A&E’s smash hit Duck Dynasty returned last night for its third season and destroyed its competition, both on cable and broadcast TV. The network said that it is now “the #1 nonfiction series on cable in 2013” and the “season three premiere grew by 132% in total viewers, 117% in adults 25-54 and 127% in …
Top Chef Seattle became a bizarre combination of Hell’s Kitchen, Iron Chef, and American Idol for its finale, concluding its “back to basics” season by crowning its second female winner after a misguided, suspense-free live competition. First, I’m thrilled Kristen Kish won, defeating Brooke Williamson, although Brooke would have been a deserving winner, too. Kristen …
Last night’s Survivor was one of the most grating episodes I can remember, and even worse, its obnoxiousness quotient remained unchanged after Tribal Council. There was just very little pleasantness, and worse, the unpleasantness was the exact same thing we’ve seen for two weeks now: Reynold acting like an entitled, pompous ass, telling the rest …
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has declared Sea Shepherd “pirates” and ordered them to stay away from Japanese whaling vessels two days after a Sea Shepherd boat collided with Japanese boats. Sea Shepherd had been previously ordered by that court to stay 500 yards from Japanese vessels. The court reversed a lower court’s decision …
At long last, Canada gets its own Big Brother tonight. Having been forced to suffer through the U.S. version for the past 12 years, Canada finally gets a chance to loathe its own citizens and producers as Slice debuts its version that will consume hours and hours of breatheless viewing yet leave its viewers with …
Two nonfiction programs, a documentary and a three-part series, focus on saving endangered animals in Africa: Animal Planet’s Battleground: Rhino Wars and PBS’ broadcast of the National Geographic special Battle for the Elephants. Tonight’s one-hour special is based on an article in National Geographic magazine, “Blood Ivory” by Bryan Christy, which looks at how religiosity …
The cast of Dancing with the Stars has been announced, and it’s the usual mix of “who?” (Disney Channel star) and “really?” (Andy Dick). Most interesting is that just 11 cast members were announced today, and the show usually has 12 or 13; Reality Steve is insisting that Bachelor star Sean Lowe will be the …