the mole-related stories
Posted Jul 16th 2009 4:28PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Awards, Emmys
In a last hurrah,
The Mole was nominated for
Outstanding Original Main Title Theme Music in the Emmys. Like
Pushing Daises, we'll probably never see
The Mole on ABC again. The nomination had to be one of those, "well, we really don't have any other better options" decisions.
The show's intro was probably the best new reality opening theme of the past year. The only other reality theme I could remember was
Stylista's and only because it was a pastiche of girly shopping.
Continue reading The Mole's last hurrah?
Posted Aug 12th 2008 12:04AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S05E11) "How can she be a doctor and threaten to kill people?" - Kristen, about Nicole
Yes!
Could fans of
The Mole had written a better outcome for the show? I guess there is one scenario (which I'll get to after the jump to avoid front page spoilers) that would have been just as good as what happened tonight, but this was perfect too. And I'm actually happy with myself for correctly guessing last week who the Mole was. I even picked up on one of the clues! Of course, I had no idea what the sound meant until a couple of you readers played the sound backwards (thanks!).
Let's take a look at who won, who the Mole was, who lost, how the Mole fooled everyone, and what clues were scattered throughout the season.
Continue reading The Mole: Season Finale
Posted Aug 11th 2008 4:00PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
NBC has more Olympics coverage all night.- At 8, ABC has a new High School Musical: Get in the Picture.
- Food Network has a new Good Eats at 8, followed by new episodes of How'd That Get On My Plate? and Unwrapped.
- ESPN has more Little League World Series coverage at 8.
- At 9, PBS has a new History Detectives.
- There's a new Monday Night RAW on USA at 9.
- TNT has a new episode of The Closer at 9, then a new Saving Grace.
- MTV has the new movie The American Mall at 9.
- VH-1 has a new I Want To Work For Diddy at 9.
- At 10, ABC has the season finale of The Mole.
- ABC Family has a new Middleman at 10.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
- Also at 10: Food Network has a new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
Posted Aug 11th 2008 8:07AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Industry, Programming, Celebrities, Reality-Free
Our Monday morning roundup of a half dozen things TV Squad readers - and TV fans in general - will be talking about this week.1. The death of Bernie Mac. He was going to star in a new sitcom on FOX, and now he's gone, at the much too young age of 50.
2. The Olympics. Did you know that many of these athletes have gone through very trying times to get to the Games? It's true! (All week on NBC, with coverage on MSNBC, CNBC, and USA as well.)
3. The new star of CSI. Producers are currently negotiating with Laurence Fishburne, but I'm really holding out hope for Andy Dick.
4. The season finale of The Mole. Is it Craig, Nicole, or Mark? More importantly, will we get another season of this show? And if we do, will ABC actually promote it? (Tonight at 10pm on ABC.)
5. The Bob Saget Roast. Expect lots of jokes about the Olsen Twins. (Sunday at 10pm on Comedy Central.)
6. ABC's Wanna Bet? Just kidding! This is actually what TV Squad readers
won't be talking about this week.
Posted Aug 6th 2008 12:41PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry
The ratings for
The Mole have been ho-hum, and
ABC President Steve MacPherson says that if the ratings don't improve then we probably won't see another season of the show. Now, he said this a few weeks ago, so we've had a few episodes since then (and the season/series finale is next Monday), so he has probably already made up his mind about the show, though he likes the show and is pleased with the
efforts to save it.
Of course, you can do a lot more. Someone has come up with the idea of
sending lemons to ABC to save the show, a la the nuts campaign that saved
Jericho for a half season. Why lemons?
Mole contestant Paul kept a lucky lemon with him all the time, and at one point Clay even threw it at him during an argument. (Reality Blurred doesn't really seem to like the show, but the article above is interesting anyway.)
So, start stocking up on lemons. And make sure you draw little sad faces on them.
Posted Aug 4th 2008 4:04PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, FOX has the Teen Choice Awards.- ABC has a new High School Musical: Get in the Picture at 8, then a new episodes of Wanna Bet? and The Mole.
- NBC has the season finales of American Gladiators and Nashville Star.
- At 9, Lifetime has the new movie The Fab Five: The Texas Cheerleader Scandal.
- There's a new Monday Night RAW on USA at 9.
- TNT has a new episode of The Closer at 9, followed by a new Saving Grace.
- VH-1 has the series premiere of I Want To Work For Diddy.
- Also at 9: GSN has a new World Poker Tour.
- At 10, ABC has a new Middleman.
- Food Network has a new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives at 10.
- Travel Channel has a new Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations at 10.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
Check your
local TV listings for more.
Posted Jul 30th 2008 2:06PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, Game Show, Reality-Free
Ah, another day, another list. This one is from PopCrunch, and it lists the
25 Best Game Shows of All-Time. And yes, it will provoke discussion and hair-pulling.
It's not a bad list actually, as these things go. It's a little predictable (and I certainly wouldn't have included
Love Connection,
Deal or No Deal, or
Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader?), but there are some good choices here.
Press Your Luck was a great show (though it should be higher on the list), and it's hard to argue with how high shows like
Jeopardy and
The Price is Right are. I also like that they included
The Mole (the first two Anderson Cooper-hosted seasons) and
Remote Control.
Continue reading Love Connection is not one of the best game shows of all-time
Posted Jul 29th 2008 12:27AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S05E09) "I've been wanting to shoot somebody ever since I got here." - NicoleSo here we are down to four players: Nicole, Paul, Craig, and Mark. These are the four players that a lot of us have been thinking could be
The Mole. That means we're great at guessing this game but it also makes it harder to figure out at this point since any of them could be the guilty party.
