More Reality TV on Tap for Summer
Remember when MTV showed music videos? Or when AMC had American movies that were classics? Remember when CNN Headline News had, well, headline news instead of Nancy Grace?
Another network is about to shift away from its original focus. This month, the Cartoon Network is introducing … reality shows.
Well, at least there's one cartoon in the batch, in keeping with the network's name and purpose. "Total Drama Action," which will make its debut at 9 p.m. Thursday, is a parody of reality shows. It follows a group of teen contestants on a never-ending reality show. It's a sequel to the series "Total Drama Island," which was shown last year.
Granted, reality TV has already been extensively parodied in cartoon form with the raunchy Comedy Central series "Drawn Together," but this is a tween-friendly show, with an animation style reminiscent of the underappreciated MTV cartoon "Clone High."
The rest of Cartoon Network's new shows -- which are also aimed at the tween crowd -- are all live action.
"The Othersiders" (Wednesdays at 8 p.m., starting June 17) follows five teenage ghost hunters as they investigate hauntings.
"Survive This" (Wednesdays at 8:30 p.m. starting June 17) puts eight teens into the wilderness to test their survival skills.
"Brain Rush" (Saturdays at 8 p.m., starting June 20) is a game show in which contestants try to answer questions while riding a roller coaster.
"Destroy Build Destroy" (Saturdays at 8:30 p.m., starting June 20) has musician Andrew W.K. as the host, with two teams of young people competing to destroy machinery, then rebuild it.
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Another example of a network trying to "rebrand" itself is coming next month, when the perfectly understandable Sci Fi Channel becomes SyFy. It's pronounced the same as "Sci Fi," according to the network, making the change seem especially pointless.
Why the change? According to a press release from the channel, the new name "positions the brand for future growth by creating an ownable trademark that can travel easily with consumers across new media and nonlinear digital platforms."
The change will take effect July 7.
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The fifth season of "Weeds" will begin at 10 p.m. Monday on Showtime. Mary Louise Parker stars as a suburban mom who supplements her income by selling marijuana. If you missed last season, you can catch up with "Weeds: Season 4," which was released on DVD and Blu-ray this week.
Warner Home Video has announced the DVD release of the sixth season of "One Tree Hill," a series that is filmed in Wilmington and set in a fictitious North Carolina town.
The DVD set will be released on Aug. 25, with extras including deleted scenes; interviews with musicians who appeared on the show; and a look at how the look of the 1940s was re-created in one episode.
As popular as "The Jetsons" was, it's surprising that the original series ran for only one season, 1962-63. Between then and the mid-1980s, we had only 24 episodes to watch over and over and over. Then in 1985, new episodes were finally produced. The first 21 episodes of the 1980s rendition came to DVD this past week in "The Jetsons: Season 2, Volume 1," five years after the first season came to DVD.
Also new on DVD: the first season of the legal drama "Raising the Bar"; the second season of "Army Wives; Cannon: Season 2, Vol. 1," with episodes from the 1972-73 season of William Conrad's much-loved detective show; the third season of "Quincy, M.E.," with Jack Klugman as a crime-solving medical examiner; and the fourth and final season of Fox's "Prison Break." A follow-up straight-to-video movie, "Prison Break: The Final Break," will be released in July.
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