This is perhaps the strongest slate and toughest competition I’ve seen in the eight years that the Television Critics Association has recognized outstanding reality television.
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Born This Way season four will be condensed for a ‘four-week wedding event’
Born This Way will air its fourth season in August, but A&E has compressed the season to a “four-week wedding event.”
Why Queer Eye is this year’s best reality TV, and Trading Spaces feels like a rerun
The reboot of Queer Eye was a revelation, the best new reality series of the year. The reboot of Trading Spaces was surprisingly lifeless.
The BB20 cast, and a hint of Big Brother 20’s social media twist
The 16 houseguests competing on Big Brother 20 were just announced, and as usual, they’re very young.
GBBO, The Gong Show, and a cooking show with pot: all coming this week on reality TV
Also returning this week: MTV Floribama Shore’s drinking and partying, and PBS’ POV’s free, acclaimed documentaries, which starts with a movie that followed one family for eight years.
How Alone’s all-star contestants and location were chosen, and more behind-the-scenes details
Alone season 5 brings back former contestants for the series’ first-ever all-star season. I talked to its executive producer about this season: how it was cast, how its location was chosen, and much more.
The sad decline of Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant rescue shows
Tonight, Ramsay is back with 24 Hours To Hell and Back, a new Fox series that is simply his old Fox series, Kitchen Nightmares with an even dumber conceit. How different is it from Ramsay’s original UK series Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares?
A few of Netflix’s 50+ reality series coming this year
Adriano Zumbo will judge a competition produced by Top Chef producers Magical Elves; Great British Baking Show producers Love Productions will try to reinvent the docu-soap with a musical series; and a cooking-with-weed show will have 10-minute episodes.
Confessional: Survivor should re-focus on human choices, not twists
In this Confessional essay, Scott Hardie looks back at Survivor and argues that the show and game have lost their focus on what was the most-interesting part of earlier seasons.
The 80 reality TV hosts and 205 reality shows eligible for an Emmy
Emmy nomination voting started today, and the nominating ballots reveal which reality TV shows, hosts, and crew members are eligible to be nominated.
This week: Queer Eye, Alone, The Profit, MDL:NY, and many other shows return
Summer has arrived, the days are long, I’m sweating, and reality television offers plenty of reasons to stay inside: almost 20 reality shows debut or return this week.
Amazing Race season 31 teams: a ‘reality clash’ of TAR vs. Big Brother vs. Survivor
The Amazing Race 31 started today. Here are the teams from Big Brother, Survivor, and The Amazing Race competing for $1 million.
Project Runway will be produced by Magical Elves again, but Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn are not yet on board
Exclusive: Project Runway’s host, judges, and mentor, including Heidi Klum and Tim Gunn, are not yet on board.
Anthony Bourdain has died
The star of CNN’s Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and Travel Channel’s No Reservations also judged ABC’s The Taste and Bravo’s Top Chef.
The Mister Rogers doc, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, strips away the myth and reveals the man
The new documentary about Fred Rogers, star of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, is in theatres today. It’s extraordinary. See it.