Reality Reiterated: Tom Gets Waxed (Everywhere!), No More Chen and RuPaul Rules!

Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List

I imagine there are many perks to being Kathy Griffin’s assistant: jet-setting around the globe, meeting celebrities and pseudo-celebrities (I’m raising my penciled-in eyebrow at you, Snooki), and hanging around a really funny lady.

Oh, and having your nether regions waxed.

On this week’s D-List, Kathy hocked her wares to sell out three shows at Madison Square Garden, then worked on meeting her book publisher’s demand of selling 600 books at a single book signing, and getting herself “vagazzled.”

With a trip to the salon for a Brazilian once over and some sparkly bling just north of the money shot, Kathy was ready to get the word out and her pap smear on (under the watchful eyes of an audience and the media, of course) to spread the word about cervical cancer.

Naturally, Kathy wasn’t satisfied until her nervous and creepy (at least in this episode!) assistant, Tom, got himself a little undercarriage work done as well. Tom, who got cleaned from bumper to bumper, was eerily calm while the waxing guru described in great detail the areas from which she would momentarily be ripping hair.

This little stunt on its own wasn’t huge, but, Kathy’s reaction to seeing Tom lying face down holding his, ahem, backdoor open was worth the price of admission. Remnant tears still stain my episode notes.

I’ve heard friends, bloggers, and the like discuss how much of the show is actually “real.” I caught one strange editing issue here — the time of day during which the mad waxing takes place — which made me wonder whether Kathy was even looking at Tom’s ... procedure while it was being done or whether that was added later.

If this was just clever editing, I don’t care. That means Kathy is a better actress than she lets on, and if so, then screw that Grammy. She should set her sights on an Oscar!

The Choir

Dear Big Brother executives: Please loosen your silk neckties, step away from your capitalist empire, and spend four very short hours watching an amazing little reality show called The Choir.

As you recall, faithful readers, this little British gem follows choir genius Gareth Malone as he heads to a London high school, auditions hundreds of students, trains the best 25, submits their application to the biggest choir competition in the world, and successfully takes them (the first British choir ever) to China, where they sing their adorable little hearts out. And I watched it in three hours.

The choir itself was formed in the first episode and by episodes two and three, the kids are heartbreakingly forced to go through another audition just prior to hearing whether the group made it into the competition. Nine are cut.

Malone also scours the upper classmen for some bass to fill out the “top heavy” choir. After getting accepted, tensions build and we have some screaming (by Malone) and doors slaming (by students.) The group finally makes it to China where they perform several pieces: classical, a foreign language piece, and a contemporary piece.

Did I mention Malone and the kids accomplished this in nine months and that the kids had no previous musical training?

Alas, the kids don’t move on to the next round. By then, however, they’ve bonded and learned so much more about their abilities that they are still winners. Tears of joy abound (including my own.)

I look at shows like this and blush when I realize that during the past week, I’ve also spent the same number of hours watching Big Brother contestants sneak into one another's beds, call each other whores, and “backdoor” one another. And there are still 24 episodes of that show to go.

Do yourself a favor and track down this series. The fourth episode airs this Wednesday and BBC America is rerunning the first three earlier that same day. In that final episode, it’s a year later and Malone returns to check up on the kids.

Don’t worry, Big Brother will still be there when you’re done. For a long, long, long time.

Next page! No more Chen!