Reality TV ’08: If it ain’t broke ...

"The Amazing Race 13"
Premieres: Sept. 28, CBS, 8 p.m.

What's new: Not much changes season to season on "The Amazing Race," so expect more dysfunctional couples, spectacular vistas, and tension-filled moments as the teams trek around the world.

While the race only lasted 23 days, it did visit places never before featured on the show, such as Cambodia and Bolivia, executive producer Bertram van Munster told Entertainment Weekly.

Worth watching? "The Amazing Race" has long been one of the best-produced reality competitions on television, but as seasons start to blend together, it's getting somewhat old and needs to shake things up.

What's new?

FOX "Hole in the Wall" contestants try to squeeze through an odd shape.

Although broadcast networks are offering mostly new seasons of old shows, there will be some new reality programs. After the success of ABC's "Wipeout," Fox will air its Japanese game show import "Hole in the Wall" (Sept. 11, 8 p.m.) opposite "Survivor."  On it, contestants trying to jump through an amusingly shaped hole in a styrofoam wall that threatens to knock them into a pool. The show's been dubbed "Human Tetris," for obvious reasons.

ABC will air a hybrid game show/reality show called "Opportunity Knocks" (Sept. 23, 8 p.m.) that features host J.D. Roth literally knocking on a family's door and then setting up a game show in their front yard. They'll be quizzed about each other and their home as they try to win cash and prizes, such as new appliances.

NBC follows in cable's footsteps with a series from "Deadliest Catch" producer Thom Beers, "America's Toughest Jobs" (NBC, Aug. 25, Mondays at 9 until Sept. 19, then Fridays at 8), a competition between 12 people who attempt jobs like crab fishing. One poorly performing person will be sent home each week.

CW Elle's Fashion News Director, Anne Slowey, takes the center chair on "Stylista."

The CW will also air a show that seems like a carbon-copy of shows from cable T: "Stylista" (Oct. 29, Wednesdays at 9) is a competition for a job at Elle magazine that's produced by Tyra Banks and her "Top Model" producer Ken Mok.

Cable itself offers a much more diverse array of series. Among them are Animal Planet's "Whale Wars" (fall), which follows conservationists who intercept and try to stop Japanese whaling ships, VH1's horror movie acting competition "Scream Queens" (fall); and MTV's "The Phone" (fall), which begins when two random people answer ringing cell phones hidden in a city and then work to complete tasks.

Bravo's "Real Housewives" franchise expands to a new city, Atlanta, this fall (Oct. 7, 10 p.m.) and later returns for another Orange County season, while VH1 will both bring back "Rock of Love" for a third season, and send women from the first two seasons to "Charm School" (fall).

Andy Dehnart is a writer who publishes reality blurred, a daily summary of reality TV news. Find him on Facebook.

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