Okay, maybe “body-slammed” is overstating things, but recent ratings numbers have found that MyNetwork has been beating The CW in the ratings for the last three weeks…and it’s at least partially because of the former’s broadcast of World Wrestling Entertainment matches. (It’s really kind of embarrassing, since they only picked up the WWE after The CW relinquished the rights because it didn’t mesh with their intended programming direction.) While I’m excited in principle that a young upstart like MyNetworkTV is managing such success so quickly, the fact that they’re doing so with sports and reality programming is just going to kill scripted series that much more quickly…and, boy, does that smart.
Category: Reality TV (Page 89 of 118)
The Food Network has struck gold with Guy Fieri, who has four different shows and is about as ubiquitous on the network as misteltoe and egg nog this time of year. The guy is a workhorse and execs at the Food Network clearly love everything Fieri works on. And for good reason–he’s entertaining, knowledgeable and can grab the reins of any show and make it more interesting.
Fieri’s back again with Season 2 of “The Ultimate Recipe Showdown,” which begins airing January 4 at 9pm ET/8pm central. This season began with 12,000 recipes, which a panel of judges narrow down to 24, in categories of Comfort Food, Burgers, Hot and Spicy, Desserts, Cakes, and Hometown Favorites. Each week the winner takes home $25K and a chance to have their recipe featured on a T.G.I. Friday’s menu. Co-host Mark Summer is not helping Fieri this time, and while he claims to be bummed out about that, Fieri is ready for the challenge of hosting it alone. He’s also very excited and ready to rock.
“This second year is remarkable,” Fieri said yesterday during a conference call. “There is a real in-depth view of the contestants. It’s not just about the food on the plate and how it’s presented. Producer Art Edwards really got more of a compelling background piece on the show contestant’s giving the show much more depth.” He then adds, “The folks this year were a fantastic group and many of them had that one signature piece that just blew the judges away.”
Fieri, who was taking a break from filming his “Chefography” for the network at the time of the call, has possibly taken more air time away from his buddy and network darling Bobby Flay. Whether or not it’s too early to tell if that’s the case, the Food Network is definitely keeping Fieri busy. They shot the full season of “The Ultimate Recipe Showdown” in less than two weeks. “We shot a show a day along with bumps (ins and outs) but each show took about 10 hours to shoot,” said Fieri. “Each episode was shot back-to-back. It was a 12 day schedule for this year’s season.”
And while the show has already been taped, you’ll have to tune in each week to see who wins.
Folks, you can’t ignore karma, because it is more powerful than all of us. Last week, as NBC’s “The Biggest Loser: Families” was barreling toward its live season finale, there was a cliffhanger of sorts. Michelle and Vicky had reached the finals, but the third finalist would be determined by America voting between Ed and his wife Heba. They tried some sneaky gameplay thing, where Ed gained two pounds and then implored America to vote Heba into the finale. I voted for Ed and urged all of you to do the same, and it turns out we weren’t the only ones who wanted to stick it to Heba. They had them both come out on stage (both of them look phenomenal by the way), and it was announced that Ed was going to be the third finalist, with (get this) 84% of the vote. That’s not just karma, it’s a sure sign that America is tired of the gameplay and more about the true spirit of the show. Good for you all. But there is more to this story, and I’ll get to that later.
They had a look back at the season, and host Alison Sweeney, who at this point is very pregnant, was stumbling all over her words, which was pretty funny. Then they started bringing out the eliminated contestants in groups of four, and would show a video recap of each one and then have them weight in. The contestant with the highest percentage of weight loss among the eliminated players would take home $100K.
First was Adam and his wife Stacy, and Tom and his son LT. Adam lost 80 pounds, or 23.53%. Stacy lost 65 pounds, or 29.41%. LT lost 87 pounds and Tom 78 pounds, but both were in the 24% range and so Stacy was the current leader. Then they brought out Jerry and his daughter Coleen, and Shellay and her daughter Amy. Let me tell you, this was the highlight of the show Continue reading »
“Who is really the most important woman in any man’s life?” That’s ostensibly the question being posed by NBC’s latest reality show, “Momma’s Boys.” In the end, however, it appears that what’s really being asked is, “How awful and overbearing can a mother be to her son on national television?” Brought to you by the one and only Ryan Seacrest, you will find this to be an absolute car-wreck of trashy reality TV that will almost certainly find its way onto “The Soup” on a weekly basis.
