January 13, 2012: The Day that Network Television Finally Hit Rock Bottom

You might have thought that 2001 was the year that television hit bottom. It did introduce “Survivor” (which would launch the reality-competition genre) and “Fear Factor,” a show that involved people doing dangerous and/or disgusting things for cash prizes. Or maybe you thought it was 2002, when “The Bachelor” popularized the idea of essentially building a show around men and women trying to have sex in exchange for fleeting, low-level fame. Maybe you thought it was 2008, when Howie Mandel launched a game show, “Deal or No Deal,” with no comprehensible rules. Or maybe you thought it was 2010, when some dumbass had the bright idea to give professional douchebag, Guy Fieri, a game show (“Minute to Win It”) involving people tasked with doing retarded things in under 60 seconds in exchange for money.

While all those were dark, dark days in the history of network television, none may be darker than 2012, the year that CW introduced to primetime television a gameshow competition involving . . . musical chairs.

The CW has ordered the competition show “Oh Sit!,” in which contestants will play amped-up musical chairs while hopped up on Red Bull, accompanied by a live band.

And you know what? It’ll probably be a huge hit, and when it is, even President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho will shake his head and think, “At least ‘Ow My Balls’ had a creative element to it. This? This is just idiotic.”