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.