Bitchy Review: Braxton Family Values, Season 2

The much anticipated second season of BFV premiered last month, and about halfway through the season, I can say that I definitely haven't been disappointed. One thing I like about this season is that we can still see the sisters dealing with the aftermath of last season; its consistent and unlike other reality shows, the editors know us viewers haven't forgotten last season and apparently neither has the family, so we get to see how they deal with each other now.

Things are a little frosty, if I'm not mistaken, between the sisters collectively. I noticed that they took more time to hang out and do more things together last season than they do this time around. However, with the success of last season I know opportunities sprang forth and it has taken the sisters a little further apart from each other than they were last season. Toni made the decision near the end of last season to move from Atlanta back to LA where Tamar is, but since Tamar has a short-term radio gig in Chicago, the only one out there with her is Towanda, who was roped into taking back her old job, temporarily. Trina is still in Atlanta but she's doing her own thing and hangs out with Towanda when the latter isn't in LA with Toni, and as we all know, Traci is still in Maryland. So understandably, they don't have every episode together as they did before; this new season shows all of the sisters as they branch out on their individual journeys. Since the Braxtons album is on ice, presumably because Toni said no which caused Tamar to follow suit, each sister has made the steps to do something different for herself. Trina is working on a solo project and without the support of her sisters recently graduated from college, Traci, minus the support of her sisters as well excluding Tamar's pushing for Traci to move in order to open her salon, made the decision to go back to cosmetology school and open her own salon, and Towanda when she isn't running around doing Toni's errands is still trying to get her acting career off the ground and her marriage out of the pot. Toni is going through a transitional phase of firing Vince as her manager and picking up new management, and Tamar is still riding the high of last season with short-term radio opportunities, her ever present solo album project, and it was recently announced that she and Vince will be getting a spin-off of their own to debut sometime next year. Who's surprised by that. And that wasn't really a question.

UPDATE: 1/5/12
 This season doesn't disappoint with the drama factor--not even 10 episodes in the season and we already saw that Toni made the painful decision to fire Vince as her manager which set off a huge argument with Tamar, we watched her get a partial hysterectomy last week which brought her parents in the same room again (and there was no laying it low and spreading it wide from last season.....btw that even now was f'n EPIC), Mama Evelyn let Tamar know she wouldn't tolerate her walking out while Evelyn was talking and she'd 'slap the piss out of her' the next time she did it, Tamar & Traci went to therapy to figure out their issues with each other to help them stop fighting, Gabe tracked Trina's phone and got told about himself, Trina revealed that she did indeed have an affair (so Gabe's spidey senses were not created out of guilt or being a dog after all), Towanda was given a moving truck for her birthday (her family had been staying with Trina & Gabe's family and had shown no intention of moving), it was revealed that Toni's been seeing her ex-husband Keri, and Vince is showing even less tolerance than last season for Tamar's antics. lol It's been entertaining the whole way through; on one hand I hate that its only an hour because I want to see more, but on the other hand I can't wait for Thursdays to come back around so I can see what happens next. This is the first reality show in a VERY long time that I've been interested in as a whole, not just for a person or two on it. They don't do all the scratching and fighting that makes the other reality shows successful nor do they have all the drunken foolishness--although sometimes the makeup and hair is NOT on point, lemme just say that lol--and they do seem to genuinely care about each other's success and well being, even if they do act a bit self-serving at times.

I love the show, I love the drama and I love the Braxtons. I can't wait to watch tonight's episode; so don't forget BFV is on every Thursday on WEtv, at 7pm sharp! Be there or getyourlife.com!

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Bitchy Review: Reed Between the Lines

So this new show Reed Between the Lines is one of the newest in BET's revamped programming lineup and it stars Tracee Ellis Ross & Malcolm-Jamal Warner as the Reeds, and after watching most of the 1st season I have to admit that I just can't get into it.

Black television viewing options as a whole have been relegated into stereotypes in this day and age, while others try and struggle--I believe this show being one of them--to bring back the classic theme that Black sitcoms focused on. Black movies have either been relegated to religious-type movies where the damsel in distress ends up with a former hoodlum and they discover God in the process (which happens, I'm not knocking it) with some sassy grandma in the background--just look at examples like Family Matters and any of the Madea movies--or they try to bring back the days of old, Cosby-type shows. More embarrassingly, for those "actors and actresses" that don't have the chops to make it into either type of flick I just mentioned, they end up in some ghetto, amateur, straight-to-bootleg film full of tired stereotypes, worse acting and even worse camera skills.

As much as I miss the cheesiness of the classic Black sitcoms I watched as a kid, sad to say, the magic just isn't there anymore. And not because I don't enjoy watching them now as an adult, but because the same people who created those sitcoms are not creating the current ones. The dynamic, the target audience, and furthermore the vision that these people have today has changed. Everything today follows a prototype, often an overused one, or some sort of "joke skeleton" that they feel is entertaining for people to watch. Reed Between the Lines struggles to bring back a Black sitcom that the entire family can enjoy, and not because any of the actors are bad--I loved TER on Girlfriends and MJW will always be Theo to me. lol They're all wonderful actors and I liked that they brought in a veteran tv actress like Anna Maria Horsford. In later years she's gotten roles that didn't really do anything for her, like Friday After Next. I enjoyed her in the first one, but because I feel the dynamic of the Friday franchise changed after the first movie, I didn't enjoy it at the same level. And that's what kids know her for today, being the mom in the Friday movies. People don't remember anymore that she was Dee on The Wayans Bros back in the 90s after Friday or that she was on Amen back in the '80s. It's nice to see that she has a steady and stable role again and not only in a movie that has become a sad shadow of the basis it was originated on.

I don't find the show particularly funny or entertaining. I wouldn't tell my siblings or even my spouse that the show is on, mainly because I don't think they would enjoy it either. I know for a fact my bf would not. Maybe something's wrong with us, I don't know. What I do know though is that for the cast they have brought in, they aren't giving them much material. They had a two-part episode that I just watched earlier tonight with Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last Dance, Barbershop) playing the part of Ms. Helen's (Anna Maria Horsford) son returning from his 2nd overseas tour and discovering that he was suffering from PTSD. In the episode, he takes an innocent worker hostage during a flashback and puts a blade to his throat. PTSD is affecting so many people in our country today and so many soldiers can relate to that exact plotline, a proud soldier finally coming home after serving time overseas and having to carry those shadows and demons around for the rest of their lives, trying to return to normal function and pretend nothing's wrong. They could have done alot more with that role, explored it so much better than they did. SPT is a good actor and could have done excellently with more material. While he was holding the worker hostage, the guy was cracking jokes in the meantime that were falling so flat a pancake had more bounce. Seriously. It wasn't entertaining. Afterwards, when dude's mother entered the room and saw the guy on the floor, there was no alarm on her face, not even when she saw her son over him with a blade. That makes no sense on any planet. Even though this episode was not only about him returning with PTSD and even being a two-parter could not be the focus of the entire show, it still had the potential to be an excellent side story and in my opinion the writers dropped the ball. Like to the ground dropped it. lol

The jokes in this sitcom fall flat--I wondered during half of the episodes that I watched if some of their "jokes" are even meant to be funny--the main point of the episode is sometimes no bigger than what a side story in a normal sitcom should be, and honestly, I don't see that much chemistry between Tracie Ross and Malcolm Warner. I see more of a good friend vibe than a passionate husband and wife. I do like that Carla is different from Joan--Carla is alot less neurotic and "bam!" than Joan, however Malcolm's character reminds me too much of Theo after he watched his daddy for too long--reminds me of an adult Theo, which is probably why I can't remember this character's name. lol

Bitchy Review: I want to like this show, I really do. I'd love to support more Black ventures in film and tv. I enjoy that they employ smaller-name actors; you never know where someone will be in 5 years and its nice to put these people on the map. I think its also a good thing that veterans of tv are sharing space with the younger actors; they could probably learn a lot from these people which will benefit their careers lately. But as a whole, I don't think I'll be watching the 2nd season of this show.

Bitchy Rating: 2 (out of 5)

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In Tragedy & Triumph......AMC Series Finale

After 41 years of history, tears, laughter, birth, death, anger, happiness, marriage, divorce, thriving, failing and surviving, All My Children finally came to a close today. It was great to see most of the characters I love back on the canvas one last time, sharing in all of the happiness and good news. Stuart's alive, Frankie found out he and Randi may be gaining a new addition to their family, Brot & Natalia announced their engagement, Angie's sight was restored, Joe & Ruth moved back to Pine Valley as did Adam & Brooke, Jamie came back to town for a visit, Chandler Enterprises and the Chandler home were saved, Adam asked Brooke to marry him, Dixie & Tad are getting married (again) and we can all go home happy, right?

