It’s that time again.

The good folks at MTV and our publicist pal Jorge are helping us sponsor another giveaway — this time seasons one and two of Run’s House.

For those of you who don’t know it, Run’s House is basically The Osbournes with Rev. Run from Run DMC. The big difference here appears to be that Run’s family doesn’t appear to be on the verge of imploding. It’s quite refreshing, actually, here’s a really cheesy trailer. I won’t embed the other clip they had of Kid Rock talking to the son while wearing a shirt that says “I (heart) black people.”

To enter, just e-mail tifaux (at) gmail (dot) com with the subject line “I’ve got the runs.” Then Maggie will activate her sophisticated randomized selection algorithm to pick the winner. The contest ends Nov. 15.

It’s really hard to drink anything else once you’ve gotten used to it.

• Schrute farms is on Trip Advisor.
• Viva Laughlin — it was a damn short ride. The show’s been canceled already.
• Grey’s Anatomy has recruited dreamboat Joshua Jackson.
• Niki Taylor and Tyson Beckford will host Make Me A Supermodel on Bravo.
• The Real World’s Kevin Powell (season one) is running for Congress (again).
• Veronica Mars: Season Three is out on DVD.
• Brad and Angelina are working on a project for HBO.
• Spoiler chat with e-Kristin.
• The latest Survivor cast-off is pissed.
• Moonlight gets good news — four more scripts.
• Aliens in America’s Dan Byrd talks to E!
• Watch Marie Osmond faint on Dancing with the Stars.

CMT has rounded up a modest crew of C-listers to star in Good Country — a show that will feature the shared living space hysterics of The Real World with the country competition of Nashville Star with the amateur hour cringes of Celebrity Duets. To be hosted by Joe Rich of Big and Rich, a country band. He’ll pick the winner after six weeks of competition.

In any case, you (probably) know the drill. Below, you’ll find three possible contenders for the cast. One is correct. See if you can pick the right one.

Get them all right and you will receive a high five from me. But you’ll have to find me. And identify me. And explain to me that you read TiFaux and that you got them all right. If it’s worth it to you, feel free to claim your prize.

Celebrity Fit Club alum: Tiffany, Carnie Wilson, Gunnar Nelson

80s rock singer: Steve Perry, Dee Snider, Sammy Hagar

American Idol loser: Diana DeGarmo, Bo Bice, Melinda Doolittle

Smoldering singer: Julio Iglesias, Jr., Ricky Martin, J.C. Chasez

Brady Buncher: Christopher Knight, Maureen McCormick, Florence Henderson

Urban singer: L.L. Cool J, Nas, Sisqo

New Edition member: Bobby Brown, Ralph Tresvant, Johnny Gill

Click the jump to find out the answers.

We give people who watch certain shows a lot of shit.

And I’d say rightfully so, for the most part. If you really guffaw at Two and a Half Men (or the generic Everybody Loves Raymond-y standard sitcom), you probably just don’t know any better. But then I go ahead and confess that I fucking love The Biggest Loser and then you wonder why you read this blog and lend me any credibility at all.

So let’s break it down.

We’ve established that I love the competitive reality genre — Project Runway, Top Chef, the whole Bravo oeuvre. But, unfortunately, this love stretches to the competitive weight loss subgenre.

The Biggest Loser (and Celebrity Fit Club, that’s a whole other embarassment) is something I’m ashamed of loving. Actively ashamed. It’s not like sneaking a few minutes of E! News Daily with Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic. I mean, you’re not human if you don’t recharge every once in a while by catching a few minutes of Lohan rehab update. But The Biggest Loser has become a show I make a concerted effort to TiFaux.

In fact, my DVR inexplicably cut off during last week’s episode, causing me no end of distress (later, I found out that Patty got cut — serves her right for that team-sabotaging eating binge she went on the week before).

What do I love about The Biggest Loser? Let me explain it in a numbered list:

1. The closing shots when we find out how much weight the eliminated contestant has lost to this day.
2. Hot, hot tattooed trainer Bob.
3. The ridiculously long weigh-ins.
4. The ethically questionably temptation challenges.
5. Shots of people screaming on the elliptical.
6. The shameless product placement (the show has previously given away the “Jello Grand Prize,” making me think that every reality show should call their prize money the “Jello Grand Prize”).
7. The fact that they gave longtime host Caroline Rhea the boot in order to give the gig to a soap star Alison Sweeney, who looks exactly like her.
8. The huge gimmicks they use every season (last season had the 50 states challenge, this season there’s the renegade black team — I’d explain, but it’s totally not worth it).

