Posted Jun 30th 2009 9:02AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Casting, Celebreality
Salt-N-Pepa and TLC. Two of the most significant and important female R&B groups of the past 25 years. Why couldn't it have just stayed that way? No, VH1 just had to drag members from both groups into their sick "looking for love" reality world. That's right,
Pepa and Chilli are looking for love, on VH1 with a camera crew and eight half-hour episodes. Somehow I have a hard time imagining either of these women having a hard time picking up guys.
Can I just say to all the other celebrities out there who are looking at this as a good thing, just stop right there. Do you think people are respecting Bret Michaels for his music these days? He's more famous for
whacking his head on a stage. If the music dries up down the road, I don't want to see Beyoncé and Justin Timberlake hawking themselves all over VH1 to try and find love. Not to mention: have they seen the kind of people these reality shows find for you to fall in love with?
Continue reading VH1 keeps tarnishing my cherished celebrity memories
Posted Jun 24th 2009 8:02AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Watercooler Talk, Celebreality
It could have been worse. It was a 90-minute premiere.
There was a time when I would have watched a show like this, in the 70s or maybe the 80s, when real celebrities would be involved instead of reality show stars. They were fun shows. I watched the first 60 minutes of
The Superstars and then sort of snapped out of it, thinking, why am I watching this? Nothing really happened, and I decided I wouldn't care at all if anything did happen. Who cares if Jennifer Capriati loses a bike race?
Wipeout is mindless entertainment.
The Superstars is stupid entertainment.
Posted Jun 23rd 2009 2:02PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebrities, Celebreality
So E! ran a poll to see if their viewers wanted the network to stop covering the train wreck that is Speidi. Okay. Sure, that's fun. And by a startling 94% margin you have spoken, and you
don't want E! covering Spencer Pratt and Heidi Montag anymore. Even more surprising is that E! has agreed to follow this edict by their viewers and limit Spiedi stories only to life-altering or -ending events.
I think the celebrity-fueled tabloid news networks and magazines should look at these results and think about it. Speidi has been fueling many gossip stories the past few weeks, and here we find that nearly 100% of people don't want to hear it. And E! fans are gossipy fans to begin with.
Continue reading The results are in, and you voted Speidi off of E!
Posted Jun 21st 2009 6:07PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, American Idol, Celebrities, Host, Celebreality
Somebody has to stop
Ryan Seacrest. Please. I mean it. He's going too far.
Seacrest tweeted that he is talking with Lindsay Lohan about her own reality show. Presumably it'll be in the vein of Ryan's other reality star vehicles,
Keeping Up With the Kardashians and
Denise Richards: It's Complicated. Notice that I didn't say it would have the same quality as those other shows because if you've ever watched more than an episode, you know that quality is not a requirement. Manipulation, mugging and broad fake emotions are all that's necessary.
So,
Lindsay Lohan, heed my warning: stop talking to Ryan Seacrest. No good will come of it.
Continue reading Stop Ryan Seacrest for Lindsay Lohan's sake
Posted Jun 11th 2009 3:00PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race, American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother (US), Dancing With The Stars, Celebreality
Considering how prevalent reality television is these days, it's got to be a pretty daunting task to try and put together a comprehensive list of the best and worst of all time. But
Entertainment Weekly thinks they've done just that. They've compiled the
top 20 reality shows of all time, but also the
ten worst reality shows of all time. All in all, they did a pretty damned good job.
I completely agree with the top six, but they lose me with
Jackass at number seven. I have never understood the appeal of filming morons doing stupid things on purpose just to be stupid. But there were some shows missing from the list completely, like
Little People Big World, So You Think You Can Dance and
Beauty and the Geek. Surely those shows are better than
The Hills and
The Real Housewives of Sesame Street, or whatever franchise they're spinning now.
Continue reading EW declares the all-time best and worst of reality television
Posted Jun 11th 2009 2:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Dancing With The Stars, Pickups and Renewals, Celebreality
Because you can never get enough of celebrities dancing,
ABC has picked up Let's Dance, which they're calling a comedic reality show. It's based on a format that found success as part of the UK's
Comic Relief programming. Rather than having celebrities commit to a full season to learn a variety of ballroom styles, a la
Dancing with the Stars, this new show only requires a one-week commitment with the possibility of a "finale" return. And all they have to master is an already well-known dance.
