Last night, I watched The Graham Norton Effect on Comedy Central and I have to say I think it’s as good if not better than BBC America’s So Graham Norton. Well, it’s the same, anyway. Norton is still as quiffed and queer as ever and the format’s almost identical. There had been worry that the UK show wouldn’t translate in the States. If anything, the fact that the audience is American (and mostly New Yorkers) makes it translate, literally, very well indeed. None of those quaint Englishisms to wince at. You know, “pudding” and “wank” and “telly” and digs at obscure “presenters” we’ve never heard of. Topics now are as universal as, hmm, Whoopie Goldberg.
Last night, Macaulay Culkin and RuPaul were the chatty celebrities (RuPaul talked about a friend whose foreskin can hold 19 marbles, and whose talent was taped for a WOW straight-to-video omnibus), with participation from audience members, some in drag, and a guest appearance by a New Yorker claiming to be Jesus. The Jesus.
But, jesus, I don’t have the same enthusiasm for the fifth season of Big Brother as I do for Big Mary. In previous years, Brother had been my favorite reality show, the one I stayed home to watch religiously. This year, inexplicably, it’s unwatchable. (Let me be James for a moment: It’s UNWATCHABLE!!!!!) Awful, ignorant, self-involved, uninvolving congestants, er, I mean contestants who are mostly bridge-and-tunnel without the charm. Even with two gimmicky ‘twists” in the first week of their incarceration, the show has no personality. I’m guessing the show has a new casting team.
