VH1

It's tough being Tori Spelling. She's spent better than a decade living under the spotlight and having every mistake magnified. Granted, she brought a lot of it on herself, but I think she has probably taken more than her fair share. It's just so easy. But given all that, I think she gains a lot of points for being able to make fun of herself, because when you get right down to it, that's what so noTORIous is all about. Laughing at the absurdity that is her life.

I think that those years of bad press and bad jokes may have been the biggest problem that this show had. One that it faced before they ever shot a scene, and one that they were never really able to overcome. A lot of people simply dismissed the show for no other reason than it was starring Tori Spelling as herself. And that's too bad, because I'm here to tell you that they made a pretty funny sit-com.

The producers of VH1's Surreal Life and My Fair Brady have another card up their sleeves. They're currently casting twenty bachelorettes to live in a Hollywood Hills mansion and compete for the love of "one of the 90s hottest rockers." They're keeping the name of the rocker under wraps, but claim that he's a "famous, sexy, bad boy rocker" and "lead singer of a famous 90s rock band."

This Flavor of Love-type premise requires some real loons to make it work. Idolator has made a few guesses at who said bad boy might be. They've floated Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, Steve Harwell of Smashmouth and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit. I'd find it way more humorous if someone like Eddie Veder or Billy Corgan had decided that they were going to try and undermine the genre by colluding with it, but Idolator's list makes sense. I'd say the smart money's on Durst or Duritz. Anyone interested in auditioning?

VH1 has picked up five documentaries for its Rock Doc series, and they're pretty darn interesting. Alright, four of the five of them sound interesting. The fifth is a Courtney Love documentary, which maybe only qualifies as interesting in that "can't tear my eyes from the car wreck" kinda way.

The series aims to bring "untold stories" with an "unconventional narrative approach" to the screen. Three of the five films are acquisitions, which means that documentary filmmakers may have a new avenue for hawking their wares. The series starts up December 16th and continues into 2007.

The five documentaries include:

A little bit of late news for you: Jim Breuer is the new host of Web Junk 20. He actually premiered on Friday, but I'm a little slow this week. Web Junk 20 is a weekly countdown-type show on VH1 that airs all the biggest viral videos of the week. You may remember Jim Breuer as 'Goat Boy' for four years on Saturday Night Live. He also has a hilarious comedy special that occasionally airs on Comedy Central, and he's currently hosting the second most popular radio show on Sirius (behind Howard Stern) called Jim Breuer Unleashed.

Best Week Ever has a clip of Breuer here. While it's great to see Breuer again, I don't like the show's format where the host interrupts video clips to make remarks that aren't all that funny.

Celebrity Fit Club has announced the line-up of unfortunate stars to join its fifth season ranks beginning in April 2007. Expect to see Maureen McCormick, Dustin Diamond, Tiffany, Cledus T. Judd, Da Brat, Ross "The Intern" Matthews, Kimberly Locke and Warren G being whipped back into shape by the usual assortment of trainers and nutritionists.

So, let's see, that's 2 former child stars, 1 former mall rat, 2 hip-hoppers, 1 country star, 1 D-lister and 1 American Idol contestant. They're missing the late 80s movie star whose life has devolved into substance abuse and erratic behavior, but Diamond does have the amateur porn outing. Sounds like just the right mix of disgrace and desperation for "celebreality" to me.

I don't begrudge anyone who wants to get in shape and lose weight, but why on TV? And, what the heck is Warren G doing on this show? He's a former member of the Eastside Rollin' 20 Crips. Crips don't jazzercise. Do they?

Starting November 27 and airing through December 1, you'll be able to catch reruns of VH1's Pop Up Video on VH1 Classic, one of the last remaining "music" networks that actually show videos on a semi-regular basis. If you're a pop culture and trivia nut like me, you probably loved Pop Up Video, a series that would showcase videos both new and old, complete with facts about the song, artist or video itself that would pop onto the screen throughout the video. The series was a font of useless knowledge and loads of fun until it ventured away from videos and began to give the same pop-up treatment to commercials and other non-musical things. I can't speak for everyone, but I'm not all that interested in knowing the inner workings of an OxyClean commercial.

The Pop Up Video repeats will air every night at 8:00 and 8:30 pm. If you've been meaning to bone up on your knowledge of Journey and Tina Turner, this is your chance.

Welcome to the post-YouTube world of television programming. Brookers got a development deal with Carson Daly. One half of Ask a Ninja signed with United Talent Agency, and now, Jack Black and friends are bringing viewer-produced comedy shorts along with their own original material to VH1.

Called The Department of Acceptable Media, the program is based on a live event that Jack Black, along with Dan Harmon and Rob Schrab, have hosted in Hollywood since 2003. At the live event, five-minute "pilots" by aspiring filmmakers are screened and the audience votes on their favorites. The televised program will work in the same way - viewers will vote online at www.acceptable.tv - for their favorite shorts. The winning "pilots" will get to produce a second episode. The losers will be canceled.

VH1 has created its own syndicated video player, which it will use to distribute a new, original comedy series on its broadband channel, VSPOT. The new series is called Home Purchasing Club-- a spoof on the Home Shopping Network and similar cable channels. VSPOT will release eight episodes of HPC. The series was created by Sean Masterson, a former improv-er with Second City, and is being co-written by Jonathan Mangum, a writer for Reno 911! The program is going to be presented in sketch comedy style, and includes SNL actor Kristen Wiig and Diedrich Bader, who played Oswald on The Drew Carey Show. The series launches on VSPOT in two weeks on Monday, November 27th.

