Inspiration Alley

New TV Season

I love the summer run of TV shows. 

First there is Big Brother - who wouldn't like that madness.  I can't wait for tonight to find out who the sabateur is.  (The "twist" this year is that one of the houseguests is there just to wreak havoc).  I confess, I not only watch the show 3x/week, but I also check the update blogs and I subscribe to the live feed.

Aside from BB there are many great shows returning - The Closer, Royal Pains, Psych, Leverage, White Collar, Burn Notice, and the best ... Mad Men.  I love that they are on those cable channels that repeat the episodes several times during the week, so I can catch everything on TiVo even with competing timeslots.

I still have a reality show addiction so I following Top Chef, The Next Food Network Star, Hells Kitchen, Deadliest Catch (very sad this year), Design Star, and a new one called Work of Art: the Next Great Artist.

There's also a bunch of new shows starting that I might be interested in.  My method is that if they don't compete with something else I watch, then I TiVo a couple of episodes to see if I have an interested.  The first one is Rizzoli and Isles which is based on books by Tess Gerritsen.  I have read all the books so far.  I watched the first episode and it followed pretty closely to the early books in the series  I don't know if they are going to continue along the story lines of the books or spread to new stories but so far I liked the first episode.  Another one I'm interested in checking out is Sh*t My Dad Says which is based on a twitter account I follow - I think it's going to be on CBS so hopefully it won't compete with something else I already watch.

So many shows ... so little time.  My TiVo can record several hundred hours of programming so guess what, I'm always behind.  I do keep up with the reality shows, but regular programs I'm several episodes behind - and I'm Ok with that.  I also don't give the TV my undivided attention - I have it on as background entertainment when working on the computer or scrapping in fact it's on while I'm typing this out.

Tomorrow I head to Sarasota for a crop and I think I'll get to see my sister for a bit.  As long as I have a connection, I'll be able to post from there.

Come to think of it

I do have some interesting news ...

With all the storms we've been having, somehow, the modem on my TiVo was fried.  You know how I love TiVo.  I called them ... gave them the symptoms ... and they told me exactly what to do.  They referred me to a place that sells external modems for TiVo, and all I had to do was plug it in and set a dial prefix, so now I'm back in business.  I'm looking forward to my regular shows coming back.  I hate that they changed times and days of some, and I still have some conflicts so I'll have to use my VCR as a backup - but all is well in TiVo land again, and not a moment too soon.  I had about one day left of the stored data before the lineup was over.

I've been looking at some of the shows, and it is interesting how there is a "retro" thing going on right now.  They already brought back 90210, and now Melrose Place, plus Fame is coming out in the theaters.  What's up with that.  I didn't get back into 90210, and watched the first episode of Melrose, but wasn't feeling it - so I'm not watching many of the revival series.  I do love a good reality TV show, so I'm looking forward to the Amazing Race which starts the 27th I think.

My new favorite show

there's a new show on Food Network called Chefs VS City where they pit two food network chefs (Chris Cosentino and Aaron Sanchez against two local chefs.  They compete by racing around the city performing different tasks.  It's sort of like Food Network meets the Amazing Race.  The one thing it does do, is show you some cool sites throughout the cities.  My favorite episode so far was Las Vegas where they went to the bar called Minus 5 where everything is carved from ice including the tables and seats.  Makes me want to hop on a plane just to see it.

The funny part of the show is there is usually a food eating challenge.  They had to eat 100 items you would find at a buffet in Las Vegas, and another they ate deserts.  Too funny to watch how they can barely complete the challenge.

I haven't been officially keeping score, but it seems that the wins have been pretty even so far.  Some times the home team wins and sometimes the Food Network chefs win.

It's a neat show to watch.

Burn Notice New Season

Burn Notice gets better and better with each season. Of course, It's also cool that it is filmed here in Miami.  It's about a former spy who uses his special ops training to help people while trying to find out who "burned" him so he can go back to being a spy.

A portion of this weeks episode was filmed at the Gold Coast Railroad Museum down by the Metro Zoo.  We've been to the museum before so it was neat to see it on the show.  I wish I knew the filming scheduled because I'd like to see the filming in action.

