Need More Flying Ostriches
The History Channel, home of such history-related programming as Pawn Stars, Swamp People and Ancient Aliens, has decided to get in on the nerdy reality show craze. Behold the trailer for Full Metal Jousting, the obnoxiously named Survivor/Top Chef/Apprentice/remove-one-contestant-a-week jousting reality series. To History Channel’s credit, FMJ (as they desperately want it to be known) is more historical than most of their other programs, in that it features an activity people once actually performed in the past. And really, I’d much rather watch people joust than a comic book Pawn Stars-type show, mostly because I enjoy watching people get hurt (it’s why I’m a Ninja Warrior fan). But I tell you this, FMJ producers — you get one A Knight’s Tale-esque “We Will Rock You” rip-off scene, and one alone. Use it wisely.
About The Author
Robert Bricken is one of the original co-founders of the site formerly known as Topless Robot, and its first editor-in-chief, serving from 2008-12. He brought the site to prominence with “nerd news, humor and self-loathing” as its motto, raising it from total internet obscurity to a readership in the millions, with help from his savage “FAQ” movie reviews and Fan Fiction Fridays. Under his tenure Topless Robot was covered by Gawker, Wired, Defamer, New York magazine, ABC News, and others, and his articles have been praised by Roger Ebert, Avengers actor Clark Gregg, comedian and The Daily Show correspondent John Hodgman, the stars of Mystery Science Theater 3000 and Rifftrax, and others. He is currently the managing editor of io9.com. Despite decades as both an amateur and professional nerd, he continues to be completely unprepared for either the zombie apocalypse or the robot uprising.