From the lofty heights of early 20th century American fiction to this…the blog has no shame. Our lastest guilty pleasures (yes, our…meaning myself and Mary ) is Rollergirls. Rollergirls is A&E’s latest offering in the ‘reality’ television series that follows the girls of the T.X.R.D. as they live their lives and skate. Should I be embarrassed that I look forward to every Monday evening at 9 p.m. central time? Probably, but I most unequivocably am not. A&E describes the show as “the rollicking, real-action show that puts you on the fast track of the Austin Thunderdome. Check out the five-team, all-girl league of tough and sexy young athletes who pay to skate and play to win. Their raucous bouts combine fierce competition with jaw-dropping outfits and crowd-pleasing personalities”. The contention is that the show is completely unscripted, but one still gets the feel that they are watching a less testosterone filled version of female professional wrestling.
Mary and I happened to stumble across this show a few weeks ago during the episode in which The Rookie, Venis Envy (pictured below) makes her first roller derby appearance.
Miss Conduct, Jailbait, Mighty Aphrodite, and Witch Baby how can one not watch? My favorites of the group are the aforementioned Venis Envy and Sister Mary Jane and Punky Bruiser (pictured below)
One of the more fun commercials for Rollergirls shows Sister Mary Jane in her day job as a school teacher telling her class “now we don’t hit” followed by a cut of her beating the crap out of someone on the track.
The two teams that the show seems to focus on the most are incidently the ones you end up liking the most, the Putas Del Fuego
and the league dominating Holy Rollers
Rollergirls is a fun guilty pleasure. It is an interesting look into the lives of people who may or may not be just like you and me who have the joy of taking on a different persona outside of their 9 to 5 careers to compete in an entertaining, if somewhat dubious, sport. Expect the odd profanity…and by ‘odd’ I mean ‘frequent’ as well as drinking and the occasional fight. Of course if anyone watches next week I’m prepared to be really embarrassed as next week’s previews looked like this will be the most inappropriate show they have shown yet.
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Not to be outdone, however, is our other favorite A&E guilty pleasure, Dog the Bounty Hunter. Dog the Bounty Hunter follows Duane “Dog” Chapman and his family of bounty hunters as they take on the dope dealers and criminals of the Hawaiian Islands. Dog and his family are somewhat of an enigma. They are devoutly Christian. They often pray before their day begins and demonstrate sincere care and concern for the people whose lives they get involved with. At the same time they swear like sailors and are not afraid to put the beat down on someone if need be to capture their prey. The posse includes Dog’s ‘brother’ Tim and his son Leland, pictured below
and Dog’s wife Beth, whose enormous bossom and ever-present cleavage cause Mary, Tori and I to giggle in embarrassment at the interesting array of outfits she chooses to wear.
While highly entertaining there is a sad undercurrent to Dog the Bounty Hunter as they show how drugs, especially the drug Ice, is ravishing the Hawaiian Islands and devastating the lives of people who are caught in the cycle of abuse. Duane Chapman himself is a former convict who has turned his life around and is trying to help others do the same. While a lot of what goes on in the show is posturing for the TV, I truly believe their faith and concern for their community is sincere and it adds a real depth to this otherwise guilty pleasure reality show.
Well there you have it. Those of you who have cringed at all the Robert E. Howard and Conan talk over the last few days can cringe no more!…..er, wait….maybe you’re cringing more now…. at the very least maybe this will keep you guessing as to what may be next on the ol’ blog.
Rollergirls are awesome! Mike and I watched this awhile back & I tried, with no luck, to see if I could find tickets to an event. I haven’t watched it recently b/c I have two other shows on Monday at 9 p.m. that I like to watch.
Dog is awesome too! I watch it all the time. That’s one place I would like to see when Mike and I go see his parents – DaKine(sp?) Bail Bonds. I love their mullets and 80’s looks. Beth cracks me up – I love her long finger nails!
I recently started to watch two new television shows – Love Monkey (Tues night @ 9 p.m.) and Four Kings (Thurs @ 7:30???) So far I really enjoy them both.
They occasionally repeat it some other nights but I can’t remember when. I think Mary and I caught it on a Wed. or Thurs. night the first time we saw it. Its actually something I would like to Netflix once the first season comes out on DVD just to see all of them in order. Well, so far it is only we blood relations admitting to watching these shows! 😉
I don’t think we’ll ever get Rollergirls in France, but you certainly make me want to watch that show!
It would definitely be something to hear a review of Texas Roller Derby from the point of view of a girl in France Anne! That would be something!
i saw a trailer before a movie a couple weeks ago of rollergirls.. i cringed then too.
I like Inked as well…not Miami Ink, but Inked. It probably says something about me that by and large I don’t watch television but most of the shows I do watch are fringe “reality” shows….what it says I’m not sure I want to know.
I must admit….James and I are fans of Dog, too. Great show!
I’ve never seen Rollergirls. I am either a prude or have poor body image, cuz I cringe when James watches scantily clad women. That said, it does look rather entertaining.
The scantily clad part isn’t really a big deal, they skate so fast and the camera jumps around alot so it isn’t quite like it looks in the pictures and they don’t look the same as the glamour shots poses. That being said it really does seem like this next week’s episode might be a little much, but who knows…commercials are just artificial hype anyway.
Sounds like it would be entertaining… we cut our cable to the $8 variety (just for reception basically), so I haven’t had access to that stuff for about a year!
Michele sent me!
Hmmm…in that case maybe I’d better try and catch it then! 😉 Although, they probably do try to sex it up for the commercials. 🙂
Wow…$8!!! That’s cheap, even for only reception!
I would agree with you Jules…except next week features Lux and she is pretty trashy!!!
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I agree regarding Inked and Miami Ink. I swore I would never watch either of these but one night there was nothing on so I watched Inked. It was pretty entertaining. I haven’t gotten into Miami Ink, though. I also like to watch Texas S.W.A.T. and Dallas S.W.A.T. I must admit that one of my most fav reality shows is Meet the Barkers.
Inked is a mess of a show and I just enjoy it. I guess its therapeutic to see that there are situations even more crazy than the place I work at! Haven’t seen the SWAT shows.
I actually dated a bounty hunter. I haven’t watched this show, though. Maybe I should give it a go.
If you dated a bounty hunter Shannin then you would no doubt find this show highly entertaining!
dear god.
HA!!! 🙂
…and the roller girls are soooo pretty. Makes Angelina Jolie look like Sandra Bernhard.
ROTFL…. 🙂
I admit I have found Rollergirls a fun watch.
I love Bounty Hunter. They are a crazy family, a little rough around the edges, but very sincere and good hearted. Carl is right; watching this show is like having a front row seat to see the ravishes of illicit drug use. It has been a great object lesson to our 13 year old. I really like the way the Chapmans try to reach out to those individuals who really show that they want help.
Scott, you may scoff, but I know you too have some hidden crazy things you like to watch…
After all the commercial hype Rollergirls was not only shown late last night due to that Flight movie but was also kind of dull. Next week’s episode looks to be trashy as well but I’ll be there, embarrasingly glued to the television.
Is dog and crew coming to Houston texas this week December 4, 2006 ?
Your write-up about my family’s favourite programme, Dog The Bounty Hunter, was excellent, it summed up its appeal! Dog, his wife Beth and the crew are genuine people who try to make a difference – and they’re not boring either. Like you say, they show what’s going on without being patronising and without insulting the beautiful place where they live. Thanks for summing it up so well!
Thank you for the compliment. It is a great show and they are indeed great people. Very inspiring in their passion to make a difference in the world.