Three Mid-season TV Premieres Worth Watching

Some of you may have gotten a letter in the mail, asking you to take part in an important survey. No, not the census, no one cares about that. I'm talking about the Nielsen ratings survey. March is when the networks make their mid-season line-up adjustments in preparation for April, when Nielsen determines network ad rates. This spring's pre-sweeps premieres include a few worth watching.

"The Celebrity Apprentice," Sundays @ 9 on NBC
(New episodes available following Monday via Hulu and NBC.com)
A common gambit with a declining reality show is to add celebrities to the mix. In the case of "The Celebrity Apprentice," it works well, if only for the surreal situations: like disgraced former Illinois Governor Rob Blogojevich waiting tables along side WWE wrestler Goldberg. Or The Donald and Cyndi Lauper arguing about Rosie O'Donnell. This is the ninth season of Trump's show and the third season to pit celebs against each other for their favorite charities. It's a battle of the sexes; Sharon Osbourne, Holly Robinson Peete, Lauper, a former WWE diva, a model, a stand up comedienne and an Olympian make up the women's team, which they named Tenacity. The name sounds like a perfume, so of course the Donald likes it. Pop quiz: What is Rocksteady? A: a villain in the old 'Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' cartoon; B: the name of Brett Michaels' clothing line; C: the team name Brett Michaels tricked the guys into choosing to shamelessly promote his clothing line of the same name; D: all of the above. If you guessed 'D,' give yourself a cookie. No seriously, Brett Michaels is diabetic, so don't give him the cookie. On the two-hour season premier, his team raised $100,000 for the American Diabetes Association. Rocksteady, which coincidentally is also the name of a No Doubt CD, consists of Michaels, Darryl Strawberry, Goldberg, Blago, Sinbad, plus a celebrity chef and an Olympian. Trump clones Ivanka and Donald, Jr. return to assist their genetic donor in the boardroom. Donald's hair is provided by Jim Hansen's creature shop. Rob Blogojevich's hair is provided by DuPont, maker of Teflon.




"Sons of Tucson," Sundays @ 9:30 on FOX
(New episodes available following Monday via Hulu and FOX.com)
It's hard to talk about this show and not reference "Malcolm in the Middle." Justin Berfeld, who played Malcolm's older brother Reese in the 90's family sitcom, is one of the show's producers. Also on board is Todd Holland, who directed 26 episodes of "Malcolm in the Middle" as well as "The Wizard," a 1989 film that introduced the world to Fred Savage and Super Mario Brothers 3. Imagine Malcolm and his brothers being raised by an reluctant schemer, like Bernie Mac mixed with Earl Hickey. The three boy's real dad is in prison for stock fraud. Their mom was out of the picture long ago, so they're on their own. They travel from New Jersey to Tucson to claim some of their dad's ill-gotten money and a home he hid away. To stay off child services' radar, the boys need to enroll in school and for that they need a parent, so they enlist down-on-his luck Jack Black look-alike Ron Snuffkin to portray their papa. The writing is superior, delivering exchanges we haven't heard since "Malcolm." For example:

Oldest Brother Brandon: We’re working too hard. Let’s just put an ad out on Craigslist. ‘Wanted: Father to three boys.’ Bam. We’re done.
Middle Brother Gary: Great idea. A footrace between the pervs and child services. Bam. We’re screwed.

Gary is played by Frank Dolce, who starred on Broadway as "Billy Elliot." You may recognize Tyler Labine, who plays fake father Ron Snuffkin, as the slacker sidekick on CW's "The Reaper."





"Ugly Americans," Wednesdays @ 10:30 on Comedy Central
When it comes to slackers, Comedy Central's new cartoon trumps "Sons of Tucson" with the ultimate loser loafer, zombie roommate Randall Skeffington. Unemployed and undead, Randall spends his days doing odd jobs and finding replacements for his decaying body parts. "Ugly Americans" bills itself as an animated horror-comedy series. It follows Mark Lilly, social worker at the Department of Integration, as he helps new citizens both human and "other" adapt to hectic life in New York City. There are easier tasks than weaning vampires from blood, socializing land-whales, and housebreaking werewolves, but Mark is up to the challenge. Besides Mark and roommate Randall, season one introduces twenty-eight odd characters including a robot, a cyclops, a floating brain and Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking, as well as several characters not stolen from "Futurama." Oh, and magician "Christ Angel."