Happy Birthday, William Shatner
>> Tuesday, March 22, 2011
This one's worthy of City Confidential
>> Wednesday, October 27, 2010
I ran into a story on the internet yesterday that reminded me so much of my brief time writing for City Confidential that I had to share it here. It's got all the makings of a great City Confidential episode: a semi-famous perpetrator, a silly motive, a botched crime, and a colorful supporting cast. Truly, this story is worth bringing the show back for an encore episode.
So, first the teaser: Chef Juan-Carlos Cruz made a name for himself serving up low-calorie pastry treats on TV--but when this "Calorie Commando" tried to trim the fat by hiring two homeless men to kill his wife, his cookie crumbled.
Here's what happened, according to a CNN story:
Former TV chef Juan-Carlos Cruz faces nine years in prison after pleading "no contest" Tuesday to a charge of soliciting two homeless men to kill his wife, the prosecutor said.
The former host of the Food Network's "Calorie Commando" will be sentenced on December 13, but the plea agreement calls for a nine-year sentence, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said.
One count of attempted murder was dropped as part of the plea settlement, the prosecutor said.
The motive?
Fertility issues were at the center of Cruz's motivation in the murder-for-hire plot to kill his wife, according to sources close to the couple.
Two sources close the couple, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter, said their 20-year struggle to have a child overwhelmed them.
After spending a lot of money on unsuccessful fertility treatments, Cruz's wife, Jennifer Campbell, was "very depressed and talked about suicide," one source said.
The sources suggested she may have wanted to end her life but that as a devout Roman Catholic, she believed suicide was a sin.
So, I guess he was just trying to help her out then? But it's all cool:
The source closest to Campbell said she still loves her husband despite his arrest.
...
The source closest to Cruz, 48, said he was "nothing but a loving and devoted husband."
I just hope, someday, that I can do something as loving and devoted for Wendi.
The story begins to reach Elmore Leonard proportions with the supporting cast, which includes two indistinguishably Rosencrantz-and-Guildenstern-like homeless men named "Big Dave" and "Little Dave."
The criminal complaint accused Cruz of trying to hire David Carrington and David Walters -- homeless men who go by the street names Little Dave and Big Dave -- to murder Campbell. It was not immediately clear who was Little Dave and who was Big Dave.
The homeless men solicited to carry out the hit spoke with celebrity news and gossip website TMZ soon after the arrest. One of them called Cruz "very meticulous" but "very cheap" in his planning.
Well, you get what you pay for, I suppose.
The plan fell apart when one of the men whom Cruz allegedly recruited told Santa Monica police, Sgt. Jay Trisler said. Trisler confirmed that the men interviewed by TMZ were the chief witnesses against Cruz.
Little Dave told TMZ that he was approached first by Cruz, who asked him to kill his wife for cash, and he told his friend Big Dave.
Big Dave said he told a Santa Monica police officer about the plot after he was arrested for loitering.
"We're very fortunate that we have a relationship and rapport with some of the homeless and that they were able to give us information," Trisler said.
Yeah. Some "relationship." I've seen enough crime show episodes to read between the lines here. "Big Dave" got picked up for loitering charges, and he rolled over on Cruz to get out of it.
Santa Monica police began their undercover investigation of Cruz on May 7, Trisler said. Cruz was arrested at a dog park in the Cheviot Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles on Thursday afternoon, he said.
This had to be a sting operation at the dog park!
Big Dave and Little Dave got a place to stay while the investigation was under way. Santa Monica police put them in a hotel room to keep them out of sight, Big Dave said.
"They gave us two pizzas, a 12-pack of beer and a bottle of San Jose," he said. "I love them."
Awesome. I love the image of these two guys living it up with beer, pizza, and cable TV at the hotel.
Predictably, the Food Network was quick to distance themselves:
The Food Network issued a short statement Monday saying Cruz "has not been under contract or associated with Food Network for a number of years."
Ellery Queen series makes it to DVD
>> Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Anybody remember the Ellery Queen TV series? It only ran for one season--1975-1976--which is astounding because it was so much fun. I watched these in reruns at some point, but I still haven't seen them in years. Now they're finally available on DVD!
Ellery Queen was a lot of fun. Developed by Levinson and Link, the minds behind Columbo and, later, Murder, She Wrote, the episodes followed amateur detective Ellery Queen of short story fame as he stepped in to help his father, Detective Queen, solve the oddest of odd mysteries. The series broke the fourth wall by setting the scene in narration, having murder victims sit and talk to the camera, and then allowing Ellery, when everything had been laid out, to turn to the audience and say, "Have you figured it out yet? You've got all the clues you need!" The murders are clean and cozy too, making this one to share with the whole family.
