Spotlight Shines on the Bugeaters

Tomorrow night at 9pm on NBC, Tommy Lee Goes to College. Why am I interested in what looks to be an utterly forgettable reality series? Because the current-former-current Crue drummer and Pamela Anderson bedmate enrolled at the University of Nebraska, that's why.

I opted not to go to Nebraska for a lot of reasons that seem reasonable to an 18-year-old, but I did spend a lot of time in Lincoln, much of it intoxicated. It will make me proud to see the Star City's charms on display in primetime for all to see. But that is also the part that makes me nervous.

Why Nebraska? There are thousands of colleges that they could have chosen, and probably 900 that Tommy Lee would have rather gone to, so how did they decide on Lincoln? The most obvious reason seems to be location, what happens when we throw a rock star into a small city in the middle of the country.? It had to seem remote, and Nebraska is nothing if not remote. It also had to be a place that was majorally conservative, used to a simple, slow paced life and appreciatively out of the spotlight.

My fear is that the spin of this show will be look at the rock star surfing through the sea of hicks. I virtually guarantee you that there will be a scene where Tommy goes to a local diner for morning coffee with the farmers and there will be close-ups of their slack-jawed responses. Now, this is a real response, but I'm fairly certain it will be played up to the hilt throughout the season. This whole series is going to be take advantage of the nice Midwesterners, but I can't wait to watch it...and probably get angry.

Now that I think about it, this fish out of water concept might be the only hook they have. Hasn't Tommy Lee's entire life since he joined the Crue been the best moments of college life multiplied by 1000? He doesn't need to go to college, he needs to avoid it at all costs. He didn't miss anything. He got 10 times the partying, millions more in dollars and none of the responsibilities. Who the hell wants to take physics after that?