Yeah, the Grumpy Young Man is about to whine about reality shows. Guess what? Not really. I should hate reality shows. I've tried. But the Apprentice came out and I was intrigued at the idea of seeing business minds try to solve problems. The Law Firm has folllowed a similar trend and made me want to see young lawyers handle cases. And now, a new show has made this college student want to see television's take on his world.

Yes, enter Tommy Lee Goes to College. The excellent (sic) drummer takes on the University of Nebraska. I thought it would be good for a laugh, seeing the spaced-out Lee contend with issues that college students contend with. I was not disappointed, though it was often funny because of how staged it was, not because of Lee's reactions.

First, they bring Lee into the Chancellor's office to speak with him. Lee goes in, waves to some awe-struck students in the waiting room, and is called in. However, you'd see that all the students present in the waiting room when Lee entered where still there when his name was called. Yeah, it don't work that way. Chancellor, Registrar, whatever: You are gonna wait, a long time, if you are not a rock star.

Then, he got his housing. He entered a hall, picked his dorm room and then chose his roommate. Yeah, I don't know if Nebraska has a different system, but at Kentucky you apply for your top three choices of dorms and roommates months in advance, and hope you get it. I was lucky enough to never have been stuck with a crappy room or roommate but I certainly didn't have the power to choose from five of each at my discretion.

After getting settled, Lee's decorators came in. Enter a plasma TV, cappucino machine, full drum set... you get the idea. Um, yeah. What OTHER college student is gonna have this stuff in their room?! College students are generally poor, as you may know. You're usually lucky to have a ratty old couch, mini-fridge, and computer desk. And besides, if you had that much expensive stuff in there I bet it'd get jacked before long anyway.

Tommy looked dazed in all his classes, but did seem to be trying to get something into that airy head. He actually read the book for English class and had something quasi-insightful to say. But the tutor thing is ridiculous. His tutor is Natalie Riedmann, who I do not think was exactly chosen at random. Click the site to see why, if you didn't see the show. Real students get a random tutor in their subject area.

My favorite, though, was the band. Oh boy. The guy has been a drummer how long? His audition consisted of hitting each tenor drum a few times and then questioning the tuning. I mean, I'm aware that quads are a different beast from a rock drum set but still, he's a flippin' drummer! He should at least be able to pound out some sort of groove. And UN's band has high standards. They will bench you if you don't perform, and Lee was sucking it up out there. I mean, if anyone played like that in a marching band without a reputation behind them, they'd be lucky if they only got demoted to playing the cymbals. I realize he hasn't read music for a while and hasn't played marching drums in forever but he looked about as lost on the drums as I would, and I'm a trumpet player. It'll be real funny to see what happens when he has to march for real and put on the uniform.

So in summary, the show was a total farce but that's WHY it was funny. No college experience would ever be like this, with throngs cheering as you exit the bookstore and girls clamoring to be your companion (well, not for me anyway). And for the record, it was 51 minutes into the show before someone asked him about Pam Anderson. I would've put money on about 16.
0 Comments:

Post a Comment