TVSquad

CBS has plans for two new reality/game shows, one about real people who make announcements via huge dance numbers, and a new improv/sketch comedy game show (hosted by Craig Ferguson) of which no significant details have been released just yet. Both shows have been greenlit by the network.

Life as a Song, is a reality program in which people can make big announcements or ask questions (I predict we'll see a few marriage proposals) through an elaborate song and dance number. The series comes from the producers behind Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

(S04E08) Yeah, I know the title of the episode isn't really "Episode 408," but the real titles never pop up until a few days after the show airs, at least not on the sites I check. If any of you lovely readers knows where I can find the actual episode titles, let me know in the comments. I'll give you mad props.

As a fan of Reno 911 since the very beginning, it's difficult for me to say this: the show isn't as good as it used to be. Of course, when a show is improvised like Reno, there are always moments of genius, but there are just two many instances of the same jokes, or gags you see coming a mile away. The opening scene with the bomb inside the bus would have been funnier had it not been obvious from the beginning that the bus was going to explode.

Thank God You're Here, an improvisational show in which celebrities must walk into the middle of a scene and try to ad lib their way through it, will air on NBC April 9, but you can check out a few clips of the show on YouTube right now, courtesy of NBC. I've placed a scene with Tom Arnold after the jump for your harsh judgment.

While I'm a huge fan of improv, having seen more than a few Second City performances, not to mention both the British and American versions of Whose Line is it Anyway? (the British one is better), I have to say that, based only on these short clips, Thank God You're Here lacks the cohesiveness and professionalism that made Whose Line so enjoyable. When I watched Whose Line, I knew the performers were professionals and could handle anything, but watching Jason Alexander and Tom Arnold struggle through their scenes just pulls me in too many directions: one moment I'm laughing and the next moment I'm worried the actors are just going to freeze up.

I think the show will be worth a look, but something tells me it won't be the most consistent comedy on television.

Reno's finest return to Comedy Central April 1 at 10:30 to finish off the fourth season of Reno 911!, the improvised comedy series created by and starring The State alumni Tom Lennon, Robert Ben Garrant and Kerri Kenney-Silver (along with Niecy Nash, Cedric Yarbrough, Wendi McLendon-Covey, Mary Birdsong and Carlos Alazraqui).

Following Reno 911! and the canceled Dog Bites Man comes yet another improvised comedy series for Comedy Central: Halfway Home. The new series stars Oscar Nunez, Jordan Black, Kevin Ruf, Regan Burns, Jessica Makinson and Octavia Spencer as residents of a halfway house who are trying to straighten themselves out, and not doing a very good job of it. Nunez and Ruf also serve as executive producers.

You can watch clips of the Jim Henson Company's Puppet Up! Uncensored improv shows on TBS' Laugh Lab site. New sketches will be added every Wednesday.

Puppet Up! Uncensored is an improved stage show from the Jim Henson Company that's essentially Who's Line Is It Anyway?, but with puppets. A Puppet Up! special was shown on TBS not long ago, and I found myself enjoying it, albeit intermittently.