TV Party for Friday, August 19th

Beatlemania rules this summer Friday night…well, on KIRO anyway, and only after the football game is over. Preseason NFL action continues tonight starting at 5 as the Vikings take on the Jets. Following the game, KIRO is filling the Friday night airwaves with two episodes of an Australian Beatles documentary, The Beatles: A Long And Winding Road. At 8 it’s an episode titled Hamburg & Herr Epstein, covering the years from 1960 – 1962. Sex drugs and rock'n'roll rear their lovely heads as four young lads from the port city of Liverpool found themselves in the biggest red-light district in Europe, with nothing to do but live out the ultimate music industry fantasy. The players in this story are a who's who of the seamier side of the early rock'n'roll era. The pimps, gangsters, strippers and early rockers who shared the nightime world of this city of sin, were all an integral part of this history of the world's most famous band. It was also the place that ultimately led them to the one person whose belief in their talents would be enough to make them a worldwide phenomenon, a Liverpool record store owner named Brian Epstein. The crucible of Hamburg was the proving ground where the Beatles honed their skills and became real musicians and the playground that would make them men.

At nine it’s time for Beatlemania to take root as the Fab Four explode across the world between 1963-1966. We’ve all heard Ed Sullivan’s famous line, “And now here they are, THE BEATLES!!!!" the words that unleashed the greatest musical group in history upon citizens of North America. Within one short year the Fab Four had gone from being a strictly British pop group, to being a worldwide phenomenon. The world had never witnessed anything like the storm that engulfed the Beatles in those heady days, nor would it witness its like again, however much Oasis or Coldplay think of themselves.

Finally, at 10 how about an hour of escapist obsessive-compulsive detective work with USA Network’s “Monk”? Tony Shaloub is masterful as the quirky genius Monk, and in tonight’s episode he turns his neatnick eye to stop a killer from spoiling the wedding of his assistant’s brother. Will he succeed? Or will Monk himself spoil the wedding by re-arranging the flowers and napkins 57 times? You’ll have to tune in to see, because I’ll never tell.

That’s your TV Party for Friday, August 19th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Thursday, August 18th

Thursday is Poker Night on Bravo, with the sixth tournament of “Celebrity Poker Showdown” starting tonight at 8, and the first game is all about the reality, baby. Yes, if you didn’t get enough reality stars yesterday on “Battle of the Network Reality Stars”, tonight you can feast your senses on the poker-playing ability of the Amazing Race’s Charla Faddoul, The Real World and Surreal Life’s Trishelle, The Bachelor’s Andrew Firestone, Survivor: Pearl Islands’ Johnny Fairplay, and everybody’s favorite whiny annoying bad girl, Omarosa from The Apprentice and the Surreal Life. The winner of tonight’s first round goes on to play winners from later rounds, possibly an actual celebrity like Meat Loaf, Alex Trebeck or Rosie O’Donnell.

If you’d rather immerse yourself in historical reality rather than poker TV reality, head down to KCTS for “Battlefield Britain”, the series that explores the key battles in the history of Britain and their effects on the country’s history. Tonight is episode 7 in the series, Culloden – 1746. In the final battle of the Jacobite rebellion, Bonnie Prince Charlie and his exhausted army were slaughtered in the boggy ground of Drummossie, thus cementing the English and Scottish crowns together.

At 9 stay on KCTS for Spy, a British reality show where civilians learn if they have what it takes to be a secret agent. In tonight’s episode, Crossing the Line, the six remaining recruits explore the core work of an intelligence officer, the art of cultivating an agent. They team up in pairs and take temporary jobs at a barber shop, a gym and a clothing store. Their fellow employees are unaware that their new coworkers are spies. After working undercover cultivating and befriending a complete stranger in order to turn them into their agent, it is time for the recruits to complete their mission. They will have to manipulate their target and get them to cross the line of morality, by persuading them to lie, sign a fake document or help them in a legally questionable way.