On a side note, VH1's new player doesn't work on Macs.

The music video for the late Johnny Cash's song "God's Gonna Cut You Down" will debut tomorrow evening on CMT, MTV and VH1. It will first appear during the CMT Top 20 Countdown from 4 pm to 7 pm. Later that evening, it will air on both MTV and VH1 at 11 pm. The video will also debut tomorrow on the Web sites for all the aforementioned channel, as well as on MTVU.com and Urge, MTV's music service.

Several musicians and actors will appear in the video, including Iggy Pop, Chris Rock, Dennis Hopper, Patti Smith, Johnny Depp and the Dixie Chicks. Justin Timberlake helped with the concept of the video, which to me is like having a two year old paint a tribute to Leonardo DaVinci, but whatever. As much as they're hyping this video, I think simply popping in a copy of American V: A Hundred Highways and listening to the track is a better option than watching the video.

However, you should tune into CMT at 8pm tomorrow night to catch a re-airing of Johnny Cash in San Quentin, the 1969 film that covered his famous and controversial performance.

Recently, I posted about an upcoming Flavor of Love spin-off, entitled The Flavorette (actually, I've been hearing that it may be called I Love New York, so now I'm confused). Well, I come bearing tidings of doom and the decline of civilization as we know it.

VH1's making a show about a bunch of Flavor of Love ladies attending etiquette school. Oh, yes.

Now don't rinse the taste of vomit from your mouth just yet, because... get this... The ever-classy commedienne Mo'Nique will be hosting it.

Rinse now.

VH1 has given the greenlight to a slate of new primetime reality series featuring music celebrities. Of course, some of those celebrities are more famous than others.

While most of the shows promise the same car accident, "can't help but stare" cringe-worthiness of the unfortunate Surreal Life, at least one or two of the promised series sound vaguely entertaining.

Here are the six titles in development:

Barely any time has passed since the dramatic conclusion of the Flavor of Love: Season Two. Only a few weeks ago, we saw New York angrily make her exit, bits of her weave coming dangerously close to exploding with fury, after she got second place... again. Well, even after losing Flav (seriously, is he that great of a catch?), she's gained a lot... in the form of a sweet spin-off deal with VH1 to do her own Bachelorette-style program, The Flavorette. I can't wait to see what kind of man is crazy enough to vie for her attention. By the way, has anyone figured out if New York is a drama queen extreme or just a really bad actress? She remins me of those theater-folk that try to do TV, but forget to leave their exaggerated gestures at the stage door.

As for Flavor Flav, he is still with his Season Two lady, Deelishis. He has a new album on the way. He is also about to become a father for the seventh time. Oh yes. That's right. Some small, tiny being will soon be welcomed into this world with a smack on the bottom and an obnoxiously loud "YEAH BOYEE!". Flav hasn't said who the baby momma is, but she's a "shorty in Vegas". Good lord.

Listen up, Dixie Chick fans: it's time to spit shine your banjo, lace up your poo steppers, slap on your lucky velvet rhinestone cowgirl hat and step into your mechanical leather underpants with the built-in harmonica cause VH1 Storytellers will be featuring the famous country trio October 28 at 9 pm. VH1 Storytellers is a series that only airs intermittently, and next to the defunct Sessions at West 54th and the PBS series Austin City Limits, it's one of the better musical showcase series on television. Concerts are taped in an intimate setting, much like MTV's Unplugged series, and features bands and musicians talking about their songs and what inspired them while also answering questions from fans in the audience. Fans can watch clips from the show on VH1's VSPOT right now by clicking here.

I think I know why Liza Minnelli and David Gest got divorced: She's way out of his league. I came to that conclusion after watching the unaired pilot for their VH1 Celebreality show, which all came to a crashing halt when they split.

Despite the caliber of the stars, there really isn't anything shocking or too weird in the pilot, but I did delight in watching the Liza scenes. She seems to be a genuine sweetheart-- crossing the street to sign autographs, snuggling a stranger's dog in her car, and talking her godson into doing his impression of her. I found Liza to be surprisingly unaffected by her fame and, quite frankly, I adored her. She's very old Hollywood. Plus, she shares some great moments with the late Luther Vandross and Ray Charles.

Then there's David Gest... who is weird in a Howard Hughes sort-of way. He lives in Liza's shadow. This line pretty much sums him up, while shopping at a furniture store, he says, "I just bought the elephant man's bones from Michael Jackson and I need an incubator."

Was it good? Not really. But it is worth watching, just to get a glimpse of Liza.

The pilot is in three parts on YouTube and Google Video.

VH1's popular reality series Hogan Knows Best returns for a third season on Sunday, October 22 at 9pm. The new season will see the family make the move from Clearwater to Miami as daughter Brooke prepares to release her first album and son Nick continues to delve into the sport of drift racing and make a name for himself in the sport. A special online series "Hogans Revealed" will debut on VH1's VSPOT site the same time the episodes air, and a special sneak peek of the episodes will also air on the site four days before they air on television. If you're thinking of having a family of your own some day and think the only way you can learn how it's done is to watch an aging wrestler with lots of money do it in front of a camera crew, then by cracky, this show was made just for you. Personally, I take all my child rearing advice from Randy "Macho Man" Savage, but to each his own.