Simon Cowell said "hummdinger!"

Okay, well, I may be strange for getting excited, but did you hear it? Did you hear it? I may be the only one excited, but won't you be excited with me?

Simon Cowell said "hummdinger!" Okay, so, statements by Paula, Randy, and Ryan of what a "hummdinger" is followed, but I didn't care. I think Simon must know I like David Cook. Don't you think? Whoooo Hoooo! Not!

So, it's going to be the Cookie and Archie show! Anyone going to be watching with me? I've become a reall Cookie fan! Of course, I rooted for him because he was a Missourian, but as the weeks went on, I became excited because he IS really talented!

So, who is wondering why I'm excited about this?

Here's a video I took of my t.v. I just had to save it for excitement's sake. Wouldn't you have?

New Shows - Season Pass on Tivo (& the Football Channel)

I am getting so frustrated with football games going into overtime and not staying in their own timeslot. It messes up my tivo recordings of my favorite shows and I only get to see a small amount of the show as everything the entire rest of the evening is delayed!

My hubby said that we needed a Football Channel and he is SO right! Why isn't there a football channel? I guess some of the problem is that the games air at the same time so they need several channels to air them. Shaking head. There would be plenty of off season review shows and replays of games for a Football Channel. We have a Food Channel, why not a Football Channel? The guys would love it!


I'm also frustrated with my empty tivo due to the writer's strike. I sit down and there's nothing to watch.

I'm excited that these shows will be premiering soon and am ready to set my tivo season pass! At least we can have reality tv during writer's strikes.

*******
Jan. 3 9 p.m. Celebrity Apprentice (Season 7) (NBC)

Jan. 7 8-10 p.m. Dance War (ABC)

Jan. 15 8-10 p.m. American Idol Season 7 (FOX)

Feb. 7 8 p.m. Survivor Season 16 (CBS)

Feb. 12 9 p.m. Big Brother Season 9 (CBS)

My Fall Tivo Schedule

I have never done this before, but I went through all the upcoming shows and made a list of the shows I want to tivo and when the premier or start date is --wow! Starting September 17th, I sure hope it is a week of rain so I won't be tempted to go outside and enjoy the fall weather!

These dates are in my sidebar.

TV Shows Online

I would like to thank Andrea for creating these lists. She's awesome!

As I've said several times before, I can see a trend whereby most shows will be viewable online and I am wondering if some day telelvisions will be replaced.

Here is a list of shows that you can watch online. They are usually up the day after they have aired on television. I am excited as many of my favorite shows are listed and, therefore, I can lay in bed with my personal laptop and watch! Maybe I will take an opportunity to watch some shows I would not otherwise tivo to see what I am missing.

ABC

According to Jim
Bronx is Burning, The
Brothers and Sisters
Day Break
Desperate Housewives
Fashionista Diaries
Fat March
Grey's Anatomy
Knights of Prosperity
Lost
Men In Trees
Nine, The
GH Night Shift
October Road
Six Degrees
Ugly Betty
What About Brian

CBS

Armed & Famous
As the World Turns
Big Brother 8
CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (my show)
CSI: Miami (my show)
CSI: NY (my show)
Guiding Light
How I Met Your Mother
Jericho
NCIS (my show)
Numb3rs (my show)
The Papdits
Pirate Master (my show)
Power of 10
Rules of Engagement
Shark (my show)
Survivor: fiji/China (my show)
The Unit
The Young and the Restless

NBC

30 Rock
Age of Love
Andy Barker, P.I.
Black Donnellys, The
Friday Night Lights
Late Night with Conan O'Brien
Last Comic Standing (my show)
Miss Teen USA 2007
Passions
Raines

FOX

24
American DadBones
Drive
Hell's Kitchen
K-Ville
Loop, The
Prison Break
Standoff

Survivor Addict Gets Excited Again

Many of my readers know I love watching Survivor. I never miss an episode, even if I have to stay up late watching tivo after a full night of activities! Survivor China premieres September 20th and that is not soon enough! The cast has been announced and here is a video of them to help you get familiar with them.

I have read buzz about who is the possible winner already, although I need to read up. The best source for spoilers is Survivor Fever, so I will be setting aside time to read there soon. I used to spend so much more time reading spoiler info, but my time seems so much more limited now.




I enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance, although I wanted Danny to win. I could watch that guy forever! He is SO powerful (masculine)and yet so graceful at the same time. The irony of that really hooked me in. He has the most amazing stretch on his jumps

I like to zone out over at You Tube and get lost in his videos now.

Television Station Ratings

When I was young, I remember that the television stations were rated by popularity with ABC at the top, NBC, and then CBS trailing far behind. I remember my family mostly watching ABC shows and thinking how true the ratings were.

I have been reflecting on this memory in recent years. It seems to me that the raties are still placing the stations in that same order; however, that is no longer what my family is mostly watching. FOX was not even a word in my household growing up. Only occasionally will there be a show on ABC or NBC that I watch. Most of my tv time is spent on CBS, followed by FOX.

My shows by station:

CBS (Fall Line-Up)
Survivor
Shark
Pirate Master
Cold Case
Without a Trace
Numbers
CSI: Miami
CSI: NY
CSI: Crime Scene Investigations
NCIS
The Amazing Race
Big Brother (sort of, but only to keep up with conversations)

FOX (fall preview)
So You Think You Can Dance
House
American Idol
On the Lot

NBC (fall preview)
Last Comic Standing
The Apprentice (canceled)
Dateline

ABC (fall shows)
The Next Best Thing
The Bachelor
The Bachelorette

FOOD NETWORK
The Next Food Network Star


It is kind of scary laying out this list for all to see. What in the world does my tv viewing say about me! I'm mostly not sure what it says about whether or not I follow my Christian values very well when it comes to t.v.

We have been renting some movies lately as my tivo has actually not been very active lately with all the reruns. Big Brother will be starting soon; however, I am not really into it. I mostly watch it so that I can understand and participate in conversations around me. I tend to miss a lot of the episodes. There is just too much ugliness and rawness in it for me. I understand that they are hyping up a gay couple that gets married on the show (Stephen Ireland and James Joell) this season and have revealed the contestants.

My reflecting has recently been brought back to mind as I am watching the ads for television line-ups this fall and, wow, I must say FOX seems to really be stepping it up! If CBS is not careful, I may become a avid FOX viewer.

THIS SUMMER

What's up with the Karoke War between NBC and Fox? NBC's "The Singing Bee" is scheduled to air (July 10) one day before Fox's Don't Forget the Lyrics (July 11). I may have to check both of these out.

THIS FALL

Kid Nation on CBS this fall has my attention. Can 40 children with no adults really survive?

On fox, there are upcoming shows for "The Search for the Next Great American Band," "K-Ville" (a New Orleans based drama), Back to You (with the lady from Everyone Loves Raymond) and "New Amsterdam" also have my attention. I am hopeful that the Band show is comparable to the RockStar show I enjoyed.

And, although the FOX show "When Women Ruled the World" interests me, the premises of it may be too far beyond my Christian beliefs to get me to watch it. We'll see.

CBS also has some applications on their website of a "untitled legal reality tv" show and I am curious about what that will be.

Upcoming New Shows

With all of the t.v. shows coming to an end with finales this week, I am curious what new shows are ready to start. Maybe we are ready for reruns? The Futon Critic has a list of upcoming shows. There are three that peak my interest.

ON THE LOT

You can read about On the Lot here. It is a Mark Burnett and Steven Spielburg show. Of course, since I love Survivor and Apprentice, anything Mark Burnett does is of interest to me.

This appears to be something new and unique on FOX. The public votes as the contestants create and produce short films. It starts Tuesday, May 22 and I plan on watching. It appears that it will be scattered on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays.

PIRATE MASTER

I am REALLY EXCITED about this one.

Pirate Master will air on CBS, the station I find I watch the most. 16 modern day pirates search for a one million dollar (spead over the weeks) treasure. With expiditions (challenges), gold coins (real money they can take with them) to strike deals with, and captains to assign roles all while traveling on a real pirate ship, this show has me intrigued. Of course, this is also a Mark Burnett production!

There are screen caps and more information to view here. It was filmed last month, so it may be like Survivor in that spoilers may be about. The 16 contestants (8 men and 8 woman) have been revealed and can be seen here. It premieres May 31st on Thursdays (Survivor night!). What the video here. There's even a Rupert look-alike!

