeles, trying to find the perfect "hero" dress for some celebrity client. For more info visit http://www.bravotv.com/The_Rachel_Zoe_Project/season/1/index.php

And in the trainwreck category, MTV debuts Paris Hilton's New BFF reality competition at 10 p.m. I might actually have to check this one out. I admit, I'm a closet fan of VH1's Flava of Love and Rock of Love. I just can't seem to turn them off - like watching a trainwreck!

Well, the 17th season of the granddaddy of reality shows kicked off with an action packed 2-hr. season opener last night. Survivor Gabon got off on the usual foot, with the eldest players picking the members of the two competing tribes.
Unfortunately, the picking didn't turn out too evenly. The Fang tribe lost all three challenges, including both immunity trials, meaning that they're already in the hole two players. While the Kota tribe is already forming the Onion Alliance. Don't ask ... it's really too soon to tell.
Anyway, back over at Fang, Danny "GC" Brown is the first member of his team up the hill during the reward challenge, so he gets individual immunity. During the show's first Tribal Council, after much pushing from host Jeff Probst, GC decides to begrudgingly accept the role of leader of the tribe. This is always a bad move, hence no one else wanted it, because the early leader is usually offed early as well.
Michelle Chase, who was picked last by Fang, and sported major attitude, is the first one to go in an 8-1 vote. Poor Ken Hoang, the pro video gamer who swears he's not a nerd, despite stating that he hasn't kissed a girl in about 4 or 5 years, was desparately hoping to hook up with Michelle. I guess it might be a little longer waiting for that kiss ...
Randy Bailey, the videographer, didn't do much besides complain, "I'm gonna sit on my ass and watch 'em crash and burn." Crystal Cox, the Olympic medalist, didn't do much to prove her worth. And Dan Brown, the lawyer and only Fang tribe member who seems to have any brains, proved he's just as awful as the rest when he got sent to "Exile Island."
Poor Dan, he got the clue for the hidden immunity idol, only to miss out on finding it because he wasn't willing to look beyond the tiny hill in front of him. Just over the crest, in a small valley was the elusive sand pit that held the treasure.
Of course, when he got back to Fang before the second Tribal Council, his fellow idiots, I mean tribemates, all decided he must have the idol (even though he said he didn't, spilling all his belongings in front of them), and almost voted him off. And he's the best chance this whole tribe has! By the way, GC effectively gave up leadership. Stunner!
In the end, it was the older Gillian who got the boot, for apparently no reason other than her age.
Over at the Kota camp, the smart, beautiful people spent most of their time falling all over each other with affection. And thus, handsome Marcus Lehman, who appeared as Georgia's hottest bachelor in Cosmo; token gay guy Charlie Herschel; blonde and beautiful Jacque Berg, and hot brunette Corinne Kaplan formed the Onion Alliance. Go figure ...
My guess for the first one going from this tribe was pretty obvious -- Ace Gordon, the fashion photographer with the faux British accent! They can't stand this guy and on top of everything, he decided to lead the tribe in a session of yoga before their challenge! Bye-bye Ace!
The only thing he has going in his favor is that it seems the Fang tribe will never get their act together and that means we could have a repeat of the Stephanie-Bobby John experience.
Remember, a few season's ago, when one tribe dominated the challenges and the lesser tribe was whittled down to only Stephanie and Bobby John? After they lost yet another immunity challenge, they were put against each other in a fire-building challenge to see which one would merge with the 8-person-strong winning tribe.
Stephanie LaGrossa

Bobby John

Anyway, it looks like we could be headed this way again. For more information or to watch the season premiere visit
http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/

Over on ABC, the shenanigans at Seattle Grace were in full swing on Grey's Anatomy. I'm not going into specifics here, because what I really want to say is I'm so over this show.

McDreamy/Morose Meredith
Same old, same old. Blah, blah, "what if after being together for 40 years I just decide to sleep with my best friend's husband," a whining Meredith declared to Dr. Yang, who is just as tired of hearing it as I am!
And then she hit the pavement! Dr. Yang, I mean. Seems that the ice storm left things a little slippery at the hospital entrance and after storming off away from morose Meredith, Yang slipped and landed flat on her back, only to be ridiculously impaled by a falling icicle! Are you kidding me???
I forced myself to finish the 2-hr. borefest, but I can't say the same for next week ...
In case you have trouble falling asleep tonight, you can watch the premiere over at
http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index?pn=index

Weekend Watch: Well there is the Presidential Debate on every channel tonight, but I'm sure that I can find something better to do ...

