TV land's trash comes out to play

Late night television makes for interesting viewing.

On nights when you are channel surfing, are unable to sleep and hoping for some mindless entertainment, you stumble across some of the most bizarre shows.

There are the cheesy action flicks, of which there will be no shortage, thanks to DStv's new addition, Blackbelt TV.

There are repeats of trashy shows such as Jerry Springer and pleasant late-night talk shows like The Tonight Show, The Colbert Report and others of their ilk.

Then there are the WTF shows.

Sony Max has 1000 Ways To Die, which claims to re-enact strange deaths. Most of the scenarios, however, are questionable.

It has segments titled "a new app for death" and a narrator who has a penchant for insipid puns - making it hard to believe there's any truth to its content. But the show is entertaining and fun to watch - almost as much fun as its channel mate, Scare Tactics, in which Punk'd meets The Twilight Zone.

My favourite is Discovery TLC's I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant .

The show has been the cause of much paranoia among my friends. It features real-life stories of women who didn't know they were expecting until they went into labour.

Unlike the aforesaid shows, the TLC programme has gravitas because it documents and captures the women, families and friends' reactions to the surprise births.

On one episode, a muscled woman who resembles a USN model finds out she's eight months pregnant.

Upon suffering from severe stomach cramps, she's rushed to hospital where doctors discover she's in labour. How a foetus fitted into that six-pack is a mystery.

It makes a girl consider celibacy.

'I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant' is on Discovery TLC (172), weekdays at 11.15pm.