Thursday, October 04, 2012

TAR doubles down,a second look at Vegas and Steel Magnolias bloom again


The Amazing Race started off their new season with a brand new twist to the proceedings. If the team that wins the first leg also wins the last,that couple will get two million dollars instead of the standard one million prize.

Naturally,this put a lot of extra pressure on the contestants who were sent to Shanghai,China where they had to score at least one point off of a junior ping pong champion before encountering an exotic food challenge. Nice to see TAR set that up right away there!

That Road Block had the person who didn't partake in the earlier ping-pong challenge eat frog fallopian tubes out of a pair of hollowed out papayas. An important requirement of that task was to only use chopsticks and/or not pick up the fruit with your hands. The team that forgot that rule(a pair of monster truckers)had to eat another portion of that treat,which a member of Team Chippendale referred to as "warm Jello":





The team that did reach the Pitstop first was Abbie and Ryan,who got a little unexpected help there from another team.

Amy and Daniel happened to locate the next to last clue beforehand and when asked,told Abbie and Ryan where to go. They were right behind them and while Amy regretted being so useful,it was a piece of good karma that may very well come back to that team at a future crucial moment:




The Lifetime channel is scheduled to air a remake of the 1989 sentimental favorite Steel Magnolias this weekend but a recent lawsuit by a producer of the Hollywood version of the adapted play might cause that to change.

Victoria L. White claims that no one informed her regarding this production and that she's entitled to be listed in the credits before the movie can be shown.

Delaying this movie would be a shame,especially with such a great cast as Queen Latifah,Alfre Woodard,Jill Scott and Phylicia Rashad on board here. Hopefully,all of this legal fuss will be cleared up in time to watch this new batch of melodramatic flowers blossom this Sunday:



Not only did I watch the premiere episode of the new crime drama Vegas,I also checked out this week's installment. While the show is somewhat held back in language and content due to being a regular network series,it's clearly not lacking when it comes to character development.

Newly appointed sheriff Ralph Lamb(Dennis Quaid)has a lot on his plate,with an attempted hit on a possibly pivotal witness against the mob in custody and looking out for his son Dixon( Taylor Handley),whose enthusiasm can get the better of him.

The major crime under investigation this week was a set of home burglaries targeting high rollers,with one fatality so far. Ralph took the lead on a break in the case that lead his team right into a burglary in process and Dixon turned out to be a much better back-up than expected:




On the other side of town,mobster Vincent Savino is settling into his new role as head man at the Savoy casino when an old acquaintance from Chicago is sent in to reorganize the counting room.

Her name is Mia Rizzo(Sarah Jones),the only child of a prominent underworld boss who definitely knows her stuff when it comes to money laundering. Vince is happy to see her but just how well she'll be able to play with the fellas without stepping on too many toes(not to mention calls to Daddy)remains to be seen.

Plenty of interesting intrigue on deck,plus some sweet old school decor and style,is making Vegas worth checking into for a little while longer:




RANDOM NOTES:

UPSTAIRS/DOWNSTAIRS: Season two of this new generation version debuts this Sunday,with more episodes than the first go-round and should do well enough until Downton Abbey returns:










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