From the Inside Out

The Biggest Loser kicked off its 7th season tonight with eleven new couples all striving to win big by losing weight. This season includes:

–The heaviest woman (379 pounds) to appear on the show

–The youngest contestant ever (18) who weighs 388 pounds

–The oldest contestants ever at 63

–The heaviest contestant to appear on the show. At only 19, he already weighs 454 pounds.

Although I don’t need to lose weight, I love this show. It’s incredibly inspiring to watch people change their lives for the better. I am always fascinated by the transformations that occur by the end of the season. The contestants become more healthy, not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. It’s so cool.

Watching the show always inspires me to keep striving to improve my overall health — to work out more, to eat better, and to take care of my body. The trainers, Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper, are amazing. It would be so neat to work out with them. For now, I have the “poor man’s version” of a Biggest Loser personal trainer. I received Jillian’s 30 Day Shred video for Christmas. It offers three challenging levels of 20-minute cardio and strength workouts. I’m doing level one now, and I’m really enjoying it. On the big screen, it’s almost like having Jillian standing there in person pushing me while I’m exercising…haha!

The first episode of The Biggest Loser offered a major twist at weigh in and a great quote from Jillian. I loved what she told the girl from the green team who was panting on the treadmill and whining. Jillian scowls at her and says, “Let me tell you something…when your lips turn blue, then you’re going to pass out…okay? But you’re not going to die.” Classic Jillian.

I’m excited to watch another group of people make the ultimate transformation. There are many interesting characters and personalities, so it should be an interesting journey. I can’t wait to see who wins by losing.

Across the country, teenage girls flocked to the premiere of Twilight in theaters today. The film is based on a series of books written by author Stephenie Meyer, and the storyline follows a young girl who falls in love with a vampire, Edward Cullen. For a review of the first book, check out Jessica’s blog, The Rules for Twilight.

I haven’t read any of the books or watched the movie, but since vampires are in the news this weekend, I decided to honor the top 5 most awesome vampires from both film and TV:

5. Lestat De Lioncourt (aka Tom Cruise) from Interview with a Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles. Although I was more drawn to Louis (played by Brad Pitt) in the movie, Lestat is the perfect vampire anti-hero, so he deserves to make the Top 5.

4. Blade (Wesley Snipes) from Blade. I’m not a fan of the Blade movies, but Wesley Snipes does a great job of portraying a half-vampire, half-human who wants to rid the world of evil vampires. Besides, who doesn’t love Wesley Snipes?

3. DAVID (Keifer Sutherland) from The Lost Boys. Keifer Sutherland…need I say more? He’s awesome. And for those of you who are fans, his television series 24 kicks off on Sunday…get your Tivos ready!

2. Angel (David Boreanaz) from the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The character of Angel was created by Joss Whedon, one of my favorite writers in Hollywood. Angel was a vampire cursed with a soul, seeking forgiveness and redemption for his past crimes. He was Buffy’s love interest in the original series, but later he appeared in his own spin-off show.

1. Spike (James Marsters) from the television series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Yes, I do have two “Buffy” characters in my Top 5, but they both deserve it. Did I mention that Joss Whedon is a genius? Anyway, Spike is my all-time favorite vampire villain with a killer sense of humor. I absolutely loved his character…perfection.

If you didn’t watch the show, check out the DVDs. They’re worth it.

Two months ago, I posted a blog about the most anticipated new Fall television series, and tonight’s post will revisit those shows to see if they stood up to all the hype. A few shows soared, but many flopped — some being cancelled after only 2-3 episodes. Read on to find out how your shows fared.

10. The Mentalist, a drama about a physic who uses his gifts to help solve crimes. While I haven’t seen it (this show was on my “pass” list), the Mentalist is pulling in good ratings. It averaged 14.9 million viewers and recently bested a Dancing With the Stars results show.

9. Opportunity Knocks, a new game show produced by Ashton Kutcher. It failed miserably. The show was pulled after just three episodes. I never saw a commercial for this show and have no idea when it aired. Maybe the show would have fared better if it had been promoted differently. Oh well, we’ll never know!

8. Life on Mars, an ABC remake of a popular British drama with the same name. The show got off to a good start with the premiere, but ratings were down 25% for the second episode. Some reviewers blame it on the Thursday night line-up in which it isn’t a good fit. Personally, I hope the ratings improve. I don’t think the ABC version is quite as good as the original, but it’s still a quality show that deserves a chance.

