TVSquad

As an intro to my article about The New York Reality TV School, I've asked Red from The Shawshank Redemption to narrate my opening paragraph:

I wish I could tell you that the New York Reality TV School fought the good fight, and that the students in attendance were not a collection of mostly desperate people whose desire for fame burned more strongly than their sense of dignity. I wish I could tell you that, but the entertainment industry is no fairy-tale world.

Thanks Red. Now, if you, the reader, would be so kind as to click through to the article, it would mean a lot to me. Not because I get paid more for click-throughs (I don't; AOL pays me a flat rate of 60 cents plus a pound of corn husks for every post I make, regardless of the number of clicks), but because I spent three hours attending the inaugural class of the NYRTV school last Saturday. I just couldn't take it if the end result of that is an article no one reads...

Part Five: The Money Shot

After about an hour and a half of fake fights, thrown tennis balls, and clap after clap after clap, everyone sat down for a Q&A.

The students were able to ask questions of the following three people:

Robert Russel, the aforementioned reality show casting director.

Dave Martin, finalist on season one of Bravo's Top Chef.

Jorge Bendersky, "Dog Stylist" on Animal Planet's Groomer Has It.

I'm going to do something that I haven't done up until this point: report what happened without snarky asides or not-so-subtle digs at the students or organizers. This hour was actually worth the price of admission. If you're someone that is truly interested in the way reality shows work and what they're looking for, the Q&A gave some real insight into the process.

When I read the news that Billboard magazine (which is probably best known for giving Casey Kasem source material) was going to go into the reality show business, I scratched my head to figure out what exactly they'd do. After all, countdown shows are as old as TV itself, so doing something based on the trade magazine's famous charts would have had to be pretty damn creative. I was envisioning someone standing on a street corner acting out the top twenty songs through mime. And, as we all know, nothing good can come from the use of mime.

Fortunately, we've dodged that bullet for now; according to The Hollywood Reporter (via Reuters), the reality show will be a competition series, dubbed Billboard Next. Artists from various genres will submit videos via a website, which will be voted on by the site's audience. Those with the most popular votes will compete for the grand prize, which right now is unspecified. I'd imagine it'll be some sort of recording contract, but for all we know, it might just be a professional redo of the artist's MySpace page. I guess it all depends on the budget.

So I was reading this press release about a new CBS reality show called Greatest American Dog (working title). The network has just named a host of the Greatest American Dog and his name is Jarod Miller. The show premieres on July 10. What caught my attention was this phrase, "Animated zoologist Jarod Miller." Now, maybe it was just me, but for a moment I envisioned Jarod Miller as Brian Griffin, the dog on Family Guy. You know, an animated cartoon creation. After all, on Family Guy, Brian is the most intelligent character, and he has co-hosted a radio talk show.

In fact, the only thing animated about Jarod is his enthusiasm for animals. He's a guy who really loves his job. He's been on talk shows galore, putting creepy crawlies on Rachael Ray and keeping snakes from slithering all over Jimmy Kimmel.

Many people think that the term "cougar," which is loosely defined as "older woman on the prowl for younger men to date" was introduced on last season's How I Met Your Mother episode that had Jane Seymour seduce Neil Patrick Harris' Barney. But like I said in my review back then, I had heard that term before that episode aired. But we can definitely say that HIMYM popularized the term.

Now it seems like TV Land, which is becoming the network for reality shows starring people over 35, has decided to pick up a Bachelorette-esque series where a number of young men will be competing for the affections of "sexy and accomplished mature woman." The show is being produced by Mike Fleiss, who was the executive producer for the network's version of High School Reunion.

Not even Christmas is safe from reality show producers.

The people who brought you Dancing with the Stars have another show up their sleeves: Clash of the Choirs. It will pit five celebrity singers who will go back to their hometowns and try to build a choir. Once the choirs are built and perform live, viewers will vote for them via phone (of course). The winner gets to pick a prize for their hometown (I suggest maybe passing a law that says no reality shows can be filmed in their hometowns). The four episode show will run just before Christmas, December 17-20.

Hey, Brigitte here with TV Squad Daily. I'll be covering the TV stories I find interesting each day, Monday through Friday, in this video blog.

Today on TV Squad Daily:

• I was hoping Paris Hilton would hit rock bottom in jail and have some kind of life-changing epiphany. Instead, she's serving the rest of her sentence from home.
  
• Dina Lohan is reportedly a liar, on top of many other things. One thing she's not is a former Rockette.
  
• If you're hiding from the law, maybe don't appear on MTV's My Super Sweet 16. Just an idea.
  

The video's embedded below, or you can subscribe to this podcast via our feed. Plus, you can also download the file directly.

WARNING: POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW!

After only one episode, it looks like some people might already know the winner of FOX's Hell's Kitchen.

