TV: Potpourri

I need a bigger TiVo. As much TV as I watch, it's all too easy to accumulate too many programs on the 30-some hour disc that I have, to the point where TiVo starts automatically erasing older shows to make room for new ones. That happened with last week's Survivor. Which is a shame, because I actually enjoyed the first episode, a lot more than the previous season. Oh well. That's what the Television Without Pity recaps are there for.

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Amazing Race was on last night. I haven't watched it yet, but I am once again reminded of the dilemma I faced last season. It airs opposite Scrubs and Veronica Mars, and I can only TiVo two things at once. Why does all the good stuff have to be on at the same frickin' time? I'm already missing House because it's in that same time slot, too -- 9 PM Tuesday. At least Veronica Mars wasn't on last night, so I didn't have to deal with it then (and I see next week neither Scrubs nor Mars will air new episodes, so that's another week of reprieve).

Damn it all!! Last season's TAR made it easy for me to pick: the contestants were so uniformly repugnant to me, I gave it up without a second thought. This time around, though, I don't think my choice will be so easy. If push comes to shove... I think I might let Scrubs go. That show is far more likely to be repeated eventually; TAR will never be repeated, and Mars, I still give it only a 50-50 shot of coming back next season, so I've got to stay tuned for the end of this season (and the wrap-up to the season-long storyline -- who murdered Lilly Kane?). Also, someday Scrubs will be on DVD. TAR and Mars probably will not. So. It's all perfectly logical. But it still pisses me off. I want my Scrubs!

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I think I've given up on Joan of Arcadia. How did my favorite new show of 2003-2004 go to crap so quickly in 2004-2005? Oh, wait, it might have something to do with one or another of the Duff sisters guest-starring for three episodes in a row. Also, why did Annie Potts have to turn into Glenn Close from Fatal Attraction? That was pretty lame, too. A really, tremendously bad sophomore year for this once-excellent show.

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SPOILERS ABOUT CELEBRITY POKER SHOWDOWN AHEAD: Man, was I wrong! It's small comfort to know Phil Gordon was so dead wrong, too. We both picked Malcolm-Jamal Warner to win the Championship Game on last night's show. Wrong! But I also named Jason Alexander as his toughest competition (and Dave Foley agreed -- he picked him to win). Double wrong! Jason was out first, followed quickly by M-J. D'oh! I guess it really was more his competitors' awfulness than any poker skills of his own which helped M-J win the previous game so quickly. Because he got outplayed -- badly -- by Colin freakin' Quinn. It was not hard at all to discern Quinn's style: call any bet with any two cards, and when it's his turn to bet, make minimal bets only. So when Quinn suddenly changed styles and went all-in for well over $10,000 -- dude, he wasn't bluffing. He's not good enough to bluff. But M-J fell for it, was blown out of the water by Quinn's full house, and was left with only $900 in chips. So long, Theo!

Bonnie Hunt stuck around for a long time, but her fatal error was giving up a huge pot to a bluff by Brad Garrett. Pardon me: Brad freakin' Garrett. God damn I wanted to smack him in the mouth after about thirty seconds. SHUT UP!! SHUT YOUR STUPID, STUPID MOUTH!!! GOD!!!

After giving up that pot, she was on her last legs, and exited soon after. Also, she got two straights in a row, but checked both times on the river. What the hell? You don't win playing like that, doll. Also: is she married? I thought she was, but I didn't see a ring. Love her! Oh, how I love her.

Anyhoo. That left Garrett and Quinn to battle it out: Tweedledum and Tweedledumbass. Quinn kept hitting those crazy, lucky cards for a while, but eventually his inability to fold cost him the match. Brad Garrett won?? Up is down! Right is left! Cats and dogs, living together!!