End of the Season Thoughts - 2009

Some good & bad in the previous season of unscripted television. This is based on what I watched.

The good:

The Amazing Race - the tweaks helped keep the show fresh. Good locations, some humorous challenges and a great winning team in the spring edition. Nice job!

Survivor - The fall edition had the oldest winner in the 16 seasons. That made it worth it. The show needs some better twists than exile island and hidden immunity idols which never seem to work. The elimination challenges have become puzzle games - rather boring. But this is still a class act all the way. As we head towards season 20, this show still has good moments.

Top Chef - of the competition work-based shows, this one stands out. Well-produced, good casting and great challenges. Top Chef actually has made an impact in the culinary industry. Also give credit to judges who know their stuff.

The Next Foodnetwork Star - not as good as Top Chef, but very entertaining. In some ways this is more difficult because of the mix of culinary skills with television & entertainment value. The judges have a harder time because the stakes are rather serious - a television show to the winner. I'm not sure the process provides the correct result; but I find fascinating to watch.

American Idol - yes AI. There are a lot of things wrong with American Idol including its inability to get the show in the allotted time slot. But this season's race between Adam and Danny ending with a showdown between Adam & Kris gave the competition some excitement. It also marked some maturity by Fox, Idol and the American public when Adam's sexual orientation didn't seem to be a big deal.

The bad:

Big Brother - unwatchable, poorly executed, silly, stupid, vapid. It's nothing more than high school social scene which most of us want to forget.

Dancing with the Stars - I'm not crazy about celebrity shows anyways, but what makes this show unwatchable (at least without the help of a DVR) is the filler. Lots of filler. Way too much filler.

Make me a Supermodel - I actually like this show. But the judging seems way to arbitrary to me, as does the mentoring by the hosts. It's sort of hilarious hearing the judges talk about "bringing it" to the catwalk! But most of all the pick of the winner. Here's a case where I feel the producers wanted a good story rather than the correct result. There was a clear favorite whom suddenly in the final was eliminated first. It didn't make sense to me and ruined the season.

Hell's Kitchen - this is certainly not Top Chef. Chef Gordan Ramsey may be a world-class chef and restaurateur, but I can't understand his foul-mouth and over-the-top behavior, which seems very unprofessional - even if it is good television. Also the casting seems designed to find contestants that are way over their head as far as the skills needed to win.

I'm a Celebrity - Get me out of Here! - currently running. This show failed when it was on ABC during the heyday of Survivor. It's no better now. But you have to be stunned by how low they had to go to cast it. When you get the wife of a disgraced politician who needs the money - you really are at the bottom of the food chain.

The ugly:

The Celebrity Apprentice - as noted above I'm not a fan of celebrity anything. Why bother. But this season of Trump's self-indulgent, dishonest, product-placement schlock fest hit an all-time low. Hard to imagine that it could be worse than the last incarnation of this self-serving show that NBC should be embarrassed to put on. But oh yes. This hit a new low. First we have Andrew Dice Clay and Dennis Rodman. Why would you have either of these people on a show connected with charity? But there they were. Thankfully Clay was gone quickly. What i particularly enjoyed about him was his total self-delusion as to that he is the "greatest stand-up comedian of all-time." Yeah, sure. Rodman with his eratic behavior, violent outbursts and on-camera inbreation should have be tossed early as well. But no - he was allowed to continue on until some of the others wanted to put him directly into rehab.

But it was the Rivers women that made Omerosa look like a polite, reasonable and responsible person. That really takes some doing. I won't recount all that went on, however Joan Rivers was the leader in the name calling. It was amusing to see daughter Melissa storm off the set when she got fired. Melting down in the most unprofessional manner and showing why she & Joan probably got tossed from their various gigs on the red carpet. Joan used language in attacking Annie Duke that was unacceptable. Personal, mean-spirited and nasty beyond anything that should be on network television Joan Rivers was rewarded by Trump with a win and a check for her charity at the end.

As a poker player continually insulated by Rivers' slurs about poker players I have to say I'm stunned that Trump didn't defend his casino customers and instead seemed to think that Annie Duke, was the aggressive one. What a joke. The fix was obviously in from the moment that Rivers returned after quitting the show.

NBC wake up! This is not the man you want as a business partner. And shame on Mark Burnett who is really better than this.

Slow Week for Reality Shows

Not much has happened in the last week or so. On Survivor we had another medical elimination. Has Survivor gotten more dangerous in the last few years? I don't understand why they would allow some one's injury to become life threatening. When a cast member gets a puncture wound it seems to me to be reasonable to treat it with disinfectant or whatever rather than let it become infected to the point that the guy could lose his leg. But what do I know?

The sad part was that Joe's medical emergency killed what could have been a very interesting tribal council. We shall see if tonight proves better.

Over at The Amazing Race the season continues to have a rather sick sense of humor as it come to challenges. The detour was hilarious and disgusting at the same time. Who dreams up these things? Either spend time trying to fit dentures into people's mouths or go on a taxi ride with transvestites. As a cast member you had to have a great sense of adventure and humor. Everyone acquitted themselves well here.

