TVSquad

(S01E06) Mr. T finally meets someone that I'd love to see him go three rounds in the ring with -- Chef Ed. This week's show takes T to a flagging Italian restaurant called La Spezia, where the chef doesn't get along with and the staff or Owner Mike. When I say don't get along, I mean that there is real concern that Ed might take a cleaver to someone one day in the kitchen. The main ingredient in his character is a lot of rage. When you pit an immovable T against an unstoppable angry chef, whadda ya get? I ... don't really know the answer, that just sounded impressive to me.

(S01E03) First name Mr., last name T is back in his red jumpsuit and brings his Ah-T-tude to the airwaves. As usual, he gets a letter from a poor hapless soul.

"Deyah Mistah Tee, my name is Kristin, and I work at Metrostar Realty heeyah in Brookyln, New Yawk. I love real estate, and I love my job, but we got issues."

Boy, do they. Based on the first five minutes the cameras are in this office, you'd want to jump out one of the windows. It looks more like an episode of The Real World than a real estate office. Everyone is at each other's throats. Gene, the owner of the business is never at the office, and when he's gone the office goes nuts. He's a weak leader with a head of curly hair that would make Art Garfunkel jealous.

(S01E02) T is summoned once again to duty, like the genie from Aladdin's lamp. This time he is summoned by the Abato family who want him to deal with the patriarch of their clan, the very flatulent Frank. In true T fashion, he runs (literally) straight to the town of Suffern, New York and gets to work. Can't they afford a car for T? Nice tie-in opportunity for T-Mobile. ZING!

(S01E01) Mr. T (or is that Colonel Steve Austin?) dons a bright red running suit, and still gold-chain free since Katrina, teaches the fools the rules in TV Land's new I Pity the Fool "Reali-T" (ouch) show.

Part Old Navy commercial, part Super Nanny and part train wreck, Mr. T invades a different locale each week and dishes out his irascible wisdom to the poor fools that he so pities. If you took "fool," "jibba jabba," "sucka," and the ability to rhyme away from T, he would literally fall apart -- especially without those chains holding him together.

I Pity the Fool, the new reality series in which Mr. T helps out people in need with his no-nonsense wisdom, belief in God, and artful way of putting the words "jibba" and "jabba" together like no other human being can, debuts this evening on TV Land at 10 pm. If you miss it, don't fret, because according to my Tivo the episode will repeat about fifty billion times after that. Also, the premiere episode is still available to watch in full on Yahoo. TV Guide has a Q and A with the iconic tough guy where he talks about getting and subsequently beating cancer, and how he was offered a role in the still up in the air A-Team movie, but not the role of B.A. Baracus. He immediately turned down the non-role. Also, apparently George "Hannibal" Peppard wasn't a fan of Mr. T, and none to happy that Mr. T made more money than he did on the series. Oh, and he still watches The A-Team, at least when he's not listening to the Bible on tape.

You can catch the premiere of Mr. T's new reality series I Pity the Fool on TV Land October 11 at 10 pm, but Yahoo has the first episode available for viewing right now. In the first episode, "Motivation," Mr. T uses some of his tough, no-nonsense wisdom to get a family-owned car dealership to run like a well-oiled machine. I have to say, I found it rather entertaining. Even after all these years Mr. T's simplistic, tough guy approach and infectious charisma is a blast to watch. Just sit back and let the insanity entertain you. I may be purchasing my first car soon, and I'm pretty sure if Mr. T were selling it to me, I would buy it. And yes, he actually does say "jibba jabba" at one point.

[via Pop Candy]

Lawrence Tero (that's Mr. T to you and me) told the critics gathered at the TCA press tour yesterday that he's decided not to wear his signature gold chains anymore. He just felt that, after seeing what the victims of Hurricane Katrina have gone through, his conscience wouldn't let him wear the gold again.

"As a spiritual man, I felt it would be a sin against my God for me to wear all that gold again because I spent a lot of time with the less fortunate," he told the critics gathered in Pasedena as he promoted his new TV Land show I Pity the Fool.

How very thoughtful of T. Of course, he's also 54 years old and has gone through numerous health problems over the last decade or so, so he could also just be... let's say the chains might have been wearing the poor guy down. Just take a look at the picture that accompanied this article in most markets, which was shot four years ago. He's carrying a gold-plated frying pan around his neck! How much must that thing weigh? I'm sure his chiropractor had as much to do with this decision as a sense philanthropy. Good for him either way; the eighties have been over for quite a long time.

[via Bloglines]