Wrong. Two--no, scratch that--three members of PV society were very unhappy at the Pine Valley Rebirth/Sendoff celebration. The most notable one was JR, who to date has lost everything in his life. I felt rotten for him. When I heard that Alexa Havins was reprising her role as Babe, I was sure that she'd be one of Orpheus' shining stars and she could retrieve her family, save JR from the brink and they could ride off in the sunset together. How let down I was to realize that not only was she on my screen for no more than 30 minutes, her entire purpose was to tell JR that she was indeed still dead. Honestly, I think that pushed JR over the edge more than anything else; in recent days his fleeting hope that Babe was one of the ones David had saved was keeping him going. With confirmation from the subject in question, he knew all hope of getting the love of his life back was gone. Marissa already has his son (btw it really grinds my gears that she now says she's his mother -_-), he won't listen to Tad or Dixie (who he previously wanted to make proud), can't stand the sight of Adam after all the rejection Adam's handed down to him, the man's really been reduced to nothing but a picture on a mantel, the town's scum. How far the mighty fall. JR has always battled his demons, but this time, especially with the confirmation that Babe was not an Orpheus patient as the icing on the cake, he gave into those demons and spent much of the final episode either brooding at the airport between confrontations or lurking in the Chandler tunnels with that gun, a bottle in his hand and cynicism dripping from his words.

JR has been handed a life of hell, much of it a precursor to the hell he put himself through later. I thought if anyone could have used the good news, it would have been him. But it added to the drama that he didn't receive it, or his happy ending, and finally unraveled. At first I thought he would have busted out from the tunnels and made a dramatic entrance, a la Annie when she stabbed Erica a couple years ago. Later in the episode it was seen that he intended to shoot someone in attendance that night, which was practically the entire town. The camera shots from that angle went to Tad, Dixie, Marissa, Bianca, Erica & Jack, but more times than not landed on Adam. When he returned to town this week, JR was furious with him, but that anger skyrocketed when instead of continuing to try to help him, Adam tossed him to the wolves, saying that being on his own would be good for him. At that point, JR gave up and not even Babe's ghost was able to help him through. It was sad to watch. And in true AMC, cliffhangers' fashion, that gunshot was the final sound we heard from Pine Valley. Who he shot, we do not know and probably will not if the Prospect Park-produced AMC doesn't get off the ground.

The other notable unhappy PV resident was Erica, who was finally left high and dry by Jackson. Didn't see that coming, huh? If ANY resident in town was going to get their happy ending, most would bet 9/10 that it would be Ms. Kane herself. Wrong again. Erica, the eternal dreamer, chose yet another stage in her career over her love and life with Jack and he finally had enough. I always found Jack to be so debonair, so handsome and sophisticated, and I loved his last line. "Frankly, Erica, I really don't give a damn what you need." After being Erica's lapdog, the one to always run after her when she'd made another misstep or when her pride was getting in the way of her feelings, for 24 years (as long as I've been alive), Jack reached his breaking point. Opal warned her time and time again as did both of her daughters, but the premise of living out the dream of turning her life into a movie and standing at the corner of Hollywood and Vine instead of Main St. and Pine, was too much for Erica and she put her plans with Jack on the backburner again, expecting him to just be quiet and deal with it as he'd always done. He wasn't. He realized she continued to stall because underneath it she didn't want to be married to him, that her career was still more important than their love, and seemed relieved when she finally admitted it. She begged and pleaded, but it was the same selfish rhetoric Erica has become infamous for. There was no consideration for Jack's aspirations and goals; she just assumed her goals were their goals when in fact they weren't. They were only shared goals because he loved her and wanted her to be happy. The problem was that he was no longer happy with the arrangement and was tired of putting what he wanted behind everything Erica wanted. For the past 41 years, all Erica Kane has thought of was herself and the final episode was no different. Sure, she loved Jack as much as she could, but look at how quickly she hopped on that plane after she got it in her head that Mike Roy was still alive. Jack stood by her through all of her crazy ideas, all of her life's changes, even married and divorced her throughout the 24 years they shared but still never got what he wanted, which was just to be first in Erica's life. I can't blame Jack for finally having had enough. But right up until the end, Erica was determined not to lose her love and her final words were to Opal, when Opal told her she lost out and couldn't retrieve it this time. With the dogged determination Erica has become known for, she said, "Watch me," and stormed out after Jack.

She stormed out, the shot rang out, and in Soprano fashion, the screen faded to black.

I was so angry over the cliffhanger that I couldn't even cry when I realized my show had finally come to an end. Besides that, I'd spent the past 54 minutes crying off and on anyway. lol I can't say that the ending was terrible; I think I understand the angle the writers were coming from. Do something unexpected, have an unexpected ending, especially if this indeed is not the true ending to the show. Make the viewers come back for more, make them eager to see who was shot in those final seconds when the show returns. However, judging by some viewers' posts on media websites about the final episode, that ending may have lost more viewers rather than gained them. It was seen by some as a disrespectful move on AMC and ABC's parts, because they wanted a traditional, happy ending soap that tied everything together and allowed the viewers to give the characters a proper final sendoff. This ending I'll admit left more questions than answers, which again might have been the writers' angle, kind of closing the ABC door and opening the Prospect Park one. I don't agree with it myself, but I'm still undecided as to whether I'll go to the web version, partly because I don't know that I'll remember lol, but if I do I'd like to see them pick up where ABC left off. I wonder how that'll work since Jacob Young already committed himself to B&B and its unlikely many of the veterans will return. We'll see.

Tad's speech, the last long bit of monologue that he or the show would have, broke me down and it got even worse as I saw various castmembers either holding back emotion or wiping tears. Regardless that the party was used as a "rebirth" of Pine Valley, it hung over me like a cloud, not to mention it was rather obvious that this was really the end and alot of Tad's speech were feelings Michael Knight agreed with as well. (If he didn't agree and there was no personal stock in there then he's just amazing. lol) I don't think the writers could have picked a better person to close the show with. As the camera panned to show the cast during the speech, I couldn't help but cry as it finally hit me that this show I came quickly to love, with this cast of people I adored and not just for the characters I loved (and despised), truly and honestly was coming to an end. It hit even further when just after the replay of AMC went off on SoapNet, they showed a commercial for Brothers and Sisters, debuting on Monday in AMC's old replay timeslot. It was as if AMC was being wiped completely off the slate and relegated to an old box in a dusty closet.

I'll admit that I left Pine Valley over a year ago because I was unhappy with the plotlines, but I don't think this should have been the end. There were still so many avenues to explore, so many more dishes to delve into (I promise this isn't a plug for AMC's replacement The Chew. lol) and the story itself just looked so rushed and unfinished. This was a premature ending, if you ask me, and for me there were so many holes in the story that those things stood out to me more as the hour came to a close. Regardless of that, an era truly ended today. Many a career was started here, and many will be closing their careers here as well. I would like to thank the cast, crew, producers, writers, cameramen, all of the employees who helped make AMC what it was over the 5 years I was a fan for providing me with something to watch. Thank you for showing me more than just love in the afternoon and hanging on with confidence after the slow death of soaps began. This show was as much a part of my day as a meal, the characters played a part of my life like old friends whose updates I read like Facebook posts on my news feed. Every time a soap has reached the end of its run, I feel a little emptier when I think about the future of television, because with the death of each soap the evidence that times are changing, another phase is beginning and with that evolution the death of something has to occur in order to free up the space. I'm just sad that its soap operas that have to die in order to make way for the rotten replacements each of them have gotten. I find it so hard to believe that its ridiculous game show remakes, even more talk shows and more reality trash that people want instead of quality, hour-long shows that have been around longer than half their fanbase. These shows are rooted in history, they entertain, they grow as we grow. And the producers of these networks feel we'd rather see another reboot of Let's Make a Deal or The Chew instead? Ok just for a second, I'll be a turncoat and admit that if The Chew wasn't taking the place of my show, I'd probably watch it. But seeing that it is, I can't do it. Yet. lol

In summary, AMC made sure to go out with a watercooler ending and left me not only frustrated, but realizing to never expect anything, never to rely on expecting anything. We as fans expected a hunky-dory, Guiding Light style ending. But at the same time, especially with the possibility of the show living on, there was drama in Pine Valley right up until the end, which culminated in the revival of Mr. Rubber Tree Plant himself, Stuart Chandler, there was no way the show could end peacefully. The show chose to make their finale a celebration of life and what it has to offer, good and bad, the bad being behind and the good being on the horizon for everyone's futures. Today's finale focused on life, new adventures, the beginning of new chapters, and the celebration of the new that the town was getting ready to encounter. Instead of "dying" today, Pine Valley was reborn.

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Saturday Morning Reviews---Game Day Weekend

I'm really excited for this morning's shows. I love game days and especially since my Packers are actually in the bowl this year, which I am absolutely THRILLED about, I can't wait to see what's going to be on the menus this morning. So I checked the guide and its not really an all-morning thing like they used to do with most of the shows being a new variation on the day's theme; there are a few episodes focusing on game day but there are also a few of the shows that don't. I guess I can deal with that. lol Now you already know I may not watch them all; FN even though I'm trying to get back into it, just isn't pulling my interest these days. But you have my word to try and stick it out today.