What I want to know is if any of these people have had prior experience in piloting a boat like that or were they taught? Do you think they ever go accidentally in a direction they do not want to go? Do they have professionals on board to protect people in case of an emergency, such as the medics that come on Survivor when someone is injured? We shall see!

NEXT BEST THING

The new show Next Best Thing: Who is the Greatest Celebrity Impersonator sounds as if it could be fun to watch. It could be similar to the Last Comic Standing which I had enjoyed. It is scheduled to premiere on May 30th and run on Wednesdays. It appears the show had a name change and I think that was a good choise.

OTHER PREMIERES

Fast Cars and Super Stars appears to be a new show and may interest the men in my house. It may premiere June 7th on ABC. The 12 celebreties participating are listed here. There are some big names, but for me it is much like Dancing with the Stars in that I just do not get into the shows with stars as much as I do every day folk like they have on Survivor.

America's Got Talent was an "okay" show to me last year and worthy of possibly catching again. It will approximately premiere on June 21st on NBC. Simon Cowell (American Idol) has his hands in this one and it appears there will be some new judges.

Last Comic Standing is back and I am sure our family will be watching it. I premieres June 10th on NBC. It appears to have a new host and a larger prize in Season 5.

Big Brother8 should premiere on July 5th on CBS. I am not a huge fan of this show, but since I know so many that are, I tend to watch it somewhat so I can understand conversations.

Yes, I admit it, I am a reality tv geek. The one show I really did enjoy watching this winter was Shark and it appears to possibly be on the chopping block. I hope it pulls through.

Survivor: China

Wow...what news! It appears that the 14th edition of Survivor will be filmed in China. I am now wondering, based on the last part of the article, what sort of scene they might want to cut. Any ideas?

P.S. Thanks Nina!

Fox on Demand

For those readers that have been following my writings for a while. I am continually amazed at how more and more television is on the internet. I wonder where this world is headed.

Here is another one I will share with you called Fox on Demand. You have to install a program which is a little scary at first as we do not want to install things from unfamiliar sites. I took the risk and everything seems smooth still!

Have fun!

P.S. Thanks Andrea [wink]

More on Survivor

This week we see that one of the competitions is a dance competition. It is a Fijian dance called meke. It looks like fun to me! Come along and join me in practicing the dance before the show on Thursday!







THE CAR CURSE

It appears the the car curse will live on. That is, the person who wins the car will not win Survivor. We have been told that there is a very controversial part of the show and somehow it encircles the car. It involves Yau Man, Dreamz, and handing over of keys, and broken promises. Read more from Phoenix.

THREE IDOLS

As I have heard from the start, there are three hidden immunity idols that are found. We have seen one found, but I am still wondering about the other two. Who will get them? One more will be found before the merge and one after the merge. Finally, we get to see them used and they change the game. I am anxious for this.

Have I told you how much I love Survivor and watching the spoilers?

ANOTHER BOOT LIST
I found another boot list at Jokers Updates. I have always trusted Fever though, but we can watch to see which comes true. This is why I like spoilers! Sometimes they are right on. Sometimes, the are wrong and the shock blows you away! It is never truly completely spoiled. Have fun!

12. Rocky
11. Lisi
Merge
10. Mookie
09. Edgardo
08. Alex
07. Stacy
06. Boo
05. Michelle
04. Yau-Man

Final 3Dreamz, Earl, Cassandra

TV Blurbs

Just a few notes on television happenings in the tv world.
DO NOT READ IF YOU DO NOT LIKE SPOILERS!

GREASE

I enjoyed the show and liked the chosen winners. I hope it airs again.

SHARK

Currently my favorite show (next to Survivor) and I hope it gets a new contract for next year.

THE BACHELOR

The Bachelor starts tonight and Andy Baldwin has revealed a secret. He proposes to the girl he chooses. Five of the six most recent bachelors did not propose, so this will make for a great ending! Now, who does he propose to! Supposedly Stephanie is the first to get a rose and a private date, but does not make it to the end. It is possible that Amber (a not well liked girl) gets to the F4.

