Misery loves company sponsors in ‘Party’ reality show

UPN’s “Get This Party Started” is another one of these reality shows in which a network, like a rich, eccentric uncle you hardly ever see and whose impetuosity perhaps masks a drinking problem, comes bearing lots and lots of gifts.

It’s like ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” only instead of a new house it promises happiness through the presentation of Ugg boots.

On “Get This Party Started,” the ceremonial presentation of the Ugg boots comes at the end of the pilot, in which a Louisiana State University student is given a surprise 21st birthday party at a suite at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. She’s surrounded by family, friends and numerous party planners and stylists and a celebrity photographer who I feel certain would have done all of this gratis even if their charity weren’t going to be on TV.

The gist of the show is that some deserving miserable will rediscover the meaning of life via an unbelievable blowout of a surprise birthday party (or wedding or what have you). I’ve read some of our richest citizens can get the likes of Mick Jagger to sing at their kid’s bar mitzvah, a trend that “Get This Party Started” apes but without irony; it gazes at new money, but with a face as frozen as an ice sculpture.

As such it’s another infomercial for instant gratification, in which the tacit sing-for-your-supper agreement between contestant and network is: Show us your appreciation, and we’ll show you the goods.

So first up is Alexis Jones of New Orleans, whose 21st birthday party was canceled because Hurricane Katrina (that pipeline for reality show charity-mongering) turned her family’s life upside-down.

The show swoops down from the heavens to give Alexis the gift of being Paris Hilton for a day (say, a Tuesday). One minute she’s at LSU, told by her sister that they’re auditioning for a Las Vegas talent contest, the next minute she’s in a suite at the Hard Rock, where (shhh) a surprise party is being readied in her honor, overseen by event planner Lara Shriftman of Harrison & Shriftman.

Did I say Harrison & Shriftman? Hey, we plug because we love. Actually, for a show called “Get This Party Started,” the party for Alexis has trouble getting started because it’s continually stalled by the showering of gifts -- the Ugg boots, a closetful of new clothes, a new car for her parents. The lavishing never abates, until what you’re witnessing feels less like a party than an icky display of instant wealth meant to leave the rest of us drooling, wondering what about our own lives might get us on a TV show.

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‘Get This Party Started’

Where: UPN

When: 9 to 10 tonight

Ratings: TV-PG-L (may be unsuitable for young children, with an advisory for coarse language)