reality blurred + archives + February 15 to February 21, 2009

week of February 15, 2009

No airports, new opening, great challenges improve Amazing Race
I've been mostly bored with The Amazing Race for the past few seasons, for the reasons detailed here. The show hadn't become worse, it just...
TLC considering octuplets show to add to its three large family series
TLC already airs Jon & Kate Plus 8 and 17 Kids and Counting, and next month will debut Table for Twelve, which features a family...
Joanna Pacitti axed because of "perception problem" about her "close connection" to Idol
Joanna Pacitti's "close connection" to American Idol is the reason why Joanna was quietly removed from the competition last Thursday. That's a reference to Joanna's...
Survivor ratings up, Amazing Race ratings down
Survivor Tocantins debut was watched by 13.63 million people. That's up slightly from the 13 million who watched Gabon's debut, and down just a tiny...

The City cast members get dialogue via text message; Whitney has "a whole 'nother life"
The star and producer of The City, the New York-set spin-off of The Hills that follows Whitney Port's life, both admit that the life it...
Designers won't present their own collections at Project Runway 6's Fashion Week show
Project Runway contestants often make a big deal out of it's their dream to present a collection at Fashion Week, and those who were unlucky...
O.C. housewives' drama ends as New York housewives return with a new woman
Tonight, Bravo ushers out one set of crazy women and exchnages them for another as The Real Housewives of Orange County concludes its fourth season...
TLC "not pursuing any program" with octuplets mom Nadya Suleman
TLC said today it will not air a series with the octuplets, their mom, and their eight siblings, even though just days ago the network...

The Witness: From the Balcony of Room 306 and Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About both debut tonight
Tonight, PBS airs Jerome Robbins: Something to Dance About, a documentary that follows the man PBS says was "a master of the Broadway musical" who...
High School Reunion returns with "one of the biggest bombs ever dropped on a reality show"
TV Land's resuscitated version of High School Reunion returns tonight at 10 p.m. ET for its second season on the cable network, and the franchise's...
Technical problems, terrible singing plague first American Idol 8 live show
Last night's episode may have been the first live show for American Idol 8, but it seemed like its first live show ever considering how...
Bachelor 13's shocking, "fabricated" ending revealed, won't happen until the reunion
Two bloggers have released what they say will happen on The Bachelor 13's finale, citing a tabloid's impending publication of the story, and both are...

Top Chef gives eliminated chefs a chance to return
For its penultimate episode, Top Chef 5 threw the final four a curve ball by allowing one of the three previously eliminated chefs--Jamie Lauren, Leah...
Alexis Grace, Danny Gokey, Michael Sarver are the first members of the top 12
American Idol 8's new, efficient, and somewhat brutal method of forming its top 12 debuted last night, as nine of the 12 singers were left...
Benjamin Wade fired as college soccer coach
Benjamin Wade, who's known as Coach on Survivor Tocantins, has been fired as the head women's soccer coach at the Missouri university where he worked...
J.D. Fortune fired from INXS, is homeless
The man selected by INXS to be their new lead singer on CBS' Rock Star: INXS has been fired by the group and is now...

Jade Goody dying of cancer, will get married on TV
Jade Goody, the controversial UK Big Brother star, is now dying of cancer and will get married Sunday in front of television cameras. The rights...
Fremantle buys Thom Beers' Original Prods.
FremantleMedia, which produces American Idol, has acquired Original Productions, Thom Beers' company that started with Monster Garage and is now best-known for producing the tough-guy...
New shows will focus on MC Hammer, sex addicts, Hot Girls in Scary Places
MC Hammer and hot girls getting scared are among those people who will star in recently announced reality series. A&E will air a docudrama about...
Danny Gokey on wife's death: "I apologize to everybody if they feel like it's shoved down their face"
Danny Gokey, the 28-year-old American Idol 8 finalist whose wife died last summer while having surgery for a heart condition, has been criticized by some...
Coach bails on his keep-the-strong strategy; Candace says "he's full of shit, he's misogynist"
One episode was all it took for Ben Wade to abandon his "I want to get the four strongest people to the final four because...