But we did see what was the second longest time penalty ever given on TAR. A four hour one given to our brothers team (the height challenged stunt men) for bartering personal possessions for payment of a taxi ride. Guess you can't to that. It sort of makes sense although I'm not sure exactly when this rule went into effect, I'm guessing around the time they eliminated the non-elimination leg penalty of taking all your possessions away from you. We also had another new one to me, you can't check in at the pit stop without your travel documents. That seems fair and reasonable. Did the contestants know that?

By the way do you know the longest time penalty ever given? I believe it's from season 1 when they gave team Quido a half day penalty for not taking the proper train. There might be a close runner-up for the four hour penalty when Rob & Amber were given a multi-hour penalty for refusing to continue doing a road block. (Eating some disgusting food).

I have to mention The Celebrity Apprentice, although briefly. I continue to watch because I'm a huge fan of Annie Duke, a professional poker player that has always been a class act as far as I'm concerned. There seems to be a battle between her and Joan Rivers, and to some degree Rivers' daughter Melissa. Rivers has crossed the line from being a competitor as well as mother-hen to her daughter to a truly nasty old lady. She has taken what seemed as a very slight misunderstanding with Duke and turned it into something that is out of control. What's interesting is that Joan Rivers has gone out of her way to say very, very demeaning remarks about Annie Duke's character. While Duke hasn't returned the fire at least on camera, Rivers and her daughter continue the onslaught. I wonder how all concerned will feel after this airs.

Rivers probably doesn't care and when she said that poker players are inherently liars and dishonest I found that very offensive. Cross me off as a fan of hers.

Competition Food Shows - Chopped!

After the demise of NBC's The Chopping Block, we can appreciate how difficult it is to create a good competition food show. It takes several things: good hosts & judges, great contestants, a simple and easy-to-understand structure, and high-quality production values. Bravo's Top Chef certainly delivers all the way around. Top Chef has become an influence in the restaurant industry just as American Idol has become somewhat of a player in the music industry.

I think The Chopping Block failed in the most important aspects. First of all - it wasn't original. It is a rip-off of the British series Last Restaurant Standing. It also took aspects of Top Chef's most popular elimination challenge - restaurant wars. This is not necessarily a deal breaker, but when you add a "host" who was so laid back that he tended to be boring or worse, incomprehensible, with a badly cast group of contestants - there is a toxic mix that made the show rather a dreary experience.

Marco White was just too much of a downer. He may have been the guy who made Gordan Ramsey cry, but he displayed little more than a sullen personality in the three episodes that were aired. The casting was wrong - the teams selected didn't really seem to have what it would take to run a restaurant in New York.

I also think a mistake was made in using a different critic as a judge for each challenge. While Top Chef has a guest judge each episode, they keep the core judges the same. This allows us to get to know the judges, what they like and dislike and makes them personalities that we enjoy. The Chopping Block basically used people that were in and out and we had no idea of exactly what they were doing. It made the process more detached and seemingly arbitrary - always a bad thing for this sort of show. (One only has to look at the Celebrity Apprentice to get an idea of how arbitrary eliminations create craziness.)

It's a shame this show failed because the concept is not all bad and it would make a nice summer unscripted show if executed properly. We probably won't get another chance at it, instead getting more of Ramsey's Hell's Kitchen, not high on my list of entertainment. It also makes me respect the efforts of those associated with Top Chef and another less glamorous show, The Next Food Network Star.

The announcement of Top Chef Masters on Bravo this summer points out that you can take from other concepts and possibly fashion a great new show. Masters looks like a cross between Top Chef, and Iron Chef America with a bit of Celebrity Aprrentice thrown in. Starting June 10, 2009 it might prove to be the perfect summer show!

Shame!

Well this week's The Celebrity Apprentice hit a new low for that series, and that's saying something. The task, running a luxury hotel, was probably the most difficult task ever done on the show. Definitely didn't look like fun. The "guests" were some of the most demanding and obnoxious types you could imagine. I'm sure that their behavior was scripted by the producers to create maximum grief and chaos for each team. I find it difficult to believe that a high-end hotel would allow someone to bring their dog into a suite. But what do I know?

The problem wasn't the task or even the teams. The problem was Dennis Rodman - a train wreck waiting to implode. He didn't disappoint. As project manager he went down in flames. But it's the reason he failed that brings this episode into an all-time cringe inducing disaster. Rodman obviously has a drinking problem. It had been evident in earlier episodes where he was downing ever-increasing amounts of booze.

This time he gets smashed on camera and becomes totally incoherent and out of control. In what has to be one of the most uncomfortable moments on competition unscripted television, Trump and fellow cast mates do what amounts to an intervention. Telling Rodman he has a problem. Ok, was it real? If felt real and uncomfortable for all concerned.

That's not my gripe. Why in heaven's name did the producers cast Rodman to begin with? It would not have taken much research to know he had a serious problem. Shame on you. If you didn't know you're incompetent. If you did know and thought it would make interesting television you're scum.

