Reality-related stories
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 9:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
I haven't been as interested in
The Real Housewives of Orange County this season, and now I'm about to check out permanently. My favorite wife has left the show.
Jeana Keough said an on screen "adios" to the Real Housewives of Orange County. She's not actually moving, but she's off the show by choice.
Jeana Keough has always impressed me as the smartest, most normal and down-to-earth housewife of the bunch. She had a completely insane marriage to Matt Keough, an ex-Major League Baseball pitcher for the Oakland A's, but she worked to keep it together. Her kids were a handful.
They were all grown up and in high school or post-high school life, but Jeana was supportive and interested and tried to be a positive role model. In her finale, she was able to show her kids pursuing their lives and bringing her pride. I think Jeana's "pal" Vicki Gunvalson wishes her children were as loving to her as Jeana's are to her.
Continue reading Jeana says goodbye to Real Housewives of Orange County
Posted Nov 19th 2009 2:30PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Top Chef
Okay, take the idea of
Shark Tank (or
Dragon's Den if you're a BBC America fan), mix it with the
Top Chef folks, offer a great grand prize and hope for the best. That's the recipe behind
NBC's new food competition show, United Plates of America. The network is turning to the Magical Elves from
Top Chef -- no, seriously, that's the production company's name -- to succeed in the food field where NBC has flopped in the past. Remember
The Chopping Block? Remember Rocco DiSpirito's
The Restaurant? NBC has more luck with the dieters on
The Biggest Loser.
This go-round is not about a single restaurant. It's about a chain of restaurants. To me, that's a questionable goal. Most successful chains start off with one great restaurant and then take off. This concept is go big or go home. Maybe it's more complicated, but it doesn't sound that way.
Continue reading NBC cooks up a new food reality show with a big prize
Posted Nov 7th 2009 5:02PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Celebreality
Reportedly, before
Michael Jackson died suddenly in June, his brothers – and other family members – were putting together a reality show for A&E. After all, celebrity reality shows have a certain appeal, especially train wrecks like
Being Bobby Brown or
Hey, Paula. Not that the Jacksons were thinking that way. I'm sure they envision something classy and edifying.
Since Michael's death, the interest in this miniseries has escalated, much like the interest in all things Jackson. Will the brothers talk about Michael? How much? Will Michael's children be included in the show? All that and more will be answered when
The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty debuts on A&E December 13, at 9 p.m. The plan is for two hour-long episodes to kick off the series.
Continue reading The Jackson Family reality show debuts in December
Posted Nov 4th 2009 7:29PM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Animation, South Park
Even though the show has been on forever, I still enjoy my weekly dose of the new
South Parks. But lately, they seem to be running out of targets or have narrowed their focus too much on one particular evil: reality television.
The season opener featured a rather nasty swipe at Disney's Jonas Brothers. The recent "Dead Celebrities" chortle-fest took a much needed pot shot at
Ghost Hunters, aka, "the gayest f#*$ing show on television." And last week launched an all out attack on Discovery's
Whale Wars and
Deadliest Catch, particularly against
Whale Wars star Paul Watson.
The show has always been a bitch to write and making every episode a satirical masterpiece is impossible without suffering a full-on breakdown. But should the show lay off reality TV and take some bolder shots at reality, which as we all know are two completely different things?
Posted Nov 3rd 2009 6:01PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Video, Celebrities, Pickups and Renewals, Casting
Attention, attention! This is not a joke. It's not a spoof or a gag.
Kathy Griffin will host a dance show for ABC. That's right, the funny lady of Bravo's
My Life on the D-List, has said yes to hosting
Let's Dance, a new celebrity reality show in which stars compete with one another by re-creating classic routines from pop culture. That means someone is going to try and do Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" dance from
Motown's 25th Anniversary Special, don't you think?
I am not a
Dancing With the Stars fan, but this show sounds like something I'd be interested in watching for a couple of reason. Number one is Kathy Griffin. I think she's hilarious. She also loves celebrities, so I could see her really getting into this show and being the perfect built-in zingmeister. She'll say whatever comes to her mind, and -- fortunately -- that's usually pretty funny.
Continue reading Kathy Griffin dances her way into new ABC series
Posted Oct 29th 2009 12:40AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: OpEd, Celebrities, Episode Reviews, Top Chef
(S06E10) After last week's restaurant wars, which I found really disappointing, I was hoping for a really tough challenge tonight. As
Hemal guessed, having Natalie Portman as a guest judge did turn this main competition into a vegetarian duel. Oooh, yum. Vegetables. More about the kale and mushrooms after the jump.
Continue reading Review: Top Chef - Meat Natalie
Posted Oct 9th 2009 3:09PM by Jonathan Toomey
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
While walking the streets of Manhattan, heading to the office early this morning, one of those giant open-air tour buses came flying by me as I crossed Sixth Avenue. Normally, since I see them everyday, I ignore them. But this one had a giant ad plastered across the side of it for Ed Begley Jr.'s green livin' reality show, and I couldn't help staring at it because it confused the hell outta me. Not because it's an inherently confusing ad, but because the fonts and text create an inherently confusing message.
Now, I'm no ad man, but am I the only one who sees the problem here?
