This weeks 30 Days placed pro-choice Jennifer, a 29 year old woman with a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology that works in a women’s health clinic, in a Christian, pro-life maternity home named His Nesting Place. During her 30 days there, she is supposed to follow the house rules, work in the pregnancy crisis center and take part in their pro-life activities.

Again, this episode fell on it’s face, but not for the usual lack of time, but more from neither side really being that engaged in the give-and-take of the format. Upon Jennifer’s arrival, she was asked by one of the head workers if she worked in a place that “sells abortions”. Oh yeah, this is going to go well. During the time Jennifer spent at their pro-life activities, she insisted on not standing with them and wearing a pro-choice shirt.

I am all for people standing by their convictions, but the whole point of 30 Days is to learn from each other. This season seems to be suffering from people who are either too attached their beliefs to listen (such as this episode) or they are too willing to give in (the New Age episode). Last season you had true immersions, like the Off-The-Grid episode, but this season it seems to be breaking their own rules left and right. I’m afraid the format of this show may be broken now, and I’m not really sure there’s a way to fix it.

Why did it take me almost a week to write about the fourth episode of 30 Days season 2? Because it might have been this season’s Binge Drinking Mom episode.

Tom Collett is a 37 year old transportation salesman and he has a temper. He get’s stressed, and blows up at little things, so he needs to calm down because he fears it is boiling over and damaging his relationship with his girlfriend, Misti. The problem with this episode is he Tom seemed TOO willing to immerse himself in the New Age philosophy, he was ready to change his lifestyle and he quickly embraced everything his life coach, Barbara Biziou, had to tell him. The majority of the conflict came from Misti, who, once she met Barbara was also all for it!

Not that I wanted to see anyone tearing each other’s eyes out, but I did want to see someone who was actually interesting and having their life broadened by the experience, instead I felt like I was watching a man get 30 free days of intense therapy. Yes, he was supposedly “changed” when it’s all over, but it still felt like he was too open to the information.

Big Brother is still going, and it still amazes me how anyone in the country likes Janelle and Howie. From their antics whenever they win an HoH competition, displaying amazingly bad sportsmanship, to Howie’s little escapade with throwing Boogie’s hat when he was voted out.

Howie and Janelle were the kids in high school who always thought they were better than everyone else, but in reality, they are just sad little people with no personalities of their own. I will give Janelle this though, she is like a freaking cockroach this season when it comes to getting rid of her!

The third episode of 30 Days is another one of those sticky subjects that’s difficult to approach for someone who likes to remain neutral for business reasons. There was a lot here though, so let’s get going.

Meet Brenda, a 47 year old mother from Kansas with multiple degrees and a Ph.D in psychology. Brenda is an atheist and she will be living for 30 days with the Shores family of Frisco, Texas, a devout Christian family. Really, there’s not a whole that happens int his episode that you can’t add up for yourself from just the set-up, except that Brenda seems to impact Tracy Shore, the wife, the most by letting her see that an atheist can be just like any one else, just with a different belief system.

That isn’t too say there weren’t surprising things in the episode. They mentioned a recent University of Minnesota study that found that atheists are the least trusted minority:

“From a telephone sampling of more than 2,000 households, university researchers found that Americans rate atheists below Muslims, recent immigrants, gays and lesbians and other minority groups in “sharing their vision of American society.” Atheists are also the minority group most Americans are least willing to allow their children to marry.”

Because they have a different belief system? Wasn’t this country founded by people fleeing religious persecution? So now it’s ok to look down on people for not sharing the same beliefs as you? Glad to see things have changed so much.

The other interesting point was how Michael Shores couldn’t fathom how Brenda could raise her children without following Christian morals as the basis for everything. Luis over at BlogD (can you tell I really like Luis’ blog?) wrote a far better analysis of this then I ever could.

I liked the episode, but like all 30 Days episodes, it seems to suffer from the constraints of the time format. Just as you get really wrapped up in the people and the story, it’s time for the hour to end. I hate that.

By far the best site on the web for Big Brother updates is JokersUpdates.com, and I am not questioning what they are reporting, I am questioning the fact Dr. Will said it as he lies like no one other.

According to this post and this one, it would seem Dr. Will got lectured by the producers over his calling the Chen-Bot “sweetheart” during the live show last week. It would appear “Big Brother” took exception to this and feels that it was condescending and he will no longer be spoken to during the live shows.

Um….get a life? How is this any different than female talk show hosts calling guests “darling”? Or saying “Bless your heart”? It’s not. I am no big fan of Dr. Will’s, but Chen-Bot, hubby Les moonves and the BB producers need to lighten the hell up. Has political correctness gone this far that names like “sweetheart” are on the same footing as racial slurs? I’ll have to remember this the next time I walk in to some local store and a female clerk says to me “Is that all today hun?” (which really does happen) I will make sure to tell her I do not appreciate her condescending me.