Finally, at 10 head to TLC for “Jackpot! Overnight Millionaires” Take a look at the dramatic differences in the homes and lifestyles of lottery winners before and after they hit jackpots. This reality-based special features seven lottery millionaires; from a former convict to a single mother living in a one-room hotel. I’m hoping that one of them loses all their money in a series of bad investments and crazy gambling sprees, but that’s just ‘cause I’m jealous.That’s your TV Party for Thursday, August 18th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Wednesday, August 17th

Tonight you have a rare opportunity in tv…a chance to see a truly bad movie. A movie so bad it’s laughable. A movie so bad that it’s good, in a very, very bad way. Yes, tonight at 8 VH1 brings you the pleasing pain that is Paul Veerhoven’s “Showgirls”. Yahoo’s TV guide sums up “Showgirls” like this: A dancer becomes understudy in a Las Vegas show, sleeps with the boss and pushes the star down some stairs. Adult Situations; Graphic Language; Nudity; Violence; Strong Sexual Content; Rape. But “Showgirls” is so, so much more. It’s one of those rare movies where you can truly revel in someone else’s failure. The failure is so complete, on every level – from the script, to the direction to the acting – that it’s hard to believe that it’s not all an act, that they weren’t setting out to make the worst film ever.

At 9 take a break from the Showgirls train wreck and head up to Bravo for a whole different kind of wreck, Battle of the Network Reality Stars. Whoever decided that reality show contestants are deserve a second, third, or fourth 15 minutes of fame really should be taken behind the woodshed for a few licks with a hickory switch. And they should never be let back in the boardroom.

Those of us who grew up in the 70s remember the original “Battle of the Network Stars” in which teams of TV stars from the 3 major broadcast networks compete against each other in physical challenges. The Stars included Mister Kotter, Richie Cunningham, Farrah Fawcett, Kojak, Meathead, Kurt Russell, Alice, Wonder Woman, and that kid who said “Dynomite!” among many others. You know, stars. People you looked up to.

Well, apparently someone at Bravo decided that the people we look up to, or at least want to look at, are Reality TV stars. And they’ve gathered them all together for "Battle of the Network Reality Stars," a merging of 70s kitch with new millennium Reality.

And they’re not only recycling the name, it sounds like they’re recycling the costumes and the competitions. The reality junkies will compete in a joust, navigate a kayak race, and battle it out in the famed tug-of-war, among other challenges. And in a nod to today's reality shows, twists and turns along the way force team members to vote each other off, create alliances, and generate unending drama and tears. Because that’s what we’re looking for, drama and tears.

That’s your TV Party for Wednesday, August 17th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Tuesday, August 16th

Well, you’ve made it. This is the day you’ve been waiting for all summer, ever since the hosts were announced back in June. All that waiting, reading Tiger Beat and Seventeen to find out what everyone was going to wear have finally paid off. So fluff up the bean bag chair, pop some popcorn, and settle in for a night of TV delights as Fox airs the 2005 Teen Choice Awards. Dude, it’s like totally going to rock and stuff. Seriously!

In case you’ve like been under a rock or something for the last two months, the awards are being hosted this year by that hot chick from those movies…what’s her name? Oh yeah, Hillary Duff. And she’s got that old guy who does those movies about that gigglyoh guy, Rob Schneider. And if you need more reasons than that, well, Simple Plan are set to perform at the show, and they’re only like the coolest band in the whole world. And include Paris Hilton, Eva Longoria, Jessica Alba, Ryan Seacrest, Rachel Bilson, Wilmer Valderrama, Eva Mendes, Jesse McCartney, Jesse Metcalfe, Ashlee Simpson, Emma Roberts, Tyler Hilton and more super cool celebrities are going to be there. Oh, and they’re going to hand out some awards to some actors and stuff too.