So…let’s meet the gentlemen of the series, shall we?
Michael is a firefighter, and his mother, Lorraine, does his laundry, makes his bed, and even handles his accounting needs, but she comes off as pretty cool and, at the very least, she’s a lot of fun. Rob’s mother, Esther, is…oh, let’s just say it: she’s a Jewish stereotype. Don’t mistake this for an anti-Semitic comment. I’m just saying that you won’t be able to see or hear her without thinking of Linda Richman and “Coffee Talk.” I mean, she calls her son a mensch at one point! Jojo’s mom is downright creepy with her appreciation of his looks and physique, but even worse, however, is her declaration of the kinds of girls she doesn’t approve of for her son: no Jewish girls and no Muslim girls, no black girls or Asian girls (she eventually says outright that any woman who’s going to marry her son has gotta be white), no-one from a divorced family, no-one who wears a lot of make-up, no-one who’s outspoken, no-one who’s after Jojo for his dough…oh, it goes on and on.
Cara is a complete idiot, Donna is proud to admit that she’s done time in prison but wants to underline that she’s a non-violent offender, and Natalie doesn’t even seem to know what the hell show she’s on, since she’s underlining how important it is for a guy to have a big ol’ set of balls. I’m partial to Brittany, not just because she’s from Virginia but because she’s just so darned cute; I’m also a fan of the voluptuous Jamie as well as Rochelle, who has an exotic look about her.
Predictably, though, I’m most drawn to Megan Albertus, a 26-year-old animal caretaker who has a bit of a bookworm / librarian look about her. Of course, a seasoned television veteran such as myself knows that you should always be prepared for these types to take off their glasses, let down their hair, and become the most gorgeous thing you’ve ever seen. As of the first episode, however, she appears to be sweet and legitimately geeky (she refers to her glasses as her “nerd goggles”), so maybe she’ll be the exception to that rule…but probably not.
NBC is ridiculously hopeful about this series, it would seem, given that they’ve made a point of including a mention in the show that they’re already casting for Season 2 of the show. As far as I’m concerned, however, the only real reason to watch is to see just how ignorant Jojo’s mom can possibly sound…and since I cringe every time she opens her mouth, I can’t really recommend the show on that basis. I can merely hope that Joel McHale embraces the series, so I can see the lowlights every week without actually watching.
Tonight’s installment of “Spectacle: Elvis Costello with…” finds our man Elvis opening the proceedings with a cover of The Velvet Underground’s “Femme Fatale.” One presumes that his guest for the evening, Lou Reed, was at least tolerant of the rendition, since it’s not as though ol’ laughing Lou has ever been afraid to speak his mind. (Plus, the two of them team up later in the episode for performances of “Perfect Day” and “Set the Twilight Reeling.”)
Maybe it’s just the interviews I’ve read, but most of the time, Reed tends to come off as not just prickly but downright grouchy; it’s therefore a testament either to Elvis’s ability as a moderator or Lou’s respect for him that the conversation between the two of them is actually rather illuminating. Mind you, there was no discussion about Lester Bangs (I’m sure Reed is tired of being asked about Bangs’ love/hate relationship with his work, but I’d still love to have heard Elvis pose a question about it), but be sure to catch the discussion of the R&B great who played on Reed’s very first record, the relationship between Reed and Doc Pomus, the hard and fast rule in the VU about not copping blues licks, the secret chord in “Sweet Jane” that everybody gets wrong, and how he thought he spent his youth convinced that he was utterly unemployable.
The most fascinating moment of the conversation, however, comes when filmmaker Julian Schnabel joins Costello and Reed onstage. At first, it sounds like Schnabel more or less just happened to be in the crowd, but we soon learn that Reed and Schnabel are longtime friends, and before long, the discussion leads into a moment that the two of them shared as a result of the death of Schnabel’s father. It’s a story that starts out rather disconcertingly, but as it progresses, it becomes a testament to the healing power of music.
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