Episode 21.14
September 7

Chico: Hey, this is Chico Alexander... and I just celebrated the end of the summer by taking leave of my senses. Ever went theme parking, Gordon?
Gordon: Disneyworld of Drive-in movie?
Chico: Let me put it to you this way... Four days, three parks. Do the math. Great times. I'll show you the movie I made of it when I finish. But first, what say we geek out for a few hours?
Gordon: Let's geek out for a few hours.
Chico: Alrighty. From Somewhere in America, the season fun-ale of WLTI... is... ON!
Gordon: Yay! Chico and Gordon here, and we start with the end of the Summer - and the end of the line for 5 acts.
Chico: Awww.
Gordon: It's America's Got Talent time, and there were no surprises this week as far as the acts that got in.
Chico: I did see this on my vacation in Virginia... for the most part, I'm pleased. I'm wondering what the hell happened that Drew Thomas didn't advance, but it's as it was foretold.... If it had music or an old person, it advanced. The five lucky acts...The Texas Tenors, the Voices of Glory, the Fab Five, Grandma Lee, and Kevin Skinner. Interesting note about the Voices and the Fab five... the Judges couldn't decide which one to advance, so they advanced both of them. Not to question procedure, but I call fix. =p
Gordon: I don't think it's a fix as much as it's an idiotic move to artificially throw in a surprise. You have had 10 acts in the finals every season, so I don't know why they'd change it now. I think they knew they were going to do it well in advance and they made this a 'heartstring' moment.
Chico: I know that much, but it's like this... Say you're just watching for the first time... You wouldn't know what to expect.
Gordon: Exactly, Its not a fix. It's just dumb.
Chico: Why can't a reality show just for one moment just be straight up?
Gordon: I honestly don't know. You don't need to gimmick a show like this.
Chico: You really don't. But more on "gimmicks, unneeded" later. Right now, tell us what each act needs to do to win.
Gordon: Big Board please?

Gordon: Big Board, Part 1: What the first 5 finalists need to do. We start with...Kevin Skinner.
Chico: See those heartstrings? Tug a little more. He's doing exactly what he was meant to do. Now he needs to wring every tear for what it's worth.
Gordon: Not just that. He needs to be bigger emotionally and show he's not just a ballad machine. I'd like to see him step it up and give us something different. More up beat, but still emotionally powerful.
Chico: I beg to differ. This is who he is. He need not change just to curry votes. I mean, give the American voting pool SOME credit.
Gordon: He can still be emotional. Just not with those same style songs.
Chico: I don't think anything else would fit his forte. He's not the Texas Tenors after all. Speaking of...
Gordon: They need to blend. The vocal tones sounding together are fracturing.
Chico: Again, harmony. Use it. Be one with it. It is your friend.
Gordon: Not for them it isn't. Next up - Grandma Lee
Chico: Time to pull out all the stops. Make it seem like the last couple of times you were holding back, though after doing sets on Piers, Hoff, and Kevin Skinner, that may be hard. But do it.
Gordon: I think she needs to avoid doing sets on fellow contestants. The judges are fair play, but not the contestants.
Chico: The best thing she can do... be a dirty old woman. :-) But not too dirty. This is a family show, after all. Speaking of family... The Fab Five. They clogged to Big & Rich... to Sean Kingston... and to Destiny's Child. What will get them through the final stage?
Gordon: They need to go back to the Firefighter Routine. More, more, more. Brighter, bigger, splashier. Style > Substance.
Chico: Right on.
Gordon: Finally - The Voices of Glory
Chico: They actually surprised the audience with a contemporary piece.
Gordon: The problem here. The girl is good. The guys...notsomuch.
Chico: Simple solution. Make the girl the centerpiece. Problem solved.
Gordon: She needs to be the star, period.
Chico: It's the only way.
Gordon: It's Voices of The Sister, with the 2 back ups, and that's what it needs to be.
Chico: And that'll get them to the million. Next week, the other half of the final equation.
Gordon: And you'll see another Big Board to find out. One of the people you won't see...Dean Cain. It's time to see if Dean is Smarter than a 5th grader.
Chico: Now, Dean Cain is playing for the Lollipop Theatre Network... but how much will he win? The last question he faces is in 5th Grade Literature. Hope you've read up. The question is...

What English author wrote the novel "Robinson Crusoe" in 1719?