Ellery Queen also stars a host of great actors from back in the day. In addition to regulars Jim Hutton (father of Timothy Hutton, who would go on to play a TV detective himself: Archie Goodwin!) and David Wayne, who plays his father, the series features Tony Hillerman as a recurring radio detective character, George Burns, Eve Arden, Rudy Vallee, Ray Milland, Don Ameche, Ida Lupino, Vincent Price, Mel Ferrer, Kim Hunter, Joan Collins, Ray Walston, Tom Bosley, Betty White, Robbert Loggia, Rene Auberjonois, Jim Backus, Larry Hagman, June Lockhart, John Larroquette, Eva Gabor, Dean Stockwell, Tab Hunter, Roddy McDowall, Ed McMahon, Dick Van Patten, Tricia O'Neil, Cesar Romero, Dick Sargent, Diana Muldaur, Noah Beery Jr., Troy Donahue, Dr. Joyce Brothers, Victor Buono, and Eddie Albert--just to name a few
Why did this show ever get canceled?* Sheesh. Ah well, to the Netflix queue!
* Well, this might have something to do with it: according to Wikipedia, Jim Hutton died four years later in 1979 from liver cancer. What a loss. Read more...
A Very Presidential Mythbusters
>> Tuesday, October 19, 2010
After Adam Savage tweeted merrily that he was on his way to the White House, word finally comes as to why: President Obama will be appearing on an episode of Mythbusters this December!
According to reports, the move is part of a Presidential initiative to promote science and math. Speaking before a group of young science fair winners, Obama said that sports team winners traditionally got invitations to the White House, but winners of math and science prizes did not.
"I thought we ought to do the same thing for the winners of science fairs and robotic contests and math competitions," he told the group. "Often, we don't give these victories the attention that they deserve. When you win first place at a science fair, nobody's rushing the field or dumping Gatorade over your head."
According to the President, American 15-year-olds are ranked 21st in science and 25th in math when compared to students the same age in other countries around the world. He'd like to see American kids at number one in both fields by the end of the decade.
On Mythbusters, the President will challenge Adam, Jamie, and the rest of the gang to prove once and for all whether Archimedes' Death Ray was possible--a myth they've busted twice before. I wish they were doing something else, but perhaps the boys have a new take on it. According to a spokesperson for the show, a re-test of the myth is always high on the list of viewer requests.
Obama's biggest regret about the episode, which has already been taped: "I didn't get to blow anything up. I was a little frustrated by that."
CBS News: Obama to Appear on Mythbusters
Fox News: Obama, Mythbusters to Test 'Archimedes Death Ray' in Push to Promote Science Read more...
Star Trek: The Party Generation
>> Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Via i09, a hilarious mash-up of Ke$sha's "Tik Tok" and Star Trek: The Original Series. Man, Kirk and company sure did know how to party...
Stephen Fry on the Craig Ferguson Show
>> Monday, March 1, 2010
I've become a great fan of Craig Ferguson and "The Late Late Show," the only late night show worth watching, IMHO. Craig's comedy monologues are more likely to be about Copernicus than Tiger Woods, which is really refreshing. (One of his best lines lately combined the two: "Copernicus was born today. Of course, Copernicus is best remembered for being the first person to prove that the Earth does not revolve around Tiger Woods.")
Last week, Ferguson punted the usual monologue/funny e-mails/two guests/live audience format, and sat down, chair to chair, with writer, actor, (and dare I say philosopher?) Stephen Fry, popular in this household for his role as Jeeves in the BBC's "Jeeves and Wooster." No audience, no jokey monologue, no desk, no constant plugging of new projects. (Although Fry is the voice of the Cheshire Cat in Burton's new Alice in Wonderland, and they did show a clip of that coming out of a commercial break, before launching off into talking about something else entirely.)
Ferguson styled the episode as an "experiment," though in an introduction he acknowledges that plenty of folks have used the one-on-one talk show format in the past, and some still do--but none currently in late night. In fact, if you don't watch the entire episode, the opening five minutes are intriguing enough for the short lesson Ferguson gives on the evolution of late night, and it's current state as a rehash of the format Johnny Carson made so spectacularly successful.
