Thanks, America, for not watching 'Momma's Boys'

By Rick Porter

    

December 17, 2008 3:08 PM ET

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It was easy to scoff at the NBC promos that called Momma's Boys -- a short-run dating show that will fill in for parts of the network's regular lineup during the winter doldrums -- "the year's most anticipated show."

And yet, given the rubber-necking potential of a dating show in which three guys choose from 32 women -- while their over-involved mothers look on -- it's a little bit heartening to see that most people found better things to do at 10 p.m. Tuesday.

The show, from producers Ryan Seacrest and Andrew (Average Joe) Glassman, drew 6 million viewers to its premiere episode. That's well below the 10.8 million who normally tune into Law & Order: SVU in that hour.

It also lost more than half its lead-in. The final half-hour of The Biggest Loser: Families snagged 13.1 million viewers, a number that dropped to around 6.4 million when Momma's Boys came on, then dropped a little more in the show's second half. Momma's Boys averaged a so-so 2.5 rating among adults 18-49.

(I should note that the show did win the hour among adults 18-34, airing opposite the older-skewing Without a Trace and the on-its-last-legs Eli Stone.)

If this all sounds like gloating, well, I'm OK with that. I sat through a screener of Momma's Boys and felt like I had to take a shower afterward. Much has already been made of the bigoted ramblings of one of the mothers, so I won't waste any more of your time rehashing them. What bothered me almost as much, though, was just how transparently calculated every aspect of the show felt.

Even more than most shows of its ilk, Momma's Boys feels specifically engineered to create conflict, and maybe, you know, if they get around to it, help one of these poor saps find a girl. This is a show, after all, where the announcer tells us early on (unironically, as far as I could tell) that "to make the experience more authentic," the producers recruited women who fit "stereotypes" of the kinds of women mothers want their sons to bring home. So you have the kindergarten teacher and the medical student, and also the former Playboy model and current Penthouse Pet of the Year as part of the mix. Oy.

Throw in all the repugnant beliefs that Jojo Bojanowski's mom throws out in the premiere, and you have one thoroughly unpleasant viewing experience. I watched because it's my job; thanks, America, for choosing not to watch.