Teen Mom is Back; If You Really Knew Me Started

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Dayless: this is a new category because of the way Degrassi: The Next Generation is running. They're playing it new episodes M-R and then an encore of the week on Fridays. I used to be a really big fan of this show, but it's been a while, as I lost some interest when the original core group went off to college, LoL. Anyway, I watched the movie to open the season, where some of the kids go to NYC, and others go crazy. I was surprised that Emma & Spinner got married... totally didn't see that coming. As much as I try to like Holly J., it's just not going to happen. I also just went to read about the season online, and found that all my old faves are recurring or gone completely... none are main characters anymore. So, although I watched the Degrassi Takes Manhattan movie, I have decided that I won't continue with the series this season. Too bad, it used to be sooo good.

Sunday:

Sons of Tucson (S01E11): Ron has used the calendar before, so either we're running these out-of-written-order, or the writers don't care about simple continuity. I love that he went through and analyzed music to decide what the top 40 words and phrases are instead of just finding this on the internet, LoL. Robbie driving was funny/scary.

Kate Plus Eight (S01Exx): not this week.

Monday:

The Secret Life of the American Teenager (S03E07): Ashley is so boring, I hated her early convo with Ricky over their attraction to one another. The chair thing was weird, especially suggested by Grace. Ricky's mom is annoying. again. Ben's dad has a JET?!? I mean, the guy is rich and important, but why would he need a jet?? Ricky's mom staying over and borrowing Ricky's car was awkward. I love how Lauren gets mad at Madison, calls for Jesse, and he comes running. hahahahaha. The crowd "oohing" at Adrian's announcement was dumb. Too bad for Tom, but at least Grace's mom knows about Jack living there. Ricky's final reaction to his mom going to jail again was surprising. Ashley and Anne's conversation was exceedingly boring. Great acting by Amy and Ben in the final scene. I was surprised that the cab just kinda sat there after it dropped off Amy, LoL. Lastly, regarding the scenes-from-the-next, Ricky goes to NY?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!???!

Cake Boss (S03E10): WOW! They have a cupcake-pan-filling machine!! Nobody seemed excited to skip out on the cannolis in favor of cupcakes (1,000 each of chocolate, vanilla, and red velvet). um, wait. There are PROFESSIONAL paintball players??!?? At least it's dying down, there USED to be 3-4 professional leagues, LoL. I was really curious as to what he was going to design, and the rendering only half-convinced me it would be cool, LoL. wait wait wait... INDOOR paintball?? This just keeps getting more and more amusing. I love that they called the bakers "doughboys" haha. I love that the new guy is still wearing a vest and tie to work. in a bakery. hahaha. Frost TEN cupcakes in ONE minute?? I take more than a minute PER cupcake, LoL (a big reason I don't really do cupcakes like I do real cakes, LoL). Dang, and he pulls it out in 53 seconds??!? I thought that the artichoke joke was funny. I liked that we went over how not even Buddy is perfect. The prank scene made me laugh. Between the camouflage and the waterguns there was a ton of painting that went into this cake. The cupcake thing looked successful, but how can they just CANCEL cannolis?

Huge (S01E04): Poppy might be arts & crafts? I don't know why we're continuing this property line argument. At first I couldn't believe that Becca read Will's journal... then I decided to admit I would've, too. That "Love Handles" show that they were watching looked ridiculous. Seeing the director at the meeting was semi-interesting. I was surprised that Poppy didn't follow through with Sierra to make sure that she was able to find a group for the talent show. Amber's hair looked pretty bad at the talent show. Why would the surveyor stick around for the talent show?? Nevermind, Poppy did something WITH Sierra, LoL. I cracked up laughing when Becca went out for "Baby Got Back" because of that lie she told Shea, haha. I wonder what her original plan was, since she was backstage, after all... I liked Alistair's jokes after his magic didn't pan out, haha. I really liked Ian's song... I'd probably buy the mp3 if it were real, LoL. Why was Chloe so easy to make-up with Amber after she stood her up?? Oh. She made out with a boy and wanted to gossip about it. hahaha. Will is being pretty mean to Ian. Can we get a new girl for that empty bunk?? I want another crazy storyline for the new kid, haha.

