"The Joe Schmo Show" 2025 -- episode 5 "The Ascent of Nicodemus"

 

Previously on “Joe Schmo”: the writers decided we needed a challenge that Ben would win. But they chose a challenge based on riddles, then acted shocked when Ben was bad at mental challenges. As if they didn't know he was more confident in physical challenges. Come on. Anyway, the plan was for Ben to win, but he choked big time. They had to scramble and have Maya win, so Ben knew he was safe. Then Jessica “betrayed” him, played a token, and put Braxton up for elimination. Ryan ended up going home, not either of the siblings, which upset Ben because of betrayals or whatever. (click for more)

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"The Joe Schmo Show" 2025 -- episode 4 "Think Inside the Box"

 

Previously on “Joe Schmo”: There is at least one storyline that has been scrapped, because the writers told the rest of the cast that the only thing they are doing today is “the woodchipper bit”. This is a bit where Charles Michael snaps and throws Ryan's stuff in the woodchipper as part of their “prank war”. So they concocted a whole fake challenge and got Ben to go inside so he can't see the start of the thing and then he came out to the woodchipper running and Charles Michael throwing stuff in there. Everyone just stared at Ben instead of reacting. Ben, meanwhile, brought up the excellent point of how exactly this happened, how did Charles Michael have time to go get Ryan's stuff and destroy it without anyone stopping him, why isn't anyone stopping him now? Everyone just stood there and then scrambled with a garbage story that a rouge producer (who has since been fired) put the luggage next to the woodchipper. Anyway, Maya was given an Advantage Token so when Ben and Charles Michael were up for elimination, she could save Ben. Then Trevor was put in his place, Chastity ended up making the decision, and Charles Michael was eliminated. (click for more)

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"The Joe Schmo Show" 2025 -- episode 3 "It's All a Prank on Me"

 

Previously on “Joe Schmo”: Now that Ben has supposedly bought into this deception, the producers needed a way to isolate him from everyone. Really, an excuse for him to be alone so they could have meetings. So Ben was made the “Goatkeeper” because of course there is a real live goat. The challenge was to run out onto a narrow walkway over the pool, and then get a bell and then bow down to the goat. Your bows were recorded by you smashing your forehead into a platform and then smashing the back of your head into another platform. This was fixed so Braxton would win, but supposedly no one expected Ben to try really hard. They also were blindsided when Ben told his alliance not to vote for Ryan, who was annoying and threw the challenge so poorly everyone knew he did it on purpose. He told them to vote for Chastity and Taylor, to break up that alliance. We were told the writers had to rewrite everything to account for this, since if Ryan was nominated, Ben would know someone turned on him. So their solution was to have Agnes be eliminated, a person in his alliance, which resulted in the same thing: Ben is looking for traitors. Why couldn't they just let Ryan go home if the result (Ben being paranoid) is the same? Who knows. (click for more)

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"The Joe Schmo Show" 2025 -- episode 2 "The Golden Goat"

 

Previously on “Joe Schmo”: we rebooted the franchise, but somehow it just wasn't the same. Did they not go far enough? Can you bring back a fake reality show after nearly 25 years of “real” reality shows? Are my standards too high? Ben is just a blue collar guy from Baltimore who hunts and fishes and is single. He's on “The Goat USA”, a “spin-off” of a supposedly Korean game show that everyone pretends they have heard of. It's got just enough “Squid Game” for you to notice but not enough to sue. The elimination ceremony is called “The Sacrifice” but I feel it is not dumb enough for my satisfaction. Jonathan Lipnicki (yes that one) is playing a douchebag child star and is the first one voted out. Don't forget Barbara, though, who randomly hit a button and was the actual first person out. Which promptly caused Ben to declare her “100%” an actor. (click for more)

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"The Joe Schmo Show" 2025 -- episode 1

So “Joe Schmo” is back on television. The articles about this premiere made it sound like this is a new idea, as if this isn't the fourth season of this show. But I guess part of how the show works is you need to wait between seasons so everyone forgets this show is a thing, or else people are too suspicious. (click for more)

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Jingle Bell Run

 

Hello! Welcome to...whatever this is going to be. We have a long time to wait for more shows. Amazing Race is coming out in March, and Top Chef is coming...next year sometime. They've announced they're going to Canada. But Toyouke, there's already a Top Chef: Canada. That is true. Who knows. And Project Runway is actually coming back next year! It will be on Freeform, which used to be ABC Family, so I think it will also be on Disney+. Supposedly there will be “new judges and mentors” which is too bad. I'm leery of this move because of how wretched the Lifetime seasons were. But we'll see.

Anyway we are here today for a Hallmark Christmas Movie. I know! But Miss Alli posted about it and here we are. If you are old enough to remember Television Without Pity you probably remember Miss Alli. This is a Hallmark Christmas movie that centers around a “race” with teams and “challenges” and “Phil”. Let's go. (click for more)

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Top Chef 6/19/24--"Cruising to a Win" summary

 

Previously on “Top Chef”: the final four arrived in Curacao and had to do a Quickfire combining lionfish and gouda. Basically everyone except for Danny made a crudo with crispy cheese. Dan still managed to win somehow. The Elimination challenge asked the contestants to make an eight course tasting menu of fish, each course with a different technique. No one did very well. In fact, there were major issues with at least one of everyone's two dishes. In the end, Danny had the best dish, with Dan a close second. Savannah just messed up less than Laura, so Laura was eliminated. (click for more)

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