Sunday night brings the return of six-time Emmy award winning reality series The Amazing Race! And I'm sooo ready for it! My best friend begged me to watch this show from the very beginning but it took a little person named Charla to get me in on the action!
And I've loved it ever since, sparing the season with the "family" teams, that was awful!
If you're not familiar, the Amazing Race features 11 teams of two, traveling all over the world in a race against time. There are many challenges along the way and usually at the end of each "leg" of the race (at the end of the hour-long episode) the last team to arrive at the Pit Stop is eliminated. However, built into the schedule are at least two Pit Stops that are non-elimination. You just never know which ones.
There's lots of arguing, conspiring and frantic rushing throughout and hottie New Zealand host Phil Keoghan adds some nice eye candy! If you like Survivor, I guarantee you'll love this show. The Amazing Race debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday on CBS.
For more info check out http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/

Over on ABC Sunday night it's all premieres all night -- starting with Ty Pennington's hugely successful Extreme Home Makeover 2-hr. event beginning at 7 p.m. Desperate Housewives stir things up five years later on Wysteria Lane at 9 p.m., followed by the season debut of Brothers & Sisters at 10 p.m.

But my real dilemma is the Sunday Night Showdown brewing between pay-TV giants HBO and Showtime!
Over on HBO, the carnage continues at 9 p.m. with the fourth ep of True Blood, and things are starting to get real interesting. At 10 p.m. Entourage brings us more of the adventures of my fave Hollywood boys, Ari, Vince, Eric, Turtle and the hilarious Johnny Drama!
For info on True Blood visit
http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/
For Entourage visit http://www.hbo.com/entourage/

Over on Showtime the season's debut for two shows that I absolutely love! Dexter, everbody's favorite serial killer, starts season 3 at 9 p.m., followed by the now-I-can't-wait-to-watch Californication at 10 p.m. I call it "can't-wait-to-watch" because, even though I totally enjoyed Hank Moody's wildings last season, with star David Duchovny checking into rehab for sex addiction, it gives this show a whole new reason to be intriguing!

I never thought I'd ever be able to see Duchovny as anyone other than my beloved X-Files' FBI Agent Fox Mulder, but he shines here as well!
As well as Hank's agent, played by Sex and the City's Evan Handler. Like Entourage's Rex Lee (Lloyd), sometimes he totally steals the show!
Californication Season 1 is available on DVD or you can watch eps here http://www.sho.com/site/californication/home.do

Anyway, Dexter Morgan spent last spring on CBS. Due to the writers' strike, Season 1 aired on Sunday night's. It's a good thing that Dexter is back at Showtime where he belongs, because there's too many people on shows on CBS that are looking for people like him! Dexter seasons 1 and 2 are available on DVD or you can check out previous episodes here http://www.sho.com/site/dexter/home.do

I'll let you know how it goes ...

Well, I got to Thursday and I'm still somewhat sane with my full TV schedule. This morning everyone was talking about last night's Project Runway. In case you missed it, our blue-highlighted boy Suede got the boot.

But everybody wishes it would have been newly-ordained Diva Kenley! She continued dissing everyone on the show, while making an absolutely ridiculous Hip-Hop ensemble. (It even has one of my coworker's wondering if they're just keeping her around for good TV. I wouldn't be surprised.)

Last night's challenge involved the contestants designing garments in various styles relating to music genres. And, after shaking up their designated models, the designers were told that they, themselves, would be modeling their rivals' creations.
As mentioned before, Kenley got to design a Hip-Hop outfit, and failed miserably. Even after being strongly warned by style guru Tim Gunn. Then she had the audacity to argue with Gunn in front of everyone else! And everybody who knows anything about Project Runway knows that you NEVER sass Tim! The fans just won't stand for it. I wonder what they're blogging about Kenley all over the 'net today?
Well, I wonder, even if Kenley does make it to the final, will Tim be as unbiased in his judging as he said he would be? Hmmmm... For more info visit http://www.bravotv.com/Project_Runway/season/5/index.php
By the way, you can catch Tim tonight on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Over on yet another installment of Dancing with the Stars, Ted McGinley was dismissed from the lineup. I have to say that I'm really disappointed that it wasn't Kim Kardashian. I mean, really, she was bad, bad, bad both nights! But, afterall, it's not REALLY about the dancing is it? Like American Idol, it's all about who's popular and gets the most votes.
For more information or to watch the dancers visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

OK, on to bigger things ... like What's On tonight and my serious viewing dilemma!

