Watching Reality TV

Yep, it’s time for another roundup. Sit back and enjoy the reality-filled goodness!

• There’s news about “Dancing with the Stars” today, as we’ve got wind of some celebrity cast wannabes. Apparently, Chris Harrison, the host of “The Bachelor” wants to be on the show, as does Paige Hemmis from “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition”. So far, Chris hasn’t been signed onto the show due to scheduling concerns. Rightly so, as it might be a little strange for him to be on a show that led into his own show directly after. Paige says it’s “not if, but when” and that the only reason she hasn’t been on the show yet is because she was in the middle of “Extreme Makeover’s” shooting schedule for this season. But maybe in the spring…
• In other “Dancing with the Stars” news, it’s going to be a video game released for the Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation come the end of the month. Look to see player interaction with the game (which the Wii is already somewhat famous for). This looks to be capitalizing on the fame of the “Dance Dance Revolution” games while also adding the flair of the ABC reality show. I think this game could be a big hit for the holiday season. Check out the video below to see a portion of the game in action.
• Have you heard there’s going to be a “Celebrity Apprentice”? I sure hadn’t. After last season’s dismal ratings, I thought “The Apprentice” was done for. But apparently, that’s not all true and expect to see this installment hit the airwaves later on this year (or early in 2008). There are already some names of celebrities being leaked, such as Carol Alt, Stephen Baldwin, John Cena, Marilu Henner, Lennox Lewis, Tito Ortiz, Vincent Pastore, Gene Simmons, and former Apprentice cast member Omarosa. Omarosa?? AUGH!
• Do you all remember hearing about FOX’s “American Idol” clone, “The Next Great American Band”? It premiered, apparently, and didn’t do so hot in the ratings. Apparently, this show is no “American Idol”. But as with most insanely popular reality TV shows, you can’t duplicate a hit very well so this doesn’t come as a large surprise. But it’s disheartening to hear that this show is doing particularly bad and that so many people who had their hopes up for it may have them dashed all over again.

I’ll admit, recently I haven’t been watching “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” as much as I used to.  I used to watch it darn near every week.  Last night, however, there wasn’t much else on to watch and it looked rather interesting.  The crew was in Hawaii, for the first time in the show’s history.  And I couldn’t help being enthralled by the stunning vistas and relaxing ukulele music piped into the soundtrack.  I’d like to see who among you could resist Hawaii when presented in such a pleasing manner.

It was a pretty good episode too.  The family was one of those ones who is a champion of the community, always looking out for others before themselves.  And as a result, their home was inches away from being washed into the river.  There has been some controversy, the family makes over $100,000 a year and the land on which the house was built was given by the state as a grant.  However, I don’t think that should have made a difference in how deserving the family was.  Hawaii is a very expensive place to live and these people were hardly living in the lap of luxury.

As always, Ty and the crew built a monstrous, gorgeous house for the family and yet again I wonder if they have paramedics on hand for when they reveal the house to the family.  Because the lady last night looked like she could have maybe used it.

It was a long episode, as “EM: HE” tends to be these days.  I think one hour would cover it sufficiently most of the time.   But overall I was glad I tuned in and I’m still incredibly jealous of that soaking tub they gave the parents.  I sure wouldn’t mind one of those!

When I saw the headline for this new article, I thought, “What, is it a slow news day?” It’s hardly breaking news that ABC’s reality hit “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is a bit of a tear jerker. In an interview in the January 29 issue of OK! Weekly, some of the show’s designers dish up about the emotional toll the show takes on them. One only has to watch an episode or two of the show and watch the designers tear up multiple times during the building of yet another dream house to know this is true. In fact, one could make a drinking game out of it; take a drink each time a designer cries. That is, of course, if you weren’t busy tearing up yourself.

Designer Tracey Hutson said, “Sometimes it gets a little hard because you can’t help but have empathy for these families; especially since I’ve become a mom myself, I get even more emotional.” Her cohort and co-star Paige Hemmis says, “I keep in touch with a lot of the families because we genuinely care.” And the ladies aren’t the only ones who get choked up. Carpenter Ed Sanders said, “It’s impossible not to get affected by the stories of these families.”

I figure working on this show has to extremely hard work. Long hours, lots of traveling, sincerely physical work. But I doubt there are many more jobs that are more rewarding in the end. Good work, guys.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, ABC, Paige Hemmis, Tracey Hutson, Ed Sanders