TV REVIEWS : ‘How’d They Do That?’: Who Cares?
“How’d They Do That?” is the prototypical, generic, low-budget, wake-me-when-it’s-over reality series. After tonight’s premiere, you may be asking: Why’d they do that?
A slow-moving hour that takes “those special moments that peak our curiosity” and renders them forgettable, “How’d They Do That?” arrives at 8 tonight on CBS, Channels 2 and 8, with hosts Dorothy Lucey and Pat O’Brien engaging in inane banter when not introducing or doing voiceovers for segments mostly chronicling life’s abnormalities.
Two guys earning a fortune from making hats out of pant legs? Why . . . “That’s Incredible!”
Whether being utterly trivial--how did that pear get inside that brandy bottle?--or seriously explaining the methods used to investigate the 1988 explosion of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerby, Scotland, “How’d They Do That?” is so lacking in creativity that it undermines itself.
The evening’s most arresting segment--a profile of the sophisticated marketing campaign behind superstar singer Billy Ray Cyrus--becomes a metaphor for the series: A big to-do about not very much.
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