First up, there's nothing more important to me than catching the season premiere of Survivor: Gabon. The 17th season of the granddaddy of reality show's starts at 8 p.m. and in an unusual move, is 2 hours! While I'm pretty happy about that, it still means that I'll be mising the first hour of Grey's Anatomy, which debuts tonight and airs for 2 hours from 9-11 p.m.

Survivor first: Tonight's show kicks off with 18 all new contestants journeying to Gabon, Africa, where they'll presumably break into two tribes and battle each other to "Outwit, Outplay & Outlast" and become the soul survivor, sometime before Christmas, to win $1 million!
This season boasts an Oympic gold medalist, a 22-year-old video-game champ, a middle-aged physics teacher and an actress who appeared on Gilmore Girls (loved that show)! (Of course, I'll miss Survivor's dumbest player ever, last season's Erik, whose occupation was "Ice Cream Scooper" -- need I say more.)

Can't wait to see who we'll hate first! I hope there's plenty of cheating, catfights and manupilating, 'cause that's what we really want to see. We all know that our favorite Survivor moments always involve someone doing someone else wrong! Remember Johnny Fairplay and his "dead" grandmother?

Survivor airs tonight on CBS from 8-10 p.m. For more information and bios on the contestants, visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/

Over on ABC the randy doctors of Seattle Grace will be dealing with trauma when a sudden ice storm hits! It's never a dull day over there is it?
Anyway, according to NY Post critic Linda Stasi, who gives the Grey's Anatomy premiere 3 stars, the episode will feature "one of the sexiest non-sex scenes on TV in years." Looking forward to that.
And a new hot doc makes his first appearance tonight (we can never have enough of those). Scottish actor Kevin McKidd, last seen starring in last season's short-lived drama Journeyman, and before that, in HBO's Rome, makes his debut as Major Owen Hunt, who we're told will be a love interest for Sandra Oh's character. And apparently the aforementioned scene involves the two of them.

Anyway, even though show creatr Shonda Rimes swears that McDreamy and Meredith are together now for keeps, we can still expect problems in their relationship. Rumor has it that the nurse he dated briefly last season may end up pregnant.
And Rimes also assures us that she's planning on keeping Katherine Heigl for the season, despite rumors to the contrary. I just hope she comes up with a better storyline for Izzy this season.
For more info on this show visit http://abc.go.com/primetime/greysanatomy/index?pn=index

And for those of you who couldn't care less about either Survivor or Grey's (who are you people?) , there is still plenty to watch tonight:

If all your coworkers are still taking about AMC's Mad Men and you want to get in on the action, the channel is having a Mad Men Season 2 marathon from 7-midnight. You can catch up on all th happenings at the Sterling Cooper advertising agency with handsome Don Draper and his cohorts.
Or if you just don't have the time, you can find an episode guide here http://www.amctv.com/originals/madmen/

HBO is also getting in on the marathon, airing three episodes of their new vampire series True Blood (only 3 have aired so far), beginning at 8 pm. http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

Fox is showing two episodes of chef Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. Gordon will be revamping two restaurants tonight with all his usual belittling brilliance. Shows begin at 8 p.m.
http://www.fox.com/kitchennightmares/

Supernatural will continue to battle demons over at the CW at 9 p.m. http://www.cwtv.com/shows/supernatural

But the guilty pleasure I'll be tuning into at 11 p.m. will be a replay of the 10 p.m. episode of Tabatha's Salon Takeover over on Bravo! What a Bitch! It's basically the same show as Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, but switch him with, as The Soup's Joel McHale dubbed her, a middle-aged, Australian forrest pixie and substitute failing hair salons for failing restaurants.
Anyway, once you've met Tabatha, you'll never be the same. And just hope and pray that no one turns your salon into Bravo for this show!
For more, check out http://www.bravotv.com/Tabathas_Salon_Takeover/season/1/index.php

So I guess my evening's set, till tomorrow ...

As predicted, comedian Jeffrey Ross was sent packing during Dancing with the Stars second night of celebrity hoofing. The sound you have heard around 9:50 p.m. last night was millions of men turning off their TVs in response. That's because Ross' partner was the gorgeous, scantily-clothed Edyta Slawinska, a male fan favorite!

