TVSquad

I never understood the FOX Reality Channel. Oh, I understood it from a business standpoint (reality is popular and cheap), but it seemed like something that was a very niche product and that it would go out of business some day. That day is upon us.

Well, the actual day won't come until March 31 2010, but we can start celebrating now, can't we? The channel itself will probably survive in one way or another. FOX has ideas for the channel that it might want to do and that would mean the the channel would have an entirely different theme and focus. Which is fine with me, even if the channel had such awesome original shows like American Idol Extra, The Search For The Next Elvira, Gimme My Reality Show! and Who Wants To Date A Puppet? (OK, I made up that last one.)

Reality fans take note however: the last Really Awards will air on October 17.

After Monday's Fox Reality panel on the new show Househusbands of Hollywood, I decided to ask Jillian Reynolds about her take on the Erin Andrews peephole fiasco. Her responses surprised me a bit, mainly because she's been in the sports reporting world as much as anyone, but she was still surprised that something like that would ever happen.

"She's gorgeous. People want to look at her. She's hot," says Reynolds. Still, it's no excuse. "This was obviously an inside job; someone knew her schedule. That's kinda creepy. I worked for the NFL for ten years, and I trust everyone there implicitly. And for that trust to be broken is kinda creepy."

The Fox Reality Channel is one of the most addictive substances on the planet. You don't tune in with any expectation of entertainment value or enlightening philosophical knowledge that will help you understand the universe and all of its foilbles.

It's the broadcast equivalent of a really bad cold sore, the kind you know deep down will only go away if you just leave it alone. But the longer you leave it be, the more you can hear it calling your name, begging you to touch it, asking you to fondle it, pleading with you to lick it like a drunken prom date.

Every time my remote fumbles past the FRC in search of something worth watching, it's hard not to stop in and see just how low they can sink to grab your attention. My mind always asks the same question when I dare to poke the reality show behemoth with a stick during its slumber: "Just how low can the network that created Cops, World's Wildest Police Chases, and When Animals Attack 2 go?" As it turns out, pretty damn low as evidenced by Smile...You're Under Arrest.

Just when you think they can't possibly come up with another reality-show idea, they do! A new show on Fox Reality Channel, Househusbands of Hollywood, puts a little twist on the trophy spouse thing. Instead of focusing on women who stay home, sip wine, and flaunt their wealth a la The Real Housewives, this one features the stay-at-home husbands of successful L.A. women.

But based on the players, something tells me these guys won't be hanging around the house watching QVC. There's Darryl M. Bell (A Different World), husband of The Cosby Show's Tempestt Bledsoe; Grant Reynolds, husband of Good Day LA's Jillian Reynolds; former L.A. Dodger Billy Ashley, and others.

What would you say if I told you that there were going to be 33 new reality shows debuting this year? Would you say that was too much? I certainly would. But it's not true anyway. There aren't 33 new reality shows that are going to launch this year.

There are 172.

That's right, according to the people over at the FOX Reality Channel (oh, there's a network that's not on my favorites lineup) there will be 172 new reality shows launched this year: 32 on the broadcast networks and 140 on cable.

Fox Reality channel has a new series called Gimme My Reality Show. This series will feature celebrities competing to have their own reality show. D-Listers already signed on for the competition include Traci Bingham, Santino Rice, and Gretchen Bonaduce.

Bingham, who played Jordin Tate on Baywatch, has also appeared on VH1's Surreal Life 2 and Celebrity Boot Camp. Rice appeared on the second season of Project Runway and finished in the semi-finals. Bonaduce was on VH1's Breaking Bonaduce which chronicled the life of her husband and former child-star Danny Bonaduce.

That's it? They need to get some Idol alums in there. I'm thinking Sanjaya, just so the rest of the cast can ridicule him. Also, I would love to see one of the guys from I Love New York. Say, Mr. Boston? Who would you like to see on Gimme My Reality Show?

Gimme My Reality Show will premiere on October 11th at midnight, right after the Fox Reality Really Awards.

In case the title of this post wasn't enough warning, the video clip after the jump does in fact show a man vomiting, so if that's not your thing, don't watch it.

Before appearing on Kennedy's Fox Reality series Reality Rewind, Drawn Together co-creator Matthew Silverstein drank some ipecac on a dare (presumably a dare from co-creator Dave Jeser, who also appeared) and, no big surprise, he lost his lunch during the interview. Kennedy decides to step away, so Jeser takes over as interviewer and continues to ask Silverstein questions, which Silverstein answers between fits of vomiting. I don't find vomiting in and of itself all that funny, but the fact that they just kept going while he was vomiting made me laugh. Also, compared to the episodes of Drawn Together I've seen, this is probably the funniest thing these two men have ever done. Seeing Silverstein vomit is one thing, but watching Drawn Together just makes me sick.

[via CC Insider]

Reality show whores Amber and Rob Mariano are getting another reality show because it's better than having a day job. This time the newlyweds are going to the FOX Reality Channel for a docu-series, The Rob and Amber Project. Over ten, half-hour episodes, cameras will follow Rob as he moves to Las Vegas and attempts to launch a career as a professional gambler. Amber is just there to look hot, I guess.

If you wonder who on earth I'm talking about, Rob and Amber were both on Survivor and became a couple on Survivor: All-Stars, which Amber won. They placed second in The Amazing Race (the devilish side of me rooted for them) and they got married in a reality special last year. The Project premieres in January.

While I'm not an avid viewer of reality TV I'm at least aware of which shows are out there. However, USA's Cannonball Run 2001 completely escaped me. I had no idea such a show even aired until recently when TVgasm reported that the Fox Reality Channel would be showing episodes of the series all this week. From what I can gather, the show was loosely based on the Cannonball Run movies and pitted mismatched teams against one another in a cross country race. I'm assuming the reason it only lasted one season was because it didn't include outtakes of Dom DeLuise flubbing his lines.