'X Factor' finds its top 12

After what seemed liked an eternity, "The X Factor" finally made it to the live shows with 17 acts that needed to be narrowed down to 12. Which meant each judge had to cut someone from their category, or in Simon's case two someones.

The Groups


As the groups' mentor Paula's particular brand of crazy didn't take long to show up. Her song choices were nothing short of ridiculous. Unfortunately, The Brewer Boys became a casualty of her insanity when she gave them a mash up of Hall & Oates "Rich Girl" and George Michaels' "Faith." They sounded great on the Hall & Oates song, which made me wonder why she didn't have them do a medley if she was so desperate for a mash up.

InTENsity seems destined for a Disney Channel series about a group of friends who start a band and eventually all date each other. The problem with those shows and the group is that the members are interchangeable. If no one knows your name, will they vote for you?

Stereo Hogzz and Lakoda Rayne were fine but neither one of them will win the competition so who cares.

The Girls

I've been wondering all along why Simon chose Simone Battle to make it this far, when she clearly has cruise ship/theme park performer written all over her. Last night she wasn't even good enough for a Disney parade with that trainwreck of a performance. Tiah Tolliver also had a bad night and became the other girl eliminated in the least surprising moment of the show.

Here's the thing, Rachel, Drew and Melanie have been Simon's favorites from day one so it's absolutely no surprise that they ended up as his final three.

The Over 30s

Again, why Nicole gave a final spot to the ridiculous Dexter Haygood over someone who could have actually given a real performance and not a overexcited karaoke rendition of "I Kissed a Girl" and "Womanizer" is beyond me. He was mercifully eliminated.

The interesting question came when Simon asked if Stacy Francis was a church singer or a pop star? I see her as a church singer who can sing pop, but I'm not sure she can sell records in today's pop climate. If she went the gospel route, she could become a bona fide star.

The Boys

I have been anti-Brian Bradley since day one so it pains me to write this next line; he was actually good last night. As a matter of fact the boys were the only group with 100 percent good performances. L.A. Reid chose to eliminate Phillip Lomax after giving him a very cruise ship version of "I'm a Believer" to sing.

If he made his decision with his ears and not his wallet, he would have picked Chris Rene to go home. While Chris' story is heartbreaking and great, his voice was not better than Phillip's last night.

So after last night's eliminations the categories remain like this:
Groups: Lakoda Rayne, InTENsity, Stereo Hogzz
Girls: Rachel Crow, Drew, Melanie Amaro
Over 30s: Stacy Francis, Leroy Bell, Josh Krajcik
Boys: Brian "Astro" Bradley, Marcus Canty, Chris Rene

Next week will start the public vote along with the inevitable theme weeks. While theme weeks are usually predictable, they do show the weaknesses of the contestants and help thin the herd.

'The X Factor' ignites a new British/American war

Simon Cowell has finally brought his long running British reality hit "The X Factor" to the States, unfortunately all the talent was left in the U.K.

In a fun twist of fate, both versions of the show are airing concurrently with the Brits two weeks ahead of the yanks.

"X Factor U.K." just had its first week of live shows, while American "X Factor" is heading to judge's houses.

In a head to head comparison of judges, hosts and contestants the results are clear, this time the British are winning.

Judges

"X Factor U.K." went through a complete judging overhaul with Louis Walsh as the only returning judge. For most shows this would be disastrous, however, the change has breathed new life into the competition.

Pop stars Gary Barlow, Tulisa Contostavlos and Kelly Rowland bring actual credentials to a singing competition (something very rare) and genuinely care about the singers they mentor. They actually give relevant criticism that is helpful to the contestants and have a fun chemistry with each other. If you ignore the increasingly useless Louis, they're the best judging panel on TV.

At the other end of the spectrum is the "X Factor U.S." judges who, besides Simon, have not been very impressive so far. Paula is her usual ridiculous self, Nicole Scherzinger has lost any goodwill she built up on "The Sing Off," can't seem to say anything negative and cries at the drop of a dime, while L.A. Reid is constantly competing wit Simon to be the alpha male.