5am: According to the guide, Tyler's Ultimate is kicking off the morning with his ultimate po'boys. Now I'm not a fan of oysters myself and the po boy is an oyster and shrimp one, but I guess I'll watch. lol We're at the halfway mark of the show and the seafood is cooking and he just started on the sweet potato matchstick fries. After cutting the potatoes via mandolin, you make the matchstick by cutting those pieces into small strips, then dunking them in ice water to remove alot of the starch. Then you fry em up. I wouldn't necessarily use it with sweet potatoes; I'd use it with regular potatoes myself, but its still a good strategy to use. I wanna find a way to use this Creole seasoning in something, it has onion & garlic powder, cayenne pepper and paprika, as well as the regular s&p. Tyler made a little flour season mix for the oysters and shrimp to fry in, didn't really hear what was in it besides flour but I did see some color so I'll assume its got the Creole seasoning mixed in with it. The pie is done, its a sweet potato pie with a praline crust; I'm not a big pie person but I gotta admit it does look pretty good. That wrapped the epi, my favorite ging chef is next.

5:30am: Bobby's Grill It! features wahoo, which is some kind of Hawaiian fish. His guest today is a newswoman from Green Bay (I swear that must have been a coincidence) who relocated to San Diego and she's doing a more tropical theme for her version with the fish, while Bobby's grilling it and making a sauce for it with a North Italian salad on the side. She's making a blue cocktail; he's making a Bellini. They have pretty good chemistry together; he's not really trying to overtalk her like some of the other guests and she seems to be holding her own. I'm surprised I haven't heard him mention ginger yet; right now some anchovies and garlic are cooking up in the pan. I'm definitely NOT an anchovy fan and have never cooked with fresh fish so this epi is kinda lost on me personally. I wonder what capers taste like. Rest of the show was just the grilling of the fish and veggies, the finishing touches of the cocktails are finished and now she's sampling Bobby's crostini. Never would have put plum and ricotta together, but doesn't seem tooo bad. Both cocktails look good; I'd try them if I was a drinker. The wahoo sandwich she made looks great and so does Bobby's with the sauce on top. In short, good show.

6am: Big Daddy's on now, with a new epi featuring a stromboli, buffalo chicken wraps and a surf and turf. The show has a new opening, I personally prefer the other one but I digress. The chicken is being marinated in buffalo sauce and then tossed in flour, before frying up in the pan. Instead of using wings, Aaron used boneless chicken breast, which I like. I don't care for wings, but I can def do boneless chicken breasts. The chicken's going to be wrapped in lettuce with a salsa made of scallions, jalapenos, red peppers and tomatoes, topped with olive oil and s&p. Not a bad salsa. I love this menu personally. I'd make this stuff in a minute and the kids would eat it up. After adding the chicken, he topped it with a ranch with blue cheese crumbles. The stromboli is next and it looks great already. I'm hungry. >.< It's being layered with pepperoni, salami, looks like mozzarella cheese, tomatoes and deli-sliced ham. He's very generous with the meat and I love it; Subway cheats like hell when they're putting the meat on your sandwich. It looks like its being rolled in a premade pizza dough with egg whites on the ends. After rolling and tucking in the ends, place on a greased pan, top with olive oil brushed over the top and bake for 25 mins at 400. It's an excellent game day recipe; I am in total flove with it. I'm not big on surf and turf but the previews of the burger look huge and not half bad at all. These folks might make a convert of me yet. lol 1 lb of deveined shrimp with the tails off is processed until the consistency of ground meat, and Japanese breadcrumbs, eggs, and olive oil are mixed with some hot sauce, Old Bay, fresh minced garlic and pepper to combine everything together. Some greenage--parsley, scallions and jalapenos--are put in the bowl with the shrimp mix and then the other pound of unground shrimp is added to the bowl. I think that was a good method to make sure the burgers hold their consistency and shape while they're cooking but still have actual pieces of shrimp in there. I can do without the groaning and moaning being made while Aaron's doing all of this, but you take the good and the bad right? Excluding the shrimp burgers because I'm a little skittish with seafood, I'd make this entire meal. G is next.

6:30am: G's putting a twist on bar faves, but it still comes off as classy and kinda gourmet-ish. Not complaining though. I think she's making the cinnamon chocolate fudge. It looked like...it looked wonderful. @_@ OMG the choco's melted and its all in a big ball being spread out so it can set in the fridge, I'd rather eat myself to a tummyache and just have the bowl. That's just me. Next are the twice baked potatoes with proscuitto, cheese and mushrooms and I'm eager to see what they're about. I'd put a little twist on it myself and do like fried potato skins and top em with those things. Either one could work for me. After baking them once and taking the potato out of the skins, its combined with butter, the mushrooms, onion and garlic and I think put back into the potato skin and baked again. These mozzarella balls seem like a mix between hush puppies and cheese sticks, which I don't mind at all. I FLOVE cheeeeeeeeese. ^__^ lol Putting the egg and breadcrumb mixture on the cheese and frying them twice creates that thick breaded coating you see in the bars and junk. I loves it. I'm not sure what chutney is, but I'll watch it anyway. 8 cloves of garlic are going in it. -_- No tanku. I remember telling you about my traumatizing garlic tale last weekend, so again...no tanku. All in all, not a bad show. I really only remember the @_@ fudge though. My memory's selective. I sowwie.

I fell asleep around 7 or so...so yet again, I get a fail in morning reviews. Thankfully, FN changed their lineup and since the cooking shows stop at 10 and for the most part aren't that good anyway, I guess my mornings of reviewing cooking shows are over. And good riddance, because I wasn't very good at it. Oh well, trial and error. lol 

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Bitchy Review: Tatum and Ryan: The O'Neals

So I just found this show on the OWN Network last Sunday and it hasn't been so bad. The general idea behind the show is that Ryan O'Neal and his daughter, Tatum, are trying to reconnect with each other after decades of not speaking. Tatum is carrying old hurts with her from her childhood that her father put on her, including various forms of abuse and the affair (?) he had with Farrah Fawcett, in which she felt as though she was left behind and forgotten about. I gotta say, Tatum's had it hard, although the root fault of the matter is up in the air for me. She battled heroin addiction and alcoholism through the years that she was at the impasse with her father, and now clean and sober, she would like to confront the demons of her past and find peace with her dad.

Ryan, the father, is trying to reconnect with his daughter and try to regain something that was lost all of those years ago. He feels as though Tatum is out to get him, throwing out accusations that he says are not true, and holding onto grudges that are decades old, making him feel as though its not feasible for their relationship to significantly move forward. After a blowup in Washington after dedicating Farrah's infamous red swimsuit to the Smithsonian, the two are not on speaking terms and Ryan's feeling about the entire situation is that there is little to no hope of the situation improving because of Tatum not apologizing for the argument.

My feeling on both of them is that I do see where Ryan feels that Tatum is victimizing herself a little in the situation between them; in this particular episode when Tatum went to another therapist to discuss her issues with her father, I don't feel that she accurately (at least what was shown to the viewers, anyway) described what happened with him at the restaurant. Instead of saying that she was coming at him in a particular way which may have caused him to become annoyed, it came off more as though she was saying she simply tried to have a conversation with him and he didn't like it so he left. It's shown on camera that he left when he couldn't handle anymore; it wasn't that she tried to speak to him about just anything and he just up and walked away from her. The way it sounded when she was telling her therapist victimized her in this situation and I don't feel that depiction is 100% accurate, so that annoyed me a little.

I don't doubt the validity of the accusations she puts at Ryan's feet, as a child of abuse myself I can't really say for sure whether or not any abuse happened because I wasn't there and I hated it when someone didn't believe my claims. Unless there is substantial proof that the abuse really did not happen, I can't bring myself to say the person is lying about it. Ryan, however, does not believe that he abused Tatum, so he feels like she's accusing or attacking him unjustly. Tatum recently released a book in which she talked in depth about her childhood experiences and the pain she was subjected to by her father, which brought their longstanding issues with each other into full visibility. The premise of the show is to help them reconnect and the journey that they are taking to get to a place of peace with each other. From what I have seen, its had its ups and downs, just as any journey with forgiveness would have, and I do think they could stand to learn a few things about each other on the way, but all in all I commend their efforts. Exposing these hurts and wounds on television also takes guts; not just money like some would say. I'm sure that's part of it, but you have to remember that they are also exposing and telling things that for decades was not privy to public knowledge. That takes courage and again, I commend them.

