New family reality show a real brat race
“Kicked Out” (10 p.m., Family) features funny scenes of parents throwing a party to celebrate the eviction of their lazy 24-year-old son. This giddy moment should be reason enough to admire this reality show, but “Kicked Out” has too many contrived and troubling elements to earn much praise.
Over the course of two months, “Kicked Out” will showcase eight sets of fed-up parents as they surprise their uninspired offspring with a little tough love. In each episode, they pack up their kids’ things and send them off to Spartan accommodations where they will have to cook, clean and shop for themselves, and above all, get up off their couches and find a job.
The first “Kicked Out” concerns a seemingly affluent family from Long Beach, Calif. Venida and Walter oust their spoiled son Verion, but still give him access to their SUV and send him off with a check for $1,500 in pin money. Verion, a fussy young man who pines to be a pocketbook designer, scoffs at this paltry sum as something he could blow through in a matter of days. He also sneers at a care package of microwavable meals, tossing them to the floor and dismissing them as “off-brand.”
In a just universe – or at least in a more entertaining program – young Verion would be consigned to toiling in a coalmine and be shown craving those delicious generic morsels he once disdained. But this is television, where persnickety consumer habits among a young demographic are considered virtuous.
Within moments of moving out, Verion is contacted by a hip boutique that is searching for new pocketbook designers. This happens just after we see Verion’s mother pulling some strings with the posh shop. By episode’s end, Verion is lavished with praise for his creations and embarks on a brilliant career.
Much like Fox’s ill-fated “Princes of Malibu” and MTV’s popular “My Super Sweet 16” (8:30 p.m., MTV), this series focuses on young adults with an astonishing sense of entitlement and a minimal notion of get-up-and-go. Do these kids represent some kind of growing trend, or merely a Hollywood stereotype?
“American Masters” (8 p.m., KSPS) profiles the author of “Invisible Man” on “Ralph Ellison: An American Journey,” first shown in 2002. “Invisible Man” earned the National Book Award in 1953, and was quickly hailed as an American classic in the ranks of “The Great Gatsby.” New York University professor Clyde Taylor recalls the novel as a revelation. Ellison “showed us that you could do with black life what Homer did with the Greeks, what (James) Joyce did with Irish life.”
Honored in the 1950s, Ellison found himself scorned in the 1960s by activists who branded him a button-down “elitist.” While Ellison never completed his long-awaited second novel, he left more than 2,000 pages of a manuscript called “Juneteenth.” Toni Morrison reads selections from this unfinished work. Ellison died in Harlem in 1994.
Tonight’s other higlights
The owners of 28 feet compete on a two-hour helping of “So You Think You Can Dance” (8 p.m., Fox).
Mobile homes get stylish makeovers on three episodes of “Trailer Fabulous” (9 p.m., MTV).
On back-to-back episodes of “Law & Order” (NBC), a hard-boiled novelist is toast (9 p.m.), the drug wars come home (10 p.m.).
A waterfront grave on “CSI: NY” (10 p.m., CBS).
Michael and Jim spat on “Lost” (10 p.m., ABC).
Mark-Paul Gosselaar guest stars as an embedded American journalist on “Over There” (10 p.m., FX.
Cult choice
An assassin (Uma Thurman) seeks revenge in the conclusion of director Quentin Tarantino’s violent opus “Kill Bill: Vol. 2” (9:45 p.m., Encore).
Series notes
A romantic education on “Still Standing” (8 p.m., CBS) … Dads struggle on “Meet Mister Mom” (8 p.m., NBC) … Lessons and hugs on two-hours of “Brat Camp” (8 p.m., ABC) … Six remain on “R U the Girl” (8 p.m., UPN) … A time capsule’s secrets on “One Tree Hill” (8 p.m., WB) … Practical jokes on “Yes, Dear” (8:30 p.m., CBS).
Results revealed on “Rock Star: INXS” (9 p.m., CBS) … Dog gone on “Veronica Mars” (9 p.m., UPN) … The gridiron calls on “Smallville” (9 p.m., WB).