In the middle of all this the judges have forgotten that the contestants are the stars and constantly steal the spotlight.

Advantage U.K.

Hosts

This one isn't even close as the stiff and forced "X Factor U.S." Steve Jones can't touch the James Bond swagger of the U.K.'s Dermot O'Leary. Like Ryan Seacrest, Dermot is great at comforting contestants when they falter. He lets them cry it out, hugs them and lets them know it will be OK. To be fair, this is Jones' first season, so hopefully he'll improve, but right now Dermot is schooling him.

Advantage U.K.

Contestants

Until the finals of boot camp the American singers weren't very impressive, meanwhile the U.K. singers were spectacular from day one. Several immensely talented people were cut at judge's houses. Right now on "X Factor U.S." it's clear who the front runners are and short of a miracle they'll all make it to the live shows.

Misha Bryan took "Rolling in the Deep" and did the impossible by making it completely original and a new song.

The only American singer who approached that level of talent was young Rachel Crowe's rendition of "If I Were A Boy."

It's close but advantage U.K.

Since the British version is clearly better and more popular Simon should consider a crossover episode where the contestants visit each other's shows. Imagine the publicity and ratings that would generate.

A different kind of story today

Back in 2001 there was a reality competition show that I just loved.

It was called "Murder in Small Town X" and aired on Fox. And it was probably ahead of its time.

The basic premise was a group of contestants would go to this town where a murderer was on the loose. They would need to become investigators and figure out clues to the identity of the murderer.



This was a huge production with an entire town, actors and tons of props. At the end of each episode two people would be sent off to seperate locations; one would come back with a clue, one just wouldn't come back and become a victim of the killer.

Just like any reality show there were annoying people and those who were jerks who "play the game."

But, there was also that special reality competition rarity: a truly good person.

In this show's case it was Angel Juarbe Jr. a firefighter from New York.

You could tell he was a great person and he never resorted to reality show fights. He even befriended Kristen, whom everyone else on the show hated. Seriously, they sent her up for elimination five times in a row.

So it was also a nice and rare thing to see a good guy win a show like this. Juarbe won the $250,000 prize on the show's last episode that aired on Sept. 4, 2001.

It wouldn't be the last time Juarbe would be in the news.

Exactly one week later he, along with numerous other New York firefighters, bravely went into the World Trade Center towers after the planes had hit them.

He never made it out.

Eagle eyed viewers of the Concert for New York City saw Jim Carrey holding up a picture of Angel during his appearance on the show.

New 'Dancing with the Stars' cast is almost unwatchable

"Dancing with the Stars" announced the cast for its 13th season last night and despite reports that they wanted actual stars on the show this time, the cast features only a few real stars.

In order of interest, the new cast is:

• Ron Artest-LA Laker and fascinating personality. The only reason to watch.


• Carson Kressley-Stylist, TV host and fashion designer. Carson is a hilarious, likable guy and seeing him ballroom dance will be enjoyable.


• Chaz Bono-LGBT activist and son of Sonny and Cher. I have nothing but respect for anyone who shares the most private experience of their lives so bravely. Also, Cher might show up. By the way, don't make him dance to Cher.


• JR Martinez-"All My Children" actor and motivational speaker. An Iraq war veteran, soap star and all around nice guy, I will legitimately root for him and maybe even call in.


• Ricki Lake-Talk show host and original Tracy Turnblad. Come on who won't chant "go Ricki" when she's dancing.


• Chynna Phillips-Wilson Phillips singer. Who doesn't want to see her dance to "Hold On?"


• Hope Solo-U.S. women's soccer team goalie. There may be just enough goodwill left to help keep her in the competition.


• David Arquette-"Scream" actor trying to negotiate some good publicity following his divorce.