Bitchy Review: In short, both of these people have been scarred in some way by their past, more so Tatum because of what she experienced. Ryan got the scarred reputation and as a result, became estranged from Tatum for many years. I think its very mature of them to try honestly to put these things aside, forgive and move on with their relationship to what they feel a father and daughter's relationship should consist of. It's important to note that they use therapy to help sort out their issues; I think many more families and relationships could be reconciled if there was an impartial 3rd party to help them out. However, I also believe that they hold on to the grudges a little as they simultaneously seek to forgive for them. Forgiveness, I am learning, doesn't work that way and I hope that they both learn that, otherwise the therapy, the journey, therefore the show in itself, is moot and will do nothing but constantly put salt in wounds that are obviously still open. I don't know if there will be a 2nd season of this show, but I would like to see them move past everything and begin to rebuild. Hats off to them both; its never an easy journey to truly forgive and rebuild something that was shattered and remained that way for decades. It's a mature thing to do and I wish them the best.

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Bitchy Review: Braxton Family Values

This new reality show on We just aired its second episode yesterday and it is centered on the lives of the Braxton sisters, their individual journeys as well as the one they take as a family. Unquestionably the most recognizable of the family is Toni, whose recent financial struggles and divorce have landed her in the news; this show is documenting as she reinvents herself and starts a new chapter in her career. Her four sisters, three of whom are her backup sisters, also have their place in the show. The one that stands out the most of the four others to me would be the youngest, Tamar, who is without doubt an attention hog. More about that later. I believe Traci is next in line after Toni; Traci was one of Toni's backup singers but left the industry entirely to be a wife and a mother. Towanda is one of the backup singers and as of the last episode, was getting ready to give her husband separation papers. Trina is another of the backup singers who also is part of another cover band and as of the last episode, was confronted about her recent behavioral shift and increased drinking. Then there's the baby, Tamar, who is the other backup singer and if I remember correctly had a little stint as a solo artist herself. She's married to Toni's manager, which as I'm sure you're aware causes some strife as Tamar strives to once again establish herself as a solo artist instead of just being known as one of Toni's backups; however it looks like her husband is still doing his job as Toni's manager and doesn't look too open to the idea at the moment.

The first episode was more of an introductory episode, introducing us to the sisters and where they're at in their lives; the latest episode focused on Trina, in reference to her recent DWI arrest, behavioral shift and increased drinking. Trina is shown as 'enjoyin the drank' anyway, but according to her family the usage has increased in recent weeks, which boils down to her unhappiness in her marriage, where I believe mutual infidelities were committed. Earlier in the week Tamar spoke with Trina's husband, where she came to the conclusion that Trina's husband was definitely a contributor to her sister's behavioral shift, which prompted them to call the family's therapist for help. Because of her sudden anger at her sisters when they went to visit her at her other band practice under the idea that she was the lead singer and they walked in when she was doing backup so they confronted her about it, her sisters thought it would be best to schedule an intervention of sorts. Like most who are cornered into an intervention, Trina was upset and felt her sisters were sticking their noses where it didn't belong and at first seemed to be very closed off by the questions posed by her sisters and therapist, but it came out later that she was dealing with alot of pent up anger and frustration because of the events unfolding in her life at the time. There was a little focus on Towanda, who is also going through marital problems with her husband, who from the little bit I saw appeared to be a dick who doesn't listen to a word she says, seemingly perfectly content with her being the breadwinner and having her needs neglected for his own. The last bit about her showed her telling Toni she was going to give him separation papers, hopefully to show him that she can and will leave, encouraging him to change his ways. There was a little bit about Mommy Braxton's blackberry dumplings and how she was making for a cook-off, which apparently nobody liked but her; I found that a little funny. They didn't want to hurt her feelings, but they all hated them. The next episode previewed Toni talking about how everything was a segue into the Tamar show, and then it cut into a clip with the 5 at dinner and Tamar was talking about her sisters' husbands and basically how none of them were any good, which seemed to be upsetting all of her sisters.

I gotta admit, I'm not too fond of Tamar. She seems too loud, too over the top, and quite negative when it comes to others' ventures because she's so focused on her own and what she wants. I want to like her, I really do because she's pretty funny too, but she has to grow on me, I guess. Toni seems pretty much the way I pictured her, calm and more peaceable, a softspoken person. Granted, alot of attention has been on her other sisters, but from what I have seen, she's likeable. Trina seems confused, like she's in a fog about what to do in her life. Towanda seems calmer, a bit more fun-loving but grounded, although she seems to be battling a little of her own confusion as to what she should do. Traci by far seems the calmest, probably because she's not in the industry with her siblings and doesn't have as much stress as they do. In short, they're a likeable bunch, entertaining and completely individuals, but centered on their family at the same time. It's a good thing to see in the wake of so much unhappiness in families and divorce. Hearing that they have their own family therapist brought a raised brow from me, mainly because I'd never heard of that before, so that showed me that some growing had to be done to get to that point, but because she's still on call it shows that they're committed to being a better and closer-knit family. It's a refreshing thing to see nowadays, when most troubled families or families with individuals battling their own demons prefer to sweep the issues off the rug or go on in dysfunctional bliss, either because they don't want to deal with the issues under the rug or are afraid to confront them all. This family looks like they're open to dealing with them in order to stay together and I like that. If we weren't a gubment family, I'd suggest we get a family therapist too. lol

I like the show. It's entertaining, focuses on more than just one person, and allows us to see a little more of what really goes on, what I mean by that is that its not The Hills type of reality, its just reality. I've heard that We is no stranger to making things worse than they seem because they do it with Bridezillas, but they get viewers and show what happened to lead up to these previews and allow us to discern these situations for ourselves. If a drama-filled preview is what gets viewers to watch, then that's their tactic I guess. It works, so I can't hate entirely. This show is filled with drama, but its normal family drama from having so many personalities and lives functioning in such close vicinity all the time. If you like family shows, the Braxtons or hell even just one of the sisters, I say continue watching. If you're not fond of attention hogs, the sometimes misleading previews or overbearing relatives or if it reminds you of your own family and you're looking for an escape, Braxton Family Values probably isn't for you.

Bitchy Grade: (out of 5 bitchy stars) 3 stars= just bitchy enough

Btw, here's the Bitchy Grading System for new tv show reviews:
1= baby bitch
2= close, but no bitch
3= just bitchy enough
4= a lil too bitchy
5=total bitchfest!

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Well, it's happened.

The death of soap operas has finally hit ABC, where yesterday it was announced in a shock move that both AMC and OLTL have been cancelled. It surprised me, especially considering that AMC just finished reassuring its viewers that the show wasn't going anywhere, but let's be honest. We all knew this was inevitable; although I do wish it wasn't done at the same time. So when February of 2012 hits, we (provided there are no more cancellations) will be down to four soaps. Y&R and B&B on CBS, btw who even watches Bold and the Beautiful anymore???, GH on ABC and DOOL on NBC. Pretty lonely, don't ya think? Ten years ago, soaps were thriving. There were 9 soaps. There are now 4. By the time I have kids and we're watching tv together during the day, soaps are going to be ancient history and that makes me very sad. Soaps have been part of my life in some way as long as I've been alive, and even when I'm not actively watching I still try to keep up on at least the character ins and outs. It's still hard for me to accept that in five years, there will probably only be 2 soaps, if that, on the air. YR is still highly successful and still pulls in alot of viewers, as does GH. I guess the glory days of the other soaps are behind them according to ABC, since their viewership continues to drop as the years pass. I thought ABC scored a major coup when it was announced recently that Roger Howarth (ex-Todd, OLTL) would be returning to the show. For years now its been floating around that ABC was trying to pull him back in, and with the cancellation of ATWT last year, the rumors got even stronger since he hadn't been signed to another soap. The possibilities with that and Trevor St. John (Todd, OLTL)'s storylines are massive, and although they dropped the ball by letting Susan Haskell (Marty) go right before Howarth returns to the show, I still think they can do alot. The possibility of having St. John's Todd be an imposter is still there, and I think it would be so interesting to see Marty's reaction at hearing that the real Todd is back and actually being face to face with the person who really raped her as opposed to the person she thought did it for the better part of the last 5 years. The show has the potential to really do something big before it goes off the air next January, so if anything I would suggest that they start trying to bring characters back to tie up storylines and in essence, the entire show, before it goes black.

As for AMC, I don't know what they have going on because my own interest has waned, but I suppose as far as characters coming in or going off, its been pretty quiet, which I guess? is a good thing, but I do wonder how they're going to tie everything together and end the show in the next five months. I think it sucks that AMC goes off the air four months before OLTL does, because that leaves them less time to really do anything as a good storyline takes about that long from start to finish, but I probably will come back sometime during the summer so I can see how the show will be ending. Same with OLTL though, I think AMC should start bringing back characters, just to tie up the story and give Pine Valley a fitting sendoff. Of course, it wouldn't be a proper end to the show if there was no Adam, or Joe and Ruth Martin, so they better bring them back. Honestly, if schedules permit, I'd suggest trying to bring back a few recently departed characters; let us fans say goodbye to them one last time. It's kinda okay if a character leaves the show but there's a door open to their return sometime in the future, but if the show itself is ending, I think it would be better to bring them back and let us have the final goodbye as well. Viewers need that, as crazy as it sounds. They need the opportunity to say goodbye to the characters and the town they've gotten used to. I know some people are like 'yeah, whatever' but honestly, sometimes fans and viewers cry when the show's been cancelled. You're taking a piece of our childhood away, taking away these people and these towns that we love and have loved for years. Why wouldn't we feel some kind of way about it?

