"Despite mixed ratings this season, MTV is set to announce on Thursday that the show will have a third season and tryouts for "Tough Enough 3" will take place in mid-June. Filming is expected to start in mid-July. The third season will begin airing in September.
Al Snow will remain the head trainer for the show. No assistant trainers have been announced yet. "
It looks like MTV and the WWF will milk this cash cow to death. I think it's a mistake, especially because the second one has become too Real World and not enough focus on the wrestling. The problem is ratings have been good when they focus on the "real world issues"(Pete-Jackie thing 2.1 2 weeks ago), bad when they focus on wrestling (1.2 this past week with the appearance of Nidia and Maven.)
Another positive for MTV is the ratings of TE2 repeats have been steady, if not unspectacular.
My choice for one of the assistant trainers-how about DDP? If he doesn't have much ring time left, why not use him as an assistant trainer. I believe he brings a lot to the table. I meant he went from losing to the Booty Man to World Champ to getting squashed by Sara. I think he would make a good trainer. Plus, it wouldn't take too much of a toll on him.
Bring in Tommy Dreamer and "Sarge" DeWayne Bruce as the co-trainers, cut out the hazing, amp up the in-ring training to the level of the old "Power Plant", give up the Real World bullshit aspect of the show, and offer indy positions to anyone who did not quit (gotta reward heart, even if the "reward" is more hard work!), then the show will be watchable.
"All born equal unless you're Canadian Then halfway through decay like Uranium You define what's death-defying Get the most out of life or at the least die trying Are you Evil Knievel jumping a train? Or running with scissors like Frasier Crane? Have really good times doing really bad things ‘Cause the show ain't over ‘til the fat lady sings Like Elton John with his candle in the wind It's hard to blow out a flame as big as him But we've all got to Wang Chung with the Grim Reaper Whether you're Einstein whether you're Beaker Death is certain so it's definitely worth flirtin' Don't expect a bright light no just curtains Life is like a penis most people don't know it But most people suck so they usually blow it"
From "Take The Long Way Home", by The Bloodhound Gang
It makes sense to keep running the show. Even with the falling ratings, what else would MTV stick in there that would draw TE's ratings? Cribs? A Real World repeat? An additional half hour of TRL?
The trainers usually seem to be people who don't have much heat with the fans, and being in Tough Enough seems to help them with that. At least it helped Al Snow, if nothing else. With that considered, I would recommend Lance Storm as an assistant trainer.
Originally posted by EastCoastAvengerBring in Tommy Dreamer and "Sarge" DeWayne Bruce as the co-trainers, cut out the hazing, amp up the in-ring training to the level of the old "Power Plant", give up the Real World bullshit aspect of the show, and offer indy positions to anyone who did not quit (gotta reward heart, even if the "reward" is more hard work!), then the show will be watchable.
Yeah, but you could imagine that would go over as well as a Benoit/Storm title match--we'd eat it up, but the casual fan wouldn't care. People in general watch MTV for the soap opera bullshite. I like your suggestion, in the sense that it'll do wonders for the contestants, but the problem is it'll kill off the show... no casual fan would care. But I'd love it of they tried this and proved me wrong, of course. ;)
I would recommend Lance Storm as an assistant trainer.
Good idea. Storm has a training background at the Hart Dungeon (he trained Peter Polaco aka Justin Credible). Al Snow, Lance Storm, Dean Malenko, and Molly Holly would be a group with more credibility than the previous two casts. Plus, it'd be the thing to possibly get Storm finally over, as its worked well for Snow thus far.
The fact that this season didn't seem to do as well will hopefully cause them to make some of the changes you guys have mentioned, but I think the "hazing" will stay, and probably should stay. It's probably one of the more legitimate things about the show in that it's probable the trainers do it because they had to go through the exact same thing.
Also, it must be pointed out that most people also watch wrestling for the soap opera bullshit...also known as angles and storylines.
