Really, really bad TV

Gee, where's Leonard Pinth-Garnell when you need him? Houston independent TV station KTBU/Channel 55 is looking for a few bad shows -- really, really bad shows -- to fill "three, maybe four hours" of prime time on Saturdays starting in October. No kidding.

You could argue, of course, that NBC, CBS and ABC already take a similar approach to programming, since the networks stopped offering original epsidoes of scripted dramas and comedies on Saturday nights a long time ago. But Channel 55 president Matt Reiff wants to go beyond merely marking time with a lineup of cop show reruns and third-run movies. As he tells the Houston Chronicle's Ken Hoffman, "We're looking for the worst shows, I'm talking sitcoms and movies, in the history of television" for a weekly marathon of Bad TV.

"When people think of bad TV, the shows that come to mind are usually My Mother the Car, where a guy's mother dies and is reincarnated as a car, and Supertrain, which was Love Boat on tracks. We're considering everything. I actually think My Mother the Car and Supertrain are available. I have a long list of shows that we can get our hands on, and we're going over them all."

You can offer your suggestions to Reiff by going to the Channel 55 website and clicking on the "Want Bad TV?" link. My suggestion? Well, there were all those episodes of Sneak Previews co-hosted by Michael Medved and Jeffrey Lyons...