The Celebrity Apprentice: What does Gary Busey have to do to get fired?

For weeks now we've been watching the seemingly very solid Backbone slowly fall apart under the pressure of Gary Busey. Whether Busey is just brain damaged from the motorcycle, or some kind of mad genius who tries to play Xanatos Gambits in real life I do not know. For that matter, neither do his teammates.

While John Rich firmly believes Busey is pulling the Gambit, Lil John and Meatloaf don't seem as certain that Busey is really in control of his faculties. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter if Gary is crazy, or crazy like a fox, because this was the second week in a row in which Gary was universally named as the person to be fired. Prior to that, his name came up frequently when Backbone, the men's team found themselves staring down Mr Trump. Yet somehow, someway, Gary always remained. I'm inclined to think that his presence was dragged out a bit for the sake of ratings in all honesty. Which is how anybody following the newest season of Celebrity Apprentice wound up asking, "What is Gary Busey going to have to do to get fired?"

Now we know the answer. All Gary had to do to get fired, was make Meatloaf cry. Poor, poor Meatloaf. (Loaf, is you see this, I love your records, I love you, and I'm sorry they made you look so fragile.) Meatloaf is a man of passion, and compassion, and as the show has gone on his patience has been constantly tested by Busey. So much so that on a bad day, and with a slight misunderstanding, Meatloaf had a full blown meltdown. You could tell Meatloaf was embarrassed, but I can easily see how the working conditions for team Backbone could rub anybody's nerves raw. In fact, Meatloaf looked like his nerves had been rubbed until they just stopped working.

The poor man was exhausted. He was speechless. Don Jr points out that Meatloaf seems to be, quite literally, unable to articulate how frustrated, exhausted, and upset he has become with Gary Busey. Just look at him in this clip. Is he crying? Is he praying? Both? Honestly, I'm ecstatic that Trump, who's still pretending to be President to try and keep this show relevant after all these seasons, finally pulled the plug on Gary. It's been increasingly obvious that working with Gary is incredibly difficult. Essentially every member of the men's team has said as much at some point. Sometimes they assume it's because his brainbox got beat up in that motorcycle accident he had. A few of them have speculated that he was some brilliant schemer creating discord with an eye towards out lasting everybody. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Gary probably was trying to be devious. He's also probably got some issues upstairs because of mass cranial trauma. Either way, Gary's been shown the door.

Next week, next week the spackling paste that has been covering the cracks in the women's team begins to fall off, while a Gary free men's team will probably be an exemplary model of cohesion, enthusiasm, and efficiency. Personally, I can't wait until Nene and Star get into it. It is going to happen. It will be two geological forces, avalanches, colliding together and woe to anything caught between them when it happens. Also, Nene just might rip of Latoya's head at some point. That could be fun.

Doctor Who and Amazon Prime: Talk about an archive

Logo copyright BBC

If you do not have an Amazon Prime membership, this might not matter to you. Though, if you're a big fan of Doctor Who, this might give you a reason to become an Amazon Prime member. Initially the Amazon Prime status got you things like expedited or discounted/free shipping, and it still does. But now that Amazon is trying to compete with content providers like Netflix, and Hulu, Amazon Prime membership comes with another pretty sweet perk. A lot, and I mean a lot, of films and shows available from Amazon Direct are free to Amazon Prime members, the biggest "find" I've noticed so far being Doctor Who.

Doctor Who is the longest running science fiction program on television. It was first broadcast in 1963. Through out the years the Doctor has regenerated periodically, allowing a new actor to step into the role, and to flesh it out and make it his own. These days, we are currently at the Eleventh incarnation of the good Doctor. That's a lot of history. In fact, a lot of the episodes featuring the second and third Doctors were lost to history and old BBC archival policy. Through the years though they've been pushing hard to track down and release as much of the show's history as possible.

While Netflix will stream the series since the 2005 relaunch, they don't stream the specials, and they definitely do not stream anything pre-2005. Amazon however has almost all of Doctor Who, from 1963 to 2011, available. What's more, most of that, basically everything right up until series 5 of the relaunch, is available for  free to Amazon Prime members. Essentially the first 10 Doctors, in their entirety, are free to Amazon Prime members through Amazon Direct. I once tried to collect that myself, and I know first hand that is a lot, and I mean a lot of content. It was overwhelming. If you're a fan of Doctor Who, and you're also a member of Amazon Prime, you have to take advantage of this while you can. Licensing of media for vendors like this is temporary at best. Just ask anybody who bought a copy of 1984 for their Kindle...

Dr Who! Dr Who! Dr Who! I am so excited about Dr Who!

Seriously. Easter weekend? What's that? Who cares? April 23rd will be the premiere of the newest season of Dr Who! The opening two parter is both set, and actually filmed on location, in the United States! First time, ever. The fact that the Man from Gallifrey has come to my home nation is not the reason I am so stoked about this premiere. Rather, the strength of last season is why I am so jazzed. If you're not "in the know" it is important to know that when Dr Who first returned to television in 2005 the man at the helm creatively was Russel T Davies. Davies obviously didn't do all the work, that's not how tv shows get made, but he was the primary creative influence for both Christopher Eccleston's 9th Doctor, and David Tennant's 10th.

