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These days he runs Posh Urban Cuisine, a high-end Los Angeles catering company, which he uses to teach these young adults the basics of cooking. But Henderson's role on the show is more than just teacher. He serves as a positive role model, something most of these kids -- drug addicts, gang bangers, single moms -- have never had. Until Chef Jeff, nobody had ever believed in these kids before. And while it isn't easy for them to abandon their pasts and get used to the routine of working hard -- and together -- at the end of the day, it's a hug they need as much as a cooking lesson.
"The Pickup
Artist" (VH1)
OK, so this one's formulaic, and
its star is dopey, but the show takes the concept behind "Beauty and the Geek" and turns it
on its head -- interjecting the kinds of skills they should have
been teaching the geeks on that show for all those years. Mystery (just,
Mystery) is a world-renowned pickup artist. He used to be a geek himself
before becoming an expert in the art of seduction and building a new
life (albeit the life of a womanizer with a tragic fashion sense). His
students are socially inept men, many of whom are virgins, and some of whom have
never kissed a woman other than their mother. Though Mystery's training, which
is aided by a wingman and wingwoman, is couched in silly bits of seduction-speak
(keno, I.O.I.'s, negs), the fact that his method is more like science and less
like social interaction means these self-conscious underdogs can study and
succeed. Which they do in a series of challenges, prowling crowded Arizona bars
filled with real girls while hidden cameras record their progress. The show
would work better if it was cut down to a half hour and trimmed of its
by-the-books vote-off ceremony, but its predictable packaging is worth
wading through to see these guys triumph.
"Human Wrecking
Balls" (G4)
While I can't recommend this one
for repeated viewing unless the blood in your veins has been replaced with
testosterone, it's worth mentioning if only because it may just be the manliest
reality show ever on television. And perhaps the silliest as well. The concept:
Two brothers, Craig and Paul Pumphrey, use their mixed martial arts skills to
break things using only their bodies. They are aided by a structural engineer,
who explains the difficulty of destroying each object, and a sexy registered
nurse who takes care of any bumps or bruises inflicted during the destruction.
In the premiere, the duo destroys a hotel room, rock star-style, from television
to toilet to side tables. One of the brothers even rips the room's phone book in
half ... with his bare hands! There's a disturbing machismo that pervades
the show, but it's that same energy that makes the show strangely fascinating.
This is dude-TV for sure, and the Pumphreys are literally bulls in a china shop.
But seriously, what else do you expect from the network that thought "Hurl! was a good idea.
"Survivorman"
(Discovery)
There's only one true champion of survivalist-TV, and
his name is Les Stroud. His fellow TV survivalist, Bear Grylls, who stars in "Man vs. Wild" on the same
network, may be younger, better looking and British, but it's Stroud whose
one-man show is the crème de la crème of the genre. Stroud is the real deal. He
strands himself in the wild (this season he tackles the terrains of the Arctic
tundra, the Australian Outback and Papua New Guinea, among others) with nothing
but 50 pounds of camera gear, a harmonica and a multi-use tool to act
as both star and director, surviving for seven days in the wild. The
show's third season, which has just begun, will, sadly, be its last. "I'm
pleased with what I have done," he told Reuters recently. "I've been copied
around the world, but 25 times I've not eaten anything for a week while sleeping
on rocks. I need to move on." Catch the series now before it concludes. Once
you're hooked, who knows how well you'll survive without it.
What
reality shows do you think don't suck? Write us at heymsn@microsoft.com and let
us know.
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