VH-1 ... Advanced pilots for 3 new shows

[PokerFace]

VH-1 has several new shows beginning this week (some will be carried at the same time by various Canadian channels, some will not), and some of them have the full pilot episodes already available for streaming on the VH-1 website (geo-blocked).

I checked out three of the full pilots, and sampled a brief preview of Dating Naked (also on M3 , same day --> Thursday July 17th).

Dating Naked: Yet another reality series with pixelated parts, and exposed buttocks. The clips didn't interest me. I'll skip this one.

Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project: The hook here is that the often annoying and outspoken Linda Perry has a lot of famous friends (she's worked with Christina Aguilera, Courtney Love, Pink, etc.) appearing on the show to tell us how great Linda is, as well as chatting with the various wannabee singers who are trying to get signed by Linda's record label. The pilot episode seemed to consist of approximately 41 minutes (without commercials) of egocentric behaviour mixed in with bickering and some bland songs (I had to FF skip-jump through most of the pilot -- blah, blah, blah, Zzzz). The rest of the season-teaser clips looked just as uninteresting as the pilot episode. No thanks, I've had enough.

Candidly Nicole (also on M3, July 22 --> VH1 debut is Thurs July 17th): Based on Nicole Richie's moderately entertaining AOL webisodes, the new VH-1 pilot episode (only 20-minutes without commercials -- short enough to not require any FF skip-jumps) was entertaining enough to tolerate (and I did laugh and find it initially charming). However, towards the end of the episode, I was beginning to tire of Nicole's exaggerated ego and "scripted" punchlines, so even though I didn't have to FF past any of it, I'm assuming that future episodes might become too repetitive and perhaps even dull enough to require some FF skip-jumping. I'll return for the rest of the episodes, but I'm obviously going to be watching them for the train-wreck factor and occasional chuckles that they might provide. Yet another guilty pleasure that isn't bad enough (at least not yet) to completely ignore.

http://www.vh1.com/shows/candidly-ni...9085/playlist/
[Candidly Nicole VH-1 full pilot episode (geo-blocked)]

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...Idd1vyZhA46Ffm
[Candidly Nicole AOL webisodes]

LeAnn & Eddie: My favourite of the bunch (which isn't saying much). I've always liked LeAnn Rimes (now 31), and I can't find anything wrong with Eddie Cibrian (LeAnn's hubby). It's a typical reality show, but at only 20 minutes (without commercials), it was a smooth ride that didn't annoy or bore me at any time. I'm curious to see what nonsense the two of them will decide to talk about, other than the annoying "I want/don't want a baby!" plotline that pops up in virtually all celebrity-reality shows -- and this one will be no different. With heavy makeup, LeAnn looks wonderful ... remove the makeup, and say hello to the chubby cheeks; I like magic tricks.

Useless fact: LeAnn Rimes, Kim Kardashian and Kris Jenner all have Psoriasis (an annoying skin condition).

http://www.vh1.com/shows/leann-and-e...8999/playlist/
[LeAnn & Eddie -- pilot episode via VH-1 (geo-blocked)]

[PokerFace]

The second episodes of Candidly Nicole AND LeAnn & Eddie were painful to watch. Even with all of my FF skip-jumping, I still managed to sustain some minor brain damage from viewing the scenes.

The scripted "reality" of these shows was far too prominent this time around, and it now appears that each show will have about 30-90 seconds of bearable content scattered throughout each episode.

My curiosity got the better of me, so I also tried watching the first episode of Dating Naked, but as I expected, I didn't last very long. A pixelated mess.