Tuesday:

Teen Mom (S02E01): I LOVE that Farrah called the cops on her mom, ahaha. That gigantic house and they have a house ACROSS THE STREET, too??

Why would Tyler say that he doesn't think they're ready to be engaged AFTER he proposed??!? I don't see why Catelynn had to move in like 24 hours... why not give her a couple days at least??

Maci and Ryan... the child support storyline is intriguing.

I like Amber's new hair. Why would she go to the doctor for a pregnancy test instead of buying one? It can't possibly be cheaper, LoL.

The upcoming scenes look like there's going to be a lot of interesting drama coming up this season! We still don't have an answer as to whether the second season of 16 and Pregnant will follow those teen moms in another version of Teen Mom or what.

If You Really Knew Me (S01E01): this is a new show that I didn't hear about until the last minute, but the premise was to break boundaries of high school cliques, so that piques my interest. I would have liked to have some demographics for the school... number of students, geographical location, etc. Okay, eventually we got some info: Freedom High School in Oakley, xx. 2400 students. Respect is the goal. I wonder how they broke down the kids because they can't all be in the same room at once, LoL. Actually, I just looked it up... they do 100 kids in a six-hour session for $3200 (before travel costs & etc.), so I sincerely doubt they actually had all 2400 kids participate. So now I wonder how the school chooses who will participate in this, and id having such a small amount of kids (only like 4% at this school) doing it will help make a difference in the long run. The "I don't actually like football" comment was interesting. That "Power Shuffle" game is old-hat to me. I learned it as "Cross the Line" and it's incredibly powerful, to the point where I actually kept something to myself, and I usually have no problem sharing anything if you just ask me. Intriguing that they didn't show those who identify as or know someone who identifies as LBGTQ (et al). There are definitely some hesitaters in this game, since there were some people who didn't even start to cross on ones like "has anyone ever been scared or lonely" until they realized that EVERYONE ELSE is, too. Roman and his dad were a little awkward, to me anyway. But maybe that's because I can't comprehend that idea of being friends with your parents. I never could've understood that, at any stage in my life, but that's beside the point. I was REALLY hard-pressed to believe that these kids actually went and hung out with new people. Although, I guess, similarly, it made me think about how much easier it made it to talk to people in college. The end was a little too The Breakfast Club for me.

up next: a school that is really suffering from cyber-bullying. My big question is wondering who their target audience is... running the show at 11pm??

Wipeout (S03E08 & S03E09): the diving boards proved to be an interesting obstacle. It was funny that so many people ended up in the middle on the second round. This is a really boring show today... no fantastically interesting contestants, no remarkable wipeouts... I don't really understand why RepoMan failed the sini-stairs his final try. CrazyCuban is really bad at the gauntlet, which is a shame when he lost 5+ minutes there.

Thursday's episode had some spinning hoops and the trampoline sweeper, so that was a little nice since they're not the norm. I also always love the trapeze bar. Again, wasn't too impressed with the middle two games, although there were some impressive wipeouts in the Wipeout Zone tonight. The first girl to do the final course was slow, but the next guy totally kept missing his exit from the spincycle, and gave up only about 5 minutes in. "thousands of gallons of foam??" sounds kinda high... The last girl landed HORRIBLY from the catapult.

Wednesday:

Hot in Cleveland (S01E06): Melanie's parents sound crazy overprotective! The mirrored surface joke was nice for the narcissist father. The viral joke was nice, too. LOVED the bedazzled comment. The "free hamburger night" weirded me out. How large is this house that both guests can stay in their own rooms

Minute to Win It (S02E03): continuation of Kim & Aaron.

Game 9: Extreme Nutstacker: stack the hex nuts from a chopstick so they're 10 nuts high and stay for 3+ seconds. The new trick is that instead of doing it on a table, you're doing it on a board that you're holding. She goes first, fails with 10 seconds to go on her 9th nut. He tries second, and talks to himself like a jerk. He gets them all there but they only stay for 2 seconds before toppling. He tries their third time, and he gets it. They're really excited, and they should be, since nobody has ever won game 9 before.

They decide not to go for Game 10, and just walk. They're also pretty much the first people to walk, too. Of course, the gap between 500k and 250k is much higher than some of the only fallbacks, LoL. I did, however, think asking the parents and the parents' subsequent responses was/were boring/dumb.

And now we're doing a random match-up. The girl is like 40 and in a ton of debt, and I kinda hated her stupid background story. The guy is a college graduate who looks like a fun-loving guy. I'm really not a fan of the current "you did it" song they're playing. I am also really starting to hate how they bring in family members. AGAIN with the phone call, it had Kyle ALL worked up and upset... how's he supposed to perform to the best of his ability after that??!?
Game 1: Octopus: Get 3 out of 12 pulls of a streamer from under an inverted bottle. He gets it.
Game 2: Whipper Snapper: Launch a ping pong ball 15 feet into a bucket using a towel that is taped to the floor on one end. She goes for it, and at 30 seconds he starts looking really worried.
Game 3: By a Thread: 10 eyelets, graduated in size, are in needles. Thread all of them with a single piece of thread, largest eye to smallest. She pretty much demands it, and kicks the challenge's butt, doing it in about 40 seconds.
Game 4: Spoon Frog: Use a teaspoon to flip a teaspoon into a cup. Get it three times, unlimited tries. He fails, not able to get the third in time. She seems concerned to let him try again, but he does. This time, he gets the first two really quickly and nails the third with like 33 seconds left.
Game 5: Sticker Picker Upper: Roll an egg around a platter to collect three stickers... don't let the egg roll off. And you can only hold the platter with one hand. He goes for it. He gets it with some time left.
Game 6: Raisin the Bar: Flick the raisin boxes out from under the soda bottles. You have to get 4 out of 10. She runs out of tries to get her final one, after getting the very first! He rushes in to go for it, and saves the day.
Game 7: Propeller Head: Launch propellers to get them to land in a box 15 feet away. You have a ton of them to work with. He goes for it (... again. I'm tired of him taking over at this point). He gets it in the first 7-8 seconds. Of course.
And, he even dominates in the end, when he exclaims that they walk at $125,000. She seemed a little hesitant, but didn't seem to want to argue the point on television. Whatever.

Newsflash: all competitors attend a Minute to Win It training camp. Also, I'm starting to wonder why we're doing all these couples' episodes... I think they want a lot of contestants, but don't want to give away a lot of money... so they pair them up and they have to share the prize, LoL. Also, I had been wondering, we found out that you can go a maximum of three times in a row before the other player HAS TO go. Lastly, it seems that next week we're getting a bunch of new, summer-themed games. Wonder how that'll go...

Thursday:

Futurama (S06E06): haha, I haven't seen a war reenactment in a while. and "good war" had me cracking up. also liked the "only gone in an hour, but you need to file, so let's go over alphabetical order" and Hermes starts singing the "ABC Song."

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Off season/Coming Up:
19 Kids and Counting (Season 5 starts August 10th at 9pm)
Melissa & Joey (starts Aug 17th at 8pm)
Little People, Big World (season 6 starts September 6th)
House, M.D. (season 7 starts September 20th)

How I Met Your Mother (season 6 starts September 20th)
The Simpsons (season 22 starts September 26th)
Family Guy (season 9 starts September 26th)

Mr. Sunshine (new show, starts in the Fall on ABC)
South Park (have not yet heard, but I assume October or so)
Table for 12: (missing "summer," "busy day," "jumping in," "brace yourself," "back to school")

16 and Pregnant (unknown)