At nine it’s time for the highlight of the week, Teen Choice Awards notwithstanding. Yes, it’s time for “Tommy Lee Goes to College”. Rock star Tommy Lee from "Mötley Crüe" at last finds time for college after living the fast life for two decades. We all know that Tommy's former loves include Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, but how will he fare with the college coeds? Lee enrolls at The University of Nebraska at Lincoln and struggles just like any other (famous rock star) student to balance academics with extra-curricular pursuits, his new roommate Matt and a distractingly attractive tutor named Natalie. Whether Tommy makes time with the tutor will likely depend on whether she’s seen his famous sex tape…

Finally, at 10:30 – you get a half hour off tonight to brush your teeth and wash your face – it’s time for my new favorite show, MTV’s The 70s House. We’re up to episode seven, the group is getting smaller, and the kids remaining in the house are really starting to get into it. I’m hoping that the last few will adopt 70s style as their every-day wear after the show and spawn a resurgence of 70s fashion, if only so I can get some use out of those velour shirts I’ve still got in a box in the basement.

That’s your TV Party for Tuesday, August 16th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Monday, August 15th

Well, like I said last Friday, it’s mid-August and that means it’s Football Season. Kick your night off with Monday Night Football at 6 on ESPN, as the Eagles take on the Steelers in a game no one cares about except people in Pennsylvania.

After the game, flip over to ABC for “Remember the Titans”, which is apparently not about the NFL team in Tennessee. Instead, it’s the true tale of a Virginia school that hires a black high-school football coach after it undergoes integration in 1971. Denzell Washington plays Coach Herman Boone, hired over a successful white coach to run the football program at the newly integrated T.C. Williams High School and must overcome both the player’s and parents’ resistance to the new changes brought on by integration.

If football isn’t quite your thing, how about some old-school spy work, Lazenby style? Tonight at 8 AMC brings you “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” the only Bond appearance by Australian model George Lazenby, who was cast in the role when Sean Connery refused to play Agent 007 again after doing five Bond films in as many years. The lovely and talented Emma Peel…sorry, that’s Diana Rigg…is the requisite love interest and the only of the many Bond girls to end up with the name “Mrs. Bond.” Kojak’s Telly Savalas plays SPECTRE head Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the master criminal intent on destroying the world's agricultural economy. The film features that classic 60s Bond action you know and love, with a face you don’t see nearly as often as the other Bonds. And hey, it’s not every day you get to see 007 get married, now, is it?

Finally, at ten head to OLN for the first episode of “Survivor: Australian Outback.” OLN just finished running the original “Survivor” series, and are now moving on to season two. And while this isn’t the episode where the guy falls in the fire, it’s still sure to be a good one, as I believe one of the tribe’s camp is washed away in a flash flood. Or maybe someone’s baby is eaten by a dingo. One of those.

That’s your TV Party for Monday, August 15th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Friday, August 12th

It’s mid-August, and that can mean only one thing…yes, Football season is here. Tonight at 5 KONG is broadcasting the Seahawks first pre-season game live from New Orleans. Get your first look at the new players the Hawks added in the off season, and begin placing your bets on which defensive player will be the first to sustain a season-ending injury. The regular season starts in early September, but the pre-season is fun to watch as well, if only so you can use the names “Seneca” and “Taco” at work and not sound like you’re talking about what to eat for lunch.

If pre-season football isn’t full-contact enough for you, ESPN 2 has your back with four straight hours of K1 fighting. What is K1? It’s a martial arts fighting sport which fuses centuries of tradition from martial arts such as karate, kung fu, tae kwon do and kickboxing (the "K") into a thoroughly modern and electrifying spectator sport, to determine the single best stand-up fighter in the world (the "1"). K-1 rules allow fighters from many different disciplines to compete, and the elaborate production values of K-1 events make these extravaganzas a veritable feast for the senses. Since its introduction in 1993 under the direction of founder Master Kazuyoshi Ishii, K-1 has become one of the world's fastest-growing sports. Why, you ask? Because in the words of K1 fighter and former UW Lineman Bob Sapp, “we only score points when we do damage.”