Alas, that's the down side of America's favorite dance show, even if you don't like the "celebrity," the pros have developed their own strong fan-bases, and there are more men (claiming to be forced to watch by their wives) watching the hot young female dancers than you think!
Tonight at 8 p.m. on ABC, the Dancing marathon continues for another hour and yet another celebrity will trade their dancing shoes for walking shoes.

In other Dancing news: Celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, who improved greatly in last night's peformance, has an upcoming serieso n A&E. Rocco Gets Real will premiere Oct. 4.

By the way, Monday's season premiere of DWTS averaged 21.3 million viewers to help ABC deliver its most-watched season-opening Monday since 1999.

Last night Fox offered up another intriguing episode of their new hit Fringe. The pattern and Massive Dynamics involvement have furthered the conspiracy. And I'm happy to pass on to you that last week's season premiere of Fox's proven hit House was just what the doctor ordered ... improving Fringe's (which follows House) ratings by over 4 million. According to TV Guide Fringe's primere garnered 9.1 million viewers and was up last week to 13.3, retaining 90 percent of House's audience. This is good news indeed.

And speaking of Fringe, don't you just love the way Fox let's you know, prior to every commercial break, how many seconds till Fringe returns! That really does come in handy. Kudos to Fox.

Haven't caught up on 90210 from last night yet ... although I can report that according to the NY Post, the CW has given a full-season order for the show. Whether they return for next season is anyone's guess at this point.

I have to tell you, Monday night while I was watching the LOST marathon, the Sci-Fi channel spent a lot of commercial time promoting a new series starting Friday, Oct. 3, at 9 p.m. Described in TV Guide as "A forensice psychiatrist follows the trail of an unusual boy who fled from a crime scene, and encounters a doctor with a unique proposition," Sanctuary looks pretty cool. You might want to save a space in your Friday night viewing ... http://www.scifi.com/sanctuary

And speaking of TV Guide, there's a pretty great article on Desperate Housewives new season in the Sept. 29-Oct. 5 edition, out now. There are lots of spoilers, but what I found most interesting was a sidebar on the show's creator Marc Cherry. In it, Cherry admits the inspiration for this season's 5-year jump forward came from the Season 3 finale of .... ready -- LOST!

For those of you who don't watch, during the last 5 minutes of the Season 3 finale, the audience found out that all the "flashbacks" we saw for those past 2 hours, were actually "flashforwards" and Jack and Kate were actually off the island!
According to Cherry, "Everyone on my staff was talking about it (LOST). The critics were rapturous. The fans were apparently ecstatic. This left me jealous and intrigued. I wasn't sure exactly what they'd done (I don't watch LOST, mostly because don't have the time, a little bit because I know it's so good, I'd just resent it), but I got the brilliance of it all. And I decided I had to make a bold move with my show."

On TV tonight: Well, I have a bit of a dilemma, there are 3 shows all on at the same tonight that I want to see. All at 10 p.m. What will I do?
I'll, of course, by starting with Project Runway on Bravo at 9 p.m. According to http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/ on tonight's episode, Tim Gunn promises us "the most unique show Project Runway has ever seen" as our five remaining designers battle it out in Rock N' Runway for a chance at the S5 crown. With an expected major model shake-up in the cards, the drama quotient should be high.
And we'll all be keeping an eye on the runway's newest bitch, Kenley, who over the last 2 weeks has gone from fan-favorite to villian! Who will she belittle tonight?

And following Runway at 10 p.m. I have to stay tuned for Top Design. While a tried to watch this show last season (its debut), I couldn't stand respected designer and show host Todd Oldham. Yes, I'm a fan of his designs, but his hosting abilities left something to be desired ...

Anyway, tonight's guest judge is none other than our favorite obsessive-compulsive house flipper, Flipping Out's Jeff Lewis! I absolutely can't wait. The promos for tonight's ep have Jeff saying "I thought the show was called Top Design, not over-the-top-design!"
For more information on Top Design, visit http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Design/season/2/index.php
For information on Flippin Out and Jeff Lewis visit http://www.bravotv.com/Flipping_Out/season/2/index.php

Also at 10 p.m. NBC's premiering Season 2 of Lipstick Jungle. I like this show, primarily because it was created by Candace Bushnell, creator of one of my all time faves, Sex and the City. While I wouldn't go as far as to say it's as good, it's held my interest. Tonight's premiere finds star Brooke Shields' character a high-powered film studio exec, dealing with a visit from her mother, played Mary Tyler Moore (might be worth watching just for that). For more info, click here http://www.nbc.com/Lipstick_Jungle/

And, of course, the show I'll actually watch at 10 p.m. (while taping the other two) will be FX's Sons of Anarchy. I'm liking this one more each week! For info visit
http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/Homepage

That's all for now, but coming tomorrow -- Survivor Gabon preview!

