Cynical Cinema

Paramount Home Entertainment is releasing the complete third season of a show called Rob and Big on Tuesday, September 23rd. It’s a show about two mismatched roommates….yep. That’s about it. You see, one’s a big fat black guy. And one’s a skinny little white guy. And they have adventures…only MTV could dream up a show like this. MTV seems to be able to find two people who on their own could be mildly entertaining, and thrust them together in order to make a reality show. But someone who is mildly entertaining when you meet them at the bar does not necessarily warrant his own show. And putting him together with that other guy, who also made you smile a few times when you were drunk? Not a great idea.

But man, it must be sweet to be one of the guys picked up by MTV. Rob & Big appear to have no jobs at all. They don’t work, they don’t have any discernible source of income, yet they live in this giant mansion, complete with outdoor pool and every amenity you could dream of having. They seem to have unlimited funds, with which they can purchase lie detectors, net guns, and whatever other product they need for their next staged wacky adventure.

OK, I now see, upon looking it up on wikipedia, that Rob and Big are actually Rob Dyrdek, who is a professional skateboarder, and Christopher Boykin, his bodyguard. So MTV didn’t meet them in a bar. But that doesn’t make this show any less inexplicable. Are there enough skateboarding fans to watch simply because this guy is a skateboarder? I’m guessing now. It was cancelled after this season.