I guess this is where the "comedy" comes in?
Continue reading Between seasons of Dancing with the Stars, ABC says Let's Dance
Posted Jun 8th 2009 2:04PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Apprentice, Celebrities, Big Brother (US), Dancing With The Stars, Ratings, Celebreality
I can't watch
I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! The show is basically
Big Brother but with an unwillingness to compete. Why do celebrities sign up for physically and mentally demanding reality shows when they don't want to compete? I'm looking at you,
Dustin Diamond. To attempt to get some viewer sympathy, the celebrities are playing for charity. I feel bad for the charities that Heidi and Spencer have because I wouldn't want their douchebag antics associated with the charity's image.
Celebrity reality shows can succeed without having to play the charity card. It's all about maintaining the quality level.
Continue reading Charity doesn't make for better TV
Posted Jun 4th 2009 6:02PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Celebreality
What a great idea! In this era of people becoming celebrities for the stupidest reasons (I had a bunch of kids), or getting reality shows for even worse reasons (I'm rich!), there are certainly more stupid celebrities out there than there used to be in, say, the Cosby era. Back then it was primarily sports athletes and performers. Which means they all had a bit of talent. With so much realty schlock on the air today, that's no longer required to be famous. Granted, there were always the occasional "fifteen minutes" guy or gal, but not like we have now.
E! put together a list of 128 celebrities, including lots of actors, and let you vote on who was worse. They put them up head to head over nine rounds to get our winner and in the end it came down to two celebrities who are famous based on no merit of their own: Nadya "Octomom" Suleman and Spencer (
The Hills, I'm a Celebrity...)
Brat Pratt; Heidi made the list but not the finals. So who was
E!s most awful celebrity?
Continue reading E! declares the most awful celebrity in Hollywood, as chosen by you
Posted Jun 4th 2009 10:10AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: News, OpEd, Law and Order, Celebrities, Ratings, Reality-Free, Celebreality
If Jay Leno isn't the answer for NBC prime time, perhaps the network should think about booking President Obama. NBC News devoted two hours, on Tuesday and Wednesday night, for
Inside the Obama White House and the
ratings were strong. Better than the insipid
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here, which acted as a lead-in. Of course the season finale of
Law & Order: SVU on Tuesday didn't hurt the news production.
Having watched the two hours, NBC should sign the president ASAP. There's always the curiosity factor when a viewer is being given access behind the scenes, and that's what
Inside the Obama White House did. It was a look at the real West Wing, which reminded me a lot of the fictional, Aaron Sorkin
West Wing creation, and that was quite cool. President Obama still fascinates me, and
it's well past 100 days.Continue reading NBC scores with Inside the Obama White House
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 8:18PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, Pickups and Renewals, Celebreality
Paris Hilton really needs to rename her show. Brittany Flickinger was her "best friend forever" after the first season, but they don't talk anymore. Then she filmed a season in the UK to find her "British best friend," at least keeping "forever" out of that title. She's got a second season starting tonight in the US, and now we're going to get a
new season of My New BFF in the United Arab Emirates as well. Though, apparently UAE officials are making sure Paris' wild ways don't make it through customs.
She's also interested in having BFFs in other parts of the world, so really she's just building an international posse. Plus, with her track record so far, it's more likely that these are just BFFN "best friend for now," or perhaps PITFTPBRIJDTFTMAFAIDTTSIGAC "people I'll tolerate for the press but really I'm just doing this for the money and fame and I'll drop them the second I get a chance." So check out the second season of
Paris Hilton's My New PITFTPBRIJDTFTMAFAIDTTSIGAC premiering on MTV tonight at 10 Eastern, and see who she'll drop next.