OK, so I'm guilty! Yes, I spent another LOST Monday with the Sci-Fi channel's 4-episode marathon of my favorite psychological thriller. I won't go into any details, just to say that if you ever wanted to get in on those LOST conspiracy conversations at work, Monday nights provide the perfect chance for you to get caught up for Season 5, debuting in January.

Back on over at ABC last night, Dancin' with the Stars made its season debut. I would say it was a loooong two hours, but I taped it and watched at 11 p.m. And although I said yesterday I could get thru it in about 20 minutes just watching the dancing and critiquing, it actually took about 35 minutes. Which is still way better than 2 hours of mostly filler and commercials!
All the contestants danced last night and one will go home during tonight's broadcast, another 2 hours, from 9-11 p.m. And the fun continues Wednesday night, with a 1-hr. results show at 8 p.m. during which another contestant will be voted off.

Anyway, here's my thoughts ... judge Bruno Tonioli was on fire last night -- where does he come up with those wacky euphemisms? He compared comedian Jeffrey Ross (who I think will be going home tonight) to the horrendous atrocity of Cloverfield in 3D. Cloverfield, for those of you who don't know, featured a gigantic monster lumbering its way thru New York City, knocking down everything in its path. And I think it was a correct comparison. Poor Ross, he seemed to be really trying, but some people just don't have it on the dance floor.
The Cloverfield Monster

I can't say much more for celebrity chef (is this guy still famous?) Rocco DiSpirito. He faired a little better than Ross, but not much.

82-year-old Cloris Leachman stole the show, not with her dancing, but with her antics at the judges stand. She slung her bare leg up and on the table right in front of a flabbergasted Bruno (the first person ever to leave him speechless), got on her knees and prayed in front of Len Goodman and practically sat in Kari Ann's lap!
I'll also put Susan Lucci in my bottom three. Don't get me wrong, she looked great! But she also looked incredibly uncomfortable performing her segment. I'm only hoping her strong fan base keeps her around for a while ... her partner, Tony Dovolani is delicious!

My faves from last night were the adorable Cody Linley (of Hannah Montana fame). He lucked out by getting 2-time champ Julianne Hough as a partner. She makes everybody look good.
Also, after admitting he was the "worst dancer in N'Sync, Lance Bass proved he can work it on the dance floor. I'm looking forward to his improvement in future episodes. His partner is newcomer Lacey Schwimmer.

Derek Hough
And the top vote getter from the judges was model/TV spokesperson Brooke Burke, who was lucky enough to land Julianne's bro, the super cute Derek Hough, as her dance partner.
My gut tells me that Maurice Greene is also one to watch this season. He was the last dancer of the evening and he has the other 2-time champ, Cheryl Burke, to guide him straight to the top. His dancing style was reminiscent of Season 3 winer and fave Emmett Smith!

My primary reason for watching, though, was the return of my fave pro -- Maksim Chmerkovsky! He's the hottest thing to hit the dance floor since Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever! Unfortunately, his partner is Olympian Misty May-Treanor, and he's really got his work cut out for him. The girl doesn't have any dancing experience, but she's an athlete, and athletes have a dedication that has been unmatched by other contestants so far (remember Apollo Ohno and last season's winner Kristi Yamaguchi?). Maybe he'll be able to turn it around to their advantage! We'll have to wait and see.
Overall, the show's contestants were not as impressive as previous seasons, with some even earning 4's from the judges. "I forgot we had a 4," quipped host Tom Bergeron of the low score. Overall scores ranges from 23-12 (Burke and Ross, respectively).
For more info visit the official website at http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index

On TV Tonight: Australia's handsome Simon Baker returns to network TV on CBS at 9 p.m. as The Mentalist. He stars as the roguish mentalist, whoonce made his living fooling people into believing he was a psychic.

Though he cannot really read minds, he developed a keen intuition about people, leading him to his current occupation as a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation on murder cases. For information and full episodes visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/the_mentalist/

Over on NBC, the competition continues on The Biggest Loser: Families, with a special guest appearance. Fresh from his debut (and possibly last night) on Dancin' with the Stars, Rocco DiSpirito teaches the contestants to shop for and make healthy and affordable meals.

