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.

This last summer saw a significant backslide in the ratings for a variety of reality TV shows, including “Pirate Master” and “On the Lot”.  This has caused NBC and CBS at least to seriously reconsider its schedule for next summer.  While I’m not 100% sure both of those networks will be eschewing reality TV altogether, it does sound like both networks are hoping to rely less on reality TV and more on scripted television.  Meanwhile, ABC will continue with reality programming, however “next year, it might be smarter to do fewer shows but maybe market them better.â€?  Ya think?  Maybe picking better shows to begin with might help too.

FOX, meanwhile, isn’t apologizing for anything, saying, “We’re probably going to rely more on unscripted than scripted in the summer.â€?  I understand budgets are a consideration and reality TV programs are a lot less expensive to produce.  But sometimes, you get what you pay for.  I think the networks need to invest in the viewing public, or else the viewing public will simply turn to cable programming during the summer months.

I’m sure all of you by now have heard of CBS’s new reality TV show, “Kid Nation”.   It’s a show that has 40 children let lose in a ghost town in the middle of New Mexico.  The children are then challenged to rebuild and run the town all on their own.  They have 40 days to sink or swim.  Unlike “Survivor”, there aren’t weekly eliminations and each child could go home whenever they wished.  Each child that finishes the entire series will be awarded $5,000 with a $20,000 bonus to the child voted the best participant of each episode.  This show has been drumming up some serious controversy, between questions about violating child labor laws, to parents outrage to questions over the safety of letting children cook/etc alone unsupervised.  In the midst of all this, “Kid Nation” is getting some great publicity and I doubt there’s too many people out there who haven’t heard of this new show (premiering September 19 at 8pm) and aren’t at least a little interested in checking it out and seeing what all the hubub is about.

You see dozens of these shows on your television every day; a former celebrity or small name celebrity has their own show or is a part of a reality show highlighting the life of a minor celebrity and through that they find a new lease on fame. There’s Paula Abdul and her show “Hey, Paula” on Bravo and let’s not forget “Scott Baio is 45… and Single!” over on VH1.  There’s also “The Two Coreys” which debuted on Sunday on A&E and features former 80’s teen idols Corey Haim and Corey Feldman (yeah, I’ll admit, I’d kinda like to see that one). We also have “Hogan Knows Best” featuring former wrestling star Hulk Hogan on VH1 and “My Life on the D-List” on Bravo with Kathy Griffin.  So why are these shows so popular? I’m thinking it’s the glimpse into the life of a celebrity, no matter how minor, that we find so fascinating.   As the article over at MSNBC.com says, we’re lured in by promises that everything we see is real and authentic, even when that’s not always entirely the case.  Just like any reality show, things are dramatized and situations are manipulated for added drama.  Still, even knowing this, it’s hard to stay away.  I can attest that Scott Baio’s show is particularly addictive.  I doubt his conceit is entirely manufactured.

Victoria Beckham won’t be doing her reality show any more.  The former Spice Girl and British sensation has quit her NBC reality show detailing her families move and transition to the United States in order to (wait for it) spend more time with her family.  Also, she would have had to miss husband David Beckham’s soccer games for the next several weeks in order to film the show and that was a compromise she wasn’t willing to make.  Apparently, Victoria had told NBC executives up front that she would be by her husband’s side at all games but they thought she would still give the TV show precedence.  I guess they misjudged that one, eh?  Apparently, floored by this new development, the producers are scrambling to salvage what they have left of the show and work it into an hour-long special, rather than a reality series.  Next time, listen to the lady, fellas.

NBC announced that they will air the live finale of “The Apprentice: LA” from the infamous Hollywood Bowl on Sunday, April 22 at 10pm. The Donald will grace the same stage as such greats as The Who, The Doors and The Beatles. The Bowl is 84 years old, but recently received a renovation in 2004. The Bowl is now wired for video with huge video screens which will serve the finale quite well. I hate to sound snarky (I do!), but this sounds like just the sort of buzz-creating stunt that Donald Trump specializes in. However, given my opinion of him (and via him, his series as well), this will only serve to tarnish my own opinion of the Hollywood Bowl. Let’s hope NBC euthanizes “The Apprentice” soon, eh?

