String of big names to host renewed Punk’d

LITTLE ROCK — Every now and then the TV Column feels compelled to highlight stuff that would never be confused with being top-drawer entertainment.

I know. That actually includes about 90 percent of what’s on television. That’s OK. About 90 percent of every medium is fair to mediocre — film, literature and art.

Still, it’s out there and millions tune in. Whether it’s from actual enjoyment or casual curiosity, lots of us enjoy “guilty pleasure” TV.

One such show is MTV’s Punk’d, co-executive produced by Ashton Kutcher.

Kutcher, by the way, has had his own troubles lately, not the least of which is that I find his Two and a Half Men unwatchable.

Hopes that his replacing Charlie Sheen would revitalize the series have proved false. The show has devolved into a miasma of puerile gags not worth wasting 30 minutes on.

We’ll leave that for another day. Maybe things will be settled by the May 14 season finale, when Jake (Angus T. Jones) graduates from high school “and makes a huge decision about what to do with his life.”

Meanwhile, Punk’d gets a reboot after five years, returning to MTV at 9 p.m. today with a different celebrity host each week. Former host Kutcher will remain as executive producer.

MTV boasts that Punk’d is one of its “most iconic series and talked-about pop culture phenomenon.” The series reveals “the vulnerable and fun-loving side of Hollywood’s A-list celebrities as only MTV can.”

First of all, MTV is playing fast and loose with the terms iconic and A-list. Or maybe MTV has a different list than the real world, since the new season’s roll of “A-List” punkees include Khloe Kardashian Odom, Teen Wolf’s Tyler Posey and Demi Lovato.

Granted, some well-known names have been tapped over the years. They include Halle Berry, Hilary Swank, Kirsten Dunst, Justin Timberlake, Elijah Wood and Katie Holmes.

The list also includes lesser knowns — Ying Yang twins, Mike Shinoda and Aly Michalka. If you don’t know who these folks are, you probably don’t know where MTV is on the lineup anyway.

Hint: The Ying Yang twins are actually Kaine and D-Roc. Still no help? Moving on.

At any rate, MTV says the new weekly hosts will take the show “to a whole new level, with more complex, hilarious and fun punks.”

A punk, for the lingo impaired, is an elaborate (and frequently mean-spirited) prank designed to embarrass or humiliate one of the host’s “friends” to the point of total exasperation, sometimes anger. Cameras roll to capture the scene.

Eventually, the host appears, yells “surprise” and everyone gestures wildly and says stuff that has to be bleeped.

Good times.

Announced weekly hosts include Justin Bieber, Miley Cyrus, Kellan Lutz (Twilight), Hayden Panettiere (Heroes), Bam Margera (Jackass) and Punk’d alum Dax Shepard.

This time around, the series will give viewers an inside look at what goes on behind the scenes to construct the elaborate pranks.

Here comes Pauly. Also debuting today on MTV is The Pauly D Project at 9:30. This is the first spinoff from MTV’s Jersey Shore.

That’s the inexplicably popular series featuring young people behaving badly. Really badly.

So now spiky-haired Pauly D (Paul DelVecchio) tries to grow up and go legit by concentrating on his career as a DJ and “to become one of the world’s most successful and recognized names in the music industry.” Cameras are along for the ride. Also along for the ride are DJ Michael “Biggie” Morgan, bouncer Gerald “Big Jerry” Gialanella, club manager Ryan Labbe and social liaison Jason “JRock” Craig. I have no idea why Ryan has no nickname. Snooki? Where’s Snooki? Well, the Jersey Shore icon and A-lister is pregnant and engaged and working on her own spinoff. In that order. That’s sobering.

More Shore. MTV says that it plans to bring Jersey Shore back for a sixth season and Snooki will be a part of it.

Production is set for this summer in Seaside Heights, N.J. Surely MTV would be responsible enough not to allow Snooki to booze it up like a sailor this time around.

Snooki and Jersey Shore buddy Jenni “J-Woww” Farley are filming a Jersey Shore spinoff, Snooki and JWoww vs. The World.

Reminder: Bones returns to Fox at 7 p.m. Monday, followed by House.

The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. E-mail:

mstorey@arkansasonline.com