I'll be reluctantly tuning in to 90210 on the CW at 8 p.m. Only because E! News reported over the weekend that Luke Perry IS in talks to reprise his role as Dylan MacKay!! YAY! As I reported last week, Brenda revealed in a conversation with Kelly that Dylan is indeed the father of Kelly's son Sammy (my only reason to keep watching).

And, Fox is offering up another vexxing episode of it's new JJ Abrahms thriller Fringe! I'm really getting into this show. It's not too late to check it out. Tonight's episode will center on another occurance in "The Pattern" featuring a bus full of frozen commuters. For more information visit http://www.fox.com/fringe/
]
FX is rerunning last week's episode of Sons of Anarchy tonight at 11 p.m. It's not too late to get in on this fine show. Think of it as the Sopranos on Harleys.

So, against my better judgment, I actually watched The Hills last night, after completely missing last week's episode. It just happened to be re-airing at 11 p.m. last night, just when my LOST marathon was ending. And for something completely different, Lauren Conrad was MIA for most of the episode ... she was on some trip and only arrived back home at the very end and guess what? The show wasn't really better/worse without her. All these "characters" (I mean we all KNOW its scripted, right?) are so interchangeable that it really doesn't matter who's onscreen.
Unfortunately, next week's ep actually looks interesting with Heidi's mom coming to visit. And guess what? She's going to give Heidi a hard time about her fiance Spencer (does anybody LIKE this guy???)

TV on DVD: Well, not exactly, but it was one of HBO's most successful series. Sex and the City: The Movie bows on DVD today. And, yes, being a huge fan of the show, I ran right to the theater to see it last June. Although critics complained that it was like a 2-hr. episode, I loved it! I mean, that's what we the fans wanted wasn't it?

Anyway, if you're a fan of the show, I highly recommend the movie. If you've never seen the show, it doesn't make much sense to watch the movie. Enough said.

This is the week I lose my mind ... yes, that's right, tonight is the official beginning of TV's New Fall Season. I have so much to watch this week that I had to make a list night-by-night so I wouldn't forget anything. It's this way every year, returning faves and trying to decide which "new" shows are worth investing the time.

This week's tough, but if I can survive it will get better. Especially since a lot of the "new" shows get cancelled only a few weeks in.

But before getting into all that, I can't let last night's Emmy Awards broadcast pass without a few comments. The Emmys, or as I like to call it -- one of the most BORING awards shows on TV -- always kicks off the new TV season -- with a snore. And last night's 3-hour show was no different, in fact, it was the worst in years.

Thank God for British comedian Ricky Gervais! At least he was entertaining! He went off the monitor and did a funny schtick with Steve Carrell over Gervais' Emmy win last year. He wasn't in attendance to accept, so presenter John Stewart gave the award to Carrell, who apparently didn't give it back. So Gervais went into the audience to get it from him in one of the funnier moments of the evening.

The only other highlight for me was Josh Groban's medley of TV theme songs, from The Love Boat to South Park, The Jeffersons to Baywatch, Gilligan's Island to The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, and more. He was great! Both moments can be seen in this 3-minute Emmy highlight reel available on youtube. Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O94JwhNAO8s

And in case you were curious, AMC's Mad Men made history becoming basic cable's first show to win a best drama award. Too bad season 2 is such a stinker so far...

NBC's 30 Rock scored four trophies, including its second consecutive nod for best comedy series. HBO's Entourage picked up a third consecutive win for Jeremy Piven's Ari Gold for supporting comedy actor. And, as expected, HBO's mini-series John Adams picked up a healthy five trophies.

And, although the five nominees for the first-ever Reality Series Host Emmy stunk at hosting the show, it was great to see Survivor's Jeff Probst win. I mean, afterall, wasn't Survivor the show that started network reality programming. (Yes, I know that MTV's Real World was before Survivor, but I said "Network"!) Congrats Jeff!! By the way, Survivor: Gabon starts this Thursday with a 2-hour premiere beginning at 8p.m. on CBS! YAY!!

Of course, I'm equally happy to see CBS' Amazing Race win its sixth consecutive Emmy for Reality-Competition Program. (AR starts its new season Sunday night at 9 p.m.)
Personally, I'm a little bummed that AR's host Phil Keogan didn't receive a nomination -- he's my favorite!


And, in the most bizarre Emmy nod, given out at the technical Emmys two weeks ago, Pirate Master: Episode 102 won for Original Main Title Theme Music. Who knew? I mean, I'll admit I watched this ridiculous ship-bound reality competition (until it was yanked from the schedule mid-way thru), but I didn't think anybody else did!