If you’d rather not see grown men beating the hell out of each other, then the Disney Channel is the place for you at 9 as they air “Monsters, Inc.” the story of the monster world, where power is generated by the screams of frightened children, yet the monsters themselves are scared silly of the kids. When top scarer Sulley – voiced by John Goodman – and his assistant Mike Kowalski – voiced by Billy Crystal – accidentally let a little girl in to the monster world, they begin to uncover a monstrous plot that will shake the very roots of Monsters, Inc. It’s a fun film, the Pixar animation is amazing as always, and if nothing else it’ll make you a little less afraid of the dark.

That’s your TV Party for Friday, August 12th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Thursday, August 11th

Tonight’s selections come from two channels, so you won’t have much surfing to do and you can give your thumb a rest. We start out with the local favorite, KCTS. At 8 it’s another episode of Battlefield Britain, the show that chronicles key battles in the history of the British Isles and explores their effect on the history of the country. Tonight it’s the 1690 Battle of The Boyne, where the Protestant King William of Orange fought the Catholic King James II for the throne. One of the consequences of this battle was the eventual division of Ireland, a situation which still haunts the rulers of Britain today.

At 9 it’s time for “Spy”, a British reality show wherein normal, non-spy people like you and me see if they have what it takes to be a secret agent. Tonight’s episode, Safe as Houses, finds the recruits faced with their first 36-hour mission. They have to mount a surveillance operation on the occupants of two target houses, and do all those things that look so easy in the movies: break into target properties, plant secret cameras and bugs and fix tracking devices to cars. Split into teams, the recruits’ relationships are put to the test as they share cramped and claustrophobic living conditions for the duration of their stake-out.

Finally, at 10 the show P.O.V. presents 'Wattstax,' a 1973 film documenting the 'Black Woodstock,' a benefit concert in Los Angeles attended by more than 100,000. Hosted by the Rev. Jesse Jackson, and with performances by the Staples Singers, the Emotions, the Bar-Kays, Isaac Hayes and a young Richard Pryor, the concert film is a snapshot of the height of the Black Power movement.

Your other option is 3 hours of World War 2 history on the Discovery Channel. At 8 it’s Unsolved History: Pearl Harbor: Death of the Arizona The destruction of the U.S.S. Arizona by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 was the defining moment for America's entry into World War II. Rarely-seen footage shows the entire sequence of events, and a National Park Service dive team explores the wreck. And don't worry...there's no sign of Ben Aflek or Cuba Gooding Jr. in this one.

At 9, take a look at Ghosts of Bataan. Eight hours after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, American forces in the Philippine islands came under attack from the Imperial Army of Japan. After months of intense fighting without reinforcements, American and Filipino forces surrendered on the Bataan Peninsula and the prisoners were sent on the now famouse "Bataan Death March".

Finally, at 10 we look at Hirohito: Emperor of War. Was Japan's Emperor Hirohito a ruler afraid of his generals, or the despot who started WWII? The world has long blamed him for Pearl Harbor and the horrors of the second World War. Now, based on recently discovered documents his culpability is revealed.

That’s your TV Party for Thursday, August 11th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Wednesday, August 10th

Another Wednesday, another night of TV reality. At 8 chose between T-Boz and Chili surprising a group of semi-finalists in their quest to replace Lisa Left-Eye Lopes on “R U Tha Girl with T-Boz and Chili” on UPN, and Fox’s “So You Think You Can Dance” – NOT featuring Paula Abdul – where the contestants are cut down to just 16, meaning that thankfully an end is in sight. At 9 ABC brings you another episode of Brat Camp. It's almost Christmas, and the first 40 days are drawing to a close. The question on everyone's mind is: Who's going to make it home in time for the holidays, and who will be left behind? We know some will, because the series isn’t over and if all the kids got to go home there wouldn’t be much to broadcast, now, would there?

