Channel Surfing – December 23, 2009

Channel Surfing – December 23, 2009

All the tube news that’s fit to surf …

– The Ricky Gervais Show, a new animated sitcom based on the funny guy’s popular podcasts, will debut on HBO on Feb. 19, two nights after Gervais hosts the Golden Globe Awards on NBC.

– Not so happy with the way the Emmy folks always seem to ignore your favorite shows? There may be an alt-Emmy ceremony in the works, co-sponsored by the Paley Center for Media

– Look who’s hugged it out: Joan Rivers and E!. After a not-so-harmonious split with E! in 2004, the legendary comedienne will return to E! for a series of Fashion Police specials, beginning with the Fashion Police Golden Globes special on January 16.

– Good news: The third season of The Sarah Silverman Program will premiere on Comedy Central on Feb. 4. Season two of Important Things with Demetri Martin debuts that same night.

– I love that Survivor host Jeff Probst always says exactly what’s on his mind, even if it might ruffle some feathers. Regarding Sunday’s season finale, in which Russell, surprisingly, did not win the $1 million prize, Probst blogs at EW.com that Russell (speaking of someone who ruffles feathers) “was the victim of a jury of bitter people.” Couldn’t agree more.

– What lucky show is getting the Feb. 7 post-Super Bowl timeslot on CBS this year? The network’s new reality series Undercover Boss, which features corporate execs going undercover to perform the jobs of their employees. Check out a preview below.

Taylor Swift and Beyonce are among the performers booked for the Grammy Awards on CBS on Jan. 31. Insert your own Kanye West joke here.

– How do you know if your reality show is super lame? When Paris Hilton turns down an offer to be on it.

– More new photos from the new season of 24. Just got the first four episodes for review from Fox. Merry Christmas to me, indeed.

– Which Real Housewives cast member – and from which city – has a bench warrant out for her arrest? Hint: Surprisingly enough, it’s not one of the New Jersey women.

Twilight, the reality TV show? Please networks, just say no.

– R.I.P. Sesame Street and 227 star Alaina Reed-Amini, who died last week after a long battle with breast cancer.

– Are Scrubs and Better Off Ted victims of the fact that, for the first season in many years, there’s a plethora of good comedies on network TV, particular the new sitcoms on ABC, home of Scrubs and Better Off Ted? Whatever the reason, the revamped Scrubs and underappreciated Ted aren’t faring well on ABC, and the network seems to be giving up on them by burning off a lot of episodes in the next couple of weeks.

– And even The New York Times is in on the hot mess of a guilty pleasure that is Jersey Shore, via a “Jersey Shore Handbook.”

  • 1

    Has Probst ever watched his own show. Of couse the jury is going to bitter when you blindside all but two of them and then flaunt the hidden immunity the last two tribal councils and not even play it and his plea to the jury boiled down to “vote for me because I say I am the greatest Survivor contestant of all time.” But a true great Survivor player would realize that the social game takes up a good chunk of the game and Russell played a horrible social game and that is why he lost.

    • Kim said at December 24, 2009 at 1:45 pm
    • Reply
    2

    Good point you make about finessing the social aspect of the game, Scooter. Still, there have been so many reality show “bad guys” who’ve won their competitions – Richard Hatch from the first Survivor, Dr. Will and Evel Dick from Big Brother, etc. – that it just felt like anyone other than Russell winning this season of Survivor was kinda ridiculous. If someone can win one of these big prize money competitions while also managing to not alienate most of the other contestants, that’s cool, but has anyone managed to pull that off yet?

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