TVSquad

Can a TV show centered around the $46 billion herbal weight loss industry be interesting? We'll soon find out, because HBO has greenlit a pilot called Fat Sells.

The story will center on the head of a weight loss company, and how his life starts to unravel when the FDA begins investigating the company's claims.

Forest Whitaker is attached to exec produce (and possibly direct the pilot), along with Dave Broome, who served as exec producer on The Biggest Loser. Hmmm ... wonder if he has some insider info he'll bring to this project.

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 Biggest Loser, America's Best Dance Crew and other new shows.

I write the introductions to my articles after I write the articles themselves. This is because I find the introductions the hardest part and, remembering the advice I got from the introduction to the S.A.T.s, when I run into a problem I can't easily solve, it's a good idea for me to go to the next question and return later.

This introduction, however, was easy to write. That's because my wife wrote it for me. She read the column and then turned to me and said, "Wow, you're gonna get crucified for this." I asked her, "Worse than my Simpsons essay?" She said, "The reaction to this will make the Simpsons essay look like a fawning Office review. I agree with it, and I'm sure a lot of other people will as well, but the ones that don't... Wow, they are just gonna hate you!" So, uh, thanks honey. Now, on to the crucifying...

It was NBC's turn today to announce what its winter schedule would look like. The press release states that "NBC's first-quarter primetime schedule is slated to deliver significantly more hours of original programming than was ever the case in the first quarter of 2007." Besides the expected crop of reality and game shows, NBC's winter schedule will be filled with new episodes of series like ER, Friday Night Lights, Las Vegas, Medium, Scrubs and all three versions of Law & Order. Also added to the lineup will be Lipstick Jungle, a new dramedy starring Lindsay Price, Kim Raver and Brooke Shields.

So, I was going to do a list about the most villainous women of reality TV but then I thought...wouldn't a list of bad-ass women be way more interesting? Being bad is overrated (almost as overrated as being good). But being bad-ass, now that's a tricky balancing act, one that is way more intriguing.

This list therefore is dedicated to the women of reality TV that make being bad look oh so good. And no, Omarosa Stallworth-whatever is NOT on the list. I'll explain why after the jump.

NBC may have canceled Andy Barker, P.I., The Black Donnellys, and (probably) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, but they seem to have a hard on for reality shows, and more are coming this summer.

Returning reality shows include America's Got Talent, which has a new host ... Jerry Springer. Expect the throwing of chairs and DNA tests to be "talents" this season, which starts May 29. The Biggest Loser, which returns for a fourth season late in the summer with new host Allison Sweeney (Days Of Our Lives). It still amazes me that a show about fat people losing weight can be a hit and last for four seasons. Before The Biggest Loser returns, we'll get another season of Last Comic Standing, which will also have a new host, Bill Bellamy. It returns on June 13. And then we have the new show Age of Love, a "new twist on the reality dating show format" (yeah, right). It will be hosted by Mark Consuelos.

This just shows us how accurate Studio 60 was, with that whole plot involving the new VP of alternative programming at NBS pitching a show titled All You Need Is Love. NBC says that Age of Love will be "bringing romance back to television." Oh, I can hardly wait.

(S03E12) Months of hard work and focused training at last comes down to this: a live finale packed to the walls with stunning transformations. Because the health improvements are so huge, the $250,000 and other prizes seem almost secondary.

Right off the bat , Caroline Rhea leads with the information that one of the final four will not be "making it to the final scale." That's a first for the show, though the circumstances will turn out to be reasonable. The intro is followed by some recapping just in case anyone missed all the recapping that was done last week.

(S03E11) The first forty-five minutes is a documentary about the trainers and (season two winner) Matt Hoover visiting high schools to raise awareness about good nutrition. Not part of the game, but a worthwhile goal, and it's much better than a full hour of recapping, though even the fifteen minutes of recapping was too much filler for me. Still, I hope it doesn't start a trend among other reality shows. I don't look forward to seeing The Donald visiting his high school to teach business management and hair care, or Boston Rob giving rice rationing and lying lessons to middle-schoolers.

Trainer Bob Harper shows up wearing a suit at the school gym that looks like something Paul or Ringo gave away to a thrift store in 1965. Thankfully he soon switches to his usual workout clothes. And was it just me, or is Matt regained a lot of weight since his win last year?

