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AS
SUMMER
KICKS
into
high
gear,
it
means
weekends
at
the
beach,
barbeques
and
sunning
yourself
in
a
public
park
somewhere.
If
only
life
on
the
tube
were
as
interesting.
For
most
networks,
summer
is
a
time
for
reruns,
shows
rejected
from
the
regular
season
and
the
new
staple
of
summer,
reality
television.
Bravo,
the
oh-so-gay,
NBC-owned
cable
channel
and
home
of
“Queer
Eye,”
enters
the
reality
fray
on
Tuesday,
June
8,
at
9
p.m.,
with
a
new
six-part
series
titled
“Blow
Out.”
It
explores
a
hairstylist’s
efforts
to
open
a
Beverly
Hills
hair
salon.
The
action
centers
around
star
stylist
Jonathan
Antin,
who
owns
Jonathan
Salon
in
super
gay
West
Hollywood
and
is
opening
his
second
location
in
Beverly
Hills.
His
star
clients
include
Madonna
and
Margaret
Cho,
who
stops
by
during
one
of
the
episodes,
as
well
as
Jay
Leno
and
Tiger
Woods.
Antin
brings
sexy,
purple-haired
lesbian
stylist
Jen
MacDonald
with
him
from
West
Hollywood,
gets
his
gay
protégé
Jason
Low
to
return
to
L.A.
from
New
York
City,
and
hires
gay
stylist
Daniel
Owens
for
the
new
venture.
But
even
with
all
these
gay
people
around,
the
show
needs
a
bit
of
a
makeover.
“Blow
Out”
creator
and
executive
producer
Ben
Silverman
previously
worked
on
that
other
workplace
reality
show,
NBC’s
“The
Restaurant,”
whose
reruns
have
found
a
home
on
Bravo.
But
unlike
“The
Restaurant,”
where
the
drama
seems
to
come
organically,
there
are
things
about
“Blow
Out”
that
seem
a
bit
staged.
For
example,
Antin
calls
his
protégé,
Low,
in
New
York
to
see
if
he
wants
to
work
in
L.A.
Amazingly,
when
Low’s
cell
phone
rings,
the
cameras
are
already
fixed
on
him,
despite
the
show’s
publicity
packet,
which
announces
the
new
“unscripted
salon
series.”
And
even
after
work
on
the
new
salon
gets
rolling,
there
seems
to
be
plenty
of
vamping
for
the
camera.
With
drama
queen
Antin
at
the
helm,
the
show
seems
to
take
its
name
from
blowing
things
out
of
proportion.
There’s
plenty
of
material
to
work
with
here:
watching
to
see
if
Antin
can
get
the
salon
operating
in
time
and
eavesdropping
on
the
intimacy
shared
between
stylist
and
client.
And
we’ve
all
had
a
bad
dye
job
or
a
great
haircut
that
totally
transformed
our
look.
“Blow
Out”
would
benefit
from
focusing
more
on
these
kinds
of
issues
and
less
on
Antin
flying
off
his
brush
handle.
MEANWHILE,
COMEDY
CENTRAL
is
keeping
things
hot
with
new
episodes
of
the
“Cops”
spoof
“Reno
911!”
The
show’s
second
season
debuts
Wednesday,
June
9,
at
10
p.m.
I
owe
this
hilarious
and
inventive
ensemble
comedy
an
apology.
Last
summer,
after
watching
the
first
two
episodes
of
the
show,
I
wrote:
“The
formula
for
this
mostly
improvised
show
is
to
put
a
bunch
of
stereotypical
characters
together,
send
them
out
on
‘missions’
like
we’ve
seen
on
‘Cops’
and
let
funny
stuff
happen.
Well,
the
funny
just
ain’t
there
yet.”
That
might
have
been
true
(or
I
could
have
been
in
a
bad
mood
when
I
watched
the
tape),
but
the
funny
is
definitely
there
now.
After
learning
about
and
growing
with
the
characters
during
the
first
season,
they
are
less
like
stereotypes
than
they
are
absurd
caricatures.
And
I
mean
that
in
the
nicest
way
possible.
Lt.
Jim
Dangle
(Thomas
Lennon),
the
ringleader
of
the
squad
of
ineffective
police
men
and
women,
has
changed
from
a
silly
closet
case
to
a
blundering
pansexual.
While
he’s
as
goofy
and
socially
awkward
as
ever,
the
transformation
has
made
him
less
of
a
one-trick
pony
and
more
of
a
full-fledged
character.
The
same
can
be
said
for
nearly
everyone
on
the
show.
It
appears
that
“Reno”
has
found
a
way
to
rescue
itself.
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