7. Easy Money, is a dramedy about a family that runs the modern legitimate version of a loan sharking operation. This show stopped production after a few episodes to “give the writers a chance to catch up.” I’m not sure what that means, but it doesn’t sound good. No worries for me, though, because I wasn’t watching it anyway.

6. True Blood, a new vampire show appearing on HBO. After a massive, multimillion-dollar marketing campaign, the premiere drew just 1.44 million viewers. That’s a disappointing number for HBO, but the cable network airs the show repeatedly and viewership increased for subsequent episodes. HBO is so confident in the numbers that they’ve already ordered a second season. I don’t subscribe to HBO and this show was on my “pass” list, so there’s no additional commentary from me on this one.

5. Sanctuary, a Sci-Fi show starring Amanda Tapping (of Stargate fame). The premiere brought the SciFi channel its highest ratings for original programming since Eureka premiered back in 2006, and subsequent episodes have continued to hold onto the audiences. For me, I’m lukewarm about this show. It hasn’t captured my attention yet.

4. Fringe, a JJ Abrams creation that pairs a female FBI agent with a nutcase scientist and his estranged son. The show premiered with decent ratings and jumped 59% with its second episode. Those numbers were good enough for Fox to pick it up for the full season. Fringe was listed as a “must see” on my first post. I have been watching it, and the show is growing on me, but I’m not hooked like I was with Lost.

3. Sons of Anarchy, a chrome hog drama about a motorcycle-riding, gun-running family syndicate. The series is the most successful new series on FX among 18-49 viewers since Rescue Me debuted in 2005. It has already secured a second season renewal. This show was on my “pass” list, but I gave it a “check out” rating for the guys. That means Gary checked it out. While he watched the show, I would distract myself by playing on the computer. It eventually caught my attention, and now it’s beginning to grow on me too.

2. Knight Rider, a remake of the popular 80s detective show that starred David Hasselhoff. This terrible remake had a sluggish start to its season, but NBC recently ordered four additional scripts. It hasn’t committed to a full season yet so the show may not make a full run. If it doesn’t, I won’t shed any tears. It’s a complete waste of an hour of your life.

1. 90210, is another remake that shouldn’t have been brought back from the dead in my opinion. I couldn’t watch it after the first couple of episodes. However, I guess the younger viewers don’t detest the bad acting and writing as much as I do because it’s gotten decent ratings (for CW), and the network has picked it up for a full season. In fact, 90210’s success has even got them considering a remake of Melrose Place. It’s too bad they can’t come up with an original show.

Two of the most notable female politicians joined forces last night to speak out against an important issue.  In a brave move, they stood together delivering a “non-partisan” message against sexism. 

Well…almost.  

Brad and Jen. Ben and JLo. Jessica and Nick. We’ve seen lots of celebrity couples split up during the last few years, but none have affected me as much as this one. I was really disappointed, sad even, when it happened.

Normally, these separations last forever. You seldom see two big names reconcile after parting, but it finally happened. The announcement came yesterday. Two “greats” are joining forces, re-embarking on a once thriving relationship. Apple and NBC have worked out their differences — they are together again. Okay, I know what you are thinking. Apple and NBC are not a celebrity couple, but they are two really big names (dare I say “celebrities”) within the technology and entertainment industries. With that in mind, I think the intro is fitting.

Anyway, the two companies parted last year after disagreements about the pricing structure on iTunes. Some reports stated NBC sought control over the pricing, wanting to charge up to $4.99 per episode. Before the fight, NBC (including its family of networks like Bravo, USA, and SciFi) was the number one supplier of iTunes digital media.

I was really hacked when they pulled out of iTunes. When I’m traveling, I like to download a few episodes to watch on the plane. After NBC left, I couldn’t access some of my favorite shows. It wasn’t the end of the world, but it was annoying.

I’m happy to report that it’s all over now. NBC shows are available again on iTunes. They are even extending a few “welcome back” perks to customers. For a limited time, you can download some of the most popular NBC (and peacock network) shows for FREE. Yes, that’s right — absolutely FREE.

If you are an iTunes user, you can head over there now and let the downloading begin. If you aren’t an iTunes user, it’s easy to become one. Simply download and install the free software, then click on the iTunes store. Once there, click on the NBC banner at the top to download the free episodes.