Posted Jun 2nd 2009 3:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebreality
I guess Heidi and Spencer really took this reality show's title to heart. They really did want to get outta there.*
The two stars of
The Hills have quit NBC's new reality show
I'm A Celebrity...Get Me Outta Here! They quit after last night's live episode. I watched a few moments of the show while flipping around and I saw that they were either asleep during the show and didn't participate in the last challenge (or whatever the hell they're called on this show) where all of the bugs were let loose on the contestants. The Red Cross, the pair's charity, isn't happy about it.
Every time I think I've seen the worst of television, another show comes along to scrape the bottom of the barrel. This is that show. It's stupid and despicable in almost every single way.
* Though I still refuse to call them "celebrities."
Posted Jun 1st 2009 1:04PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebreality
Actually, even saying
Octomom Nadya Suleman is getting a reality show is generous. She's got a production deal with a production company out of the Netherlands to produce a show spotlighting key events in her children's lives. And no television network signed on to air it as of yet. The company is modeling it after a TV series in Denmark that documented four children all the way through to adulthood. Which means we may have some time yet before we're subjected to it.
Don't get me wrong, kids are cute and everybody loves multiples, but the big problem here is
Angelina Jolie Suleman herself. You thought watching Jon & Kate's strained marriage was difficult ... wait ... oh shit! Drama more than
doubled the ratings for Jon & Kate Plus 8's season premiere. Do you realize what we've done? She's coming and there's no force on this earth that's going to stop her. She's had a few deals already that have fallen through, but this one looks like it won't. It's no coincidence that her nickname sounds like a monster!
Posted May 21st 2009 3:49PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Celebrities, Casting, Celebreality
Now that
Saturday Night Live is off the air, what's the fun in former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich doing anything if we can't have it made fun of on "Weekend Update?" The biggest douchebag in the Midwest, and I can say that because I live there, wasn't allowed to join Sanjaya on NBC's summer reality show because of that whole legal matter. So NBC, proving how "FOX-y" they can be, have now signed
Mrs. Rod Blagojevich to join I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here this summer.
Now, I support the decision to not allow Rod there because he'd either be taking hits out on fellow celebrities (wait a minute ... Sanjaya
will be there) or he'd just disappear altogether. But in an era where getting rejected by a bachelor can make you a "Star" worthy of
Dancing, it still boggles my mind that being married to a jackass is enough. We don't know anything about Patti Blagojevich except for her terrible taste in men. Kristen Wiig hasn't even developed an impression of her and now she's going to be on a major summer reality show?
Continue reading NBC says all Blagojevichs are the same, casts one for I'm a Celebrity
Posted May 5th 2009 7:01PM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, News, Pickups and Renewals, Celebreality
TMZ covers all things celebrity sleaze and gossip. But what about the rumor that the weird cat lady down the street has a strange cactus fetish and you can hear her wails of pain (or is that joy?) every Friday night into the wee hours of the morning? Who's going to follow her around with cameras and ask her what that's all about? Well, no one wants to get anywhere near that. But that doesn't mean the producers behind
TMZ don't want to look at what's going on in your world.
Using online videos by regular schlubs like you and me from YouTube and other places,
Reality Twisted is a new show that will showcase this content interspersed with commentary by the show's staff.
Continue reading Get your camcorders ready: Reality Twisted is TMZ for the rest of us
Posted Apr 25th 2009 9:00AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, The Amazing Race, American Idol, The Apprentice, Survivor, Celebreality
One of the best things about reality shows for me is watching people succeed or crash in a fiery abyss. While watching
Grey's Anatomy, I caught the commercial for all the summer shows and was excited to see the return of
I Survived a Japanese Game Show. Last year was heavily underrated. All the contestants were likable, everyone learned about Japanese culture, and the biggest thing everyone came off learning something.
While I wait for summer and hope for a new season, this week started off MTV's
The Phone. I was nervous about Justin Timberlake being the executive producer, but the show surprised me. Any fan of
The Mole,
The Amazing Race,
Cha$e, or
Treasure Hunters should probably consider. Now on to the weekly awards.
Continue reading Weekly Reality Awards
Next Page »
TV Squad previews NBC's new shows (part 1)
TV 101: How ESPN controls the world and what the other networks can learn from it
TV Squad previews CBS's new shows
