Everything Old is New Again

Back in the late 70's early 80's there was a show called "The Battle of the Network Stars." It normally aired on Sunday afternoons. (Or that's when I watched it.) It starred teams made up of Network TV stars....Gabe Kaplan from Welcome Back, Kotter, Farrah Fawcett of Charlie's Angels, and Lynda Carter from Wonder Woman, to name a few, and was hosted by famed sports commentator, Howard Cossell. And, one of my favorites also competed - Scott Baio (Yes, I used to have Tiger Beat pictures of him in my room.) They competed in teams, designated by colors, in various challenges - obstacle course (my favorite), football, jousting, swimming, and various other physical tasks.

Amazingly, someone's marketing genius is at work again. We don't have Network stars anymore. With the onslaught of cable and the mass of Reality TV shows, our "stars" are much different today. So, the folks at Bravo have now brought us "The Battle of the Network Reality TV Stars." The same format as before, except the teams consist of former stars of every reality show known to man. It's hosted by various other reality stars such as Omarosa, from The Apprentice, and Bob, from The Bachelor. There is a little twist. At the end of each show the 3 losing teams have to vote someone off, a la Survivor.

I have to say, even though reality TV ticks a lot of people off, this is pretty clever. I caught the first episode the other Sunday afternoon (how ironic) and saw Charla, the midget from Amazing Race, jousting with an American Idol contestant. Only in America.