TVSquad

The world is facing a population explosion of Biblical proportions. People are procreating and reproducing faster than sustenance reserves and housing requirements can keep up with it. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have officially given up adoption for the next three Lents.

Something has to be done that doesn't involve condoms, birth control pills, or taking a hammer to certain parts of the human anatomy.

India claims they have found a solution. Television?

It might seem crazy to suggest that either one of CBS's two long-running reality series doesn't work, but I'm sticking to my convictions. Survivor has lost the edge it had when it started, and it's no longer a show that works for me.

On the other hand, The Amazing Race continues to set the industry bar high for quality reality (assuming you don't think that's an oxymoron). So, stacking them up, one versus the other, here's how The Amazing Race tops Survivor.

I was up last night wondering why there isn't a series on television that allows me to show off my greatest talent: singing Buddhist hymns.

Finally, someone has granted my wish: Master of Music, a new competition series on India's Aastha channel, will pit singers against one another as they sing their favorite hymns from the Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain faiths. Finally, rather than listening to some awful Elton John tune you can rock out to "Vishnu Aarti:"

Maat-Pita Tum Mere, Sharan Gahun Kiskee Tum Bin Aur Na Duja, Aas Karun Jiskee, Om Jaye Jagdish Hare . . .

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• Sanjaya isn't gone... he's free! (to be a triple threat?)
• India isn't sad to see Sanjaya voted off American Idol.
  
• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition isn't just about improving homes anymore. This week's episode involves someone getting their own playable character in a new PS3 game.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can download the file directly (Quicktime required). You can also subscribe to this podcast via our feed.

If you discover yourself in India one day and find you just can't live without news and information from ABC News, then you'll be happy to know that ABC News Now, the network's 24-hour news service, will be airing in India later this year. This is the first time the service will be seen outside of the United States. The ABC News Now service offers many of ABC's well-recognized news programs and programs unique to News Now, such as 20/20, Healthy Life, Ahead of the Curve (technology program), and Time Tunnel, a look back at important news events in history. The service will air in India on Dish TV. ABC sees this as a first step and hopes to eventually expand to other countries, as well.

If you're life has been feeling empty lately and you can't figure out why that is, it's probably because you've never seen a Bollywood version of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" video. Nine out of ten dentists recommend you watch the clip I've placed after the jump at least three times a day. I'm not sure why, but they do. The video simulates the zombie dancing from Michael Jackson's original, and the music is Thrilleresque, but I'm fairly certain the man isn't singing "Thriller." Either way, the damn song is stuck in my head now, whatever it is. I think I might actually like this version better anyway, although, like the original, I can't figure out why the girl doesn't just run away. The zombies clearly aren't going to give chase until after they finish their dance number. They've been rehearsing it for days, after all.

[via Brad Sucks]

(S02E02) I think a better title for this episode would be "Outsourcing--Where's the Outrage?"

As we all know, many jobs in the United States, mostly in the computer programming and telemarketing sectors, have been outsourced to foreign companies, mainly to India. Outsourcing continues to be a hot topic in this country, and I think it would be safe to say that the majority of American workers abhor the idea of an American-based company outsourcing American jobs to another country in order to save on labor costs and increase their own profits. I'm sure there are plenty of people who say outsourcing is a good thing, but I haven't been able to find them.

(S17E17) I thought Family Guy's recent reference to the Great Space Coaster was esoteric, but I think The Simpson's reference to Mac Tonight, a short-lived mascot created for McDonald's in the late 80s, may have topped that.

It's been awhile since I've seen this show running on all cylinders as it did last night. When I watch these shows for review I usually have a pen and paper sitting next to me so I can jot down lines of dialog and other things to write about, but the jokes kept coming so fast I finally gave up and, you know, just watched the show. The opening gag with Lenny having his skeleton exposed by nuclear waste was somewhat of a letdown, since that gag has been used numerous times already, but it was quickly followed by a short film about the joys of outsourcing, which pretty much made up for the lackluster opening gag and set the stage for the rest of the show, which was almost pitch perfect. I loved the reference to those old Calgon commercials when one of the workers in the film, lamenting his job, pleads, "Outsourcing, take them away!"

On April 12 (check local listings), PBS will air a two-hour documentary called Rx for Survival: The Heroes, a companion to the six-part series, Rx for Survival: A Global Health Challenge. I mentioned the series back in November, and recently saw an advanced screening of Rx for Survival: The Heroes.

The special, narrated by Brad Pitt, takes an in-depth look at something many of us take for granted, which is the men and women who work to both maintain and eradicate diseases most of us never think about. The special not only focuses on major epidemics like HIV and tuberculosis, but on diseases not so well-known, such as "night blindness" in Southeast Asia, an ailment cured by an eye doctor in Baltimore who simply administered drops of Vitamin A to the children, a nutrient their regular diet lacked. This treatment, which was initially slammed by the medical community, also helped prevent other series diseases, resulting in a cut in child mortality rates by as much as one third. The special also focuses on a tenacious effort to once and for all eradicate polio from the Earth, just as small pox was destroyed in the early 80s.

The most fascinating aspect of the special, besides the medical professionals, scientists, and community volunteers from these areas who work to both treat diseases and spread awareness of them, is how Western science is often challenged by religious belief. In one scene, a man refuses to give his son a polio vaccine, claiming it is the will of Allah to decide what happens to his son. The man eventually accepts the medication for his son, but it illustrates there is more to fighting these diseases than just administering drugs. There is also the challenge of trying to get two very different cultures to see eye to eye on a very important issue that has the potential to affect us all.