People who live in glass houses shouldn’t be on television.
But, really, who’s going to stop them?
They’re exactly the people who would want their lives on display to the world in the first place, although they don’t present a pretty picture for the rest of us — witness the last dozen “reality” TV shows you’ve sampled.
No, people who live in glass houses shouldn’t be on television, unless, of course, their assignment is to design and build a glass house. Then the goal, a perfect metaphor for the process itself, makes some sense.
“HGTV’s Design Star” takes the metaphor to heart for its penultimate episode, “The Glass House Challenge,” airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on HGTV.
The three remaining designers — Emily Henderson (from Los Angeles), Michael Moeller (NYC) and Casey Noble (L.A.) — are challenged to come up with glass houses smack in New York City’s Foley Square.
The requirement involves putting a personal design aesthetic into each abode.
Not just glass walls but also a certain enveloping feel.
The judges will then decide who gets to be in the Season 5 finale, airing Aug. 22.
Last year’s winner, Antonio Ballatore, shows up to give advice and moral support. Each must work alone — alone except for the surprise “celebrity” guests who pop in to help pass the (limited) time.
You know the “reality” competition drill: The three contenders shoot presentations of their work to be shown back at the studio in a tense display of their efforts. And one is eliminated from the show.
The goal of the 10-week competition is to win the ultimate “reality” show prize: a “reality” show of one’s own. See, the glass house metaphor holds. In the finale, the two remaining designers will shoot a presentation of the show they would produce.
In normal TV production, that would be called a sizzle real. In “HGTV’s Design Star,” it’s part of the competition. The whole process is transparent.
What else is new around the dial while we wait for the fall season to begin? A few options:
“Sex on TV”
A two-part special, “Sex on TV,” debuting Sunday at 6 p.m. on TV Guide Channel, takes the recent FCC indecency decision as a launching point to ask questions about censorship and the changing landscape of television.
Essentially a clip-fest, the two hours consider the medium’s evolving approach to skin, for instance, from “I Dream of Jeannie” in the early days, when actresses weren’t allowed to reveal their navels to the camera, through the “Charlie’s Angels” jiggle-com series of the 1970s, and onward to more risque recent shows like “Sex and the City.”
Narrated by Brenda Strong, whose disembodied voice is familiar from “Desperate Housewives,” the show concludes the networks learned through experience that “less clothing meant higher ratings.”
Food trucking
If you crossed “The Amazing Race” with “MasterChef,” put it in unsightly gas-guzzling vans and launched it on a cross-country road trip, beginning near Los Angeles, this is what you’d get.
“The Great Food Truck Race,” new from the Food Network, gets in gear with an episode titled “Let’s Get Rolling,” Sunday at 8 p.m. The competition takes place in Southern California with chef Tyler Florence as host. The gourmet food trucker who makes the the least profit is sent home.
“StoryCorps” to TV
The popular NPR oral history series “StoryCorps” makes its TV debut — all five minutes’ worth — next week as part of PBS’s “P.O.V.” One of the most popular stories, “Danny & Annie,” about lifelong Brooklyn sweethearts, is the first bit of audio poetry to get the animated treatment. Locally, “P.O.V.” airs at 10 p.m. on KRMA- Channel 6.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830 or jostrow@denverpost.com
