First week of August means it's high tide for those TV shows that make summertime summertime. We're talking shows that are lighter than air and, in some cases, dumber than rocks. I've picked a handful I think you'll want to check out (like the odd Tommy Lee-Ludacris competition "Battleground Earth").
"Randy Jackson Presents: America's Best Dance Crew" (9 p.m. CT Thursdays, MTV). This competition show flew completely below my radar for its first cycle. Now that I've seen it, I'm convinced it should be on Fox and that other dance contest should be on cable.
The reason? You can't beat a bunch of people on stage busting moves in sync — especially knowing they've had exactly one week to prepare their routines. Also, I love that the judges, which include former N Syncer JC Chasez and a rapper named Lil Mama, are refreshingly harsh on the contestants. (Probably just as well that the "American Idol" judge can't be bothered with making regular appearances on his own show.)
This year's competition is down to the final four crews, who will perform tonight with Missy Elliott. While other teams are more technically accomplished, I'm pulling for Fanny Pak, which brings mirth and girth to a field that could use more of both.
"Battleground Earth" (begins 9 p.m. CT Sunday on Planet Green, digital cable). This what-were-they-thinking reality series pits rapper Ludacris against Motley Crue's Tommy Lee in a coast-to-coast competition to see who's more eco-friendly.
I'll let that sink in for moment.
Each musician gets to assemble an "ecorage" of his homies and is outfitted with a huge customized bus — which I'm sure is extremely fuel-efficient — as the teams try to outdo one another in stunts to see who can recycle the most cans, who can assemble a solar panel the fastest, etc.
The environmental impact of this program would seem to be trivial, as most of the energy tips offered on "Battleground Earth" are of the "turn off the water while you're brushing" variety. Still, the loose design of the contest allows for the two stars' personalities to come out, especially as they begin pranking one another.
No word if the show will earn an endorsement from Obama.
"The Gong Show" and "Reality Bites Back" (9 p.m. CT Thursdays, Comedy Central). Like huge Afros, the color yellow and fundamental baseball, certain trends from the 1970s are coming back into style. That includes the greatest of the great Chuck Barris' many great TV shows, the one and only "Gong Show."
Brought back for what will undoubtedly be only a few weeks — though I wish it to run forever — this revival is hosted by the ever-hilarious Dave Attell and is the same bawdy freak show that Barris shocked daytime TV with some 30 years ago. Judges include Andy Dick, when he's not in jail, and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog.
If you haven't gone online and clicked on the video "Matt Through the Hoop," featuring a contestant with hefty man-breasts wriggling out of a straitjacket and through a Hula hoop — well, you just haven't lived.
No word if Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine will make a comeback.
That's followed by the latest Michael Ian Black invention, "Reality Bites Back," in which 10 comedians mock-compete against each other in a different reality show format each week. Each format is given a spoofy, Wacky Packages-styled name — "Extreme Manipulation: Home Edition" and "The Biggest Chubby" being two — and then twisted almost to the point of non-recognition. Through it all, the contestants know they're mostly playing for laughs (though first prize is $50,000) and their confessionals are often hoots.
To set up this clip, the contestants were sent in one by one and told to seduce a member of the opposite sex in the dark. They weren't told it would be one of their parents.
In case it escaped your eye in the movie "Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," the real Gene, Gene the Dancing Machine(quite ironically)no longer has any feet.
Posted by: roy | July 31, 2008 at 10:50 AM