Meet Mister Mom...

I guess I should start each entry with a message to AOL: How about fixing the bot.

This summer, as with the past few summers, TV networks fill the airwaves with inexpensive to produce TV Shows. These shows are commonly called "Reality TV".   Of all the shows that were new this year,  Meet Mister Mom brought to us by the NBC Network was the one I was most anxious to see.

My anxiety was caused by the premise. Which was to see what happens when Mom goes on a vacation and Dad has to take care of this kids all by himself with lots of TV cameras following him around. This was sure to be a show about the incompetence of Fathers and their inability to take care of the kids.

This theme is gaining in popularity these days in TV Commercials (discussed below a bit) so I guess it was only time before someone decided to make a pogram (Happy Birthday Jimmy) on the subject.

The show was amazingly predictable. Fathers start out being unable to handle the family and, through the miracle of editing, have some kind of epiphany about 1/2 way through the show that turns them into "super parent". In an attempt to make a very boring show more interesting, the producers have two families competing against each other in various "projects". In the end, the fathers are graded on their performance as parents. As the show progresses, when one of the fathers does something good, a little "Bing" sound is played and we see an icon showing what they did good. For example: a housecleaning icon when the father does some laundry (or when the cleaning crew from Merry Maids he won in a go-cart race cleans the house for him).

On the subject of Merry Maids. I think they found the only two English speaking employees to be on the show- at least based on the phone call I made a year ago to my local Merry Maids office.

Anyway, back to the show. So these icon reminds me of the Buddy Christ from that brilliant movie Dogma. With cheesy thumbs-up graphic.

In the first episode the scores were B+ and A-. What did the winning family get? a $25,000 Educational account from one of the sponsors. See if you can guess which one.

Not only is $25,000 minimal money when looking at the costs of higher education today (Imagine it in 10 years when those kids might be considering college) but it is a pittance for the embarrassment heaped upon those families and men, in general. If your going to insult my sex, at least pay us well for it!

I cant say I found the show offensive. It was too boring to offend me. Even the supposed "projects" did nothing to save the tedium. This might be the worst reality program on TV. OK- Date my Mom on MTV might be worse with that scripted and phony excitement that they use. I could rant on that show for an hour, and I only saw about 20 minutes of one episode.

I guess there is some good news in this that has nothing to do with car insurance. The show wasn't so offensive that I would have to stop watching NBC. I was too bored to be offended. This would have really cramped my TV addiction as I have already put the kibosh on CBS after canceling both Judging Amy and Joan of Arcadia. (OK, I admit I watch CBS a little- but anything I can get somewhere else- I go elsewhere for it.)

The advertising was the most offensive part of the whole show. Particularly the JCPenney advertising (even look at the slug-line on the sponsors page! "Watch as JCPenney helps Dad fill Mom's shoes.") I have not shopped there in years because of their "Where is your mother..." campaign which they seem to have revived for this show. I will probably address the advertising in another post.

Time to get the kids to bed....