DWTS Final Competition Night!

You would have to go all the way back to the first season of Dancing With the Stars to find a Final Round that didn’t feature an athlete. One could argue about the athletic status of Helio Castroneves in Season 5 – he unquestionably participates in a sport, but it is not a sport that automatically conveys the physical advantages enjoyed by the likes of Apolo Ohno and Shawn Johnson.

But with its mix of dangerous bloat and brilliant flourishes within that bloat, you could call this DWTS’s Fat Elvis Season. That considered, it is fitting that we have an All-Entertainers Finale. All three surviving contenders know the spotlight well. All three surviving contenders, it must be admitted, have danced for a paying audience prior to their participation. But we have had the opportunity to watch them grow, sweat, and suffer, as well as reveal something of themselves through the performance gauntlet.

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DWTS Semi-Finals Results Night!

The narration at the top of the broadcast describes all four Dancing With the Stars semi-finalists as worthy of the Finals. It’s true that they all have Finals-worthy performances in them – but so did Aaron. And this is hardly unprecedented, as anyone who watched Lil’ Kim get thrown over so Ty could have a semi-finals slot knows. I remain of the opinion that this competition boils down to Mýa and a bunch of would-be runners-up; and most of what happens in this final Elimination Night serves to underline that.

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DWTS Semi-Finals!

I used to look forward to the time when Dancing With the Stars shed enough contestants to drop its competition night running time to 90 minutes, then an hour. Not only did it underline that dramatic winnowing, it allowed me to get a little frakking sleep after these reviews.

But ABC apparently likes its time on this ratings pony, and doesn’t want to get off it. So we’ve had two-hour Monday night episodes all season long; and now it’s put contestants in a position of having to prepare three never-before-performed routines, which is unprecedented in the history of the show. To be sure, one of the routines is the 30-second “Knockout Dance” they’ve tinkered with all season in case of a Dance-Off, but you still can’t help but wonder if polish is going to suffer. Polish, and feet.

Strap in for this plus sized episode and click “continue reading” below for more!

Pack Your Knives and Go Las Vegas : Week 12

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Brendan and Bryan interview the latest Top Chef cast off, Eli. He talks a bit about his friendship with Richard Blais and his interactions with Robin. Sorry this interview was a little late folks!

DWTS Week Eight Results Night!

In Monday’s post-dance confessional, Kelly and Louis are literally shaking and weeping as they hug and she declares love for him. They haven’t even been voted off yet and they’re already acting like he’s being shipped off to the front and she’ll have only his pocket fob to remember him by. Whatever happened to carrying yourself like you deserve to be there?

More available under the cut. Please click “continue reading” below

Check Out The Endless Simmer Podcast!

Our friends over at endlesssimmer.com are now talking with their mouths full! Check out their first podcast where they interview chefs all about the best holiday, Thanksgiving.

There is even an interview with everyone’s favorite top chef contestant, Fabio Viviani!

Episode 86 : Casino Royale with Cheese

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Do you watch Top Chef & the Amazing Race? Allison and Bryan sure do and they’re here to tell you not only what happened but also what they think! Sounds fun right? Yes it does! So strap in and get ready for some awesome podcasting action! Wheeeeeeee!

#5 and I’m Not Here To Make Friends? Check it out!

Maureen Francisco and I’m Not Here TO Make Friends team up to raise funds for Child United. PLUS, information about her book, Full Circle, and an interview with Chris Sudore from King County Real Estate.

 

 

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DWTS Week Eight Competition Night!

Dancing With the Stars has come up with some quality gimmicks this year, but there’s one that happened gradually, without drawing attention to itself, that actually concerns me. It used to be that you would see one dance style, or two (divided by gender) per week. By seeing everyone perform it, the lay person could have several examples to see and understand the basics, and so make a side-by-side judgment of who was actually learning their dances better. Plus, you felt like you were in a genuine rotation, cycling the traditional basics before moving on to more exotic styles.

We’ve lost that now – there’s no predicting how many different dance styles will be performed week to week or to whom they will be assigned, and you feel like the celebs are missing a chance to get grounded. It’s no wonder so many of them succumb to the lure of stunts – they’re constantly being assigned stunt dances. Kelly and Louis reminded us in tonight’s show that the Foxtrot is their first proper ballroom dance since Week One. How fair is it that they did not have the opportunity to keep any of those skills up in practice until now?

Gripes Ahoy! For the full article please click “continue reading” below.

Pack Your Knives and Go Las Vegas : Week 11

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This time around Robin Leventhal gets the question treatment from Allison and Brendan (yay! Brendan’s back!) as Bryan mostly just plays host & giggles (he’s just lazy). Robin told us what it was like to be in the house before and after the tension sets in and just how hard being on Top Chef can be.

Episode 85 : Cookies are Yummy

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Amazing Race and the Top Chef Reunion are the topics for this podcast, so you know it’s going to be a good one! These are 2 of our favorite shows, and it really comes through when we start to talk about them. There’s also some muppet talk as well as information on our upcoming event and the cherry on top, calls from Number One Fan Patrick, who’s calling out our other listeners for a challenge. Get involved listeners, don’t let him down!

DWTS Week Seven Results Night

With all the ongoing rule-change experiments and random maimings that occur in the Dancing With the Stars ballroom, I do not think Tom Bergeron gets enough credit for his ability to keep us current. He and his writers (or just his ad-libbing brain, for those more immediate moments of unpredictability) have a consistent ability to explain the newly-altered landscape with concision and wit. Not just anyone could have calmly thrown it to commercial during The Great Osmond Fainting of Ought-Seven.

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DWTS Week Seven Competition Night!

have to confess I actually had a dream that involved Dancing With the Stars this week, so I am grateful that after this week’s double elimination we will be down to only five contestants; which makes next week’s show effectively the quarterfinals. The amount of hip ruffles, superfluous montages, and Bergeron quips I have had to ingest in the last two months rivals Homer Simpson’s experience in Donut Hell.

What are you dreaming about? Read more by clicking “continue reading” below.

Episode 84 : Instant Classic

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Top Chef Las Vegas & the Amazing Race are discussed and Allison promises a quick but episode and then notably fails, on the quick part that is. Bryan eggs her on, so they’re both at fault but that’s the risk you take with free entertainment. This was an alright week for Top Chef but Amazing Race was so damn awesome, just listen to how excited Allison & Bryan get! And listeners, off topic, but what are your top 5 classic television series?

Tickets For Reality Star Trivia Showdown Now Available!

Our long talked about event, Reality Star Trivia Showdown, now has tickets available!

There are two type of tickets available for purchase: Player and General Admission.

Player tickets ($35) gives fans a chance to form a team to potentially play trivia head to head with their favorite reality stars, guarantees them an event t-shirt and gift bag, the opportunity to partake in fun raffles for great prized, and of course the chance to meet and be photographed with the other contestants and stars.

General admission tickets will be available shortly and will allow fans to watch the trivia tournament, rub elbows and meet the stars, partake in fun raffles, and take part in short Q&A sessions. Keep checking notmakefriends.com and www.igbinc.org/tickets for updates.

When:
Decemeber 6, 2009

Time:
7 pm (6:30 Check-In) – 11 pm

Where:
Sportsmen’s Lodge
12825 Ventura Blvd
Studio City, CA 91604

Charity:
All proceeds go to Child United

To purchase tickets, visit http://www.ibginc.org/tickets or click on the buy tickets button on the left!