The Next Best Thing - A Review

ABC's newest reality TV show is The Next Best Thing about impersonators. They not only have to look like the persona (it can be a real person or a character from a movie or television show), but also act and sound like them. And while reality TV is the next best thing to real TV, this one really isn't bad.

I don't know what else to say, really. Reality TV has become so cliched in and of itself, it's almost a parody of itself by this point. Hopeful contestants audition in front of a panel of unqualified judges who are only there because their celebrity is on its last leg. They whittle them down to a large group of hopeful contestants, then pare them down even further. The leftover contestants move into a house and play insipid games that have nothing to do with anything. A bunch of twists come up, some of them argue, some of them flirt and possibly sleep together, drama is manufactured and more people fight, one of the early frontrunners gets voted-off before their time, then there's a big finale. Hollow-wood loves nothing better than a proven formula.

So, The Next Best Thing is much like The Lot, which is a lot like American Idol, and they're all like all the rest. But, like most of them, it's watchable - especially if absolutely nothing else is on.