(S04E10) Without any really likable personalities, and no Jillian, I haven't enjoyed this season nearly as much as previous ones. But the players are looking healthier and trimmer entering the final stretch, that's the important thing.

It's been a bad season for Bob. When he finds out that Erik voted off the only other remaining blue team payer, Bob feels really angry and betrayed. Erik stands up to Bob, and explains his reasoning. It is a game after all.

Look, Bob selected his team members, he was the team leader, if he believes they never coalesced as a team he has to take some of the blame for that. This is his third season, he has to know by know that getting voted off means a player is perceived as a threat, therefore successful at weight loss. Also, Bob would have had Jaron still training with him, if he hadn't gone out of his way to belittle Jaron's previous training regime when he first came to the ranch mid-game.

(S03E09) Teams are gone and individual game play begins. The two remaining (former) Blue Team members still hang out with their trainer Bob though. Bob redeclares his eternal commitment to his "boys," while Kim readily shed's her team colors and is initially shown giving individual training time to newbies Jaron and Adrian.

Adrian seems to be having trouble, still trying to adjust to the ranch. Though Jaron appears more acclimated now. Both of them came in doing great, in my opinion, considering they were greeted and treated like pariahs last week. Now Adrian has to go and have a meltdown before the race.

(S03E08) My hatred of two-hour episodes is on record in previous reviews, and as NBC used some of that time extra time this week for an extended Jello-cooking segment, I'll just move on before I get even more agitated. Anyway, there's much more to hate here tonight than running time.

We meet some new players, most of whom will be gone by the end of the second segment. As that's the case, pardon me for not caring. Since the producers, of course, know who weighs what, and that only the top two newbies will be staying, bringing the other four to the show for a "cup of coffee," so to speak, seems petty, even by reality television standards.

(S03E07) This is a first, I think. The trainers start bickering with each other over the intensity of the pre-challenge workout. Kim asks Bob "what are you thinking?" when she sees him drive Wylie to exhaustion the afternoon before the challenge. Bob's answer: "I don't think anything when I work out." Right. Even though Wylie asked Bob to train him, Kim's got a point; her team has won the majority of the challenges.

Maybe Bob has a point too, though. He complains that Wylie's upper-body strength is seriously lacking. Wylie's arms do give out at a crucial moment, costing him and his partner the challenge.

(S03E06) For some reason, they don't even show (as they have in past weeks) the aftermath of last week's elimination. I would have loved to have seen the look on Bob's face as the Blue team tried to explain voting off Amy last week. However, the players have lots a total of 550 lbs, and it is really starting to show.

This week the sadists who produce reality shows decide that whoever wins the calorie-calculation challenge will have the ability to make half players on the opposing team work out the first three days of the without their trainer -- and force the rest to eat meals outside the ranch and face the dangers of restaurant choices and vs. willpower.

(S03E05) The episode title says it all, when the producers take the players' gym equipment away, in another "surprise" twist. Since they've already spent other weeks working out with driftwood and sand buckets at a beach, and using alternate gym facilities on a cruise ship, this is really more of the same.

So far, the teams have lost 496 lbs going into this challenge. Players are starting to feel and notice changes for the better in their bodies. Kim, the Red Team trainer, echoes that observation, and the Red's begin tonight still buddy-buddy after last week's emotional encounters.

(S03E03) The teams don't spend much time at the ranch. Last week the beach, and now a cruise, where they can learn to balance health and fitness goals in real -- well, semi-real circumstances. Unfortunately, they can already smell the decadent cruise-line food as soon as the board the ship. At the start of this week, so far the contestants have lost a total of 356 lbs.

It's the Red Team's turn to feel good about themselves for change, and maybe they are over the biggest hump of their mopiness now that they've made a good showing and avoided an elimination last time. Both team's have had a chance to adjust better to lifestyle changes -- so there's a lot less crying overall this week. I'm not crying so much either, as events move along at a livelier pace after two weeks of miserable marathon-length episodes.

The Workout: Veteran trainer Bob steps it up for his team again. Since this is supposed to simulate a vacation, he shows The Blues how to work out hard and fast -- a compressed time period leaving more time for fun -- in theory. And when they hit the buffet, Bob's proud that his team is aware of, and makes, the right food choices.