Looking at the ratings, the 2.1 for Pete/Jackie and 1.2 for Nidia/Maven at the training facility, I don't see how any producer will not lean toward the Real World bullshit and away from from the in-ring training (particularly if that trend has been consistent). And I think MTV producers all ready have a natural inclination to make all shows similar to Real World as it is. I wouldn't look for any Power Plant style shows next season.
I think the basic problem with the show is they have to condense it way too much. Stretch it to an hour per episode and then you might be able to comfortably fit in the training and the soapy aspects all in one show.
"You used it to shove your miserable daughter down our throats week in and week out...not anymore!" - Ric Flair gives me hope, Raw 3/18/02
"I thought it was cool how HHH just tossed Jericho out of the ring and made him vanish, possibly into another dimension, at the end of the match." - Dr. Unlikely says the funniest thing I've ever read on Wienerville
Originally posted by Super Shane SpearIt makes sense to keep running the show. Even with the falling ratings, what else would MTV stick in there that would draw TE's ratings? Cribs? A Real World repeat? An additional half hour of TRL?
Have you heard of "The Osbournes?" :)
YOU WANT A PIECE OF ME!?! - The immortal, chilling words of...The Shockmaster!
They need a head guy: Snow A Wrestler: Storm (maybe) And a Tough Guy: (I'm not really sure...Saturn has some training experience in ECW, but I don't know if he'd be a great choice) A Female: Molly
What I'd like to see next time is a guy there JUST to help them on promos. None of this "Actor's Studio" crap, but an actual wrestler there to help the kids work on promo style and characterization. Especially seeing how bad this cast is at it, and how important it is to getting over in the WWF.
I can understand why MTV would want to bring it back. It draws a pretty good, pretty consistant rating. The WWF...I'm not really all that sure. It holds some crossover appeal to the Real World Audience, but not a whole lot, and their roster is already overstuffed (I suppose they want to fill OVW and HWA back up?).
How about Foley? I'd watch it just to see the antics he gets into with Snow. Then throw in either Storm or Malenko, and have Molly or Ivory (who's already done as much on TE2 as Chavo) fill the female spot.
"If you like to fight girls so much, why don't you meet me in the ring?" -Jeff Hardy
The REAL problem with Tough Enough is that they need to get rid of the cameras and turn it into a REAL training facility to get rid of all these people that are just doing it to be on tv, and to get rid of the scripted part from mtv. If it was just a regular training facility, without the cameras, you'd get a HELL of a better crop of wrestlers (one's that actually like wrestling) instead of the "mtv crowd" that just want it to be a real world kind of setting.
Seriously, I watched the first episode of TE1 and thought it was horrible. Haven't watched it since. And I still don't understand why they even NEED a Tough Enough show when they've got more talent then they can use as it is!
They "NEED" a tough enough show because during a show, commercials are played. Said Tough Enough show can draw good cable ratings, cost for ad-time is partially determined by ratings. WWFE is a bidness. Bidnesses exist to make money. More Money is a good thing for a bidness, because it lets them expand... wait... when the wwf expands, bad things usually occur. So, WWFE needs LESS money so that they can't expand, and they only focus on wrestling, on not on evil things like TE, the XFL and the WBF or whatever it was.
Originally posted by Excalibur05: What I'd like to see next time is a guy there JUST to help them on promos. None of this "Actor's Studio" crap, but an actual wrestler there to help the kids work on promo style and characterization.
If the MTV, Real-World-esque, and WWF producers could open their minds just a little bit and see past the, ahem, "age problem," that just screams for Arn Anderson on Tough Enough 3. I don't see that happening in a million years, but I would totally mark out if they did it.
TOONCES, LOOK OUT!!!
Basically you're just a big tough bastard. People respect you but don't really like you. And frankly you couldn't give a shit.
For those who weren't sure if they were getting Backlash, Schank's North is advertising Rick Bogner (Fake Razor, Big Titan) and Bad News Allan as being there tomorrow for the PPV
I wasn't planning on getting the PPV, but this might be intriguing...