If you watch the rest of the episode though, you'll hear the two--both born in the UK--wax poetic about America's unbridled optimism, with theories about why America and Europe are so different in attitude and ambition. You'll hear them discuss how Robert Burns would have loved Twitter. You'll hear them talk about the language of love and the language of violence, and how strange it is that we as humans talk openly about the bad one and feel ashamed to talk about the good one. In short, you'll hear a witty, entertaining, and enlightening conversation between two delightful people--which, let's face it, is a rare commodity in late night television. Or any television, for that matter. After I watched the show online, I immediately sought out Wendi to discuss some of the topics with her, and as I did so I marveled at how the show had put me in a placid, thoughtful mood, in the way that argumentative, talking-point discourse never does.
CBS is really smart, and puts every episode of "The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson" online, which means you don't have to stay up late to watch it. If you've got 45 minutes for a great, thought-provoking conversation, give Craig Ferguson's "great experiment" a view. I'm a fan of his traditional late night show, so I'll keep watching no matter what, but here's hoping he does this again some time soon.
Link Read more...
Have a Jelly Baby and Call!
>> Tuesday, August 25, 2009
How great is this? A March 1987 PBS pledge drive where Doctor Who fans man the phones to keep the station that shows their favorite show on the air. Check out the disappearing TARDIS mug you get with a $75 donation--and the bank of Who cosplayers around the 2:26 mark. They're also excited to introduce "The Prisoner!" I'll say this--they do have those phones ringing.
Don't be a Dalek, join!
Mad Men Yourself
>> Tuesday, July 28, 2009
We're big fans of Mad Men on AMC here at Gratz Industries. We're currently watching Season Two on DVD from Netflix and enjoying the heck out of it, but Season Three will soon be debuting for all those folks who pay $65.00 (or more) per month for the privilege of watching first-run shows. To celebrate the new season, AMC has a nifty little "paper doll" dress-up game that lets you create your own Mad Men character. Here's our versions of ourselves, circa 1961. Apparently, I have more hair in the 1960s. And smoke a pipe. And Wendi wears fur and drinks martinis. What can I say, the 1960s were heady times, sweetheart!
And we feel obliged to point out: we hope artist Dyna Moe was hired to do the art on this one, or AMC's web wonks really ripped her off. Check out this earlier post of ours to see what we're talking about.
Two Star Trek Graphic Novel Reviews
>> Thursday, July 9, 2009
I've been in a Star Trek mood of late. Besides the theatrical reboot of the Star Trek franchise (which I enjoyed) we've been watching a lot of TNG-era Trek at home. After not giving Star Trek: Voyager much of a chance when it was in first-run syndication, Wendi and I are working our way back through the series via Netflix. We're halfway through season three, and we're interested enough to keep watching--although still not nearly as devoted to this one as we were/are to The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine. Jo's been watching them with us though, and she's definitely into it.
So in the meantime, in the odd days when we have nothing from Netflix sitting on top of our television to be watched at dinner, we've been pulling out our Star Trek: The Next Generation discs (we own all seven seasons) and watching the good, the bad, and the ugly among them with Jo to show her our favorite Trek. So between the new movie, on-going Voyager viewings, and Next Generation re-viewings, I've been in Trek heaven.
To further feed my recent Star Trek obsession, I picked up two Star Trek Graphic novels with promise: Star Trek: Countdown, a comic book prequel to the recent Star Trek movie meant to answer a lot of questions left on the editing room floor, and Star Trek: The Next Generation - Forgiveness, a story that mixes an adventure with the TNG crew with a bit of teleporter history. I enjoyed both, and reviews follow for interested folks. There are minor spoilers, but I try not to totally give away plot resolutions...Star Trek: Countdown
Story by Robert Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Written by Tim Jones and Mike Johnson
Art by David Messina
I enjoyed this prequel, which provides a great deal of back story for the villain Nero of the 2009 Star Trek movie franchise reboot. As the screenwriters say in their brief afterward, this prequel is more a love letter to some of their favorite characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation than anything else. That's the real highlight here: seeing TNG favorites like Picard, Data, LaForge, and Worf in their later lives. Each is woven believably and seamlessly into the Spock/Nero Vulcan/Romluan storyline. If you're a fan of TNG (as I am) you'll relish these characters in their new roles. (And you'll be happy to see they quickly undo Data's lame "return to innocence" from Star Trek: Nemesis.)
