The new reality show Harry Loves Lisa follows Harry Hamlin and Lisa Rinna as they try to keep their careers from sputtering to a halt. Hey, nothing wrong with that: Who’s not trying to do the same thing these days? It’s just that most of us don’t do it with cameras recording our every dull comment, our every banally expressed desire, most of them issued through silicone-inflated lips. The duo has been flogging Harry Loves Lisa wherever possible, and managed to get some unintended publicity by getting a phone call, live on The Today Show, that their house was being burglarized. The HLL premiere on Wednesday night was a half-hour of hodgepodge, with everything from Rinna addressing her perceived slam of Heidi Montag to Harry Hamlin doing stand-up comedy in order to make himself more marketable. I ask you: Would you hire this guy if you were a TV producer?
That clip doesn’t include the lispy jokes about a gay director Hamlin says he worked with on Equus. After watching that, I lost what sympathy I had for Hamlin’s attempt to get “back in the game” — i.e., another TV job. The one element of the episode that sounded interesting, Hamlin auditioning for the role of an airline pilot and receiving feedback that “I gave a bizarre read and I freaked everybody in the room out” — well, darn, wouldn’t you know it, the cameras weren’t there to record that.
Much of the rest of the time, Rinna is rightfully obsessed with the career damage done by her excessively-enlarged lips, which turned her into a tabloid joke. Since you know that she’s already had reduction surgery, are you going to hang around to watch what looks like, from the coming attractions, weeks of doctor appointments and discussions with her gal-pals as to whether she should get the procedure?
Hamlin and Rinna seems as though they like each other, their two daughters are adorable. Their show fits the TV Land mold, in that it’s not excessively crass. But it’s a bore.
If you watched, will you watch again?
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