On TV Tonight: Sunday, March 6th, 2011

After Lately

Tonight is going to surprise us, with the season premier of Celebrity Apprentice and the series premier of After Lately, it's either going to be really good or just really, really bad.

• On CBS at 8/7c, a new episode of The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business.
• On ABC at 9/8c, a Desperate Housewives episode that perfectly coincides with ABC's ongoing contract negations with the wives of Wisteria Lane. One wife will even learn that if she doesn't get a new kidney she'll die, what a coincidence.
• On NBC at 9/8c, the erroneously titled Celebrity Apprentice makes it's return with "celebrities" including Gary Busey, La Toya Jackson, Star Jones, David Cassidy and Richard Hatch.
• On HBO at 9/8c, one of the few remaining episodes of Big Love.
• On E! at 11/10c, the premier episode of the new reality/comedy show After Lately, about working on that other comedy show Chelsea Lately.

The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business

Tonight at the end of The Amazing Race 17 finale, Phil made the announcement that season 18 will feature teams from previous seasons returning. The up-till-now speculated second All-Stars season will actually be called "The Amazing Race: Unfinished Business" because it features teams who were eliminated with 'Unfinished Business'.

The promo said: "They are some of the most memorable, dynamic, and interesting teams ever to run the race. They didn't come in first. Some didn't cross the finish line. But you love them anyway. For these teams, The Amazing Race competition has always been unfinished business."

The promo included many teams included in a list of rumored Amazing Race 18 contestants, but also teams like father and son Michael and Kevin and home shopping hosts Brook and Claire (both from season 17) that aren't featured in the list. This leaves fans to wonder whether all the teams shown in the promo will be back in 'Unfinished Business', or whether the promo was just misleading.

The promo came at the end of the season finale of The Amazing Race 17, which featured the first all-female winning team, Nat and Kat.

The Amazing Race 18: All Stars

• Kynt and Vyxsin (12) - A team of "Dating Goths" from the 12th season, they were the first team in Race history to use a U-Turn on a team that was already ahead of them. They were eliminated in the 8th leg after coming in last for the second time in a row (the 7th leg was non-elimination).
• Ronald and Christina (12) - A "Father/Daughter" team from the 12th season. They were the first parent-child and Asian-American team to reach the final three and finished in 2nd place.
• Amanda and Kris (14) - A "Dating" team from the 14th season, they made it just 4 legs. Most of their notoriety comes from their young age while competing in the 14th season.
• Kisha and Jen (14) - A team of "Sisters" from the 14th season, Kisha was the first African-American lesbian featured on TAR. They where famously eliminated when, after being U-Turned and finding the Pit Stop location in time to save themselves, Jen demanded to stop and use a porta potty before finding Phil. If that had not happened, they would have been the first team to not be eliminated after being U-Turned (the U-Turned replaced the Yield in season 12).
• Jaime and Cara (14) - A team of "Former NFL Cheerleaders" from the 14th season. They came in second on the final leg, close to becoming the first all female team to win TAR.
• Margie and Luke (14) - A "Mother/Son" team from the 14th season, notable because Luke was the first deaf person to run the race. They had the highest finish by a mother/son team, coming in 3rd place in the final leg.
• Mel and Mike (14) - A "Father/Son" team from the 14th season, notable because Mel is gay and Mike is bisexual. They were eliminated during the 7th leg.
• Flight Time and Big Easy (15) - A team of "Harlem Globetrotters" from the 15th season, they were eliminated in the 11th leg when Big Easy was unable to complete the Roadblock and opted for the 4 hour time penalty.
• Zev and Justin (15) - A team of "Friends" from the 15th season, Zev was the first racer to have Asperger's Syndrome. They were eliminated in the 4th leg when they were unable to find Zev's lost passport.
• Jet and Cord (16) - A team of "Cowboys" from the 16th season, came in 2nd place in the last leg. Popularized the saying "Oh My Gravy!" with TAR fans.
• Gary and Mallory (17) - A "Father/Daughter" team from the 17th season, came in 6th place without winning any legs becoming the first male/female team to be eliminated in their season.

What's interesting to note is the lack of teams from season 13, I would have thought that Andrew and Dan or Toni and Dallas (who were eliminated because of a lost passport) would be included. (I would love to see Nick and Starr back, but teams that have won previous seasons aren't up for consideration.) Also interesting is the over saturation of teams from season 14. If you don't remember, season 14 is known as the gayest season of the race for including the most gay, bisexual and lesbian racers, all of which are returning this season (Mel and Luke are gay, Mike is bisexual and Kisha is a lesbian).

Kisha and Jen better be very grateful for another opportunity to race after Jen's weak bladder caused them to be eliminated. Flight Time and Big Easy are also lucky to be back, they were eliminated after taking a 4 hour penalty in lieu of completing a difficult Roadblock. So, while some of these team choices make sense, others are just clear disappointments.

The Amazing Race 17: I Want to Be in the Circus, That's Where I Belong

As the title implies, tonight the Amazing Race is going to be under the big top. Still in Russia, the Amazing Race episode I Want to Be in the Circus, That's Where I Belong should be pretty funny, but from the previews it looks like Michael and Kevin might be at the end of their rope.

The race continues in St. Petersburg, Russia, where the teams must learn a traditional Russian circus act. Unfortunately, multiple racers make a critical error by misreading a clue and thus jeopardize their positions in the race.

The Top 10 Things About TV Last Year (2009)

Just like what happens at the end of every year the big pop culture media and even little blogs just like TV Tonight take you on the years obligatory trips down short term memory lane. To celebrate the new year we take a look back at last year (2009 if you have serious memory problems) to look at the 10 things that defined TV in 2009. Sure some things didn't make the list like when Claire went lesbian on Heroes or when Smallville got renewed and The Unusuals got canceled or even when Kathy Griffin said Fuck live on CNN standing next to Anderson Cooper, but we did our best and we hope this list jogs your memory (your short term memory, that is) and helps you remember some of the best moments in TV last year.

