a quick break from actual TV viewing with Renzie Baluyut.

Spoiler Alert! If you're actually following Survivor: Gabon, and would rather not read anything on what happens on the show, or who got voted out, you might want to read something else- like my other featured TV eye candy on Too Much TV | Renzie on TV's Favorite TV Chicks.

Otherwise, hey- welcome aboard- read on!

I must admit- I've stopped following Survivor a long time ago. It was the hugest thing for me when it first came out, as the concept of reality shows were still pretty new at the time, and maybe it was interesting watching people eat pretty much anything to get just a little bit of protein.

My interest definitely waned right after Survivor: All Stars- which was, what? Season 7 or 8, I think? Still, Survivor continues to be one of CBS's strongest shows today, and they've even lined it up on Thursday nights along with CSI to go against NBC's comedy line-up, ABC's Grey's Anatomy, and The CW's teen-oriented programming.

Oh, and gratz to Jeff Probst for bagging an Emmy this year.

I'm not about to watch Survivor again, but I have been keeping tabs of what's going down online at least. And like any other red-blooded heterosexual male, I cheer for the chicks. So let's meet our four Survivors: Jessica, Kelly, Paloma and Michelle.

The Chicks of Survivor: Gabon

Jessica "Sugar" Kiper looks more like a 50's pin-up girl than an actual Survivor: Gabon contestant, at least in this press release photo. But in real life, she IS a pin-up model- working as a waitress in 50's-themed restaurants and taking on acting gigs in New York.

She's bubbly, spunky and flirty- but let's see how far she actually gets this season. Go, Sugar, go! Read the rest of her bio on the official Survivor: Gabon website.


Kelly Czarnecki might be one of the cutest on this season of Survivor, but she also looks like she can kick my ass anytime- because she's a kickboxer! Our one-time cheerleader is also into outdoorsy stuff (like camping and canoeing), yoga and fashion. In fact, she hopes to open her own clothing store someday.

Read up more on Kelly here on the Survivor: Gabon section of the CBS official website.

Paloma Soto-Castillo looks like a real nice girl, but our college student has a bit of an adventurous streak in her. According to her profile on the Survivor website, she just decided to drop everything one day and moved to Kenya all by herself- and actually lived with natives and wild animals for 3 months- with no friends, family or the trappings of real life.

So it seems she's probably really at home on Survivor. Then again, probably not- as her tribe members just voted her out this week in their first ever tribal council- seeing her as their weakest player in challenges.

Michelle Chase has this nice little girl-next-door vibe going on, if you ask me. But she's actually one tough chick- and not afraid to speak her mind. According to the CBS website, Michelle also runs triathlons, enjoys boxing, and has been supporting herself since she was 16.

In a landslide vote, however- on the very first episode of this season, Michelle Chase, the 24-year-old music assistant from Los Angeles, California was the first person to be voted out of Survivor: Gabon. One less reason for me to watch the show.

Check out more of Survivor: Gabon on it official website on CBS. Or you could read up on it more on TV.com. Pics are from TV.com.

As long as TV keeps coming up with delicious eye-candy, this blog's feature on "Favorite TV Chicks" will be on hand to get to know more about our fine female performers who make our TV shows a little bit more interesting. Only on "Too Much TV | Renzie on TV!"

Cheers, everyone!

by Renzie Baluyut

You've probably been waiting for it all year- the third volume of Heroes finally made its premiere last night. I caught it myself, and liked it. I'm sure a lot of my friends did too. But in the business of television, buzz is good, but ratings ultimately matter. The question is: was the NBC drama able to hold up well enough against the fierce Monday night competition?

Not quite heroically enough, according to a report on TV.com. In fact, according to figures from The Hollywood Reporter, viewership of Heroes: Villains is rather disappointing- down 25% this season, based on ratings of the third season premiere last night, pulling in only 9.9 million sets of eyeballs.

Which meant one in four who saw the second season premiere last year was probably watching something else, leaving it up to the DVR to record the show, or just busy doing other stuff. Heroes overload, perhaps?