Alot of fans say that the move to LA began to put the nails in AMC's already lowered coffin, and while I think it did contribute in a big way, I don't think it killed the show entirely. I kinda think the move to LA made it obvious that the show was going to die regardless and the move to LA was more of a strategic last ditch effort to save it. I think we lost out on alot as a result, since a few characters did not make the move and the show lost all of its already casted children (ironically LOL) from the New York set, but if I'm being completely truthful, I think the show was already on its last legs when the move was made. Cutting costs with the new sets in LA just pushed that date back a little. I don't know when others stopped tuning in, but after the whole Satin Slayer, Reese and Bianca and Babe's death, I just lost interest. By the time the show made the decision to move to LA, I wasn't watching anymore. Every time I have gone back, I wasn't interested enough to stay. So can I say in retrospect that the move was a good idea? I don't know. I think it might have saved the show from meeting its maker by a year or two, but we already knew this day was coming because of the past two cancellations and AMC's constantly falling ratings. With that said, I suppose as a whole, its probably past time to start saying goodbye to daytime. GH is still going strong, as is Y&R. I don't know about DOOL, but considering that NBC hasn't pulled the plug as of yet, I'll assume its going well. However, within the next five years, unfortunately I don't see those being around either. The sun has set on the era of daytime soap operas, reality tv and talk shows are taking over. Supposedly this is what the viewers want. I mean, how many friggin talk shows do you need?? It's bad enough that every and I mean just about EVERY channel has some form of reality show, some channels have entirely geared their programming around it! TLC is now a reality channel, as is MTV, VH1, Food Network, E!, Style, should I keep going? You have to take our soaps as well? I'm sick of reality. It would be awesome if all the soaps got their day on SoapNet, but even their programming is shifting within the next year or so. If all the soaps got to keep going and just be shown on the Soap channel, I wouldn't mind. But like I said, the dawn of daytime is over and reality has set in, seemingly here to stay. Apparently people can't get enough of looking in on someone else's life and we're going to be introduced to multiple sets of people trying to get their time in the sun, their 15 minutes of fame. Irritating. Immensely irritating. And you're killing our soaps for this. In a word, its bullshit. I hate reality tv, for the most part, and I definitely don't think you should kill an ERA, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING programming for friggin REALITY SHOWS!!!! Soaps are our escape! That's what they were made for! Let us have it! You've already killed two other, ICONIC, LONG-RUNNING soaps, and what pray tell took their place? LAME ASS GAME SHOWS. @_@ And now, you're making us say goodbye to La Lucci and the ever fab Erica Kane and the awesomeness that is Erika Slezak, Miss Viki Davidson herself, and for what? TALK SHOWS. You already have talk shows, ABC, your entire morning is talk shows and everything following it is news---more talk. And for some reason you feel you need more on top of that? You really need it so much that you'll kill soap operas, shows that are older than probably half of your damn staff? Get real. -_- Can you tell I'm mad about it? lol

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Some Sunday Morning Reviews

5am started for me with What Would Brian Boitano Make? featuring a menu focused on sausage for some Secret Society Scooter members (lol!so friggin random), so each major component features sausage. I will refrain from tasteless or tongue-in-cheek jokes at this time. I gotta say, I kinda like this show and the food Brian makes looks pretty darn good. Definitely not too complicated as I can't see him slaving for hours over a dish, but simple and not fussy. Just the way I like it. lol Also, on a fangirl note, I FLOVE Brian Boitano; he was my fav fav FAV male ice skater during the 90s. The 92 Olympics were absolutely fab for me as I developed a love of the Olympics from watching that one. So since I was used to seeing him skate, I wasn't expecting to hear about him getting a cooking show. For some dumb reason, I didn't think about him having any other interests but skating. Well derr, skating is his career. It's not the only thing he does. Leave it to me to put him in a box. lol He's very engaging with the camera, not a surprise to me, and pretty funny to boot.

Anyway, the sausage panini to kick off the epi wasn't bad at all; I can't eat sausage but I would have considered eating this one. The sausage schnitzel wasn't bad either; I'm not big on German food but I liked the way Brian Americanized it without taking the German flair out of it. Creative on his part to use pretzel bread as opposed to regular buns or even ciabatta rolls. Right now he's making a seafood roll with shrimp (or as I call em, scrimps), scallops, and salmon blended together and rolled into little cabbage rolls and steamed. Can't say as I'm a big advocate of this one, mainly because my stomach is skittish and probably can't handle that much seafood. lol The scooter bars looked great and the sausage panini was a good dish to have for an appetizer or even at a game (hint hint for football fans!) The ending was a tad cheesy, but all in all not a bad epi.

Alex's Day Off--"Brunch"
I know I'm not the only one to notice that Alex Guarnaschelli is borderline pornographic when describing her food and the way it tastes, or how she intends to cook it; in general, her descriptions and the tone of voice toe the line of food porn. It's a giggle inducer for me. Today's brunch is starting with some homemade popovers, and I do have to say I appreciate that she makes these things from scratch and wants to make sure the food is appetizing and comforting. On a random note, man I wish I could cut food the way she does; I have so much trouble with it. I think the knives are too big for my hands. lol I like the way Alex makes her food; you can definitely tell she's a chef and knows her food, but its still doable in a home kitchen and every ingredient adds on to the end result of the dish. Now she's doing sausage patties and cooking the apples in some apple cider for the popovers, I believe. The addition of heated fennel, chili flakes and cayenne probably adds a good kick to the sausage and I like that the breadcrumbs were added to bind the sausage and allow it to cook without losing its shape. I hadn't thought of that but its a good idea. Next Alex is making what she calls a 'goopy egg' which I would have to omit if I were making this for myself; I prefer my eggs very scrambled; overeasy just seems like a stomachache waiting to happen for me. Now here's the porn part of the show. She said to turn off the phone, turn the blinds down, and have some sausage and cocktails. Look, when someone tells me those first two things, cocktail being optional, its because sex is usually on the horizon, not sausage. Well.....not the digestible kind anyway. Mhm....Ah damnit. *clears throat and straightens shirt* See? Naughty thoughts! This is all Alex's fault. lol In the last couple of minutes with some like marathon music playing at first lol, the sausage is heated in the pan with the egg, and then the egg is placed on top of the sausage. She did that so the egg would ooze down the middle of the sausage when cut, but again, not my style. I'd rather cut up the sausage when its done cooking, scramble a little of it with the egg and cheese and put it on a sandwich. That's just me. lol The popovers look so light and airy, but I'd use honey butter and then top with the cooked apple rather than ricotta and the apples. For me, ricotta belongs in lasagna, not necessarily a popover. But I digress. All in all, I wouldn't mind making this one at home.

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef--"The Secret to Fish and Chips"
As I said yesterday...or was it last week?...I love watching this show. Much like Alex, you can tell that Anne knows her food and how to make something taste a certain way, what each ingredient brings to the final product, and that she enjoys making the food taste great. Alot of people find this irritating, but I think its hilarious when Anne's talking about her BIIG meat or her BRROWN food...it used to make me O_o huh? but its kinda funny now. She's making some homemade fries for the fish; I didn't know Russet potatoes are better for that, I just got potatoes at the store. Didn't care which ones they were. Same with apples. lol And like I said with Alex, I wish I could control my food and cut it the way Anne does. I really REALLY can't do it well, especially with peeling potatoes. I try though. Over and over again. lol She cooks her fries in the oil twice, something else I didn't know. The first fry is to make them crispy, the second fry is to give them color. She just explained what mayo is. I love this woman. I like watching the cooks make their own batter; its alot better than just frying the fish in flour, isn't it? Apparently, the fizz from the beer allows the batter to bubble up and become fluffier. I'm not a drinker myself so the improvisation would be using ice-cold sparkling water instead. I had no idea how to fry fish or do any of this until this morning. And true to what Anne said, the fish looks golden, fluffy and evenly fried. I've never made mayo so I'd probably use store mayo for the coleslaw. I think this is going to be like the lettuce for the fish rather than just a side. Random commercial notes, I love the little girl in the Cici's Pizza commercial. The chick in the Babybel cheese one is funny. And don't use your dog to mop up your home. That's rotten as hell. Even if your dog's fur is inviting. Stop it. lol Fish is super crispy and looks great, and the coleslaw was just a side after all. Well I just gave you an improv to use. lol

