It's easy, sometimes even enjoyable, to disparage reality TV, a genre so notorious for bottom-feeding it just asks for abuse. (When I heard someone was shopping a show reuniting Amy Fisher with the Buttafucos, I thought about early retirement.) Despite all the soul-numbing creepshows we've witnessed — Anna Nicole Smith, the Gottis, Danny Bonaduce, we know ye too well — there is a gratifyingly popular trend to deliver shows with one goal in mind: to entertain, leaving you with a grin instead of a grimace for having wasted your time. Here's my ranking of the current crop.
American Idol Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 pm/ET, FoxThe hook: Watching someone’s musical dreams come true — eventually. But not before we endure weeks of painful auditions by people who are way t
read more
Incredulous laughter. That's everyone's first reaction upon hearing that, starting tonight at 8 pm/ET, Fox is airing its own take on the embarrassment-of-famous-faces reality-show format by making them try someone else's profession in Skating with Celebrities. Scott Hamilton, the 47-year-old Olympic gold medalist, skating legend and cancer survivor, has no problem with that. Rather, he was fully aware of the potential for pratfalls when he signed on to host the contest, which pairs celebs (everyone from bad boy Todd Bridges to former teen queen Deborah Gibson) with champion skaters (Nancy Kerrigan, Kurt Browning and others) for si
read more
Fox has landed — and it was a clean landing at that — Scott Hamilton to host Skating with Celebrities, a six-week contest debuting sometime this fall; fellow Olympic gold-medalist Dorothy Hamill will serve as a judge. Here are the six star-pro matchups: Wheaties cover-boy Bruce Jenner with Tai Babilonia; Full House's Dave Coulier with Nancy Kerrigan; Diff'rent Strokes/Los Angeles jail alum Todd Bridges with Jenni Meno; Dude, Where's My Car's Kristy Swanson with Lloyd Eisler; grown-up teen-queen
read more
Full House is becoming much like the Brady Bunch: inescapable in reruns and enduring in popularity. With Full House: The Complete First Season DVDs in stores Feb. 8, we asked one of the show's stars, Dave Coulier, to replay House and tell us how he made the Olsens laugh and turned Joe Pesci into a potato.
TV Guide Online: How'd you come up with all the crazy stuff you did on the show?
Dave Coulier: The producers would say, "Dave, do something funny here." And I would improvise, like an imitation of Joe Pesci as a potato: "I'm funny to you? Funny how? I'm a potato for crying out loud."
TVGO: How was working with the Olsen twins?
Coulier: Once, when they were about 3 years old, I told them that if they flapped their arms fast, they could [fly]. The rest of the day, they followed me around flapping really hard and screaming "Tweet, tweet, tweet!"
TVGO: Do you all stay in touch?
Coulier:
read more
