“The Hard Times of RJ Berger”
Sunday 11pm, MTV
TV has seen countless series that explore the lovable geek’s journey through the hells of high school. But this show has a small—or not-so-small—twist: the loser in question has a gigantic dong, and the whole school finds out about it in one supremely embarrassing, yet empowering, moment. “RJ Berger” follows the dork of the title (played by Paul Iacono, the most obnoxious character in the obnoxious recent remake of Fame) as he starts getting his first taste of popularity once word spreads of the rocket in his pocket. Expect lots of dick jokes, and let’s hope it does more with the premise than HBO’s underwhelming male gigolo comedy “Hung.”
“Persons Unknown”
Monday 10pm, NBC
Serialized mysteries have been making a comeback, and you can add this new miniseries to the list. “Persons Unknown” tells the story of a group of strangers who wake up to find themselves kidnapped and stranded in a secured ghost town. None of them knows why they’re there, none of them know where they are. They appear to be alone, save for the security cameras that follow them 24/7. If one of them doesn’t turn out to be a mole, I will be shocked. The cast includes Alan Ruck (“Spin City,” Ferris Bueller’s Day Off) and Jason Wiles (“Third Watch”), and it was created by one of the writers of The Usual Suspects.
“Dance Your Ass Off”
Monday 11pm, Oxygen
The fat-person dancing show returns for a second season with its most glaring problem fixed: Season 1 host, the off-putting Marissa Jaret Winokur, is gone, replaced by former Spice Girl Mel B. I found the first season mostly compelling. While the dancing wasn’t anywhere near the level found on most TV dancing competitions, the weight-loss portion of the program totally sucked me in, and I found myself invested in the success of several of the contestants, especially finalists Pinky and Shayla. I hope they’ve also reconsidered the formula that seems at least partially biased toward men, since males tend to shed weight quicker than women. When the judges dole out outrageously high scores to the guys (ahem, Ruben) the ladies have no hope. This season seems to only have seven contestants as opposed to last year’s 12, which is odd. But I suspect a twist is in the offing.
