reality blurred + archives + October 9 to October 15, 2011

week of October 9, 2011

How South Park episodes are made
Each episode of Comedy Central's series South Park is written, recorded, and animated in just six days, and that insane process is explored and revealed...

Serial American Idol auditioner arrested for trespassing at Pittsburgh auditions
A woman was arrested at the American Idol 11 auditions, charged with trespassing and "refused to leave and became combative," the criminal complaint said. WPXI...
The reasons why two-hour reality show episodes exist
Bloated, expanded reality show episodes and results shows may irritate almost everyone, but they've also become the norm because they work. One network executive anonymously...
San Antonio paid Top Chef $200,000 to "showcase" the city "as a premiere culinary destination"
Top Chef's producers are suing Texas to keep details about the state's product placement secret, but details about one Texas city's contributions were revealed this...
Parvati's "dream come true" trip around the world interrupted by emergency surgery
Survivor Micronesia winner and Survivor Heroes vs. Villains runner-up Parvati Shallow is currently finishing an around-the-world trip as part of CBS.com's Around the World For...
Survivor Amazon, Thailand coming to DVD, meaning its first 10 seasons are now available
All of Survivor's first 10 seasons will soon be on DVD, thanks to the impending release of Survivor Amazon (won by short-lived The Amazing Race...

A List: Dallas star Taylor deletes hate crime claim, accused of faking it for publicity
A star of Logo's new The A-List: Dallas may have faked a hate crime to get publicity for the show and/or himself. Cast member Taylor...
Two Celebrity Apprentice cast members identified
The Celebrity Apprentice stars production next week, and two cast members have been identified: model Cheryl Tiegs and Marco Andretti, the grandson of Mario Andretti....

Even more Celebrity Apprentice cast members identified
With production of Celebrity Apprentice 5 starting next week, names of likely cast members are being reported. In addition to Cheryl Tiegs and Marc Andretti,...
Jake Zweig explains his erratic behavior on Top Shot: "I am on the show for exposure"
Last night's Top Shot featured some Survivor-style drama, another example of the show transcending its basic subject matter (a competition between expert marksmen) and becoming...
Scotty McCreery's first album sets records, does better than previous two Idols combined
American Idol 10 winner Scotty McCreery has done something no country singer has ever done and no winner of the show has done since season...

Savaii tribe rips the meat out of Ozzy's mouth
Forgive the completely sexist headline, but I couldn't resist conflating Survivor's grossest challenge ever and some members of Ozzy's tribe blindsiding him by voting out...
Probst made Survivor's regurgitated meat challenge less gross
Despite being a repeat of a challenge we've seen before, Survivor South Pacific's meat-tearing challenge last night was one of the grossest challenges reality TV...

Reality TV makes girls more confident, inspired, but also leads them to accept bullying, bad behavior
A survey of 1,141 girls conducted by the Girl Scout Research Institute examined the effects that reality TV watching has on girls ages 11 to...
Huffington Post corrects story claiming Bethenny Frankel was "distorting the truth" about Skinnygirl sale
The Huffington Post has corrected a badly reported story that accused former Real Housewives of New York City star Bethenny Frankel of lying about how...
Lifetime delays Project Runway All-Stars
Project Runway All-Stars has been delayed until next year, but the premiere of other spin-off, Project Accessory, has been moved up. Both shows were scheduled...