TV Preview
'Crowned,' a train wreck with promise
By Diego Vasquez
Dec 12, 2007 - 1:05:27 AM

With the writers’ strike forcing many scripted shows into reruns, there are a number of new shows premiering at midseason. This is one in a series of Media Life previews of those programs.
 
Name of show  
“Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants”
 
Timeslot 
CW, Wednesday 9 p.m.
 
Synopsis
“Crowned” is an eight-week reality program in which teams of mothers and daughters compete in weekly challenges, culminating in an actual pageant for the show’s finale. The judges include Carson Kressley from Bravo’s “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” former Miss U.S.A. Shanna Moakler and Cynthia Garrett, who briefly hosted the talk show “Later with Cynthia Garrett” on NBC.
 
In tonight’s premiere episode, the 11 mother-daughter pairs are asked to come up with nicknames for their teams, and they run from Redhead Bombshells and Tomboy Queens to Daredevil Divas and Diamond Dolls.
 
Each week’s challenge is run by pageant director Linnea Maloney with the aim of preparing the women for the final competition. Throughout the series the contestants will create a team approach to what they wear, their points of view on world issues, and of course to their training for the pageant's dance number.
 
The winning team gets $100,000 and a pair of tiaras.
 
Outlook
You wouldn’t normally expect much from a midseason reality competition on the typically low-rated CW, but “Crowned” does have a few things working for it.
 
First and most obvious is the writers’ strike. Competition in the 9 p.m. slot is usually tough, with ABC’s “Private Practice” and CBS’s “Criminal Minds” and Fox’s “Kitchen Nightmares.” But "Practice" and "Minds" are nearly out of fresh scripts and moving into reruns, while "Nightmares” has its season finale tonight.
 
Also, “Crowned” is premiering in the cushiest of timeslots, following tonight’s season finale of “America’s Next Top Model,” and that's bound to give it a nifty boost. "Model" is easily CW’s strongest show and probably the one with the audience most compatible with the target for “Crowned.” These are the young women who made last year’s Pussycat Dolls reality show a success.
 
“Top Model” should attract a good number of viewers, especially women 18-34, and that should lead to strong sampling of “Crowned.”
 
The buzz
 The CW has been pushing “Crowned” big-time through promotions, and media people believe it should indeed benefit from airing after the “Top Model” finale.
 
Their main concern is the timeslot. “It’s premiering in a tough time period," notes Tracie Chinetti, senior buyer/planner at Blitz Media in Boston.

"But on the other hand it’s new programming, so that always helps,” she says, and she also thinks the show’s mother-daughter teams could help attract viewers in separate demographics.
 
“They’re looking for teens as well as the mothers, so there’s that dual-entry sort of thing,” she says. “And it is somewhat compelling. Everybody likes a train wreck.”
 
What critics are saying
“The CW apparently considers this show to be so laden with suspense that TV critics were not trusted with the secret of which team gets de-sashed this week, so I can’t describe this particular humiliation as fully as I might otherwise, though I believe jeweled scissors may be involved.
 
“What I can do is warn you that you watch this, and other supposedly unscripted shows, from NBC's upcoming revival of ‘American Gladiators’ to CBS’ winter edition of ‘Big Brother,’ at your own risk. Because the more of this stuff you're willing to see, the more of it we're going to get. – Ellen Gray, Philadelphia Daily News
 
“CW could certainly use a hit, or at least another utility player to bolster a lineup whose new-drama performance has thus far been wholly underwhelming. While the netlet’s latest femme series competition doesn’t break any new ground, it deftly taps into two basic feelings — envy and superiority — that have not only helped make reality TV what it is today but could help ‘Crowned’ sashay off looking like a winner.” – Brian Lowry, Variety
 
“Judging from the pilot episode, ‘Crowned’ might be the most unintentionally laughable reality show to come down the pipe in a long time -- and that's saying something.” Chuck Barney, San Jose Mercury News