Crazy people I tell ya.

I just finally got around to watching this episode of 30 Days today due to my hectic schedule this week. It was well worth the wait though!

Meet Chris Jorbin, a 37 year old from Mount Vernon,NY who, until recently, was employed as a computer progreammer. Recently Chris was let go when his company decided to outsource his job to the Tata Corporation in India. Chris spent the last 6 months of his job training Indian replacements. Since then he has been unable to find work and has had to sell all his stock to pay bills. To add to the problems, Chris has just had a son with his girlfriend.

Chris travels to Bangalor to live with Ravi and Soni Ranjan, a family directly benefitting from the impact of outsourcing. While there, he must also apply for a job at a call center, take classes in how to fake an American accent, take the test to get an interview and, finally, get a job that just happens to be in the call center Ravi is a manager at. Imagine that luck! *cough* Was still interesting to see him go through the whole process.

This episode suffered from something though; two fascinating aspects of the same story and with both getting short-changed because of it. Seeing Chris react to India was fascinating, but so was the story of Soni trying to also get a job at a call center. While everything was interconnected, it still felt like this episode could have benefitted from a much longer format. Chris pointed out how outsourcing was changing everything about India. To work on American day light hours, the call centers were the busiest from 6 PM to 3 AM, meaning families were working more and more oppisite shifts. She also had the added turmoil of tradition saying she should stay home and take care of the extended family.

Morgan Spurlock, creator of the series, is certainly not wasting time taking on hot button issues this season. Illigal immigrants and outsourcing sure seem to be a way to get the season off on the right foot. Both epieosdes so far though seem to be suffering from the hour long format. Outsourcing could have easily used twice the time, and it also would be nice to know if Chris ended up finding a job.

Luis over at BlogD was being all smart-assy today mentioning the blogs he reads that he hasn’t linked yet. Since he mentioned mine, I felt obligated to do something thought provoking…

Instead I ripped off a joke entry by CosmicBudhha, another blog Luis linked to. TAKE THAT LUIS!

24 is one of those shows you almost feel guilty watching. It is so improbable, so insanely over the top, you aren’t sure you’re enjoying it for story or sheer amazement at the next idea the writers pulled out of their ass. Keifer Sutherland plays Jack Bauer, a tough, take-no-prisoners agent of C.T.U. (Counter Terrorist Unit). The show is done in “real time”, with each season being only 1 day in the life of Jack.

In 5 seasons we have never seen Jack:
- Eat
- Sleep (well kinda, he took a power nap in the first season for like 30 seconds)
- Go to the bathroom

I think he’s had a drink of water here or there, but I can’t remember for sure. Combine this with his “unique” interrogation skills and his “I’d shoot you as soon as put up with you” attitude, has led to a massive cult following. Said cult have come up with a massive list of things Jack is capable of, including such gems as:

- The city of Los Angeles once named a street after Jack Bauer in gratitude for his saving the city several times. They had to rename it after people kept dying when they tried to cross the street. No one crosses Jack Bauer and lives.

- Passed out, surrounded by terrorists and nerve gas, and handcuffed to a table leg, Jack Bauer laughed to himself and said, “I have them right where I want them.”

- Jack Bauer doesn’t need to eat, sleep, or use the bathroom because his organs are afraid of making him angry.

- Lets get one thing straight, the only reason you are conscious right now is because Jack Bauer does not feel like carrying you.

And so on. You can check out the full list here. If you are fan of the show, you will laugh yourself silly. If you don’t watch the show, you will think everyone who does is clearly insane.

YAY! 30 Days is back!

Frank George is a 55 year old from Mojave,CA. He was born in Cuba and immigrated to the USA when he was 7. Now Frank is a US citizen and he believes, strongly, that illegal immigration is wrong. He has gone so far as to join the Minutemen Project, patrolling the borders for illegal crossings. He heads off to East L.A. to live for 30 Days with the Gonzalez family (not their real names). He will A)give up all ID B)work as a day laborer C)he will live in their 500 square foot home for 30 Days with the 2 parents and 5 children. Fun!

Honestly, 90% of the enjoyment of this episode came from the discussions between Frank and 17-year-old daughter Armida. I would imagine most of this came from her ability to speak English (Frank does speak fluent Spanish), but their debates over immigration were fascinating to watch. Armida seems very intelligent and very passionate about the immigration, but so did Frank. The vast majority of their episode was their back-and-forth, with neither really giving an inch….until Frank headed to Mexico.

