Owing to an ill-timed session on the stairmaster, I caught Kim Kardashian and clan’s reality show, “Kourtney & Kim Take New York,” on the E! Entertainment Network. I was almost stopped dead in my tracks. Is this what passes for entertainment these days?

This show was a slow moving train wreck. Now, I’m certainly no stranger to these so-called reality shows, but this was unnerving. Watching Kim, Kourtney and their hangers-on rant and rave over the minutest of matters was really rather scary.

Scott Disick, Kourtney’s baby daddy, was seemingly eating every time he was caught on camera. Yet he’s amazingly thin! How’d that happen? Was it just for the cameras? So much of this show seems faked.

Disick, by the way, has one child with Kourtney and another on the way, yet they are still unmarried. What kind of message does that send to their fans?

That revelation was the one thing I gleaned from the show. Total trash through and through; a sad commentary for sure on the state of television programming and an embarrassment to New York City.

Dustin Hoffman’s ‘Luck’ Wins Trifecta on HBO

We managed to catch Sunday night’s premiere of Dustin Hoffman’s “Luck,” HBO’s new series. Written by the legendary David Milch and flawlessly directed by Michael Mann, the show depicts the behind-the-scenes antics of horse racing.

Not exactly the topic we’d pick for Milch and Mann, but the parts we did follow were expertly written and no one directs like Mann. His work on TV’s legendary show “Miami Vice” and his work on such films as “Heat,” “Collateral Damage,” “Thief” and “Manhunter,” immediately set him apart.

Hoffman was just outstanding. Also in the cast were Dennis Farina, Kevin Dunn, Jason Gedrick and Nick Nolte, who has turned into one excellent character actor.

The show revolves around the legendary Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, Calif. Mann has lovingly shot it, so you feel like you’re in heaven. With every first episode, literally dozens of expository moments made this a must-watch series for sure. Terrifically well done.

Names in the News

Anthony Pomes, Andrew Saffir, Kevin Mazur, Marion Curtis, Dave Allocca, Jacqueline Boyd-Dolenz, Michelle Grant, David Salidor, Jane Cox, Angela Tarantino, Tobe Becker, Bill Schill, Rebecca Bruder, Jane Blunkell, Micky Dolenz, Andrew Sandoval, Jimmy Gerstein, Anthony Noto, James Edstrom.