Scott Baio is 46...and Scripted

*SPOILERS*

I'm a little worried. There's no one looking more forward to Season 2 Scott Baio than me, but I caught a sneak peak at the first episode (which airs Sunday, January 13th) and the producers are RUINING it!!!!

I mean, I GET it. I'm not un-cynical enough (or non-industry enough) to believe that we weren't seeing alot of scripted situations in Season 1. But, in the first episode of Season 2, which picks up moments after Scott finds out Renee is pregnant, we're supposed to believe his friends show up where he is (already miked) and his BFF Jason Hervey (THE EXECUTIVE PRODUCER OF THE SHOW) is surprised to hear Renee is pregnant?

Uh, I don't think so.

I'm not even going to mention how annoying Johnny V. is or the fact that he showed up in pajamas that were clearly over his clothes. One of my other (bigger) issues is that Scott goes shopping for a house that he decides to buy on the spot.

More like VH1 forked over some cash for a bigger house to shoot in.

I love Scott, and I pledge devotion to Season 2 because I am as pathetic as all the girls he's dated over the years, but please, VH1, try to hide the puppet strings a LITTLE more? Please?

After all, Scott's no wooden boy...well, actually...Oh, forget it!

Oh Bai-bio

*Spoiler Alert*

So the worst secret in reality tv was revealed on the finale of "Scott Baio is 45...and Single" on Sunday night. He and girlfriend Renee are having a baby.

This show came out of the gate strong, and has been good but could've been great. And yup, I can't stop watchin' the Chach, which is why I'll be shocked if there is not another season chronicling Scott: the new dad and newlywed. I anxiously await that announcement, or else I'll go produce it myself, cuz it's sooooooo watchable!

Now, here's what detracts from the show being great:

-I didn't really need forty seven thousand not so subtle Sidekick product placements throughout the finale. All the text messages that Scott got flaunting the voice technology of his new phone and his Huey Lewis ring was so distracting and irritating it made me long for the days when the only time a song would come on at random like that was when the Fonz would hit a jukebox.

-Jason Hervey, aka Wayne Arnold from the Wonder Years. He is an Exec Producer, yet we dumb viewers are expected to believe every time Scott tells him some new aspect of his life coaching, we have to pretend we don't know he's orchestrating the whole thing. In the finale, the whole over-compensating scene with Jason feigning surprise at the "graduation" date and inability to attend was just so fake!

-File under creepy. Ok, this might actually be a pro, not a con, cuz once again it's a car accident I can't turn away from but Renee and Julie McCullough together? Two identical Stepford Barbie dolls. Ick. Scott has such a weird, predictable fetish.

...But, at the end of the day, what makes this show so great is Scott's total in-on-the-joke awareness and self-deprecating manner. Even though I don't really believe a lot of what I'm seeing, they sell it pretty well. What makes you sucked in is the genuine (seeming) candor Scott speaks with. When Jason suggested Scott go see his cousin, attorney Laura Wasser, because she's the lawyer all the big celebrities use, you gotta love Scott for his quick retort: "If I become a big celebrity again, I'll get her" . And his outburst "I wanna be 30!" is just so real. C'mon, as we get older, we all long once in awhile for our glory days. I'm sucked in, like it or not.

And hey, imagine this: if it's not real, then he actually is a hell of an actor...which is pretty damn ironic isn't it?!!!

Wah, Wah, Wah!