Episode 22.16
December 28

Chico: Could be worse.
Jason: Could be the Browns, Rams, Raiders or Lions too.
Gordon: That's for the next 4 seasons.
Chico: Ladies and gentlemen.. the 2008 Detroit Lions. If there ever were a team that said "We suck out loud..."
Gordon: Yay! Let's move on to the second half of 2009, shall we?
Jason: Lets.
Chico: Yep. We start with JULY. The summer premieres keep on rolling with More to Love... Great American Road Trip... Dance Your Ass Off... Dating in the Dark... Have I scared you yet?
Gordon: And...more Death.
Jason: Yes. Scary
Chico: And we lose another legend.
Gordon: Fred Travelena
Jason: One of my favs.
Chico: We'll never forget him from Anything for Money and Match Game 90. He was an expert at the voices. And the fact that it was so sudden was all the sadder. You know?
Gordon: True. But there were some good shows. Catch It Keep it is my vote for best new show of the year.
Chico: It's up there, alright. You get sweet prizes, but you have two days to protect them from utter destruction.
Jason: Its in my top 5. It was really good stuff
Chico: Yep. I'm ready for some new shows of that.
Gordon: So was Most Popular, which admittedly is a Without Prejudice Clone. Still fun though.
Chico: Yeah... That came and went quickly, though.
Gordon: But if you want to talk about shows that we'd be talking about for the rest of the year, let's move to August.
Chico: Lots of news this month.
Gordon: And none of them for the right reasons. Dating in the Dark. Face the Ace, and....Megan Wants a Millionaire.
Chico: This was one of the big reality show stories we EVER had to cover.
Jason: The worst story of the year in my opinion.
Chico: Ryan Jenkins was charged in the murder of his model girlfriend. He fled to Canada where he hung himself.
Jason: He was a contest on Megan Wants a Millionaire
Chico: AND I Love Money 3. VH1 ended up canceling both in the wake of this tragedy.
Jason: This story went WORLDWIDE. And the story isn't over yet.
Gordon: The ramifications will be felt for a while. The biggest one is that programming will be changed, standards and practices will be highly enforced, and we could see an end to the reckless dating genre.
Chico: ... or not. That comes later.
Jason: We hope that the contestant coordinators see what happened here and be more careful.
Gordon: We can only hope.
Chico: Yeah, that probably wont' happen either. But what will happen... Millionaire's 10th anniversary. That happened all up and down this B.
Jason: Which I was a part of.
Chico: Yep. It also gave us one of the biggest moments of this year.... Ken Basin vs. the Million dollar question.
Jason: Gordon will call this great TV. I call shenanigans and arrogance.
Gordon: It IS great TV.
Chico: Why can't it be both?
Jason: It could
Chico: What we'll remember most is, "Final answer, give me the million dollars." Then Regis' "You're going to lose a lot of money."
Gordon: Watching someone lose $475,000 is awesome TV. And Dan Avila can relax now, as he's off the board.
Jason: Yeah.
Chico: Again... yikes. You want compelling shenanigans TV, though? Go to CBS.
Gordon: We have Big Brother aka the Chima Syndrome.
Chico: Enter one Chima Simone into the Big Brother House, and through sheer arrogance and not following the rules... EXIT one Chima Simone.
Gordon: Bye bye now.
Chico: And she was never heard from again. Probably for the best this way.
Gordon: Neither will Real Chance of Love: Back in the Saddle. or There Goes the Neighborhood and possibly Shark Tank.
Chico: Or Crash Course or Paula Abdul for that matter, as she quits in the lamest manner possible... via Twitter. Her loss... Ellen DeGeneres' gain.
Gordon: Sure is. And we'll be looking at that story all of next year. Continuing on the news, We have the debut of Project Runway on Lifetime.
Jason: The long delayed season 6
Chico: And with it, it's companion show Models of the Runway. The season wasn't all that it was cracked up to be. But Season 7 has to be better... right?
Gordon: Let's hope so, now that it's had a season on Lifetime. And yes, your sister Quisla can recap it, since obviously we, as fashion-absent guys, don't know what we're talking about.
Chico: Heh. We'll see what happens.
Jason: Of course not.
Chico: Meanwhile, Rick Bayless wins Top Chef Masters, Melissa D'arabian wins Next Food Network Star... and it's time for the FALL.
Gordon: The Fall features the rise of Kevin Skinner, who wins America's Got Talent. Jordan Lloyd wins Big Brother as well. The syndies come back. Millionaire has a new money tree.
Chico: And we get a new format for Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader. Syndication friendly.
Gordon: Ratings friendly too, as it goes over a 2.0. Deal or No Deal drops to a 1.1 and is on the endangered species list.
Chico: If it gets renewed, it'll be JUST. But that may be hard when you stop production.
Jason: Very hard
Gordon: I don't see it being renewed. I do see Brainsurge being renewed, as it premiered in September.
Jason: One of my top 5 of 2009 as well
Chico: Yep
Jason: A great show that just happens to be a kids show
Chico: Seems to be a lot of those... or maybe two. There are also a lot of celebrities on game shows in September. And by a lot, we mean... A LOT. Jeopardy! 5th Grader. Deal or No Deal. Brainsurge. TPIR. 5th Grader.... 5th Grader. And of course... Dancing with the Stars.
Jason: And 5th Grader
Gordon: George Smoot becomes the final Primetime Contestant on 5th Grader - and he wins $1,000,000.
Chico: Way to go. Literally.
Gordon: September also sees the Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, and one of the biggest landslides of any season, as Rashard Evans Team Dominates Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson 7-1.