There’s a lot to not like about the show, though. Like the weepy “what this experience means to me” segments and the fact that it’s totally fast-forwardable after the weigh-in.

This is really not a show I’m going to try to defend, but I’m definitely going to continue to watch.

This is our 1000th post. I swear to God.

• John Krasinksi shirtless. F’real.
• The Filipinos have switched the target of their ire from Desperate Housewives to The Daily Show.
• A former Tonight Show writer is turning on his former boss, Jay Leno.
• The AV Club talks to Heroes’ Sendhil Ramamurthy.
• Shocker on Prison Break. Anyone?
• Survivor’s Leslie talks to TV Guide.
• The NY Times examines the responsibility of reality show producers to intervene in the case of dangerous behavior.
• Joss Whedon is being weird and cryptic about the upcoming episode of The Office that he is directing.
• Thank You For Smoking is becoming a TV series.
• Chevy Chase tanked on SNL.
• DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier has inspired a show.
• The Hills is (gasp) fake?
• CBS employees are trying to bet on Survivor.
• Advertisers are up on Kid Nation, even though ratings are down.
• Also, today’s the last day to enter Nip/Tuck.

Dear Tim,

We all love you.

In fact, no one doesn’t love you. It’s a rare feat, you know, to have such universal admiration in the world of reality TV. You bring dignity to a genre that is defined by its gluttonous excess and we love you for it.

That said, your new show, Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style, is totally boring.

Let’s break it down.

Let’s try to think about what makes shows in the makeover genre work by taking a look at two shows who get it right: Queer Eye and What Not to Wear. Queer Eye works (or worked) because of its chaotic pace. It started out with the big gay ambush (which the Guide to Style does in a sort of forced, calculated way) and then the hapless straight dude gets bounced around from salon to boutique to fancy restaurant like frightened, hirsute pinball in a fabulous, color-coordinated pinball machine. The show focused on the variety of ways the poor schlub was deficient, so there was more to pay attention than just fashion.

What Not to Wear works because of its big personalities and sheer watchability. Clinton and Stacy are bouncing off the walls with chatty excitement. Their jokes don’t always land, but they feel like friends when you watch the show. It’s total comfort viewing — you know the format (the victim is IDed and we watch as he/she is uncomfortably betrayed be his/her friends, he/she goes to New York, Clinton and Stacy make fun of him/her, shopping day one, shopping day two, hair, makeup, reveal) and there really aren’t any surprises. It all lends itself to some very enjoyable, lazy Sunday afternoon viewing.

What goes wrong with the Guide to Style?

First of all, Tim, you need a foil. You’re the quintessential straight man (and I was totally trying to phrase that in a way that wouldn’t be all ‘he’s the straight man but he’s gay, isn’t that a crazy play on words.’ Looks like I failed on that.) and operate best when you are contrasted with your Austin Scarletts, your Santino Rices, your Jefferey Sebelias. And frankly, Veronica Webb isn’t cutting it. She’s beautiful, don’t get me wrong, but she’s lacking is the outgoing charisma and eccentricity that the role requires. You would work best with someone who is functional and knowledgeable, yet slightly mentally ill. I’m thinking Stacy London meets Lucille Bluth. Veronica seems to merely be a slightly sassy dame who knows clothes.

Then there’s the sluggish pace, which plods along from fashion destination to fashion destination. It’s unhurried, thoughtful and, therefore, not that engaging. For some reason, the most successful makeover shows are always racing against some sort of artificial, imaginary clock. Think of the Queer Eye guys running for no reason from Brooks Brothers to Crate and Barrel. It’s strange, but there’s something to it.

The commentary, Tim, is always spot on, but good taste doesn’t necessarily translate into interesting viewing. This show could work, but it’d need a major overhaul. Different co-host, no more hokey “oh my God, Tim Gunn is coming” intros, more formulaic structure. You can keep the post-makeover interviews that you interject in the middle of the episode and the part in the beginning where you force them to create a sample outfit. Those parts are good.

