TVSquad

Nothing says "holiday season" like tornadoes, ghosts and animal dung. So, Discovery Channel is running marathons of their reality shows to make the yuletide season gay.

The network's scheduling release states that Mythbusters, Deadliest Catch, Dirty Jobs, Storm Chasers and Ghost Lab will each get a turn offering guys something to watch while they undo their belts after the big meal (and while the ladies do the dishes).

Here's the programming slate for when you're not watching football or A Year without a Santa Claus:

Nov. 26: Thanksgiving Day: Mythbusters – 9 a.m. ET/PT – 3AM ET/PT
Nov. 27: Day after Thanksgiving: Deadliest Catch – 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Nov. 28: Dirty Jobs – 10 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Nov. 29: Storm Chasers – 1 p.m. – 3 a.m.

Dec. 24: Christmas Eve: Dirty Jobs – 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Dec. 25: Christmas Day: Mythbusters – 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Dec. 26: Deadliest Catch – 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.

Dec. 31: New Year's Eve: Ghost Lab – 10 a.m. – 3 a.m.
Jan. 1, 2010/New Year's Day: Mythbusters – 9 a.m. – 3 a.m.

Even though the show has been on forever, I still enjoy my weekly dose of the new South Parks. But lately, they seem to be running out of targets or have narrowed their focus too much on one particular evil: reality television.

The season opener featured a rather nasty swipe at Disney's Jonas Brothers. The recent "Dead Celebrities" chortle-fest took a much needed pot shot at Ghost Hunters, aka, "the gayest f#*$ing show on television." And last week launched an all out attack on Discovery's Whale Wars and Deadliest Catch, particularly against Whale Wars star Paul Watson.

The show has always been a bitch to write and making every episode a satirical masterpiece is impossible without suffering a full-on breakdown. But should the show lay off reality TV and take some bolder shots at reality, which as we all know are two completely different things?

Considering how prevalent reality television is these days, it's got to be a pretty daunting task to try and put together a comprehensive list of the best and worst of all time. But Entertainment Weekly thinks they've done just that. They've compiled the top 20 reality shows of all time, but also the ten worst reality shows of all time. All in all, they did a pretty damned good job.

I completely agree with the top six, but they lose me with Jackass at number seven. I have never understood the appeal of filming morons doing stupid things on purpose just to be stupid. But there were some shows missing from the list completely, like Little People Big World, So You Think You Can Dance and Beauty and the Geek. Surely those shows are better than The Hills and The Real Housewives of Sesame Street, or whatever franchise they're spinning now.

The History Channel has updated its website and schedule for the the return of one of its toughest and most popular reality series, Ice Road Truckers.

Set to return Sunday nights on May 31, new episodes of Ice Road Truckers take the show's cameras from the diamond mines and frozen highways of Canada's Northwest Territories north to the oil fields of Alaska.

Previous seasons featured rugged truck drivers (like Hugh "The Polar Bear" Rowland, right) braving subzero temperatures to drive rigs weighing thousands of tons over ice pathways smoothed out over frozen lakes.

Spike TV has picked up the original, non-scripted series 1,000 Ways to Die. The title of the show says it all -- it just chronicles the many ways people leave this world. It's from Thom Beers, the same guy who produced Ice Road Truckers, The Deadliest Catch, and Ax-Men. There seems to be a theme with Beers's shows, don't you think? The show was originally a two-part special that aired in May on Spike. It performed so well that the network has order ten 30-minute episodes.

Earlier today I did a first take on the Primetime Emmy nominations, sharing with you my first impressions and noting a few surprises. Now, I'm going to finish what I started. Please, share your comments and your opinions about the nominations.

On Tuesday , June 17th at 10 p.m. an all new season of After the Catch will premiere. This five-part series, airing each week after Deadliest Catch, will look deeper into the most dangerous jobs and people who do them. One of these behind-the-scenes looks will feature Captain Phil Harris and Gloucester's legendary fishermen. The captain will sit down with Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs for an interview. Rowe will also talk to the crew, author Spike Walker and Dutch Harbor bartender Lisa Roberts for the inside scoop on what life is really like in the port town.

Deadliest Catch returned with new episodes Tuesday night on Discovery. This is easily one of my favorite shows on television. I could watch a Deadliest Catch marathon every weekend, it's that good.

Here are nine reasons why I love this show:

1. Mike Rowe. Yes, the Dirty Jobs guy. He's also the voice of Deadliest Catch and there is no one better suited for the job. He may be a goofball on his own show, but he brings out his deep and foreboding voice to follow the fishermen on Catch.

If you turned on your TV over the weekend, you probably noticed that Discovery had gone all Deadliest Catch, all the time. That was, of course, because the new season is upon us today. That's a good thing, because it really is the best of the deadliest, scariest, dirtiest, frozenest job-based programming. To get ready for the big event, I thought I'd toss up this little video from youtube.

As part of the background filming for the show, the Discovery crew headed out to one of the local watering holes, J. R. Phinickeys, with Josh from the Cornelia Marie. After the jump, you get a look at a whole lot of flaming monkey shots being set ablaze. You'll also see the Discovery camera man on the left, and Josh coming in to high five the bartender at the end. One more reason to order up that Discovery HD.

After making Deadliest Catch a huge hit for the Discovery Channel back in 2006, and still going strong, Thom Beers' Original Productions struck gold again with The History Channel's adrenaline rush Ice Road Truckers. Catch chronicles the real-life adventures of Alaskan crab fishers, considered one of the most dangerous jobs in the world, while Truckers is about one of the most dangerous jobs on land, driving big rigs in the Northern Canadian provinces over frozen lakes.

Now, according to Zap2It, Beers has inked an aggressive deal with NBC for three new shows. The network has given a 10-episode commitment to all three and guaranteed they will run at least two in prime time. So what are they about? Apparently, it didn't matter because Beers is working with the network now to figure out the subjects for all three.

Faithful TV Squad reader Gordon Werner has a question, so everyone listen up:

"Will Discovery Channel be airing another season of Deadliest Catch this year?"

The answer, dear Mr. Werner, is "yes." In fact, the third season is currently being filmed and will kick off on April 3, 2007. Make sure you tattoo that information on your body like that guy in Memento, it's a great way to remember things. That's why I have "buy eggs and milk" inked on my inner thigh right now.

Deadliest Catch is a documentary series that began in 2005. It follows six fishing vessels as they fish for crab in the Bering Sea and face serious injury or death due to the rough conditions. The crew not only consists of fisherman who have been on several expeditions, but also "greenhorns" who are experiencing the job for the first time.