AMERICAN IDOL

The AOL American Idol Poll claims that it has often been right in reflecting the true votes on who will be booted each week. Check it out! Sanjaya is in first place on that poll! Currently, Lakisha is in last place. It doesn't claim that all positions have been a true reflection, only the last position. Let us watch this poll in a few days to see if it changes.

There has been a lot of discussion on who Sanjaya's voter base is other than votefortheworst.com. Is it really the teeny-boppers' influence? Ahh, I remember David and Shawn Cassidy!

Check out the American Idol Make-overs! What a difference the before and after photos are! I wonder if they can fix it so we do not see so much of Melinda's gums and make Phil grow hair and tack his ears down. I know, we cannot judge them by their looks, but isn't that what these make-overs are all about? It seems looks does matter anyway to the public.

Here's a fun page on American Idol Look Alikes. Enjoy!


SURVIVOR

According to Fever, here is the boot list. The question now is what the order of the F3 is.

1 Jessica
2 Erica
3 Sylvia
4 Gary
5 Liliana
6 Rita
7 Anthony
8 James (Rocky) - First juror
9 Lisi (merge after her boot)
10. Michelle
11. Edgardo
12. Alex
13. Mookie or Stacy
14. Mookie or Stacy
15. Boo
16.Yau-Man
F3. Dreamz, Cassandra, Earl

The tribes as they are now.
Moto: Cassandra, Boo, Stacy, Earl, Yau-Man, Michelle
Ravu: Dreamz, Alex, Edgardo, Mookie, Lisi

As you can see, three of the F4 are currently on the same tribe. They must either play the immunity idol well or form a good bond and use it after the merge.

Also, I find it interesting that no caucasions are in the F4.

Question: Who would you predict will win individual immunities after the merge? Does Michelle go on a winning streak?



According to True Dork, Yau-man is shown on here as winning the "cars"...he gets more than one?

THIS WEEK
Since Lisi is booted this week, Moto wins Immunity.... by warriers choice.

Since Lisi is exiled, Moto wins Reward....a dance competition.

Does Lisi really tell them all the idol clues, just to get booted?

Isn't Yau-Man funny! Love that he made up a fake idol and buried it. Would it not be even more funny if he found the fake one in front of everyone and gave it away, only for it to be played? Can you imagine Jeff having to tell someone it is fake? No spoiler here, just my imagination running.

It is said that no one new visits exile until after the merge.


THE AMAZING RACE

The Amazing Race is getting boring for me. It never was one of my favorite, although I did enjoy seeing Charla as a knight.

Here's a repost from my earlier post of the boot order which seems to be coming true.

All Stars Teams ( elimination order?)
John Vito & Jill
Kevin & Drew
Mary & David
Rob & Amber
Teri & Ian
Bill & Joe
Uchenna & Joyce
Danny & Oswald
F3 Charla & Mirna Dustin & Kandice Eric & Danielle

Internet Finds

It has been quite some time since I have posted an "internet finds" post--ever since I had to wipe out my laptop and lost my links.

I will offer a some for you today.

DELETING PHOTOS ON BLOGGER

So many digiscrappers use Blogger. As you know, the photo storage is limited and there was no way of seeing what photos were in your storage in order to delete them. Now there appears to be a way. Picassa Web Albums is is a way to view and delete your blogger uploads. I went and logged in at www.picassa.google.com and sure enough, it worked! Yeah!

SHARED SCREENSAVER

Google Screensaver is supposed to be an easy way for you to upload photos and then your relatives have them instantly appear on their Google Screensaver. I have always loved my Webshots, but I may have to play with this as the sharing feature sounds cool.

LIVE MAPS

I still think that the aerial views on the web are scary. I went and played with them to view my house. It was WAY to quick to find it.

On MSN Live Maps my house looks like this (boxed in yellow). Yeah, I know, it is a very small house as we are poor.

On Google maps it looks like this. I thought the fog was interesting.

TUTORIALS

Jessica Sprague has four video tutorials that will be highlighed in Creative Keepsakes. Thanks Jessica!

I found this cool tutorial on making clouds using a brush in Photoshop and it looks applicable to Photoshop Elements too.

SURVIVOR

As most of you know, I am addicted to Survivor and have never missed an episode.

