Week of November 26, 2003
Missed your favourite shows? No problem. Primetime update gives you the rundown.
Friends
This week Thursday happened to fall on US Thanksgiving, so instead of airing a new episode, we saw lots of Thanksgiving specials, as well as episodes from the start of this final season. Next week’s episode is entitled “The One with the Birth Mother,” in which I assume Chandler and Monica will meet the mother of their new child.
Something really interesting I watched last week, regarding Friends, was Oprah. She interviewed all 6 cast members on the set, and took a behind the scenes tour of the set (coffeehouse & two apartments). Each cast member took their turn saying the nice things they feel for their co-workers and I was especially surprised by how similar each one is to the character they play.
Jennifer Aniston even went so far as to cry when describing what she’ll miss about everyone. What completely blew me away though, was Matt LaBlanc (Joey) who is recently married.
Usually viewed as a chauvinist and womanizer, Mattie (as they called him) described his wife with the statement “A pregnant woman is a beautiful thing!” I just about fell off the couch. AND, a little tid bit you may not know:Matt LaBlanc will have his own show called Joey, which will air after the 10th and final season finale of Friends. So we’ll all have some relief from the never-ending Friends cravings we’ll get.
Friends airs on Thursdays at 8:00pm Alberta Time, on Global (channel 7 in Calgary)
Survivor: Pearl Islands
Last week they kicked out the only real survivor this season had, Rupert. Enough said.
This week the episode starts with Sandra bitching at Jon about the way he lies and cheats. His reply: at least he’s playing the game and not riding on anyone’s coat tails. Ha! Well said.
In the midst of things, the fish (that Rupert caught earlier that day) get dumped into the forest, and Christa, although completely innocent, takes the heat. Sandra admits that she can’t tell anyone she accidentally spilled the fish after she tripped on a vine, because Christa would turn around and try to vote her out.
The reward challenge involves family members; one for each survivor. Sandra’s husband, Christa’s fiancé, Burton’s mom, Lill’s husband, Tijuana’s childhood guy friend, Darrah’s boyfriend and Jon’s best friend who reveals that Jon’s grandmother has died.
Everyone is asked questions that generalize to all 7 survivors. The goal is for the answers given by loved ones to match those given by the survivors. Each right answer allows the survivor to force another survivor’s loved one to take a step towards the end of a plank. Four steps and the loved ones go overboard. The first hit was by Sandra, to Jon’s friend. The whole tribe retaliated by sending Sandra’s husband home first; followed by Christa’s fiancé, Darrah’s boyfriend, Burton’s mom, and Tijuana’s friend.
The tribe admits that they’re all OK with giving Jon more information about his grandmother and so the final loved one to walk the plank is Lill’s husband, giving Jon the reward. Information is soon revealed that Jon’s friend is to spend the next 24 hours at the Balboa campsite, alone with Jon. The rest of the tribe will camp at a new location with only a machete and some matches.
While his enemies are gone, Jon celebrates his plan of manipulation and I become more and more repulsed by this man every second that his mouth is open. No dead grandmother; only preplanned lies and deception. He played a fake sympathy card. I hate sympathy cards, but a fake sympathy card is sick. Very sick.
When they return from their banishment, Sandra grabs Tijuana and forces her to eavesdrop on Burton and Jon who are talking strategy, which doesn’t involve anyone but them. Tijuana and Darrah then regroup in an attempt to vote for Burton, along with Sandra and Christa. But all is not what it seems.
The immunity challenge involves thinking caps, as each member must make 20 new words from the letters of SURVIVOR PEARL ISLANDS. The first to make 20 new words wins immunity, however if one of the 20 chosen words is wrongly spelled or wrong in any other way, the player is out of the competition.
First done is Christa who is eliminated for misspelling, followed by Tijuana who is eliminated for using a plural and Jon is eliminated for misspelling. When Burton finishes his twenty words, they are checked for correctness and he is granted immunity.
BUT, as the tribe walks away, they’re called back because Burton also had made a spelling mistake. After Burton is stripped of his immunity, Sandra, Darrah and Lill compete in a time trial, making new words out of the letters from OUTWIT OUTPLAY OUTLAST. Darrah wins with 14 words, and secures immunity for herself.
In the world of five women and only two men, Jon realizes he’s a sitting target. He jumps back to his former alliance with Sandra and Christa, and swears on his apparently “dead grandmother” that he won’t betray them. Since loyalty to the old Drake tribe must always prevail (yeah, right, battle of the sexes existed long before Survivor) Sandra, Christa, Jon, Burton, and the wonderful gullible naïve Lill join together and vote out Tijuana. See ya in jury deliberations babe.
Next week, look for more of Jon’s great lie, a spa getaway with strategy on one’s part and without it on another’s, the wondrous effects of faltering alliances, and a guy in silk pajamas who claims he’s a great date!
Survivor airs on Thursdays at 9:00pm Alberta time on Global (channel 7 in Calgary).
The Bachelor
We all remember that adventurous philosophy led 29-year-old pediatric physical therapist Trista Rehn from the first season of The Bachelor. She was last to be rejected by Alex in favour of another chick named Amanda. Well then she got her own show which went over well with a lot of male viewers. The female viewers didn’t mind the mountain of guys that were on the show either:
When Trista Rehn fell in love with Ryan Sutter on The Bachelorette, millions of television viewers fell in love with him too. Sutter, the shy, soft-spoken firefighter from Vail, Colorado, won her heart with his sensitivity, romantic nature and poetic skills. And, in the end, he proposed, and now their wedding and events leading up to the wedding are being shown in three episodes.
When Trista and Ryan exchange wedding vows on their televised wedding extravaganza, their love will be plentiful, but so will their surroundings. From the wedding planner to the florist to the designers and the wedding cake, Trista and Ryan will enjoy the best of the best!
Viewers are invited to share their wedding journey, which began with an hour-long special on Wednesday, November 26 at 10pm. In this episode, Trista and Ryan met their wedding planner and made important decisions about their wedding. The majority of the discussion centred on Trista’s overwhelming love of pink.
The couple picked out cakes, table settings, china, and even the location of their big event. Then Trista and her mom picked out the dress and the shoes, which, by the way, will be the most expensive shoes ever made, coated in platinum and diamonds (worth in excess of 1 million bucks).
The couple then met with their friends to announce the bridesmaids and groomsmen, and some scepticism was apparent, as to whether Trista and Ryan will hack it in the real world, without their fairytale. All in all though, everyone is as happy as the couple themselves.
With some major decisions made, the second episode “? which airs Wednesday, December 3, 10pm “? will find the couple celebrating with family and friends via bachelor and bachelorette parties at the luxurious Le Meridien Resort on the island of St. Martin. And then, the much anticipated big event: Trista and Ryan pledge their love and commitment in a two-hour wedding of a lifetime, on Wednesday, December 10, 1-pm.
The Bachelor airs Wednesdays at 10:00pm Alberta Time on ABC
If there are any other shows you want updates on, or any comments you wish to make, please email me at abaldwin@shaw.ca!