Is It Actually The Next Best Thing

so folks, it looks like summer reality/contest show time is upon us. On The Lot premiered last week and we have season 2 of America's Got Talent and American Inventor arriving shortly. and don't forget Last Comic Standing is coming back and the new show Age Of Love starting soon. then there is the show that premiered last night on abc, The Next Best Thing: Who Is The Greatest Celebrity Impersonator? yes, it is one of the longest frickin' titles ever, but it is also a good show... so far.

that's right, i quite enjoyed it last night. sure, the best part of all these contest shows is the thousands-of-people-audition part where you see the good and the really bad (those first few weeks of every American Idol season are the only ones i actually make an effort to watch).

however, with The Next Best Thing, i actually enjoyed seeing the good ones as much, if not more, then the bad ones. the best part of the bad ones were the funny quips made by the celebrity judges: lisa ann walter, jeffrey ross (who does funny stand-up) and elon gold (who is actually very funny also, especially if all you recognize him from is that awful pam anderson show Stacked).

last night were the l.a. auditions and there were some great ones, like that guy who did sam kinison, al pacino and one other one. he was great. the lucille ball chick was really good also and the robin willimas and george bush that they let through were alright but not great. personally i thought the martha stewart women was scary good, but they sent her home.

so, while this is based on just the first episode, and i may have to amend my grade as the show goes longer and i see how it develops past the auditions, i have to say that i enjoyed it. it was different, funny, i liked the judges and i am going to tune in next episode.

grade: B

On The Lot Picks Host And Judges

i would have thought that they would have done all this by the time the show aired, but according to this article at Zap2It, apparently On The Lot has just now announced who the judges and host will be. carrie fischer and garry marshal are staying for the season as judges, but the host of the first couple shows is gone and adrianna costa will now host the rest of the season.

because reality tv is cheap to produce, this is the start of the summer season and you have people like mark burnett and steven spielberg behind the show, i am pretty sure we will get a full season. however, the ratings have been pretty poor, which is too bad because it is actually a pretty good show from what i have seen so far. it has all the typical ingredients of the genre, but being a bit of a film maker myself i find it pretty interesting and exciting. basically, it is 'The Apprentice Goes To The Movies'.