We had three hours' worth of Heroes last night: a 1-hour clip show at 8pm, which pretty much just brings us up to speed with what went down the past couple seasons, then you had Episodes 1 and 2 of the "Villains" volume: "The Second Coming" at 9pm and "The Butterfly Effect" at 10pm.

Understand, however, that in my case, I also want to catch my other favorite Monday night shows- specifically: Gossip Girl (on The CW, at 8pm), How I Met Your Mother (on CBS, at 8:30pm), The Sarah Connor Chronicles (on FOX, at 9pm). So thank Bob for DVR's.

Now that's just MY demographic. What about the rest of Monday night primetime-viewing America? It seemed that ABC's Dancing with the Stars pulled in 21.1 million viewers- more than twice the number of Heroes' viewers- at 9pm, and then CBS kicks NBC's ass at 10pm with David Caruso's screaming hot shades with CSI: Miami's 16.9 million viewers.

The biggest draw for Monday night however, seemed to have come from Monday Night Football, with the return of Bret Favre, so all around, even the other Monday night shows got hit: The Sarah Connor Chronicles only had 5.8 million viewers, Prison Break (also on FOX) also took a slight dive, and so did Gossip Girl, which saw 20% less viewers compared to last week.

Possibly impressive: comedy newcomer Worst Week garnered more than 11 million viewers last night- still at least a million more viewers than the Heroes season 3 premiere.

I'm still hoping that our heroes (and villains) would rally by next week. Sure looks like the Petrellis have some hustling to do.

Cheers, everyone!

Ladies and Gentlemen, the new shows for the Fall Season are upon us. Yes, your favorite shows- at least most of 'em, anyway- are back to entertain you once again. So get your eyeballs ready- there's lots of great stuff coming out of primetime TV these next few months!

Week of Sept 01 to 07

• Gossip Girl comes back with its second season on The CW, Monday, September 01.
• An all-new Prison Break returns to FOX, with a 2-hour fourth season premiere on Monday, September 01.
• The brand new 90210 premieres on The CW on Tuesday, Sept 02
  

• Yet another cycle of America's Next Top Model- we're on season 11, btw- comes back on The CW on Wednesday, Sept 03
• A brand new HBO original series, True Blood, premieres on Sunday, Sept 07.
• Entourage on HBO returns with season 5; new episodes begin on Sunday, Sept 07.

• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, returns with all-new episodes on FOX, the second season premieres on Monday, Sept 08
• Fringe, the new J.J. Abrams drama comes out on FOX with a special 2-hour episode on Sept 09

• House, now on its fifth season, comes back on Tuesday, Sept 16.
• Smallville is back with new episodes for season 8 on The CW; Thursday, Sept 18.
• An all-new Supernatural returns to The CW with its fourth season on Thursday, Sept 18.
• Everybody Hates Chris season 4 comes back with all=new episodes starting Friday, Sept 19.

• Heroes on NBC. With a 60-minute clip show preceeding the third season premiere. Sept 22.
• How I Met Your Mother returns with its fourth season on CBS; Monday, Sept 22.
• The new Knight Rider premieres on Wednesday, Sept 24 on NBC.
  

• Season 5 of CSI: New York comes back on CBS on Wednesday, Sept 24.
• The third season of Ugly Betty premieres on ABC on Thursday, Sept 25.
• My Name is Earl is back for its fourth season; new episodes start on Thursday, Sept 25 on NBC.
  

• It's a special 2-hour premiere for season 5 of Grey's Anatomy; comes back on ABC on Sept 25.
• The Office returns with new episodes on Thursday, Sept 25, with a special one-hour episode premiering on NBC.
• The Simpsons is now on its 20th Season- with all new episodes starting Sunday, Sept 28 on FOX.
  

