BOOB TUBE: THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE UGLY

Sometimes ABC Family gets it right, sometimes they don’t.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly dives right into the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of television each week. Still unsure what this column is about: The Good will focus on the best thing on TV this week, The Bad will explore the worst thing, and The Ugly will vary from week to week, but it’s usually serving up the hottest of hot messes allowed to hit our TV screens.

The Good.

ABC Family may put out some not so great shows, I know this for a fact because I watched an entire season of State of Georgia starring Raven Symone, but on the occasion they also put out some really great ones – like Greek. This summer ABC Family released a new show called Bunheads. I know, it sounds terrible, but trust me it’s not. Bunheads is created by Amy Sherman-Palladino (she created Gilmore Girls) and stars Broadway star Sutton Foster as a Las Vegas showgirl who drunkenly marries a man who then brings her home to his small, idyllic town where he lives with (surprise!) his mother.

Spoiler warning here!!! At the end of the pilot episode that aired last week, he died, so now that he’s out of the way we can focus on the real story: The relationship between Sutton Foster’s character, Michelle, and her dead husband’s mother, Fanny, a ballet teacher and the relationship between the dancers. The writing is sharp and funny and the characters are really likable, plus they danced to Tom Waits in this episode so I mean at least the music is on pointe. (See what I did there).

The Bad.

So speaking of ABC Family getting it wrong: Baby Daddy premiered this week. And I am as bored typing this about that show as I was watching it.

The Ugly.

Miss Advised premiered this week on Bravo. I had this whole thing to write about how much I disliked the show, but this part from the AV Club’s recap says it all for me:

“The fact is that these gals aren’t compelling enough to keep viewers coming back to see how their love adventures go. This is a jarring conclusion to come to, but the fact of the matter is that they don’t have the charisma and/or obnoxious lingo of Queen Bee Patti Stanger. Anyone looking for Bravo-brand dating should just stick with the tried and true standard and hold out for the next Millionaire Matchmaker.”

When he’s not discussing what he watched last night on television with his cats, Steven is a freelance writer and blogger from Boston. He writes about television at TV Hangover and blogs about really important stuff like pizza and feelings at his blog. He also tweets from the bathroom while his children are playing video games.