The Doctor of the Davies era was riddled by guilt. First Eccleston's Ninth was brooding over his actions in the Time War. How does a man who is essentially omnipotent and immortal come to terms with having committed multiple genocides to save the rest of the Universe? It's heady stuff, and it explains the weird distance between Eccleston and Billie Piper's Rose. But when the Doctor regenerates, the new Doctor, portrayed by David Tennant, while bearing the burden of his past, is much more focused on the people now closest to him.

This leads to a period where the show was just chock full of romantic angst as Rose and the Doctor swoon over each other, and Martha swoons over the Doctor who is still swooning for a lost Rose... it's a bit soap opera-y, and a lot of people probably liked that. The farewell tour Ten takes before regenerating at the end of the two part "End of Time" is evidence of how important the Doctor's relationships with his companions were to Davies. More than once Ten commented openly about how he actually needed a companion, and it was a major plot point in the Waters of Mars special.

Then came the time for Ten to finally regenerate into the Eleventh doctor, and with that change, the show runner behind the camera changed as well. But the man to take over the creative reigns was not new to the show. In fact, Steven Moffat had been writing episodes since the series returned, and many of them are considered some of the very best, such as The Empty Child/The Doctor Dances, The Girl in the Fireplace, Blink, and of course Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead. With Moffat now in charge, the Doctor seems bolder, but kinder. That is to say, he wants a companion to humanize himself, but he is exhausted by personal connections that always seem to lead to disaster. At least, he started that way, and it's no surprise considering what Davies put Ten through at the end.

Needless to say, when Eleven meets the six some odd year old Amelia Pond, he's a bit concerned for her safety, but more, genuinely appreciates her curiosity and bravery. For the first time in 4 years some kind of romantic innuendo between Doctor and Companion would be short lived, almost absent. It was glorious. Though, that's because the romantic innuendo is now focused on proto-Companion River Song, and that's okay, because at least it's not in the Tardis anymore. Despite the lack of romance though, it becomes obvious as season 5 carries on that the Doctor, Amy, and even Rory are actually all some kind of strange familial unit with the Doctor playing the zany and eccentric grandfather in a young man's body.

Anyways, in anticipation of the next episode I have compiled what I consider to be an essential list of episodes to refresh with before the exciting future Mr Moffat has in store for us all.

The Runaway Bride
Blink
Utopia
The Sound of Drums
Last of the Time Lords
Voyage Of The Damned
All of Series 4
The Next Doctor
Planet of the Dead
The Waters of Mars
End of Time, Part 1and 2
All of Series 5


I know that seems like a lot. If I'd posted this 4 days ago it would seem much more reasonable. Also, confession, I've already watched all of these up to "All of Series 5" in the last week... if you want a start point that's more accessible, start at series 5 with the 11th Doctor and Amy. It will only be 13 episodes (14 if you check out the amazing Christmas Special) about 45 minutes long. You've got like 9 days and that is totally doable. Oh, yea, and as a taste, here's the prequel Moffat wrote that sets up the new series.

Survivor: Redemption Island WTF Matt? Really?! [Spoilers! but not new ones]

I already shared the fact that brave Christian Soldier Matt on Survivor has found his way back to Redemption Island, where he spent 15 days alone, winning 5 some odd challenges to stay there, again. But I felt it necessary to actually make a separate post from my usual recap to discuss just exactly how mind boggling and WTF inducing Matt's behavior was in this week's episode. Seriously. I have to get it out of my mind, I have no choice.

So, here's the deal, from the first episode the producers have been making it clear to the audience just how important Matt's faith is to him. Matt makes it clear how important his faith is to him. His sincerity is without question. I am more likely to believe it is Matt's faith in God that allowed him to do so well on Redemption Island, than that it has anything to actually do with any God that may or may not exist. His belief alone is apparently enough to give him the mental and physical strength to deal with what must be a pretty harsh experience. So after watching his story build this kind of destined, or blessed, narrative for 5 weeks, Matt is brought back to the main game when the tribes merge.

Now, the thing that's so frustrating is that Matt actually recognizes a very real advantage that he has. He was the second person in the entire game to be sent to Redemption Island. He knows what things were like in Ometepe, and he's had a steady stream of intelligence on Zapatera. He also knows that he was blind sided by Ometepe the first time. The episode's title "This game respects big moves" is something Matt actually said. The Holy Soldier is back, and due to timing, he has ALL the leverage. ALL of it.

Rob has Ometepe, with a head count of 6, mostly locked down, but Andrea was Matt's friend at the start of the game, and she's willing to work with him if he can actually come up with some kind of good plan. As he rambles about "pretending" to be loyal to Rob with the intent to blindside him in a few votes, the look of apprehension rightfully spreads all over Andrea's face. It seems Matt has two settings, he over thinks, or he doesn't think at all.

His conversation with Andrea was actually inspired when Mike of Zapatera came to him and discussed bringing him into their alliance, with an inside track to the final four. Mike would actually up his bid to the final three in an effort to get Matt to make up the one vote Ometepe had over Zapatera.