If you’d rather leave all that behind you, how about one of the best movies of the last few years? At 8 tonight Oxygen is showing the Nicholas Cage masterpiece “Adaptation”. Cage plays Charlie Kaufman, a confused L.A. screenwriter overwhelmed by feelings of inadequacy, sexual frustration, self-loathing--and by the screenwriting ambitions of his freeloading twin brother Donald (also played by Cage). While struggling to adapt The Orchid Thief, by Susan Orlean, Kaufman's life spins from pathetic to bizarre. The lives of Kaufman, Orlean and John Laroche, the orchid poacher and the subject of Orlean's book, become strangely intertwined as each one's search for passion collides with the others'.Finally, at 10 it’s time for that crazy magic sideshow, A&E’s “Mindfreak with Chris Angel.” Chris is indeed a freak, and one who sets his sights on spectacular escapes and odd magic tricks. In tonight’s episode, “Buried Alive”, Chris teams up with rocker Rob Zombie to re-enact his own funeral and attempt one of the most dangerous escape stunts in magic history. The "buried alive" demonstration proved fatal for "The Amazing Joe Burras", a magician from Fresno CA., but was done successfully by Banachek and Lance Burton, both of whom are helping Chris put his own spin on things: Rob Zombie manacles Chris into a coffin, then lowers him six feet under on the haunted house set of Rob's movie "Devil's Rejects". The grave is then filled with earth and Chris must escape the manacles and slither out of the coffin. Fun, fun, fun!

That’s your TV Party for Wednesday, August 10th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Tuesday, August 9th

It’s the 60^th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan, an act which helped end World War Two, start the cold-war nuclear arms race, and possibly spawned Godzilla. And to celebrate this inauspicious day KCTS is focusing their broadcasts tonight on…World War I.

First up at 8 is Nova: Who Killed the Red Baron? On April 21, 1918, Germany's most feared fighter ace, Manfred von Richthofen (known as the 'Red Baron') took off on patrol over the Somme valley with his notorious red-painted Flying Circus. What happened next has divided historians and air buffs for decades. Nova presents newly discovered documents that overturn the conventional theory of von Richthofen's demise. In accounting for the Baron's singular success, NOVA also explores the origins of the first fighter planes and the evolution of aerial tactics. You’ll have to watch the show to see if Snoopy plays any role in it.

At 9 it’s time for “1914: The War Revolution.” World War I was the war that, famously, would be 'over by Christmas.' Instead, Allied and German troops fought across hundreds of miles of trenches for three long years. The bloody stalemate was routinely blamed on unimaginative generals. How did the opposing forces survive, and what did a French candymaker, an American cowboy and an American fairground-ride designer have to do with it? 1914: THE WAR REVOLUTION reveals how a wave of inventions changed the face of warfare forever.

At 10 switch over to the History Channel for “Man, Moment, Machine.” Tonight’s episode, The Great Sub Rescue, is especially timely given the events in Russia last week. It's 1939. In the two decades since the development of submarines, there has been no technology capable of rescuing crews trapped in downed subs. A Navy submarine called the Squalus malfunctions and sinks to the bottom of the Atlantic. All 33 survivors know there has never been a rescue from a sunken submarine. Their only hope at this moment is one man: maverick Navy commander Charles "Swede" Momsen. He's on his way with a machine he invented that's destined to change history. Join host Hunter Ellis at the Naval Submarine Center as he suits up with submariners in a sub training tank and demonstrates how the Squalus crew fought the powerful force of rushing water as their sub sank. And we'll take a look at Momsen's rescue chamber--a 10-foot high diving bell that operates like an underwater elevator and offers the only way out for men condemned to this slow death.

That’s your TV Party for Tuesday, August 9th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Monday, August 8th

Tonight brings us yet another reality show premier. Fox has the latest entry, a combination of the home improvement world – think “Extreme Home Makeover” or “Trading Spaces” – and the life-improvement world – think Nanny 911 or Trading Spouses. What is this wonder? It’s “Renovate My Family”, hosted by Dr. Phil’s son Jay McGraw. Jay spent his adolescence learning and living his father’s Life Strategies and translating them into language teens can understand and enjoy, which I take to mean he used “Like” and “you know” every other word and threw in some hiphop slang to make it more “def”. As for the show, a panel of makeover professionals – a stylist, an interior designer, a construction crew and even experts to re-invent cars and pets (how do you re-invent a pet?) help restore and redecorate the families in need. Oh, and I shouldn’t forget to mention that the construction crew consists of a set of smoking hot blonde triplets…this is Fox after all.