On TV tonight: Well, I'll probably be starting out the evening watching the Sci-Fi's four-episode LOST marathon as it continues beginning at 7 p.m. And I'll probably get all caught up in it again, so I'll be running tape on all the other programming. Tonight's line-up of episodes 5-8 include: White Rabbit, House of the Rising Sun, The Moth and Confidence Man.

Over on CBS, the sitcom lineup begins with my new favorite The Big Bang Theory. Leonard and Penny will deal with the aftermath of their first date. If you haven't watched this yet, do! It's very funny!


NBC will be running an entire night of Heroes. Sorry, I couldn't get into this show, which is strange since I like sci-fi. Anyway, from 8-9 there will be a catch-up and behind the scenes of season's past, followed by the 2-hr. premiere at 9 p.m.


Fox continues it's Prison Break at 9 p.m. MTV presents another vapid ep of The Hills at 10 p.m. (Why am I still watching this?) And over on E! you can check out the best and worst dressed at the Emmys on Fashion Police at 8 and 9 p.m. (I guess they think it'll be so good they had to air it back-to-back.) Actually it might be quite entertaining, guest commentator will be Project Runway's favorite pixie Christian Siriano!

And, finally, what kind of TV watcher would I be without mentioning the big premiere of Dancing with the Stars over on ABC at 8 p.m.? Yes, they're back! Bruno Tonioli, Len Goodman and Kari Ann Inaba will be critiquing every step for 2 hours tonight, tomorrow night and another hour on Wednesday night!

Kari Ann, Len and Bruno
Well, I can tell you now that I don't have all that time to put into this show. I love watching the dancing, but the filler drags on forever! Here's my little secret to making this more enjoyable. Tape it!! or DVR!! whichever. I find that I can get thru the entire 2-hr. broadcast in just about 20 minutes just watching the dancing and judges' reviews. It's pretty bad when I'm looking forward more to seeing the professionals than the actual "stars."
For more on the contestants and professional dancers visit the official web site at
http://abc.go.com/primetime/dancingwiththestars/index?pn=index&cid=rm+Fall08+google+Dancing_With_The_Stars

That's all for now, gotta go, lots to watch tonight!

In honor of Sunday night's Emmy Awards, I've included this link to a youtube video of talk show host Jimmy Kimmel holding a hilarious interview with the hosts of the upcoming awards show.
You can check it out here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2752gfOlYp0
As I'm sure you already know the Emmy Awards are TV's biggest night. It's the highest honor of achievement a television actor, writer or producer can get. This year's show will be different in that instead of just one host, the duty will be split between the nominees for Best Television Reality Show Host. Which includes American Idol's Ryan Seacrest, Project Runway's Heidi Klum, Survivor's Jeff Probst, Deal or No Deal's Howie Mandel and Dancing with the Stars Tom Bergeron.


Frontrunners for the nominees include AMC's Mad Men, which garnered 16 well-deserved nominations (I haven't blogged about this show yet, but it's coming) and HBO's historical epic John Adams with 23 nominations. HBO, as usual, is expected to clean-up at the awards.
Preceding the show at 7 p.m. ABC will air Jimmy Kimmel's Big Night of Stars. Kimmel will interview Michael Phelps (like we haven't seen enough of him yet), Salma Hayek, Tracy Morgan and the aforementioned Emmy hosts, a la Barbara Walters-style. The Emmys will follow at 8 p.m.
In accordance with the broadcast, just about all the other networks will be showing reruns, because they figure everyone will be watching their fave TV stars at the Emmys.
Only HBO is brave enough to have original programming with the next episode of True Blood airing at 9 p.m., followed by former Emmy nominee Entourage at 10 p.m.
For a full list of the nominees and other information about the awards visit http://www.emmys.tv/

In other news, last night's season premiere of the CW's Supernatural was right on queue, picking up only four months after last season's finale. Demon hunter Dean literally dug himself out of his grave, and spent the rest of the episode trying to find out who brought him back from the depths of Hell. And, in "I didn't see that one coming," the explanation turned out to be that an Angel brought him back and has work for him to do. Interesting ...


