Skaters on TV: One You'll See Soon; Others You Probably Won't

A couple of skating-related TV updates for you...

+ As updated here at the start of the year, The Celebrity Apprentice (featuring Scott Hamilton as one of the 16 “celebrities”) will kick off on March 1st—in other words, two weeks from the time I’m writing this. Have you seen the promos? Can’t tell Hamilton is on the show unless you do a freeze-frame of a big boardroom shot, right? It’s all about Joan Rivers, Andrew Dice Clay, Dennis Rodman, and… Tom Green? Really? I know charity is the name of the game in these all-star editions, but there’s got to be some sort of compensation involved too, especially when one’s “star power” is considerably dimmer than it once was. Anyway, the competition starts as a two team, men vs. women thing that will have Hamilton working with the aforementioned fellows as well as Heisman Trophy Winner Herschel Walker, Jesse James (an “entrepreneur/TV Star” according to the NBC website), country star Clint Black, and R&B star Brian McKnight. Any guesses yet as to how long Scotty will last?

+ Remember Thin Ice, a made-for-TV, male pro championship of sorts that was supposed to feature Kurt Browning as a contestant, Dick Button and Peggy Fleming as judges, and be taped this past December? Remember how we didn’t hear anything more about it? Shortly after speculating on its fate near the end of last year, I finally came across this update that ran via International Figure Skating magazine. Not really a surprise, I guess, to learn that the project (which seemed to be announced mighty late in the year for it to actually take shape so quickly) is now on hold and “in development for the 2009-10 season”. What will be a surprise—a pleasant one—is if we ever hear about it again after this.

But since I mentioned Takeshi Honda as someone I’d like to see included in that event, I’m making his 2002 FS at Worlds the Clip of the Day. It was far from perfect, but it earned him the first of his two World Bronze medals.