10. John and Kate - They used to be America's darlings with their "plus 8" and their cute half Asian babies, but things started to turn bad when John was spotted sneaking out of night clubs with women of questionable integrity and eventually they split. TLC thought they had caught a lucky break since Kate was the one who still wanted to do the show and her name was the one that rhymed with plus 8, but eventually the ongoing legal battle forced America to say goodbye to the cute family that ended up as the ever annoying divorced couple who's fifteen minutes of fame were up.
    
9. Oprah Quits ... in 2011 - We really thought in was over this time, but Oprah couldn't pass up two more years of her ginormous paycheck so when she announced that her show was ending she set the end date for all the way in 2011. Sure Oprah can be philosophical at times, but we'll be the first people to admit we'll be happy when she's gone.
   
8. Paula Abdul Gets Fired - No one saw it coming when Paula Abdul was kicked off Idol. Really, who would of thought that they'd get rid of the funny, and sometimes incoherent, judge. Sure in the history of the show she never gave a useful critique, at least not of anyone's singing, but a lot of the time her drug induced rambling was funny. Now we have stern Simon, uncompelling Randy, obnoxious Kara and Ellen DeGeneres, who as much as we love her isn't qualified to judge a singing competition. Now that Paula has packed up her crazy and left, we figure Idol will be almost unwatchable.
   
7. The Amazing Race 15 Put Us to Sleep - We love The Amazing Race, but the latest season lacked everything that makes the Race a must see show. A couple of the contestants were interesting, Sam and Dan were cute and the poker players were bitchy, but none of it compared to past seasons villains. The worst part was that the blandest couple, who came in first place every other leg, won the whole damn race.
6. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Was Canceled - Ok, we admit it, the show wasn't perfect and there were some major plot holes, and let's not even talk about the ending, but the show had some brilliant moments. Unfortunately budget cuts and some showrunner craziness led the sci-fi action show into a character melodrama hell during Season 2 when the focus shifted from John Connor and his Terminator Cameron (played by the lovely Summer Glau) to Sarah Connor's inner turmoil. The season ended with hope for another but Fox didn't see fit to grant our wish and broke our cyborg loving hearts a little.
   
5. Fringe Gets the Thursday Deathslot - A lot of good shows are on Thursday. Survivor, Bones, Grey's Anatomy, Parks and Recreation, The Mentalist, CSI and a couple others I'm not worried about. So when one of our favorite shows was pulled from it's safe and secure spot of Tuesday and thrown into danger on Thursday we had a lot to be worried about. Our DVR is already full on Thursday and now we have to worry about watching Fringe by other means, and if Fringe get's canceled because of competition caused low rating, we're gonna be pissed.
4. Dollhouse - 2009 was the year Dollhouse was born and the year it died. Dollhouse was doomed from the beginning because it was on Fox, the network that canceled Firefly after 11 episodes, and because it was plagued with problems from the beginning. The pilot episode was re-shot and then the missions the active Echo were sent on got more and more preposterous (midwife, blind cultist, dead woman with a horse fetish). Even with the great cast including Eliza Dushku, Dichen Lachman, Fran Kranz, Enver Gjokaj, Olivia Williams, Tahmoh Penikett and Harry Lennix, a killer finale, the DVD bonus episode Epitaph 1 and a miraculous renewal by Fox the show was pulled from sweeps before being completely canceled. Now we're left to watch some of the best episodes of the entire series play out as the end approaches and wonder what would have happened if Fox hadn't forced Whedon to shy away from the show's sexy premise. Next time Joss should see if Syfy is interested, they showed they're not afraid to show some skin in Battlestar Galactica.
3. V is OK - In a soon to be post Lost world the thing that we need is a new Lost to watch after the real thing ends after this season. Unfortunately for ABC FlashForward was a total bust so their hope now lies in V. We aren't saying V is a sci-fi masterpiece just yet, but there is hope, which is all we need as the series finale of Lost approaches.
2. The Huddy Sex Was a Dream on House - House and Cuddy finally had sex! But unfortunately for Huddy fans it was all in House's head. What could be worse then giving us what we want and then taking it away. We actually saw them doing it, but it seams it can never really be, especially since House and Cuddy's relationship (or lack thereof) has deteriorated since said incident.
1. Battlestar Galactica Ends With One Last "What the Frak?" - The most well-written and carefully crafted series in sci-fi history ended this year and it went with a bang, but also left with a lot of questions. What is Starbuck? Will the cycle repeat again? Why would they send all their ships into the Fraking sun? The finale gave us answers, but they weren't the ones we wanted and now we're left wanting more. I guess we just have to hope for more TV movies to explain away all the questions that were created, but whatever is done about the open ended ... ending, the series finale of Battlestar Galactica was certainly the most memorable thing in TV this year.

The Amazing Race 15: This Is Not My Finest Hour

Tonight at 8 (EST) on CBS the seventh leg of The Amazing Race titled This Is Not My Finest Hour should offer some comic relief with teams leaving the heat of Dubai to fly to Amsterdam in the Netherlands:

The six remaining teams depart the Dolphin Bay Beach pit stop in Dubai on the seventh leg of a race around the world for one million dollars.

The Amazing Race 15: It's Like Being Dropped on Planet Mars

Tonight at 8 (EST) on CBS the third leg of The Amazing Race titled It's Like Being Dropped on Planet Mars is sure to be exciting, the official race map shows the teams returning to Ho Chi Minh City:

The ten remaining teams depart Cai Be, Vietnam, on the third leg of a race around the world for one million dollars.