Day: December 27, 2022

It’s get-tough time for TV reality shows

Wednesdays, it seems, have become TV’s designated tough days.
This fall, “Survivor” and “Amazing Race” had ordinary folks facing extraordinary challenges. Now come two more shows; they overlap on Jan. 4, then share the night:
— CBS’ “Tough as Nails” is 9-11 p.m. the first week, then 10 p.m.. Regular folks – a carpenter, welder, firefighter, construction worker, etc. — face demanding, blue-collar tasks.
— Fox’s “Special Forces: The World’s Toughest Test”is 8-10 p..m. the first week, then 9 p.m. “It is actual Special Forces training, without votes, alliances or eliminations,” Dwight Howard (shown here, second from right) said in a Television Critics Association press conference. “You just have to survive.” Read more…

Week’s top-10 for Jan. 2: a parade, then lots of new drama hours

1) Rose Parade, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. ET today, NBC, ABC, Peacock and RFD-TV. The New Year’s Day party begins — a day late. With Jan. 1 on a Sunday, the parade (shown here in a previous year) was nudged back; now it booms down 5.5 miles of Pasadena. Six of the 21 bands are from California, but others are from Italy, Japan, Mexico, Panama and Taiwan. The 40 floats include two states and four colleges. The theme is “Turning the Corner”; occasionally, floats get stuck turning corners. Read more…

Best-bets for Dec. 29: Todd, Toby & trouble

1) “So Help Me Todd” (shown here), 9 and 10 p.m., CBS. A week before the season resumes, here’s a dandy way to get familiar wth this above-average show. First, the clever pilot film: A by-the-book lawyer (Marcia Gay Harden) and her ignore-the-book son Todd (Skyler Astin), whose detective license was suspended, scramble to find her husband. Then the second hour gets too silly at times, as Todd shirks his own case to work on hers, but is still sort of fun. Read more…