If you haven't watched the show before, you might be able to catch some of last seasons episodes because USA is one of those channels that repeat the shows at various times.

TiVo Woes

If you know me ... you would probably know that I'm addicted to TiVo, which supports my reality TV addiction.

While I was on the cruise, TiVo had a problem with their phone lines, and TiVo wasn't updating.  I've now spent several hours on the tech support line trying to resolve the problem, but to no avail.  The system will get a phone line out, but then fails to download the program schedule.  Right now, it can't record anything unless you are watching it.

Tonight I have something new to try, and hopefully that will resolve the problem.  I cnan't wait to get home and give it a try.  I am so tired of doing it old school with the TV Guide, and not having all the programs recorded while I'm at work.  This is getting old.

I will say that even though I haven't got the problem resolved yet, I have loved their customer service department.  They've been patient, helpful, and I really felt like they actually cared about my problem, not to mention the call was handled in the good ol' USA.  Dealing with the customer service folks has been the bright spot of an otherwise annoying situation.

New Show DietTribes

Watched the first episode which was pretty good.

I'm normally "into" reality shows and this one follows 5 friends through a weight loss and health journey.  One of the refreshing things about this show is that the women get to wear normal clothes (T-shirts and capris), and they're regular people.  Loved the girl talking about ending her relationship with french fries.

The diet plan is calorie restricted to 1500 cals, split into 3 meals and 2 snacks with a specific split of protein, carbs, and fats.  If you're interested you can see the diet plan here.

I'm going to follow the series and see how the women progress.

Blogs on Martha Stewart

Martha did a whole show on blogs and blogging yesterday.  She showcased several sites. Some to do with food, some with gardening, and even some with politics.  Overall she did a great job presenting a variety and showing all the different types of blogs out there.

She even showcased 3191 a day of mornings (link at the right) which has now released a book with their pictures and the blog is doing a day of evenings.  It's two women 3191 miles away that each post a picture for the day.  I've been viewing their pics almost from the beginning.

I find it interesting how blogs have evolved and how plain old "regular" people (not celebrity) can have a following.

Big Brother

I am a fan, and am just loving this season.  Last nights whirlwind double eviction was edge of your seat exciting.  This came down to the wire and I was so glad that Keesha ended up winning, and that Ollie was evicted.

In the long run, since Jerry won the new HOH spot, it was actually to his benefit that he didn't win last night.  If he had won yesterday, he would not be HOH now and would have been going home next.  This is an interesting twist and we'll have to see which of the foursome goes home next week.

Although I do not have any insider information - my bet would be that Jerry puts up Dan and Memphis.  The POV competition will be crucial.

Gotta get back to work (it is the end of the month ya know).  I'm looking forward to a 3 day weekend.

Missed Big Brother

Missed Big Brother tonight because 20/20 went long.  It was a good one too where former Big Brother players were part of the competition.  I'll have to watch it on the net.  This will be an interesting week with the lines clearly drawn after Jessie's eviction (yeah) last week.

I've been following the feeds, and let me tell you there is way too much fighting going on.  At this point it's hard to tell who will be left standing.

What I don't get is the lying and then not wearing your cross or your marine hat.  That really annoys me.  It's not about the symbol of what you stand for - it is what you stand for period.  Taking off a cross because you lied doesn't make it OK.  I just find it weird that people beleive it's ok because they took off their symbols.

Reality Break

Hells Kitchen - I'm rooting for Petrozza.  I can't wait to see how their restaurants turn out.  I could not believe that he picked Bobby for his team right out of the gate.  He would have had the show wrapped up if he had picked Cory because Christina I think will benefit greatly with Cory on her team.

Big Brother - can't wait for it to start.  I'll have the live feed again, and right now, I am just counting down the days.  It can't get here soon enough - it is by far my favorite reality TV show.  The commercials are not even showing new people yet - it just shows players from previous seasons.  Now usually, I'm all over the web looking for spoilers but I haven't had time.

The Mole - jury is still out on this one.  I had never watched the previous seasons.  I like the challenges, but I am having a very hard time figuring out who the mole is.  Everytime I think it is someone, they get evicted.  I do find the show interesting because it involves not only skill but trust of your fellow team members.

I watch other reality shows but these are the top ones.