Survivor Recap: Battle of the Sexes

Survivor is back with it's 905th season...or something along those lines.  I don't care how old the show gets I still love it.  Something about how basic the premise is and also that it is like the founding reality show.  Now, recent seasons have been testing my patience, what with all the old players coming back.  It made for a really boring season once the merge hit.  Thankfully this season they have scrapped a lot that was dragging Survivor down.  First and foremost, the cast is all brand new people.  This has been what has hurt the show most lately.  I hate watching when people are just fawning over the past contestants brought back to play for their third or fourth time.  Also, they got rid of redemption island.  The idea wasn't awful, but it just didn't work.  For example, once Jesus Matt got back into the game, he was voted right back out.  Of course, it didn't help he was an idiot, but there is also no method to prevent that from happening.

So, we start this season with a fresh crop of contestants and one new, but very interesting twist.  The tribes are sharing one camp.  This is brilliant!  One of the things I hate is how it's just a numbers game after merge with the tribes sticking together.  This eliminates that by allowing people to make friendships and alliances with the other tribe early in the game.

Speaking of the tribes, they are separated by sexes, another interesting twist.  I think this is gonna make for a dramatic season because there is such a difference in thinking that there is bound to be some clashing. And there was, especially judging based on the first episode. Now let's get into this recap...

Rate the Runway: The show must go on!

Another great week on Project Runway! This is my favorite part of the season when all the designers are pretty good and there are no horribly weak links.  It makes for great competition because, truly, one bad design can send you home.  Now that they've weeded out the less talented people, things are really going to take off.  This week's challenge was to design an outfit, comprised of separates, for a character in the musical "Godspell".  It was a very interesting challenge, and excitingly, all the contestants took risks with their designs.  Some worked, while others fell terribly flat.  Check out the looks after the jump.

Real Housewives of Orange County: It's My Party

The ball is starting to roll on this season of the Orange County Housewives.  Things were a bit clunky last week, but I think now we're settling into a groove that will make for a good season.  Most of the episode was dedicated to the rest of Vicky's party which was sadly devoid of the typical drama that accompanies housewife get-togethers.  What the party did do was start to put a lot of drama on the boiler.  Things are going to heat up as the season continues, so I'm hoping for some huge fights down the road.  Now the Power Rankings...

Rate the Runway: Fashion Face-Off

Well this was an interesting episode.  This week's challenge was to to create sportswear for a specific season.  Since there are four seasons and eight contestants, this meant that two people would be tackling each season.  What this pairinf meant was that the better look from reach season would be in the top and the other look automatically in the bottom.  The results were, just, wow.  I immediately knew exactly who was going to win each pairing just based on their history on the show.  Boy was I wrong...way wrong.  It was like living in an alternate universe.  Check out the looks in this week's Rate the Runway and let me know what you thought.

Real Housewives of Beverly Hills: After-School Special

Anyone else think this episode was a little too heavy?  I just felt like the whole episode was a drag with very few moments of light-heartedness.  I don't watch the Housewives to see big issues being dealt with.  If I wanted to watch people talk about alcoholism and abuse, I would watch Intervention! I go to the Housewives for petty drama and bitchiness, simple as that.  I guess this was Bravo's way of ending the season on a "positive" note.  Alls I gots to say is that next season better bring the heat now that all the real life stuff is squared away. On to the rankings!

New Music Monday: Katy Perry "Part of Me"

In this first edition of New Music Monday, I wanted to review Katy's latest single.  I have quite a few things that I want to say about it.  First and foremost, I don't hate the song, but I do have some problems with it.  This song was written and recorded long before her divorce from Russell Brand was announced, so the timing of this release seems funny.  Everyone thinks this song was written about Russell, but in reality, it was already made just sitting in the background waiting for the right moment.  To me, it seems like she is cashing in on her failed marriage.  Aside from that, it is also VERY reminiscent of "The One That Got Away".  Everything about it feels very generic, which is par for the course for Katy at this point.  Generic music can be enjoyable, but this doesn't do it for me.  I would just like Katy to pick an image and stick with it.  Switching from Pop/Rock to Bubblegum, now back to Pop/Rock.  If she cements her image and style a bit more, I might buy it, but for now, my grade is: C-.

Available on iTunes

Real Housewives of Orange County RECAP: Slow start in the OC

First, I want to say that I am trying a new approach to these recaps.  Instead of trying to recap the entire episode in the order it plays out, I want to recap what each housewife is up to during the episode.  This makes it easier to read and easier to follow.  For added fun I decided I wanted to start doing what I like to call my "Housewives Power Rankings". Like the title suggests, each week I will rank the housewives in order of how much I like them based on the episode. You are welcome to share your rankings with me in the comments as well! Anyway, back to the regularly scheduled recap...

This episode, I felt, started off the season very slowly and awkwardly.  I'm not going to dismiss this season just yet, because I am holding out hope that they are setting us up for some very big drama in the upcoming episodes. It seems from the previews that some stuff definitely goes down, hopefully it all doesn't happen in one episode. Now my Housewives Power Rankings for the premiere!