Having just finished the 90-minute Season 5 premiere, I’m even less convinced that “Drag Race All Stars” was a good idea. I’m not talking about the infuriating teams format or the oddly unexciting winner of the much-maligned short fall season. I’m talking about the fact that, with that mini-series ending just two months ago, I […]
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“Face Off” Season 3: Borg this way
Well, THAT was a bummer. Last night’s “Face Off,” in which we went from five contestants to four, felt more like a slump to the finish line than a race to the finale. Burnout is to be expected at this stage of the competition, but it’s really starting to affect several of the competitors, and […]
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“The X Factor” Season 2: Top 24 Judges’ Houses performances
Having slogged through this week’s three hours of “The X Factor,” spread over two shows in which we winnowed the contestants down to 24 from 60, something struck me: how goddamned boring this show is. It just kept going and going and going, but it felt so repetitive and dull. The funny thing is, we […]
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“Project Runway” Season 10: Lower your avant-garde
It was the final challenge before Fashion Week, and the Final 5 – Dmitry, Sonjia, Christopher, Melissa, and Fabio – were hauled out to a castle in Long Island, given some nonsensical make-up-based inspirations (seriously, I have no idea), and then tasked with designing avant-garde looks. I think it blows that we got our avant-garde […]
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“The X Factor” Season 2: Boot Camp, Part 2
We went into Day 2 of Boot Camp in Miami with 60 acts remaining. They were paired off and had to duet against one another. The singing pairs had to pick the same song, and decide who sang what parts. Both singers could advance. Only one could advance. Neither of them could advance. Ultimately we […]
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“The X Factor” Season 2: Boot Camp, Round 1
We’re done with the initial auditions, and on to Boot Camp! Having not watched Season 1, I had no idea what that entailed, but I assumed it was similar to Hollywood Week on “Idol.” That’s basically true. After fakey-fake “candid” videos featuring several contestants, most of whom were spotlighted in the original audition episodes, we […]
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“Face Off” Season 3: Kids draw the darndest things
Last night I realized that we’re at least 2/3 of the way through this season, and at this point we can make a few judgment calls. Overall I think the challenges this season have been pretty great. We’ve had some good sci-fi staples (zombies, super heroes) and some more creative exercises (the Chinese zodiac, this […]
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“Project Runway” Season 10: Baby, where did our love go?
It’s a real testament to this season that, going into this episode, I did not want to lose any of the final six designers. Not only are all of them talented, but all of them are LIKABLE. I cannot for the life of me remember the last time that happened on this show. The challenge […]
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“So You Think You Can Dance” 2012: The winners revealed!
I went into tonight’s finale with mixed feelings. I didn’t think any of these four would end up in the Top 4 at the start of the season. Some of them have grown on me, and I think ultimately deserve to be there, while others I think skated by on a largely confusing and underwhelming […]
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“X Factor” Season 2, Episode 2: That defines the word uncomfortable
For the second audition episode we were suddenly back in San Francisco (despite having gone to Providence at the end of the previous show). My best friend pointed out while watching the show last night that he likes “X Factor” because it really isn’t about finding the best singer. It’s about finding the next pop […]
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“X Factor” Season 2, Episode 1: It’s Britney, bitch!
Previously on “The X Factor”: some people nobody cared about sang, a person nobody remembers won, and half the on-air talent got fired. But they want you to forget pretty much all of that. Seriously, there was not a single mention of anything to do with Season 1 in the S2 premiere. Not one. They […]
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“So You Think You Can Dance” 2012: The Final 4 Revealed!
This season has been more of a whirlwind than usual (programming issues to blame there), and it feels that way, too. Between skipping weeks, the new elimination format, and multiple double eliminations, we’ve got some winners and some definite losers in the Final 6, and ultimately in the Final 4 – but we’ll get to […]
