COMMENTARY

When Summer Comes, TV Sends in The Clowns

• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, 10 hours ago

Even the clown in the above photo seems tired from the heat.

But that’s summer for you -- the season when TV sends in the clowns for the year’s silliest shows -- and that’s saying a lot.

The weary clown is in a scene from “The Prank Panel,” a new take on TV prank shows that figures to be just like all the rest of them. The show starts Sunday (June 9) on ABC.

Here’s the description from ABC: “ ‘The Prank Panel’ lets everyday people pitch pranks targeting family members, friends and co-workers to a panel of the world’s greatest pranksters,” says an ABC press release.

“Johnny Knoxville, Eric Andre and Gabourey Sidibe form the all-star panel of ‘pranxperts,’ taking viewers behind the scenes as they help to plot and plan elaborate and diabolical schemes.

“The Panelists serve as mentors and saboteurs, with celebrity guests sometimes joining the fun.”

Until now, I had no idea that Johnny Knoxville, Eric Andre and Gabourey Sidibe are so proficient at pranking that they have earned the title of “world’s greatest pranksters.”

As for the “fun” promised in the last sentence of the above description, I have a feeling that the clown might have something to say about that.

One last thing about “The Prank Panel”: An upcoming episode promises a prank called “Sexee Grannee.”

For many, many years, I have long wondered why some shows are made, and who on earth will watch them. 

But the question really is, can networks make money from them, no matter how ridiculous they are?

Long ago, the question was rather simple: Can you get a rate for it? Then as now, the answer always seems to be yes -- not matter what the show is.

It turns out that the evening of Sunday, July 9 is presenting an embarrassment of riches, where new summer series are concerned.

In addition to the world premiere of “The Prank Panel” with its world champion pranxperts from 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. Eastern, Bravo will take the wraps off its newest “Real Housewives” spinoff -- “Luann and Sonja: Welcome to Crappie Lake.”

As luck will have it, this premiere airs from 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. Eastern, which means it can be enjoyed by right after “The Prank Panel.” 

In this show, fun-loving Luann De Lesseps and Sonja Morgan from “The Real Housewives of New York City” will head to a small town to head up an effort to revitalize the place.

Can these sophisticated New York housewives survive in the “wilds” of small-town America or will they have the “crappie” time suggested in the title? The TV Blog predicts a happy ending for all involved.

Here again, though, the real question is: Can they get a rate for it?

As always, the answer is: Probabl