Summer Fun with Realivision
Big Brother: All-Stars is going to be the behemoth of reality game shows this summer, but it's by no means the only show in town. I've already covered So You Think You Can Dance and there are even more. There is a new Canadian version of a popular American show, a surprise return of an old, short-lived favourite, and a brand new show that's already drawing comparisons to one of the big boys.
Canada's Next Top Model
Hosted by Tricia Helfer, currently enjoying much success as Number Six in the fantastic reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, this is Canada's version of America's Next Top Model. I don't watch that show, there's a whole episode under my belt, so I don't know what to expect though I suspect it'll be exactly the same as the American version, just without the budget and with a Cylon as the host. It'll be worth a look just to see what they do, but I doubt I'll watch enough to warrant coverage here. My self-esteem just couldn't take that many models on a regular basis.
This does leave me wondering about something. First we had Canadian Idol, and now we have Canada's Next Top Model. Where the hell are the Canadian versions of Survivor, Big Brother, or Amazing Race? The last one in particular is a show apparantly a lot of Canadians would like to try. And hey, we're Canadian so you'd think it would be a lot safer for us to go galavanting around the globe.
Last Comic Standing
You could have knocked me over with a rubber chicken when I first saw a commercial for the return of this show. Season 1, I somehow missed. I LOVE comedy! I LOVE comedians! Most comedians anyway. I missed Ralphie May that year, for which I am eternally grateful. I don't understand his popularity. Give me Kathleen Madigan, who I did see on the fantastic season 2 and didn't go as far as I would have liked. Season 3 on the other hand was a whole other kettle of arrows through the head. Instead of taking a fresh new batch of disfunctional stand-ups and putting them in a house together to compete, rushing the show to be broadcast in the fall, chucking the whole successful formula out the window and having a straight competition between people from season 1 and people from season 2 with second season kicking ass in every showdown, not because they were necessarily funnier (except in Ralphie May's case, because you'd have to be really bad not to be funnier than him) but because they were fresher in the public's mind, and it was all about audience voting. Hey, Master P, tell the readers if I've mentioned I'm not a fan of audience voting!
NBC essentially cancelled the show that season, and instead of a final episode, they announced the winner during the commercials showing on some other show. It was Alonzo Bodden as it turns out, a worthy winner but I had to look around online to find this information.
Thus my surprise when I saw the commercials. Hey, if they go back to basics, maybe it has a chance. I'll certainly be tuning in and stealing what I can for here.
Treasure Hunters
From what I've seen so far, this show looks very promising. It's drawn some inevitable comparisons to Amazing Race, but it's obviously its own show. For starters, it's got teams of THREE instead of two!
I tease. It does look good, and it looks different enough from Amazing Race to be interesting and fun in its own right. Of course I'll be covering it here, but unlike, say, Big Brother, I've never seen it so I won't be able to scream "HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED THE DAMN SHOW!" at the screen and I won't be able to base strategy on what's come before.
The biggest concern is the big question, is the audience ready for a whole new reality game show? The Apprentice's ratings are slipping faster than The Donald's hair in a stiff breeze, The Amazing Race had to change to a new day and time to try to slow down its own sliding numbers, and even Survivor, while still very popular, isn't the powerhouse it once was. On the other hand, Treasure Hunters does have some things going for it. The television landscape isn't as littered with reality refuse as it once was, so there will be less competition for this show. It's debuting in the summer, so there aren't all-new episodes of the more popular scripted shows to go up against. This is also the summer of The Da Vinci Code movie, and the book remains as popular as ever. While it looks like there is a fair bit of physical activity in the show, there appears to be a lot of puzzle solving too and that could go over well if this is all timed right.
This could be a fun summer indeed, and who needs sun? No melanomas for me, thanks! I'll take my all-new shows!
Canada's Next Top Model
Hosted by Tricia Helfer, currently enjoying much success as Number Six in the fantastic reimagining of Battlestar Galactica, this is Canada's version of America's Next Top Model. I don't watch that show, there's a whole episode under my belt, so I don't know what to expect though I suspect it'll be exactly the same as the American version, just without the budget and with a Cylon as the host. It'll be worth a look just to see what they do, but I doubt I'll watch enough to warrant coverage here. My self-esteem just couldn't take that many models on a regular basis.
This does leave me wondering about something. First we had Canadian Idol, and now we have Canada's Next Top Model. Where the hell are the Canadian versions of Survivor, Big Brother, or Amazing Race? The last one in particular is a show apparantly a lot of Canadians would like to try. And hey, we're Canadian so you'd think it would be a lot safer for us to go galavanting around the globe.
Last Comic Standing
You could have knocked me over with a rubber chicken when I first saw a commercial for the return of this show. Season 1, I somehow missed. I LOVE comedy! I LOVE comedians! Most comedians anyway. I missed Ralphie May that year, for which I am eternally grateful. I don't understand his popularity. Give me Kathleen Madigan, who I did see on the fantastic season 2 and didn't go as far as I would have liked. Season 3 on the other hand was a whole other kettle of arrows through the head. Instead of taking a fresh new batch of disfunctional stand-ups and putting them in a house together to compete, rushing the show to be broadcast in the fall, chucking the whole successful formula out the window and having a straight competition between people from season 1 and people from season 2 with second season kicking ass in every showdown, not because they were necessarily funnier (except in Ralphie May's case, because you'd have to be really bad not to be funnier than him) but because they were fresher in the public's mind, and it was all about audience voting. Hey, Master P, tell the readers if I've mentioned I'm not a fan of audience voting!
NBC essentially cancelled the show that season, and instead of a final episode, they announced the winner during the commercials showing on some other show. It was Alonzo Bodden as it turns out, a worthy winner but I had to look around online to find this information.
Thus my surprise when I saw the commercials. Hey, if they go back to basics, maybe it has a chance. I'll certainly be tuning in and stealing what I can for here.
Treasure Hunters
From what I've seen so far, this show looks very promising. It's drawn some inevitable comparisons to Amazing Race, but it's obviously its own show. For starters, it's got teams of THREE instead of two!
I tease. It does look good, and it looks different enough from Amazing Race to be interesting and fun in its own right. Of course I'll be covering it here, but unlike, say, Big Brother, I've never seen it so I won't be able to scream "HAVE YOU EVER WATCHED THE DAMN SHOW!" at the screen and I won't be able to base strategy on what's come before.
The biggest concern is the big question, is the audience ready for a whole new reality game show? The Apprentice's ratings are slipping faster than The Donald's hair in a stiff breeze, The Amazing Race had to change to a new day and time to try to slow down its own sliding numbers, and even Survivor, while still very popular, isn't the powerhouse it once was. On the other hand, Treasure Hunters does have some things going for it. The television landscape isn't as littered with reality refuse as it once was, so there will be less competition for this show. It's debuting in the summer, so there aren't all-new episodes of the more popular scripted shows to go up against. This is also the summer of The Da Vinci Code movie, and the book remains as popular as ever. While it looks like there is a fair bit of physical activity in the show, there appears to be a lot of puzzle solving too and that could go over well if this is all timed right.
This could be a fun summer indeed, and who needs sun? No melanomas for me, thanks! I'll take my all-new shows!
posted by Tabby at 4:52 p.m.
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