Okay, it’s the Wednesday morning - post reality show night glut - so today has to be All MAC, All the Time….

First up, American Idol…. I’ll keep this short. Yuck. All ten of ‘em left me horribly underwhelmed in a number of ways. I was all happy it was current songs, thinking this would be a knock-out week by our gang. But the reality? Not so much. I could list reasons for all ten being disappointing, but essentially, all that matters is that, at the end of the night, I wasn’t really compelled to vote for any of them. The song choices were really off, whether they picked the super popular or not-so-popular, neither seemed to work. (And Chris, Mandisa, Paris, and even Kat - stop shouting at me. Geesh.) If I had to vote? Had to? Probably Taylor, only because he didn’t annoy me as much as the others did. Bored me, but in comparison, that wasn’t so bad.

The irony of the night? It was a shame Lisa had to go first - I agreed with the judges comments at the time, but by the end of the night I thought that, in comparison anyway, she was one of the better ones. Go figure. Going first will doom her, I think. But given the judges went on to pan them all, more or less (and deservedly so) we could have a surprise exit on our hands. Will be interesting.

For me, based on just tonight? Bottom three would be Bucky, Ace, and Kellie (I love you, girl, but no suds for me.)

Now on to the fun show!

Amazing Race MAC……

Germany! Italy! Phil in leather!

I like most of these teams (gee, guess which ones annoy me?) They are all good racers - even Fran and Barry are picking up speed. Though, while I understand their decision to run their own race completely separate from everyone else, and even thought it was kind of amusing when Fran kept telling Lake to step back, it doesn’t speak all that well for them when they can’t pass along even the mildest of info. I mean, even Lake does that! But to each his own race.

Having said that, I hated that Lake and Michelle felt they had to yield the Dani’s. Lake tends to be overly hyper about almost everything, so I understood his fear, but it did end up costing the D’s the race and didn’t really change the outcome pro or con for Lake/Michelle. I was glad to see Ray and Yolanda still in it (tho they need to step it up a little) but still…I thought the Dani’s handled themselves really well, especially considering they ran in the back of the pack most of the time. All in all, not bad for a pair of 22 year olds.

I felt really bad for Lori and Dave’s meltdown on the roadblock - the two extra pieces was evil. Most of the other teams got to pick up on that fact from teams around them, but it seemed as if these two were too far away with the statue they were working on to figure that out sooner. I really felt for her frustration and am glad they are still in it.

BJ and Tyler’s incessant wacky mugging is getting a lot old now, but they’re harmless and I do like that they seem to be really enjoying the race. Besides, Phil likes them, so how bad can they be? But every time Eric and Jeremy get one step ahead in my estimation of them, they fall waaaay back down again, especially this leg. My god, give it UP already with the whole We Dig Chicks thing. We get it. And you’re just so grossly immature and completely self unaware about it, that it’s not even amusing. “Do you have to wear scarves to cover your hickeys?” Really???? I mean, full body shudder to that one. Was that a pick up line? Do they think they’re smooth? That girls dig that crap? Could they come off any more shallow, clueless, and desperate? Just ugh. I hate it that they’re good racers. Love it that BJ and Tyler beat them without resorting to the yield.

(On a side note, I thought it was very fatherly of Phil to give the girls the eyebrow pop over their quick hook up with E & J. I don’t think he was so much disgusted with the hook up as he was that these two girls could have done WAY better than those two tools. And he’s right.)

That leaves MoJo - they managed this leg fairly well, all things considered. I did have to laugh when they had Mo’s voiceover about how she’s not a dumb blonde, while listening to her mangle the word Palermo. (And Joe - Palomino? ) I know they’re just tired, so it was funny, but more in an affectionate way than a mean way. I like them okay. They’re kind of Team Beige for me. Just kind of there. Sort of like Ray and Yolanda, only I like R & Y better. (Liked Ray’s cute trash talk while putting the statue together.) They treat each other really well and seem to have a great deal of respect for each other.

Actually, most of the racers treat their partners really well this season, which is nice to see - with Lake and Michelle being the only team that gets a bit ugly. Only they both do, to some degree, so that dynamic seems to work for them. Which makes them kind of deserve each other in my eyes, so I don’t feel bad for either one at the expense of the other - I just don’t want them to win.

I’m enjoying this season, but I’d love to see a shake up in the top two (well, as long as it’s not Lake and Michelle!) The Frats and the Hippies have dominated those spots, and tho I don’t mind Tyler and BJ doing well, or even winning, I’d just like there to be more suspense about the whole thing. I’m rooting for Lori and Dave, and Ray and Yolanda at this point, to step it up and make their move. But I’d be happy to see pretty much anyone but Lake/Michelle or E & J win the whole thing.

Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Tags: Writing //