You know how when reality-hating writers want to make fun of the genre, they start making up the most ridiculous premises for potential shows, supposedly to illustrate how crass, repulsive, and silly reality TV is? We may have reached a milestone with Hurl!, which is no writers' invention, but very real. It sounds like the sort of thing Johnny Knoxville might have thought up and then dismissed as just too weird. Premiering tonight at 9 PM on G4, Hurl! is an endurance contest with a twist, and most of that twisting is going on in the digestive tract.

The point of the series, and I really can't believe I'm typing this, is for several contestants to wolf down large quantities of particularly filling food, and then engage themselves in activities designed to get them to upchuck that just-ingested meal. The one who hasn't vomited at the end is the winner. I can see this being copied in fraternities all over America this coming fall. I'd ask what the world is coming to, but we passed that milestone somewhere in Season Three of Jerry Springer. Everything since has merely been add-on grossness.

Baseball All-Star Game (Fox, 8 PM): The midsummer classic originates from Yankee Stadium, which is biting the dust after this year, to be replaced by a new palace in the Bronx. Expect most of the talk to be about the stadium rather than the game, which to be fair is usually pretty dull. The American League always wins these days, the total opposite of the state of affairs when I was a kid.

America's Got Talent (NBC, 9 PM): It looks like we're going to have another season where the singers with talent outnumber almost everyone else, a bit of a problem for a series that wants to not be just another singing competition. Sarah, the girl who sang "Before He Cheats" last week, is probably as good as anyone who has been on Nashville Star this year, not that that's much of an honor. Anyhow, at some point we're going to have the callbacks, where it will be up to the mean judges to get rid of all those little kids before they face the voters.

Big Brother 10 (CBS, 9 PM): Pretty much all seasons on this show begin with promise, because of all the potential that's there with so many people still in the house. Unfortunately, it looks like one of our hopes for eccentric fun this season, Renny, is a little too strange and LOUD for close quarters. She was nominated for eviction along with muscle-bound naif Jessie, whose personality might be trapped underneath his biceps. Great-grandfather Jerry is Head of Household, and despite a generally incomprehensible strategy involving the letter X, he might actually have something on the ball.

Deadliest Catch (Discovery, 9 PM): We're approaching the phase of the year where things can get even deadlier, as the ice pack is returning. All the crews are uncomfortable and exhausted at the very least, and aboard the Cornelia Marie, something called Bering Sea dementia has set in. If there's one place you don't want to become demented, it's aboard a ship in a freezing ocean.

Flipping Out (Bravo, 10 PM): Jeff Lewis is ready to confront his staffers, most notably his house manager Chris, with the evidence of lollygagging discovered by his hidden camera. Has Chris finally gone too far? Will Jenni put loyalty to her husband above her own very good job? Will Jeff stop doing to his lips whatever it is he's doing? Seriously, no man should have those bicycle-tire lips. You can't take someone seriously when he looks like Victoria Principal.

From G's to Gents (MTV, 10 PM): I like how Jamie Foxx now has an Oscar to his credit, but still has time to lend his name to the lamest stuff. He's not going to forget where he came from! Something of a male version of VH1's Charm School except that the contestants are new, From G's to Gents aims to take your basic street kids and give them etiquette lessons, all with the goal of having them beaten senseless once they're back home, apparently. $100,000 awaits the eventual winner. Foxx is the producer, and hip-hop hanger-on Fonzworth Bentley hosts.

Primetime: Family Secrets (ABC, 10 PM): Four girls who have Tourette's syndrome compile video diaries at a summer camp in New York that is nicknamed Camp Tic-a-palooza. Well, I'm certainly glad they came up with that name. The camp provides the kids with an understanding environment while research into possible cures goes on.

The Cleaner (A&E, 10 PM): After a break of several years, A&E is back in the original scripted series game. Benjamin Bratt stars as a onetime drug abuser who now works with the toughest cases of addiction with the help of a dedicated team of interventionists. With more of a street orientation than a medical one (unlike A&E's unscripted Intervention), the series has a decent shot at catching on, given the affection so many have for Bratt. And the presence of Grace Park won't hurt either.

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