• The Amazing Race is back on CBS for its 13th season; it's another race around the world on Sunday, Sept 28.
• It's the fifth season of Desperate Housewives; brand new episodes on ABC on Sunday, Sept 28.
• Showtime's Dexter is back for season 3; premieres on Sunday, Sept 28.
  

• ABC's Brothers and Sisters is on its third season, returning on ABC on Sunday, Sept 28.
• Little Britain also comes back on HBO, on Sunday, Sept 28.

• The second season of Chuck comes back on NBC on Sept 29.
• Life, also on its second season, comes back on NBC on Sept 29, but moves to Fridays on Oct 10.
• Pushing Daisies is also on its second season on ABC; premieres on Wednesday, Oct 01.
  

• The Grey's Anatomy spinoff, Private Practice, is back for another run. Second season premieres on Wednesday, Oct 01 on ABC.
• A new Sci Fi original series, Sanctuary, premieres on Friday, Oct 03.

• CSI: Las Vegas is back on CBS; season 9 premieres on Thursday, Oct 9.
• NBC's 30 Rock returns with all-new episodes for its third season; airs Thursday, Oct 30.

Summer is right on top of us- with the last season's shows already wrapping up, and networks announcing their primetime lineups for the coming fall. Welcome to Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- in this post we cover CBS.


Returning Favorites on CBS

The only show on the lineup that really matters to me is "How I Met Your Mother", which is already on its fourth season. Maybe we'll actually get to meet her this time.

Also, all 3 CSI shows have been renewed, as well as "Cold Case", "Criminal Minds", "NCIS", "Numb3rs", "The Unit" and "Without a Trace". That's a whole lot of crime drama, wouldn't you agree? But it seems to work alright with CBS.

We'll also be seing new seasons of "The Amazing Race", "Ghost Whisperer", "The New Adventures of Old Christine" "Survivor", "Two and a Half Men", "The Big Bang Theory", "48 Hours" and "60 Minutes".

Cancelled Shows

It put up a good fight, thanks to fans- but "Jericho" wouldn't be coming back this time.

Also gone: "Kid Nation", "Cane" Power of 10", "Secret Talents of the Stars", "Shark", "Viva Laughlin", "welcome to the Captain", and the vampire drama "Moonlight".


New Shows

Only a few new shows have been added to the CBS lineup, and other than the new Jerry Bruckheimer sci-fi thriller "The Eleventh Hour", it seems that I haven't heard of the rest of CBS' new shows- at least for now.

Remember Ava- Alex Karev's new psycho girlfriend from the latest "Grey's Anatomy"? Well she's got her own comedy now on "The Ex List". CBS also has a new crime drama with "The Mentalist", the Jay Mohr sitcom "Project Gary" and "Worst Week", an American take on the British series "The Worst Week of My Life".

Keep track of your favorite shows for the coming fall season on my continuing coverage: Renzie Reviews the 2008 Fall Lineup- our next posts will be covering FOX. We've already covered NBC, ABC and The CW earlier on.

Cheers, everyone!

Too bad a lot of our shows had their number of episodes cut this season. Nevertheless, get ready as your favorite shows leave you hanging at the edge of your seats, answer some questions, or leave you with even more questions.

Let's check in on our most-watched shows as they wrap up in time for summer!

30 Rock (NBC). Jack lands himself a new job, Liz gets a pregnancy scare, and Tracy's porn-video game masterpiece is just about complete. We need more 30 Rock! Season 2 just ended last Thursday, May 8.

America's Next Top Model (The CW). Haven't we had enough top models already? Cycle 10 ends on Wednesday, May 14.

American Idol (FOX). The two Davids battle it out, but for some reason, I'm just not too excited about it this season. Season finale on Wednesday, May 21.

Battlestar Galactica (SciFi). We hit the episode 10 mark on Friday, June 13. No official word on when it's coming out, but the second installment of 10 episodes wraps up not just Season 4, but the entire series.

But hey, word is, we'll be getting the spin-off Caprica soon, and there might even be a BSG movie coming up!

