Posted Nov 25th 2009 2:29PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
A couple of weeks ago, I alerted you folks to
the premiere of MTV's Jersey Shore, an eye-rolling show that promotes itself as a collection of the shore's "hottest, tannest, craziest Guidos." It's enough to make a Jersey guy like me nauseous.
In a shocking development, it seems like a national Italian-American group has a bit of an issue with this show.
UNICO has asked MTV to pull Jersey Shore even before it airs, calling it "trash television" that unfairly depicts Italian-Americans.
Ya think? Wonder if it was the fist-pumping that set them off? Or the drunkenness? Or the fourth-grade-level sentence structure the participants use? Or, maybe -- just maybe -- it was MTV's use of the term "Guido"
in the friggin' promo that got them upset. Not sure if I can put my finger on it.
Continue reading Surprise! Italian-American group offended by MTV's Jersey Shore
Posted Nov 25th 2009 11:03AM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, American Idol, The Simpsons, Reality-Free, Glee
It's strange that not only is it almost 2010 but it's the end of the decade.
The end of a year also means that it's time for the midseason shows to make their appearance. We already know that
Chuck and
Lost are coming back (January and February, respectively) and now FOX has announced their midseason schedule. After the jump, full details on when we'll see the return of Jack Bauer, Simon Cowell, Gordon Ramsay, reality shows, new shows, and special episodes of your favorites.
Continue reading FOX announces midseason schedule
Posted Nov 24th 2009 6:03PM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
Last night was the series finale of
Jon and Kate Plus 8 and the show ended as if it was any season finale. The family went on their two last adventures while Kate and Jon narrated how they will be good parents. TLC tried their best to put Jon in a negative light, but Jon's media training forced him to make diplomatic statements.
With the divorce,
Jon and Kate Plus 8 was cut short. The dynamic between the parents was something to watch, but the real focus was eight children learning about the world and each other in the process. Each started gaining true personalities and by the end, I finally was able to distinguish between Alexis and Leah.
Continue reading Will you miss Jon and Kate Plus 8?
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 12:27PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Watercooler Talk
So last night was the big battle between Chef Garces and Chef Mehta, the two finalists on Food Network's
Next Iron Chef with two very different cooking styles. I didn't watch much of this season, but judging from
last night's episode I wish I had. Jeffrey Steingarten is one of my favorite judges, and it's interesting to see other iron chefs in the judging chairs.
Did the right chef win?
Posted Nov 23rd 2009 9:03AM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
I haven't been as interested in
The Real Housewives of Orange County this season, and now I'm about to check out permanently. My favorite wife has left the show.
Jeana Keough said an on screen "adios" to the Real Housewives of Orange County. She's not actually moving, but she's off the show by choice.
Jeana Keough has always impressed me as the smartest, most normal and down-to-earth housewife of the bunch. She had a completely insane marriage to Matt Keough, an ex-Major League Baseball pitcher for the Oakland A's, but she worked to keep it together. Her kids were a handful.
They were all grown up and in high school or post-high school life, but Jeana was supportive and interested and tried to be a positive role model. In her finale, she was able to show her kids pursuing their lives and bringing her pride. I think Jeana's "pal" Vicki Gunvalson wishes her children were as loving to her as Jeana's are to her.
Continue reading Jeana says goodbye to Real Housewives of Orange County
Posted Nov 21st 2009 10:02AM by Danny Gallagher
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Sports, TV on the Bigscreen, Reality-Free
If you are counting the seconds until the new big screen remake of
American Gladiators hits a theater near you, please seek immediate medical attention or the nearest clergyman for guidance.
Screenwriter Peter Iliff has developed a script for the project. The TV tough guys and gals will be turned into "superheroes" in the new movie.
That's it? Isn't that obvious? What the hell else were they going to be?
- A bunch of muscleheaded meatwads pretending to be British nannies in order to see their estranged children.
- Sinewy wimp-eaters who must constantly pull a bus with their teeth at a speed of at least 30 mph or it will explode.
Or perhaps the storyline could go something like this: A ruthless mob boss looking to bump off a key witness traveling overseas plants twelve Gladiators injected with anger inducing pheromones on his plane and unleashes them over the ocean.
Feel free to share your own ideas for this movie in the comments below.
Posted Nov 20th 2009 1:04PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Sports, OpEd, Celebrities, Documentary
Lately, Detroit Tiger all-star outfielder Curtis Granderson has been in the news because he might be joining the New York Yankees. However, if
Major League Baseball free agency doesn't make him a household name, television might. Granderson has an idea for a reality series that's being shopped around now and it's not like anything else other athletes have pitched.
Granderson's series is called Stadium Secrets and it will be like History Channel's
Cities of the Underworld. In fact, it might be suited to the History Channel. Granderson would host the show and lead viewers into the inner recesses and hidden passages of famous stadia around the world -- although it'll probably start with American locations.
Continue reading Granderson has Stadium Secrets to share
Posted Nov 20th 2009 8:57AM by John Scott Lewinski
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Programming, Children, Documentary
As December rolls around, your kids will want to watch the usual line-up of holiday specials. But, I'm guessing they wouldn't mind watching a T-Rex hunt down and tuck into a Triceratops, whatever the time of year.
Discovery Channel will put cutting-edge imaging technology to bring giant lizards to life inside and out with
Clash of the Dinosaurs. Premiering December 6 at 8 p.m. (ET/PT), the four-part series looks inside the body of a dinosaur to with cinematic photo-real 3D graphics.