Rigorberto, the father, suggested Frank go see his brother in Mexico and see what was they had left behind. As he didn’t feel he would ever get such a chance again, he did so and found living conditions he didn’t feel were “fit for any human being”. (his words, not mine) As the episode drew to a close, he seemed to soften a bit, but kept his view that illegal immigration was wrong, but he did tell Armida that if she left and came back legally, he would have no problem in sponsering them. As he drove away from the Gonzalez family, he shared this in the van:

“It’s surprising to meet people, that you don’t want to be in this country because of the way they came in, and liking them so much. What a shock. Never forget that…never forget that.”

Now…he’s where the fun is. Every summer there is a gathering of critics called the TCA events where producers talk about their upcoming seasons. At the 30 Days event, producers Morgan Spurlock, R.J. Cutler and Ben Silverman were treated to a verbal attack by Frank Geroge over how they manipuleted what he said. Stealing from the TVWeek Blog entry about the event:

“You guys screwed me,” George said. “It was out of context. They were able to shape the story in the manner they wanted to. I thought [the portrayal] was grossly unfair to the American people.”

“Because I made them do it!”

Raise your hand if you think Frank got back to his everyday life and caught flack for turning in to a softy. *raises his hand* Yes, I am sure things were taken out of order, as happens on every reality show. But you (meaning Frank) said the words, so, guess what Frank…you said them, deal with it. I am not taking a side on either side of the debate, but I think his attacking of the producers as the show is about to air was cowardly. Live with what you said.

Who in the world is directing All My Children this week? A film school drop out? They changed film stock and it look horrible, and now you have overcomplicated shots being filmed that the camerman can’t handle! Boom shots? POV shots? The show looks like absolute dreck this week! I’m hoping we go back to standard fare soon.

On a side note, the new Colby, Ambyr Childers, not only is a horrible actress, they SORASed the character 8 years!

Back on February 4th of this year, I wrote, yet another, entry about the American Family Association attacking television shows. One thing I said was:

What I also don’t understand is that twice now they have attacked NBC over being “anti-Christian”, but yet I have not heard a peep of anyone going after Rescue Me on the FX Network.

I need to learn to shut my stupid mouth.

It was reported yesterday on the AdvertisingAge website, that the AFA has convinced T-Mobile to pull their ads from both Rescue Me and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, both airing on the FX Network. The article states that the orginization bombarded T-Mobile’s CEO, Robert Dotson, with emails saying how they found these two shows his company advertises on to be offensive. Mr. Dotson then said he reviewed episodes of the show and stated:

“I have personally taken the time to view some of the programs where we have run advertising, …Candidly, some of the choices we have made are clearly inconsistent with who we are and what we stand for.”

As for the show’s themselves, an FX spokesman said:

“The shows air at 10 p.m., they are marketed to adults and we do a good job of making viewers aware that it is adult content. More than 90% of the audience for ‘Rescue Me’ is 18 or older.”

Again, I have to state, YOU have the power to control what YOU watch. YOU have the remote control in your hand, turn the channel if it OFFENDS YOU! I happen to like Rescue Me, but I fully realize my grandmother might now, so you know what she does? She doesn’t watch it! You know what I do about shows I don’t like? I don’t watch them! However, Rev Wildmon, the founder of the AFA, feels that no one should watch them. At the rate he’s going, he might very well get his way.

I know no one will do anything, but don’t cry to me when they next target one of your favorite shows. We have to speak up just as loudly as they do if this is ever to stop. How can such a small group, they claim 3,000,000 supporters, so about 1% of the entire population, control what the rest of us watches? I don’t think so. Think about that for a second. A group that adds up to 1 out of every 100 people is dictating what you see on television.

Would someone care to explain to me when Hollywood and advertisers decided this country was minority rules? I would like to know. Ok, thanks.

I give up. It’s the same thing every week. I enjoy watching the show, but writing the recaps is boring me in to a coma. I really doubt anyone is couting on me for these anyway. Oh well, 30 Days starts this week!

Oh, and it got renewed for another season. Let’s hope they come up with some twists.

Rachael Ray prepares to cast her dark magic spell over a broader audience

Satan’s evil servant Rachael Ray met with TV critics about her upcoming syndicated talk show. She plans on having a more open set and having people play foosball and cook with her. To quote her directly:

“I want to laugh and eat something in every show,”

Of course you do, how else would you maintain those chipmunk cheeks of yours, Princess of the Dark Arts? (For those of you who don’t remember, I really, really don’t like this woman) The idea of her having even more airtime on TV…I already want to run for a fall out shelter, her 900 hours of Food Network time a week are already enough to make my ears bleed.

So, say good-bye to your loved ones, the evil comes in September.