I am – Hercules!!


“On The Lot,” the new reality series about filmmakers competing for $1 million in prizes and an office at Paramount/DreamWorks, is supercool, man. I suspect that you’re all watching. If not? Start.

It’s the best kind of reality show, the fast-paced kind I can watch half a dozen times and notice all sorts of new each go-round. It’s the kind of reality show you should, perhaps, be way into.

I don’t care that this series fails to maintain a preferable percentage of the “American Idol” audience - because I am convinced that at least some of the competitors on “On The Lot” are going to create art far more memorable than any produced by “Idol” champ Jordin Sparks.

This one kid, Vancouver’s Zack Lipovsky, already knows how to freeze dozens of plastic coathangers midair. All the other competitors justifiably fear him for his coathanger-freezing ability.

Tonight brings the third “On The Lot” episode. The first was an hourlong episode following the penultimate “American Idol”; the second a miserly (if perfectly fascinating) 35-minute installment following some manner of exciting Fox dance competition.

Memorial Day gives us our first 2-hour installment.

I love how talent sometimes appears to trump arrogance. I love how the homeless man was unexpectantly allergic to peanut butter.

I adore how these contestants can put together movies in the span of hours.

I love that multimillionaire director Brett Ratner, who directed the “Rush Hour” series, is introduced later than the far more talented Garry Marshall and Carrie Fisher. I love that the producers do little to disguise Ratner’s appalling (if not unexpected) dearth of brainpower.

Tonight, the field narrows from 24 to 18 as contestants are given an hour to direct a one-page script with a pre-selected crew, cast and set.

Find the “On The Lot” website here. If you find the film about the dead homeless guy or the film about the frozen coathangers, don’t be shy about posting links in talkback.

8 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Fox.