Congratulations everyone! We've made it thru Fall Sweeps ... now on to Christmas TV repeat time. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving and went out and contributed to the failing economy on Black Friday. Once again, sorry to have left anyone hanging over the holiday weekend, just couldn't bring myself to blog when there was plenty of other stuff to do.

Top Chef judges Tom Colicchio and Padma Lakshmi sample some food with Foo Fighters' Dave Grohl
For those of you who missed Wednesday night's excellent episode of Top Chef, it repeats tonight on Bravo at 10 p.m. For those of you that watched or managed to catch it on the many repeats this past weekend, let's discuss!
Special guest judges the Foo Fighters made for a particularly interesting ep. The Foos were brought in for the elimination challenge which consisted of contestants breaking into 2 teams and cooking a Thanksgiving feast for the band and their entourage before their concert. The winning team got to go to the show while the losers had to do all the clean-up. The catch, no kitchen. Everything was set up outside the arena with just microwaves and toaster ovens. How fun is it to make a turkey in a toaster oven? I couldn't tell you from experience, but apparently Arianne did an excellent job.
Team Sexy Pants went on to win and had a great time at the show. Team Cougars failed miserably with dessert and got stuck with the clean-up. Danny gave the finger to the winning team after the concert. (Nice, Danny)
At Judges Table, Arianne was complimented on her supreme turkey, Eugene got congrats on his pork dish and Carla and Alex were deemed safe too. Daniel's undercooked potatoes put him on the chopping block, along with Jeff, who tried to do too much and Richard, whose s'mores were "disappointing."
Disappointing enough to get him sent home. Bye-Bye Richard.
I will miss the token gay guy who had the BIG crush on top judge Tom Colicchio. What did you think?
Top Chef offers up a new episode, featuring cooking on the Today Show, Wednesday at 10 p.m. For more info visit http://www.bravotv.com/Top_Chef/season/5/best_of/index.php

On last night's Amazing Race, the final four teams raced for a spot in next week's finale. So we're down to separated couple Ken & Tina, mother/son Toni & Dallas, siblings Nick & Starr (who I think are a shoe-in to win it all) and Frat boys Andrew & Dan (how have they made it this far?). And, as has become the norm this season, mistakes abounded.
Dallas couldn't differentiate between Stalin and Lenin (Tina helped him out and immediately regretted it). But that was nothing compared to what he did later ... leaving his bag in the taxi with his team's money and passports! Ken & Tina ran to the Pit Stop without first getting their clue. They had seen Andrew & Dan running and just followed them, causing Phil to send them back to get their clue before they could be checked in. Toni & Dallas and Andrew & Dan raced to the woman with the Shetland pony within seconds of each other, but neither team received their clue from her.
Nick & Starr easily came in first, followed by Andrew & Dan and Ken & Tina, all solidifying their place in the finale. Having to beg for cab fare on the street cost Toni & Dallas precious time, and it must have been a LOT of time, because Phil actually went to them to let them know they had been eliminated. For more info visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race/

Sorry to see Dallas & Toni go ...

I know this is long overdue, so bear with me or just skip to the next subject. Those of you who tuned in Thanksgiving night to Survivor got what was to be expected ... the oh-so-boring catch-up show. The one where CBS says you'll see never-before-seen clips, but you never learn anything new.
However, I still haven't blogged about the great episode from the week before! If you haven't seen it, it's worth it to go to the website and watch.
Day 28 started out with Bob telling Sugar he made a fake immunity idol ... WTH? Why would you tell Sugar that, she has the real idol, afterall. This episode also featured the fan-fave Reward Auction, which generally consists of contestants getting a certain amount of money and then getting to bid on various food items. Randy won a plate of cookies and gave everyone one. Sugar refused, and Randy insisted she take the last one, which she promptly gave to Matty. Randy said Sugar could kiss his ass.
Matty, Sugar, Ken and Crystal conspired to get rid of Bob first, then Randy and Corinne. Randy wants Suzie gone 'cause she flipped and voted for Marcus, saying "The hell with her."
Crystal called Randy "a troll."Amazingly, Ken won immunity at a Domino challenge. Feeling desperate, Randy schemed to get the "fake" idol from Bob to save himself. Sugar said, "Randy is an ass and I loathe him," then told Bob to give Randy the fake idol just to make even more an ass of him.
The Cookie Controversy came up at Tribal Council. Crystal is still very angry with Randy. At the vote, Corinne cast Suzie saying, "Payback's a bitch." Sugar voted Randy, saying "Randy's a disgusting old chauvenistic, alcoholic bigot." Randy said, "Suzie, this vote is not strategic, it's personal." And, as expected, Crystal voted for Randy. Before the votes were read, Randy brought the fake idol into play and was told by Jeff that it was fake and would not count, causing an uproar of laughter from his tribmates.

Bye-Bye Randy
Randy left with his tail between his legs ... saying "The Hell with these freaking people!"
An all new Survivor airs this Thursday on CBS at 8 p.m. To watch last week's episode visit http://www.cbs.com/primetime/survivor/

Tonight, Harry Potter himself, Daniel Radcliffe, stops by for a sit down with James Lipton on Bravo's Inside the Actors Studio at 8 p.m. Can't wait to see this. You have to admit, there's just something about those Brits! I mean, just the fact that this kid is still so together, after being cast as the most famous boy-wizard in literary history at the tender age of 10, and he hasn't gone all Lohan on us, is pretty amazing.

Lipton chats up Harry Potter
And as long as we're on the subject ... ABC Family will be airing the first four Harry Potter movies this coming weekend, during which there will be exclusive sneak peeks of next July's Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince. Tune in.
Sorry, I couldn't resist ...
Harry Potter, then


And now


And now on to the Christmas Shows: ABC celebrates the season tonight with Shrek the Halls at 8, followed by the original animated Dr. Seuss' How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Not to be outdone, ABC Family will air the live-action, Jim Carrey-starring movie of the same name at 8 p.m.

Sorry, I find this guy creepier than any horror movie I've ever seen ... I find this film unwatchable, literally, I walked out of the theater! And that's the only film I can remember ever walking out of! I'm sure some of you like it, but I'd rather watch The English Patient on a loop than suffer thru this!
I'll take my Grinch animated, please!

And get used to it ... 'tis the season for all your favorite and not-so-favorite Christmas show repeats. If it's not your thing, use this time wisely to get caught up on all those summer movies you missed. They'll all be hitting the DVD shelves before the end of the year.
The CW's Supernatural will be back Jan. 15. And my fave sexy surgeons return to FX Jan. 6 with the remaining eight eps of last season's Nip/Tuck!

I watched Will Smith's Hancock and Vince Vaughn's Fred Claus this weekend. Fred Claus is the usual ... nothing new here, but Vaughn's entertaining. I enjoyed it.
Hancock, I have to admit was a disappointment. It's one of those movies where we already saw all the good parts in the preview. It starts out fine, then tries to become a serious, emotional flick halfway thru ... I wasn't feeling it.

Cheers!