New York Goes to Work

She went to Flavor Flav's house and got dumped twice, she went on the rebound and tried to find love on her own show, she went to Hollywood, and as of last night, New York Goes to Work.

In 2006, VH1 premiered Flavor of Love, a dating show that spoofed The Bachelor — instead of investment bankers with nice teeth, the girls fought for the affection of Flavor Flav, the Public Enemy hypeman who's always got a clock around his neck. Appallingly hilarious, Flavor of Love was the highest-rated show in VH1 history, thanks in large part to its over-the-top contestants like obvious breakout star Tiffany Pollard, who is better known as "New York" because Flav is just not good with names, OK? New York is best known for cussing, fighting, wearing more make-up than Bozo the Clown and Ru Paul combined, and saying things like, "I never was a child. As soon as I popped out of my mom, I was… in the know." New York has spent the last three years acting ridiculous on television. Last summer, she starred in New York Goes to Hollywood, which was centered around New York's attempts to launch a "serious acting career."

Acting doesn't seem to be panning out so New York needs a day job, the premise of New York Goes to Work. Each week, viewers can choose from one of three vocations via text message. Whichever gets the most votes is what New York will do that week. If her temporary bosses decide she did a good job, she'll get "hired" and be awarded $10,000.

In the premiere episode, New York went to work as an exterminator, chosen by the people over ranch hand and baker. Everything you thought was going to happen, happened. Of course, New York freaked out before she had to do anything, be it getting a loose snake out of someone's yard or removing a dead rat from underneath a house. Of course, New York would periodically say something along the lines of, "I don't think I can do this… but for $10,000, I guess I can suck it up." Of course, the guys at Abolish Pest Control waffled, but of course, they ultimately gave her a passing grade. "New York Goes to Work" is silly, predictable, and obviously not real, but so what? The key to enjoying a show like this is not to take it seriously. I didn't watch "New York Goes to Work" to watch a young woman learn how to be an exterminator, I watched to see New York being New York.

There's something innately hysterical about New York wearing a haz-mat suit expressing reservation (screaming bloody murder) about handling a beehive because "those bees are rolling deep!" I watched and I laughed and next week — when New York will be a pig farmer, construction worker or pet groomer — I will watch and I will laugh again. It’s not about the show’s far-fetched situations; it’s the way they make the cartoonish titular character react. “They must be crazy, thinking I’m going to crawl underneath this house (to retrieve a dead rat); I’m not trying to get no plague!”

Last season, she went to Hollywood. Now, she’s going to work. It doesn't matter to me where New York goes, as long as she’s got a camera crew with her.