Desperate for ratings, On The Lot pulled another quick switch this week, by airing on Monday rather than Tuesday. Even more desperate was the announcement that they would be eliminating two people each week from now on. So either the ratings were so bad they decided to speed up the show, or the ratings were so bad, they decided more drama would save the show. Since this is reality television, it’s probably both. Will this decision increase ratings? Well, being aired before Hell’s Kitchen certainly won’t hurt ratings, but for the most part, it’s too late.

This week’s casualty was Shira Lee Shalit, which was no surprise. Although Mateen made the worst film, he’s shown more talent, so it’s not what I’d consider a big blow. After Shira’s walk of shame, Adrianna told the contestants the news that next week two contestants would be going home. In his usual fashion, Will rambled on about being nervous, even though he’s one of the frontrunners for winning. Anyways, let’s get on to this week’s films. All five were made on the Universal backlot with the tagline ‘When World’s Collide’ in mind.

Time Upon a Once (Zach Lipovsky)

Lipovsky started things off with another second-rate story revolving around special effects. At this point, the only thing he’s proved is that he can’t tell an interesting story without some type of supporting device. But then again, this is a contest to find a ‘Director’ not necessarily an all-around filmmaker. With the right writer, I’m sure Lipovsky could spark some interest out of me.

Donkey-Tail Willie (Hilary Graham)

Hilary’s old fashioned oddball’s in love story, which comes off as sort of an uninspired crossbreed of Freaks and Big Fish is about as unoriginal as they come. Graham’s reasonably good direction helps, but there’s a little too much missing to make a point. An ongoing narrator tries to help with this, but the only thing it does is take away the surprisingly large amount of charm this film has. Still, despite all its flaws and predictabilities, the end result is somewhat fascinating.

Spaghetti (Will Bigham)

While the idea of a tourist in an uncomfortable situation has been done one too many times, Bigham manages to pull it off rather well. His homage to Sergio Leone is rather obvious, but it’s done so well, I have no quibbles about it. Some snappy dialogue and interesting actors increase the appeal, but the film’s ending is so uninspired it’s almost easy to turn away.

First Sight (Shalini Kantayya )

Unclever, poorly directed, and rather unpleasant, Shalini’s latest is a complete misfire. Her shoving a message in viewer’s faces is as embarrassing as it gets, as the whole thing feel’s like an after school special.

Worldly Possession (Adam Stein)

A sometimes funny, sometimes stupid satire about the greedy getting what they deserve, Stein as usual captures the most in his three minutes. His actors do a nice job of capturing the stupidity of the character types, and his cinematographer does an even better job. The end result is a little too obvious for my liking, but the film’s ending is too good for me not to like.

By the look of things, we’ll see the two last female contestants go home next week. It’s a sad reality, but it’s no surprise. I suppose Stein could go home, but his film was far too likeable for voters to ignore. As for Lipovsky and Bigham, the only competition they’ll face is each other in the later rounds.

Next week we’ll see five new action films, which could be interesting, depending on the guest director. The ‘preview’ at the end of the episode, assembled from the contestants old films while pretending to be new certainly didn’t help things, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.