"Carina Chocano's TV Diary"

The good, the bad and the ugly of TV. She watches it -- so you don't have to!

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Carina Chocano's coverage of reality TV earned raves from readers across the country. Now she contributes an ongoing diary of the latest and the weirdest on TV every week in Salon.

The latest updates are posted lower on this page, generally on Thursdays, but occasionally more frequently throughout the week.

In the meantime, check out Salon's coverage of reality TV, including the new "Survivor: Africa."

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If you like Carina Chocano's writing or Salon's TV coverage in general, please take a minute to click here to read a note from the Arts & Entertainment staff about Salon Premium.

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"Survivor: Africa" Wildebeest! Hyenas! Snakes! And that's just the contestants!

"Survivor: The Australian Outback" Hunger! Scheming! Barfing! Why, it's just like old times!

"Survivor," complete Barfing! Backbiting! Richard's big white ass! An episode-by-episode guide to the Darwinian high jinks of CBS's island castaways -- right up to the surprising conclusion.

"Big Brother" -- the complete story Jordan the ho! Eddie the good son! Curtis the cipher! Episode by episode, a complete guide to the antics of Mega, Karen and Brittany the cuddle slut.

"Chains of Love" -- episode by episode Dopes on a rope! In which a contestant is chained to four suitors of the opposite sex for four days in a quest for money, love and personal humiliation.

"Boot camp" -- the complete guide 16 raw recruits! Four rough-and-tough drill sergeants! Shouted orders! Preposterous rhymes!

"Temptation Island" -- the episode-by episode guide Babealicious women! Hunkariffic guys! Doomed couples!

"The Mole," episode by episode What if they put on a reality show and no one cared? A complete guide to the most confusing and pointless reality show yet!

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"Carina Chocano's TV Diary," thus far:

Hugh Hefner, the Emmys and the breathless "24"
At Hef's roast, Comedy Central bleeps every other word; Ellen DeGeneres does her best on the pointless Emmys; and "24" rocks hard.

Michael Jackson scares me!
The wacked-out singer has a Halloween special that's a fright, but not the way he intended. Plus: Emeril loses 10 pounds of scary fat and, on MTV, a crazed fan is allowed to run amok, Mandy Moore style.

Sex and the single Wolfgirl
Hey teens -- you think you have it bad? Here's a girl with real problems. Also: The VH1 Fashion Awards' celeb lineup: Hillary! Zoolander! The Donald!

When "Friends" screw
I mean, are they still "Friends" then? Plus: Back to "Gilligan's Island"; "Crossing Jordan"; "Third Watch"; and more!

Get me rewrite -- stat!
NBC's "Scrubs" is supposed to be the hot new comedy of the season. Now where did I leave that defibrillator? Plus: "Alias."

Imagine there's no movie stars
David Copperfield and his hot new girlfriend do John Lennon. Plus: "Pasadena," loathsome "Married Man" and the funniest show on TV.

Pimp pageant
Fox unleashes "Who Wants to Be a Princess?" as "Undeclared" sprouts from the dung heap of the new season.

Dark times. Dark humor
Memo to Jeff Greenfield (and Bill Maher): Irony lives.

Turn on the news!
The new CNN Headline News -- Zingier! Nervous-making! Plus: "The Daily Show's" Mo Rocca goes back to school.

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Previous TV Diaries, by Tom Frost, Max Renn and others:

Wednesday, Dec. 6: "The West Wing": Sorry -- wrong pollster! Josh asks the wrong question. Plus: The latest dispatch from Stuckeyville, and "Ed."
[12/07/00]