According to Canada.com's story, Jeff may once again be thinking of not signing a new contract. Also, check out the bottom of the story. Are they really thinking a cold weather Survivor? It has always been discussed that they would never do that because, hey, sex sells. How can we see great looking people under layers of clothing and coats?

THE BACHELOR

The Bachelor starts on Monday and I am ready for it now that Grease is over. This time the guy is an officer and a gentlemen! Get your tivos set! I loved that 1982 movie. I wonder how many stations will pick up on it and rerun it soon.

ANCESTRY

Ancestry.com has taken away the free access (to census) from libraries. I wonder if they will opt to pay for it now.

FOREVER STAMP

Wow, this is something I never dreamed would happen. The postal service plans on selling a "Forever Stamp." This is to due away with the 2 and 3 cent stamps necessary every time the postal service hikes the price of postage in order to use your old stamps. The Forever Stamp can be purchased at the regular price and be good forever, even 50 years from now. Regular stamps will be going up from 39 cents to 42 cents next year.

The Evolving Television

I just read this news story about television and the internet. You will note that due to the popularity of YouTube, the television networks are on the move to change the availability of television. Due to copyright violations of uploaders, television shows or snippets of them are all over YouTube. YouTube only has an obligation to remove them once they have been notified of the violation and, therefore, unless the television networks go after all the little guys, they will need to find another way to combat the viewing by offering the same themselves. Isn't it quite ironic that they have to use competition of what is already theirs to resolve the issue?

I've often wondered why the networks have not utilized the internet more already. It seems to me that they provide television for free through advertising as it is, so why not through the internet through advertising also?

However, as the new era of television seems to be on the horizon, I wonder about the damages to family values this may cause. I am picturing my husband and I on our own laptops, each sitting in bed side by side, watching our personal television sets, while the children are in their own rooms doing the same. Is this where television is headed? It is bad enough when the whole family sits staring at one television set, not communicating with each other. However, at least they are in the same room together and able to discuss the show they are watching. Granted, most homes have more than one television, but consider that laptops would mainly be for personal viewing. How many times have we read over the years that television messes with quality family time?

As a young person, I would often dream about what the future would be like, especially upon watching shows like the Jetsons. I do believe we are being given a sneak peak of the future today.

American Idol (<---see that word?)

I just found this post about Chris Sligh on American Idol. On that post are some interesting links. One is to a forum discussing that the very name of the show speaks of "Idol," which would be against the first commandment (thou shalt have no other gods before me). Wow, why has that word never jumped out at me before? I have been watching the show, but my thoughts never focus really on what the title reflects. Rather my thoughts focus on God-given talent and analyzing who has the best talent and who may win. I have never idolized any of the winners or even purchased their music. I think that this is a good thing to reflect upon and remember God's commandments, but I'm not sure it is going to make me stop watching the show. Hmm..may have to pray about this and wait for God's answer.

Chris, on his Blogger profile, says that he is foremost a follower of Christ and then a rock star. This forum is an interesting and thought-provoking read, although I don't know what to think of it. Chris has professed on the internet to be a follower of Christ, so why the judging? His actions are between him and God.

Reality T.V. Geek

Stop here and read no further if you do not like spoilers!

Ah, you will come to realize that I'm a reality t.v. geek. Yep. I think the suspense of who is going to win and trying to analyze who will win is what keeps me a reality t.v. geek.

There's a lot going on right now. I could ramble about my opinions on the shows, but have no time. Sorry.

Of course, my all time favorite, Survivor, is on tonight. I am blessed with tivo and will be watching it late (after teaching my first class at local school on digital scrapbooking).

Check out this page for spoilers on tonight's Survivor.

American Idol is in full swing. I've picked out my favorites. Have you? I want to share with you a fun site to watch that I have witnessed as having a big impact on the show. Vote For the Worst picks the worst contestant and requests that everyone vote for the worst just to keep them in the game. I have watched them make some really bad people in the past go far. Careful though, that site has some ugly stuff on it too that I do not care for (giving fair warning).


All Stars Amazing Race has begun too. I thought the first show boring and was ready to stop watching until I read this spoiler. Now I have to watch just to see if the spoiler comes true. Can you imagine Romber leaving so soon and Charla and Mirna making it so far?