Chico: Answer, please?
Gordon: That's easy. Steve Martin.
Chico: Saywha?
Gordon: He was in all those Pink Panther movies. Wasn't he Inspector Crusoe?
Chico: That was inspector Clouseau... and Peter Sellers can run circles around him. :-)
Gordon: The real answer is Daniel DeFoe
Chico: Right. Dean locked in with Jonathan's answer of "Daniel Dorphe"... and he's out $75,000.
Gordon: He was at $100,000. He leaves with $25,000.
Chico: We also had another player, believe it or not.
Gordon: Do tell.
Chico: Realtor Shomari Jennings is playing for $25,000 on this question, it's a Field Trip Question on 3rd Grade World Geography...

"If you're off the east coast of Australia and near the Great Barrier Reef, what ocean are you in?"

Gordon: The Oboriganl Ocean
Chico: No... Maori...
Gordon: Now look, we have The Indian Ocean. I'm sure the Aussies would be jealous if they dont't have an ocean of their own.
Chico: Well, for those reading in the land Down Under... so sorry, but it's the Pacific Ocean. Shomari decides to drop out with $10,000. The answer, said by Jenna, was... Pacific.
Gordon: i think we need an Aussie Ocean
Chico: Well, you can put a salad bowl of water in your kitchen... and put a boomerang in it. :-) There's your Aussie Ocean.
Gordon: Would that be tastier than pasta salad with broccoli, pepper, sin-dried tomatoes and artichoke hearts?
Chico: ... no. That does sound pretty tasty. But how does that come into play?
Gordon: That's the losing dish on this week's Top Chef. and Preeti becomes the victim of it.
Chico: Yikes.
Gordon: We play on the Air Force base, and the challenge is to create a meal for 300 of them
Chico: So what was wrong with that dish?
Gordon: They thought it wasn't completely done or inspired.
Chico: Ah. Yeah, that'll ... that'll do it.
Gordon: You can't do that now. You also can't mention that they forgot this was a competition. If you're not competing, then what are you there for?
Chico: The experience? the learning? The... I'm going absolutely nowhere am I?
Gordon: Umm...no. And learning that also is Mitchell, who got booted, despite being on the winning team.
Chico: I'm guessing that being in the bottom since the season started didn't help him much.
Gordon: This whole experience seemed like it was too overwhelming for him. He didn't seem like he was ready to be on the show yet.
Chico: Moral of the story, if you're going to compete, compete. Don't just stand there and do nothing, you know? That was the reasoning, wasn't it? Mitchell didn't do anything.
Gordon: Well, he made a lot of errors. Big Bored, please?

Gordon: The Subject: Project Walk This Way How did Mitchell lose it? 1. For starters, he got on the wrong foot quickly by Ra'mon.
Chico: They basically didn't get along. At all.
Gordon: #2. They argued more than designed together, and at the end, Mitchell wound up working on an item that wasn't predominantly seen by most of the panel.
Chico: No, I noticed that Ra'mon basically designed the winning outfit, as in, what was displayed to the panel.
Gordon: You have to own what you did. You can't throw the person under the bus because if you're the one at fault and you blame someone else, you're gone.
Chico: right.
Gordon: Finally, you have to imprint your own thoughts and ideas on your outfit. Mitchell didn't do that. he let Ra'Mon monopolize both the time and the outfit.
Chico: So Ra'mon monopolizes the credit and Mitchell monopolizes the exit interview. Seems pretty straight forward if you ask me. You don't do anything, you go home.
Gordon: True, but it's also about showing what you got every second that you can do it.
Chico: And Mitchell showed us what he's got. The only problem is... no one wanted it.
Gordon: Agreed. Now does anyone want Millionaire's new format?
Chico: ... Pending. :-) Here's what's in store for season eight. First of all, a Tournament of 10. The ten highest scorers on the money tree will be given the opportunity to come back and play one question for the million. Now, I was talking to our columnist Travis Eberle, and we're basically on the same foot here that ABC's been aching, dying even, to pop the party poppers on the million. The OTHER thing that's being talked about this season... New money tree. As a point of reference, here's the old...

100 - 200 - 300 - 500 - (1000) - 2000 - 4000 - 8000 - 16,000 - (25,000) - 50,000 - 100,000 - 250,000 - 500,000 - (1 MILLION)

Chico: .... and here's the new...

500 - 1000 - 2000 - 3000 - (5000) - 7500 - 10,000 - 12,500 - 15,000 - (25,000) - 50,000 - 100,000 - 250,000 - 500,000 - (1 MILLION)

Gordon: I don't like it.
Chico: Now it's easy just to say that this money tree doesn't make sense, but let's look at it from both sides here. On one hand, the payout is greater from the standpoint of the player who has no idea what he or she has to do to get to the 25,000. But the problem I have with it, and I've been looking at this for a while now and I've been diplomatic about it until I could really nail what's wrong with it - it seems like we're not so much adjusting the risk as we are deflating the payout.
Gordon: Once again, we're cutting down the budget. There's no real reward on the early get go.
Chico: I even have a chart here.
Gordon: Let's see it.
Chico: Got it. Remember.... It's Risk old/Gain old - risk new/gain new.

