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"Celebrity Circus" Another Big (Top) Network Embarrassment
June 12, 2008  | By David Bianculli
 

Even when I come to new series with apprehension, I'm prepared, and often hoping, to be pleasantly surprised. And I must admit that NBC's Celebrity Circus, which premiered last night and was unavailable for preview because it was performed live, wasn't as bad as I expected.

It was worse. And it consumed two hours of my life I'll never get back.

celebrity-circus-joey-faton.jpg

Hosted by red-suited ringmaster Joey Fatone, whose own career was revived thanks to Dancing with the Stars, Celebrity Circus is the worst collection of poor performers performing poorly since... well, since the CBS debacle Secret Talents of the Stars, which was canceled in April after one episode. We'll never know who would have won that horrible talent show, and Danny Bonaduce, who didn't even get a chance to compete, will have to find another place to display his skills at riding a unicycle.

Given the state of today's television, I'm betting he'll find that place before too long. Probably on NBC.

These programs are easy targets, like shooting fish at the bottom of the barrel. Robert Bianco of USA Today said of Secret Talents of the Stars that "you can be excused for asking whether some contestants have any talents that aren't a secret." And Rick Kushman of The Sacramento Bee, assessing the talent roster for Celebrity Circus, dubbed it "Celebrity Trainwreck."

For this new NBC series, the definitions of both celebrity and circus are being stretched to their limits. Line up all the celebrities, police lineup style, and I'm not sure I could identify any of them. Wee Man, maybe. Christopher Knight, only because he's made reality TV his new career, after The Brady Bunch was his only old one. Blu Cantrell, Janet Evans and Antonio Sabato Jr.? No way.

And the three judges, cast in the apparently inviolable mold of American Idol? The worst was Louie Spence, who threw about his sexual orientation so aggressively (Fatone called him "the queen bee" at one point) that he had no problem making a gay play for Sabato in his post-performance assessment, and generally drawing attention to himself with a series of remarks ill-suited to an ostensibly family show.

celebrity-circus-chris-knig.jpg

It's hard to imagine many families, or other viewers, sitting still for this TV swill for long. Knight's high-wire act had some elements of drama to it, but the vast majority of Celebrity Circus was drama-less, tension-less and talentless.

"The next trick is so dangerous," Fatone said before one act, "it was banned from the circus for 20 years." Would that Celebrity Circus receives a similar ban. Last night, it certainly earned one.

 

 

2 Comments

 

Fro said:

I've always thought it would be great to be a TV critic. Imagine, getting paid to watch TV and then telling people what you think! Dreck like this makes me reconsider. I honestly feel for you, having to actually devote vital brain cells to watching and writing about this "circus". Better you than me. (One of my professional brethren once said, "I don't get paid to watch television. I get paid to watch BAD television. Pretty much sums it up -- though these days, for me, the pay is less, and the bad TV is more. -- David B.)

Comment posted on June 12, 2008 9:16 PM


David said:

Maybe "Celebrity Circus" wouldn't have been worth my time, but I hope NBC keeps it on at least another week or two. No one got to see it--or anything else on the broadcast networks--in Omaha June 11, because they brought us hour after hour after hour of severe weather coverage which led into the tragedy about the Boy Scout Camp in Iowa where four scouts were killed by a tornado. (I'm truly horrified by the fatal storms that ripped through your region. Trust me, though: watching "Celebrity Circus" will do nothing to ease the pain or distract from the awful reality. In TV terms, "Circus" IS awful reality. -- David B.)

Comment posted on June 13, 2008 1:16 AM

 
 
 
 
 
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