Saturday, June 14, 2008

Weekend Rant - Sometimes these re-makes actually work

I do have to give NBC credit for having the balls (and one might also think, lack of new ideas) in their recent wave of "re-imagining" 1970s TV shows. Since this has been (so far) very hit and miss as far as success goes, I had a lot of trepidation when I saw the first ads for Celebrity Circus. Would this be like the glorious " Circus with the Stars" that I fondly remember from my youth? Or will this fall in to the complete debacle territory that is populated by shows like Bionic Woman (RIP Jaime Sommers) and that really crappy Knight Rider movie that rumour has it is being green lit for a regular series.

I am happy to say that it is celebrities doing circus acts (and none of the easy fluff that they did when we were kids), and that the celebs are great (and who can go wrong with that Antonio Sabato Jr?), the routines and competition is fierce ... and the Judges are something else all together. I don't know where the hell they found them, but the combination of having a bitchy French trapeze artist/contortionist, an Olympic athlete and this way out there choreographer (Louie) that screams " gay gay gay gay gay gay gay". Literally. I mean he was coming on to hunky Antonio pretty heavy there...

I was pretty impressed and will be back for more -- now if someone could try to re -imagine Battle of the Network Stars (and not that crappy reality version) I would be a very happy camper indeed.

It was so thrilling to see Betty White being one of the guest celebrities on the last episode of Million Dollar Password. Talk about striking a great balance, not only did it thrill the fans of the original series but it showed the new viewers how it was done old style. Betty is still as phenomenal after all these years and and inspiration to us all.

Battlestar Galactica finished out this part of the season and have the gall to call it their " Mid- Season Finale" -- this is turning into the longest running final season ever and has me mildly peeved.... the storyline is so fascinating, the acting outstanding and we end up on Earth (? really?) that strangely reminds me of Planet of the Apes.... I was just waiting for that shot of the arm of the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand and was getting revved up to scream. I am pretty sure that things are not quite what they seem ... I am still stuck on the point that D'Anna said that only 4 of the final 5 are with the fleet ( I wonder if the other is already on Earth?) it will be interesting to find out next year what the hell happens ... damn this show is good.