Corey Noles, staff writer for The Daily Statesman and Editor of The North Stoddard Countian, is the author of a regular baseball/St. Louis Cardinals column and also uses his blog to sound off on various happenings in sports. He also operates a weekly baseball mailbag column.

A reality show that could actually be entertaining?

Posted Wednesday, August 8, 2007, at 1:00 PM

As much as I hate the entire reality show concept it looks like the producers of American Idol might have a show coming out I'd be willing to watch, but I could be wrong.

The Next Great American Band will premiere on Fox in October and is basically going to be American Idol for bands.

Apparently it will be laid out a lot like Idol. Participants will be performing in different genres of music every week. So, theoretically we'll have rapping country singers and vice-versa.

The question is will that be good, funny or so stupid I won't watch it.

So far, there hasn't been a reality show that can keep my attention.

And who termed the phrase "reality" show. MTV's The Real World is not even close to reality. Neither was Big Brother, Survivor or any of those other shows.

Is a decent prime-time comedy really that much to ask for?

I guess we'll see what they have in store for us this time...

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I actually liked "Survivor," because of the exotic settings, but I think "Big Brother" is the most addle-brained of all the "reality" disasters. It's the soap opera of reality shows, designed for the teenie-bopper crowd. Why are so many Americans fascinated by watching people who are virtually doing nothing??

By the time these non-shows are gone, will talented, clever writers still be around to pick up the pieces and, once more, give us well-scripted programming, requiring real actors?

-- Posted by goat lady on Wed, Aug 8, 2007, at 4:38 PM
Personally, I think the networks do reality shows because they don't have to pay the "talent" industry scale wages. Why pay some expensive star when you can get poor smucks off the street for cheap?

-- Posted by Ducky on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 12:16 PM
Amen to that, Ducky! And the American public just goes dumbly along with it! ("dumbly"?? Is that a word?? Oh, well, who cares??)

Surely this trend in idiocy can't last forever! But with our luck, it'll probably just be replaced with something worse! (Like what? What could BE worse?...Ah! FEAR FACTOR!!! COPS!!! THE MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION!!! ARG!!!!)

Kill me NOW!!!

-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 6:04 PM
Have you ever wondered why on "Cops",no one ever questions why the police show up at 2:00 am to their trailor?

It's never,"Can I help you Officer?" ,instead it's "Take him/her to jail, they're tearing my house up and they drank all the beer. I was saving that beer for company"

Big Brother is time that you will never get back.It's all the people you detested from school/work/beauty pageants who aren't classy enough to be carnies!

Survivor is okay,American Idol is ok when they have the first round of those whose voices in their head tells them they sing just like Beyonce. It seems like there is sadly many Americans with untreated auditory hallucinations that compel them for their 15 minutes of uncomfortable "fame".

KISS was before my time,but the Family Jewels show is a nice family with good,decent kids who have for parents an

egomaniac and his playmate,who rules him with an iron fist. Gene Simmons appears to have taken fewer drugs than his 70's peers,like Ozzy. I just couldn't watch Ozzy's show, because even if they really love each other, they cuss too much and let their kids really run wild.It made me appreciate my own parents sooo much more, what with all their lack of cussing,drug induced rambling,but strict school attendance and crazy demands we do those boring,time consuming chores.I also enjoyed growing up in a less elegant home,but one with no dog poop everywhere. I am burned out of reality/game shows,except Jeopardy and Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

-- Posted by Yellow Rose of Essex on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 7:16 PM
We are all along for the ride on the biggest reality "show" of them all: What would happen if an incurious, quasi-illiterate, inarticulate, uncompassionate, schmuck was made President of the United States!?

-- Posted by FJGuy on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 7:30 PM
Now, FJGuy, shame, shame! Here you are, turning a nice, quiet, raging-against-the-TV-set blog into a political statement!

