By Shawn Estes
from WillametteLive, Section Screen
Posted on Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 02:40:54 PM PDT
In a rush to come up with content during the writer's strike, a lot of reality and game shows were thrown together. Out of the new shows, we got an extra season of "Big Brother," "The Moment of Truth," "Oprah's Big Give," and "Amnesia." Issues with this season of Big Brother are way too huge to list here. But here's hoping Big Brother has a better season lined up this summer. See our full coverage of the season here.
"The Moment of Truth" is probably the worst game show ever aired. Not for the concept of giving a person a lie-detector test and then grilling them on live TV. But for the reason that they are solely responsible for destroying a man (not the contestant) on TV's life. You may have heard the attempted ratings grab episode, where host Mark Walberg says that he was against airing it. Then he goes on to introduce it. The female contestant not only ended up admitting that she had cheated on her husband, but also almost had to admit that she would leave her husband for an ex. Bonus sleaze on having the EX ask the question.
"Oprah's Big Give" is a strange show. It recently debuted with its first mission to help out multiple people. What's strange about this show is how all of these great things are done for people and then the "judges" decide whether they gave them enough. When everyone is happy at the reveals, their happiness is picked apart by what they could've gotten. Oprah has the right idea and it was nice to see a show doing something different. With that said, the judging soiled the whole show. Happiness becomes a bunch of yelling.
"Amnesia" is the star of these unscripted additions. It's fun and amusing as upbeat contestants rack their brain for small details about their life. Host Dennis Miller brings his comedic sense of timing to a primetime game show. Watch out, Bob Saget, "Amensia" is on NBC, Fridays at 8 p.m.
A couple new scripted-shows have come out despite the delayed production schedules. Last week, "New Amsterdam" premiered big and then its ratings dropped considerably in the second episode. Was it scheduling? Probably. Fox is horrible about randomly moving their new shows around until they die. (That's a "Firefly" grudge that they won't live down for awhile.) "New Amsterdam" has a little too much of the cheesy romance factor. The main character, Amsterdam, was put under the spell of gypsies to live until he finds his soulmate. You can catch "New Amsterdam" on Fox, Mondays at 9 p.m.
There have been a lot of announcements for cancellations recently, and not many of them are surprising. "Big Shots" in which a group of attractive, rich guys complain about being attractive and rich has finally been let go. "Cavemen" is gone, leaving a large group of hairy actors unemployed. The sleaziest love connection show since "Flavor of Love" -- "I Love New York" is gone, leaving her to make up with extra tongue and noise off of our TV sets. The teenage whining drama "Life is Wild" also joins the list of the "Thank God they're gone!" list. So while most of the networks got on our good side by canceling the crap they shouldn't have aired in the first place, two decent shows, "Journeyman" and "Bionic Woman" are also casualties.

"Bionic Woman" suffered the same fate. It started out way too boring. When the action picked up, it got slightly better. Unfortunately, it just wasn't meant to be.
Hanging in the balance at this point is CW's "Reaper" and "Friday Night Lights."
"Reaper" has a few bright spots and hopefully CW will let them work out plotlines throughout multiple episodes. It seems every episode is wrapped up tightly, and that may be pushing some viewers away. But watching the reruns and still being entertained is something the CW could use. With "Aliens in America" still on its schedule but not renewing "Reaper," the CW clearly needs a new development department. Look for "Reaper" with all new episodes on March 13 at 9 p.m.
"Friday Night Lights" has been on a rollercoaster ride of being canceled, renewed, on hiatus, and then canceled again. Right now the network doesn't know what it's going to do. But fans have started mailing plastic footballs to the studio heads to show their loyalty. A similar tactic worked with "Jericho" which seems to have been renewed. The show has some talent and maybe deserves a full season without interruptions to get legs. "Friday Night Lights" is currently listed as "in hiatus," and no episodes are currently showing.
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