Monday, January 05, 2009

First Impressions: Confessions of a Teen Idol


The Cast of Confessions of a Teen Idol

Darn you VH1. After the Charm School Reunion (yeah, that fight was totally staged), I stuck around a couple seconds to see if Confessions of a Teen Idol was as cheesy as the premise sounded. Then sixty minutes later I wondered where the hour went. Darn you VH1. Why did Time Warner have to give you a last minute reprieve instead of axing all the Viacom owned cable channels? Hopefully Time Warner yanks the channel by the time Tool Academy premieres.

But I was sucked in from the get go. VH1 has to have the best editors ever because they seem to make the most inane things seem intriguing. Confessions of a Teen Idol takes seven former stars and give them another chance of stardom as men. Included in the mix are two Baywatch castoffs (Jeremy Jackson, David Chockachi), 80’s stars that I only know of because of their commentary from I Love the 80’s (Christopher Atkins, Adrian Zmed, and, um, I actually don’t remember the third guy but apparently he was in Fame: the series), and Eric Neis of all people. How exactly can you get someone whose lone claim to fame another chance at stardom? Beg the producers of the MTV Challenges to let him back on?

The only one of the bunch that you can really feel sorry for is Jamie Walters because the main reason why his career tanked was because a character he was playing pushed Donna Martin down the stairs. Guiding these formal idols through their journey: Chachi and Wayne Arnold. Also listed as producers on the show: Eric Bishoff and J.D. Roth. VH1, please give me back my soul.

The show seems to play off like an episode of Celebrity Rehab but the addiction is fame (as one of the therapist mentions in every promo for the show). But as it usually goes the least famous of the bunch, Neis, may turn out to be the most entertaining as it turns out he may be so insane that the producers had to put a disclaimer on the screen when he started talking about his ways to living a healthier life.

Verdict: Certainly not appointment television, but unless Time Warner actually pulls the station of its lineup, I sadly will eventually see most of the show through reruns. Darn you VH1. Confessions of a Teen Idol airs Sundays at 8:00 on VH1 and will repeat constantly throughout the week because it is VH1.

7 comments:

  1. Great! Very interesting article, Loved it!

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  2. Isn't the name: "Shooter" McGavin?

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  3. Yes, it seems to be a Happy Gilmore reference but the name was indeed Shooter.

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  4. Shooter McGavin is the nemisis of Happy Gilmore, my nicknake is Scooter McGavin (which convinently helps me avois any potential copywrite infringment).

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  5. Did you watch Ep2? Even better than the first. I give all the credit to Chachi and Wayne as they came up with the idea for this craziness. It's addicting. And without boobs like Rock of Love 3 (which I cannot watch well, because the wonman are just gross)

    I can't wait for Tool School. When does that start???

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  6. Did see the second episode because what else was I going to watch, meaningless awards being handed out? And since when are women who serve shots from their lady areas gross? Um, actually don't answer that.

    As for Tool Academy, it actually premiered last night, but this is VH1 and it will repeat over a dozen times before the next episode. bBut the show really sets the bar low in crappy reality shows, and I loved every minute.

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