The weakest part of the story is consequently the weakest part of the entertaining new Star Trek movie; Nero's motivation to destroy Vulcan and just about everyone else in the universe is tenuous at best. Why exactly is it Spock's fault that Romulus was destroyed, when he seemed to be the only one trying to stop it? And if Romulus is on the verge of destruction, why doesn't Nero take his wife and child with him on his mission to save the planet? Well, the Romulans have never been logical, and neither is that part of the story. I'll let it pass. More interesting to me is that all the nutty, unexplained details in the movie--Nero's tattoos, his pointy staff, his almost omnipotent and clearly not-Romulan ship, and more--are given plausible, even entertaining, explanations here.
An enlightening and enjoyable companion to the blockbuster movie.
Star Trek: The Next Generation - Forgiveness
Written by David Brin
Art by Scott Hampton
The premise of this graphic novel is intriguing: one hundred years before human history acknowledges the invention of the ubiquitous Star Trek transporter, someone *else* invented it--a melancholy genius named Colin Blakeney. But no one knows he invented the transporter a hundred years early because just as he's about to test beaming himself through it a crazed protester who thinks transporters will steal humanity's souls sabotages it, and both men are beamed away to...where?
Cut to the 24th century, where the Enterprise is headed into a delicate diplomatic situation with a race essentially given a prison sentence for accidentally releasing a bio-engineered virus that killed millions of people across the galaxy. After two generations, the guilty parties are long since dead and their grandchildren long to be free of the sphere of mines that surround their homeworld and prevent them from rejoining the interstellar community. This is, of course, the moment the Enterprise picks up an anomalous transporter signal, brings its "occupant" on board--the long lost transporter genius, cast adrift as particles in space all those years ago.
Blakeney's in a kind of fugue state after the loss of his family and his invention, and, you know, floating around as data in space for a couple of hundred years. Crusher and Data walk Blakeney through his memories in a nice trick with the holodeck while a tense standoff ensues with the quarantined race and the Enterprise. The two events end up intersecting, of course, leading to a disappointingly rushed ending which sees Data do some startlingly rash things that, in 99 cases out of 100, would have led to his own nasty death and an inconvenient war between the Federation and the imprisoned planet. But everything works out in the end, of course, and everyone is forgiven--hence the title.
David Brin is a veteran science fiction writer with real chops, and artist Scott Hampton's painted style is extraordinarily effective--especially in the scenes with ships in space. (The Enterprise-E has never looked so majestic.) Besides the hurried ending, I also wish there had been more time to explore Dr. Crusher's infatuation with her new patient, briefly alluded to by the perceptive Counselor Troi.
I also have to scratch my head--again--at the timing of the story. For continuity reasons I can only assume were mandated by the studio/publisher, this story takes place at the same time the Dominion War is raging on at the other side of the quadrant. The Dominion War may have drawn in the Federation, the Klingons, the Romulans, the Cardassians, and the Breen, but for some inexplicable reason it hasn't drawn Starfleet's biggest, baddest battleship--the USS Enterprise. The reason in TV continuity was clear: TNG was over, and the Dominion War was Deep Space Nine's fight to win or lose.
To pretend the Enterprise was simply always dispatched to some other place in the war (and off screen) is one thing, but to make it *part of the story* that the Enterprise is held *in reserve,* to "handle urgent matters elsewhere" is preposterous. Really? The flag ship of the fleet, running errands in wartime? Absolutely unbelievable, yet Brin has to waste a two page spread explaining it here, when it's totally unnecessary to the plot of his story. Again, it's not his fault. The Powers That Be pulled this nonsense one of the TNG movies too, if memory serves. Why oh why could they not have just made this adventure set in the nebulous post-history of DS9? Surely there's nothing in this that has any bearing on galaxy-wide continuity. Again, a head-scratcher--just a die-hard fan's minor quibble with the higher ups.
Overall, an enjoyable return to the Enterprise of The Next Generation.
Return of the Horta!
>> Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Check out the word verification I had to type in to submit my last Blogger comment:
Too funny. For those who don't know, this is a Horta:It's a silicon-based life-form from Star Trek: The Original Series. NO KILL!
Torchwood: Should we bother?
The new season of Torchwood hit the BBC this week, and the Twitterverse responded favorably--as did a few of my friends I trust with this kind of stuff. Wendi and I enjoy the new Doctor Whos, and we love us some Captain Jack Harkness (above) who's the lead in the Torchwood spin-off. But we didn't make it far into the first season of Torchwood before bailing--it was just too silly and stupid. Then we heard that season two wasn't so bad, and now season three has (apparently) started off with a bang. io9 even asks if Torchwood is finally becoming better than Doctor Who!
