America's Toughest Jobs

This group doesn't need a villain or a backstabber, at least in the early stage. The job is enough of an equalizer.

This hybrid, which is competent but not terribly distinctive, may not be unique enough to thrill reality fans or familiar enough to satisfy devotees of “Deadliest Catch.”

The basic formula is by now so groaningly familiar, and the premise so weak and weary, that there's only the "reality" part of this docu-game, or whatever it ought to be called, to tempt one's interest, and that not much.

America's Toughest Jobs misfires, primarily, due to the fact that the elimination component feels like a tired add-on to the summer-camp-for-adults premise.

America's Toughest Jobs has been fully homogenized and networkized to appeal to a more mainstream crowd, meaning it has successfully neutered one of the few unscripted genres with genuine grit and originality and made it look, sound and feel like every other "Survivor" knockoff.

This show amounts to yet another example of the pains people will take to appear on TV. By the end of the premiere, even the crabs are starting to look a little bored.

Are you ready for a new fall network series--even a lame one?