noTORIously funny

I caught so noTORIous on VH1 last night. Actually, I lied. I recorded it on my DVR and my boyfriend and I watched it during my lunch break. I think it's a fun show especially considering all of the crap that's on TV. Speaking of, did anyone see that new piece of shit show on the WB called Survival of the Richest? Talk about vapid. Anyway, Ms. Spelling has obviously been listening to what the world has to say about her and she's answering back with this show where she, Tori Spelling, plays a fictional version of Tori Spelling. Does that even make sense? It's some sort of weird fake-reality paradox. If you didn't catch the premier, check out some of the replays this week. Good stuff.

Here's a rundown from the NY post:

Here's what I thought I knew about Tori Spelling: She is the very skinny, former starlet and precursor to nightmare celebutantes like Paris Hilton. She also is the spoiled, self-indulgent daughter of the world's most successful TV producer and his shopaholic wife. What I didn't know about Tori Spelling is that she's also smart. And funny. Very. I know this now because I've seen two episodes of her very witty, sometimes brilliantly insightful hybrid sitcom "So Notorious," - a "Curb Your Enthusiasm" for the under 40-set. But it's not just Gen-Xers who grew up with "90210" who will laugh out loud.

Created by Tori Spelling, Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler of "Murphy Brown," "The Nanny" and "Reba," "So Notorious" is a no-holds-barred slam at the twisted upbringing of the very-rich girl we knew as the eternally virginal Donna Martin. In the opening episode we meet, yes, Tori Spelling and a "fictional" version of her family (names have been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.) Loni Anderson - who, through the miracle of high-speed Botox, still looks like the role model for Pamela Anderson - plays Tori Spelling's mother, Kiki, while Dad is a voiceover, a la "Charlie's Angels." Then there are her two best friends, Sasan (Zachary Quinto), a gay, Iranian-American Muslim, and Janey (Brennan Hesser), a real-estate agent. Tori also has a roommate, Pete (James Carpinello), who lives in her giant apartment because, well, why shouldn't he? Rounding out the regulars is Nanny (Cleo King), the housekeeper who raised Tori and still lives at the Spellings' mansion and has some of the funniest, nastiest lines in the show.

On this Sunday night's show, Tori - looking for love - meets a gaffer on-set who seems like a real, regular guy. Through laugh-out-loud flashbacks, we see why Tori's screwed up and loveless. In one flashback, little Tori, dressed up like JonBenet, goes with her mother to a dwarf shoe store so she can wear high-heels at 5. And later, when she makes her mom a macaroni necklace, Kiki - all hair and makeup - says: "Oh, Toto! You know I don't wear starches!"

By the second episode, the gloves are off in a take-off on the Scientology/Kabbalah wave among the celebs. Tori's new beau belongs to the cult of "Wholeness," as it's called, which mostly recruits rich celebs and gay stars and hooks them up with hot women. Sasan ends up in the sauna making out with a famous Hollywood hunk, which leaves no doubt just who and what Tori and Co. are poking fun at. Gosh, I wonder if any Hollywood hunk will try to pull this show off the air, too! Stay tuned. Or better yet, tune in - to your inner self that is - and you, too, can be made "whole." A pleasant surprise.