WRONG WAY ON A ONE-WAY TRACK: I only saw the first fight from the return of The Contender, but it was enough to tell me that the show may have lost too much in its transition from NBC to basic cable.
Because what made the show so good last time, more than anything else, were the production values during the fights themselves -- smart, extremely well-edited use of multiple cameras and slow motion that really got you into the ring and told the story of each fight well. Now that they're on ESPN, it's a step behind and it shows -- fewer cameras and less fluid editing, with extrinsic sound effects thrown in by a very busy foley artist as an audio shortcut to indicate the impact of blows. It's not the same, and I don't know how much of it I'll watch.
On the other hand, Rock Star: Tommy Lee Is A Horndog continues to shine, with Dilana (The Cranberries' "Zombie"), Storm (The Cars' "Just What I Needed") and Lukas ("Let's Spend the Night Together") clearly bringing the theatricality and dirtiness that this hard rock band seems to want. It's a job audition, after all, so lovely acoustic covers of "Come As You Are" (Josh) and a wussy take on "Runaway Train" (Toby) just aren't going to cut it; half the performers just don't have the intensity to win this, though Ryan ("Fortunate Son") and Phil ("White Rabbit") brought a little more this week than they have in the past.
Finally: there may be nothing funnier on summer tv than watching former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted make his "I'm really thinking hard" face during the performances. Just saying, is all. Who else is watching? edited to add: Sepinwall is, and he was at the theater for the taping.
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