Saturday, September 02, 2006
The Best Show On TV, Part 3
The Best Show On TV
"The Office" (NBC) -- 2/9/2006 - 4/2/2006
"Huff" (Showtime) -- 4/2/2006 - 8/26/2006
"Big Brother" (CBS) -- 8/26/2006 - present
I only just found out, during Blythe Danner's Emmy speech, that Showtime had cancelled the current reigning Best Show on TV, "Huff". How sad. But, much like Basista did when he injured himself in a match against Mark Henry and was unable to compete, "Huff" must now surrender its title as The Best Show On TV. You can't be The Best Show On TV if you're not, you know, on TV.
Luckily, a new Best Show On TV has emerged this summer. That show is "Big Brother", and no one is more surprised than I am to see it on this list. But the new season hasn't started yet, the pickings are relatively slim, and, although I only just started watching less than a month ago, "Big Brother" is the clear choice.
It should be noted that I'm a reality TV fan to begin with; your "Real World/Road Rules Challenge," your "Survivor," your "Amazing Race"... all can't miss for me. But the last few weeks of "Big Brother" (the only episodes of the show I've ever seen) have taken things to the next level. For those who don't know, they're doing an "All-Stars" version, and, from what I can see, it's working as well as "Survivor: All-Stars" didn't.
My wife decided to put the "All-Stars" edition on the TiVo, because there's not much on this summer and because she's spending some long hours home alone with the baby (as am I, when she's at work). From the beginning she kept telling me that there was an alliance of all the cast members from Season 6, made up of only four people, that the other ten contestants seemed to be afraid of. Also, there was an alliance of only two guys (who nicknamed themselves "Chill Town"), who made no secret of their alliance, to the point of wearing actual outfits with "Chill Town" on them. And, did the eight contestants who belonged to neither Season 6 nor Chill Town band together and kick the other six off like you'd have to assume they would? No, they didn't, and, now it's down to just Chill Town and two other women.
What makes the show so good? I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's just that it's late August and there's nothing else on, but, I suspect it also has something to do with two of the remaining contestants, Will and Janelle, each of whom -- even though I've only been watching for a month -- are surefire first-ballot Reality TV Hall of Famers (in fact, that first Reality TV Hall of Fame Class might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Baseball Hall of Fame's first inductees).
First of all, there's Will, who, I'm told, won the second edition of "Big Brother" and has now reached the final four of the All-Stars edition. Remarkable, especially since, according to my wife, he's both announced that he hates everybody in the Big Brother house, went around telling people to vote him off, and has made no secret of the fact that his Chill Town alliance aims to get to the final two. And he's still around. Personally, I think Will would eat Richard Hatch for breakfast.
Then there's Janelle, who wins almost every competition they have despite not seeming particularly brilliant and who, if Mean Girls was the NFL, would be like a combination of John Elway and Lawrence Taylor wrapped into one smoking hot bleached-blond package.
Plus, she's from Minnesota.
Now, I don't anticipate that "Big Brother"'s title reign will be a long one. No; with "Heroes" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" debuting, and with "Boston Legal," "The Office," "Veronica Mars" and others coming back shortly, I think what we've got here is a transitional champion. Stay tuned.
"The Office" (NBC) -- 2/9/2006 - 4/2/2006
"Huff" (Showtime) -- 4/2/2006 - 8/26/2006
"Big Brother" (CBS) -- 8/26/2006 - present
I only just found out, during Blythe Danner's Emmy speech, that Showtime had cancelled the current reigning Best Show on TV, "Huff". How sad. But, much like Basista did when he injured himself in a match against Mark Henry and was unable to compete, "Huff" must now surrender its title as The Best Show On TV. You can't be The Best Show On TV if you're not, you know, on TV.
Luckily, a new Best Show On TV has emerged this summer. That show is "Big Brother", and no one is more surprised than I am to see it on this list. But the new season hasn't started yet, the pickings are relatively slim, and, although I only just started watching less than a month ago, "Big Brother" is the clear choice.
It should be noted that I'm a reality TV fan to begin with; your "Real World/Road Rules Challenge," your "Survivor," your "Amazing Race"... all can't miss for me. But the last few weeks of "Big Brother" (the only episodes of the show I've ever seen) have taken things to the next level. For those who don't know, they're doing an "All-Stars" version, and, from what I can see, it's working as well as "Survivor: All-Stars" didn't.
My wife decided to put the "All-Stars" edition on the TiVo, because there's not much on this summer and because she's spending some long hours home alone with the baby (as am I, when she's at work). From the beginning she kept telling me that there was an alliance of all the cast members from Season 6, made up of only four people, that the other ten contestants seemed to be afraid of. Also, there was an alliance of only two guys (who nicknamed themselves "Chill Town"), who made no secret of their alliance, to the point of wearing actual outfits with "Chill Town" on them. And, did the eight contestants who belonged to neither Season 6 nor Chill Town band together and kick the other six off like you'd have to assume they would? No, they didn't, and, now it's down to just Chill Town and two other women.
What makes the show so good? I couldn't tell you. Maybe it's just that it's late August and there's nothing else on, but, I suspect it also has something to do with two of the remaining contestants, Will and Janelle, each of whom -- even though I've only been watching for a month -- are surefire first-ballot Reality TV Hall of Famers (in fact, that first Reality TV Hall of Fame Class might be able to go toe-to-toe with the Baseball Hall of Fame's first inductees).
First of all, there's Will, who, I'm told, won the second edition of "Big Brother" and has now reached the final four of the All-Stars edition. Remarkable, especially since, according to my wife, he's both announced that he hates everybody in the Big Brother house, went around telling people to vote him off, and has made no secret of the fact that his Chill Town alliance aims to get to the final two. And he's still around. Personally, I think Will would eat Richard Hatch for breakfast.
Then there's Janelle, who wins almost every competition they have despite not seeming particularly brilliant and who, if Mean Girls was the NFL, would be like a combination of John Elway and Lawrence Taylor wrapped into one smoking hot bleached-blond package.
Plus, she's from Minnesota.
Now, I don't anticipate that "Big Brother"'s title reign will be a long one. No; with "Heroes" and "Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip" debuting, and with "Boston Legal," "The Office," "Veronica Mars" and others coming back shortly, I think what we've got here is a transitional champion. Stay tuned.
