The heavy hitters on the network have wrapped up things for yet another season, and as the reality mutants come out of the woodwork to take over the Network landscape (more on that later), the cable scene begins to heat up during the summer.
It’s obvious to see why we are deprived of entertaining shows such as The 4400, The Dead Zone and similiar programming during the regular season: The networks are simply too much for cable to handle. But during the summer, when the giants like Lost and Desperate Housewives are sleeping, the people who are still inside during the summer stuck on the couch are watching cable, usually because the reality offerings are less than desirable.
But before I take a look at some of the shows this summer that will be making waves, let me touch on a little reality. As my recapping stints for Lost and Desperate Housewives came to an end, I begin to look into the crystal ball for the summer season, and realized that it was chock full with crappy reality shows. At least, they seemed that way. But I vowed to myself that I would give one reality show a chance this summer, to see if it could ever stand toe-to-toe with the best reality show of all-time, Murder in Small Town X.
My choice was Fire Me…Please. Now, I should’ve seen the writing on the wall. Only four episodes ordered? Wannabe VJ runner-up Dave Holmes as host? But it was the concept of the show that brought me in: People purposefully trying to get themselves fired. Beautiful. Considering that I work in the retail world, I can completely understand the benefits of wanting to get fired and actually getting a sizeable amount of cash for doing it quicker than your competition. So I had high hopes going into this show that it was going to turn out okay. It wouldn’t be a Murder in Small Town X, but it would be tolerable.
I was dead wrong.
As it turns out, Fire Me…Please is an program that is about 30 minutes too long, cramming two rounds of the game into one episode. Unfortunately, the antics that these people go to to get fired don’t seem very outrageous at all, let alone humorous. I should’ve known going in that it was going to be hard enough to do a proper recap of a reality show, but Fire Me…Please exceeded my expectations of crap reality this summer. I’ll be very glad when it’s gone, and I just wish MTV would’ve given Dave Holmes a proper job instead of letting him stew in the underbelly and end up getting crapped out to its big sister network.
And now I move onto 30 Days. This show is brought to you from the genius behind Super Size Me, Morgan Spurlock, and it features various people engaging in certain activities for 30 days, just to see what life is like. This includes living on minimum wage, taking hormone supplements, and so on. This is a genius idea and will have me hooked until the show meets its unfortunate but inevitable death, whether from lack of ideas or lack of viewers. I’m not sure when it premieres, as my internet isn’t working too well right now, and I’m too lazy to look through TiVo right now (although I will later). Anyway, I fully intend to follow this show from infancy to whatever age it makes it to, as Super Size Me was a wonderful documentary–didn’t make me stop eating McDonalds, but it did make me laugh a few times.
Thoughts on other shows I’ve been watching:
The 4400
Okay, so the first hour of the season premiere dragged a bit. But the final hour with the all-powerful baby and Janey Smith was some pretty good stuff. Nothing like a lullaby to signal a suicide. Kinda upset that Ryland left/was taken out in favor of the ballbusting lady boss, who I’ve seen in plenty of shows already…or maybe it was plenty of seasons of 24. The second episode went by in a flash, and was rather entertaining from start to finish. Watching the couple with the second coming of Christ struggle to make ends meet was very entertaining. Collier is pretty nuts, but then again so is everyone else. Like the lady says, Crazy is catching.
The Dead Zone
It was hard to remember what happened at last season’s conclusion, and even the previously served to further confuse me. But I eventually got on track, and the second part of this cliffhanger was a very good way to send Kate Warner on her way again, as she goes to awesome show #3, I’m sure. Not sure how I feel about Johnny Smith getting rid of his cane, but I guess it’s cool. I was unfortunate enough to miss out on getting to recap this show, but if you want to know in detail what happened on the season premiere, check out Matt Basilo’s recap. By the way, Greg Stillson remains one of the most intriguing characters on a TV show in recent memory.
Hell’s Kitchen
This is pretty good stuff, once you get past Dewberry and the kinda silly challenges. It would be better if the master chef was just being really hard on the cooks as they attempted to learn how to become master chefs themselves, and then run the restaurant from there or something. There doesn’t seem to be much need for competition, as it makes it seem too much like the Apprentice, and I know this without having seen a single episode of The Apprentice. Anyway, this chef is pretty amusing, even if some of the situations seem a little staged (Dr. Music getting in the maitre’d’s face?). Anyway, Dewberry was the most terrible looking and annoying sounding contestant on any reality show that I’ve ever seen, and I was very glad to see him go in the first two episodes. I don’t know if I’m going to keep watching, but it was fun while it lasted if the second episode was my last for Hell’s Kitchen.
Family Guy
I haven’t been keeping track of American Dad, but apparently it’s been as funny if not funnier than the recent episodes of Family Guy. I can see where they’re coming from, as these episodes have seemed rather weak, but the last one with Cleveland/Quagmire/Loretta hit all the right notes with me and make me believe that the Family Guy guys can still get it done.
Robot Chicken
It seems like people have almost forgotten that this show is still chugging along, including myself. I don’t know if the season is over yet or not, but it’s safe to say that Robot Chicken was a minor disappointment, despite giving us some great laughs in the pilot. The laughs since have been scattered throughout the further episodes, and some may have missed some outright hilarious skits (Hilary Duff as Anne Frank).
Some quick shots from the hip regarding other zones on InsidePulse:
— San Andreas really is the faraway best installment of the Grand Theft Auto series.
— ECW: One Night Stand was a good PPV for nostalgia and wrestling, and I think it’s time for the E to re-hire Mike Awesome.
— Crash and Episode III are both good movies, but the former is much better than the latter, and I hope that Batman can live up to at least Batman & Robin.
— They shouldn’t have put Jericho in-between Christian and Cena, even if it does delay the eventual one-on-one to maybe Summerslam.
— Mezmerize by System of a Down is, hands down, the best album of the year so far.
— They should’ve never emancipated Mimi.
See ya’ll next week!