CSI (CBS). Warrick finds himself in hot water in CSI's eighth season finale. This Thursday, May 15.

CSI: Miami (CBS). The entire Miami team is in danger, but Horatio is around to save the day. Find out what happens on the sixth season finale on (Monday) May 19.

CSI: New York (CBS). A bank heist goes terribly wrong- but you know the New York team is going to pull through as always. Could be fun! Season 4 wraps up on Wednesday, May 21.

Gossip Girl (The CW). The promos are hot, and as far as we can tell with the past few episodes, the first season finale is sure not to disappoint. Catch it Monday next week, May 19.

Grey's Anatomy (ABC). It's gonna be a 2-hour season finale, and you know there's gonna be lots of Seattle Grace drama going on. Fourth season wraps up on (Thursday) May 22.

The Hills (MTV). If you're a fan of Heidi, Spencer and Lauren, then you definitely wouldn't want to miss The Hills' third season finale! Airs on Monday, May 12.

House (FOX) is on its 4th season, and the two-hour finale airs this Monday, May 12.

How I Met Your Mother (CBS). We're almost at the end of Season 3, and we still don't know exactly how he did. Are we finally going to get some answers on (Monday) May 19?

Lost (ABC). Brace yourself for a two-hour season finale. More answers this time? Or just more questions? Check it out on (Thursday) May 29.

My Name is Earl (NBC). Earl must make a choice: his wife, or the list. The one-hour season finale airs this (Thursday) May 15.

The Office (NBC). Toby says goodbye and heads off to Costa Rica, and in comes his HR replacement. How does Michael Scott deal this time? Find out on Thursday, May 14.

One Tree Hill (The CW). I haven't watched a single episode, but I know a lot of my friends who do. The fifth season draws to a close on (Monday) May 19.

Reaper (The CW). It's Sam versus an entire army of demons as we wrap up the first season. Question is, will Reaper be back for Season 2? Airs on Tuesday, May 20.

Scrubs (NBC). Word is, they're moving to ABC next season. But not before the entire Sacred Heart staff winds up in a twisted fairy tale conjured up by Dr. Cox. Season 7 just ended last Thursday, May 8.

Smallville (The CW). What has Braniac been up to this time? Also- Clark faces off with Lex, Lana wakes up from her coma, and so much more going on as Season 7 of Smallville wraps up on (Thursday) May 15.

Supernatural (The CW). Dean has just 30 hours left until his pact with the demon Lilith expires. Can he, Sam and Bobby pull through? Season finale airs on Thursday, May 15.

Top Chef (Bravo). Just needed an excuse to put host Padma Lakshmi's picture up here. Season 4 has been really fun, and we may have some six episodes still on the way- which means we'll be seeing our top 2 chefs slug it out on (Wednesday) June 18.

Ugly Betty (ABC). Sorry, I don't watch this show, but my friends do. Season finale happens on (Thursday) May 22.

So there you have it- make sure you don't miss your shows! Stick around as we cover the fall line-ups soon. We'll get official word from the networks in a few days.

Cheers, everyone!

I found myself watching "How I Met Your Mother" from the very start- the beginning of Season One- the other day.

Star World (a cable channel that carries the show) has recently been airing those episodes everyday- which we could catch just right before American Idol or Life or whatever show they have on the primetime slot.

I gotta admit- I love watching "How I Met Your Mother". CBS was right on the money with this one. Some people compare it to "Friends"- but for me, it's like comparing apples and oranges: absolutely no comparison.

What "How I Met Your Mother" Is About

Based from the title, it's really rather straightforward: Ted Mosby (voiced by Bob Saget) has his son and daughter sitting on a couch (in the year 2030) listening to his stories leading to- eventually- how he met their mom.

Which brings us to the current year, where Ted (Josh Radnor) is hanging out with friends from college Marshall Eriksen (played by Jason Segel) and Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan of Buffy and the American Pie series). They are also joined by the modern-day Fonzie, Barney Stinson (Neil Patrick Harris of Doogie Howser, MD) and Robin Scherbatsky (played by the oh-so-hot Cobie Smulders).

