The Daily Pop

Where has all the “Love in the Afternoon” Gone?

So, Matt Lauer has just signed a new deal with the Today show that *may* make way for a fifth hour of the Today show. Are you KIDDING me? Four is plenty. Watching Hoda and Kathy Lee get loaded on martinis and wine at 10am is the PERFECT way to end the show. Plus, there are enough talk shows to choke even the most avid chat show fest fan. But, the real reason I have my feathers all riled up, is that this would most certainly mean the end of Days of Our Lives. Yes, another soap would be killed , so another person could talk about how we could better our selves in 5 easy steps, or roast a turkey in under an hour, or create the cutest little party favors with only a leftover cardboard box and food-colored kitty litter. ENOUGH!!

'Survivor' finale: 2 possible explanations for the final result (SPOILERS)

 Last week, regarding the impending season finale of “Survivor: South Pacific,” I noted that it was Coach’s game to lose. And sure enough, on Sunday night he lost it.

Two possibilities here: Either I misread the jury from the start, or Coach blew it at the final tribal council. Either way, I was just as happy with the outcome.

'Survivor: South Pacific': A forgettable season winds down

With “Survivor: South Pacific” headed into Sunday’s three-hour season finale, I had planned to use this space to lay odds on each remaining contestant’s chance of winning. But that seems rather dull at this point. Inexplicably, Coach’s allies – Albert, Sophie, Brandon and Cowboy Rick – have allowed him to sit on that immunity idol without ever even trying to make him play it. I honestly don’t get it. This show has been on the air for more than a decade. Presumably these people have watched it. And  yet they let a veteran player hold onto a vitally important token – protection against being voted out- without ever once saying among themselves, “Maybe we should do something about that.” This is Survivor 101, folks. If you know someone has an immunity idol from an early stage in the game, adjust  your strategies to take that into consideration.

But Sophie, Brandon and the Cowboy have been content to work as Coach’s operatives, and when Albert has attempted to strategize – never actually targeting Coach, but trying to step outside of Coach’s gameplan – the other players have attacked him as a traitor. So the truth is, coming into Sunday’s finale, it would be an upset if anyone other than Coach wins. In fact, it would be a major upset. The wild card is if Ozzy can win his Redemption challenge against Brandon (oh, please, let it happen) and then win two more immunity challenges. If Ozzy gets before the jury, he wins. If he doesn’t make it that far, then it is Coach’s game to lose. That’s saying a lot about how this season has developed, because in his two previous appearances on the show, Coach Benjamin Wade has shown himself to be an amiable goofball (if you like him) or an unhinged megalomaniac (if  you don’t). He has never come off as a master strategist or a formidable competitor. And yet, from about a third of the way into this season, he has been the clear frontrunner, and not once has anyone attempted to challenge him. Go figure.

That’s one of the reasons that this has been, I think, one of the least interesting seasons of “Survivor.”

Bil Keane: 'The Family Circus' has lost its ringmaster

 Bil Keane died on Tuesday, and the news filled me with such an odd mix of emotions.

 Keane, who had just turned 89, was the creator/author/artist of "The Family Circus," a single-panel comic strip that I dutifully have read on a daily basis for probably 40 years in spite of the fact that I have never liked it. Hard to say for sure, but I think it is possible that I have never once so much as chuckled at the strip, let alone laughed at it, which is actually not all that surprising, since Keane's goal was always more "cuteness" rather than humor.

 I have spent a lifetime addicted to the comics page, and I began reading "The Family Circus" back when I looked at every comic in the paper other than the serials. Being a creature of habit, I simply never stopped following the family-friendly exploits of Billy, Dolly, Jeffy and PJ, who (as I once wrote) were so warm and fuzzy that they made the Huxtable family look like the Osbornes by comparison.

Glee: The First Time

Songs of the Night:

"Tonight" (from West Side Story) - Rachel & Blaine

"Uptown Girl" (Billy Joel) - The Warblers

"A Boy Like That" (from West Side Story) - Rachel & Santana

"America" (from West Side Story) - New Directions

"One Hand One Heart" (from West Side Story) - Rachel & Blaine

 

 Lines of the Night:

Sebastian: "I don't know who this Blaine guy is, but apparently he's sex on a stick and sings like a dream."