Chico: Goodness...
Gordon: Both finals teammates - members of Evans squad.
Jason: Rampage said he hated to do the job.
Chico: Yeah, that was obvious to everyone.
Gordon: Pay It Off and Road Rules/Real World: Ruins also debuts.
Chico: And that gives way to October... and the day everyone was waiting for... the premiere of LETS MAKE A DEAL!
Jason: WOOT! Biggest premiere in 15 years.
Chico: Biggest premiere since Millionaire.
Gordon: For a daytime game show, yes. The numbers are better than the show it replaced, so that's a good sign.
Chico: We may see LMAD around for a while. It was built to last, that's for sure.
Jason: But how we got to Deal was quite interesting.
Chico: Yeah. We had a build up of a Pyramid pilot... but CBS went for cheaper instead. But later events could yet see BOTH on the TV. More later, though. Another big October event... one I'm still seething from. Personally.
Jason: I know you are. A nominee for D-Bag of the year.
Chico: Now if you've been reading WLTI, you know that I took the online Jeopardy! test and passed through to the full audition. That was in April. You also know that there's a running gag since April, when Gordon asks...
Gordon: "Did they call yet?"
Chico: And I always say... "No, not yet."
Gordon: and I go 'Aw'.
Chico: And here's one reason why I may NOT get the call.
Gordon: This would be in reference to the Jeopardy producers wondering when they will offer Chico a chance to play. Because a spot which may have gone to Chico went to someone who already played the game 10 years ago.
Chico: And one reason why I may not get a chance. Jeff Kirby; it was a story when he got on the show in California. But when he was found out, it went GLOBAL.
Gordon: The money he did win - all $1,000 of it - got revoked.
Jason: And the arrogant bastard decided to wear the same tie he wore 10 years ago.
Chico: And have the same goatee. What a toolbag.
Gordon: Someone not a tool bag - Jose Garces, the latest Next Iron Chef as the show premieres in October.
Chico: Also not a toolbag: Greg Proops. Head Games also launches.
Jason: Another decent show
Chico: And as far from a toolbag as you can get... George Takei. He and his husband Brad Altman make history as the first gay couple on TNG. They end up winning. But please... Don't be hip. Don't sing. And... well, that's it, really. Also ending up winning: Dave "The One-Armed Bandit" Levey on Hell's Kitchen....
Gordon: Elizabeth Miller is the first $500,000 winner on 5th Grader. And we have more news in November. Unfortunately the lead headline is about another hosting death. This one is Ken Ober.
Jason: A part of my life died when he did.
Chico: Same here. We lost one of the good ones.
Gordon: But we had a lot of wins.
Chico: Geoff Wolinetz... $500,000 on 5th Grader.
Gordon: Scott Hostetler ($25,000 on Catch 21),
Chico: Rachel Rothenberg... $75,000 on Jeopardy!.
Gordon: Sam Murray wins $1,000,000********** on Millionaire.
Chico: Ah, the Tournament of 10.
Gordon: For the Tournament or 10**********. TPIR, on the heels of a pretty good Halloween show, gives us episode #7,000 and a Veterans Day special. Irina Shabayeva wins Project Runway
Chico: And our brethren celebrates the work of Geoff Edwards and Allen Ludden at GSC7. Sa.... wait for it... LUTE. And Donny Osmond wins DWTS (to add).
Gordon: As we move from November to December.
Chico: And the upset of the year coming... this week, actually.
Gordon: No new shows in November, but plenty this month: American Ninja Warrior, The Sing-Off, Bank of Hollywood, Britain's Missing Top Model, Launch My Line. I don't call it an upset, Natalie White wins Survivor by defeating Russell Hantz, who not only Outplayed, but who OVERplayed.
Jason: Sure. So let's give the money to the person who is the nicest instead of the best player.
Chico: Can I deliver the "company line" as it were?
Gordon: Sure.
Chico: Probst basically says... Bitter, party of seven.
Jason: Probst is RIGHT.
Gordon: No he's not. Survivor is a SOCIAL game. You have to play politics. Russell could have been professional and nice. He wasn't. Hence, he loses to someone who plays the social game better. If I'm beating your skull in and then ask for $50, are you going to give it to me?
Chico: I'm going to have to side with.... ... Gordon.
Jason: You would
Chico: Russell really OVERPLAYED his hand. You can see it in his smirk, you can see it in his flaunting of the immunity idol. You could see it. Now you can say that he deserves the money for the way he played and whatever... but Survivor is a social game, and he forgot the endgame.
Gordon: America is a panel of judges and they gave the money I think fairly.
Chico: Yep
Gordon: But America only gets 13-16 hours, not the 924 or so hours that the contestants had to live with each other for.
Chico: There you go.
Gordon: So there's 900+ hours that we don't see that the contestants have to deal with on Russell.
Chico: Personally, I wouldn't recommend it.
Gordon: No. Going back to winners, Megan/Cheyne win Amazing Race, Roy Nelson wins TUF, Nota wins the Sing-Off, and Michael Voltaggio wins Top Chef. And that...brings us back to the present.
Chico: And now you know... the REST of the story.
Gordon: It's been a strange little year. That's been the past of 2009. We move to the present...next!
Chico: Coming up, the most important Big Board we've ever done.
Jason: Really?
Chico: Trust me here. This is WLTI's 2009 Year in Review. You give us 22 minutes... We'll give you 365 days.
Gordon: Or 80 if you're Phinneas T. Fogg.

(Brought to you by Hell's Dining Room. You think the kitchen's hard... try waiting. Lousy tippers... Bad service... Loud kids... Owned.)

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