Loose Lips

Did you know Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna have a 'reality' show, "Harry loves Lisa", that is premiering Wednesday on TV Land?

Yeah, me neither.

On the one hand, you think, ick! I would never watch this! On the other hand, you think...well, ick! Plus, no man would ever sit through it. Well, no man in MY house.

But then I watched this clip, and I thought...Lisa is kind of funny. Could this be...good? Rinna's way of getting all, um, lippy is kind of appealing in a Kathy-Griffin-outrageous kind of way (again with this show being a man repeller. Or at least, a straight man-repeller). In the very first intro clip, they're not afraid to dish the dirt, including the fact that it was Nicolette Sheridan dumping Harry for Michael Bolton that led to Harry and Lisa getting together.

Poor Michael Bolton is on everyone's, um, lips. He's having a really bad week. I said it before - you should've never cut the hair! It's why you tanked on Dancing with the Stars and why Felicity Keri Russell is in that God awful show (at least, it LOOKS awful) that's probably about to be canceled, "Running Wilde". Leave the hair alone. You don't see Kenny G getting a buzz cut! And what, you think Snooki would be Snooki without the pouf?

I digress, as usual.

Anyhoo, Harry and Lisa do seem to have a little schtick that could be something. Maybe, maybe not. I will say that their whole "Look at us, we're the Hollywood marriage that is the exception" thing is like inviting the Jinx Gods to come in and get them divorced, but that's the risk they'll have to take.

Besides, they claim they are solid. Hopefully that's not just lip service.

Baby Steps

You know, truth be told, I'll take a great big heart-tugging drama over a reality show any day, but I do think people are too quick to pass judgment on reality shows and assume they're all exploitive pieces of trash (or in the case of my parents, that all 'reality' shows involve dares to get people to eat live bugs...is Fear Factor even still on? Wasn't George Clooney's girlfriend on that show? Do I actually have this much ADD that I am digressing this much inside the parentheses?).

Anyhoo, tick tock, as we await the return of the post-strike juggernaut of programming like Grey's Anatomy, 30 Rock, and Lost, I've stumbled upon a few reality jems.

First, over on Bravo, I really got into the premiere of Step It Up and Dance. Now, full disclosure, I must admit I not only recently met contestant Oscar but also actually watched the premiere at his apartment, however, "Step It Up and Dance" is like, really, really fun TV!
First, the timing for the show is perfect: dancing hasn't been this big since Patrick Swayze took Baby out of a corner in 1987.
Second, it's still got a little freak factor. Watching Elizabeth Berkley on that show, well, I can't possibly say it any better than NY Times writer Ginia Bellafante: "Ms. Berkley looks as if a rolling pin has been applied to her forehead, intimidating into fearful compliance any wrinkle that might labor to emerge".
And finally, it's freaking Fame-worthy fun! What a feelin'...oh, wait, it's Flashdance-worthy fun! Watch it on Thursdays at 10p on Bravo and root along with me for Oscar.

Next, I watched a full on marathon Saturday night of High School Reunion on TV Land (is it really any wonder why I'm single?). I watched seriously like 7 episodes. Basically, these genius casting people found the most perfect high school archetypes ever from the class of 1987 and shoved them all in a house for like 2 weeks to get them to hook up, then set the whole thing to 80's music. What else does one need? You can jump on the bandwagon, too. It's cheesy, it's fluff, and...it's not too late. The finale is on Wed at 10 on TV Land.

Finally, MTV's got Rock the Cradle (also Thurs at 10, so if you're jumping on my Step it Up bandwagon, there's Tivo-ing involved). Offspring of celeb singers (real celebs for the most part, not too many punchlines save for MC Hammer) compete in an American Idol-like sing off each week. Lucy Walsh (daughter of Joe Walsh) is the one to beat, while Chloe Lattanzi (daughter of Olivia Newton-John) clearly needs mental health counseling on a Britney size level. Her face is screwed up in a really really big, Meg Ryan-Lara Flynn Boyle-Melanie Griffith sort of way, and this young thing is like 22! Get this girl out of the spotlight, stat!

No live bugs were harmed in the making of any of these shows...as far as I know.

Somewhere in Time

On Sunday evening, as I was finishing some very un-fun financial stuff, I was doing my usual 11th hour quest for last minute info and was in dire need of some old billing statements. When I finally got a customer service rep on the phone, I was told that older statements could not be accessed because they are kept elsewhere on...microfiche.

Microfiche?!

Remember microfiche? I was, understandably, confused. Had I been on hold so long that I'd fallen down some rabbit hole and into 1984? Had I called customer service from a rotary phone? Remember going to the library to do a report and having to access microfiche? Now, that's not to confuse MICROFICHE with MICROFILM, which incidentally seems to be a very important plot point in alot of 80's soap operas and spy movies.

Anyway, I have not accessed the microfiche OR microfilm of my elusive financial records. However, it did put me in a nostalgic mood. And for those of you who want to travel back with me, you should really check out www.tvland.com.

TV Land has just added all kinds of fun stuff. You can procrastinate for hours! Full episodes of Leave it to Beaver (including the pilot with a different Wally and Ward!) and countless video clips can keep you entertained for as long as you need to avoid any real work. Click on the link below to see a classic Cheers moment from 20 years ago. Now sit back, relax, and enjoy that tv dinner.

http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid187784359/bclid230403154/bctid313013547