Nigella Kitchen--"I Did it My Way"
Well first, how come its not called Nigella'S Kitchen? Nigella Kitchen just seems grammatically incorrect to me. Yes I know that's an anal and completely random observation to make. I'm a grammar buff. Leave me alone. I love Nigella's accent; its delicious. She's making a dip for her tiramisu and something else I didn't catch. She uses English measurements for her dishes as opposed to American ones so if you're not used to them (I'm not lol) and aren't sure of the equivalent, look up the recipes on FN's website. You know one thing I do appreciate about FN, despite the many many complaints I have? They have real shapes on their network; you definitely can't say that they prefer stick-thin for each show. And I love it. The majority of the shows that have the most followers are with fuller-figured women; all of whom love the food they make, love a lush, comforting and delicious meal and don't mind eating their fill. Personally speaking, I love watching people who have as much an appreciation for making the food as they do eating it. It's not idle or absent-minded eating, its enjoying and savoring eating. Yes, I do believe there's a difference. You can't put 6 hours of skinny women in front of me, let them tell me they love to eat, but don't take more than a taster bite during their shows and expect me to believe them. I'm a skinny gal myself, but if my metabolism wasn't that of a 23 year old girl, I'd be as big as a house. And you'd better believe I would attribute all of it to a love of food. None of the hosts are as big as a house, but you know what I'm trying to say. A question I have is why when there's seafood or some kind of spicy food being served that something chocolate is always served for dessert? That's a setup for more pain later. No tanku.

I didn't review Rachael Ray's Week in a Day as I was starting to lose interest in the programming by then, but I tuned in 90% through Giada at Home, where she's making a series of appetizers to entertain some friends. Right now she's putting some kind of herb butter on some shrimp kebobs and it doesn't look too bad. I generally like the food she makes; Everyday Italian was and is still one of my favorite cooking shows. I don't see Giada at Home to be too much different as she usually has something Italian on the menu, albeit a tad watered down from the more Italian way of cooking it she had on her other show, but I do see a bit more variety this go around. I'm not one for cocktails or drinks myself, so the cocktail part of this epi doesn't really have my attention. Soapheads...did I just see Ricky Paull Goldin at this party? Ooh I did, I did! Per usual, everyone's enjoying the food and I love the backyard. I want one like that. I do have to say I'm not one for walking around the room asking my guests to tell me what part they like about the food; I think its a little self-indulgent to get your compliments all night because you asked for them. But meh. We get our compliments in diff ways.

Giada at Home--
This epi has a flatbread, a gratin and some mascarpone bars. We all know G loves her chocolate, so you know this dessert has an awesome amount of it in there. And I don't complain one bit, if I can say anything about G's desserts its that it has my absolute fav thing in there, @_@ chocolate! She's making the dessert first and cutting up the toffee bars to put them in the bowl with some of the other ingredients; here I go again with the cutting and me wishing I could do it. lol This one's made with prepared cookie dough, but I'm not complaining. I'm not good with the homemade dough. I tried it at Xmas and still haven't recovered. lol I learned about double boilers by watching Everyday Italian and Barefoot Contessa and I gotta say, its prob alot better than putting it in a pot with butter and melting it like I do to make my choco rice krispies. And alot less greasier. However, the butter in the choco tastes great. lol I think the camera used for this show is one of those glossy ones that focus on the upclose but have that slightly out of focus effect for the background, even when Giada's just cooking, not even the entertainment part that usually closes the show. Is this so G gets more shine? I see you FN. I. See. You. lol The gratin is a bacon and cauliflower one and I can def say I wouldn't be on the train for that one. I've only tried cauli once and I regretted it. I made the mistake of thinking it was just some white broccoli, just like I thought brussels sprouts were just tighter, smaller rounds of cabbage. WRONG. On both counts. Ack. >.< I hated them both and kicked myself for my culinary naivete. The episode finished a few minutes later, and I have to admit the gratin didn't look bad at all. I could be tricked into trying it.

Well as I feel the fatigue beginning to catch up to me, I feel my Sunday reviews coming to a close, which is unfortunate as this morning features quite a few new episodes. And alot more diversity with the hosts than yesterday. But not only am I slightly bored, I'm also incredibly sleepy.

After an unsuccessful hour and a half nap, I'm back.

Down Home with the Neely's--Dine-in Diner
Foreplay Central is cooking up some dine in favorites, starting with browning and caramelizing onions for an old-school patty melt. Adding chili flakes to the onions was a nice tip. For these melts, they're using ground chuck and Swiss cheese on toasted rye as opposed to the traditional dine-in eats and I wouldn't mind trying it, even though I don't eat alot of red meat myself. I was a vegetarian for about 2 years and gave up red meat entirely about 5 years ago; I only recently started eating bits and pieces of it a few months ago. I still haven't gotten the taste back for it so I only eat it on occasion. A chuck patty melt would kill my stomach. But darn it looked good when they set the caramelized onions on the up side of the bread, followed by that patty and the other slice of bread with the melted Swiss on it. Mmm. Next they said they'd be making kale chips and frozen peanut butter bites, which I am eager to find out more about. I love desserts and I saw choco on the bites in the preview, so you know I have to find out what's in it. The potato wedges to accompany the melts are typical Southern fries, crispy, golden and large. Definitely not McD's fries. They're awesomely salty and fantastic with ketchup or cheese. Ooh, ketchup AND cheese..........>.>  <.< well anyway, I've never had kale before so this kale chips recipe is a new one on me. After seasoned with s&p and olive oil, they're baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. The verdict's still out for me on that one. Ooh the peanut butter bites are being prepared now. These are just regular creamy pb, confectioners' sugar and vanilla extract, then mixed until smooth. Then they are rolled and set on a cookie sheet and frozen for an hour. The @.@ choco part involves 8oz of chopped semi-sweet melted in a double boiler. From the looks of it, its got butter on the bottom and melted choco on top. @@_@@ omg I really can't express my love for choco. Yes, I call it choco. I'm normally not too big on peanut butter because I really don't need it messing up my stomach and the 'digestive process' lol, but these look pretty good. I can't eat like 10 of them since its pure peanut butter, but I can do about 3. lol Meanwhile, I will take my trusty finger and get up all the leftover choco in the bowl after its drizzled over the pb bites. lol The kale chips has flattened and crisped up in the oven then left to cool off before topping with brown sugar--that's a hmm moment for me--, and now the pb bites are halfway dipped in the chocolate and drizzled over the top before they're put back and allowed to set. Why do I feel like almost everything with these two are double entendres and innuendos? I'ma call this safe food porn. Food is the cover for them to talk dirty to each other, I think. lol The meal as a whole looks great. Watching them eat the pb bites brings forth the sex faces and sounds from Gina, which I can do without, but all in all I liked it.

Guy's Big Bite--Guido Goes Garlic
First off, I feel like every other epi features something with him calling himself 'Guido' and using the alliteration trick Rachael usually uses; between you and me it gets old fast. lol Anyway, he's doing a garlic soup, an Asiago crostini and chicken with a bulb of garlic. I refuse to call this meal chicken and the bodacious bulb, which is what he calls it. The meal finishes with a ladyfinger tiramisu. Now I'm not too big on garlic but I do gotta say, its a tasty little thing when not done in excess. Don't make any of these for your spouse if sexytimes are on the agenda later. Garlic is a very pungent food. It lingers on the breath and oozes out of the pores if you even think about sweating. Sexytimes after a garlic-heavy meal reminds me of walking into a kitchen when someone's making Garlic toast from scratch. I would assume that's what it would smell like. You're making love, not bread. Anyway, the stock or the base for the soup I would assume is being put in the pot now; a chicken bone, carrots, onions and of course, the star ingredient. This is an immense amount of garlic; right now about 4 heads of garlic are being roasted. Now mind you, each head of garlic contains about 8-9 cloves, depending on the size head you get. Don't take that out of context. lol So that's 8 cloves, times 4. 32 cloves garlic in total. Now cut each of them in half and you get about 64 small cloves. That's some garlic for yo ass. Whew. Garlic as the central ingredient for this entire meal is a bit overwhelming, but that's just me personally. The tiramisu looks quite lovely though, definitely not the kind of dessert I see Guy..excuse me, Guido, making but it looks tasty and there's @.@ on top. You know what, that's how I'm going to identify my choco from now on. Not even gonna call it by name, I'm just gonna say @_@. Yes I know it seems like the tone of these reviews changed dramatically when I got to Guy's show and its not due to a personal like or dislike of him or his show, although to be frank I'm kinda meh about both. I prefer Triple D more than Guy's Big Bite, personally. No, the reason why I'm not so hot on this epi is because of a personal experience I had with garlic a few years ago. It was late one night and I was making eggs. I FLOVE onions in my eggs, so I reached for what I thought was onion powder and put a heavy shake of it on my eggs. Cooks up great and I'm dying of hunger so I dove right in. And to my almost immediate horror, I discovered that 'heavy shake' of onion powder was actually garlic powder. I only cooked one egg. -_- so the garlic was overpowering like you wouldn't believe. I added a piece of bread to try and tone it down, didn't work. Made the rotten mistake of trying to go back and add a little onion powder to balance it out; all that did was overwhelm my poor egg even more than it already was and have me literally crunching on both seasonings. I was traumatized for months and whenever I even smelled garlic in the vicinity, my stomach turned. I was laid up in bed with cramps for 2 days following that disaster. I added maybe 5 kernels I swear of the onion powder, the rest was all garlic powder. OMG I will NEVER forget that. So when I hear any meal where garlic is the central ingredient, I shy away. lol According to Guy, the soup wasn't that overwhelming garlic I assumed it would be, but was cooked to where it was an undertone rather than the main taste. The chicken didn't look too bad either, especially once it was covered with the gravy. I'll have to take his word for it though; I really killed myself on garlic after that experience.