Donald Trump, The Apprentice, season finale, Hollywood Bowl

I know this isn’t the “American Idol” blog, but I can’t just ignore the fact that last night a reality tv star won the highest and most prestigious award Hollywood has to offer. Just a few years ago, she was yet another contestant on “American Idol”, and not a very successful one at that. The judges weren’t impressed with her, and neither was America and she was sent packing. But her foot was in the door and that was all she needed to land the part of a lifetime in the film “Dreamgirls”. The rest, as we might say, is history. She’s won award after award and last night she grabbed an Oscar. Good for her. On the red carpet, Ryan Seacrest had a reunion with her. He showed her a taped video of Simon saying that he was rooting for her and was happy for her. Which was nice of him. Must have been hard to eat all that crow though.

I enjoy seeing reality stars make it in the “big” world. Elisabeth Hasslebeck has done pretty well for herself on “The View”. I can’t include Rob and Amber here, as their success hasn’t happened yet outside of the realm of reality tv. Hopefully we’ll see more of these examples in the future. Stay tuned tomorrow for my recap of last night’s “Amazing Race”. (Yes, I forgot to DVR it… again.)

Poor Donald. It’s quite possibly a blow to his ego. And I can’t help but smile at the notion (yes, I’m still miffed at The Donald for being such an arse back in December). NBC, disappointed in “The Apprentice” ratings on Sunday nights at 9pm, has decided to move the reality show back an hour to 10pm. “Desperate Housewives” has been handily beating “The Apprentice” (and then some) in the ratings each week. While this is the first time “The Apprentice” will be aired at 10pm, it’s not the first time the show has been shuffled around timeslots. The news of this latest move comes on the heels of some of the lowest ratings “The Apprentice” has seen during its tenure. I could have told NBC that putting “The Apprentice” up on Sunday night’s opposite “Desperate Housewives” and “Without a Trace” was a poor idea.

The new time slot for “The Apprentice” will take effect starting March 4th.

It’s approximately 15 minutes after I first read the news online that former reality tv star Anna Nicole Smith has died and I still have a hard time believing it. Apparently, she collapsed at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in southern Florida just hours ago. She was rushed to a local hospital where doctors tried to resuscitate her, to no avail. It’s not known at the moment what caused her collapse. She was under a great deal of pressure regarding the paternity of her baby daughter Dannielynn and was embroiled in a bitter court dispute over DNA testing. This is a tragic, tragic thing for her family and for her baby.

Anna stared as herself in the reality show, “The Anna Nicole Show” which aired from 2002-2004 on E!.

Anna Nicole Smith, celebrity deaths, Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, The Anna Nicole Show

I think we all saw this one coming. Four episodes into the series, CBS has decided to yank “Armed and Famous”, which follows five d-list celebrities around Muncie, Indiana as they perform duties as police officers. Seven episodes total were planned and filmed. What of the remaining three episodes? VH1 will air at least one of those episodes this weekend with the original four. It all came down to ratings. The reality show was airing opposite “American Idol”, for one thing. The show was 44th in the ratings during the first week, falling to 70th in the second. A shame to the celebrities and the town of Muncie, to be sure. I can’t think of too many reality shows or even regular shows for that matter that would fare well against “American Idol”, much less one with such a dubious setup. Oh well, see ya on the flip side, Erik Estrada!

I felt I should let you all know that I won’t be covering “American Idol” here any longer. Why is that, you ask? Because 451Press has got it’s own “American Idol” blog! And since there’s not much point in two blogs here covering the same news, I’ll concentrate on the other reality tv news that’s floating around out there. Stuff like a new Fox show where women “rule the world”, or the news of “Dancing with the Stars 4’s” premiere date, as well as the horrifying revelation that Donald Trump is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. God, help us. So there’s plenty of reality tv to go around, even without “Idol”. But, if you’re here to read about how AWFUL the contestants were last night, you might want to head over to Watching American Idol and get your juicy news there!

***

From now until the end of January (the contest actually started on January 8th), 451Press has a huge network-wide contest to get those readers commenting! To win, all you need to do is comment on any blog in the 451Press network. And since you get an entry for each comment, it pays to comment as often and on as many blogs as you can! Now, this goes for valid comments that include a valid email address. Since that’s how the bigwigs will get in contact with you if you win, if you supply a bogus email, there’s no way we can let you know you won!

And what can you win? How does $500 sound? That’s the Grand Prize! There are also five First Prizes, which is $100 apiece. Not bad for just sharing your opinion, right? So what are you waiting for? Let me know what you think about “Armed and Famous” and how awesome Jack Osborne is on it.

American Idol, 451press, comment contest, contest, new blog

This is HUGE news for “Survivor” fans! Ever since “Survivor: Cook Islands” wrapped up, we’ve been left to wonder what the next season would be like. After all, host Jeff Probst left us with such juicy hints regarding “Survivor: Fiji”. CBS is starting to let us in on the fun, thank goodness. They’ve announced the cast of “Survivor: Fiji”, the premiere date (February 8!) and talked about some of the twists we can expect during the season. We already heard about the “luxury camp” twist when we saw the teaser trailer for the Fiji season. But we learned more about how the twist would be used and how the tribes will be determined as well.

As CBS announced last month, the new season will feature an ethically diverse cast, however unlike last season’s Survivor: Cook Islands edition, Survivor: Fuji’s won’t be divided by race. Instead, all nineteen contestants will begin the game living in one “exceptionally comfortable” camp. Then, on Day 3, one of the castaways — who will be determined by an undisclosed event that will take place before the game’s first Immunity Challenge — will be given the task of splitting the group into two tribes.

Once the castaways are divided into their two new tribes, the tribes will then compete in an Immunity Challenge that will not only determine which tribe will win immunity, but also determine which of the new tribes will get to return to the plush camp that they had all initially shared. The losers will be forced to relocate to a new island that, in a The Apprentice: Los Angeles-like twist that Survivor host Jeff Probst first revealed during December’s Survivor: Cook Islands finale broadcast, will have “virtually nothing” — only a pot, a machete and a water source.

The show will feature 19 contestants. Why nineteen? There were originally going to be twenty, but according to a report by Us Weekly, one of the contestants dropped out the night before the show began, forcing production to make do with the nineteen left on hand. So let’s get to know these nineteen contestants, shall we?

• Alex Angarita, 28-year-old attorney who currently reside in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Colombia
• Kenward “Boo” Bernis, a 34-year-old construction worker from Lafayette, LA
• Yau-Man Chan, a 54-year-old computer engineer who currently resides in Martinez, CA but was born in Hong Kong and raised in Borneo, Malaysia
• Earl Cole, a 35-year-old advertising executive who currently resides in Santa Monica, CA and is originally Kansas City, KS
• Jessica deBen, a 27-year-old fashion stylist who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from New Orleans, LA
• Erica Durousseau, a 27-year-old non-profit fundraiser from Lake Charles, LA
• Cassandra Franklin, a 42-year-old civil engineer manager from Los Angeles, CA
• Liliana Gomez, a 25-year-old loan officer from Oxnard, CA
• Andria “Dre” Herd, a 25-year-old cheerleading coach from Wilmington, NC
• Stacy Kimball, a 27-year-old interactive Internet producer from Montpelier, VT
• Sylvia Kwan, a 52-year-old architect from Ross, CA who was born in Hong Kong
• Mookie Lee, a 25-year-old loan manager from Wheeling, IL who was born in Seoul, Korea
• Lisette “Lisi” Linares, a 36-year-old customer service representative who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Miami, FL
• James Reid, a 28-year-old bartender who currently resides in Los Angeles, CA and is originally from Boston, MA
• Edgardo Rivera, a 28-year-old advertising executive who currently resides in Miami Beach, FL and is originally from Puerto Rico
• Anthony Robinson, a 32-year-old expert witness locator from Compton, CA
• Gary Stritesky, a 55-year-old school bus driver from Ramsey, MN
• Rita Verreos, a 38-year-old single mom who currently resides in San Antonio, TX and is originally from Venezuela
• Michelle Yi, a 23-year-old student from Cincinnati, OH

