"Law and Order", "Kitchen Nightmares", "Survivor" and "Desperate Housewives"

"Law and Order: SVU" - I didn't think this was as good as some of their other ones, though it did give Mariska Hargitay a chance to shine some more. The main story seemed a little more personal than they normally are, especially given how hard it hit Elliott. We don't usually get quite that much about their lives. And I'm not happy about how they never resolved the issue of what would happen to Tommy. His mother's dead, his father's going to jail for life for killing his mother, and he saw both his dead mother and his dead nanny. And now, he's probably going to be awarded custody to his biological father, who his mother was having an affair with, and who is a complete stranger to him. Think all that might scar him a bit? There had also been a build-up last week about Olivia and Kathy getting hit while in the car, and the baby's life hanging in the balance. OK, I had thought that might be interspersed a bit in the regular story, but that was just the story at the end. And while the scenes with Olivia and Kathy, and the rescue workers trying to get them out and Olivia having to do all sorts of things for Kathy and then basically taking Elliott's position while Kathy gave birth, were all good, there wasn't that much time when the baby was really in danger. By the time Elliott gets there, it's all good. I liked the hug that Elliott gave Olivia, presumable for all that Olivia did for Kathy and the baby, but I really would have liked just a simple "thank you" from Elliott to Olivia before they went back to normal. You got the look, but for me, it wasn't enough. Next week, you have the stunt casting of Method Man. I hope he's as good as Ludicrous was.


"Kitchen Nightmares" - OK, so you don't know anything about running a restaurant or about cooking really, and so you decide to open a restaurant? Ummm, ok, why? I'm amazed they were open for 18 months with the way things were going, but he was seriously in debt by that time. It's kind of interesting that even if you don't know anything about the business, you apparently can't figure out that having a "fun" working atmosphere is detrimental to your business. Yeah, you want to make it a pleasant place for people to work, but not at the expense of your customers. One of the things I don't get about a lot of these people is that they can't see some of the obvious problems with their restaurants, that they can't put themselves in the shoes of their customers and know that in their position, they wouldn't put up with certain things. A few of the people in this restaurant said it's known for people having to wait for their food. And the owner can't figure out that's a bad thing. He'd sit in a restaurant and wait a really long time for food and keep going back? It took Gordon to come in and see that their "fun" environment was entirely too loud for the customers, and maddening on top of that when you hear people goofing around while you sit there waiting endlessly for your meal? It was also amazing that there was so little business in the restaurant, but there were so many people on staff. As Gordon was counting them, it seemed to me that there were way more people working the restaurant than were eating in the restaurant.

One curious technical part for me - when Gordon was at their house and interviewing the wife, there's one scene at the end of that segment where Gordon and the wife are what looks to be in another room, and the cameraman was peering at them through a slightly open door. What was up with that?

I also found it odd that Gordon decided to take on the woman who was complaining about the food. I didn't think she was making a scene or anything, and Gordon really cussed her out. Seemed a bit odd to me.


"Survivor" - I thought this was a terrific episode all around. So the big twist was that they did an immediate reward challenge after tribal council, with the winner and two people going to the exclusive Shaolin temple. I was actually very happy that PG won that one. You could see the look on her face when Jeff announced the prize. I think she would have been crushed if she hadn't won or hadn't been chosen to go. The only Chinese contestant actually wins the most cultural award to date on this season. Interesting that the subject of the challenge was about the culture itself. Did they engineer this for her to win, since she would have had more of a background, other than Jean Robert, though they were probably all given stuff to read? I thought she was going to pick James and Todd to try to play game, but it was actually nice that she picked Eric and Denise, more so once we found out that Denise had some training in karate. It was interesting that the outcasts got to go on the reward challenge while the main alliance all stayed at camp. There really wasn't that much game to discuss, though Amanda showed that she had other ideas.

The karate demo was pretty cool to watch, but as soon as they mentioned Denise's training, I knew that was going to show up some time. It was cool that she got to demo to the kids. Being able to perform at Shaolin temple is probably going to be something that Denise never forgets, though when she thanked PG for choosing her, I was figuring that meant she would probably vote her off at the next tribal, since that's how it happens a lot.

Courtney is still bugging me. When outcasts came back and PG was talking about the reward, it wasn't like she was just volunteering. She was asked. And Courtney is going on about "her" cave. Ummm, when did she become master of the cave?

