The Cube’s ‘simple tasks become epic challenges,’ but it’s too often an empty shell
Dwayne Wade hosts TBS’s version of the hit UK game show The Cube, on which pairs compete have in challenges that take place in a cube.
All reality show and documentary TV reviews on reality blurred by TV critic Andy Dehnart. (Learn more about Andy.)
Small Fortune: tiny challenges, Lil Rel, big fun
Lil Rel hosts Small Fortune, an NBC competition game show on which teams of three attempt challenging tasks on amusing, tiny little sets. Highly recommended.
Crime Scene Kitchen is a delinquent baking show from Big Brother’s producers
Big Brother producers Allison Grodner and Rich Meehan’s new baking competition, Crime Scene Kitchen, has borrowed its central idea with Quibi’s Dishmantled and turned that into an excruciatingly boring hour of television that doesn’t even have fun with the title.
Top Chef Portland is just damn good TV, from its chefs to its challenges
Top Chef Portland has been near-perfect, everything I want from both a reality competition and Bravo’s marquee reality series: great challenges; strong, likable contestants; and several surprises.
Big Shot with Bethenny is not The Apprentice. It’s a pointless mess full of hypocrisy.
The Big Shot with Bethenny is not The Apprentice. It’s such a mess that it made me long for the original format, and we all know how that turned out. Sometimes her new series resembles the chaotic, unprofessional workplace of Bravo’s Flipping Out; sometimes it’s one of Bethenny Frankel’s Real Housewives’ spin-offs; and sometimes it’s like one of those flat, failed Apprentice clones from the late 2000s.
Philly DA is a thrilling, revealing look at an attempt to ‘destroy the system’ from within
Independent Lens’s enthralling PBS documentary reality series Philly D.A. watches from inside to see what happens when someone tries to change the system.
Couples Therapy is even more riveting and enlightening in season two
Showtime’s phenomenal and perfect reality TV series Couples Therapy is back for an even-better second season, during which Dr. Orna Guralnik works with three new couples in New York City.
