Channel Surfing: DON’T TRUST THE B, BEST FRIENDS FOREVER, RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE & More!

It’s always nice when a show is better than expected. Despite decent advance buzz, I wasn’t looking forward to ABC’s much-hyped DON’T TRUST THE B, but it turned out to be — and trust me, I didn’t anticipate using this word in conjunction with the show — delightful. Krysten Ritter’s Chloe is a nasty piece of work with, of course, a soft side. What keeps the character from being predictable is that even her “good deeds” tend to be achieved via the wrongest or routes. Need info from a kid? Get him drunk! Want to prove your roomie’s beau is a cheater? Seduce him! The long-run challenge will be maintaining that balance.
 
I was one of the few people — at least if Nielsen is to be believed — who fell hard for the 2008 sitcom WORST WEEK, so it’s nice to see Jessica St. Clair doing bang-up work in NBC’s BEST FRIENDS FOREVER. Like HAPPY ENDINGS, BFF is a show where the dialogue sounds real because people speak in broken sentences, talk over one another and have private jokes that we may or may not get. And Daija Owens as mouthy neighborhood Queenetta may be my favorite recurring character in recent memory.
 
While it’s easy to assume that all pundits on a given cable news channel are the same, that would be as big a mistake as assuming that all magazines from a publishing house have the same editorial slant. That’s never been clearer where MSNBC is concerned than in recent cover of the Trayvon Martin case. THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW had, until last night, all but avoided the shooting in favor of the politically-themed stories it favors. When Maddow did address the case last night, it was in about as non-hyperbolic fashion as one could cover something involving such highly-charged emotions. The same can not be said for the network’s THE LAST WORD, whose host, Lawrence O’Donnell, seems to be going for the Nancy Grace crowd. Accusations fly, guests speculate wildly and the whole thing — from the host “questioning” an empty chair to repeat guest Charles Blow of the New York Times chewing more scenery than the cast of Showgirls — has been enough to leave this longtime viewer considering ditching the show. The day Fox News’ Sean Hannity does a better job of respecting the sanctity of a developing legal case than O’Donnell is the day I’m forced to carefully reconsider my viewing options.
 
If Phi Phi O’Hara wins RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE, my household may just be forced to give up one of our favorite guilty pleasures, which just got renewed for a fifth season. (This does not, as far as I can tell, include the all-star season that’s expected to hit Logo this fall.) Not since the personality-free Tyra Sanchez walked away with the top prize have we had such a hate-on for one of the ladyboys. Then again, we were ready to just hand Willam Belli the crown and anything else the minute we heard this definitely not-safe-for-work tune. (Go ahead, just try and get it outta your head. Good luck!)