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New Shows (2013): April 23 - 30

There were certainly a lot of shows that kicked off in April this year. Here is the fourth and final batch, not one of which merited a green. For clarity, I have listed the shows in the order they originally aired. As a reminder, red means stop, blue (yellow being too difficult to read in my world) means proceed with caution, green means go.

Backyard Oil (Discovery)
This show is absolutely hilarious. Basically, a bunch of guys with such strong southern accents I needed subtitles are looking for oil in the backwoods of Kentucky. The things they get up to had me howling. One guy spent $3,000 on a rooster named Melvin whose great-great-grandfather (the rooster, not the guy) found oil, or so legend has it. Melvin did not. Another pair of brothers spent $25,000 on a warlock who, guess what, didn’t find oil. If you are desperate for something to watch, this one will at least make you laugh out loud.

Girl Code (MTV)
There are times when I am embarrassed for my gender. This is one of those times. A bunch of barely articulate young women discuss the protocol of using a public restroom, waxing and spying on their boyfriends. Please, find something more interesting to do with your time.

Ke$ha: My Beautiful Crazy Life (MTV)
The singer’s brother documented her first headlining tour and this is the result. The episode I watched was about her European tour, including Glastonbury. I watched that bit because it made me so nostalgic for the best music festival ever, but as soon as she stopped singing and started talking, it became apparent that she is not a very nice person. As soon as she started talking about sleeping with anyone just to get laid, I turned it off.

Giving You the Business (Food Network)
A game/reality show in which four employees are put through the wringer. The “tests” range from dealing with an impossible customer to a new employee who breaks all the rules. The prize is significant; the winner gets his or her own franchise. I could only watch pieces of this, but it seems like fairly standard stuff.

Al Madrigal: Why is the Rabbit Crying? (Comedy Central)
I know that a lot of people think this guy is funny, but I don’t see it. This is his latest special and it is in the vein of what he usually does. If you like him, give it a try. I got through about a third of it before I got bored with listening to other people laugh.

Red, White & New (Travel)
Fairly typical Travel Channel show. The host travels around the US looking for thrills. What little I could find on it didn’t really inspire me to keep looking. If you are into lumberjack school and mud wrestling, give it a try.

Inside Amy Schumer (Comedy Central)
It bothers me when comedians think that all they have to do is ramp up the gross out factor and people will find humor in it. I don’t, so I thought this show was beyond the pale awful. It has received some wonderful reviews, however, so maybe it’s just me.

Weird or What? (Syfy)
William Shatner hosts this show that looks into the unexplained and the paranormal. The episode I watched talked about weird lights over Texas (UFO or the Air Force?) and the fact that cows always face either north or south. That, I must admit, I did not know. Shows like this have been done, but it was certainly entertaining enough to pass an hour.

7 comments:

  1. Chris, when do you have time to watch all these shows!? I refuse to watch Amy Schumer's new show. I can't stand her. So much of what is on Comedy Central is just vulgar, offensive, obnoxious, and idiotic. Tosh.0, I'm referring to you. I can't believe they canceled Futurama yet continue to put crap like this on TV.

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  2. Thanks, ChrisB! What I love about this series is that I can keep up with the "water cooler" conversations (or really teachers' room conversations) without actually needing cable/satellite:) Thanks for keeping me up to date...your descriptions are way more interesting than most of these shows seem to be!

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  3. What a.m. said, Chris -- you're amazing. And what's also amazing is that there are so many new shows these days.

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  4. Thanks, all, for the lovely comments. This piece does take up a fair amount of time, but I enjoy doing it.

    sunbunny -- I watched the first three minutes of the Schumer piece and was completely repulsed by it. I went onto Metacritic to see what others had thought, and she had received quite a few positive reviews. I wondered if maybe it were just the first sketch that was so horrible, so I flicked through the rest. Just as bad. That type of humor just escapes me.

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  5. "Weird or What" isn't new. It's been on both National Geographic and History.

    The episode you watched was season 1/episode 2, that originally aired April 28, 2010.

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  6. Interesting, Anonymous. It showed up on two of the lists of new shows I follow to ensure I don't miss any. It must have been new to Syfy.

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  7. Most likely. My wife and I watch it regularly in Canada, and up here it's airing on 4 different stations (National Geographic, History, TVtropolis, and Space).

    The show is hit & miss in regards to how interesting the stories are... but Shatner is always worth watching.

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