Bodog.com has suspended betting on the reality show after the odds on one of the contestants went from 7-1 to 2-1 very quickly. After the jump, the name of this contestant. (AGAIN, SPOILER AHEAD!)

I know that the most devastating news that came out of the recent network upfronts was that NBC didn't announce when or if The Apprentice was coming back. I think I actually saw people crying and screaming on the street that day, shaking their fists to the heavens. But then NBC said it wasn't canceled, they just hadn't decided what to do yet. And then Donald Trump "quit" before they could "fire" him.

But wait! Trump told Larry King the other night that NBC wants to do another season of the show and he wants to do it too. He also criticized the network, saying they ruined the show by putting it all over the schedule (yeah, OK). So I guess they'll be another season.

Here's a funny clip from a recent Jimmy Kimmel Live. Seems Kimmel bet a lot of money that former Beverly Hills 90210 star Ian Ziering would actually win Dancing with the Stars. But Ziering lost, and Kimmel didn't win the $4000 that he could have won. So he sends his Uncle Frank and Cousin Sal over to Ziering's dressing room to beat him up. But Uncle Frank doesn't stop there.

The thing that stands out to me in the video? Even in a comedy sketch, Ziering isn't a very good actor. Takes a fake punch well though. Video after the jump!

Now there's two words you hardly ever see if the same sentence: "psychics" and "reality."

But get ready for a new reality show that will attempt to find that most gifted psychic in America! The show, Gifted, is going to be produced by Friends co-creator/producer Marta Kauffman. Each psychic will go through a series of tests - mind reading, Tarot card reading, other things that psychics do well - and the winner will win...well, I have no idea what they'll win. What should the winner of an American Idol for psychics win? A million dollar contract to do...what exactly? There will be a panel of expert (?) judges and the contestants will probably all live together in a house, a la Big Brother. Or, in this case, The Surreal Life.

Of course, I don't really understand the whole concept. If these people are truly psychic, shouldn't they know ahead of time whether they're going to win or not?

[via TV Tattle]

I saw Debbie Does Dallas years ago. It was purely for, um, journalistic research purposes, I assure you.

If you haven't heard, Vivid is remaking the movie (remaking a porn flick...let's think about that for a second), and Showtime is also going to have a reality show to find the star! Showtime, with good reason, is a little nervous about the show. Of course, I wonder if this nervousness is really just more hype for the show (Debbie Does Dallas...Again) itself. The reality show will have several porn stars trying to become the next Debbie.

So if people on Survivor have to eat bugs and the people on Project Runway have to actually make clothing to become a designer, won't the people on this show have to...well, I'm sure you can imagine. And imagine you will.

The show starts on March 9 at 11pm.

[via TV Tattle]

Paula Abdul's new reality series, Hey Paula may never make it on the air if Pilgrim Films and Television has anything to say about it.

In 2004, Pilgrim's producers reportedly met with Paula to discuss creating a talk show together. Pilgrim claims the original talk show concept was scrapped, but a new concept emerged -- a reality show based on Paula's crazy professional and personal life, called Hey Paula. However, the project soon "fell apart" over Paula's demand for "editorial control." That allegedly didn't stop Paula from secretly taking the show to Bravo behind Pilgrim's back.

It's only January 14, but I think this might be the TV clip of the year.

70s pop singer Leo Sayer quit the UK version of Big Brother recently. Was he attacked by another player? Was there a love triangle? Was there some sort of confrontation in the house? Well, no. He quit because of...dirty underwear!

I guess the Big Brother rules say they won't give you more underwear if you want it, you have to clean your own. In the video after the jump, Sayer talks about not having clean underwear and the fact he doesn't want to wash his clothes in front of the other players because it's not "safe and sanitary." Hell, Jermaine Jackson even offers to wash the clothes for him! Sayer freaks out, and please note that a lot of the language isn't safe for timid ears. (After watching the video, go back to a gentler time and listen to Sayers' hit song "When I Need You").

I just saw this story that a new show is going to debut tonight. It's from the people behind American Idol, and it's titled Corkscrewed: The Wrath of Grapes. It's a reality show set in the world of wine. Yes, a reality show set in the world of wine. Maybe I didn't hear about it because it's on the FOX Reality Channel, and I think I'd rather have nothing but Oxygen and the Style Channel on 24 hours a day than watch that.

The show will follow two executive producers (Nigel Lythgoe and Ken Warwick) as they go through the trials and tribulations of dealing with a new vineyard that they've bought together. The first episode will have cameos from Simon Cowell, Ryan Seacrest, and Randy Jackson, but no Paula Abdul. Maybe she was zoned out busy that day.

Actually, a documentary-style series about the world of wine might be kind of interesting, but since it's on a reality channel and from the makers of American Idol, it's probably going to be more reality show-ish than documentary.