Peace

The TV Manifesto will return after this brief holiday break.

REALITY | ‘Blush’ mystery haunts finale

I’ve read more about Lifetime’s reality series Blush in the last few days than I did in the entire time it’s been in production or on the air. Described as “Project Runway for makeup artists,” the show concluded last night.

Thus, the news today that one of its three finalists died of unknown causes over the weekend is eerie. Given all the dangerous things reality contestants undertake (bungee jumping, stunts, fake weddings), it’s a little surprising that the genre boasts relatively few casualties after nearly a decade of prominence. But Blush would seem to rate pretty low on the danger scale, and Todd Homme’s death occured well after production wrapped.

The only other reality show death I can recall is NBC’s Contender suicide a few years back. The Newsday article suggests that Homme and his partner were happy and planned to relocate to Los Angeles soon. Natural causes (or perhaps an undetected malady) are a possibility, but Homme was the same age as me — 23. Natural causes are usually pretty low on the cause of death list for twentysomethings. It’s not unheard of, just unsettling.

No word on when a cause of death will be determined.

DEXTER | A neat little package

Never mind Michael C. Hall’s frightening real-life facial hair. The third season of Dexter was tidy, but not overly so. I enjoyed the Miguel storyline, and it was nice that the various subplots managed dovetailing and finding some measure of resolution. I think I only fell asleep once during this year of the show, which is a new record.

And there are still plenty of threads weaving their way into the new season. Will Deb find Dexter’s real mother (and will we learn that Deb and Dex are half-siblings)? Will anyone autopsy the Skinner, or for that matter Miguel? Will the writing get less transparent in any way?

A final note: it seems I’m subtly getting my wish from last year of Dexter and Weeds becoming the same show. At the very least they’re sharing plot ideas. Last year, both relied on fire. Both have dealt with murder as a means to an end. And now they’re are wading hip-deep into new baby territory. How long til bloody, ganja-emblazoned pacifiers pop up in that Showtime store?

A complaint about the Sirius-XM merger

Um, it sucks now. As a DirecTV subscriber, I’m treated to free XM channels for digital, by-genre music. But in late November, XM and Sirius merged — a business decision I supported in theory. Then the practical application came home to roost and made me sad.

The companies seemingly shuffled their musical decks together, homogenizing everything and removing duplicates in the process. Thus, my beloved Flight 26 is gone, replaced with a similar ridiculously named channel.

The music mix is a little different, which is fine, but there’s much more irrelevant babble than I remembered. I’m not sure how they determined who’d be kept on and who’d be given the hook, DJ-wise, but I have a bone to pick about that if the result is more babbling and less music.

Anyway, all this is sending me running into the arms of Pandora once again. Thanks for the add-on, DirecTV, but I mostly won’t be needing it anymore.

ADS | I always feel like somebody’s watching me

MSNBC has been heavily advertising Zoombak, a new GPS locator subscription service that promises to have your dog text message you when he runs away and your car call the cops when it gets stolen.

I also heard recently on Chelsea Lately that someone has now designed women’s underwear with a similar tracking device. The necessity of GPS-tracking someone’s undergarments notwithstanding, are we entering an era of Twilight Zone proportions for stalking and invasion of privacy? Or are these services only the next Billy Mays as seen on TV fad-of-the-moment?

GREY’S | Semi-shocker: T.R. Knight checks out

I can’t recall a set as beleagured with rumor, backstage scandal, and production turmoil in recent television history as Grey’s Anatomy has been since the pinnacle of its success a couple years ago.

The reports that T.R. Knight is leaving the show are unlikely to change that trend, which began with Isaiah Washington and whose most recent casualty was Brooke Smith’s Dr. Erica Hahn.

It’s no surprise that Knight wants out. When’s the last time George had a meaningful storyline that went somewhere? It’s been a downward spiral since that time he hooked up with Meredith and he cried during.

Then there was a failed romance with Callie, a failed romance with Izzie, and a failed romance with Lexie. There was failing the intern exam and being the chief’s glorified bitch. I can see how this material would get old — and those who dare to complain about the material are castigated by the press as whiners (see: Knight’s real-life BFF co-star Katherine Heigl).

And then there’s the blind item from last week about another original cast member who producers were about to fire — someone other than Knight. I suppose it’s too much to hope for that Dempsey is about to be shitcanned. He’s had a bad attitude about the show that saved his career for as long as I can remember.

The wheels came off this meat wagon some time ago. Spinning Addison off to the even-worse Private Practice didn’t help matters, but I’m thinking the show was unsavable even before ABC got greedy. And yet I can’t stop watching. Perhaps the entire show will just disband abruptly with no explanation?

I do look forward, five years down the road, to the tell-all books and two-hour True Hollywood Story about what the hell really happened to poor Grey’s Anatomy.

LATE NIGHT | Jay stays on as NBC shuffles the deck

The Peacock will announce tomorrow that Jay Leno is staying with the network, migrating to a prime time slot in fall 2009. With Conan O’Brien set to take over The Tonight Show next year, Leno stood to be displaced. Now, he’ll provide a reliable lead-in to late local news, save NBC a boatload on prime time programming, and not compete head-to-head with O’Brien on another network.

Jimmy Fallon, the heir to O’Brien’s Late Night slot, begins his online-only dry run tonight at 12:35a/11:35c.

TAR | A satisfying finale

Nick and Starr won the million dollar prize last night on The Amazing Race, and I wouldn’t have had it any other way. Gail Pennington sums up the final leg quite nicely.

TAR | Season 13’s final leg looms

After mother-son team Toni and Dallas’ heartbreaking elimination last week, three teams remain in the race for $1,000,000 — and two of them had no business making it this far.

Brother and sister Nick and Starr have dominated several legs of the race, including the just-concluded penultimate chunk. They’ll have the lead going into this final round, but history suggests that the early frontrunners usually get their comeuppance by the end. In this case, for once, it would be totally undeserved.

Ken and Tina, whose marriage is on the rocks, can barely stop bickering long enough to figure out where they’re going. They’ve often been too busy blaming each other that things like ‘reading the clue’ take a back seat to the childish, petty behavior that likely drove a wedge between them in the first place.

Dan and Andrew, the bumbling frat boys, have run an embarrassing race and by all rights should have been eliminated three times by now. Their sheer dumb luck has kept them in the game, and now they have a one-in-three shot at that million dollar prize.

It was not that long ago that I was optimistic about the outcome of this cycle of the Race. Now, all I have to root for is Nick and Starr, which means that I’m twice as likely to be disappointed with Sunday’s finale as not.

Of course, all will be forgiven, if not forgotten, in just a few months. Season 14 kicks off February 15. The season finale of The Amazing Race airs Sunday at 8p/7c on CBS (though it’ll probably be pushed for NFL overrun, so set your DVR for an extra hour).

GREY’S | One more for the road

As usual, it’s been a tumultuous season behind the scenes at ABC’s stalwart medical franchise. Tonight’s installment, “All By Myself,” is the show’s last original episode in 2008. As we go into the holiday hiatus, I have so many questions. Will George finally have a purpose again? What in Shonda’s name is up with Dead Denny? And, as I’ve noticed they’re letting another male writer’s room virgin pen tonight’s episode, will it be as awkward as “Rise Up,” with its schizophrenic whiplash style?

Since I have no answers, allow me to point you in the direction of more questions. Some blind items appearing online this week suggest that Brooke Smith (Erica Hahn) isn’t the only regular bound for a sudden exit at Seattle Grace.