Otherwise, I don’t know. The elements are there. Make it work. (Get it?! Because that’s what you say on Proje–… I’m sorry about that.)

Love,

DAN

Hello and welcome back to Tonight on the TiFaux. I’m going to buckle down, now that summer is over, and try to provide you with your (extremely personally biased) daily viewing recommendations. Not meant to be comprehensive; feel free to comment with additions if you’re feeling like I’m ignoring something awesome. (I want to learn!) This will usually get posted around 2:00 PM, for when you’re starting to get tired and looking forward to going home and relaxing. At least, that’s the idea.

Prison Break starts its 3rd season tonight. They’re not still escaping from prison, are they? This is one of those shows I’m relieved I never started to watch.

That’s followed by the premiere of K-Ville (left), Fox’s New Orleans cop show. Eh. I don’t know. I get the sense it’s like The Wire Lite. I’ll stick with The Wire.

Then there’s the Pick-Up Artist! Eeeee! I could not be more excited! Especially now that Pradeep is gone! God, I hated that little twerp! Read this for more genuine Mystery weirdness!

We interrupt your regularly scheduled programming: You know, I may not do this any more. I like how it makes the posts look like they have smashing, pithy endings, but it’s really hard, y’all. Also, at this point, we barely have any regularly scheduled programming, so isn’t it greedy to want something off the beaten track?

I’ve never seen this Pick-Up Artist show, but I’ve seen pictures and read about it. And I saw that totally nerdtronic Mystery dude on Conan (and even Conan was like “can you believe what a dork this guy is?”).

But I made some equations based on my first impressions of Mystery and his cohorts. Care to check my work?

(the first guy is Aamer Haleem — of VH1’s Bands Reunited, etc.)

Last Sunday’s Design Star saw the elimination of good-natured, jovial Will in an episode where the last three contestants were flown to different parts of the country to redesign rooms for different families in need. Basically, it was Extreme Makeover: Home Edition on an HGTV budget.

The families included those of a mine worker from West Virginia, a wheelchair-bound girl in California and husband and wife firefighters in Indiana. Despite having probably the most aesthetically pleasing room, Will got the boot due to his struggle with hosting duties. Like the goodwill donation of baby clothes, it was sad but necessary.

The final two contestants standing are a bit of a surprise: shirtless Todd and hairdresser Kim (pictured — isn’t she cute?). Despite (because of?) Todd’s constant state of undress and his manic, loud-is-the-new-likable hosting style, I’m definitely pulling for Kim. She’s got an easygoing demeanor, she’s the best (by a mile) in front of the camera and she peppers her presentations with little helpful hints so viewers can spruce up their own homes.

I’ll leave it at that, because I don’t really think that anyone else watches this show. Unless you’re specifically Googling Design Star.

Hot off the presses!

ABC announced the new cast of Dancing with the Stars this morning. If you’ve been particularly Internet-y lately, you may have found that TMZ leaked the list a few days ago. However, that list wasn’t all correct.

Here are the real celebrities in their last throes. Pick all the right ones and you get a prize! (no you don’t)

The Osmond: Marie Osmond, Merrill Osmond, Donny Osmond.

The Cheesy Singer: Barry Manilow, Wayne Newton, Toni Braxton.

The Zillionaire: Ivanka Trump, Nikki Hilton, Mark Cuban.

The Former TV Star: Jane Seymour, Kevin Sorbo, Tracy Gold.

The Soap Actor: James Hyde, Cameron Mathison, Robin Christopher.

Former (current?) Spice Girl: Baby Spice, Scary Spice, Ginger Spice.

90210 Alum: Shannen Doherty, Brian Austin Green, Jennie Garth.

The Boxer: Floyd “Pretty Boy” Mayweather, Jr., Oscar De La Hoya, Evander Holyfield.

The Male Model You’ve Never Heard Of: Chace Crawford, Steven Strait, Albert Reed.

The Supermodel: Josie Maran, Gisele Bundchen, Christie Brinkley.

The Greek: Maria Menounos, Arianna Huffington, Helio Castroneves.

The Kiddie Star: Raven Symone, Hannah Montana, Sabrina Bryan.

Find the answers after the jump…