Kurt: "Sure beats the last time you got drunk and made out with Rachel."

Blaine: "Roxy Music makes me want to build a time machine just so I can give Brian Ferry a high five."

Santana: "Speaking from experience, Finn is terrible in bed.... If Rachel wants to have my sloppy seconds, she should know what she's getting into. It was like being smothered by a sweaty out-of-breath sack of potatoes that someone soaked in body spray."

Glee: Episode 4

 

(Cameo from Blaine and Artie in this music video)

 

Songs of the Night:

1.) Bein' Green - Kermit the Frog

2.) Friday Night - Katy Perry

3.)Waiting for a Girl like You - Foreigner

4.) Candyman - Christina Aguilara

5.) Take Care of Yourself - Teddy Thompson

 

Lines of the Night:

"Yeah, she's kinda like Rain man with boobs" - Finn 

"I really want Mr. Tubbington to poop candy bars" - Britney

"I love everything about America; nascar, your 1/2 black president, and Victoria's Secret Catalog's" - Rori Flanagan

"In America, dudes don't ask dudes to be their friends; except on facebook, but even then it can take years" - Finn

Ok, Ok... I know I haven't been fully fulfilling my blogging duties this season.  I missed the last two episodes, and quite frankly I'm annoyed with myself.  I honestly wish I could say that I had a legit reason, but no.  I was distracted with life and other goings on.  HOWEVER.  I have vowed to take a leave of absence from Facebook for the month of November.  Crazy right?!  How could a girl who is obsessed with pop culture and GLEE miss out on juicy tidbits and never before seen videos?  I'm not sure, but I'll figure it out.  In the meantime I'm not giving myself any more excuses for not blogging.  For the rest of the season I'm yours (and I still plan on doing a recap of the 2nd and 3rd episodes when there is a break in the season).    Moving on to the good stuff...

Fall Prime-Time TV Line-Up: What you should be watching, Part Three (Saturday, Sunday, and Nightly Shows)

In this final installment of “What you should be watching in prime-time,” I have included shows that air on Saturday and Sunday, in addition to shows that air nightly. This is but a microcosm of what is on, but these happened to grab my attention and my loyalty as a viewer. Enjoy!

Fall Prime-Time TV Line-Up: What you should be watching, Part Two (Thursday & Friday)

 On my last post, I suggested a few shows that I feel make for “Must See TV” on Monday through Wednesday. Here are my suggestions for Thursday and Friday. (It was going to be through the weekend, but it ended up being more than I had bargained for. I didn’t realize I had so many shows that I follow! I will share those, along with nightly shows in part three of this series.) Hope you enjoy!

Fall Prime-Time TV Line-Up: What you should be watching, Part One-A (AKA, The One’s I Forgot…)

On my last post, I suggested a few shows that I feel make for “Must See TV” on Monday through Wednesday nights. However, I left off three of my FAVS: The new hit comedy, New Girl, Glee and Psych. Like I said, there is just a lot of great TV on this fall! Consider this an addendum to my last post…

'Survivor': A bold gamble in the South Pacific (SPOILER ALERT)

Throughout the early part of “Survivor: South Pacific,” I had been thinking – with tremendous surprise – that Coach Benjamin Wade was outplaying and out-thinking Ozzy Lusth in the showdown of returning stars.

It’s not that Coach has been brilliant (as Boston Rob Mariano was in winning last season), but he has worked to develop strategies and he has kept his self-indulgent eccentricities in check. Meanwhile Ozzy has played the game on cruise control. He has seemed disengaged and content to let the game come to him (unless the producers are specifically editing the daily footage to create that image as a counterpoint to Coach).

But if Ozzy was taking it easy, he got a metaphorical bucket of cold water thrown on him when his Savaii tribemates schemed behind his back to oust his closest ally, Elyse. Shaken from his malaise and reinvigorated in the game, Ozzy on Wednesday night undertook what might be the boldest gamble in the show’s 22-season history.