• Elisabetta Canalis-Actress? George Clooney's ex-girlfriend who will need a strong performance and popular partner to make past the first week.


• Rob Kardashian/Kristen Cavallari-Reality TV stars. Rob is the least talented Kardashian, so that's saying something.


• Nancy Grace-Talk show host/horrible person. My dislike for Grace runs deep and I know I'm not alone, so why would the producers have her on the show. I hope she gets voted off in the first week or even better drops out and never makes it on the show.

Really "Dancing with the Stars?" Nancy Grace and Rob Kardashian. How many no's did you guys have to hear before you got to those names. I could maybe write off Kristen Cavallari since you have a token reality star every season, but I cannot get past Nancy Grace.

If it wasn't for Ron Artest and Carson Kressley this season would be completely unwatchable. Frankly, I may just skip the show altogether and watch their performances the next day.

Ugh, seriously, Nancy Grace. Wow. Just wow.

'Dance' gets serious in Vegas

Now that the first round auditions have ended, "So You Think You Can Dance" heads to Vegas for the callbacks.

One of the things I love about this show is its attention to technique and its honesty that personality matters. The judges aren't afraid of eliminating early favorites if they don't live up to expectations.

They proved this by cutting 46 dancers right out of the gate, several of whom were featured heavily on the audition shows. Including Japanese hip hop dancer Hero and super cool, bow tie wearing, hip hop dancer Patty.

Since Vegas week is so all encompassing, I'll just highlight the best performances and emerging new favorites.

• I have completely fallen for the Professor. He excelled in all styles, was a constant gentleman and had a little flirtation with both Mallory sisters.


• Speaking of the sisters, while Sasha is the better dancer, Natalia has more personality and could be great with the right choreography. They're clearly setting up a final two, one spot moment.


• Unless they're hiding them, there were very few ballroom dancers this year.


• Though I don't like it when the show pushes favorites on me, Wadi Jones got increasingly impressive throughout the week.


• Debbie Allen should be a full time judge, because her critiques are honest and entertaining. "You got big dreams..."


• I appreciated the honesty the judges gave Alexis Mason by not keeping her around just because her sister is season five winner Jeanine.

Here are the dancers I definitely want in the top 20:

Natasha, Sasha, the Professor, Wadi, Melanie (Ginnifer Goodwin look-alike) and Clarice.

At two hours, tonight's "Meet the top 20" episode will be mostly filler, but I like seeing the dancers in their own style on the big stage before the competition starts.

'The Voice' surprises in second blind auditions

NBC's competition show "The Voice" produced some genuine surprises in part two of the blind auditions.

With each of the coaches having three members of their teams, they were looking to find their last five singers.

The night began with Cherie Oakley trying to impress with Miranda Lambert's "Gunpowder & Lead." Since this is one of my favorite "Rock Band" songs I can tell you it's not easy to sing (apologies to my neighbors). Blake Shelton is engaged to Lambert so this was a risky choice. The song requires a certain amount of attitude and a big voice, Oakley had neither and no one turned around for her.

It's worth noting that Oakley was a very pretty girl who probably could've made it to the Hollywood round of "American Idol" based on her looks, but the blind audition took all the flirting out of the equation.

While the concept is original there were a few times that lackluster performers still made it through.

Sixteen year old Raquel Castro was sweet and talented, but lacked control on Leona Lewis' "Bleeding Love." I was surprised that Christina Aguilera chose her, although working with someone with such a powerful voice may help Castro learn how to control her skills.

I was equally shocked that Julia Mason was able to impress anyone, let alone a talent like Aguilera, with her warbled version of "Mercy." It must have been the same desperation to fill out their ranks that led Cee Lo to pick sister duo Tori and Taylor Thompson. It will be interesting to see if the coaches can really find something in these rough around the edges singers, or if they will be swallowed up by more talented teammates.

In the night's most surprising moment country singer Curtis Grimes couldn't get Shelton to turn around for his own song "Hillbilly Bone," but Cee Lo chose him and said he looked forward to the challenge of writing a country song.

