Watching Reality TV

Welcome to another installment of the “Roundup“!  I trust you all had a good weekend.  I just recently switched television providers and now have access to the Game Show Network which provides me with LOTS of reality TV reruns.  I’m never at a loss for something to watch!  But, I’m sure you want todays news so here goes:

• “Big Brother 8″s Eric and Jessica are still together, according to an article over at reality blurred.   Right now, it’s a long distance relationship as Jessica finishes up college in Kansas but they still get together for some weekends and for holidays and have plans to reevaluate things once Jessica is “free”.  Apparently, fans are very happy when they see them out and about together.  Sounds as if that’s going to continue, at least for a while.  I hope so, I know those long distance relationships can be tough.  Best of luck to both of them in the future!
• Perhaps you’ve heard that since “Viva Laughlin” was canceled, that “Amazing Race 12″ was bumped up from a mid-winter start to a premiere on November 4 (that’s next Sunday, to you and me).  This is fantastic news for Race fans out there like myself.  And, CBS has recently revealed the identities of the teams that will be racing.  We’re looking at older teams than we saw back in “AR 10″ (before the all-star version), with the average age being 32.  Seeing as how I’m knocking on 32’s door, I don’t think it’s THAT old, but these reality shows have been casting a lot of young people lately so it’s nice to see more “contemporaries”.  Actually, I don’t care how old they are, I just want wait to watch it.  I hope this season lives up to the hype!

That’s all I have time for today.  Don’t forget to watch “DWTS” tonight, we have another round of competition to look forward to!

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.

Yep, it’s that time again.  Did everyone have a good weekend?

• First off, we’ve got the revelation that Heather Mills competed in last season’s “Dancing with the Stars” because there was a rumor she was already cast.  Not the other way around.   Apparently, when a British tabloid published a rumor that Heather Mills (as in the ex-Mrs. McCartney) was going to be on the next season of “Dancing with the Stars”, the executive producers thought it wasn’t a half bad idea and offered her a gig.  And she went for it!  Of course, we all know that I didn’t care for Ms. Mills one bit and I would have been happy had the executive producers not seen that tabloid article.  Still, it’s interesting to find out that that is how she got on the show.
• In other “DWTS” news (and not necessarily happy news at that), Samantha Harris is back on the show tonight after her maternity leave.  *sigh*  I don’t enjoy her, I just don’t.  I think she’s too forced.  However, the MSNBC article says it is her clumsiness with the microphone that makes her endearing.  Uhm.  If you say so.
• The “American Idol” road tour has been fined for violating child labor laws.  Apparently, letting underage teenagers perform without the proper permits is against the law.  The tour was fined $5,000 for 16 violations and is agreeing to pay up with no contest.  You just know this is Sanjaya’s fault.  Okay, maybe winner Jordin Sparks has something to do with it too but I just love to blame Sanjaya.
• We’ve got some early and not so savory news for “Big Brother” fans out there:  According to a recent interview with ex-houseguest Jessica, Eric was told by the producers NOT to use the power of veto, keeping Dick and Daniele in the house when Jessica would have put one of them up for a certain eviction.  Jessica says that Eric was told, ‘Do not use it. You don’t have a choice. You are to keep nominations the same.’  I’m assuming this is something that Eric confided in Jessica since the show has ended.  You know, all I can say is GAH.

That’s all for now because now I’m all disgusted and stuff.  Stupid “Big Brother” producers… grumble.

While there aren’t any shows of note on Sunday nights to talk about Monday morning, I’m going to be doing a feature called the “Monday Reality TV Roundup”.  It’s been a long (long) time since I’ve done a roundup of reality TV news, so I figure it’s past due to go over a few things.  After you’re done here, you can consider yourself sufficiently armed with what’s going on in the world of reality TV.

• I haven’t talked a lot about So You Think You Can Dance on this blog.  Mostly because I’ve never watched it.  But that doesn’t mean there isn’t reality TV news associated with the show.  Buddy TV recently scored a mean interview (and a super cool photo) with some of the top dancers from the national tour.  They were asked about their favorite dances, what it’s like to be on tour (girls in one bus, boys in another!), and what they see in the stars after the tour is over.
• Remember what a pain Johnny “Fairplay” was on Survivor that one season (please don’t make me look it up)?  Apparently, Danny Bonaduce thinks he’s a big douce too, because at the FOX Reality Channel awards last week, there was an incident where Johnny was attempting to dry hump Bonaduce’s face (seriously), and Danny threw him over his shoulder.  The DA’s office decided not to press charges of assault against Bonaduce, as he was clearly acting in self-defense.  WOW.  How did I miss that?
• Did you know that reality TV show producers aren’t legally bound to stop a crime that is in the works?  This is why we’re able to enjoy footage of drunk drivers out of control or contestants beat the stuffing out of each other.  This is because producers are considered to be normal people and the US doesn’t have any law requiring anyone to prevent a crime they see happening.  (Doesn’t this make you think of that “Seinfeld” finale episode?)  It all comes down to a moral dilemma, not a legal one.  That is, unless, the producers created the situation the crime is taking place in.  Such as that nasty moment in “Big Brother 2″ where Justin held a knife to Crista’s throat and she sued CBS.  Ahh, good times.