High School Reunion (2008)

''LOOK, IT'S OUR LOST YOUTH!'' The middle-aged High School Reunion has refreshing perspective

When High School Reunion first aired on The WB in 2003, exec producer Mike Fleiss (The Bachelor) stocked a Hawaii resort with Chicago-area alums celebrating 10 years postgraduation. Now he's resurrected the format for TV Land's older, nostalgic audience, assembling a Dallas suburb's class of '87 celebrating their 20th reunion. People over 35 are usually the sacrificial lambs of reality TV, so it's a shock to find an entire show packed with bald spots, potbellies, and high divorce stats.

The template is the same: The villa is packed with archetypes like Rob ''The Stud,'' Lana ''The Drama Queen,'' and Jason ''The Bully.'' The producers nearly get hernias forcing post-high-school-fantasy story lines, like having Justin ''The Pipsqueak'' flirt with four-time divorcée DeAnna ''The Popular Girl,'' and making sure he says some variation of ''I never would have had a chance with her in high school!'' every three minutes.

But the usual reality TV tropes get far more interesting when put on people who have life experience beyond being a bartender/model. ''Jock'' Matt can't be the life of the party, because he's still devastated by his wife's recent death. And when ''Rebel'' Mike's ex-wife shows up, his tamped-down bitterness is the polar opposite of a Big Brother freak-out. How odd to see a reality show that occasionally reflects adult reality. B