March 16-March 22, 2005

Harold reviews his picks from last week and makes his predictions for upcoming shows.

First off, welcome back and thanks for reading. Secondly, why the heck did Mario Vasquez quit? Opportunities like that don’t come along every day. Hopefully Nikko Smith can make the most of his second chance.

Recap

If you look at my picks from last week (they are conveniently underlined), I got two of the four Idol picks correct, as well as my Survivor pick. So what happened with my Race and Apprentice picks?

With The Amazing Race, I fell into the trap of latching onto a team that at least appear as if they don’t deserve to stay on the show, but who every week manage to stay alive. As for the Apprentice, well, they didn’t give John much rope before hanging him out to dry. Signs in the previous episode pointed to a shortened tenure, but Chris and Craig looked far more vulnerable going into the challenge. Fortunately, we have another week to think about who will face the cobra next, as NBC runs a clip show this week while the rest of the nation tunes into the starting round of March Madness.

American Idol

First up, we have this week’s Idol candidates. To make an understatement, Nikko did not get much praise from Simon, but perhaps the crafty judge just wants to use some reverse psychology to keep the Wizard’s son around this time. I didn’t think Nikko turned in the worst performance of the night, and the St. Louis region might vote with renewed vigor given this second chance.

Did anyone else think that Scott Savol’s descent into the audience seemed contrived and emotionless? Compare it to Bo Bice’s performance and you’ll see why I think Scott Savol won’t crack the top 6 at this rate until he starts showing how much he enjoys the stage.

If not for the voting process in Idol, I would liken Mikalah Gordon to The Amazing Race’s Meredith and Gretchen, in that she always looks like she should go home, yet every week, she still survives! Could her fan base finally wane enough to send her packing? She clearly turned in a poor performance, but so did Lindsey Cardinale. Although she should pick up some votes on looks alone, her unfortunate song selection might turn her into this year’s Leah Labelle, leaving Mikalah as the ego monster that just won’t die. Wake up, America!

Survivor

Well Ulong has become so pathetic that the show will send both tribes to tribal council, perhaps just so someone from Koror would have to go home. So this week, I’ll provide you with a pair of boots.

As the supposed wiser tribe, why wouldn’t Koror vote out its weakest member so that they can stay strong before the merge? Willard, as their physically weakest member, becomes even more vulnerable when you realize that he does not have a place in the Tom-Ian-Gregg-Katie-Jennifer alliance that Coby outted in last week’s episode. Barring a successful attempt to turn a member of that group, the old man should become Koror’s first casualty.

Ulong has very few choices as to who can go. Angie may kick more “derriere” on the challenges than Stephanie, but Angie still acts like an outsider. Kim’s prophetic statements about the men ganging up on the women should come true, leaving the most decorated tribe member with the boot.

The Amazing Race

Did anyone honestly believe that Rob and Amber would drop from the race as quickly as this past week’s promos would have you believe? Let’s face it: they’ll stay in this game for the long haul, and we should all give thanks that at least one of these teams plays with strategy in mind. In fact, the one team that really didn’t give Rob and Amber any credit becomes my pick as the next to go. If the next episode consists of an elimination leg, Susan and Patrick should finally run out of steam. Early on, Patrick became obsessed with getting rid of Rob and Amber, and he certainly didn’t give them any credit as strategists. As it stands, Susan has allowed Patrick to call a lot of the shots, and he has shown that he cannot handle it.

So now that I no longer think they’ll go, maybe Meredith and Gretchen will finally get eliminated….

Last words

If you enjoy these articles, please leave a comment or send me some feedback, as my time for writing this series will rapidly diminish in the coming weeks without outside interest.

Until next week…

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