"Time you never get back..." That's good, Yellow Rose! It has a nice ring to it. I think I shall add it to my lexicon of wise sayings..

I've thought of another show I hate, but it's actually a scripted one -- "Criminal Minds"! I feel that this is a thinly disguised effort to appeal to all the sick depravities of the human mind. Let's just wallow in blood and gore for an hour, shall we?

It's bad enough that there might be people out there who DO that stuff, but do we have to WATCH it?? How is it helping the situation for us to SEE it?

-- Posted by goat lady on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 9:30 PM
I assume he is talking about the past Presidential reality show with the admitted perjuring disbarred lawyer in the X rated oval office featuring expensive cigars, the stained dresses of morally deficient interns and friends wives seeking pardon for their fugitive convict husbands with large donations of funds. Throw in a long time friends supposed suicide for unknown reasons and you have the making of a best seller. Give me Lucy and Desi and Fred and Ethel back please.

-- Posted by I.B. Le Truth on Thu, Aug 9, 2007, at 10:28 PM
I am waiting for CSI:Stoddard County.

A crack team of redneck scientists and cops solve crimes with their rustic wit,duct tape and bailing wire.

Our heroes hang out at local diners to get the skinny from our self-proclaimed local "profilers".

Deer hunting skills are used to track dangerous thugs and find kidnapping victims.

Fishermen with cases of beer are used in lieu of professional divers,letting our police know what they find as they progressively fall overboard.

With our budget constraints and no lack of bumbling local criminals,the stories would be far more entertaining than what's on now.

-- Posted by Yellow Rose of Essex on Fri, Aug 10, 2007, at 8:40 AM
CSI: Stoddard County's first case could be Advance's Mystery Animal. Is it a cougar? A yellow lab? A .... ???

-- Posted by FJGuy on Fri, Aug 10, 2007, at 4:00 PM
Well, I must admit, in the past I've been an American Idol junkie. However, it's gotten really really cheesy lately. This last season when they brought the worst people back for another 15 minutes of fame and gave them trophies. All time low. And America's Got Talent? Watched it last year and it was okay. I've caught a few minutes here and there when I'm flipping channels and it's a joke! It seems like they all have a good start and then as seasons go on they get more horrible and more trashy. I saw the previews for Great American Band and I'm still concerned that they're going to make it more about the drama and the "cheese factor" as we call it at our house, than the actual music.

They certainly don't make TV like they used to.

-- Posted by vambfly on Wed, Aug 15, 2007, at 7:22 PM
Have to say, Hell's Kitchen is really good. And you all should watch Kitchen Nightmares if you're a fan of his. It's really really good. I've been watching the "British" version of it on the BBCA or whatever that channel is. You'll see Chef Ramsey in a completely different light. He's still got his "mean" streak, but he's funny, and kind. Really good show.

-- Posted by vambfly on Thu, Aug 16, 2007, at 11:56 AM
Bravo Channel's had a few decent reality shows. I started off just wanting to see what my daughter was watching, so I watched Project Runway with her. That was Season Two. They've had three so far. After watching two episodes in a row with her, I was hooked through the season finale. Even had to watch the next season.

I've also watched Bravo's Top Chef, all three seasons. I find it so interesting watching them having to overcome their weekly challenges. I know I never would be able to come with anything decent to eat in those challenges.

Then there's also been Shear Genius and Top Design. I hate to admit it, but I even watched Blow Out. I like Bravo's reality shows. They don't seem as stupid as some of the others that are out there (or that have been out there). They seem as though you actually have to have some real talent to be on the show and to do any good on the show.

Granted I will still watch every episode (or just about every episode) of Survivor and American Idol. Survivor's become a classic and American Idol is helping to decide who gets played on the airwaves. I like that I had a hand in them getting voted out or continuing on. It's the same as a regular election - "If you didn't vote, then don't complain."

-- Posted by kbarker124 on Mon, Aug 20, 2007, at 3:59 PM

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