Yeah, okay, the last few regular-season episodes of Davies' run as producer on Doctor Who were a disappointing mess, but still, the Davies/Tennant years are pretty fabulous TV overall. (And I really like the Next Doctor special Davies wrote that came out recently.) But Torchwood better than Doctor Who? Hmm. Perhaps we'll have to Netflix season two of Torchwood so we can watch season three with some preparation. But I can guarantee you I'm not going back to season one of Torchwood.
And as io9 says, all bets in the Torchwood versus Doctor Who contest are off when Steven Moffat takes over Doctor Who next season. I can't remember a more anticipated coming of a new producer to a show. My sincere hope is that he's able to mix what Davies did--build compelling characters and relationships over time--with what he already does best: incredibly kick ass stories. Up until now, Moffat has been able to toss in an incredible, Hugo-worthy story here and there as one of the writers for the show, but will he be able to bring it regularly when he writes far more of the episodes? There are hundreds of thousands--nay, millions?--of viewers who have their collective fingers crossed. And I'm one of them.
In the meantime, perhaps Davies' redirected attention to Torchwood can elevate it to watch-worthy. It would be lots of fun to have two can't-miss Whoniverse shows to watch. Maybe we'll give Torchwood another shot.
Top Chef is dead; long live Project Runway!
>> Wednesday, October 3, 2007
SPOILER ALERT - Don't read any further if you haven't seen the final episode of Top Chef Season 3 and care about the outcome.
Well, Season 3 has come and gone, and Hung is the winner. Wendi and I won't mince words; we're disappointed. Not so much in the decision of the moment--Hung certainly deserved the trophy based on tonight's performance--but Hung has never been our favorite chef. Far from it in fact. Hung is cocky and arrogant, constantly telling us that the judges don't get him and his food when they don't like it, and lapping up their praise like they are the arbiters of all that is right and good about food when they praise him.
Oh Hung, how do we dislike thee? Let us count the ways. You never help others in the kitchen. You always think you're better than everyone else. You put things on a plate a dog wouldn't think looked appealing. You run around with knives. You dis the other chefs. You work so fast you never stop to consider your dish, your decisions, your customers.
Who can forget your arrogance in the food quiz Quickfire Challenge when you decided to hastily identify an ingredient without tasting it and crashed out? Or the semi-final Quickfire challenge where you finished your lemon trout six minutes early and stood around acting all smug, only to realize you had forgotten the lemon juice after your time was up? Or the frozen dinner elimination challenge where you knew how to win it but let Joey--Joey!--hustle you?
Hung just isn't the kind of guy you stand up and cheer for when he wins. He was certainly a master of making adjustments. All along I thought Hung was going to be the Austin Scarlett of Top Chef--someone wonderfully talented but locked into a very specific creative mode that would see him eliminated--albeit late in the game--for his inflexibility. Hung bucked that though, and took his "your food has no soul" scolding to heart for the finale.
Wendi was rooting for Casey, while I had a soft spot for Dale. Casey certainly looked strong in the last few episodes leading up to the finale, while Dale has always found a way to turn disasters into triumphs--including his "make it work" elk dish that won the final elimination challenge before the finale.
After watching tonight's judging, it was clear that Casey was not going to win. I have a pet theory about these kind of shows--particularly Top Chef and Project Runway, both of which we love. My theory is that there is always one episode per season where a contestant breaks down and loses it. I call this the contestant's Waterloo. Unlike Napoleon's Waterloo though, a contestant's Waterloo does not always mean defeat. Sometimes the contestant rises above the Waterloo, and it's a steeling, energizing moment for him or her.
This season, we saw Micah's Waterloo in episode three, when she had a minor meltdown and decided that the whole thing was pointless and that she'd rather be back with her family. It broke her. We saw Sara N. freak out over having to cook in her clubbing clothes and meet her Waterloo (and elimination) in episode eight. We saw Sara M. take an absolute beating in the elimination judging for episode seven (and we actually thought she was a goner!) only to rebound and grab the competition by the balls until her elimination in the final episode before the two-part finale.
