TVSquad

People who watch the ABC reality child rearing show Supernanny have probably always wondered what it would be like if the nanny had testicles. This fall you're going to get a chance to see.

The network is going to film an episode of Supernanny that will feature a man in the nanny role. The episode will serve as the pilot for a new series titled Supermanny, which I think they should check to see if it's already a trademark of baseball star Manny Ramirez. Therapist Mike Ruggles will be the man(ny).

The show's producer says that having a man in the nanny role will be interesting because "with a man, he can connect with dads in a different way." He then added "and if we can get the two guys to actually get into a fist fight, that will be great for ratings." OK, I made up that last part, but if that did happen you know it will be heavily promoted.

Here's an idea for ABC: they could air a male version of The Bachelorette and call it ... The Bachelor!

A day hasn't gone by where we haven't received some sort of tip or email asking us, the TV Squad, how to get on [insert reality show here]. Unfortunately no, Simon Cowell does not work for us, and Donald Trump isn't my BFF, so we really can't help all that much.

The folks at RealityWanted.com often send us a list of new and existing reality shows that are looking for new, er, talent, and they've given us permission to make mention of them here. We'll try to make this a regular feature as often as we get a new list.

This time we have The Bad Girls Club, The Biggest Loser and other new shows.

Reality rules at ABC -- or so it seems. Today the network announced that five "alternative" (their word, not mine) shows have been picked up for next season: Dancing with the Stars (no surprise), Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (still no surprise), Supernanny (understandable), Wife Swap (not too unexpected) and America's Funniest Home Videos (are you kidding me???).

Yes, yes, it's true. Even in this era of YouTube, there's an audience out there that still enjoys America's Funniest Home Videos. ABC has booked it for an 18th season, making it the longest-running primetime show in the network's history. Host Tom Bergeron will be back -- natch -- and more money will be awarded to the funniest videos, which are now DVDs.

According to this article in the U.K.'s Telegraph, kids on the reality TV show Supernanny have been intentionally made to cry to boost ratings. The show is successful in Britain and in the United States (on ABC) and has made host Jo Frost a household name.

My question is: why is this surprising? It's somewhat common knowledge that reality TV intentionally gets its participants into awkward situations in order to get good TV out of it. Hell, right before I started with TV Squad I appeared on a cable TV game show and I was amazed at how much the producers wanted me to behave a certain way in order to make for better TV.