Welcome to TV or Not TV where I’m giddy for the return of Big Brother.
Every year around the 4th of July CBS conducts their televised social experiment when they lock 13 people into the Big Brother house, which is actually a large house built inside of a CBS sound stage complete with an open back yard. Every wall is lined with two way mirrors and the house is equipped with over 28 cameras and 60 microphones dedicated to one thing: capturing a contained societies human drama. The people locked in this house will only have each other to talk to, scheme with, and plot against for the rest of the summer as they try every week to avoid being “evicted” and being the last person standing to win $250,000.
With each passing year the producers of Big Brother try to up the ante on the show by coming up with clever ideas and twists. This year, however, I think all the attention on water boarding in the news put the producers and house designers into a stalag frame of mind. There is one room in the Big Brother house that contestants (here-to referred to as House Guests) will compete to stay out of and after seeing preview pictures I can understand why. The beds consist of a one inch thick piece of padding, what looks like an in-flight airline blanket, and a slightly than standard pillow. This is a room that all of the House Guests will be competing to stay out of. If the motivation of the discomfort of the room isn’t enough to motivate them they will also be given the treat of only being able to use a shower with only cold water.
The next bedroom that is a step up from this one is hardly what I would call an upgrade. The room itself has a “pool” theme so the walls and floor are covered in pool tiles and the bed settings are made from inflatable pillows with inflatable pool raft comforters. Nothing says a good night of sleep like sticking to your pillow and blanket! There is, however, one regular bedroom with regular beds so don’t think that they are making all 13 of their House Guests suffer.
The great thing about this show is that as time passes and the regular social graces fall to the way side the drama unravels on television three nights a week. Every Thursday and Sunday Night at 8 PM and Tuesday night at 9 you can see how the editors of this show cut together the natural drama and play it up to an entertaining extreme that I revel in every year. I can’t explain why I enjoy the show as much as I do but I come back every year.
Sigh-Fi
This week you will also notice a change in the network that some of the suggested shows are airing on. On July 7th the Sci-Fi network will try to shed some of it’s Star Trek perception by switching the name of the network to SyFy. Even though the name is pronounced the same they are hoping that this change in name will allow them to branch out more in public perception and offer a wider range of shows that still target the same audience. It’s confusing to say the least but as long as the programming gets better than I’ll ride it out.
Now let’s take a look at what TV has to offer us to try to conquer the summer time blues.
MONDAY
TLC – 7:00 PM: If you haven’t caught the other cake shop show Cake Boss then tonight you can watch 8 episodes tonight. Don’t get confused though as episodes 1 through 6 are aired in reverse order. Someone must have been hopped up on sugar when they planned tonight’s schedule.
VH1 – 10:00 PM: Having run out of decades to love and news of the week to lampoon the only thing that seems to be left is to debate useless topics on The Great Debate.
SHO – 10:00 PM: Alanis Morissette joins the cast of Weeds for a brief stint as Nancy’s obstetrician.
TUESDAY
NBC – 8:00 PM: 8 families travel the US while doing clever and entertaining competitions at both popular and obscure landmarks seeking to be the last family standing to win a dream prize in The Great American Road Trip.
ABC FAMILY – 8:00 PM: If this TV show named after and inspired by the movie 10 Things I Hate About You is a success I’ll look forward to the FOX re-imagining of She’s All That.
SYFY – 9:00 PM: The X-Files meets Friday the 13th: The TV Series with the SyFy original series Warehouse 13. If you can get around the new network name the pilot is very entertaining.
WEDNESDAY
ABC – 8:00 PM: Nothing says love and support than couples traversing the obstacle course of shame and pain on Wipeout.
TLC – 9:00 PM: Were you able to keep down dinner after last week’s episode of Monsters Inside Me last week? Organism outbreaks challenges you again this week.
NBC – 10:00 PM: I’m still not sure what to think of The Philanthropist so I’m going to have to watch this week as well to make up my mind. I’ll let you know next week what I think.
THURSDAY
NBC – 8:30 PM: I’m not one to really recommend a repeat but tonight’s re-air of The Office is classic for me with the pure ineptness that Jim and Dwight show
CBS – 9:00 PM: As mentioned above at length Big Brother premieres to fill the void of summer television. Bring on the Chen-Bot!
FRIDAY
THE N – 8:30 PM: A group of hopefuls try to reach their dreams by starting on the Hollywood ladder in The Assistants.
SYFY – 9:00 PM: The quirky high-tech show Eureka returns for another 13 episodes tonight as former Sheriff Carter meets his robotic replacement.
SATURDAY
CBS – 9:00 PM: Tonight you can finally learn who has been committing the wedding from hell murders with the series finale of Harpers Island.
HALLMARK – 9:00 PM: I don’t usually watch the Hallmark channel but not since the 1980 TV film The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything I think TV has been mising a three part title movie. Because of this I may just watch The Gambler, the Girl and the Gunslinger.
SUNDAY
LIFETIME – 9:00 PM: Heaven Can Wait meets Now and Again as a shallow, skinny model wannabe gets bounced back down from the pearly gates into the plus side body of a lawyer in Drop Dead Diva.
HBO – 10:300 PM: Entourage is back for a brand new season. Vince is in demand again, Turtle is dating Meadow Soprano and Drama is… well… I’m sure he’s about to get mad or start yelling about something by 10 minutes in.
– Will Wilkins is experiencing technical difficulties. Please stand by.
Comments: 1 Comment
One Response to “TV Or Not TV: 7/6 – 7/12”Leave a Reply |
July 7th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
I can’t believe someone else know about the movie The Girl, the Gold Watch and Everything! I watched that movie so long ago and really enjoyed it (probably because I was a kid). I have been looking to watch it again, but can’t find it anywhere. Anyways, thanks for the memory and knowledge that I am not crazy, it was a real movie.