Caught an episode of Next Action Star on GSN last night, and was surprised to find it was actually watchable. Thirty men and women are "auditioning" for lead roles in an upcoming Joel Silver action film, and over the course of the series casting directors gradually reduce the field down to the eventual male and female winners. Last night the group went from 30 down to 20 after an action scene. The most interesting part of the whole thing-- as with most such shows-- is the elimination process. In this case, we get to listen in as the casting people discuss the actors. One assumes the discussions will get more involved as the field dwindles, and that discussion is oddly compelling-- largely because I'm not a casting director, and so the decision-making process of that world is alien and interesting.
More importantly, Next Action Star immediately follows Extreme Dodgeball, which I just missed this week but will Tivo for next time. I loved dodgeball when I was a kid (we called it Bombardment), so this promises some goofy, surreal fun. Anyone seen it yet?
Posted by Peter at June 25, 2004 03:30 PMI hope you do Tivo Extreme Dodgeball. I'd love to see it. We just got back from seeing Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. I haven't laughed that hard in a movie in a long time. Good times.
Posted by: Nathan Beeler on June 26, 2004 12:14 AMI saw part of Extreme Dodgeball the night it premiered and was underwhelmed. Tries too much for the 'goofy' factor and seems overproduced. They should have just gotten groups of people who actually were decent at the game and had them play to develop a better show than what we get.
Posted by: Brian L. on June 27, 2004 11:36 AMI will TiVo Dodgeball, too. Must see wacky new novelty sports. Did anyone see the sport that TNN had a while back? It was basketball on trampolines. Odd. Worth 15 minutes and then the novelty wore off.
Posted by: Jack on June 28, 2004 01:50 PMI actually liked that sport, even though I can't remember the name of it. What worked in its favor was the fact that they used real athletes. And for added spice they pulled them in from a bunch of different sports. Some combinations worked better than others, and it was interesting to watch a cyclist take on a wide receiver in a relatively neutral sport (basketball players had some advantage, obviously). Good times.
Posted by: Nathan Beeler on June 29, 2004 11:51 AM