All Stars Teams ( elimination order?)
John Vito & Jill
Kevin & Drew
Mary & David
Rob & Amber
Teri & Ian ( 7th place finish?)
Bill & Joe (6th place finish ?)
Uchenna & Joyce ( 5th place finish ?)
Danny & Oswald (4th place finish ?)
( Final 3 )Charla & Mirna
Dustin & Kandice
Eric & Danielle

Of course, I am really enjoying the Apprentice. I have no links for you though. I just do not have time any more to hardly watch t.v. My tivo mostly catches them for me and I watch them later. However, even my tivo was full the other day and did not record something I wanted to see. Oh well.

Here is a FOX On Demand Site. Miss an epeisode? You can watch them here.

Dancing with the Stars is due to start on March 19, although I just cannot get into this show. I usually do not watch.
Here is the new cast of Dancing with the Stars .
• Laila Ali, the daughter of the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali
• Country music star Billy Ray Cyrus
• Paul McCartney's soon-to-be ex, Heather Mills
• Former NBA star Clyde Drexler
• 'N Sync alum Joey Fatone
• Miss USA-turned-GSN hostess Shandi Finnessey
• Entertainment reporter Leeza Gibbons
• Former supermodel Paulina Porizkova
• Ian Ziering - 90210 (the blonde arrogant guy)
• Sopranos alum/Sirius Satellite Radio host Vincent Pastore
• Olympic speed skater Apolo Anton Ohno

Survivor: Fiji

People that know me well know I am addicted to Survivor. I have never missed an episode! The next Survivor is due to premier on February 8th. The new cast has been announced at CBS. Once again, we have a bunch of contestants from California. It really gets to me that they are grabbing people off the streets in California rather than going through the millions of applications they have received over the years. There are some people dieing to get on the show and they go and pick people off the streets. They have done this the last few episodes.

What got me so addicted to Survivor in the first place was the spoilers. It amazes me how many spoilers are on the internet and how in the world they are even obtained. It is fun to discuss them and then watch to see if they are accurate or not. When they are not accurate, that makes the show even more surprising.

Some years there have been boot lists that have been dead on accurate. Then it got to where that was boring for people and so the spoiler people started holding back again. It is fun when they tease us.

Where are these spoilers, you ask? I will share a few sites with you. I have not had time to cruise them much the last few seasons, but I love to when I do have time.

First, there is the all time best place of SS. I call it SS because I do not like the real name. There are two areas on this board, one for SS and one for the Mess Hall. It takes a while to learn how to navigate the forum. And there is ugly language there, so be aware. There is also a lot of teasing there and reading between the lines, but it is the ultimate place for spoilers. The language usually gets to me and the good stuff is usually really buried. That is why many of the others sites are good recaps of SS. Most other sites get their info from SS.

If you do not want to do a lot of reading and want to find the information quickly, then visit SurvivorFever. I head there a lot.

Here are a few other places. I cannot give you all of them, there are so many.

True Dork Times
Immunity Idol
Survivor Chatter
Psychotic Playground
Survivor Phoenix
Survivor Shrine
Survivor Skills
Survivor Addicts
Survivor Web
Unofficial Survivor Guide

Unforuntately, some of the great places we used to visit are now gone. For instance, Snews at Survivor News and also Survivor Network are no longer available. Only memories remain.

The Apprentice & Grease

Everyone knows I'm a huge reality t.v. geek, so I though I would start posting sometimes about t.v. (with a new label).

I am finding that Yahoo TV is really expanding and becoming a great place to visit. Did you know that you can watch 24 minutes of tonight's Apprentice before it is even aired? With no commericials, you nearly watch all but the ending! I watched it last night. It's going to be a great season. Anyone want to post a comment on who they feel will be booted before it airs tonight?

I understand that the Apprentice and the upcoming Survivor somehow did the same twist while filming. Isn't that odd? It appears they will both be sending some to poverty and some to riches for accomodations. We will watch and see.

I am also anxious to see what the new reality show of Grease will be like. will it be great or fail? I loved the movie.

It all comes down to poo....

Oh my goodness, I have never watched Scrubs, but this video sure did make me laugh. It's so silly, how can you not laugh? Enjoy!



Here's a sneak peek from the SCRUBS special musical episode that airs on January 18 on NBC! ... (more)