Well, this concludes the Sunday morning reviews; not a bad morning of cooking to me at all. I can't wait for tailgate weekend next week. Btw, good luck to my Packs! I bleeds green!! And red, if you get literal. Aren't I a festive gal. lol

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All these outs are slightly depressing....

The last blog made me think. Three outs were reported in about 2 days this past week. How many other outs have there been just in recent months, say like since Fall Sweeps or so? It made me think because I remember seeing on almost every soap, even the ones I don't watch, there have been at least 2. So I decided to go back to the source and break them down. All information in this blog and many others is from http://www.soapcentral.com/. It is unclear on many whether or not there will be recasts on any of these roles or if they were written off permanently; this blog is only discussing the outs.

AMC:
1)Well, I can't mention outs on this show without mentioning Thorsten Kaye (Zach)'s decision to no longer continue with the show due to not wanting to travel from his home base in NYC to AMC's new home in LA, prompting his character to be killed off in a crash during November's Sweeps Week.
2)In December, Debbi Morgan (Angie) took an indefinite medical leave, revealing not long after that she'd been diagnosed with Lyme disease. So this one is really a temporary out.
3)In the same month, Finn Wittrock (Damon), a relatively new actor to the cast, decided not to renew his contract after debuting a little over a year ago and as of now, Damon is either already off the canvas or is on his way out.
4)To kick off 2011, we find out that Shannon Kane (Natalia) decided as well that she wouldn't be renewing her contract with show, instead deciding to make the foray into movies, although the door is open for a return should she decide to change her mind.
5)Not long after this announcement, Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) also decided not to renew her contract with the show, stating that she would prefer to pursue other interests and has already taped her final scenes.

B&B:
Seemingly the only soap on the list with more ins than outs is the only show that only tapes for half an hour. They haven't had any outs, so good for them.
update (as of 1/28): Due to lack of storyline for the character, Kyle Lowder (Rick) has been released.

DOOL:
1)Not even 10 days into the new year, we find out that Mark Hapka (Nathan) was let go from his role due to not being utilized enough, so he asked to be let go if the character could not be used properly and it seems that the powers that be granted his request.
2)Shelley Hennig (Stephanie) broke the news just this past week that she decided not to continue with the show and will be taping her last scenes on the 2nd of next month.
3)The same day, Jay Kenneth Johnson (Phillip) announced that he too would not be renewing with the show. Now if you remember, a couple of years ago a story broke about him clearing his dressing room and storming off the set but being forced back later because he had not fulfilled the terms of his contract. He renewed with the show a short time later and it seemed all was well, but it seems he now wants out.

GH:
1)The only one from this soap but probably the biggest shocker on this entire list was Rebecca Herbst's (Elizabeth) firing from the show due to the current direction of the story involving her character. Soapcentral says that she is last expected to air in March, so get your fill of her now. It surprised her, her castmates and her fans, this one included. And it still makes me very sad, not to mention extremely P.O'ed. Moving on...

OLTL:
I would love to comment on how many actors were let go or decided not to renew with the show over the year because it really is an interesting list, but I said from November and from there I will go.
1)In December, Carmen LoPorto (Jack) made the announcement that Jack was being SORAS'd and he would no longer be needed. LoPorto looks to be around 10-12 for me, more so for the pre-pubescent little brother, and the show decided that aging him to around 15 would be more appropriate due to the upcoming storyline.
2)In the same story, twins Jacob and Luke Clodfelter (Sam) were recast and SORAS'd as well; Sam's new age was not mentioned. I looked a little deeper and found out on soaps.sheknows.com that the recast for Sam is about 5, so that would put Sam at preschool or kindergarten age.

Y&R:
Well, much like its CBS counterpart, I didn't find any outs for Y&R during the time period I was searching. Good job, CBS.

Many of the soaps eliminating cast members is on the ABC network, which does not set a good tone considering this is the only channel who still shows soaps all day. CBS has eliminated their entire afternoon of soaps and NBC eliminated their late morning soap years ago, so DOOL has been on its own for quite some time. In short, this doesn't look so good for ABC soaps. Get it together, guys (n gals)!

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Surprising Outs!

ABC came out with some serious ousters this week, on all three soaps; it couldn't go without reporting.

GH reported earlier this week that 13-year veteran Rebecca Herbst (Elizabeth) was being cut from the show in a story-dictated exit. Are they serious? This woman has dedicated 13 years of her life to your show, probably rejected offers to try for other shows or primetime, not to mention hasn't even been back from maternity leave for a year and you're cutting her out?? Due to story?? It boggles my mind, and apparently those of her costars' too because this was definitely a loud ripple that was heard by all of her GH castmates by the day's end. She has been on this show with so much of that cast for so many years--Maurice Benard, Jonathan Jackson, Tyler Christopher, Steve Burton--and that's just a few--she basically grew up around these people! Elizabeth has been an integral part of GH's story from when she was a rebellious teen to now, a grown woman with 3 kids and quite the checkered past but still a big heroine on the show. She's had interactions with everyone on the show, has always turned in excellent work whether she was doing something bad or good, and doesn't really need to be written into an exit or a corner with no way out. Her character still has a journey to explore and they're cutting her out, and quite unceremoniously through "story dictates" on top of that. Why the hell is the story dictating that Elizabeth no longer be a part of it? You're keeping on characters that hog space (I won't name names lol), characters that in my opinion don't have much longevity save for creating conflict in couples or potential couples (again, won't name names lol) and letting go of someone with roots in this town? Her brother just came back after leaving her as the only Webber on the show for years, and now she's being written out, leaving him to uphold the family name alone. I loved the idea of Jonathan Jackson returning to the show and having Liz and Lucky get back together, but the ball was dropped. Lucky and Liz's son that supposedly was stolen by Helena hasn't been mentioned and as of late she's become background fodder with not much story when there was immense potential. It's a dumb decision and I hope GH realizes immediately that they made a mistake. Becky Herbst is a talented actress and sounds like a great person as well and I am sure that another soap will be more than happy to pick her up. I wish her the very best of luck with wherever this turn takes her.

The morning after GH made their announcement, I go back to Soapcentral.com and find out that AMC's Melissa Claire Egan (Annie) had decided not to renew her contract with the show and would be leaving in the coming weeks. Now I don't know if they will be recasting the role after giving Annie a write-off or if the character will be meeting her maker or what, but in any case, I think it stinks. Even no longer being a viewer of the show it does still make me a little sad to hear that yet another actor has decided to leave AMC. The population in Pine Valley is suffering as it is, and even though I was no longer an Annie fan towards the end of my viewing, I was still a fan of Melissa's so its not like I figured the character needed to be written off the show. Towards the end of the time I stopped watching, I hated that her character had become so much different from the one I was familar with, from the character I loved to watch so it wasn't hard for me to stop watching scenes from time to time. I think the character had a great road of redemption ahead of her and again, the constant switch of writers dropped the ball and each set had Annie doing something different. I couldn't stand it myself. Maybe I'm just too critical, I dunno. I just prefer some continuity with the characters I enjoy watching, I guess. At least Melissa wasn't fired; she expressed an interest in pursuing other roles outside of AMC. I hate hearing that any soap loses an actor since the genre as a whole seems to be losing talent left and right, but in case I were to return to the show I wouldn't be too pleased if I come back and a few of my favorite characters are no longer there. But who knows, Annie may make a return if Melissa decides at a later date to return to the show, or the role may be recasted and get another surge of interest from viewers. In any case, I'm sad to see her and Annie go and like Rebecca Herbst, has the best of luck in pursuing her other interests.

