“Paris Hilton’s My New BFF”
Tuesday 10pm, MTV
I tried to resist, I swear I did. I find Paris Hilton as loathsome as the next basically functioning human being. But whilst flipping through the channels I came across a bunch of trashy young women pecking and scratching at one another, and I was hooked. The set-up is that poor Paris has been burned by fame-seeking friends before, and she wants someone she can trust to join her posse. How better to find a quality young person than to dip into the fetid waters of the reality TV “talent” pool? The show is the textbook definition of something so bad that it ultimately becomes transcendent. Watch in disbelief as Paris deliberately starts shit in the house by forcing the girls to rate one another on their “fakeness,” or plants false rumors to break the girls’ spirits. Snicker as she confessionalizes in her soul-dead drone while splayed out over a chaise lounge. And then just try to turn it off.
“Grey’s Anatomy”
Thursday 9pm, ABC
“Grey’s” is officially a controversy magnet. First we had Dr. McChokey, then we had Katherine Heigl’s 2007 Ingrate World Tour, and now we have Sapphogate. News broke a few weeks ago that the awesome Brooke Smith (Dr. Hahn) was suddenly getting the boot, with the only explanation being that the writers could no longer write for her character. This was immediately linked to the blossoming lesbian relationship between her and formerly heterosexual doc Callie Torres (the similarly awesome Sara Ramirez). Sure enough, Hahn left in one of the most abrupt exits ever, and now rumor has it that another bisexual character—Meredith’s old best friend, played by the marginally less awesome Melissa George—is being straightwashed. But there is some good news for Seattle Grace: The exponentially more awesome than everyone Mary McDonnell is coming on board for a multi-episode arc as a doctor with Asperger’s Syndrome, clearly trying to nab the Emmy she’s been so cruelly denied for her work on “Battlestar Galactica.”
“Cathouse: What’s on the Menu?”
Thursday 11pm, HBO
HBO’s “Cathouse” documentary series follow life at the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada. It’s fascinating from a sociological perspective, since all of the sex workers are very up front about what they do, and why they do it. The clients that consent to be filmed (and…why would you consent to be filmed at a brothel?) are similarly candid. And watching the business transactions between the two parties is infinitely more interesting than the likely perfunctory, joyless physical transactions that take place immediately thereafter. It’s truly the least sexy, but most fascinating, sex documentary I’ve ever seen.
