See You Sunday

Television

That’s the new slogan for MTV’s Sunday night line-up. As a slogan, it’s worse than Must See TV in my opinion, but I watched two of the programs last night and I’ll watch them next week too.

First was Nitro Circus, a stunt show (produced in part by Johnny Knoxville and Jeff Tremaine, both of Jackass fame) with Travis Pastrana and some of his friends. If you don’t know who Travis Pastrana is, he’s a freestyle BMX-er who was the first to pull a double-backflip on a motorcycle, and a few other tricks as well. If I did half of the things that kid does in just the first episode of this show, my mom would have a heart attack. Jumping out of a plane with no parachute. Doing a backflip over a 75-foot span on a pink big wheel. The stunts are awesome and I don’t know how the people on the show aren’t all in the hospital as we speak. Not nearly as much crude humor or nudity as Jackass had, and the stunts are even more physically challenging and death-defying. It’s definitely an adrenaline rush. It has you wishing you were there so you could try it too, until someone rides a motorcycle 30 feet in the air and falls on his back — then you’re glad you’re just watching someone else do it.

Next up is Rob Dyrdek’s Fantasy Factory. I’ll admit it right now: I have a giant man-crush on Rob Dyrdek. I want to be his best friend so I can hang out with him. I’m pretty sure I’d trade in all my friends right now if it bought me a friendship with Rob. The guy is a multi-millionaire and for all intents and purposes his full-time job is having fun. For those of you who loved Rob and Big, you’ll love this one too. Christopher “Big Black” Boykins is gone now (I saw him serving as a bodyguard for a UFC athlete a few months back so apparently he really does do security). Meaty is still there. And there’s a new puppy named Beefy. I don’t even want to tell you what happened in the first episode because not knowing what’s going to happen is part of what makes the show so entertaining. You can’t watch the show and not wish you worked at the Fantasy Factory. I wonder if they need an economist…

I haven’t watched the other two programs but when I do, I’ll let you know.

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1 Comment

  1. Joanna Rep  •  Feb 18, 2009 @3:16 pm

    I’m a big Dyrdek fan as well, I can’t help it–he just doesn’t take himself that seriously and that’s what makes him funny and endearing. Haven’t seen the new show yet, but I’m sure I’ll catch it, given endless repeats on cable.

    Not sure about the multi-millionaire part though, based on what I know professionally (he and I have the same basic-cable employer) and from being married to a skateboarding accountant, who finds articles like this:

    http://www.forbes.com/2009/02/17/shaun-white-tony-hawk-business-sports_0218_action_sports_slide_2.html?thisSpeed=15000

    But he’s definitely having fun, and that’s more than a lot of people can say!

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