I was also annoyed at Todd for being mad at PG for trying to play the game and suggest voting him off. Ummm, yeah, he's one of the strongest players, and she's on the chopping block. Of course she's going to try to stir it up to save herself and target him. I don't get when people think it's fine when they have to do this or that to play the game (considering Todd was going to try to blindside James previously), but if the game is played on them, then they're mad and it's not right, blah, blah, blah.

So Amanda now embraces and even implements the plan to blindside James that Todd had previously advocated and that she didn't like. Maybe they just haven't showed footage, but it's about time more people are seeing exactly how big a threat James was, both in his actions and with his two hidden immunity idols.

I liked the flying stars challenge - culturally related and fun to watch. Nice that Eric came out on top. I also liked in the machinations before tribal when Amanda had to finally convince PG to stop stirring the pot and just act as if she was going home. I know it must have taken a lot for PG to believe her.

And then we got to one of the best tribal councils ever, second to one from last year, imo. Everyone played the role they needed to play, especially PG emphasizing her being voted out and being on the jury and people needing jury votes. Even after they voted, and before Jeff started reading the votes, Amanda and Courtney were looking back and forth at people, rather guiltily. OK, you're not out of the woods yet. Until Jeff has read the first vote, James can still play an idol. Stop looking and acting guilty. But even though James later admits that he was suspicious, he doesn't play either of the idols - and he is completely blindsided. You could see Todd trying not to laugh, and when it all became obvious, we were busting up at the look on his face, and his pulling his cap down, the look of sheer joy on PG's face as she realized she was not in fact going home, and the laughter of the jury members at what was happening.

And to top it off, major kudos to James for accepting his position graciously. He wasn't angry about being voted off. He understood why it happened and that it was his mistake not to play an idol. Very classy.


"Desperate Housewives" - A tornado (or other natural or created disaster) hitting the major members of the cast is a staple in daytime soaps, but it's usually accompanied by a lot more drama. Given the catastrophic nature of the disaster and the hype for the last couple weeks, I thought it was a fairly ho-hum episode. Yeah, there were a few major revelations, but they've had those without the added fury of Mother Nature. I get the depiction of the literal and figurative tornado as goes through, shredding and changing lives, but a lot of it fell flat for me.

Gabrielle and Carlos - OK, still don't really care. OK, so Gabrielle and Edie called a truce, more or less. Victor was conveniently killed by Mother Nature herself, so that frees up Gabrielle, though I thought that was a little too trite. I would have liked to have seen Victor torture Gabrielle and Carlos for a while. She and Carlos now no longer have to run, and their secret regarding Victor is now safe, but now that Carlos' millions of dollars is literally lost in the wind, they'll have to find something else to do.

Susan and Mike - Again, it's another soap staple - throw the pregnant lady down a flight of stairs. It's usually a rival that does it, but in this case, it's to show us the decline of Mike. Too bad since he's been actually a pretty good character. Didn't much care about that either, except that I wondered about a doctor prescribing pain meds to a pregnant woman. I wouldn't think she'd be allowed to take something that strong.

Bree got herself much more than she bargained for when she invited psycho-Chicago lady into her home. I also wondered why she had to take Benjamin out with a stroller when she was only going a couple doors down. She couldn't just hold him? In the increasing winds, wouldn't that also have been safer, rather than a buggy that is hard to handle and can blow away? I did love the scene when Bree inadvertently confirms to Katherine that her husband did in fact have an affair with psycho woman. Can't wait for the fallout of that.

And then we get to Lynette. She's usually the reasonable one in the bunch, but I had a serious problem with her. OK, so they're not prepared for the tornado. I understand that she wants to keep her family safe, so I can let go her basically bullying Mrs. McCluskey into letting her entire family into the basement for shelter. But after inviting herself and her clan in, she can't believe that Mrs. McCluskey won't also agree to toss out the cat? Yeah, ok, it's a cat, but it's also someone else's home, someone else who didn't invite her or her family to begin with. And then on top of that, she surreptitiously takes the cat out while they're not looking? (And that wouldn't really have helped anyway, since the cat's hair and dander would still be in the basement, so Tom's allergies weren't going to get any better anyway.) Wow, talk about breach of etiquette and courtesy! And even the ending, when Lynette is screaming because Mrs. McCluskey's house has been levelled. OK, well, she's just lost her entire house, but Lynette is the one freaking out. I mean, I would think that since the family was in the basement, that would mean they're ok.

The opening of the show said someone would lose a husband (that would be Gabrielle, since Victor's now dead) and someone would lose a friend. Who's the friend? The cat? Mrs. McCluskey's friend? Did I miss something?