Also, while watching Tabitha's Salon Takeover on Bravo last night, I was elated to see that next week's Top Design will feature guest judge ... wait for it Bravo fans ... JEFF LEWIS!! (Our favorite obsessive-compulsive house flipper)

Yes, the Flipping Out star will be on hand, so tune in Wednesday at 10 p.m. to see how he makes life Hell for the design contestants.
In the preview, he says, "I thought this show was Top Design, not over-the-top design!" Can't wait!
For info on Top Design visit http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Design/season/2/index.php
For info on Flipping Out visit http://www.bravotv.com/Flipping_Out/season/2/index.php

OK, sorry, I got my information a little wrong about last night's Project Runway. While designer Cynthia Rowley was the guest judge in a Mother-Daughter challenge, the returning contestants I mentioned yesterday were actually on the show following the Bravo hit -- Top Design, which aired at 10 p.m. My bad.

Regarding Runway, last night we said Auf Wiedersehen to Joe. I will admit I was a little nervouse for Suede, he's growing on me and I didn't want him to go yet. I think the judges feel the same way. I'm picking him, Jerell and Leanne for the finalists. For now we'll have to wait and see ... by the way, what was that feathered thing on challenge-winner Jerell's head last night?

For more photos of last night's challenge or more info on the Runway visit http://bloggingprojectrunway.blogspot.com/

F/X delivered another great episode of Sons of Anarchy last night, featuring Carnies, castration and those motorcycle mavens with a heart. For X-Files fans, there was another treat -- Mitch Pileggi turned up from a rival gang. Pileggi played Mulder and Scully's boss, Agent Skinner. You can see more here http://www.fxnetworks.com/shows/originals/soa/#Nav/TheShow/AboutTheShow

And Pileggi shows up this season on the CW's Supernatural, which has it's premiere at 9 p.m. Yes, demon hunters Sam and Dean Winchester are back for Season 4! When we last saw them back in May, evil demon Lilith trapped the brothers and sent Dean (Jensen Ackles) to Hell, fulfilling Dean's contract to sacrifice his life for Sam (Jared Padalecki).

Tonight's opener apparently has Dean literally digging himself out of his grave! Pileggi will appear in a future episode playing the boys' grandfather. But, if I have to be honest, although I love all things supernatural, the real reason I stick with this show is for the eye-candy -- the Winchester Bros. are hot!


And speaking of eye candy, I caught up on this week's 90210 last night too. I was just about to give up on this show, when Kelly Taylor (Jenny Garth) spoke the only word that would make me keep watching -- Dylan! As in former Beverly Hills alum Dylan McKay (Luke Perry)! (OK, so I would still have kept watching if she had said Brandon.) Yes, it seems that Kelly's young son Sammy is the spawn of my favorite 90210 hottie.

Before the new show started back in August, there was plenty of Internet rumors about Perry returning for a few guest shots, possibly as the father of Kelly's son. Perry's camp is quick to point out that at the moment the actor has no intention of returning. But we all know that can change ...

Also, I must admit I do enjoy seeing Rob Estes on 90210 (he plays West Beverly's principal and father of the main characters Annie and Dickson). I've always liked Estes, ever since he used to star in the upscale detective drama Silk Stalkings. I'll never forgive the USA Network for killing him off at the end of Season 5. And I'm not alone. The show quickly sank into ratings oblivion after that.


On TV Tonight: I'll be watching my favorite British chef in need of anger management -- Gordon Ramsay. His Kitchen Nightmares at 9 p.m. on Fox is one of my favorite guilty pleasures.

Say what you want about his management style, the guy knows what he's talking about. Just check out his bio on http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gordon_Ramsay and I'm sure you'll be impressed. Anyway, if you're not familiar, Nightmares features a different failing eatery each week, which Ramsay makes over and turns into a profit maker. Check it out. It's very different from his signature cooking contest show Hell's Kitchen.


Also cake-maker extreme Duff Goldman is back with another new episode of his hugely popular Food Network show Ace of Cakes! This show truly is a joy to watch. Not only are the cakes amazing, the employees make up a cast of characters worth watching. So check out the jovial chef along with Mary Alice, Geof, Sherri, Anna, Adam and the rest of the gang at 10 p.m. Just Duff's boisterous laugh alone is enough to keep me watching.
Or if you just can't wait, you can visit Baltimore's Charm City Cakes at http://www.charmcitycakes.com/

Over on ABC at 9 p.m. last season's 2-hr. finale of Grey's Anatomy plays out again. So if you just can't wait until next week's season premiere, you can refresh your memory of the goings'-on of Meredith, McDreamy, McSteamy, and the rest randy doctors at Seattle Grace.

Till tomorrow ...