Call me crazy (pun intended) but I like this pairing and can't wait to see how it works out.

In the second most surprising moment of the night, all the coaches hadn't rounded out their teams, so a few of the previous contestants who hadn't made it through got a second chance.

Shelton chose rock/country singer Jared Blake, while Aguilera who regretted not picking Lily Elise earlier, didn't make the same mistake. Levine, who needed two more singers, ended up with Casey Weston and Oakley.

This time Oakley sang Adele's "Rolling in the Deep," which impressed Levine enough for him to push the magic button. This is especially surprising since she seemed to not know many of the words to the song. Though these second auditions were a surprise, contestants are usually told to have two or three songs prepared. Oakley seemed to be flying by the seat of her pants which didn't impress me.

Now that the teams have been chosen, the battle rounds begin. Contestants will sing a duet against each other in a boxing ring shaped stage and the coaches will have to decide who to keep. Helping them with these no doubt tough decisions are industry insiders and legends.

Aguilera has teamed with singer/songwriter Sia, Cee Lo with R&B songstress Monica, Levine with Maroon 5 music director Adam Blackstone and Shelton has enlisted country legend Reba McEntire. Can't wait to see what this eclectic group has to say about the coaches' choices.

In more great news for the show, the ratings rose in its second week. The program garnered a 5.6 share making it first in the 18-49 demographic. However, it still came in fourth in viewers with 12.4 million. That's huge for NBC and bad news for "Glee" and "The Good Wife."

'The Voice' charms in hyped debut

After hours of promotion and no doubt millions spent on marketing, NBC's new singing competition show "The Voice" premiered last night and the results were surprisingly nice.

I have to admit I was looking forward to the show if for no other reason than to see America discover the hilariously charming Blake Shelton. As a long time country music fan I am well versed on Shelton's razor sharp wit and self deprecating humor.

By now the concept is clear, singers take part in a blind audition and the coaches don't competitors until they push a button which swings their chair around and choose them for their team. The other coaches include Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green and Christina Aguilera.

The show started with a fantastic rendition of Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" featuring the four superstars. I'm wondering if this will be an ongoing theme, because I'd love to see Shelton singing "Genie in a Bottle" or Cee Lo taking a crack at "Hillbilly Bone."

What was refreshing about the show was that it wasn't mean spirited and the coaches seemed genuinely excited at the prospect of their various choices. I also really enjoyed the chemistry among the four stars. Though they come from different backgrounds, I could see Shelton and Cee Lo hanging out and it won't be long before rumors pop up about Levine and Aguilera.

Apparently I'm not the only one who enjoyed it, because the ratings were phenomenal. The program garnered 11.8 million viewers and improved throughout the night. It beat "Glee" head to head from 9-9:30 p.m. and was the top show in the 18-49 demographic.

With "American Idol" feeling more stale and over produced every week and "The X Factor" not starting until fall, "The Voice" could become a dark horse contender to the reality competition crown.

Contestant highlights:

• Patrick Thomas showed some nice control on a difficult country song, Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying" and obviously chose Shelton as his coach.


• Frenchie Davis returned to the spotlight with a blazing version of Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" and ended up on Aguilera's team.


• Married couple Josh and Nicole, who are called Elenowen, chose Shelton after a sweet rendition of "Falling Slowly" from the film "Once."


• Rebecca Loebe put a new twist on Nirvana's "Come as You Are" making jazzy and haunting. She decided to go with Levine over Aguilera.


• Sixteen year old Xenia sang a beautiful version of "Breakeven" and chose Shelton over Cee Lo.


• Beverley McClellen closed the show with a blistering "Piece of My Heart" and ended up on Aguilera's team.

Next week is part two of the blind auditions, with the judges filling out their final five spots.

Jamie Oliver is no heroic revolutionary

Let me start by being 100 percent honest, I don't like Jamie Oliver. However, I watched the premiere of "Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution" with an open mind, that lasted about five minutes.