It could also mean there's just no way to figure out who the hell the mole is so we might as well just sit back and enjoy the show. But I can't leave it alone...
Continue reading The Mole: Episode 9
Posted Jul 28th 2008 4:02PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
The Discovery Channel's Shark Week continues. - At 8, ABC has a new High School Musical: Get in the Picture, followed by new episodes of Wanna Bet? and The Mole.
- NBC has a new American Gladiators at 8, then new episodes of Nashville Star and Dateline.
- TCM has a new Under The Influence at 8, featuring Quentin Tarantino.
- At 9, PBS has a new History Detectives.
- TNT has a new episode of The Closer at 9, then a new Saving Grace.
- There's a new Monday Night RAW on USA at 9.
- GSN has a new World Poker Tour at 9.
- At 10, ABC Family has a new Middleman.
- Food Network has a new Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives at 10.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Posted Jul 22nd 2008 1:01AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S05E08) I was always terrible at math in school, which probably explains why I'm typing this right now. So this episode of The Mole, at least the first half, is rather tense for me. I like to follow along with the questions and the clues and try to figure out stuff myself in this game (as much as you can in an edited format), and all of the questions involving math problems in the first challenge confuse me. Still, I knew the answer to that one question was 455, and I couldn't understand why Clay was insisting it was a number it couldn't possibly be. Could he be screwing up the numbers on purpose because he's (insert dramatic music)...the Mole?
Continue reading The Mole: Episode 8
Posted Jul 21st 2008 4:03PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new High School Musical: Get in the Picture, followed by the premiere of Wanna Bet? and a new episode of The Mole. - NBC has a new American Gladiators at 8, followed by new episodes of Nashville Star and Dateline.
- Versus has more coverage of the Tour de France at 8.
- TCM has a new Under The Influence at 8, featuring Laurence Fishburne.
- At 9, PBS has a new History Detectives.
- TNT has a new episode of The Closer at 9, then a new Saving Grace.
- There's a new Unwrapped on Food Network at 9, followed by a new How'd That Get On My Plate?
- GSN has a new World Poker Tour at 9.
- At 10, ABC Family has a new Middleman.
- E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
- Also at 10: Travel Channel has a new Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 2:49PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Industry, Programming, Ratings
Another week, another petition to save a show.
Producers of ABC's spy reality series The Mole have created a web site to save the ratings-challenged show -- Save The Mole. Right now the site consists of an open letter to fans from Scott Stone and Clay Newbill, the producers of the show.
They say that while a lot of critics agree that the show is one of the smarter reality shows, it's not doing well in that all-important 18 to 49 demographic. Those specific ratings are stale, but there's still time to save the show. They want hardcore fans to get other friends to watch the show, post on the ABC message boards, and go to the Mole Facebook page. They also announce that FOX Reality Channel will have a marathon of the current season this Sunday at 11 AM.
The site is very low-tech. Just black text on a white background with a couple of images. It's rather 1997-ish, but I actually like it.
Posted Jul 15th 2008 8:23AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S05E06 and S05E07)
Yup, that's right, there are two episodes of The Mole this week, thanks to last week's interruption by The Bachelorette. Of course, it turns out that the first episode is just one of those reality show "up to this point..." rehashes that we often get. These always bore me, especially since I've seen (and reviewed) every episode already. I'm sure there are a few new clues to who the Mole is in this recap, but I'll be damn if I could find them.
We did, however, get to see some unseen footage, including the very large Craig rolling over some of his fellow players on a bed and Nicole saying "All I have to do is be black and die," a quote from an earlier episode that I had forgotten about. We also get to see a new scene where Nicole and Alex admitted throwing that "Fruit of the Luge" challenge. But overall, it's not really a needed episode for fans.
So let's get to this week's new adventure...
Continue reading The Mole: Episodes 6 and 7
Posted Jul 14th 2008 4:01PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Programming, What To Watch Tonight, Reality-Free
At 8, ABC has a new reunion episode of The Bachelor, then two new episodes of The Mole. - NBC has a new American Gladiators at 8, followed by new episodes of Nashville Star and Dateline.
- TCM has a new Under The Influence with Bill Murray, followed by A Night at the Opera.
- At 9, PBS has a new History Detectives.
- There's a new Monday Night RAW on USA at 9.
- GSN has a new World Poker Tour at 9.
- Also at 9: TNT has the season premiere of The Closer, then the season premiere of Saving Grace.
- At 10, ABC Family has a new Middleman.
- E! has a new episode of The Soup at 10.
- MTV has a new Legally Blonde at 10.
- Showtime has a new Weeds at 10.
Check your local TV listings for more.
Posted Jul 9th 2008 6:00PM by Richard Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Survivor, Big Brother (US)
The summer of 2000 started out to be a typical one for television: repeats, theatrical movies edited for television, repeats, shows that needed to be burned off because they were so bad, and repeats. It was a formula that hadn't really changed for the Big Three networks in several years. And, it was one that viewers had gotten used to as they mourned the last episode of their favorite series and waited with eagerness for the new season to begin in September.
Then, something happened. CBS decided to air a 'game show' about a group of strangers stranded on a tropical island. Survivor began at the end of May and continued into the end of August. Along the way it gained more and more fans and produced more and more publicity for both the show and the network. By the last episode, on August 23rd, Survivor had become a huge success as well as one of the highest rated original shows ever to air in the summer.
Little did CBS know that this summer replacement show would begin the Reality Revolution and change the landscape of network television forever more.
Continue reading A history of reality television (part three): Big Brothers, Amazing Races and naked castaways - VIDEOS
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