Wine Related Reality Program "Corkscrewed"

If you get a chance to see this program on the Fox Reality Channel you might enjoy it. It is pretty entertaining. It features the Hollywood producers of American Idol buying a Paso Robles vineyard.

[Robin Garr]

If you get a chance to see this program on the Fox Reality Channel you might enjoy it. It is pretty entertaining. It features the Hollywood producers of American Idol buying a Paso Robles vineyard.

Durn! We don't get Fox Reality Channel. Thanks for the tip, though, Rod ... sounds like Sideways, Take 2 ... could be fun!

Isn't "Fox Reality" channel rather redundant??!!

[Robin Garr]

Isn't "Fox Reality" channel rather redundant??!!

I would have said "oxymoronic," but hey ...

Isn't "Fox Reality" channel rather redundant??!!

You mean "antithetical."

Sorry, I see little entertainment value in watching rich dunderheads take over a vineyard.

Critical reviews have been pretty negative; for example:

We ride shotgun in the opener as Lythgoe and Warwick get to "fulfill a lifelong dream" by investing $6 million of their own money to buy a seemingly successful 168-acre vineyard in Paso Robles, Calif. As originally planned, the men would be going in with a consortium of buyers including "Idol" cohorts Simon Cowell, Simon Fuller, Ryan Seacrest and Randy Jackson (poor Paula Abdul, left out again). Then all but the two main guys opt to drop out. We're led to believe that everything will grow even more nightmarish real soon, since there's naturally no show if all goes smoothly. But the impending disaster is merely hinted at in the opener, which plays as contrived and ludicrously self-indulgent. Unsolicited advice to Nigel and Ken: Next time you decide to pursue a hobby, please strongly consider leaving the camera crew at home. From Hollywood Report.

And the New York Times was equally harsh:

The men are not without humor. Gazing at their new 160-or-so-acre property in Paso Robles, Calif., Mr. Warwick mentions how much his children are going to love the place.

Mr. Lythgoe says, “And one day it’ll be theirs.”

Mr. Warwick replies: “No. One day it’ll be flattened by an earthquake. But don’t think about that.”

But most of the time the show reaches out aimlessly for laughs, with jokes about horse semen (at a vineyard that doubles as a stud ranch) and with tired narration. (“Are their vineyard dreams about to wither on the vine?”)

The only real drama in the first episode is financial, and it is difficult to sympathize with the investment ups and downs of two guys who have become rich from running a television talent show and are now driving around in a Bentley.

What “Corkscrew” proves beyond a shadow of a doubt is that talent shows and true reality shows are very different animals. Mr. Lythgoe and Mr. Warwick are masters at only one of those forms.

Janet refused to watch it with me. Luckily, TIVO makes it possible to check it out when she is not in residence -- I'll check it out ... anything wine related always has a little pleasure attached.

Isn't "Fox Reality" channel rather redundant??!!

I would have said "oxymoronic," but hey ...

I'd simplify further and drop the oxy- prefix.

[Robin Garr]

I'd simplify further and drop the oxy- prefix.

I thought about that, but didn't want Rod to think we were shooting the messenger.

I wouldn't mind watching the show, at least once, but we don't get that channel.

No offense taken. I have watched the whole thing through Dish. I enjoyed it. It is actually funny and interesting. Interesting to see them having their fruit purchase contracts cancelled by wineries. They showed the whole process of planting a new section of vineyard with the complete cost break down. Cost them about $5k per acre including wire,plants, and labor. They take a course in vineyard management. It is interesting to me as a person who has fantasized about owning a vineyard.

Thanks, Rod. As I wrote above, I'm looking forward to seeing the series -- albeit alone. It looks like a good wine geek series, even if the non-wine critics disagree.