Fox is airing two episodes tonight. First up at 8 is the Brooks Family, who Fox describes as “the working-class Huxtables”. But instead of a fancy brownstone in New York they live in Watts, one of the most dangerous cities in America. The family is all about education, and spend all their money on private schools for their children. The team gives the family some help facilitating their American Dream, and throwing a family reunion.

At 9 they turn the triplets loose on the Famiglietti family of Peabody Massachusetts. Mother Diane has worked hard to raise her five kids – too hard, in fact. She’s spent the last 20 years taking care of her children’s needs at the expense of her own, and now she has severe health problems which culminated in a heart attack a few years ago. Well, the kids want to see both their parents focus on themselves for a change and finally have the house and the lives they’ve never had because they always put their kids first.

If that’s not your idea of a good time, how about three hours of beauty pageants? Start off at 8 on Oxygen with “Mo’nique’s Fat Chance”, where 10 full-figured women compete in a beauty pageant. Mo’nique, a full-figured gal herself, developed the show to highlight the fact that, while the “beauty norm” in television is skinny girls with implants, women with real, natural curves and without protruding ribs and bony knees are beautiful as well. And I say more power to her.

At 9 you can switch to NBC for the antithesis of “Mo’nique’s Fat Chance”, “Miss Teen USA 2005!” Fifty-one beautiful and conscientious contestants from across the US will compete for the crown. During the NBC live broadcast, no doubt tape-delayed here on the west coast, the Top 15 will be announced and will compete in a glamorous evening gown competition. The esteemed panel of judges will then pick the Top 10 who will showcase their beauty and athleticism in swimsuit competition. The evening culminates with the crowning of Miss Teen USA® 2005, changing one teen girl's life forever. And we certainly hope that change is a good one, and not just a plunge into drug abuse and eating disorders.

That’s your TV Party for Monday, August 8th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Thursday, August 4th

At 8 it’s time for another episode of “Battlefield Britain” on KCTS, an innovative series spanning nearly 2,000 bloody and turbulent years of battles fought on British soil. Each of the eight episodes tells the story of a different conflict profiling those who fought and revealing the weapons, the tactics and the effect on British history. Tonight’s episode, Naseby - 1645 tells of this decisive battle of the English Civil War where Charles I's hopes were destroyed by Cromwell's New Model Army. Never again was Britain ruled solely by a Monarch.

Also at 8 on our “other” PBS station KBTC is "Nova: Science Now!" Tonight Tom and Ray Magliozzi, the hosts of NPR's “Car Talk,” help Robert Krulwich explore the pros and cons of hydrogen as an automotive fuel, neurobiologist Erich Jarvis reveals the similarities between humans and birds, and explore melting glaciers in Greenland.

At 9 move up to the Food Network for a mouth-wattering competition, at least if you like chicken. Yes, it’s the "$100,000 Chicken Challenge!" The winning dish is worth 100 grand at the National Chicken Cook-off, where 51 amateur chefs battle it out for the biggest prize in contest history. One competitor from each state and the District of Columbia won a recipe contest and a place at the cook-off in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they have three hours to make their prized poultry. While I’m pulling for Washington, I wouldn’t be surprised if the home team wins.

If neither of those shows sounds good, how about two hours of dragons? The History Channel has just that tonight, on "Quest for Dragons," starting at 8. A spirited exploration of the history, science, and legend of the world's most notorious beast--the dragon, the best-known creature that never was. Throughout history, dragons influenced wars, science, art, and religion. They appear in almost every culture and many still believe in dragons. How could different cultures, isolated by geology and millennia, all invent the same creature? If the dragon is simply the product of our imagination, how could distant peoples, with no knowledge of each other, all invent the same beast? One of the reasons dragons are a perennial favorite is that even though they are the ultimate predator and antagonist, it's also fun to identify with them. In the end, we want to be the dragon as much as we may want to slay the dragon.