1) 0/100 - 0/500
2) 100/100 - 500/500
3) 200/100 - 1000/1000
4) 300/200 - 2000/1000
5) 500/500 - 3000/2000

Chico: So the lower tier... Risk to reward ratio... kinda even. Then we get to the middle tier.

6) 0/1000 - 0/2500
7) 1000/2000 - 2500/2500
8) 3000/4000 - 5000/2500
9) 7000/8000 - 7500/2500
10) 15,000/9000 - 10,000/10,000

Chico: This is what I'm having a problem with. You're increasing the risk, but at the cost of the reward.
Gordon: Pretty much, Are you really going to rise $7,500 for an extra $2,500?
Let's just say you're a complete dimwit. You're at question 9. You already banked $12,500. You're out of lifelines. The question's on... I don't know, the Hobbies of Bert from Sesame Street. Are you really going to risk $7500 for another and a chance at maybe more? I mean, not a lot of people wanted to punt away $15,000 for another $9000. Then again, not a lot of people thought that far ahead.
Gordon: The only reason why you'd do it is because you could lock it down at $25,000 after question #10, but it's a really bad chain.
Chico: Again, eliminating the payout to increase the risk. You're doing it wrong, Disney.
Gordon: Just like Jeff did it all wrong, which is why he's no longer in the Big Brother house



Gordon: As predicted, Jeff gets evicted. The floating duo of Kevin and Natalie are now in complete control of the house, with Natalie winning the HOH and Kevin winning Veto.
Chico: But here's the rub. The bit in the middle between the HOH and the Veto... the nomination. Natalie, as a little subversion to her gameplay for the last couple of weeks, nominated Kevin and Michele for eviction. Now Kevin's got the veto, and he'd be stupid not to use it. But how do we know that we're on the up and up so far as Natalie is concerned? Was the nomination a chance to backdoor Michele, or does she have a deal with Jordan?
Gordon: Natalie's been lying the whole game. But if I'm Kevin, i boot Michelle, who has been more apt to win HOH challenges.
Chico: Agreed. Michele, up to this point, has been just coasting along watching everyone else shoot themselves in the foot. Now she's completely out of the power equation. So if it were me in the position Kevin was in, I'd vote out Michele, because I know how dangerous she is.
Gordon: It's her fault shes in this mess. She needed to get over her issues with Russell and realize that she neede him as an ally and to get out Kevin and Natalie when she had the chance. But in the pivotal point in the series, they get rid of Russell, and hence their power in the game. Kevin and Natalie take full advantage, and they are in the position to win the game.
Chico: And that's why Jeff is where he is and Kevin and Natalie are where they are.
Gordon: You see this happen a lot, Sometimes, it's too soon to start jettisoning allies, and that's what happened here. Jeff's blunder cost his whole team the match.
Chico: And you remember, this was one of the rules, know when it's time to abandon (friend)ship. Jeff clearly didn't know when, so now he's out.
Gordon: True. He'd be better off following the hamsters. They've banded an alliance and are looking to knock out the non-hamsters.
Gordon: Mike and Darnell though are trying to be the floating moles undercover.
Chico: We already have a mole, dude. Too bad Cooper can't float.
Gordon: He can't, but he can roll that beautiful brain footage.

(Doug: Live, local, and latebreaking... From the four corners of the globe to your frontal lobe, this is WLTI Brainvision News, and now here's Gordon Pepper, Chico Alexander, and the award-winning Brainvision News Team)

Chico: Once again, Doug Morris, the voice of Brainvision News. Thanks, Doug! First is a greenlight. Which this week... is orange!
Gordon: An orange greenlight?
Chico: Not to mention with Japanese characters on it.

First Greenlight: Nick has set a go-date for the new series "Brainsurge"... It'll be on the network September 28. The other one is a new series from A. Smith & Co called "Under Pressure".

Chico: Based on the Japanese series "Pressure Study", seven contestants must work together to survive rounds of questions on a variety of topics. It runs on TV Asahi in Japan. You know, when they're not running Super Sentai or Kamen Rider. It's being pitched to networks as we speak.
Gordon: So maybe they can be on TV - like these shows.

