Cinecultist had to put aside the Challenge last night because of other viewing priorities (aka The Apprentice -- Four left! Who will the Donald fire next?!), but we'd like to point out how much more difficult this has been than we expected. There isn't a Made For TV to watch every night of the week, good or bad, even if you wanted to try. Programming we might have enjoyed reviewing for the Challenge -- BBCAmerica and A&E airings of English television films like BBC's Pride and Prejudice or Gormengast. Or IFC original programming which often gets theatrical screenings but has most of its distribution on television such as Josh Pais's 7th Street. And as Maggie wondered, we did see Celeste in the City when it aired on ABC Family a week or so ago, about a young girl (not unlike Cinecultist) who moves to the Big Apple to work in publishing, gets made over by her gay cousin, straightens her hair and finds love with the metrosexual boy next door. It's a story as old as time -- or as old as the last glossy chick lit book to grace the bookstore tables.
CC was hoping that the Challenge would sort of cure us of this need to watch such bad Made For TV movies, in a Clockwork aversion therapy kind of way. Sadly, this experiment did not succeed. The itch is still there, although hopefully CC won't have to burden our readers with the recaps.
Coming Up on Cinecultist: The television advertisements tout that "audiences love Jersey Girl." We're not so sure about this -- investigation to follow.
Posted by karen at April 2, 2004 8:28 AM