According to Discovery's announcement, consulting anatomy and paleontology experts help to peel back the skin, muscles and bones of the creatures to show how they thrived. So, on second thought, maybe the kids should stick with
A Year without a Santa Claus.
Continue reading Discovery roars into December with Clash of the Dinosaurs
Posted Nov 20th 2009 4:42AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Project Runway, Standout Episodes, Episode Reviews
(
S06E14) It's finally the end of
Project Runway season six, and Carol Hannah, Althea, and Irina get to show off their looks. The three were evenly matched with a solid concept, good models, and similar makeup consultations. I've been disappointed with the way this season turned out after its long hiatus, and I'm hoping that next season's return to New York will be better.
In the end, I got the reunion show I was wondering about, in the form of
Models of the Runway. It was the weirdest use of
Project Runway's footage because the models didn't have any involvement in many of the videos.
Continue reading Review: Project Runway - Finale Part 2 (Season Finale)
Posted Nov 19th 2009 2:30PM by Allison Waldman
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Food/Home/DIY, OpEd, Top Chef
Okay, take the idea of
Shark Tank (or
Dragon's Den if you're a BBC America fan), mix it with the
Top Chef folks, offer a great grand prize and hope for the best. That's the recipe behind
NBC's new food competition show, United Plates of America. The network is turning to the Magical Elves from
Top Chef -- no, seriously, that's the production company's name -- to succeed in the food field where NBC has flopped in the past. Remember
The Chopping Block? Remember Rocco DiSpirito's
The Restaurant? NBC has more luck with the dieters on
The Biggest Loser.
This go-round is not about a single restaurant. It's about a chain of restaurants. To me, that's a questionable goal. Most successful chains start off with one great restaurant and then take off. This concept is go big or go home. Maybe it's more complicated, but it doesn't sound that way.
Continue reading NBC cooks up a new food reality show with a big prize
Posted Nov 19th 2009 1:30AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(S13E11) I love how Tyra Banks creates revisionist history on
America's Next Top Model. Not only does she denounce Adrianne Curry's name, she now is ignoring the fact that Eva, who was 5' 6.5" won Cycle Three against "normal" sized models. That's an accomplishment.
This cycle's finale episode was less hectic than previous cycles because there were only two contestants, so the commercial, photoshoots, and model walks felt better paced. I like the concept, we should have final twos for the remaining seasons.
For the first time in a long time, I didn't mind if either Nicole or Laura won. Both took stunning photos.
Continue reading Review: America's Next Top Model - America's Next Top Model Is... (Season Finale)
Posted Nov 16th 2009 4:35PM by Bob Sassone
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, Music and Variety, Celebrities
So Simon Cowell and Sting are going at each other.
Sting said some not-so-nice things about The X Factor , including "it's a preposterous show, and you have judges who have no recognizable talent apart from self-promotion...basically I was looking at televised karaoke." Cowell responded by saying: "Talking about these contestants being a bunch of karaoke no-hopers ... I thought it was pompous." Cowell invited Sting to come on the show.
So who's right? I assume Sting's comments would apply to
American Idol too.
Posted Nov 16th 2009 10:29AM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd
Right now, I'm watching the Hayes family of
TLC's Table for 12 chat with Regis and Kelly. It's not the first time we've seen them lately; since the second season of their show premiered, they've been all over the talk landscape.
We're definitely seeing them a lot more than when the show's first season debuted; in fact, TLC seemed to premiere the story of the Hayeses, who have two sets of twins and a set of sextuplets, on the QT last March. The relatively soft launch was a bit of a mystery to me, given the network's love of multiples. I mean, these guys had Jon and Kate beat by a mile, right?
But now that I look back at it, there were two things keeping TLC from really pushing the Hayes family back then: 1) Betty and Eric Hayes actually liked each other (read: they're boringly happy) and 2) Jon and Kate were still a couple. Now that J&K have exploded into a
toxic tabloid mess, TLC needed
someone to promote, and the Hayes' relative happiness seemed to be the perfect antidote.
Continue reading TLC is really pushing the Hayes family as the anti-Jon and Kate
Posted Nov 13th 2009 2:05AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Project Runway, Episode Reviews
(
S06E13)
Project Runway's part one of their finale episodes are always boring. This episode was no exception. We learn more about the hopefuls' backgrounds, peek at their final collection, Tim critiques them, they come to New York, and get some bombshell in one form or another.
This year's bomb is recycled from season two: a last minute thirteenth piece with the help of an eliminated contestant. This time, the muse model picks their final model.
The first half of the show was all about watching Tim in awkward situations: struggling to use a freight elevator, baking biscuits, and interacting with dogs.
Continue reading Review: Project Runway - Finale, Part I
Posted Nov 12th 2009 3:48AM by Michael Pascua
Filed under: Other Reality Shows, OpEd, Episode Reviews
(
S13E10)
America's Next Top Model continues to chug along with its petite models. At this point, the girls are pigeon holed into their story lines: Nicole - the awkward one, Laura - the southern belle, Erin - the prissy high schooler, and Jen - the sweet girl with an eye problem. They basically repeat something that fits their storyline.
Though I haven't mentioned this until now, what is up with Jen having these overly loud, sugary interviews? Screaming "Why Me?" followed by her squealing excitement for Laura picking her. It's almost as if she knows that she was stunt-cast and decided to have a fun time before she got eliminated.
Continue reading Review: America's Next Top Model - Hawaii Hip Hop
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