There's never a crystal ball around when you need one. After leaving American Idol after Season 1, Brian Dunkleman faded into obscurity while his cohost, Ryan Seacrest, became the next Dick Clark. Now, the Dunk is back on TV, mixing it up with Happy Days' Erin Moran and Eight Is Enough's Willie Aames as a contestant on Celebrity Fit Club: Boot Camp (Sundays at 8 pm/ET, VH1). We talked to Dunkleman about getting in shape military-style, dealing with reality-TV "drama," and what he really thinks of Idol. — Megan Walsh-BoyleTVGuide.com: What made you decide to enlist? Brian Dunkleman: Well, they called and I was available. It's been a while since someone has asked me to do something, so I thought it would probably be a good idea to do it. Maybe they assumed I had completely let myself go. [But] it worked out great because I was actually in the process of trying to get in shape [because] I was getting married. TVGuide.com: How is it working out with drill sergeant Harvey? He seems ...
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The motto of this week's episode: Comedy is hard, but watching people make comedy can be even harder. Or not, depending.I can feel this round is going to be different when I arrive at the stage, three days after the last elimination (the longest time between challenges yet), and find a laptop on a table in the judges' green room. David Hill and I meet our guest judge, Regency Television's classy president Robin Schwartz (whose company produced such comedy hits as Malcolm in the Middle and The Bernie Mac Show), and we're instructed to play a DVD with video performances of two very different stand-up acts. (We see what the contestants saw on their field trip to the M Bar comedy club.)Major kudos, by the way, to Robin Schwartz for taking time away from one of the most intense periods of any TV year — the week before the network upfronts and schedule announcements in May — to help us out. In between camera set-ups, she's checking her Blackberry and returning calls, because she...
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