You might notice that an awful lot of these contestants currently live in California, especially Los Angeles. This must be due to casting issues, of course. But I notice that CBS is sensitive to the issue by many times stating that they “currently reside” in California, but they are from someplace else in the country, maybe even someplace else in the world. The cast look pretty racially diverse, which is nice and we have a fairly interesting diversity in career as well.

February 8 is coming up awfully quick, so set your VCRs (or DVRs, since this is the new millennium) to Thursday nights at 8pm on CBS. Looks to be an interesting season!

Survivor, cast list, premiere date, twists

Fox has announced the entire early season schedule for “American Idol”, right down to the day. That means we know when each episode will air, from the always-entertaining auditions to the first of the 12 finalists being voted off on a live-show. For those “Idol” die-hards out there, this is a good thing to know. We can all set our TIVO’s, DVR’s, and VCR’s and be ready for the onslaught of bad auditions, outrageous contestants and that special brand of humiliation that only Simon Cowell can deliver. We will be treated to a full four weeks of auditions and two episodes of “Hollywood Round” callbacks, after which we will be introduced to the 24 semifinalists on February 14. The auditions and “Hollywood Round” episodes will be aired twice weekly, and the elimination of the semifinalists will be aired three times a week for three weeks. WOW, that’s a lot of “Idol”! More to love, I’m sure. If you’d like to see the entire early season schedule as reported by RealityTVWorld for yourself, click the link below.

(more…)

Happy New Year, tv watchers! You may be wondering what the new year will have to bring to your television sets. I found a great roundup of the reality tv schedule over at Reality TV World. This gives us a good look at what (and when) old favorites are returning for another go (”Survivor”, “Amazing Race” and “America’s Next Top Model” to name a few) as well as some new shows (”Grease: You’re the One That I Want” and “I’m From Rolling Stone” are a couple). Give it a look-see, after the jump.

(more…)

I’ve been out of the loop for a while now and I apologize to all you reality tv fans out there. I had a very, very sick baby on my hands and (perhaps foolishly) we went out of town for the holidays as well. But I’m back home and the baby is on the mend, so it’s time to get back to the news!

• I’m sure you’ve all heard (if you’re not currently residing under a rock) about the mega-feud between Rosie O’Donnell and Donald Trump (creator and head honcho type over at “The Apprentice”). The battle, which originated when Donald granted a pardon to disgraced the Miss USA, has heated back up again after a cool holiday truce between the two personalities. I rather liken it to watching six-year olds fight on the playground. Regardless, it brings good press to “The Apprentice 6″ and the new season airing in January.
• Jenna Fisher of NBC’s “The Office” reportedly wanted to be on the first season of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” but was turned down by the show’s producers! At the time, she wasn’t sure that “The Office” gig would last and wanted perhaps another shot at fame. Maybe she’ll get another shot at it in the future? That is, if she’s interested since “The Office” has gained such popularity and probably keeps the young actress pretty busy these days. At any rate, it’s yet another celeb who has wanted to be on that show.
• “American Idol” winner Carrie Underwood is dating Dallas Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo. This quashes the rumors that Romo was seeing “Newlyweds” star Jessica Simpson. The two were spotted together on the field at Texas Stadium before the game on Christmas Day. The sports commentators even speculated that perhaps she was too big a distraction for Romo and what is why the Cowboys lost the game to the Philadelphia Eagles.

That should cover the highlights and hopefully sate your reality tv news-lust for the time being. I’m sorry for being gone and a Merry Belated Christmas to you all. Have a great New Years weekend!