Television Tuesday: "House of Villains," is Off to a Good Start

Take a bunch of reality television stars best known for being, "Villains," and throw them in a mansion where they will compete for $200,000. You'd expect fireworks to fly if we're talking, "Villains," but having watched the first episode things were relatively tame, putting aside one person who really is pretty damn evil of a human being--I'll get to that. But yes, "House of Villains," on E! is a reality-television hodge-podge of former Survivor contestants (Johnny Fairplay), 90 Day Fiance alums (Anfisa Arkhipchenko), well-known reality shit-stirrers (Tiffay "New York" Pollard) and more. I mainly watched because Joel McHale is the host and his trademark mix of snark and the, "I'm here but I don't honestly care," vibe he has mastered giving off helps emphasize how silly this show is. Joel McHale is in on the joke and wants us to be too--and that joke is, "We don't care about the actual competitions or who wins, we want to witness people known for being awful acting terribly towards one another." 

That said, some members of the house would protest they are, "Misunderstood," and while some might think acting humorously can help them avoid looking too villainous (hey there, Johnny Bananas), then you've got the one person I hinted at earlier who lives up to the title. That's right, this show got Omarosa Manigault Newman. She's been on our screens for years either on, "The Apprentice," with Donald Trump, actually serving in his political cabinet, appearing on, "Celebrity Big Brother," or various other places. The show has a moment where she talks about a rough childhood that almost humanizes her, but when Corinne Olympios from, "The Bachelor," tries to introduce herself and Omarosa just freezes her out, it is brutally uncomfortable to witness. Then we witness Omarosa winning a big physical competition by not even really moving around, just cutting deals with everybody besides people she already dislikes and making it clear she'll be targeting. This woman is good at being bad and actually lives up to the title of the show.

Between some solid hosting and at least one person being properly mischievous, "House of Villains," is off to a decent start. I plan to tune into the next episode this Thursday and the, "This season on," teaser showed some possible guest, "Villains," I'd be interested in seeing too. This may not be the best new reality show ever, but I kinda dig it.

4 out of 5 stars.