Passing grade: new locally produced driversselect DFW 10 gets an 8
03/06/07 03:58 PM
By ED BARK
Much better than expected. Hey, it's got lots of bite. Some snark even.
TXA21's new driversselect DFW 10 turns out to be a surprisingly see-worthy effort hosted by former American Idol 4 semi-finalist Celena Rae. On the show's March 4th premiere, she came off as sharp and sassy and never once ditzy. DFW 10 (Sundays at 6 p.m.) may be low-budget but so far it's not a joke.
OK, so just what is it? Basically it's a top 10 "entertainment countdown show," with a heavy reliance on YouTube's public domain videos. Rae sets 'em up and knocks 'em down. On the premiere half-hour, she began with footage of a man who holds records for smashing watermelons with his head.
Rae noted there was no ring on his finger, meaning he's available, ladies. "Mmm, appetizing, huh? Watermelon and forehead sweat."
Two Live 105.3 Free FM radio personalities also are in the mix. Helping with the show's writing is Dean Lewis, who's also supposed to be a correspondent on later episodes. And John "Pugs" Myron has a weekly on-camera "Round-Up" segment that asks viewers to respond online to questions such as, "Which famous celebrity are you pretty sure you could pick up?"
Aimed at men, the first one offered up Rachael Ray (she drinks lots of beer and is "cute without really being hot"), Tara Reid, Britney Spears and Angelina Jolie. Pugs had a logical approach to Jolie, noting that her two most recent husbands are Billy Bob Thornton and Brad Pitt.
"Take the average, that's you!" he reasoned.
Several videos later, Rae shifted into a quick "Random Countdown" segment that ventured into Gordon Keith territory. As previously detailed here, the dark-humored KTCK ("The Ticket") court jester has a new show that airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. on KFWD-TV (Channel 52), which is partly programmed by Belo Corp.
On last week's half-hour, Keith welcomed Belo8 anchorman John McCaa and then displayed images of him with handlebar, Charlie Chaplin and Pulp Fiction mustaches.
That was kinda tame compared to what Rae did with Belo8 weatherman Troy Dungan, who wasn't present. If his trademark bow tie could talk, what are the top 5 things it would say? Nos. 4, 2 and 1 were pretty choice. Namely:
"Hey, everybody, Dale Hansen's tie is drunk . . . again!"
"I wish he'd take me off during sex."
"It could be worse . . . my cousin is Troy's diaper."
Whew. Rae and her writers should have the guts to screw around with sister station CBS11's news teamers, too. Otherwise no fair. But for now, they're rollin'.
DFW 10's opener also had a fun taped contribution from TXA21/CBS11 personality Rance Adams. He hung out with local Hydro Parkour twins Jonathan and Thomas Tapp, whom he dubbed Tomathan. The chunkily-built Adams gamely tried replicating some of their vaults, jumps and tumbles, which have been heavily viewed on YouTube.
"I'm in traction now. I'm an idiot for trying this stuff," he concluded.
TXA21 news anchor Kenneth Taylor joined in with a neat little piece on a posh dog hotel that serves ice cream fit for both canines and humans. Otherwise Rae kept coming with the knuckle-draggin' videos.
"We're swimmin' in the shallow end of the gene pool for No. 3," she said before "Redneck Slingshot" took over. Said Rae: "Welcome to Hicks Flags Over Texas."
The host makes the most of these one-liners, slingin' 'em with seasoned aplomb. She's cute while actually being hot. But unlike Paris Hilton, Rae's got the porchlight on upstairs.
Sunday's premiere of DFW 10 drew 33,310 homes, more than doubling the audience for the third episode of Keith's show (14,280 homes). Both are welcome in these parts. 'Tude-laced homegrown programming has been sorely lacking in the country's sixth largest TV market. Now we've suddenly got two of 'em to grow on.
Grade: B
And oh yeah, here's some video of Hydro Parkour:
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