Mookie Lee, Survivor: Fiji
Some guys have all the luck, and some guys just have none. That was the sitch for Survivor: Fiji's Mookie Lee. The 25-year-old Chicagoan who got stuck with the losing tribe from the get-go did his best to change his fate by aligning with a group of strong guys, but then they went and betrayed him. Mookie at one point had the hidden immunity idol, but gave it up to save his "Four Horsemen" alliance, where it went to waste. What's more, he was the only Bula Bula tribe mate that never got to live on the luxury beach. TVGuide.com caught up with Mookie after his ouster to get his take on his bad luck.
TVGuide.com: Did you know before watching it that your alliance mate Alex had voted for you? Mookie Lee: At th
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Pirate Master
What kind of wackos think it will be great fun to live on porridge, sleep in cramped bunks in the hull of an old sailing ship, and risk life and limb hunting through really rugged terrain for clues to a pirate treasure? "They're tough," says Mark Burnett, whose latest adventure reality show, Pirate Master, premieres on May 31. Sure, there's a total of $1 million at stake hidden around the Caribbean island of Dominica, but the daunting physical demands make Survivor's challenge look wimpy. "It's a really interesting diverse cast," says Burnett. "Everybody's a good athlete, but what they've learned is being a great pirate, you have to be really smart. When you're exhausted and you're trudging through a jungle, jumping off waterfalls or swimming up canyon
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OK, I know it's just a TV show — a reality TV show at that — but I’m telling you that by 8:58 pm/ET I was on the edge of my seat and ready for next week's show. Survivor: Fiji has become pure entertainment and that's mostly because I have no clue who is going to win the million dollars! By now there's usually something to give most viewers an inkling as to who is going to win, but with no clear villain (come on, the Four Horsemen "bad guys" aren't all that bad), I'm not even sure if the Vegas oddsmakers have a clear-cut winner chosen. And that's the beauty of Fiji. It's anybody's game.Part of what's keeping Fiji so interesting are the great challenges, and tonight's were the best mix of athleticism and brainpower that I think I've ever seen on the show. It's a nice twist that, though we're at the individual portion of the game, the castaways are still forced to work in teams as they did for this Hasbro-inspired ball-launch game that I'm almost sure Yau-Man was trying ...
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Justin Chambers and Elizabeth Reaser by Ron Tom/ABC
How great did it feel to have Ugly Betty and Grey’s Anatomy back on with new episodes this week? Such a scrumptious double feature of feel-good TV. I’m especially keen on Betty these days, this colorful and vibrantly funny new geek on the block. As others have said, it’s the perfect appetizer to the main course of Grey’s, with its usually irresistible blend of suds, scrubs and heartache.Best move both shows made this week: Ditching subplots that were going nowhere. On Betty, that meant saying goodbye to Ignacio’s case worker (who really wasn’t), the crazily smitten Constance (Octavia Spencer). On Grey’s, that meant saying goodbye to the arrogant Dr. Marlow, played by a miscast Roger Rees, a fine actor who came off more like a creepy Dracula than an intimidating Dr. McBrilliant. Of all the misbegotten love matches we’ve been forced to consider on this show, asking us to believe Cristina ever had a thing for this ghoul was almost as ewww-inspiri...
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Do we even need to discuss the challenges? The strategizing between the game play was where the action was tonight. OK, a few words because I do love the What We Think of Each Other Axe Wield. Basically, Stacy should have her own CW sitcom because Everybody Hates Her if being voted the person no one wants to see again after the show is any indication. It was Cassandra, dear, "uh-huh"-ing Cassandra, who won her first challenge by answering every question correctly. Girlfriend's been taking notes and may even be making a move for the final four, but Boo and Stacy are definitely on the block.Next was the immunity challenge, which left me wondering about the minds behind this torturous device of miniscule footholds. Thankfully, Yau-Man came through to win the first individual immunity seemingly unscathed. Sadly, that sinister immunity necklace, made of what I'm going to say are wild boars' husks, was not all that flattering around his neck, though it did make for a fearsome stance at tr...
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Lost uncorks a shocker — or several — in May.
Finales! Guest stars! Crossover episodes! Mark your calendars now so you don't miss your favorite shows!
Monday, April 23On 24 (9 pm/ET, Fox), Jack goes rogue in a desperate attempt to save Audrey from the Chinese. Wait, isn't he already rogue?
Tuesday, April 24American Idol (8 pm/ET, Fox) lays witness to the rarely seen softer side of Simon Cowell in the two-part "Idol Gives Back" charity special. Part 2 airs tomorrow, 8 pm/ET. On ABC, boxer Oscar de la Hoya mixes it up with George Lopez (8:30 pm/ET).
Wednesday, April 25Sun's babydaddy is revealed on Lost (10 pm/ET, ABC).
Thursday, April 26The season's best new sitc
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Sanjaya Malakar by Frank Micelotta/Fox
One of the weirdest TV weeks ever continued Wednesday as reality TV continued to get it right, with American Idol finally kicking the ridiculously out-of-his-depth Sanjaya Malakar to the curb. But does this leave Ryan Seacrest and Simon Cowell something — anything — to talk or argue about?Meanwhile, in the actual real world, the horrific saga of the Virginia Tech shootings took yet another surreal turn when NBC revealed and analyzed on air the existence of a disturbing package of video, text and photos sent by the shooter on the day of the killings. Unimaginably, he went to the post office between sprees to mail his deranged manifesto to the media in a final bid for media immortality. (I have decided not to name the shooter here, in a personal bid to deny him, at least in this space, that publicity.) This package of angry rants and deadly poses, resembling a nightmare vision out of Taxi Driver, is without question legitimate news, and its contents will be devoured on air...
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Michelle Yi, Survivor: Fiji
On Survivor: Fiji, nice girls finish... somewhere right in the middle. That, at least, was the case with Michelle Yi. The peppy fashion-design student, whose bubbly spirit led her to memorably fall off a platform during a challenge and hop right back up without missing a beat, was the first member to be voted off the newly merged Bula Bula tribe (or at least dismissed by half of it, thanks to a new tribe-within-tribe twist). TVGuide.com spoke to Michelle about Jeff Probst's very leading questions.
TVGuide.com: I have to say, in your little exit interview, you were so peppy and happy about the experience. That's a nice change from
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Mark Burnett presents Pirate Master.
Ahoy, maties! Mark Burnett — the man behind Survivor, The Apprentice and Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? — has gone skull-and-crossbones for his newest show, Pirate Master, which premieres May 31 on CBS. The 13-week buccaneer series, hosted by Australian actor/musician Cameron Daddo (Big Momma's House 2), stars "16 people who all agree that had they been born 250 years ago, they would have liked to be pirates," as Burnett tells TV Guide from the Pirat
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So many changes, I'm not sure if my head has stopped spinning yet. I’m sure Michelle feels the same. Here was a woman who was certainly not playing for the Juror No. 3 spot, though that is now who she is. It's too bad because things were going her way up until that final twist. Beware, all future survivors, of the little note! Before we go there, let's go to Exile Island with everyone else who was summoned to EI with instructions to bring only their personal belongings and the assumption that this was the merger and their new home. They were only half right. While Ravu and Moto were no more, their home was not to be this snake-ridden rock. Moto's camp would be the new Bula Bula's home. Oh, the rejoicing over getting to live at the luxury camp! Apparently, a luxury camp by any other name really isn't a luxury camp. All the little perks of Moto were gone — no bed, no shower — leaving only a machete, fishing gear and fire. Yes, the gods have been cruel to Mookie, the onl...
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