It's Monday, so it must be time to go back to syndies. Deal or No Deal, Family Feud, and Millionaire all return this week. America's Next Top Model and So You Think You Can Dance show up on Wednesday.

Chico: Remember, DOND shoots from CT this season and Feud brings back the Bullseye.
Gordon: More like Bull's Rear, which is what I think of the idea.
Chico: Did we also mention a new car?
Gordon: That would be what comes out of the bull's rear when you get a bulls eye.
Chico: Ha. More information, you can follow the Feud on the Twitter at @family_feud. They're actually nice guys.
Gordon: Are you fully loaded for bull?
Chico: I am.
Gordon: Let's hear it.
Chico: and this is one I got off of the Twitterverse....

Want to know more about UbiSoft's upcoming game releases? Go to gameshowvideogames.com. On display: The Price Is Right 2010, Family Feud, and Gordon's favorite... Press Your Luck.

Chico: You may want to get a DSi for that one, G. Because I know you sold you Wii and don't have a PC. So the only option left... Get a DSi. Preferably before October 27. I could pick it up as a birthday gift to you from me for you.
Gordon: Aw
Chico: Not tech related, but congrats to Meredith Vieira and Cash Cab for picking up Daytime Emmy gold this year.
Gordon: Good for Meredith. And I think it's well-deserved.
Chico: Yep. What about things that AREN'T so well deserved?
Gordon: I've got some of those.

Are YOU Smarter Than...Spencer Pratt, who is trying to change his name to KING Spencer Pratt.

Chico: Dude. If you're too big that you want to change your name to King... then you're too big.
Gordon: Maybe Chicken A La King.
Chico: King Crab?
Gordon: Meanwhile, I have some King Haterade. Want some?
Chico: Yep

Mitchell and Isabella have one thing in common - They were part of the WINNING team when they got sent down to the bottom (and in one case, expulsion). This is the first time in either show this has happens - and it's happened at the same time.

Chico: Yikes. What are the odds?
Gordon: Amazingly bad. But for better odds, I'd like to span the globe.
Chico: Yep. We're going back to Japan for this one.

Lighthearted Entertainment and NTV are teaming up for a new series, "All or Nothing"

Gordon: You've seen all these risk everything shows.
Chico: Yep.
Gordon: I hope we get a real game to go with it.
Chico: Nothing's known about this show yet, but it's going to Mipcom in October.
Gordon: I bet they'll have hoes playing on it.,
Chico: *playing "Pimpin' All Over the World"*
Gordon: But first...we've had one of our own do this, so maybe one of you want to do it also.

The new hit game show "Catch 21," hosted by Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air") is now seeking contestants! You can win up to $26,000!
http://www.realitywanted.com/call/5085-catch-21-gsn-game-show-casting-contestants-win-up-to-26000

Chico: Maybe card counting's not your thing. Maybe you like driving.

Speed TV is looking for drivers to compete in Bullrun.
http://www.realitywanted.com/call/5438-bullrun-now-casting

Gordon: Nice. That would be Season 3.
Chico: OR.... maybe you'd like to sing for your supper.

Singing Bee's casting. Go to CMT.com for more information there. Or here - http://www.realitywanted.com/call/5429-the-singing-bee-on-cmt-is-casting-new-contestants

Gordon: And now for the hoes...

In this week's Hodometer, Jerry Springer will host the Amercia's Got Talent live show in Las Vegas, Danny Gokey signs a deal, Avril Lavigne and Katy Perry join the American Idol judging carousel...Jeff Foxworthy gets to play a big blue ox, Adam Lambert's Album shows up November 24th, and various people including Cat Deeley and Jillian Michaels talk about the new season of their shows.

Gordon: But none of them are your ho of the week.
Chico: Who do we have?
Gordon: The ho is Kara Dioguardi, who decides that she likes No Boundaries so much that she's going to release it herself as a single.
Chico: That's more her song anyway. I don't know what she wrote it thinking that someone else can sing it.
Gordon: I'm not even sure she can sing it.
Chico: well... good luck with that, Kara. Seriously
Gordon: And those...are your hoes.
Chico: And that's Brainvision. Shut it down.
Gordon: (Shutting Down)
Chico: Still to come, we bring back our toilet for the new fall season, but first, what do we have?
Gordon: First, we grab 100 Big Balls.
Chico: This is WLTI. Give us 22 minutes, we'll give you $7500.
Gordon: And you can risk the $7,500 to make another $500.

(Brainvision has been brought to you by Here comes the Neighborhood. We've seen families be stuck with each other with no electricity. but let's see what happens when 32 people have to share a one bedroom apartment.)

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE