Hit Me Baby, One More Time

The summer reality show frenzy started this week with the much anticipated Canadian Idol. I was a bit disappointed with the Moncton coverage. I wanted to see more of the downtown area and I wished somebody from Miramichi had made it on camera . . . but they're not showing everybody's audition so maybe there will be Miramichiers to cheer on next week. I was excited by the girl from Nackawic though. I hope she goes far. It would be really cool to have a New Brunswicker to vote for.

Quite by accident the other night I found myself watching Dancing with the Stars on ABC. I hadn't seen any promos for this show, had no idea what it was about, but here's the thing -- I absolutely love competitive dance. I watch competitions all the time when I can catch them on tv. The tango, waltz, rumba, samba, cha cha, fox trot, jive -- I love them all! So stumbling upon a reality show that pairs celebrities with professional dancers, makes them compete and allows me to vote for my favourite online is just a great concept in my book. Certainly enough to pique my interest and get me to tune in . . . and from the moment New Kids cutie, Joey McIntyre (I loved him on Boston Public), cha cha cha-ed his little tush across the floor I was hooked!

There are six celebrities competing including heavy-weight boxing champ, Evander Holyfield, and the original Bachelorette, Trista Sutter (yes, Ryan was there in the audience cheering her on). The couple I enjoyed the least was supermodel, Rachel Hunter, and her professional partner, Jonathan Roberts. They danced the waltz but she really seemed clumsy. It could have been that she had been ill all that day, throwing up . . . but it just looked like he was hanging on for dear life to keep her in place . . . like Laverne Defazio at her first ballroom lesson . . . just very awkward and geeky to my eye. But the judges didn't totally hate them.

I voted for Trista and Louis . . . because the judges gave them a bad score and I thought they were great. The results will be a combination of the professional judges scores as well as the viewers votes and the couple with the least score gets kicked off next week I believe. I hope ABC doesn't prematurely give this one the axe as they so often do *cough* Push, Nevada.

Last night I watched NBC's Hit Me Baby, One More Time. Okay, I was really looking forward to this show that puts former greats back in the limelight in a competition against one another, but I have to confess at times I was left scratching my head, wondering if the network had done something to the mics to make these people sound terrible. Canada's own Loverboy started things off with one of my faves "Working for the Weekend" and I was dumbfounded -- is it possible Mike Reno can no longer sing?! MIKE RENO! He did redeem himself slightly a bit later in the program when the band did a cover of Enrique's "Hero" but only slightly.

Not so for A Flock of Seagulls . . . they were just terrible no matter what they sang. I've never heard "I Ran" sound quite so raunched out, like they'd just come off a week-long drunk where they smoked 200 packs of cigarettes. Yes, it was THAT bad.

It really makes you think about bands like U2 and Bon Jovi . . . still together, still making albums and actually selling them . . . singing stronger than ever. There's something to be said for longevity.

I was never a Tiffany fan, but I guess she did okay. CeCe Peniston was pretty good. But Arrested Development got the audience vote and won the first episode. I'm not at all familiar with their music, but they had the most modern sound and really performed, got the audience involved. I totally agree they deserve to win. But it was a strange mix of music styles to have compete against one another . . . apples, oranges . . . mouldy bread . . . you know.

Still, I'm not giving up on this show just yet. I'm interested to see next week's episode for a couple of reasons. First, The Knack, The Motels and Tommy Tutone are all on the same show, which should make for either an interesting or terribly sad competition. Second, Vanilla Ice is going to compete and when he was on The Surreal Life he was so anti- Ice, Ice, Baby . . . that I have to wonder what has happened to get him on that stage embracing that old image he hates so much. It should be interesting and hopefully more fun than this first episode, which totally sucked.

Mood: Freezing to death!! If this is 31 degrees . . . I'm in trouble
Drinking: Coffee still
Listening To: the lawnmower next door . . . honest to God, how often do you "really" have to cut the grass to have a healthy lawn?
Hair: Blah! I need to find a local salon . . . scary!