I really do think Alan Jackson was telling the truth when he sang: "No such thing as too much fun."
Still, we get pretty close to it sometimes. Right now, TV almost has too much of everything.
Too many new shows? At least, too many on the same night. I'm actually sending papers four stories with Monday time factors. That's when two things debut (American Country Awards on Fox, "Big Cat Week" on Nat Geo Wild) and two return ("Sing-Off" on NBC, "Men of a Certain Age" on TNT).
Too much country? Almost. Monday's award show will be the third country show to debut in the past eight days; it follows the terrific "CMA Country Christmas" and "CMT Artists of the Year."
This one has all the biggest stars (vertically speaking) in country, including Trace Adkins (the host), Toby Keith and, of course, Jackson, who gets a career award. I'll plunk that story here, because of one time factor: Fans still have until Saturday to vote in the top category, entertainer of the year. Here's the story:
By MIKE HUGHES
Imagine a TV world with Trace Adkins on
every show.
Consider “Survivor,” for instance:
“That'd be the shortest show in history,” he said. “I'd get a
big stick and say, 'Everybody get off my island.'”
And they would. Adkins– 6-foot-6,
sometimes topping 260 pounds – is the biggest guy in country music,
with one of the deepest voices in show business. “I smoked for 30
years and drank a lot of whiskey to get it this way,” he said.
People pay attention.
They'll have to on Monday, when he
hosts the first American Country Awards, on Fox. “I'm gonna run a
tight ship,” Adkins said. “Not gonna let people do those long,
drawn-out acceptance speech.”
Adkins isn't one for excessive
verbiage. In his book (“A Personal Stand,” 2007, Villard), he
said he and his dad got along fine and “would go weeks without
speaking, while living in the same house.”
He also doesn't like punch lines. He
describes phone conversations with the show's writers: “It's
basically gone like this: 'That's not funny; you'll have to write
something better than that.'”
First was the call in which producers
asked him to host. “I said, 'Really? Another award show?'”
Many people have asked that. “We
think country's one of the most vibrant areas of music in America,”
Peter Rice, the new Fox Networks chairman, said this summer.
Rice – whose precise British accent
offers no hint of a drawl – isn't a a country expert; Adkins is. He
grew up in Sarepta, a Louisiana town of 925 – and has done all the
country things – football, gospel music, alcoholism, serious
accidents (two in his truck, one on an oil-rig) and the time his
then-wife shot him through the heart.
He survived and, at 48, is a
non-drinker, married, with five daughters, lots of charity work and a
hosting chore. “This may be my first and last hosting gig ever; I
hosted a party at my house once.”
Adkins tends to dominate. Producer Thom
Beers, who hired him to sing the theme song for “Black Gold,”
said his own voice drops down when he's near Adkins. Blake Shelton –
who linked with Adkins for “Hillbilly Bone” – said being near
him “makes me feel like I'm still a kid and he's the grown-up.”
Adkins rumbled a laugh and said anyone
is a grown-up next to the free-spirited Shelton. “Miranda (Lambert,
his fiancee) is the grown-up in that relationship. He's like herdin'
a child around.”
He said that in his wry, country way.
It's a style that should work for him Monday.
– American Country Awards, 8-10 p.m.
Monday, Fox
– Adkins hosts; Alan Jackson gets a
career award. They perform, along with Toby Keith, Rascal Flatts,
Keith Urban, Reba McEntire, Jason Aldean, Luke Bryan, Josh Turner,
Steel Magnolia, Uncle Kracker
– Voting has concluded in most
categories. For entertainer-of-the-year, however, fans can still vote
online until 11:59 p.m. PT Saturday; that's 2:59 a.m. Sunday, ET.
It's at www.theacas.com;
nominees are Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Miranda Lambert, Lady
Antebellum and the Zac Brown Band