Welcome to Something for Nothing

When watching Fox recently I saw a commercial for a new show called Secret Millionaire. I loved the idea. Basically, the send millionaires into poor communities where they meet as many people as possible and then reward one of them a pile of cash. If this is produced right, it will be really interesting and eye opening to hear the stories of the people they meet. I love people and so I love to hear their stories. Let’s hope it’s presented the right way.

Here’s a full description of the show’s premise:

SECRET MILLIONAIRE is a dramatic unscripted series that takes viewers out of their comfort zones and into the heart of America’s social issues.

Each week, one of the wealthiest Americans, worth millions of dollars, will go undercover into one of the most impoverished and dangerous towns in America. Their job is to spend one week canvassing the town - meeting as many people as possible - some of whom will touch the millionaire with their dedication to helping others while others will have incredible stories of trying to overcome tremendous odds. On the final day, the Secret Millionaire meets with the chosen recipients and reveals his/her true identity and intentions - to give them a sum of money that is going to change their lives forever.
SECRET MILLIONAIRE will engage viewers in important social issues, extol the virtues of volunteerism and change the lives of disadvantaged people - and the philanthropists who helped them - in unexpected ways.

Check out this brief interview of Nigel Lythgoe where he talks about his new project. Nigel describes his new dance show as basically a dance Olympics with dancers from all over the world and judges from all over the world also. Judges would only get to score those dancers that weren’t from their country. Sounds like it could be really interesting or really lame depending on how well the show is produced. Plus, I hope Nigel spends enough time telling the back stories of the dancers since that’s just as interesting or more interesting than the judges talking about the scores. He’s mentioned something similar on So You Think You Can Dance before and I hope he sticks with that thought.

Check out the interview:
Read more…

People TV Watch reported that Brooke Smith is no longer going to be on Grey’s Anatomy after tonight’s episode.

The romance is over for Brooke Smith’s character on Grey’s Anatomy: the actress has abruptly been written out of the hit medical drama.
Smith, whose character Dr. Erica Hahn had just begun a lesbian affair with Sara Ramirez’s Dr. Callie Torres on the ABC show, told EW.com that Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes “just suddenly told me that they couldn’t write for my character anymore.” Adds Smith, “it was the last thing I expected.”
Smith’s last Grey’s appearance will be Thursday’s episode, but don’t expect any closure for her character. “My final scene is just me heading to my car,” says Smith. “I honestly don’t know what happens in the next episode.”

I must admit that I’m personally pretty glad. She kind of grew on me a little bit over time, but I really didn’t like her when she first showed up on the show. At the end of the day, the best part of her character were her and Yang fighting. That part I will miss. I wonder who they’ll get to replace her character. They’ll still need someone to do all the work on the hearts, no?

The past 2 days my wife and I were both just wanting Addison to move back to Seattle and Grey’s Anatomy. At least give us a cameo or something. I think we’d all love it.

Mark Burnett is jumping into the Shark Tank. Burnett has signed a deal with Sony Pictures Television to bring the wildly successful Dragons Den to the American market. Think American Inventor meets American Idol (auditions). The US version will be titled The Shark Tank, ABC has ordered the show and they are currently in production. Check out this website dedicated to The Shark Tank for more information.

After covering the first season of America’s Best Dance Crew, it was really fun when one of the boys I taught in church sent me the following video of some North Shore boys doing a dance in the style of JabbaWockeez!!

Nice work. I wonder when America’s Best Dance Crew will be on the air again. My guess is that we’ll have to wait for summer.

Originally I was going to write this blog post about the show in its entirety. But then I realized that the funniest part is Sheldon, so I am just going to blog about him!

In the October 13th episode he opened with the paper towel bit. ‘I might as well sneeze my hands dry’. Classic!

My favorite part about Sheldon is that it doesn’t even phase him that no one else around him really gives a crap about any of the things he whines about! And that he is still perfectly content with himself and his life!

The smile he kept giving was fantastic! Loved the Joker reference! At times, yes, it did look like he was about to kill Raj. But let me just go on the record saying that Raj is certainly no Batman!

And when Sheldon threatened to make a drum out of Raj’s skin I almost wept tears of laughter! And then he topped it off with that psychotic smile. You can’t make that crap up!

Let’s just talk about Sheldons wardrobe for a second. When he isn’t dressed up as a comic book character or someone from Star Trek he wears the same thing. Long sleeve shirt, under a more colorful t-shirt that has some sort of picture on it, usually a comic book character, and a pair of pants.

