TV Thursday #4: Congrats Scotty!

As all of you American Idol fans will agree, today is a very sad day for all of us because the season has finally come to an end (sniffle, sniffle). But I must say that last night's finale was the best the show has ever had and each performance was absolutely amazing, especially Steven Tyler's performance of Dream On. I'm going to miss this year's contestants, but I'm already looking forward to watching next season's auditions in January of 2012. 
And now a big ol' CONGRATULATIONS to the 2011 American Idol, SCOTTY MCCREERY!
To see videos of the amazing finale performances, click here. 

TV Thursday (3)

Since I haven't been at home much this week and missed a lot of my favorite shows, I'll just talk about my all-time favorite reality show,I'm still hearing complaints about the show's new panel of judges, and although I love and miss Simon Cowell (and his blunt, overly honest comments), I think this season is by far the best one yet. Don't get me wrong, Steven Tyler does have a lot of weird moments, but for the most part, he, Jennifer Lopez, and Randy Jackson make valid points and provide the contestants with useful, constructive criticism. As for the contestants, I'm absolutely amazed with the amount of talent the "Top 13" have brought to the stage. I had a lot of difficulty deciding who to vote for last night, but I eventually narrowed it down to 4. Here are my picks for this week:

Casey Abrams

James Durbin

Scotty McCreery

Paul McDonald

ANY COMMENTS ABOUT THIS WEEK'S PERFORMANCES? 

WHO ARE YOUR PICS? 

TV Thursday

So, I decided to start TV Thursday on my blog where I can rant and rave about the shows I loved or hated each week. I guess we'll see how this goes...

As I've already stated, I'm a sucker for reality television, but don't be so quick to judge me on that statement - I only watch the good reality shows (not the silly ones like Real Housewives, although the New Jersey & New York housewives are pretty entertaining).

Here are my weekly thoughts about my favorite reality television shows:

Top Chef All-Stars (on Bravo)

I absolutely love Top Chef, and the All-Stars season has been the best one so far. For a few months now, all of the judges' favorite chefs from the previous seasons have been competing for cash, vacations, a feature in Food & Wine Magazine, and other prizes, and each week, the chef with the worst dish is eliminated.

Last night's episode was by far my favorite episode ever! Three Sesame Street characters served as guest judges for the "Quick Fire" challenge. Take a look - you won't be able to control your laughter. If you're having a bad day, watch this and all your worries will go away!

Face Off (on SyFy)    

I was skimming through the channels last night and ran across Face Off, a reality show on SyFy (Wednesdays, 10/9c). I wish I would have known about this show sooner - I absolutely loved it. Here's a description of the show (from SyFy.com):

Face Off is a competition/elimination series exploring the world of special-effects make-up artists and the unlimited imagination that allows them to create amazing works of living art. The contestants are tasked with elaborate feature challenges including executing full body paint make up on models and creating their own horror villain. Not only will the show incorporate effects make-up, it will include a wide range of skill sets including prosthetics, 3-D design, sculpting, eye enhancers, casting and molding. Each episode involves incredible reveals of the competitors' finished work, and the drama of one contestant being sent home by the panel of expert and celebrity judges. It all culminates in one winner and one grand prize that will launch a career.

To determine who emerges victorious, Syfy has signed three-time Academy Award winner Ve Neill (Pirates of the Caribbean, Edward Scissorhands) and Hollywood veterans Glenn Hetrick (Heroes, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files) and Patrick Tatopoulos (Underworld, Independence Day, Resident Evil: Extinction) as Face Off's judges.

Take a look at the 3rd episode, Out of this World, or visit http://www.syfy.com/faceoff/ for more info.

Last but not least,

 There have been varying opinions about the success of this season of American Idol. I've seen and heard a lot of negative comments about the new judges panel which includes Aerosmith's lead man, Steven Tyler, the new panel hottie, Jennifer Lopez, and the only returning judge, Randy Jackson. I have mixed feelings about this year's judges - I absolutely love their energy, and they all (at times) provide great feedback to the contestants, but Steven Tyler occasionally gets a little goofy. So far, I'm enjoying the season, and I'm super excited to see so many contestants from Louisiana, including one of my favorites,Jordan, a music teacher from LaPlace, LA (I live next door to LaPlace!).

Group night was extremely intense this year, and many of the contestants cracked under the pressure. And I was not so happy about the way that many of the contestants treated each other, but if I were in the same situation, I would probably do whatever it took to get through to the next round even if that included "kicking out" the weak link in my group. If you missed last night's episode, take a look below: