REALITY BYTES

Oh, those women on The View! Jason Mesnick popped up on The View yesterday and I thought those women were not going to let Jason go, unless he spilled the beans about who he is engaged to now. They all tried to pin Mesnick down to confessing who he was engaged to; and that starts off more clues to The Bachelor seasons final ending.

Jason Mesnick was asked point blank, if he was still engaged to either Melissa or Molly. Jason dodged that question. Asked yet again, “Are you engaged right now?” Jason Mesnick  yet again, sidetracked this by saying that one of the women from the show is moving to Seattle now, to be with him. That’s great news, but still doesn’t answer the question; if Jason is engaged at this moment.

If you can remember before The Bachelor season started a couple of months ago, Jason made a statement to the media that he was in love and engaged to be married to one of the Bachelorette’s from The Bachelor. Jason stopped telling anyone that he is still engaged, awhile back.

On The View, Jason began describing how he felt today about Melissa and Molly. Jason was almost gushing about how he felt about Melissa. A lot of emotion is expressed. Yet, when Mesnick began to talk about Molly, something was missing in his emotional register that was not as glowing as it was, when he talked about Melissa.

Oh, don’t I know that I am reaching right now. The fact is, Jason really did give Melissa a better personal review to The View audience, than he did about his feelings for Molly.

The Bachelor teaser that shows Jason crying over a balcony? Mesnick said that he never cried so hard in his life, when that scene was filmed. He denies that he was acting, or that any of this was scripted. Jason was firm about ABC not manipulating or scripting The Bachelor this season. This was the first statement that Jason said on The View.

The Bachelor this season, has had more conspiracy theories than there are UFOs in the skies above Phoenix. Yet, I have to believe that network scripting is not in the stars of The Bachelor. Manipulation, probably. Those network execs can’t seem to keep their pudgy fingers out of messing around with the reality, of reality shows.

So, which Bachelorette will Jason finally get married to, Melissa or Molly? In the end, probably neither. Most of these Bachelor and Bachelorette shows begin to lose the magic spells that binds these couples together. Just give it some time and see if Jason Mesnick really gets married to any of the Bachelorettes from his Bachelor season.

Millions of viewers tune into American Idol for a variety of reasons. The show has been on TV a long time. The viewers like to root for the contestants. People want to play armchair judge. Some Idol fans will tune in just to see what is going to come out of Simon Cowell’s mouth every week.

Of course their are rules to meet and be eligible to be a contestant in the American Idol game. This year in particular, the rules have left a lot of people’s hopes and dreams of ever being a contestant on this show, dashed.

This season of American Idol is focusing on the whole package. If you already have a professional career in the area of entertainment, then you have a distinct advantage over other people that turn out for the American Idol auditions. Experience in the entertainment field will get you through the audition gates faster than you can say, “I’m going to Hollywood!”This season has raised a few question marks among the hardcore American Idol fans and some of the media tabloids. What path is American Idol leading us down?

Joanna Pacitti was disqualified from this season’s Idol competition a couple of weeks ago, when it was discovered that she was friends with two of American Idol executives that are directly connected to this season’s production.

Yet, Pacitti already had a career and a couple of major recording contracts to her resume, before she auditioned for Idol. Joanna Pacitti’s career didn’t put her out in the cold and disqualified. It was the “insider” connection that was discovered, getting Pacitti tossed from the competition.

Consider that Joanna Pacitti already had a fan base to draw on, before she auditioned for American Idol. When you do a Google search for “Joanna Pacitti” the first return is in Wikipedia, for God’s sake! Yet, American Idol producers were well aware of Pacitti’s career, before she even auditioned. They welcomed her with open arms.

Now we have contestant, Adam Lambert. Adam comes from the musical plays “Wicked” and “The Ten Commandments”. Adam Lambert - actor singer and entertainer had roles in these plays that were very professional productions. These plays that Adam was in, were not by any stretch of the imagination, community theater productions.

Are there more contestants in American Idol this season that already have careers in the entertainment industry? Does anyone really care that some contestants have distinct advantages over others?

American Idol is a privately owned company. This show can do whatever they damn well please, without answering to anyones critique.

These lines between amateur and professional are being intermingled, if not blurred. Maybe American Idol is so big now that next season they can bring on Stevie Wonder to compete against new Idol hopefuls, and no one will really care. In all fairness, I would tune in to watch that one.

It’s interesting to note: Before Adam Lambert hit that live stage last Wednesday evening, no one really cared to mentioned that this young man already had two major, professional musical plays under his belt. Wouldn’t this be something to be proud of, that you would want the whole world to know? Adam did mention he had theater experience, yet stopped short of telling the public that he is a professional musical theater star.

American Idol obviously did not want America to know that Lambert was a professional entertainer. Why?
It does not look as if American Idol is going to be searching for the next Rueben Studdard, Taylor Hicks, or even Jordan Sparks any longer. If you listen to what comes out of the judges mouths, they are really capitalizing on a total package now. Simon Cowell has come right out and stated this more than a couple of times now.