Oliver has a solid message about childhood obesity that needs to be heard. Unfortunately it is drowned out by his massive ego.

In season two of the Emmy winning show, Oliver is taking on the Los Angeles Unified School District over the food served in school cafeterias. When he approaches the school board with his ridiculous condescending tone, they naturally say no. He is then forced to do things on his own.

This involves him working with a local family owned burger restaurant and attending a school nutrition conference.

In each case his valid ideas are lost in a sea of self important grandstanding and douchebaggery. He tries to get the restaurant owner to change his menu, by insulting his family business and embarasses a speaker at the conference by belittling his presentation.

His d-bag tendencies are so over the top, the show has the opposite effect and makes you want to head for the nearest drive thru out of spite.

As a show it has a good message, however, it needs a different host because Oliver's ego is drowning it out.

James Van Der Beek steals award show

James Van Der Beek was hilarious hosting last night's New Now Next Awards on Logo.

While the show was taken over by contestants from "Rupaul's Drag Race" and obscure musical performers, Van Der Beek was the highlight of the show and displayed some unexpected comedy skills.

His next move should be to guest on a successful comedy like "Parks and Recreation" or "Modern Family" and jumpstart his career.

My favorite moment features him, Busy Phillips and "Drag Race" competitor Shangela.

Gay Video & Lesbian Movies - Logo: Fierce TV

'American Idol's' shocking elimination

In a mind-bottling turn of events, front runner Pia Toscano was eliminated from "American Idol" this week. Pause for Tim's tears.

After a fantastic performance of "River Deep, Mountain High" showed that she could sing uptempo songs, Pia seemed like a lock for next week and frankly the finals.

The fact that she's gone while Paul and Lauren are still competing is confounding. It's anybody's title now so, while it's sad that she's done, the show is more interesting and unpredictable.

The gutsiest 'Amazing Race' ever

On last week's episode of "Inscaped" I discussed how unimpressed I was with this season's "The Amazing Race." Well that all changed last night.

After falling way behind the other teams, Kynt and Vyxsin got the luckiest break ever when Phil informed them that they were not eliminated but in fact still racing. They were, however, the victims of a 30 minute penalty, but were still very much in the race when all the teams met up at a train station.

While waiting for the 7 p.m. train, the Globetrotters, the cowboys and Kisha and Jen had a fun, impromptu basketball game, where Flight Time and Big Easy got to show off their cool Globetrotter skills. It was nice to see the teams in this relaxed environment away from the stress of the race. Plus, how great did the cowboys look in those Globetrotter jerseys.

When the train ride ended and the race was once again on, it became clear that "The Amazing Race" I know and love was back. Word quickly spread that a double u-turn was at an upcoming clue box and it sent shockwaves through the teams.

Kynt and Vyxsin, with that penalty looming over their heads, had to get to the double u-turn early, so they could buy themselves some time.

Following a foot race to the clue with Jamie and Cara, Kynt and Vyxsin pulled the ballsiest move ever and u-turned Jamie and Cara right to their face.

It was awesome.

Unfortunately, Jamie and Cara then u-turned the Globetrotters, making them turn around and complete a shockingly easy memorization task, although their nicknames for the historical Chinese characters was hilarious.

All the teams were once again bunched up at the roadblock, which entailed building a giant dinosaur model that perfectly matched the diagram and an architect's standards.

I found it crazy that Jet was the only competitor to frequently check the diagram, this attention to detail led to the cowboys finishing the roadblock first. Their streak continued when they passed Gary and Mallory, (who wisely used the express pass to avoid all the dinosaur drama,) and finished in first place.

Kynt and Vyxsin arrived fourth, but took fifth after their penalty time out. The Globetrotters ended up in seventh place and in an incredible stroke of karma, the evil Jamie and Cara came in last and were eliminated from the race.