Finally, at 10 it’s time for “Starved”, a new adult comedy on FX. This series provides an often poignant take on food addiction, which is the backdrop to the funny, romantic and personal lives of four New Yorkers - Sam, Billie, Adam and Dan - struggle with various eating disorders and lean on each other for support. The friends attend Belttighteners, a radical support group that takes an unconventional, harsh approach to recovery. To Billie's horror, Sam secretly tries to mold his date into a woman from a sultry TV commercial. Adam continues to shake down deliverymen for their food and Dan struggles with his decision for gastric bypass surgery. Remember, in this world of Reality Television this is NOT reality – these people are paid professional actors, so please do not try this at home.

That’s your TV Party for Thursday, August 4th, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Wednesday, August 3rd

It’s Wednesday, and that means it’s Reality Night. Where summers past have been filled with Made-for-TV movies and re-runs, this year we’ve got a huge set of Reality shows, and many of them have landed on Wednesday nights.

At 8 you’ve got your choice of singing or dancing – or, possibly, both singing AND dancing. Fox has your dance card covered with the fourth installment of “So you think you can Dance?” where 50 contestants are whittled down to just 26. Man, that’s gotta hurt. If you’d rather watch people singing, with possibly some dancing thrown in for spice, head over to UPN for the second episode of “R U Tha Girl With T Boz and Chili”, as the two remaining members of TLC head to Miami to continue their quest to find a new Left-Eye. The girls have fun at a gator park, then select the next set of semi-finalists to compete in Atlanta. Those not chosen will, we can hope, be thrown to the gators.

If you’d rather watch stuff get blown up and shot into the air, try out Sci-Fi Network’s “Master Blasters”. This week the contestants try to make a field goal. Doesn’t sound too hard, until you learn that the attempt is from 1,000 feet and instead of a football they’ll be using a sports car…

At 9 slide down to ABC for “Brat Camp”, the show about troubled teens sent to live in the wilderness of Central Oregon. Tonight the kids must spend three days and nights completely alone, fending for themselves in the wilderness, as they endure their "Solo Experience." This solitary time is especially difficult for Derek, who must confront his intense fear of being alone. Well, alone except for the camera crew, that is…

Finally, at 10 it’s time for some celebreality with Bravo’s "Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List." Welcome to the outrageous world of famous-yet-unappreciated comedian Kathy Griffin as she pulls out all the stops to keep her D-List celebrity status in the public eye. From judging a drag show (where she runs into Marcia Cross, John C. Riley and Rachel Bilson) to performing at a straight-laced Beverly Hills charity benefit, Kathy milks every opportunity to make money, get free publicity and wrangle unwilling celebs into attending her upcoming fundraiser while driving her husband, her assistant, her elderly parents and her two gay best friends crazy.

That’s your TV Party for Wednesday, August 3rd, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Tuesday, August 2nd

Start off your night at 8 with a little old school technology on the History Channel’s “Wild West Tech”. In this episode, we find out that size did matter in the Old West, where cowboys wanted big toys! Big profits required big equipment to dig, dredge, paddle, and plough through the wilds of America. Technology would replace the pan and the pick with massive machines roaming the forests and deserts like dinosaurs, feeding on the minerals above and below the soil. Even weaponry was super-sized! We take a look at the huge and deadly Hotchkiss cannon and the cumbersome Colt Buntline Revolver, carried by famous frontier personalities like Wyatt Earp, Frank and Jesse James, and Judge Roy Bean. And we review the history of the infamous Mankato Gallows, built to execute 38 Dakota warriors at the same time on December 26, 1862 in Minnesota--the largest mass execution in US history.