What is a package? Someone who has the looks - that ever elusive appeal to the kids. The vocals seem to be, really a secondary consideration now.

By the time the contestants reach Hollywood, we know they all have half decent voices. Some vocals are better than others, but it is a “package” American Idol is trying to push on us to vote for. This is the American Idol, now.

A short few hours ago, American Idol had their results show for America’s votes. Of the three available spots out of 12, Adam Lambert received your votes to go on into the final 12, for the Idol crown.

Last night, Simon Cowell acted as if this whole process is beneath him. Actually, he acts as if everyone is beneath him. Simon barely looked at the stage and seemed bored, waiting for the show to end so he could leave.

I am pre-disposed and jaded in my opinion right now. Professional contestants in competition against amateurs just does not seem fair.

Fairness would be, America voting for the amateur contestant that can make it all happen for themselves; and earn that spot, because they deserve it.

Putting amateurs into the American Idol arena against experienced entertainers, then passing this off as an honest competition is not just unfair, it’s very deceptive.

Why should I expect reality show competition to be fair? Life is not fair. I am still waiting for the stimulus package to arrive at my doorstep. How insane is that?

Of course I will still watch American Idol. It’s my perogative to vote for whom ever I want to vote for. It’s your choice too! But, I won’t be voting for anyone in this competition that already has an established career in the industry.

It’s no secret that this year’s American Idol has had a few changes from previous seasons. One of those changes has Paula Abdul on the ropes. Having four judges just doesn’t make sense to Paula.

Why not six judges, or even 12? Wait a minute! America’s votes are the determining factor in, who gets to take home the American Idol every season. Shouldn’t we be the judges?

“Ok Magazine” talked with Paula Abdul about this year’s American Idol. According to this media mag, Abdul believes that adding the fourth judge was a mistake. It doesn’t work and slows down the show. Too many cooks in the kitchen? Too many fish in the sea?

Maybe American Idol should only have one judge. Simon Cowell seems to speak for Randy, tries to speak for Paula and ignores Kara’s comments. Whenever Cowell has a dislike for any contestant, they are not on stage for very much longer. It would seem that Simon Cowell is the only judge on American Idol that carries the real weight of the American votes on his shoulders; maybe. If Paula told a contestant that his, or her performance sucked and they shouldn’t be in the competition; would this sway any voters?

A few moments before walking onto American Idol last night, “The Insider” asked Paula about her recent comments, concerning too many judges this season. Paula claimed her comments were taken out of context. Apparently Paula was talking about guest judges, not officially sanctioned American Idol judges. Hey Paula, why would you worry about guest judges coming on this season?

Paula did convey to “Ok” magazine, her contract with American Idol ends this year. Paula Abdul also told this media source that she has many other projects that are very demanding of her time and consideration.

On another note: The American Idol competition aired 12 more contestants to be judged last night. The judges had one major complaint about most of the performances. The song choices were all wrong.

Way too many of the contestants that performed last night were extremely nervous, performing. There is so much more pressure on everyone, to stand out and get it right. These Idol hopefuls only have one “live” shot at this. Only three contestants, out of these 12 be kept for the final American Idol twelve.

One of the contestants last night, seemed to be the total package for what all four of the judges are looking for. Adam Lambert has a voice and a lot of theater experience behind him. Lambert performed the Rolling Stones first big hit, “Satisfaction”. Adam does have a vocal range that most of the other American Idol contestants will never touch. Adam looks to be the stereotypical pop icon, without a contract yet.

The judges really had nothing bad to say about Adam Lambert. They were falling over each other, praising him as being “that” Idol package that can be exploited, commercialized; then homogenized and generically presented to the world. Ohh, what Simon Cowell could do with a young man like Adam Lambert.

In all fairness, I hope that Adam has more genuine substance to him than what we saw last night. Will we get to see more of Adam Lambert, or will America vote him out of the cut?

This is Adam Lambert on American Idol last night.

I hope Adam does make the cut and goes on with American Idol. A lot of us would like to see if Adam Lambert truly is standing on the brink of fame, or not. Adam may have “wowed” the judges, but did he awe the viewers enough to stay in American Idol?

The Hills of Hollywood are not sacred and neither is Oscar night. A couple of thieves broke into the home of Audrina Patridge, of “The Hills” on Oscar night. The break-in was actually taped! Will this be included in the next season of The HIlls?

Audrina Patridge is mad as hell and not going to take it, anymore. The man and woman seen in her video, stole a few things from Audrina’s house and she is very outraged about this and so are her fans.

Audrina of The Hills, posted her surveillance video of these idiots in action on her website. The star of The Hills also left a telephone number to The Hills police department, should anyone recognize the man and woman in her video.

This is a tape of the culprits at Audrina’s house, trying to decide what to do. They don’t even have a script and neither of them thought to wear masks! If you recognize either of these two nut jobs, please let the police or Audrina know who they are as soon as possible.