What's Been Happening? - Not That Much

We seem to have hit a mid-season lull in several shows, most notably, Survivor and The Amazing Race. The last couple of weeks haven't shown much excitement in either show. Survivor suffers from the tendency of both tribes sort of hunker down getting ready for the merge. The only interesting item was that Taj gave the individual immunity idol she found to her new alliance partner Stephen.

I can't understand that move. I would never give up possession of the idol, particularly not before the jury portion of the game. Your so-called alliance could easily get you voted out and you have little recourse. Stephen seems to understand that, so we will have to see if this works out for Taj.

A good twist about now would definitely help shake up things before the merge, but I'm not optimistic. The NCAA basketball tournament always forces a break in the season, this year CBS seems worried about post-break viewing as evidenced by the number of commercials telling fans when and what time it will appear. Although the idea that a "clips" show is a new episode is laughable at best.

Over at TAR the good news is that the legs have gone to very interesting locations. The idea of traveling on the trans-Siberian railroad was great. The scenery has been spectacular and there have been more whimsical challenges this season than before. The run through town in your underwear in -4 degree weather was hilarious.

There just hasn't been much drama. Everybody is behaving rather well, there haven't been any disastrous decisions. We have had the first of two, or is it three, non-elimination legs. The now used speed bump was in play the following leg and I think the flight attendants might not have been eliminated if they had not had to do the speed bump. The stunt men made a clearly wrong choice in the detour. Never, ever, pick the task that involving searching for an object if the other choice is at all doable. It looks like it almost cost them the race.

Both shows have been holding their own in the ratings as there seems to have been a general surge in ratings for established unscripted shows. (The Celebrity Apprentice seems to be the exception. More on that later.)

Survivor: What Happened?

It's not a good thing when three days after Survivor airs I can't remember what happened. I think there were some challenges and someone got voted out. I don't remember exactly why, something to do with a poor performance during the immunity challenge. Yawn.

The tribes do seem to be playing the game as they are paying attention to who goes to Exile Island and why. That might make for something more interesting as we approach the merge. Survivor has just been renewed for seasons 19 & 20, making it the longest running reality competition show currently on network television.

In most recent seasons the game only got interesting after the merge. Let's hope that holds true this season.

A Few Thoughts About Celebrities & Reality TV

Bad idea. Why is it necessary to have third or fourth tier celebrities on unscripted competition shows? The Apprentice wasn't such a bad concept until Trump & the producers made it into one giant product placement. Then to resurrect it they decided to bring in celebrities to compete for charity. First of all, I don't like the charity angle at all. While some money is raised for charity let's not forget that Trump, the network and others are making significant money off of this show. So it's really not about charity. I guess the most interesting thing about this show is how poorly some of these entertainment types behave.

The Apprentice casting is particularly suspect. Andrew Dice Clay? Dennis Rodman? Really? The best part of Clay's brief appearance on the show was his claim to be the most famous comedian around. Hah! That was the funniest thing he said in the two hours on the show. Rodman's behavior makes you question the sanity of allowing him on the show in the first place. He obviously has no interest in the concept of the show other than continue his brand of total self-centered freak show. Who cares about watching these celebrities put the squeeze on their friends for dollars. As a poker play, I happen to love Annie Duke, but that's not enough reason to care about the outcome.

Dancing with the Stars is another matter all together. The concept of this show is to take minor celebrities and see if they can dance at a decent level. This show seemed charming the first season, and ok the second. Now it seems tired and bloated. Some people can dance, and others can't. Is that entertainment? I'm not sure. Would the show work with regular people rather than stars dancing? It might be worth a try - but I'm guessing, probably not.

Mark Burnett, the producer of Surivor and The Apprentice was once asked if he would put celebrities on Survivor since there had been some interest in that concept. He indicated that he thought that would kill the show. Agreed. But about that time I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, a hit in Britain, was imported for a summer run on ABC. It was terrible. But now NBC has announced another try at it.

My response is get the celebrities out of unscripted competition shows. They get enough exposure.

Survivor: Don't Get Sick!

I'm late with last week's Survivor comments partly because I didn't watch the show live. For years, at least through season 15 I sat down every Thursday evening turned off the phone and spent 60 minutes in front of the set. Not any more. The DVR (the greatest invention since electricity) and the sameness of structure of the show has lessened my interest.

In Survivor getting sick means almost certain elimination. I'm amazed that more people haven't gotten seriously ill over the last nine years. We have seen injuries, emotional melt-downs and some quitters, but only a few people actually got sick. Unfortunately Jerry could not handle it out there. And in true Survivor fashion the tribe decided that the one unforgivable sin in the game is to be physically incapacitated. So out he goes - even if they all liked him and had someone else in mind.

Not much more to comment on in episode 3. The only thing that interests me is the strategy of sending the same people to Exile Island. I guess one line of thinking is to make sure you only have to deal with one person potentially having the hidden immunity idol. Makes it easier to force it out later in the game. That never seems to have worked in the past. But we shall see.

Of more interest is the possibility of a cross tribe alliance this early in the game. I don't remember any such attempt previously until tribes were scrambled before the merge. The twist of having two people from opposite tribes at Exile Island might make for a very different game.

That would get me back in front of the tube live on Thursdays.