One of the most obvious and dramatic Waterloos in either show has to be Andrae's complete and absolute breakdown on the runway before the judges in Project Runway Season 2. Andrae sobbed and sobbed, working through a choking, tear-filled story about the loss of his store and the ruination of his life just before the taping of Project Runway began. The Waterloo was brought on by the necessary destruction of a meaningful denim jacket in a horribly mangled effort to win that episode's elimination challenge--which was to create new couture using only the clothes on the contestants' backs. And the reunion episode revealed that the breakdown we saw on TV was only the tip of the iceberg! It ran for several minutes, and had to be edited down just to fit in the episode. It was both horrifying and riveting--but Andrae survived it! And never again did he break down like that. He made it through another seven episodes until bowing out gracefully just three shows shy of the finale.
During a Waterloo, a contestant usually can be heard to say things like, "You know, I don't need this competition to know I'm a good chef/designer," "I really miss my family and friends right now," and "You know what, I've had a great run, and I stand by all my decisions." There is gloom in the contestant's face and doom in his/her voice. You can often see it coming from the opening minutes of the show. A lot of this is good editing, I know--but the Waterloo is always there if you're looking for it.
These competitions must be grueling. What we see on a weekly basis happens on a daily basis for the contestants. It's get up in the morning for a Quickfire challenge, face an elimination challenge in the afternoon/evening, and crash back in a suite with all the other contestants that night, only to get up and do it all over again in the morning. There is very little down time for these guys, and absolutely no time when there isn't a camera there to catch them brushing their teeth or sitting in the hot tub or grabbing a smoke out on the balcony.
So of course there is a breaking point for every contestant. They may even see it coming. The look on CJ's face as he stepped off the plane in Newark and saw Padma in the airport told you right away he was the one who would go, long before he ever put that slimy broccolini on a plate. He just didn't have it in him to compete right then. He had visions of New York pizza in his head, and his fear that he wouldn't make it across the river to Manhattan for just one day consumed him--and defeated him.
Most of the time the contestant is well aware of the Waterloo. They are overwhelmed, frustrated, mentally blocked. They begin a dish or a dress with absolutely no idea where it's going, and it does, in fact, go nowhere. If the contestant survives this momentary weakness, the chances are good that they will rebound stronger than ever and never have another Waterloo--even should they be eliminated later. A Waterloo does not always mean elimination, and elimination is not always precipitated by a Waterloo.
Tonight was Casey's Waterloo, and it was a very, very bad time to have one. It began early in the episode, when she confessed that she was having trouble breathing in the high altitude of Aspen. Was it just the high altitude, or a mixture of anxiety and altitude? She looked nervous and unsure of herself from the start. Her celebrity sous chef was even nervous for her, confiding to us that Casey kept adding, adding, adding, even though the guest chef clearly shared our empathy for Casey. (In fact, a text poll during the commercial breaks revealed that a whopping 68% of viewers wanted her to be the Top Chef.)
And yet it was not to be. In the judging, Casey blamed the altitude, the additional dish they were told to prepare, even Howie--Casey, for shame!--until forced to confess that her only successful dish of the night had been prepared by Howie. All night Casey was off her game, making changes and additions to her dishes on the fly when preparation and execution had been her fortes all season long. It was Dale who had always been the master of improvisation, and he was again tonight, pulling perhaps his best "make it work" dish out for the surprise fourth dish.
Even through the final judging, I thought Dale might pull it out. He had two tremendous successes and had taken chances with all his dishes, but Colicchio hated Dale's lobster dish and that seemed to seal it. One inedible dish out of four was the killer for him, as Hung put together two stellar dishes, one passable dish, and a phoned in chocolate cake desert. I held out hope that the judges would give Dale credit for taking a chance and dock Hung for playing it safe. As I said to Wendi during the commercial break, it was as though Hung had gotten a weak base hit while Dale had hit a screaming out to the shortstop. To which would the judges give more credit? Rightfully so, I suppose, they gave credit for the base hit. (Sorry--it's also the first night of the National League playoffs.)
And so Casey met her Waterloo and Dale was bested by Hung. All along Hung had proven himself a technician of the first degree, and tonight one bad dish from Dale--one of those seat of the pants fiascoes that he had always mixed in with those fabulous impromptu victories--meant the difference between $100,000 and second place.
Congratulations to all three finalists, and, begrudgingly, to Hung--who after all deserved it. We may not like you, Hung, but you have our respect.
We've had so much fun watching this season and breaking it down afterward that Wendi and I have decided to blog about Project Runway Season 4 each week there is a new episode. Often one of us is on the road during the week, and we'll sit at the computer e-mailing the other one with comments and questions while we watch, so blogging about the episodes one at a time seems like a natural extension of that. We hope if you share our passion for Project Runway you'll tune in and share in the discussion!