After a challenge from CBS, the Survivor cast contract, which includes the show’s rule book, are back online on reality blurred. In late July, almost eight weeks after I first published my analysis of an annotated version of the contract cast members sign, a CBS lawyer in New York sent a DMCA takedown notice to… continue reading
Archives for August 2010
Bethenny Frankel officially quits Real Housewives now that her spin-off is a success
Bethenny Frankel has officially quit The Real Housewives of New York City now that she has a successful spin-off, Bethenny Getting Married, so she won’t be around to make acerbic comments about former friend Jill Zarin and frightening trainwreck Kelly Killoren Bensimon. Bethenny told Us Weekly that “Last season was scary and painful. It took… continue reading
Jeff and Jordan’s visit to Big Brother offers a behind-the-scenes look at the house
Jeff Schroeder is currently in Laos and heading to Bangkok, where he “needs a ride from the airport and a place to stay in Bangkok,” according to the web site for his web series Around the World for Free. But sometime after his appearance on Big Brother 12 with Jordan Lloyd, his series posted a… continue reading
Whale Wars season three finale was Animal Planet’s most-watched episode ever
Whale Wars awesome two-hour finale on Friday, during which Pete Bethune snuck aboard the Shonan Maru #2 and surprised its crew while the helicopter–and the show’s camera’s–watched, was the highest rated regular telecast ever for Animal Planet among key demographics. The network said in a press release that it was number-one at 10 p.m. among… continue reading
Big Brother 11’s Michele is on Playboy’s sex-on-TV reality show Foursome
Michele Noonan, the bisexual neuroscientist who came in fourth place on Big Brother 11 last summer, will be on Playboy TV’s Foursome this fall, presumably having sex on camera with fellow cast members. She follows in the footsteps of her fellow season 11 houseguest Braden Bacha, who appeared on the show prior to his time… continue reading
Dancing with the Stars cast is exactly what pre-faux-press conference leaks said it’d be
The cast of Dancing with the Stars 11 was announced during a live, faux press conference that aired toward the end of Bachelor Pad. The announcement was basically unnecessary, since all of the cast members except one had been revealed in advance by publicist leaks to various publications, particularly E! Online, which concluded its reveals… continue reading
Edyta Sliwinska quits Dancing with the Stars
Edyta Sliwinska, who has been the only pro on Dancing with the Stars since season one, has quit the show, and although one report says that’s because of disagreements with producers, including their inclusion of her husband, Alec Mazo, she now disputes that account. “The producers’ vision of what they wanted my career to be… continue reading
Top Chef’s French episode beat TAR’s weak WWI ep; Probst won for Russell Swan ep
In the Emmy competition for outstanding competition reality TV show, each series enters a single episode. That, as succinctly discussed here, is perhaps the primary reasons for The Amazing Race‘s long-time domination. But that, of course, ended this year. While the official Academy nominee list [PDF] does not mention episodes, The Los Angeles Times reported… continue reading
Top Chef Las Vegas wins best reality competition Emmy, dethroning Amazing Race
The seemingly impossible happened during the Emmys last night: Top Chef Las Vegas won the Emmy for best reality competition show, finally dethroning seven-time winner The Amazing Race, which has won every year since the category was created in 2003. Executive producer Dan Cutforth, who is one of Magical Elves’ two principles, accepted the award,… continue reading
Despite dumping host award, Emmys do better with reality TV, but can still do better
While the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has gotten better with its treatment of reality TV in recent years, it still has a long way to go in recognizing unscripted entertainment as an equal among scripted and variety programs. But despite its frequent disses of the genre, there were many indications of reality TV’s… continue reading
Lane wins HOH, Pandora’s Desperate Attempt at Entertainment returns to Big Brother
Big Brother 12‘s Sunday episode started with nine minutes of recap, 21 minutes of a relatively lame competition, and more of Hayden shouting in the Diary Room. It was so boring, Julie Chen didn’t even want to stick around for it, bailing and leaving Hayden to host the new HOH competition. Lane won, predictably nominating… continue reading
Must-watch The Cove airs on Animal Planet, spin-off series follows former Flipper trainer
The Cove is definitely the best documentary I’ve seen in years, although it’s perhaps better classified as a real-life thriller; it’s both entertaining and important. Tonight, after winning an Oscar last spring, it gets its biggest audience yet when it gets its basic cable debut at 9 p.m. ET in Animal Planet’s 98 million homes…. continue reading
Five years after Hurricane Katrina, TV reminds us of its horror and impact
Five years ago today, hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. The results of that are well-documented, but now, even five years later, it’s particularly horrifying to watch footage from those early days. Of the many retrospectives, two stand out. First is Spike Lee’s follow-up to his incredible 2006 documentary When the Levees Broke: A Requiem In… continue reading
Phil Keoghan explains why The Amazing Race shouldn’t withdraw from the Emmys
Prime-time Emmy awards will be handed out during the live telecast Sunday night, and if history is any guide, The Amazing Race will win its eighth consecutive Emmy for outstanding reality competition program. Eighth. This is getting so ridiculous that Jeff Probst said the show should withdraw and I get increasingly frustrated that the Emmys… continue reading
Julie Chen confronts liar Matt about his wife’s disease lie
Julie Chen repeatedly asked evicted Big Brother 12 houseguest Matt Hoffman about his lie that his wife has melorheostosis, and got him to at least partially concede that he’s a “scumbag.” As usual, the version that aired on The Early Show was obnoxiously truncated and over-simplified, because CBS is controversy-averse and its news programs get… continue reading
Whale Wars delivers amazing TV again, illustrating real life better than most reality TV
Defying the general trajectory of reality TV shows, Whale Wars has been getting better and better as a TV series as it ages. From its heart-stopping tension–there’s a cliffhanger for nearly every commercial break–to the bewildering bumbling of the Sea Shepherds, it’s been a tremendous season, and the series unquestionably remains one of the best… continue reading
Big Brother fast-forwards the boredom, love-fest: Matt out (finally), Brendon leaves
And so it is done: Matt Hoffman and Brendon Villegas, the most controversial Big Brother 12 houseguest and the most competitive houseguest, respectively, have been evicted, and we’re left with four men and a woman who makes jokes about suicide to get us through two and a half more weeks. In the pantheon of ugly,… continue reading
American Idol producers: “we have never, nor would we ever, use Auto-Tuning”
The producers of American Idol released a statement today promising that they’ve never distorted the vocals of contestants using Auto-Tune or other technology. That statement comes in the wake of a scandal in the UK, where The X Factor has admitted manipulating vocals of its performers. “We have never, nor would we ever, use Auto-Tuning… continue reading
Little People, Big World ending after its upcoming, “dramatic” sixth season
One of TLC’s better series, Little People, Big World, will end its run after its upcoming sixth season concludes. The show followed Matt Roloff, Amy Roloff, and their kids, some of whom are average size and some of whom are little people, and their lives running an Oregon pumpkin farm. A press release offered basically… continue reading
DWTS cast rumors: Bristol Palin, Bachelorette’s Ali, Roberto, David Hasselhoff; not Kirstie Alley
With just a few days until the actual cast announcement, there’s been a flurry of reports about potential Dancing with the Stars 11 cast members, in addition to previously reported names like The Situation and Brandy. And one person, Kirstie Alley, dismissed reports that she’s on the cast. Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol Palin, mother of… continue reading