By Dean Robbins
‘Past Life’ solves crimes through reincarnation
In “Past Life” (Thursday, 7 p.m., Fox), a blond beauty (Kelli Giddish) and a beefy hunk (Nicholas Bishop) run a past-life detective agency. Murder victims from the past, you see, have been reincarnated as modern-day people. The detectives solve long-ago crimes by leading the modern-day people through past-life therapy, in which they make contact with their previous selves. You’d be surprised at how many relevant clues can be gathered in this fashion.
You may be laughing, but the filmmakers aren’t. They take this premise seriously, as you can tell from the tearful reunions between parents and their dead children, now reincarnated in the bodies of bad actors.
Myself, I hate this mix of extrasensory hokum and sentimentality. Maybe I was traumatized by an episode of “Ghost Whisperer” in a past life.
‘Kell on Earth’
Monday, 9 p.m. (Bravo)
Bravo specializes in reality series about obnoxious entrepreneurs who work on the fringes of big-city glamour. They’re foul-mouthed real-estate agents, stylists or matchmakers who think they’re important because of their tangential relationships with the rich or famous. The latest unappetizing example is Kelly Cutrone, who produces fashion shows with a team of cowering assistants. She bosses everyone around and cusses up a blue streak when the slightest thing goes wrong. And I do mean “slight.” “Kell on Earth” can base an entire episode around a fashion-show seating chart that won’t print properly.
Indeed, seating charts are the centerpieces of Kelly’s business, and she’s obsessed with who’s on or not on the list. Even if you’re on, she sneers at you if you’re seated past the third row.
I’m taking “Kell on Earth” off my list… of shows to watch this spring. CV