There is a working theory that the thieves in this video are not dealing with a full deck of cards, or else have not watched The Hills. They broke into the home of Audrina Patridge, believing she would be busy at the Oscars, giving her acceptance speech for best supporting actress in her MTV show.

Maybe next year Audrina Patridge will be lucky enough to nab an Oscar for the movie she is co-starring in. Presently, Audrina is busy with the production of “Into The Blue 2″. Audrina plays a beach bunny, who’s boyfriend is a slave to her every whim.

The Hills will be alive, with the sound of envy! Audrina Patridge is the first TV star from The Hills to breakout and be a real movie star. Could this spark a feud on the next season of The Hills?

It’s hard not to draw a few comparisons between “The Hills” and “The City”, partly because; one show gave birth to the other. Whitney Port seemed like a likely candidate for a “Hills” spin off show. She is very likable, naive, and knows what it takes; having a major production crew invade your life.

A few critics claim The City just another “The Hills”, but with New York playing out as the backdrop. Is this show really as generically the same as it’s mother? They both come from the same gene pool.

The production values between the west coast and east coast shows are “branded” the same.  Also, the drama is almost as much in New York, as it is in The Hills.  Whitney Port seems to be lost in The City, much like Lauren Conrad would get lost in The Hills. And then, there are those “City” men versus The Hills guys.

Whitney insists that these New York guys have panache. New York men know who they are. The Hills boys, are just that: “Boys.” These Hollywood Hills boys seem as aimless as the show they are in. Yet, these City guys seem to know what they want?

Whitney Port has had an easy time making friends in The City, yet one of her so-called friends seems to be of the opinion that Whitney is not making friends with class distinction in mind.

As in any large city, there is an uptown crowd, an east town crowd, a downtown crowd and an upper class crowd. Olivia Palermo thinks Whitney has chosen her crowd unwisely. Olivia does not approve of her friends and is crossing that line, not really approving of Whitney now either.

Whitney Port would have made friends easily, wherever she turned up. Although, when you have an MTV production crew following you around, filming your every move; making real friends can be  illusionary as an MTV reality show. Some of Whitney’s new friends might have very ulterior motives for wanting to be Whitney’s newest bestest friend, or even boyfriend.

Take Jay, Whitney’s “The City” boyfriend. Jay seems to have fallen into a real crack in the city sidewalk and is trying desperately to climb out. First it was just his best friend that Jay was covering for. Now Jay is scrambling around, to cover up the fact that he had sex with his ex-girlfriend.

In the latest episode, Jay even gets his ex-girlfriend to lie to Whitney Port, telling her that nothing happened between her and Jay. What’s in it for Jay? Is he just postponing the inevitable, when Whitney watches this episode of The CIty, then dumps him? Or, does boyfriend Jay have a mastermind plan to save himself and still be with Whitney, after she knows the truth?

Whitney Port was just on “Jimmy Kimmel Live” earlier last week. She confirmed that Jay and her are real boyfriend/girlfriend. The City is filmed weeks in advance. At this junction, Whitney must have known what Jay and his ex were up too, from a few weeks prior to her appearance on Kimmel’s live show.

I am a big believer in MTV blurring the lines between reality and fiction. When Whitney claims that The City is not scripted , this is really her personal definition of what “scripting” really is. Was Jay and his ex-girlfriend’s tryst just some scripted drama for The City?

It does seem that Whitney Port has found a home in New York City. She will never be “That Girl”, with a nerdy boyfriend named Donald, while she is in search of her career. Even Marlo Thomas had a real career, as an actress playing a role in a situation comedy. Is Whitney Port just playing out a role in a MTV show about her?

The Amazing Race had to compete against the Oscars last night. I wonder who won?

I’ll pick the Amazing Race every single time. Always outstanding performances from these team members to bring a tear to my eye, or put me in a fit of laughter.

Last night, Steve and Linda Cole came in last and had to go back home to Martinsville, VA. It didn’t help their chances when Linda got turned around on a downhill path, getting lost and losing a lot of valuable time. Unlike last week, Steve didn’t beat her down over this blunder.

Christie and Jodi, those two blonde flight attendants almost came in last place; for the second time in a row. These two Amazing Race team mates had better get their act together, else they will be going home real soon.

There is some irony in this. Two flight attendants that help other world travelers get to their destinations, yet Christie and Jodi can’t seem to help themselves when it counts the most.

This is a clip of last night’s, last leg of The Amazing Race.

Tammy and Victor, the brother/sister team came in first place tonight, way ahead of everyone else. They each won a hybrid go-cart. Now they don’t have to carpool to work anymore?

They both fought hard to get to the pit stop and did a great job tonight. Tammy has a few issues with her older brother, as Tammy fights to be heard. Victor admits, he needs to begin treating his little sister as more of an equal in their relationship and start giving her some credit, where credit is due.

Now, it’s off to watch the Amazing Race to the Oscars. Will “Slumming at the Dog Fair” win the hearts of Bollywood?