So Matt has an offer from a voting block of 5 to pick apart the people who sent him to Redemption Island, with the exception of his one friend on that tribe. He has a friend who seems prepared to follow his lead any which way, so long as he actually looks like he knows where he's going. He understands that big moves are how you win the game...

And then he goes to "confess" to Boston Rob. I don't know if Matt's catholic, or protestant (betting protestant of some sort) or what, but while guilt might be part of your religious experience, it's the last thing you want in your Survivor experience. Especially when you're interacting with somebody who is considered to be one of the all time greats of the game (who happens to be in the middle of an absolute tour de force of Survivor villainy this season, btw) Boston Rob, especially than, guilt is not going to help you. So Matt ultimately decides to FORGIVE Rob, confesses any thoughts he had at trying to unseat Rob, and thinks everything will be peachy keen going forward.

Even as the Jeff Probst leads the Survivors through this week's tribal council, it is obvious that Ometepe does not consider Matt part of their tribe. Matt should know better than to trust his luck with them. He points out that the relationship dynamic in the tribe has changed in the two weeks he's been gone. Yet despite all of this, all of this, he chooses to trust Rob. Andrea being smart enough to see a lost cause bailed on Matt in the end. Was it the smart play for Andrea? I think I can theorize a smarter one, which I might post later, but we'll see where her decision leads her. Seriously though Matt, What. The. Fuck. I hope God is with you out there on Redemption Island, you'll probably need him a lot to make it another two weeks out there.

Survivor: Redemption Island "This Game Respects Big Moves" [Spoilers!]

I know I know, I missed last week. Sorry. It wasn't that exciting. It wasn't boring either, but you know, Matt won the Redemption Island Challenge, Rob screwed around with idol clues that were worthless (he literally threw last week's into a volcano), Zapatera continued their nonsensical collapse, and ultimately the annoying hippie tribe mom Sarita got her torch snuffed. Oh, right, and we spent time dumping on poor Mr Saggybottoms. While the episode was entertaining, it also felt a lot like the last three episodes before it. Luckily this week, it's time to shake things up!

For starters, this is the week where the resident of Redemption Island returns to the main game. Having spent two weeks out there, Matt is the obvious favorite. But wait, it turns out, he cut his foot, and the Redemption Challenge will be putting a disproportionate amount of stress precisely where he cut his foot. It's almost as if the producers were afraid a straight challenge between Sarita and Matt wouldn't be exciting. Alas, God disagrees with the Producers, and Matt somehow prevails! Yay. There was a moment I was afraid I'd have to get another lecture about tribe harmony from the annoying hippie mom. Then the tribes merge, Matt gets to leave Redemption Island with them, and Probst tells everybody that the island is not closed, it is merely resetting.

So the first order of business for the now combined tribe is to come up with a name. As they set eating food that I guess was a reward just for still being on the show, Rob sells them on naming the tribe Murlonio. He tells the contestants it means "coming out of the ocean" or something, then gleefully tells the camera that is in fact utter bullshit. Murlonio is the name of fellow Survivor alum Amber's stuffed animal. Seriously. Rob has spent this entire game just laughing at everybody else, including Russel, on the island. It will be interesting to see if his utter dominance, and joyful treachery, can sway the jury, if he makes it to the final three. Though, if he continues orchestrating the other contestants as he has been, he seems like a lock for one of those coveted 3 spots.

There's also a brief, almost throw away exchange between Matt and Grant, where Matt asks Grant why he was voted out the first time. Grant answers honestly, saying Matt's relationship with Kristina is why he was voted out. Excepting the fact that it was Matt's relationship with Andrea that got him booted, Grant was honest. The important take away though is that the young women of Ometepe are apparently so interchangeable that Grant can't keep them separated in hi mind despite sharing a hut on the beach with them every night.

I must admit I'm perversely rooting for Matt despite my adversion to people who say things like "my purpose here is to honor God" on a reality tv show. Granted, by the time he decides to give his loyalties to Rob, again, I find myself thinking he's nothing but a poor substitute for Fabio. Of course, Rob saw Matt as a threat before, and he sees him as a threat again. It takes less than two minutes for Rob to get Grant, Natalie, Kristina, and Mr Saggybottoms on the "vote Matt out, again" bandwagon. As they head off to Tribal Council the question is, will Matt make the smart move and side with the former Zapatera members, or will he find himself being sent to Redemption Island, again, courtesy of a Boston Rob Blindside.

Well, watching it was of course edited to be high stakes, but the quickest answer is Matt was an idiot. Boston Rob gave him the boot, and the Holiest Survivor is on his way back to Redemption Island. He seems to do well on his own, spending his time in meditation. I'm not sure if he's got the brains to "outwit" anybody, but if he can outlast out there on his own, it could be one of the most interesting paths to Survivor victory anybody has ever taken. Next week, Mr Saggybottoms asks for a sign, and gets a feather headdress. I'm sure there will be plenty of lulz listening to him explain that as a part of the Bushido code.