Thursday, May 17, 2012

Game changes on GOT,dark shadows over Mad Men and who is the dream team on The Next Food Network Star?


With all that's happening in Westeros on Game of Thrones,it's easy to overlook Jon Snow and his travels north with the Night's Watch,so let's play a little catch-up.

After leaving the homestead of creepy Craster,he and his band of brothers went forth to seek out the wildings and find out what Mance Rayder,the self proclaimed "King Beyond the Wall",is up to.

Jon gets separated from his group when left alone to finish off a wilding woman named Ygritte,the last one alive from a raiding party. His reluctance to kill her has caused the two of them to wander off from anyone they know out in the chilly countryside and for Ygritte to encourage Jon to join her people. How sincere she is about recruiting him for Mance is uncertain but the one thing that is certain is Jon Snow isn't as steady about his emotions as he would like to be:




Meanwhile in Qarth,Dany is determined to get her dragons back and is not eager to rely on her only ally amongst the governing Thirteen,Xaros,whose hand in marriage she has already refused. It turns out that her instinct to stay independent was a good one,as Xaros and his warlock pal were the ones behind the dragon heist.

Xaros plans to use them as part of his overall takeover of Qarth,to become a king in his own right and expand the influence of the city's bounty. He and his mystical friend do want Dany to stay in the mix and after a bloody coup on the council,insist that she claim her "children" at the House of the Undying,which was the whole reason for this switch from the book,as I suspected. I don't mind the twist,since it keeps things interesting and peaks my curiosity even more to see how the show unveils that sequence for us all:




On Mad Men this week,Betty's eating issues are being worked upon at Weight Watchers but she is still ignoring her emotional ones.

Her envy of Don and Megan's new life together,along with her frustrations about her own situation,put Sally in the middle as Betty dropped a clue about Anna,the first Mrs. Draper.

Sally did get into a fight with both Don and Megan over that revelation but was made to realize that she was being used by her mother and the ruckus was squelched soon enough. Man,that girl is being made to grow up fast this season!


It's too bad that Betty still resorts to passive aggressive tactics when things aren't going her way. I can see her discomfort at the WW meetings and it's a shame that she doesn't embrace the positive energy handed out there.

I do have some sympathy for Betty's body image struggles but that doesn't excuse her from needlessly stirring up trouble just to make herself feel better and having Sally do her dirty work to boot:




Things are very different,indeed,on this season of The Next Food Network Star,as instead of everyone competing against each other in a pack,the contenders are divided into three teams lead by three major players on FN.

Team Bobby,Team Giada and Team Alton had a huge opening challenge as each group had a day to start up a restaurant. They also had to do a live promo for their venue and each person was responsible for one course. By the end of the night,two people from two different teams were up for elimination and in another new twist,they had a cook-off to determine who would be going home.

So far,I'm liking this format and the hands-on mentoring that is happening here. Also fine with Cristie being the first to head on out,as she had a bad attitude about being given a soup course and it showed on the plate. Next week,the remaining competitors are tasked to run a foodie tour in NYC,which promises to be not too appetizing for one of them:



RANDOM NOTES:

HELL'S KITCHEN: The new season will begin in June,on Monday nights with a new season of Master Chef following right after it. Back to back Gordon Ramsey programs sounds great in theory but might be a tad Jekyll and Hyde in reverse. One show has him nurturing potential chefs and the other allows him to scream at them. Take your pick,people-do you want your GR reasonable or raw?:









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