So you have the events leading to how Ted eventually hooks up with his future wife as the main story arc, with smaller story arcs within a season. An episode then has the "things-we-did-in-New-York-in-2008" which is all very funny, once you let the dynamics work out among the characters.

Currently, we're on Season Three. Right after the Writers' Strike, a few more episodes would be airing before this current season wraps up. Still, it would be great to get a copy of the DVD to check out the earlier seasons, or you could catch it on your local cable channel (like on Star World, in Asia).

What I Like About The Show

It's fun, it's witty, it's so cleverly written. I care about the characters: what kind of misadventure Barney is getting himself into this time, or how cute Lily and Marshall are together as a couple, or what role Robin would be playing in Ted's future.

Even the recurring characters are a hoot, or the occasional surprise cameo appearance. The show's got a good hold on pop culture, and it's great that they work it so well into the script. Basically you have a lot of catch-phrases in just about any episode.

The theme song? A 15-second edit of "Hey Beautiful" by The Solids. Never fails to cheer me up, no matter how stressed out or crappy I feel. Check it out here on my channel on YouTube.

Hey you CSI fans! William Petersen- who plays Gil Grissom on the CBS drama CSI- has signed on for another year of forensic investigating on the hit show. And he's doing it for US$600k per episode- up 20% from last year, according to TVGuide.com.

Now according to TV.com,

... just because Petersen signed a contract, it doesn't mean it will be "all Gil all the time" on the show. Petersen has a clause in his contract that will allow him to take a few episodes off and pursue other acting endeavors, including some theater work in Chicago.

Finally, Jericho fans will be getting what they paid for in truckloads of nuts! A new episode comes out on Feb 12. So if you feel like doing some homework just before the new season premiere, you still have time to do some surfing or even watching the last few episodes all over again- which is what I'll probably be doing.

While we do have some shows to tide us over for now- The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Project Runway, The Apprentice and Lost, I'd sure like to get some resolution done for the whole lot of shows left midway through their respective seasons.

So here I am, still keeping tabs on the shows I usually watch. There are actually a lot of people asking me if a certain show has new episodes out, or if I know when a new show is coming back- so I thought I'd do everyone a service by posting a quick update on some of our favorite shows right here.

• 30 Rock last aired Episode 10 of Season 2 last Jan 10. It's been weeks since we got anything new.
  
• Bionic Woman aired Episode 8 "Do Not Disturb" last Nov 28- still no news on when we're getting more Jamie Sommers.
  
• Battlestar Galactica comes back with a fresh new season on April 4. Time to watch the earlier 1970s series?
• Chuck has already come back from Christmas break, airing two new episodes on January 24, but hasn't come up with new ones since then. We have 13 Chuck episodes so far.
  
• Gossip Girl came back on January 2, but hasn't aired another episode since January 9. We're also at 13 episodes for Gossip Girl for now.
  

• Grey's Anatomy came back with "Lay Your Hands On Me" last January 10- but that was it. Nothing new from the guys since then.
• No word from Heroes yet. Their last episode was last Dec 3, "Powerless".
• Nothing new from the guys of "How I Met Your Mother" since the last December 10 show, "The Platinum Rule".
• Earl and the gang of My Name Is Earl came back last January 10 with "Bad Earl"; we have yet to hear from them after that.
• We have word from the boys of Reaper- they'll be out with a brand new episode on March 6.

• Scrubs last went on with "My #1 Doctor" last December 6. No word yet when the guys will be out with a new episode.
• Smallville already came back with 3 new episodes since the break: "Persona" last Jan 31, "Siren" last Feb 7 and "Fracture" out this week.
• So far so good for Supernatural- they've come back from the holiday hiatus, with last week's "Dream a Little Dream of Me", and "Mystery Spot" out this week for Valentines' Day.
• I miss the guys from The Office- the last episode we saw from them was last November's "The Deposition".