The end is nigh

You may have noticed that our country’s not doing so hot at the moment. We’ve got a $14.5 trillion national debt. We just finished that whole debt-ceiling drama and had the resulting drop in credit rating. And unemployment is around 9.1 percent nationwide. The average American family is hurting, and more and more those money woes are popping up on mainstream television. Take this new show, in which vaguely creepy twin brothers Leigh and Leslie Keno—supposedly world-renowned antique experts and appraisers—go through all the stuff in struggling peoples’ homes in an effort to separate the junk from valuable collectibles. But this is more than just “Antique Roadshow: Home Edition.” If the Kenos find something of worth, they’ll offer to put it up for auction. And then the families have to decide if they’re willing to part with some serious heirlooms in order to make ends meet. I can’t decide if it’s exploitative, realistic, or a public service.

 

Most people used to dismiss the mumbling dude on the street corner with the “The End is Near” sign. More and more I think he might have a point. Snookie is a New York Times best-selling author. What more proof do you need? This special chronicles the lives of people who believe that civilization as we know it is about to go kablooey (that’s the technical term), and they have no intention of going down with the rest of us chumps. These are people who have full-on bomb shelters on their property, who have stockpiled enough canned goods and water to live for decades, or raise rabbits and tilapia so that they can be self-sustaining. They might have had egg on their faces back when Y2K and those other doomsday prophecies went nowhere, but they’re bound to get it right one of these days.

 

Speaking of the apocalypse, this new action/comedy is set in a world where vampires, werewolves, and zombies have besieged the San Fernando Valley. The officers of the Undead Police Force try to keep the creepies from overtaking everyday life. It looks like a bizarre pastiche of “The Walking Dead,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” and “Cops,” which just might be crazy enough to work. The cast features several familiar faces, including Bryan Callen (“Fat Actress,” “Sex and the City”), Caity Lotz (Stephanie from “Mad Men”), and Tania Raymonde (Alex on “Lost”).