Matthew

I gotta admit that I loved Last Restaurant Standing when it first came on, but it dragged out so long that I couldn't stick with it. If it's bundled on dvd, it would be prefect for fast-forwarding, especially the early episodes.

btw--I've noticed that Gordon Ramsay no longer takes his shirt off right before he's about to ream out his next victim. I kinda miss it.

As a long-time viewer (I hesitate to say 'fan') of Survivor, I think I'm running into compassion fatigue--I'm not caring much about the outcome of this season. I'm speculating that the fact for this is that the participants are now themselves fans--ie they've watched the show in previous seasons as much as I have. This kind of changes the premise--the Survivor team-members are now playing the game like us home viewers--so it seems that the paradise of reality television has been spoiled by the knowledge of home-viewing. Or, maybe I should just apply to go on the show myself....

I just need to pause for a moment and dwell on one detail you mention: the real-life aircrash in the Andes has its own website?? I think it should have its own facebook page so all the other disasters can leave comments and post photos.

You're right--the pacing on this show is glacial compared to the customary reality-programming and it takes a bit of getting used to, but the small rewards are worth it. I particularly liked the episode where three of the teams had to invent cheap and fast menus to peddle to scientists working in a huge aerospace research lab; clearly the order of the day for the astrophysicists was to eat and get back to work, and their expressions as they listened to the food offerings ('tex-mex' preceded by something called a 'lime shooter') were priceless. And, having lived in the UK, I have to say that the idea of 'classic British cookery' brings to mind grey meat, overdone root-vegetables and saccharine desserts--but that's just me....