At 9 it’s time for Discovery’s “Dirty Jobs” which is not, as I originally thought, about the founder of Apple Computer wearing leather and being spanked. No, this is a show about the dirtiest jobs in the county, and tonight host Mike Rowe steps into the shoes of a sewer inspector in San Francisco, and enlists a disaster clean up crew after a Brooklyn toilet explodes from a sewer backup. He then joins up with a demolition company where he works as part of a deconstruction crew.

If you like that, stay on Discovery at 10 for a second episode in which Mike scours the bottom of a creek to find the granddaddy of all catfish, braves the underground and underappreciated world of septic tank cleaners and checks out a farm that specializes in worm droppings. All I can say is I hope he’s being paid well…

If you’d rather not be grossed out while watching tv, at 9 ABC has you covered with the CMA Music Festival, Country Music's Biggest Party. Four days, 30 hours of autograph signings, 70 hours of live music, more than 200 Country Music artists and celebrities, and more than 130,000 fans add up to one major musical event - "CMA Music Festival: Country Music's Biggest Party." This is the first time ABC will broadcast this special -- which invites the whole country to America's biggest Country Music bash -- since the original Fan Fair was launched in 1972.

Taped in Nashville, concert highlights will feature performances by Dierks Bentley, Big & Rich, Cowboy Troy, Sara Evans, Alan Jackson, Jo Dee Messina, Dolly Parton, Rascal Flatts, Sugarland, Keith Urban, Lee Ann Womack, Wynonna, Trisha Yearwood and many more.

That’s your TV Party for Tuesday, August 2nd, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken

TV Party for Monday, August 1st

We start off August with Movie Monday! Four movies for you, giving you a choice between a thriller, a musical drama, and a couple of romantic comedys.

Your first option is “The Sixth Sense” on ABC. Some kids have imaginary friends. Cole, played by Haley Joel Osment, does them one better: He lives in a world beyond imagination, filled with ghosts and madness. Bruce Willis is the empathic child psychiatrist who tries to heal the child, only to find that the poltergeists are not of this world and the problem may be his own. Tightly wound and filled with twists, M. Night Shyamalan's terrifying thriller will chill you, and have you whispering “I see dead people” for weeks.

If you’re not looking for chills, how about singing and dancing? Oxygen brings you both tonight with the 2001 film “Moulin Rouge!”. Ewan McGregor puts away his light saber and plays a Naïve young poet who falls in love with cabaret star Nicole Kidman. Their ill-fated romance serves as a convenient peg on which to hang a dazzling array of numbers that span musical idioms from snatches of Rodgers and Hammerstein's "The Sound of Music" to Madonna's "Like a Virgin". But the real star of the show is director Baz Luhrmann, who came up with this infectious concoction. If you like MTV you’ll love the first half hour, after which it settles down into a more standard movie.

If you’d rather have a nice soft romantic comedy USA’s got you covered with “Head Over Heels.” Recently dumped Amanda (Monica Potter) moves into a new apartment -- one with a bird's-eye view of stud-muffin Jim's (Freddie Prinz Jr.) digs across the way. Can Amanda and Jim's attraction survive the doubt Amanda harbors that the object of her affection may be … a murderer? Shalom Harlow, Ivana Milicevic, Sarah O'Hare and Tomiko Fraser play Amanda’s supermodel roommates, and that’s really all you need to know to tune in, now, isn’t it?

Finally, if none of those fill the bill, head up to AMC for “Honeymoon in Vegas” starring Nicholas Cage, Sarah Jessica Parker, James Caan and a plane full of parachuting Elvis impersonators. The plot is a twist on “Indecent Proposal”, only with a much lower price tag…Nicholas Cage’s mom makes him promise on her deathbed that he will never get married. His girlfriend, Sarah Jessica Parker, convinces him to get married in Vegas. James Caan, a wealthy gambler, arranges for Cage to lose $65K in a poker game and offers to clear the debt for a weekend with Parker. This makes Cage crazy with jealousy and the madcap antics begin. And did I mention the plane full of parachuting Elvi? Good.

That’s your TV Party for Monday, August 1st, for Northwest Indy Radio I’m Scott Chicken