I just want to ask a quick question. Does anyone actually like the new show, My Dad is Better Than Your Dad? I haven’t really watched it totally, but from what I have seen it seems pretty lame. As far as I’m concerned, it is a show that was quickly thrown together so that NBC could take advantage of the recently erected Gladiator Arena. I can understand the desire to leverage this new asset, but at least a little thought could have been put into creating a show that people would actually want to watch. Maybe I’m completely off base with this, but I haven’t heard from anyone that likes the show, if they’ve even watched it or heard of it. I’d love to hear from someone who disagrees though…

If you haven’t heard by now, then it’s time that you found out. NBC is bringing back what is possibly the greatest action game show ever in American Gladiators. The original show ran from 1989 to 1996 (I had no idea it was still on in ‘96). Joe Theismann was also one of the original hosts of the show. But enough of the interesting facts about the show here’s a look at the Intro of the original show. The opening line is just classic, and interestingly enough I remember Mark Ortega and the stellar finish in season 3.

So the basics of the show are as follows. Normal everyday people from all walks of life compete against each other in some of the greatest tests of strength and fitness. There are of course the gladiators, but they’re there just to make the contestants life as miserable as possible. The contestants would usually compete in games against the gladiators and earn points for their performance instead of competing directly against each other (until the Eliminator of course).

I’m not sure what type of events the new show will have, but I can only hope that they’re as good as some of the old ones (Assault, Powerball, and Hang Tough to name a few). NBC.com does report that the classic games will get a new twist for “bigger thrills, bigger impact, and the biggest action show of the 21st century.” Hopefully it will live up to the hype.

The new show will be hosted by none other than Hulk Hogan and then Laili Ali (some hot chick I’ve never heard of). The show premiers on Sunday, January 6th at 9 p.m. EST. It’s a two hour premiere and I’m pretty sure I’ll be there to watch it. Until then you’ll have to settle for the commercial.

Earlier this week I wrote a post entitled you can’t help but laugh, and who would’ve thought that I would have a follow up post so soon. By now you’ve probably already seen this video clip, but it’s still hilarious. And if you haven’t yet seen this, you’re in for a treat.

I’ve seen my share of local news casts, but never anything like this. I actually wish that the local news were more like this sometimes. The two newscasters just can’t stop laughing. I would definitely watch more local news if I had something like this to look forward to.

Now if that didn’t make you laugh, I’m not sure you can be helped. And by the way, now is as good a time as any to subscribe to The Milk Crate.

I’m not really a huge “TV watcher” in the sense that I have favorite shows I just can’t miss. I pretty much just watch whatever intrigues me at the time. Over the past few weeks, though, I’ve watched a few episodes of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsay and I actually really like it.

It’s probably because it combines two of the things that I’m really interested in: Business and Cooking. Aside from the entertainment aspect that the show is going for it’s interesting to see how restaurants actually function. I’m sure there is a lot that they don’t show, but it’s at least semi-educational. I also enjoy the confrontational aspects of the show, but that may just be me.

At some point I’d love to own a restaurant, or even a few, and the show has some great ideas to make them successful. I’m not going to say that they are anything like case studies in the restaurant business since it’s mainly meant for entertainment, but I’ve enjoyed watching it.

I’ve been watching quite a bit of football the last couple of weeks, and especially enjoyed the recent victory of the Dallas Cowboys over the Green Bay Packers. I did, however, wonder why some of the timeouts called were “full” timeouts and others were 30 second timeouts. I wasn’t aware that there were different timeouts in football like there are in basketball so I did a little research to find out why.

Apparently it has to do with the television coverage of the game. Normally timeouts are for 1 minute 50 seconds and the coverage usually goes to a commercial break. However, if television doesn’t utilize the timeout for a commercial break, the time is reduced. The mystery has now been solved for me. Hopefully this has also cleared things up for some of you out there who have also wondered about this.

It’s finally here, the long awaited post about Shark, starring James Woods. I don’t really watch too many television shows, especially hour long dramas, but this is one that I actually like. Shark is a legal drama series centered around Sebastian Stark, a notorious L.A. defense attorney who becomes a prosecutor. It’s interesting to note that Spike Lee actually directed the pilot episode. The show is now in its second season and has been moved to Sunday night from its original night on Thursdays. I’m not too thrilled with the new night since I usually watch Sunday Night Football, but I have no control over it.

The show is actually quite good and maintains a quick pace which keeps you interested. It also is able to keep the different episodes largely separate from one another so it’s not a big deal if you happen to miss an episode. This is a really important aspect of a show for me. I’m not going to say any more about this show, but to those of you who are skeptical, I say give it a shot.

CSI: Miami is one of those formulaic TV shows of which there are far too many. What sets this one apart, however, are the quick one-liners delivered by the shows main character. They’re pretty much awful, but they do provide some unintended entertainment value. This clip has my vote for the all-time worst so far:

I’m also not the only one who sees these comments as ridiculous; in fact, I don’t know how one could actually take them seriously. Now, I give you this clip of Jim Carrey and his rendition of this “quality” programming.

I think it’s safe to say that my favorite show on TV right now is House. It’s probably because I enjoy his character so much. He’s crass, argumentative, indifferent, and sometimes downright mean. It’s actually quite amusing and overall very entertaining.

There are so many other shows on that are formulaic and not all that exciting. Sometimes I can’t even tell the difference between the shows. Three different CSIs, Law and Order SVU, Criminal Minds. They’re all too similar.

I don’t even want to talk about American Idol and all the other reality shows that have followed suit.

So, if you’re looking for something that’s actually entertaining and unique, House is the way to go. Other than that, it’s probably better to find something else to do with your time.