Monday, September 10, 2012

Here Comes Honey Boo Boo And Other TV Updates

I had intended for this blog to be a Boo Boo-free zone.  I figured pretty much everything there is to say had been said elsewhere:  it's a new low, it's exploitative, it's the end of civilization as we know it; countered by no, the family gets the joke, they're laughing all the way to the bank, etc. Then I saw this item in the current issue of TVGuide:  "On August 29, Honey Boo Boo was the top-rated show at 10 p.m. with adults 18-49." Wow. I'm trying to think of something profound, or even profoundly snarky to say about all this and so far, inspiration isn't striking, so I'm stuck with Wow.

In other Reality TV news, I've been having some fun with Snooki, her new baby and the cover of People magazine, but I admit I don't take Snooki very seriously. Then I read that she makes $150,000 per episode of Jersey Shore. Can that be true? I've been known to say that when I was in school, back in the day, we didn't know that in the future Food Network Chef was going to be a career option. Obviously "falling down drunk jersey girl" is a pretty good career option, too.

Who will be the next Bachelor? ABC should be making the big announcement any day now, perhaps even tonight during the finale of Bachelor Pad. Over the week-end producers announced that after an audition, they've decided not to give Ryan Lochte the rose, which was probably predictable. Reality Steve said a few months ago that it will be Roberto, who's now single after he and Ali broke up, and Arie and Sean from Emily's season are apparently also in contention, although Arie's been quoted as saying it's not him. For the record, I'm rooting for Roberto. Stay tuned, Bachelor fans, we'll know soon.

Finally, today is the premiere of Katie Couric's new talk show and I'm interested to see how it goes. Does the world really need another television talk-fest? To put it another way, can Katie really bring anything new to the table? Many, many talk shows have been launched with great fanfare then ignominiously cancelled a  few months or a season later. Will Katie be different? She was beloved and hugely successful on the Today show, (which, by the way, is probably fervently wishing they could have her back,) and maybe she does have just the right combination of luck, timing and interesting things to say and her show will be a big hit.  Her promo on Good Morning, America this morning struck me as "same old, same old," but maybe I'm wrong.  In Chicagoland "Katie" comes on at 3.00 p.m., and Ellen, Rikki Lake and Dr. Phil are all doing their talk show thing in the same time slot. Is there an audience for Katie?  We'll see.  

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