Amazingly dumb TV shows

4. June 2008 by admin.

I read a magazine called "Entertainment Weekly".  It’s a pretty good summation of the week in entertainment, though recent issues have spent way too much space on "American Idol", "Sex and the City" and "Gossip Girls". 

The most recent issue has an overview of upcoming Summer TV shows.  Now, I have nothing against TV for adults, and I’m not a snob about TV.  But any TV I watch I watch via the Internet or season DVDs.  I don’t get either broadcast TV or cable TV at home; that’s because if I did, I would spend too much time watching it.

Looking through this issue of "EW", I was struck by how amazingly banal TV has gotten even by reduced quality standards.  It’s bad enough that reality TV is so popular, and that semi-celebrities like Flavor Flav and Tila Tequila can draw millions of viewers to their shows.  But now, there are shows that are even more creatively bereft than these.  Here’s a list of shows that I read about that sound incredibly ridiculous, almost like a Palahniuk novel parody of TV:

"Sunset Tan": a reality show about a tanning salon in Hollywood.  What could possibly be interesting either about the business of running a tanning salon or the people who work there?

"Glam God with Vivica A. Fox":  Aspiring stylists come to L.A. to compete for $100,000 and the right (I’m not making this up) to style the host, Vivica Fox, for a photoshoot.  What’s second prize, the right to style Vivica Fox for TWO photoshoots?

"The Greatest American Dog":  I’m quoting from ‘Entertainment Weekly’ magazine here: Twelve dogs and their owners move into a house and compete in "dog bone challenges" for the $250,000 prize.  Winners stay in the luxury suite, but losers get banned to the ‘doghouse’.  Really.

"Hurl!" A show where people eat too much and then are subjected to vertigo-inducing motion to see who will and won’t throw up.  Again, I’m not making this up.

"Ice Road Truckers": A show about people who drive trucks on icy roads.  This supposedly is/will be the History Channel’s biggest show.  I guess the show about watching paint dry wasn’t renewed for a second season.

"I Survived a Japanese Game Show": 10 Americans get sent to Tokyo where they compete on a Japanese style game show, including games like "Chicken Butt Scramble".

"The SInging Office": a show where 16 people from different cubicular office environments compete for prizes by seeing who can sing the best (hearing who can sing the best?).  The show is hosted by Joey Fatone (who?) and Mel B.

There are more, but I think I made my point.

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