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.