The following day if not later on the same day, OLTL announces that Brittany Underwood (Langston) is also being written out in a story dictated exit. Much like Rebecca Herbst, this was her first major role in acting and although she hasn't been on the show as long as Rebecca was with GH, she still grew up around her castmates and I'm sure this was a shocker to them as well. When Langston first started on the show she was the rebel edge to play off of Starr's cookie-cutter, privileged existence. Not long after she crossed paths with Markko Rivera, another rebel who used insulting Langston to hide the fact he was actually quite fond of her, a very familiar part of high school from my memory. Fast forward a couple of years and they had become one of the most stable couples on the show, which was sad considering there were less than 10 teens on the show at the time. They had more maturity in their relationship than alot of the adults; they should have taken a lesson or two from the two outcasts. I loved watching them together; it reminded me of my first love although their story was much more romantic and trusting than mine was. It was something realistic that I had no problem believing in. The entry of Lola into their relationship about 2 years ago was when they were first handed their bit of friction, followed by the disapproval Markko's parents had about him being with Langston and being sexually active without being married. Those were both normal things; most parents would prefer that their children not be sexually active until marriage and finding out the opposite usually sets them off. Definitely was a realistic angle in their story, especially if the parents, much like Markko's, were religious. But then the introduction of Ford into their story is what in my opinion eventually opened the door for Jason Tam (Markko) to take his temporary and then permanent exit from the show as his character got less time and story, and as the Ford family was fully integrated onto the canvas and Rob's angle with Langston decreased, I lost interest. Not long after, she's being written out due to story. I'd hope she just leaves for college or follows Markko to wherever he is and isn't written out via killer or some other stupid reason. She, like the other two, turned in good work and was a breath of fresh air and I wish Brittany Underwood all the best.

What a week, huh? Three exits by three prominent actresses in about as many days, one from each ABC soap. I really hope this doesn't set or start a trend. Even though I prefer not to watch soaps right now, its good to know that they're still there, your favorite characters are still living and thriving, and that they are there for you to go back to, kind of like that favorite toy you hold on to. Don't always have to play with them, don't always even want to, but when you're ready to again, they're right there, as ready for you to pick it up again as they always were. I think of soaps in that way; when I don't like the storylines or the characters that are in the forefront, I tend to lose interest and tune out. But when I'm ready to go back, the show and those characters are right there, waiting for me to watch. Unfortunately, the next time I return to the shows they will be Annie-less, Langston-less and >.< Elizabeth-less. Le sigh.

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Saturday Morning Lineup--Food Network

Alright, as mentioned last night, I'm going to be reviewing the new episodes in Food Network's lineup this morning. The reviews kick off with a new episode of 30 Minute Meals.

30 Minute Meals--Penny Saving Picnic
Rachael's making an indoor Italian picnic to save money; today's menu is san marzano gazpacho, chicken thighs with onions, fennel & roasted peppers, and corn bread crostini.

When I first fell in love with food in 2006, 30 Minute Meals was the first show I saw and I fell in love with it too. I loved how friendly and personable Rachael was and how the stuff she made not only looked and sounded good but wasn't too complicated to make. Regardless of whether the meal can really be made in 30 minutes, the show still does easy meals that don't cost an arm and a leg yet manage to be just as hearty and filling. Ray comes across as someone who knows her way around a kitchen but doesn't feel the need to be kitchen chef material; she cooks her meals just as a person on a weeknight would prepare the meal. Definitely not alot of needed prep, which takes up time if you have hungry kids and schoolwork/work to finish. The ingredients she uses are neither fancy or expensive; just normal ingredients and food items.

I also like how Rachael makes sure to mention how much of each ingredient she uses for those like me who try to write down the ingredients and steps as she goes. I am not an experienced cook so eyeballing my items and measurements hasn't hit me yet; she's doing that now with each ingredient she adds to the food processor for her gazpacho. And in 8 short minutes, she has started the pan and put the chicken in for one dish and has entirely prepped the other. Great time if you ask me.

I know alot of people over the years rendered Ray either slightly or immediately very annoying upon watching her show, and the only time I would have slightly agreed was back in the early years of 30 Minute Meals, when I think she was still getting comfortable in front of the camera. She was going a mile a minute, I believe trying maybe a little too hard to come across as friendly, seemed at ease with the food but didn't yet seem like she felt at ease with the cameras and having to be "on" for 30 minutes. Now, she looks like an old pro and her strategy hasn't really changed much. She seems much more relaxed than those earlier days therefore much more comfortable, but she still tells her family stories, still offers up substitutes for ingredients when/if necessary, and still offers helpful tips throughout the show.

We're a little more than halfway through with the show and everything's cooking and getting off to a good start. The only thing I have to say I am not overly fond of is that because it moves so quickly, it can be hard to get actual step by step instructions by just watching the show. Putting the recipes online on FN's website is a godsend, partly because it helps us keep track and leaves us room to modify if necessary.

Its about 2 minutes before show end and as Rachael went through each main component of the meal, she gave a brief rundown of the prep to make it, another positive part of the show. This would be a good show for those with TiVo so they can pause to write down each step since she goes back over it. In short, today's show was a good one, she kept us informed and didn't break our bank with expensive things.

I skipped about an hour and a half of the lineup so I could sleep, but I'll restart the reviews with the next show, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef.

Secrets of a Restaurant Chef--The Secret to Fresh Pasta
This isn't a new episode and today Anne's doing broccoli rabe ravioli with parm and pistachios, with fresh pasta. I'm a fan of the show and her technique grew on me after watching a few episodes. I eventually want to own my own restaurant so I enjoy watching how its done in a restaurant and how an actual chef prepares their food. This is much different from a Rachael Ray, who does the everyday cooking, different from Ina who does entertainment cooking, and even different from Giada, who does simple gourmet cooking. At first I found Anne rather rough with the food, but it only taught me that you don't have to be gentle with it. With things like the fresh pasta she's doing today, rough is actually required and probably encouraged. Not to mention it releases aggression. :) I love watching how the food comes together from being individual ingredients and from the skeleton to cooking and coming together, to being a full meal. I can tell Anne enjoys watching the process and making the food, putting her own spin and effort into it. She also provides some helpful tips with the things she does and you can guarantee she uses fresh things each time.

The rest of the reviews kind of went up in smoke because I fell asleep. Fail. lol Maybe the next time I decide to do 4 hours straight of reviews I should make sure I get some sleep first, huh?

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New Year, New Stuff!

Well as I mentioned in my last blog post from last year (btw Happy New Year!), this blog would be making some changes as my television preferences have shifted from being primarily soap opera oriented. I still kept Daytime Suds in the title as I do hope and intend one day to eventually move this back to being its own site and restart the tv review site on another blog, but until then since I only watch one soap I decided to combine it. Everything with the soaps will stay the same, LOD, LOW, COW, Popped Bubbles and Suds Up will remain a part of this column, as will the weekly reviews when I remember to watch.

The new part of this blog will be the other half of this new title, the bitchy tv show reviews. I'll review almost anything I watch, syndicated, popular, stupid, funny, sitcom, whatever. I'm aware that nobody's waiting with baited breath for my rambling reviews, but if they don't like it, too bad. I enjoy writing reviews and I enjoy watching shows to provide these reviews as well. Maybe someone'll read em eventually and think my opinion wasn't half bad. It also provides me again with a journal of sorts. So if you look at it that way, I'm not writing any of these blogs for anyone, therefore not entitling or requiring you to read my often run on 8 track of thoughts. lol

I can tell you a little about the shows I do watch so you can see what kind of direction the blog will be going in. I watch quite a few things on tv nowadays, however most of said things are in syndication and prob won't warrant more than a review or two. I am an avid food lover so when I remember and can get the energy up to watch, Food Network will have quite a few reviews here. I also watch alot of bridal tv so My Fair Wedding, which is currently in a new season, and Bridezillas will also have their space on the blog.  A current show I do watch and am looking forward to providing reviews on is Being Erica. Season 3 premieres on SoapNet on January 26th and as a viewer from the very first episode and currently in my 9th month of Strange withdrawals, I can't wait. Let's see...as far as shows still on the air, that's about it. The rest of the shows are in syndication, like Ghost Whisperer, Without a Trace, New York Undercover, and of course my sitcoms. But don't worry, I will try my hardest not to let it get stagnant like it did before.

At the moment, I am trying to get things straight in my life so my attentions are a bit scattered. I'm going back to school next month after an extended hiatus I took back in November and I am also looking for ways to start up a little kiosk in my town. I also develop products for IMVU, so even though the majority of my life is centered online, things are still about to be quite busy. So sometimes I may skip a review but if its something current, I promise to watch the soonest rerun and review it. I've also been looking to add a few things to the blogs (I run 3) to increase my readers so that's podcasts, audio/video broadcasts if possible, different widgets to add to the site, etc. I said all that to say please bear with me for a little while. I have alot of ideas and quite a few things to do, so it might take a minute for me to get everything straight. But if everything I want and intend to do with these blogs go as planned, it should be up and fantastico in no time. Even if I only have 3 readers to enjoy it. lol

Tomorrow morning I will be doing an ongoing blog during Food Network's morning lineup as most of the shows on tomorrow are new episodes, and Sunday will be the first review of My Fair Wedding. If I remember, I'll watch the weekly recap of GH so I can give that run down before MFW comes on. See ya in the morning!

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