I have never been more excited to see a team eliminated as Jamie and Cara represent everything that other countries hate about traveling Americans.

Next week the race heads to India where the contenders are usually separated from the wannabees.

'Real World' meets World Champion

A couple of weeks ago Stephanie wrote a blog about the most successful "Real World" cast members.

Mike "The Miz" was ranked No. 1 on her list. Not far behind was Sean Duffy, who just became a US Congressman.

Well, last night The Miz solidified his ranking by winning the WWE World Championship.

Yes, wrestling is fake. But they just don't hand someone the belt unless they have total faith in that person. The champion has to be able to sell shirts, get viewers to watch and buy the pay-per-views.

So this is a big deal for him because that means Vince McMahon thinks he's going to be successful.

And this is a moment where Stephanie is probably happy she was right, but also not happy she was right.

What happens after 'The Real World'

In the aftermath of last week's midterm elections, an interesting story came out that "The Real World: Boston" cast member Sean Duffy had been elected to Congress.

This sparked a conversation between Tim and myself about who was the most successful "Real World" cast member.

So, in response here are the top five "Real World" success stories.

1. Mike "The Miz" Mizanin-season 10 (Back to New York)-is now a very successful professional wrestler with WWE. He has held titles including the Tag Team Championship and the United States Championship.
2. Judd Winick-season 3 (San Francisco)-is an award winning comic book writer/artist for DC who has written for Green Lantern, Green Arrow, Batman and Teen Titans.
3. Sean Duffy-season 6 (Boston)-the recently elected representative from Wisconsin's seventh congressional district.
4. Jamie Chung-season 14 (San Diego)-is a successful actress who has appeared in "Dragonball: Evolution," "Grown Ups" and the upcoming "Sucker Punch" and "The Hangover 2."
5. Jacinda Barrett-season 4 (London)-is also a successful actress whose resume includes "Ladder 49," "The Last Kiss" and "Poseidon."

Originally, I had planned for a top 10, but it turns out there aren't that many "Real World" success stories.

In my research I noticed that after season 10, the show shifted from a diverse group of young people, to casting types. This clearly hurt the show as it became a caricature of itself that is no longer watchable.

'Top Chef: Just Desserts:' If it ain't broken don't fix it

"Top Chef" is one of the most popular reality shows on TV, so it's only natural that Bravo would want to capitalize on that success and create the spin-off "Top Chef: Just Desserts."

This show is "Top Chef" with the contestants cooking desserts. No, it is literally an exact copy of "Top Chef."

Regular "Chef" judge Gail Simmons serves as host and does her best Padma Lakshmi impression. The shows are so identical that I think the producers may be using "Top Chef" scripts where they've just crossed out Padma's name and written in Gail's.

Acclaimed pastry chef Johnny Iuzzini serves as the Tom Colicchio of "Desserts," acting as head judge and a mentor to the contestants. Other regular judges include chef Hubert Keller and journalist Dannielle Kyrillos.

While "Top Chef: Just Desserts" is fun to watch and the desserts are intriguing, the show isn't breaking any new ground so the format feels a little stale. It's always quickfire-elimination-judge's table. A new show could have been a chance for producers to break out of the "Top Chef" mold.

And then there's the contestants, who meet all the prerequisites for reality TV. They seem talented and somewhat creative, but again there's nothing new here. Unfortunately, there is also that one contestant who hogs the spotlight with unnecessary drama.

On "Desserts" it's Seth Caro, a pastry chef from New York, who's a graduate of the Institute of Culinary Education. Seth is one of those people who never seems to have enough time in the kitchen. He could have two days to prepare a dish and would still be running around the kitchen distracting the other chefs like an extra annoying Tasmanian Devil.

He also seems to think that his problems are more important than anybody else's and can't seem to understand why his overproduced, self indulgent creations always land him in the bottom three.

Unfortunately, he's the only thing that makes the show remotely interesting. When he is inevitably voted off, this show will get real boring real fast.