Ok, how come I’m the one that has to start all the cheesy psuedo-reality show threads around here. I know at least a few of you knaves are watching 'em. 
Anyway, last night was the premiere of the reincarnated Star Search. A few thoughts:
- Arsenio Hall was actually pretty good.
- Carol Liefert is funny. Naomi Judd is not.
- It was definitely live, and they seemed to have a few glitches early on. But for the most part it went quite well.
Overall, is was actually pretty good. I won’t be going out of my way to watch it, but it was interesting enough. For those that missed it and are curious, two performers each from four categories complete for votes from the judges, and from viewers on CBS’s website. Comments on the actual performances:
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We didn’t vote for either of the kids, because we couldn’t tell who was better (“They’re both too cute!” was my wife’s comment).
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We didn’t vote for the models either, 'cause who cares about modeling? The girl that one was definitely hotter though.
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We voted for the second comedian (Ty something), who was pretty funny. The first one wasn’t funny at all. Incidentally, I was surprised by his “Bruce Lee Makin’ Love” bit. Kind of risque for CBS.
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We didn’t vote for the female vocalists either. I actually thought both were pretty bad. Speaking of which, has anyone ever experienced this phenomenon? You watch a performance, think to yourself, “Well, that was a big bag of ass,” only to have the judges praise the act like it was Jesus turning water into wine? That happened to us countless times on American Idol, and it happened again last night with the girl with the Nigerian name. We thought she was terrible, and she got all 4s and 5s from the judges. D’ffrent strokes for d’ffrent folks, I suppose.
Anyway, overall it was a fun show. Of course, whenever I see one of these reinventions I remember the wise words of Brodie Bruce; “Why can’t they ever remake good shows? Like B.J. and the Bear. There’s a concept I can’t get enough of, a man and his monkey.”