One month ago tonight, I stayed up all night to launch reality blurred‘s new design and give the world the ability to comment. The control freak in me has been convinced that was the right choice thanks to a month’s worth of insightful, funny, and fantastically smart and astute comments, and included everything from an… continue reading
Archives for June 2009
VH1 announces even more insane dating shows; other series follow aircraft repo man, bad drivers, Pepa and Chilli
There have been a bunch of new show announcements recently, particularly from VH1, the network that is continuing to clone its culture-rotting dating series. Yes, VH1 will not stop with the madness that is its series of outrageous dating shows led by nutballs personalities. For example, Beauty and the Geek, Rock of Love, I Love… continue reading
Cowell reportedly offered $108 to $144 million to stay on Idol, but critic calls that “impossible”
Simon Cowell’s contract expires at the end of American Idol 9, so he’s now in the middle of contract negotiations, which is why he’s been threatening to leave the show for a while now. Stoking the flames and/or his value to the series is a report in The Guardian that “[a] source close to Fuller… continue reading
Idol’s Michael Jackson night repeat comes in fourth place, behind Bachelorette, Law & Order repeat
Fox’s first-ever prime-time rebroadcast of an American Idol episode drew an exceptionally low number of viewers, putting the show in fourth place–which would be shocking if this wasn’t a repeat airing in the middle of the summer. An average of 4.23 million people watched the two-hour episode featuring the season eight finalists performing Michael Jackson… continue reading
Melissa Rycroft confirms engagement to Tye Strickland
After being proposed to and then dumped on The Bachelor 13, and then being dumped by viewers on the Dancing with the Stars 8 finale, Melissa Rycroft is once again engaged. This time, it’s to her boyfriend Tye Strickland, who she’d dated before going on the show. Gossip magazines reported the engagement Monday, and minutes… continue reading
CBS’ There Goes the Neighborhood encloses families behind 20-foot wall; hosted by Idol’s Matt Rogers
CBS’ neighborhood competition series Block Party has been renamed There Goes the Neighborhood, and for it, producers constructed 20-foot-tall walls around houses in Kennesaw, Georgia. In a brief press release, CBS describes the seven-episode series, which debuts Aug. 9 at 9 p.m. ET, as “the ultimate social and family bonding experiment” in which they are… continue reading
Billy Mays died from heart disease; Pitchmen marathon, Mays tribute air Wednesday
Pitchmen star and pitchman extraordinaire Billy Mays died of heart disease, according to a preliminary autopsy. He was found dead Sunday morning, and “[p]reliminary autopsy results … suggest he died of heart disease,” and “reveals no evidence of head trauma or drug abuse,” The St. Petersburg Times reported. Because Mays was involved in a hard… continue reading
Gene Simmons says Adam Lambert “killed his career” by coming out
KISS’ Gene Simmons, who previously said American Idol 8 runner-up Adam Lambert should “shut up” about being gay, has gone even further, saying that Adam should now “shut the fuck up” because “he’s killed his career” by talking about being gay. In his latest look-at-me interview, Gene makes it clear that he’s not homophobic but… continue reading
Big Brother 11’s house revealed: a green theme with a swimming pool room
The Big Brother 11 house–singular, not plural–has been revealed via the footage of the media day, emphasis not on the word “media.” It has a modern appearance but with an eco-friendly, environmental theme, and is entirely normal except for a room that looks like a swimming pool and has rafts on the beds instead of… continue reading
SYTYCD working on all-Michael Jackson tribute with Paula Abdul choreographing a dance
Fox’s So You Think You Can Dance may feature an all-Michael Jackson tribute show next week that may include a dance choreographed by Paula Abdul, according to a conversation, sort of, between SYTYCD judge Nigel Lythgoe and the American Idol judge. The initial discussion started with Nigel asking Paula, “Will you choreograph an MJ tribute… continue reading
Len Goodman had surgery for prostate cancer discovered during Dancing with the Stars 8
Dancing with the Stars judge Len Goodman had surgery for prostate cancer that was discovered during the spring, while he was on the eighth season of the U.S. show. After having a cancerous tumor removed, Len said, “I’ve had the surgery now. Everything’s gorgeously good. I’ll be back in September for sure,” he told the… continue reading
Huber wins Groomer Has It 2 after super-ironic Samantha Harris appearance
Animal Planet’s second season of Groomer Has It ended Saturday night, and 42-year-old Hollywood groomer Huber won the $50,000 cash prize, and the product placement Subaru Forester and Wag’n Tails mobile grooming van, never mind the made-up title of “groomer of the year.” He beat Lisa, the 42-year-old groomer from the Chicago area. After grooming… continue reading
Pitchmen’s Billy Mays died Sunday morning
Billy Mays, the infomercial star who’s currently on Discovery’s reality series Pitchmen, died early this morning. He “was found dead this morning by his wife at his Tampa home,” the St. Petersburg Times reported, adding that “No cause of death has been reported and no foul play is suspected, according to Tampa police.” Perhaps coincidentally,… continue reading
Big Brother feeds from Real will now allow rewind, monitoring of multiple live feeds
Good news for those who obsessively sit at their computers watching other people live their lives for nine weeks: the Big Brother feeds and player have been upgraded, allowing multiple streams to be monitored while watching what a single camera captures. Real Networks, which offers and charges for the live feeds, is also offering a… continue reading
Big Brother 11’s divided house borrows from Netherlands’ version’s “The Battle”
Big Brother 11 will somehow divide its house into two tribe-like groups, I first revealed yesterday, and commenter Joey Ortega pointed out that such a twist on the U.S. version would be borrowing from the original Netherlands version of the show. For two seasons, starting in 2001, the Dutch version’s house was divided in half,… continue reading