If your boyfriend is a liar or cheater, don’t dump him — send him to VH1′s Tool Academy, a reform school–themed reality show in which tools learn how to be upstanding gentlemen. The show’s nine contestants thought they were competing for the title of “Mr. Awesome,” only to discover that their girlfriends had “enrolled” them in the Tool Academy to make them stop being jerks.
The tattooed and frequently shirtless contestants embody all the bad-boyfriend stereotypes: the cheater, the slacker, the party animal, the guy who puts down his lady. Each episode features some sort of “relationship challenge” (assemble a bed, guide each other through an obstacle course, raise a baby pig) designed to teach the tools about the building blocks of a healthy relationship (patience, teamwork … raising a pig?). But the highlight of the series occurs in the second episode, when Shawn (a.k.a. the loud-mouth tool) is confronted by a second girlfriend (of six years!) who kicks the first girlfriend off the show and takes her place.
And, of course, the couple that wins gets married at the end.
Hugh Hefner likes shoving his decadent, debauched lifestyle in your face, and for some reason, network executives at E! decided to indulge him with The Girls Next Door. The show, which debuted in 2005, follows the day-to-day lives of his live-in girlfriends — Holly Madison, Bridget Marquardt and Kendra Wilkinson — as they host birthday parties, surprise parties, murder-mystery parties, bachelorette parties, Midsummer Night’s Dream parties (“lingerie or less”) and … baby showers. The trio of bunnies manages to make life at the mansion appear, if not wholesome, not totally warped either. (For his part, Hef rarely makes an appearance except to shuffle into view and offer one or more of the ladies a grandfatherly peck on the lips or a lecherous pat on the rump.) Each woman had a role to play: Holly as the sweet pseudo-wife; Bridget as the studious journalist-in-training; and Kendra as the foul-mouthed wild child. That’s right: had. After five seasons, the bevy of beauties decided to call it quits last year. But worry not for Hef. He’s already enlisted 19-year-old twins for the show’s upcoming sixth season.
Richard Dawson, the wisecracking British entertainer who was among the schemers in the 1960s sitcom “Hogan’s Heroes” and a decade later began kissing thousands of female contestants as host of the game show “Family Feud” has died. He was 79.
As we prepare for the Game of Thrones finale, we recognize Joffrey and nine other baddies who showed us that terrible, horrible things can come in small packages