I’ll admit it. I am oddly attracted to Sheldon! And I have the feeling I am not the only one out there who is!

His weird eating habits would make going out on dinner dates difficult, however. I have the feeling I would find myself over-tipping our server in advance so that they didn’t do anything heinous to our food because of all of the odd requests Sheldon would make!

Look at me, acting like we’re dating! Silly me!

The irony of Sheldons cat being named Lucky is just amazing! Not even for the obvious reason that he was run over by a truck, and how unlucky that is. More amazing is the thought of how Sheldon would treat a pet cat.

I can just see him now. Running experiments on the unsuspecting kitty to see if a cat could survive living on Mars, or something outrageous like that! Poor Lucky.

And how Sheldon is it that his first thought after having a pet die, would be how to replace said pet with a better one? And training this new and improved pet to kill people with its mind!! Oh boy.

Resenting his sister for getting swimming lessons from their parents, when they wouldn’t provide him with the necessary tools to create a griffin! Poor kid. How did he survive such a deprived childhood?

Sheldon is the poster child of a realist. He of course deems it necessary to point out that their meeting new people could indeed kill them!

But he’s not insane, his mother had him tested!

I hope everyone was able to see both halves of the show. I almost forgot that the second half of the show was playing last night. Good thing my husband reminded me. I was sad that I missed last weeks episode. Why doesn’t NBC stream it? Annoying. Any how, my husband filled me in on what I missed and I didn’t feel like I was lost at all.

I was surprised that the teams were just now cashing in the awards they won the first episode. I totally forgot about them. I was happy that the red team could go see their kids. I may have let a few tears fall. What a wonderful family they seem to have. I am glad they got the kids out and went hiking. It is things like trips home and calls home that let me get even more attached to the people I am watching. They are real. They have loved ones who are cheering them on and loving them. They are more human and more real.

I haven’t decided if I like it that one team member stays and one team member goes. It makes it much more emotional. I was impressed with the brown team’s decision. If they wanted to win the competition they should have kept Ed there. However, they were there to lose weight, to get healthy enough so they can have children. In the end Heba stayed and Ed went home.

I love that each week we get to see the progress of those kicked off. Ed looked great. I think he will be a strong contender for the at home prize money.

My wife has been doing a great job covering this season’s Biggest Loser Families. Last night she was all ready to do a post about the third episode of Biggest Loser season 6 when she got a phone call from a neighbor friend asking her if she wanted to go walking (ie. exercise). I think everyone can appreciate the irony of the situation. Does she stay and watch Biggest Loser Families or does she decide to do like people on the show and exercise?

I’m proud of my wife. She really didn’t even seem to blink an eye. She got up and ready and went out walking with the neighbor. Sure she missed an episode of one of her favorite TV shows, but it would have been kind of sad if she had watched Biggest Loser families and not tried to avoid some of the health problems the people on the show have experienced.

Luckily, I have a wonderful wife that will never let herself reach that point. Great choice honey and all of your rabid readers will welcome you with open arms next week.

I should mention that I’m certain if my wife had watched the show she’d have been crying through half of it. I may have had a tear reached the corner or my eye myself. Although, I’ll disavow any knowledge of such a thing happening. I’m glad Biggest Loser Families only kicked off one team member though.

Tonight was the premiere of Dirty Sexy Money. This is a crazy show with little intricacies that really show how well written it is. Unfortunately, if you don’t watch carefully you’ll miss a lot of the connections they’re making. It’s not a show that you can really watch casually. This show also really makes you wonder about what is going on with rich people in the world. It begs the question: how much (if any) of this is true and real.

Here’s a good video of Dirty Sexy Money actors on the red carpet talking about this season of the show:

Tonight’s episode was pretty good, but I think a bunch of it is just setting stuff up for the future. The cool part of the show is that nothing is unreal in this show. They could make up almost anything and have it seem feasible. Quite interesting.

Tina Fey previously did an amazing Sarah Palin with Amy Poehler doing Hillary Clinton on SNL. In true SNL fashion, Tina Fey returned again as Sarah Palin being interviewed by Katie Couric.

SNL is good and Tina Fey is just unbelievable. Of course, my favorite quote from Tina Fey this week was, “I hope that come November I can stop playing Sarah Palin.” If Palin doesn’t win, then I hope she stays in the spotlight at least enough for Tina Fey to play her again. It’s just wonderful television.