Don't forget!

The Biggest Loser, season 9, begins tonight at 8 p.m. EST on NBC! It's 2 hours long, as usual.

Another show I failed to mention that is premiering in January for its ninth season is American Idol. The show slipped my mind because I did not watch season 7 or 8. I don't have any specific reason why - probably other shows were on that I wanted to watch - but I'll try and watch the good/bad auditions and see from there if the season is worth watching and being emotionally involved in, hah. I haven't cared at all for the past two season's winners and runner-ups. Either way, American Idol season 9 premieres on Tuesday, January 12 at 8 p.m. One reason I would advise others to turn in who may have been annoyed with AI the past few seasons is to see how Ellen DeGeneris is as the fourth judge, replacing Paula Abdul. It'll be interesting to see how she meshes with everybody, and one of my favorite celebrities, Victoria Beckham, will also be a guest judge during some of the auditions - which I will love to see!

Do reality shows reward obesity?

Does the Biggest Loser reward obesity? I'd argue.. yes.

When's the last time you saw a reality show that focused on skinny people trying to gain weight? Yes, it's a legitimate problem. It's also a struggle. It also comes with negative comments towards the person trying to gain the weight, and possibly depression and could lead to eating disorders to gain that weight. However, I've never seen such a show on television focusing on this problem.

There's been the Biggest Loser, Celebrity Fit Club, and Dance Your Ass Off. I rarely watched the last one, and only watched the season of Celebrity Fit Club with Screech on it (I wanted to throw the television set at him every time he was on screen) but if you look specifically at the Biggest Loser... think of how many rewards they get. The $250,000 cash prize at the end, $100,000 if you win at home, all the prizes after each challenge (usually monetary)... does the Biggest Loser reward obesity? Before you say "of course not!"... think of what got these contestants there in the first place. One of the qualifications for the show is to be morbidly obese with a high BMI.

One thing that made me really, REALLY hate the finale of Season 8 was the deal that Subway made with Shay. I quote from this Examiner article:

...But to help motifcate the California step-mom of two to continue losing weight and get healthy, Biggest Loser and Subway have made the 30 year old a huge offer. For every pound Shay loses between now and the Season 9 Finale (2010) Shay will receive $1,000. A clearly shocked Shay gladly accepted the challenge and blank check saying "You'll be seeing a 204 pound Shay."

OKAY. An all-out monetary bribe for her to lose weight, although she was already on the show for nearly the entire season! This is absolutely despicable and unfair. Yes, she was the largest one on campus. But no one was forcing her to eat all the food. Her obesity problem was absolutely terrible. I think it's unfair to the other contestants and to everyone else losing weight that she gets paid directly $1,000 for each pound she loses! Why not have Subway and the Biggest Loser donate $1,000 to a charity of her choosing rather than a check directly towards her? How many more people would apply to the Biggest Loser if they weighed over 500 pounds, knowing they could get so much money in doing so? I feel that people would apply only for the money and not the desire for losing weight.

The Biggest Loser almost lost a viewer on finale night. Don't make the same mistake again in the Season 9 finale. And Shay... donate the money.

New seasons!

Now that it is January, it is basically time for a new round of reality show seasons to be coming out again! Two of my favorite reality shows - one which has been consistently good, and another which faltered - will premiere new seasons in the coming weeks.

The Biggest Loser, Season 9, begins on Tuesday, January 5 at 8 p.m. on NBC. They've been running promos for weeks, focusing on fat twins and the "fattest guy so far"... really, this is so predictable each season. They always get a fatter person to top the prior season's fattest person. This season, it's Michael, one half of a mother-son team. They'll be wearing white t-shirts, which is such a terrible idea because they're going to be stained in 15 hot minutes. Michael weighs 526 pounds with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 65.7. This basically means that 65.7 percent of his body is pure fat. I do have one major bone to pick with the Biggest Loser, so expect a post prior to the premiere. I can't wait to watch Jillian Michaels and Bob Harper to kick their asses into shape. But lets lessen up on the product promos, k?

Project Runway, Season 7, will begin on Thursday, January 14 at 10 p.m. on Lifetime. Last season was terrible and I can't believe how awful it was after so many great seasons on Bravo. I wonder if the long wait between seasons and the network changeover and the new L.A. film location has anything to do with it. Maybe this is why Project Runway Season 7 was filmed back in New York, and we'll see if that gives the show it's old magic appeal. Not much information is available yet on this season, except that Nicole Richie will be a guest judge on the season premiere. Hopefully Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn treat her well.

Don't forget to tune in!

Jersey Shore and MTV's best PR move ever

I'm almost ashamed to say that one of the castmembers from MTV's "Jersey Shore" reality show is from the town next to mine. That person will remain nameless, in order to protect my anonymity. As much as I love this trashtastic show, I have some bones to pick with it. So, my analyzing of Jersey Shore begins... NOW!

The PUNCH. I'm in a select group of people that believes MTV was not going to show the punch in the episode way before they showed promos of Snooki being punched. It was a classic PR move - show a controversial moment, air it in promos, and then say "we're not going to show this in the episode." They get the viewers that watch that moment in promos and want to see it in its entirety, and MTV takes it away. This is why MTV has a great PR team in planning this out.. if this is how it played out. In the original episode, producers decided on a black screen with only sound of the event. The picture comes back with Snooki in the fetal position on the ground of the bar, with her roommates trying to punch the asshole who hit her. Anyone who wants to see the punch, it's easily found on the internet as it quickly went viral, and can be watched here.

I bet Angelina is upset that she left the show in the second episode after basically not enjoying her time there. This show has blown up so much, cast members have gotten spreads in gossip magazines and have been on TMZ, Funnyordie, Perez Hilton... you name it. They hosted MTV's New Years Eve celebration special last night. I wonder who kissed at midnight... if Ronnie and Sammi are still doing their thing... but I will continue to watch this show, which has become my #1 guilty pleasure show of 2009 and will probably continue in 2010.

Happy New Years readers! May 2010 be filled with fist pumps. As Snooki said last night, "Fists are for pumping not punching!"