True Blood's opening act, Food Network Star goes viral and unpeeling Orange is the New Black

Well, we had one major death on the final season premiere of True Blood and I was not only sorry to see Tara go so soon, I was also disappointed that her departure was rather quickly dealt with.

Granted,she's been around a lot longer than most and considering the endless times that Tara was torn into the path of danger,quite the survivor there. Plus, there are other dire concerns in Bon Temps at the moment, with the Hep-V vamps carrying off Arlene and Holly(not to mention Sam's very pregnant lady friend) and vigilante groups sprouting up to battle the determined undead.

However, Tara was one of my favorite characters,for her forthright nature, and she will be missed sorely this season. She might make an afterlife appearance at some point but still, she deserved better than an off screen slaying. At least let her have one last moment with Lafayette!:

Anyway, there is plenty of misery to pass around and while Sookie is being tormented by guilt as well as the rapid fire negative thoughts of her fellow townsfolk, she is right on the money about being the resident expert on dealing with vampires.

This effort to take charge of the chaos will need to involve Bill,whether Sookie likes it or not, as things go on. Pam is still amongst the somewhat living but she's off on a Indiana Jones trek to find Eric(who I hope is not too fried from last year) and in the meanwhile, I hope it doesn't take anyone too long to figure out that the Hep-V vamps are holed up at Fangtasia(which should've occurred to Bill right away!). Oh,well, this wild ride is off and running, so let's hold on to the end at least:

It was a team challenge on Food Network Star this week, as the contenders broke up into three groups to make promo YouTube videos for  Hershey candy bars such as Almond Joy and Mounds.

The team that lost was the one that should have won,in my opinion. Lenny,Aryen and Christopher were given a mad scientist set and their "Pay-Day-Stein" skit was damn funny. While Christopher could have been more animated and Aryen speak a little clearer(she was not totally inarticulate,Giada!), Lenny's monster antics were awesome and frankly, the whole thing was a better example of a fully executed concept unlike the Reese peanut cup classroom bit that won:

I am glad that Aryen does get a chance to return to the show via Star Salvation because her dismissal here was unfair. As they say, there is no accounting for taste and that's true even for the judges sometimes. Here's hoping that next week's challenge will be more about the main course of the competition than the side dish stuff:

So I dived into Orange is the New Black this past weekend by watching the first four episodes of season one on DVD(my Netflix account is a one at a time disc deal). The basic story line,for those of you not familiar with the series, is how Piper, a young woman of privilege, spends a year in federal jail after taking a plea deal upon being named as a part of a drug ring.

 She carried drug money for her then girlfriend during her wild oats spree in her twenties and was two years shy of the statue of limitations on her brief life of crime when caught.

Piper's hopeless naivety at handling social situations in prison is a main feature but her sister prisoners are also given their spotlights such as Red, the surly yet overly sensitive cafeteria lady and Sophia, a transgender woman being denied her medication due to prejudice and budget cuts.

While Piper can be annoying in some circumstances, she is justifiably upset to discover that one of the inmates is her former lover Alex,who she believes sold her out for a better sentence. There is a good blend of humor and drama, not to mention a variety pack of interesting characters from the guards to the prisoners to invest your time in. I can see why the hype for this show is so huge and will be watching the rest of the season this summer, so stay tuned,folks:

RANDOM NOTES:

PENNY DREADFUL: The season one finale is this Sunday and I am so glad that a second season was greenlit already, as this show is rich in mystery as well as Eva Green goth antics. Worth catching up on if you haven't seen it yet,especially for old school horror fans who like a taste of the new: