Tuesday, January 8, 2008

WELCOME TO UNCLE ANDERSON'S FUNHOUSE: Over the holidays, I got sucked into a marathon of old episodes of The Mole on Fox Reality--I'd forgotten just how good it was to watch a bunch of mistrustful people gallavant around Europe and try and unmask "The Mole," the one fellow contender who had been hired by the producers to serve as a sabatour. The show was top-notch in three key areas--casting (always culturally, racially, and age-diverse and interesting, with few, if any, hatable folks), challenges ("can a competitor spend all night in a room with a disco ball with 'Tiny Bubbles' playing nonstop without going crazy?," and the great final "Three Rooms" challenge from the first season, in which players are locked into their hotel rooms, with the information needed to get out of their room in their fellow contenders' room), and host (the snarktastic Anderson Cooper). Yes, the brand was subsequently diluted with two editions of "Celebrity Mole" with lame casting (Stephen Baldwin, Ananda Lewis, Frederique van der Wahl?), lame challenges, and a horrid host (Ahmad Rashad?). But the good news? ABC's bringing it back with the original producing team, though, since Anderson is otherwise engaged, they're looking for a new host. Suggestions?

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