Continue reading The new ad for Ed Begley Jr.'s reality show is confusing
Posted Sep 21st 2009 11:00AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Commercials, Obituaries, Emmys, Reality-Free
I'm not saying that I necessarily think Billy Mays should have won a posthumous Emmy, or even that his show
Pitchmen should have been included in their "The Year in Reality" segment. But leaving him out of the "In Memoriam" segment? You have people from every facet of the television industry, and you leave out the most famous infomercial personality ever. Infomercials are television programming.
Yes, they're annoying at times and yes, they're not as exciting as
Lost or
The Amazing Race, but it's still television. Billy Mays was famous
because of television. And he was famous. Virtually everyone in this country recognizes "Hi, Billy Mays here!" and that almost patented way of
shouting talking he had.
But hell, even if you don't buy any of those arguments, he was one of the stars of
Pitchmen, a successful reality show. You honor reality shows, right? I'm just saying, It seems to me that one of the most famous faces of the modern era
on television, and one of the most powerful men in the commercial industry, could have maybe earned a quick mention upon his passing.
Posted Sep 18th 2009 9:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Celebrities
You can breath a sigh of relief now. Each and every one of
The Real Housewives of New York City are coming back for Season 3. There, don't you feel better? After speculation that
Bethenny was going off to do her own show and a rumor that Kelly wasn't invited back, Bravo has wrangled Jill Zarin, Ramona Singer, Alex McCord, Kelly Killoren Bensimon and Countess LuAnn de Lesseps for another installment of the
Real Housewives.
Continue reading Hallelujah, The Real Housewives of New York are all coming back!
Posted Aug 12th 2009 10:03AM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
In preparation for its big August 20th season premiere on Lifetime (and, evidently, to interrupt me when I'm trying to watch a few episodes of
Frasier and
Will & Grace),
Project Runway has been running endless ads, loud and proud. I'm sorry, did I say "loud and proud"? I meant "weirdly sentimental and full of slow-mo."
The commercials featuring individual designers from the upcoming season were almost touching enough to confuse me. I mean, I'm used to the super-catty "I didn't come here to make friends, I came here to be the snarky queen bee" sort of ads. Are these just to reel in the average Lifetime viewer, or is this an early indication of
Project Runway's slightly new voice?
Continue reading Project Runway's new life or the beginning of the end?
Posted Aug 5th 2009 11:55AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Watercooler Talk
I'm not even sure I want to watch this show anymore. I will because I'm kinda invested in it, but I'm getting sick of the formula and Ramsay's screaming (and the screaming of others) just seems half for show, half real. Last night he yelled at Bobby for swearing and yelling in the kitchen in front of customers. Yeah chef, we wouldn't want to have any of
that in Hell's Kitchen.
What did everyone else think?
Posted Jun 3rd 2009 9:10PM by Annie Wu
Filed under: Programming, OpEd, Celebrities
There's good news and there's bad news. You can decide what bits fall into which catergory. First of all, MTV is still on the air and pumping out new show after new show. Secondly, they've announced a
new music-related project. This music-related project also happens to be another one of their reality programs. And it features the tween world's favorite Australian electropop-rock twin act The Veronicas.
Well, at least it's not another
Laguna Beach spin-off spin-off.
Continue reading MTV kind of, sort of does something music-related again
Posted Apr 2nd 2009 7:06PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Pickups and Renewals
Recently,
MTV has announced that
The Real World (and
the Challenges) will be going on for at least four more seasons. With the 21st season coming to a close, it brought up the big question:
Should The Real World be renewed? After watching
The Real World: Brooklyn, I have to say yes.
I started watching during
The Real World: Miami. There was grit, passion, and I learned life lessons from the cast. After Philadelphia
's season, the show felt like there was nothing left to cover. Everyone was too attractive, and they all wanted to become famous.
Continue reading Should The Real World be renewed?
Posted Mar 24th 2009 10:00AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: The Amazing Race, Survivor, Vs.
It might seem crazy to suggest that either one of CBS's two long-running reality series doesn't work, but I'm sticking to my convictions.
Survivor has lost the edge it had when it started, and it's no longer a show that works for me.
On the other hand,
The Amazing Race continues to set the industry bar high for quality reality (assuming you don't think that's an oxymoron). So, stacking them up, one versus the other, here's how
The Amazing Race tops
Survivor.
Continue reading Amazing Race vs. Survivor: Why one works and the other doesn't
Posted Sep 2nd 2008 10:21AM by Jason Hughes
Filed under: Industry, Programming
Don't get too worked up, they're not dumping all reruns. But
TV Land announced that by the end of 2009 they are looking to
have original programming fill up half of their prime-time lineup. Last year it was 4% and it's only 15% now.
The Wall Street Journal article goes on and on about how the channel is aiming to skew younger, to generate more ad revenue. When it spun off solo in 1996, TV on DVD was still relatively new, so it was a lot of fun to have a place to go to get your nostalgia fix. But now, most folks can go to their DVD library if they want to see
M*A*S*H again.
It goes on to say that the types of shows they're developing are romance and dating shows, like
Cougar, which is basically
The Bachelorette with an older woman scouting younger guys. The strides they've made so far have improved their ratings and median age, so I guess this will work, too but it's disappointing to me. Basic cable used to have channels where you knew what to expect when you went there and TV Land was one of them.
Continue reading TV Land cutting back on reruns, aiming younger
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