3 Stations East

Grey's Housewives Lost

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:44:59 -0600

Desperate Housewives is kicking all kinds of booty this season (except perhaps the Gabby/Carlos storyline and Julie's thing with shirtless annoying Abercrombie suburban stereotype... hm, maybe it's kicking some kinds of booty). It's tight, and unwrapping itself very slowly - a total contrast to last season. Remember the Applewhites? Yeah, snoozefest. Last night dropped another bomb and that was after a surprise shooting. Nice writing happening there.

Contrast that to Lost. Lost is my favorite TV show at the moment but even I will admit that the first six episodes (the "pod" - it's on hiatus till February) were a little thin. There were moments, brief moments, but too many things were picked up and then put on the shelf again. Interestingly there was a recent Slate or Salon or Something article noting that shows like Lost will have a hard time keeping viewers because the central mystery can't be revealed. (WTF is up with that island?)

The Others are boring. The season opener showed that they had potential but since then they've appeared to be Just Some Bumbling Folks - not the ones who kidnapped kids, walked barefoot on the island, and generally scared the crap out of everyone. So far there's no explanation for it, and hell, they don't even appear to be evil outside of Juliet and Ben! For crying out loud.

That all said, I'll still watch the show. I can understand the fatigue that others (heh) are experiencing.

Grey's Anatomy is also a bit better this season but, to be honest, I don't think of this show on the same level as the aforementioned. It feels fluffier and the central problem with the show for me is that I really don't care about Meredith, the title character. She might sleep with one of two guys. Who cares? I'm more interested in the new Bailey/Yang dynamic, and if Callie and George will ever mesh (I'm guessing maybe.) The Derek storyline is played out.

All right. Back to reality.

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Reality Show Star

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 12:14:13 -0500

This past weekend, Jeani came up with a fabulous idea for a new reality show - and I added a small, tiny smidgen to it.

If there's one thing that reality shows have proven, it's that reality shows are popular. People love reality shows. But, a lot of reality shows are marred by inadequate hosts - or Q-list celebrities. Let's be honest here... it would be great to get some up-and-coming stars hosting reality shows.

Therefore, I present to you: Reality Show Star!

12 "unknown" actors and comics will compete to host Reality Show Star, the great new show that follows the path of 12 unknown actors and comics on their way to hosting Reality Show Star. The 12 - a diverse group, of course - will (get this) live in a house together and compete in difficult challenges each and every week, until America votes for the winner at the end of the season in a live, 2-hour finale!

Thus, the show would never end. Each season, a new host would be awarded the top prize. It's cyclical, and just about perfect.

The only lingering question might be, "Who will host the first season of this show?" The answer is definitely not me (or Jeani). I think the only person who could host this show is Anil Dash. (That's right! I'm calling out an A-lister, sister!) Think about it: Anil has shown how much he loves pop culture. And just think of the challenges he could bring to the table. ("Create and maintain a Vox blog, and get 50 genuine friends within 7 days!" "Name all of Prince's UK releases in reverse chronological order while interviewing this Prince impersonator!")

So there you have it. It's the perfect reality show.

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Minor Celebrity Sighting: Alpana Singh

nobody@vox.com(Paul) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 08:43:45 -0500

This is the year of meeting (or at least, seeing) minor local celebrities. As readers of ennui will recall, my organization hired a former local news anchor and it was just kind of weird working on the same floor as her. (Ryan suggested I ask her to give me a news update every time I walked by her. Nice.) It was uneventful, of course, when we said "Hi" in the hallways or whatnot. It wouldn't be right to say, "OMG, you're from channel 5! I loved your report on vitamins!" But no.

Anyway.

Yesterday Jeani and I were at the Glenview Trader Joe's. We were looking at the trail mix/bagged nuts area. I was standing with the cart and Jeani was a little ways back in the aisle. I was looking at her, and then I turned around to look forward towards the dairy section.

My eyes probably nearly popped out of my head.

"Honey!" I said. Now, I said this about 20 decibels too loudly - a level reserved more for, "Help!" or "We won the lottery!" than "Oh, come here, look at these great peanuts!" Jeani naturally replied, "What?"

But I didn't reply. What could I say at that same level? "Oh, look! It's..."

Instead, Jeani looked at me in a quizzical fashion and slowly walked towards me.

"Honey, I'm pretty sure that's Alpana Singh."

We both looked over to the bread aisle where this woman was. Jeani turned to me quickly and said, "That's her!"

Alpana Singh is the nation's youngest sommelier and the host of channel 11's Check, Please! - a great restaurant review show. There she was, buying stuff at Trader Joe's in Glenview.

We were kind of stunned in a good way, so we poked around the cashew section a little more. I kind of wanted to see what was in her cart - I mean, she's an obvious foodie, so what would she buy?

However, just staying put and not buying anything else and looking at Alpana Singh seemed a little weird. We moved on with our purchases and made it to the frozen section. It was really hard not to look at her and be all stupid when she was just a few feet away from us. As I told Jeani, it's a stupid situation: "What do you say?"

So of course, we said nothing.

Alpana, it's worth noting, looks like a totally normal person (although Jeani noted she was wearing makeup but, on the North Shore, wearing makeup whilst grocery shopping is just fine). The only time when she would have been a true practical help was when we were debating over getting a bottle of $2 wine - not Charles Shaw.

Jeani: "It'd be great if we could go up to her and ask her how this is!"

And it would be.

In any case, it was reassuring more than anything to think that Alpana Singh - someone in a high echelon of local cuisine - shops at Trader Joe's. It would be just as satisfying to know that Charlie Trotter shops at Dominick's.

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