Tuesday Night Book Club: The End?

CBS has so far aired two episodes of its summer reality show Tuesday Night Book Club, in which we’ve seen the participants get Botox, don sexy motorcycle outfits, and admit to cheating on their husbands, but not, in fact read any books. Writing about the show has been my most excruciating assignment for RNO yet -- and keep in mind that the shows I’ve written about have included such luminaries as Mr. Personality, The Casino, Race to the Altar, and The Next Joe Millionaire. Last week, I begged my readers for a volunteer to write about the show and put me out of my misery. Nobody offered, but it might not be a problem. CBS has pulled the show from its schedule.

You cannot imagine how happy this makes me.

The show has had abysmal ratings. The first episode, the one that came on before anyone could warn you about how bad the show was, netted five million viewers. To put that in perspective. CBS is regularly getting 11 million viewers to watch reruns of CSI. The premier was in last place for its timeslot. The second episode lost about a million viewers, netting just 4.13 million. CBS will be running reruns of 48 Hours Mystery in place of Book Club. There is no word on whether they will air the remaining six episodes

In addition to failing to attract viewers, Tuesday Night Book Club was also blasted by critics. Entertainment Weekly called it a “wretched new low in unscripted television.” Variety dismissed the show as “a cheap knockoff for those who can’t survive a summer hiatus from housewives married to, and often equipped with, oversized boobs.” And the Boston Globe pulled no punches, calling the show “repugnant.”

One of the biggest criticisms of the shows, both from TV critics, RNO readers, and your poor suffering recapper, is that the show does not seem remotely real. It should come as no surprise to anyone who watched it that among those credited with work on the show are a set designer and makeup artists. The narrator brings to mind Desperate Housewives, a show that Book Club was clearly trying to emulate. The women on the show, ranging from age from 20s to 40s, seem to have tenuous connections to each other at best. And the cameras seemed to be a little too conveniently in the right place at the right time- capturing, for example, one of the women lying awake next to her snoozing husband. Were we to believe that the cameras were rolling 24/7 in every room of these women’s houses? Everything just came across as a little too polished, a little too contrived.

So long, Tuesday Night Book Club. Here’s hoping we’ve seen the final chapter.

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She plans to spend her now free Tuesday nights reading. She can be reached with any comments at Betsywasser@Gmail.com.

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! For more news about this show, be sure to check out SirLinksALot’s Tuesday Night Book Club page.!