Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett appears to disagree with Survivor executive producer and host Jeff Probst about what makes good TV. Compare what Mark Burnett told Entertainment Weekly about his new religious mission reality show to what Probst said in an interview about Survivor’s villains: Jeff Probst: “Villains are who you want to watch on… continue reading
Archives for November 2011
Televangelist, megachurch pastor Joel Osteen will take people on missions for a show produced by his friend Mark Burnett
Houston-based televangelist and megachurch pastor Joel Osteen will star in a reality series produced by Survivor producer Mark Burnett. The evangelical church he presides over is the largest church in the United States, and he’ll take hundreds of members of his congregations on missions for the show. Burnett and his Touched by an Angel star… continue reading
Matt Paxton on poop-fed fleas, dying under diapers
Three awesome quotes from Clutter Cleaner Matt Paxton, while cleaning the house that included a “mountain of diapers” that began to violently shake because of a 5.8 earthquake, in the “Mike; Bonnie” episode of Hoarders: “I don’t want a flea landing on me that’s been in someone’s poop for the past five years.” “When you’re… continue reading
Man arrested for killing American Idol auditioner pleads out, won’t be charged with her death
American Idol 7 auditioner Alexis Cohen was killed when a man fleeing police hit her, and now that man has agreed to a plea bargain that means he won’t be charged with her death in any way. The Asbury Park Press reports that Daniel Bark, 25, “pleaded guilty Monday to eluding police and drunken driving… continue reading
Bethenny Frankel’s talk show dies because TV stations didn’t want it
While Bethenny Frankel will star in another season of her Bravo reality series Bethenny Ever After, she will not get her own daytime talk show like Jeff Probst, Anderson Cooper, Tim Gunn, and other reality stars, because no one wanted to buy it. The show “failed to sell in syndication and has been dropped by… continue reading
Ryan Dunn tribute airs tonight on MTV
Tonight, MTV will air a tribute to Ryan Dunn, the Jackass star who died in a car crash this summer after a night of heavy drinking. Here’s how MTV describes the hour-long special, which is followed by a broadcast of the film Jackass 3.5: “A special to celebrate and honor the life of the late… continue reading
Big Brother’s Rachel and Brendon on Amazing Race
Big Brother winner Rachel Reilly and her fiancee Brendon Villegas are among the cast members on The Amazing Race 20, which started taping this weekend. This will be the third season of a CBS reality show the couple has been on in less than 18 months. The source of this distressing news are a few… continue reading
Was it a mistake to expand The Sing-Off and give it a full, fall season?
The Sing-Off concludes its third and first full season tonight, as either the Dartmouth Aires, Pentatonix, or Urban Method will win the a cappella singing competition. But moving the show to the fall as a placeholder for The Voice may have been a mistake. Perhaps unsurprisingly, ratings are down significantly: they’ve have dropped more than… continue reading
Survivor recaps the season, gets dirty with Coach and Cochran
Wednesday’s episode of Survivor South Pacific was the traditional Thanksgiving week clip show. When Jeff Probst abandons the interactive living room, you know you’re in for a scintillating 42 minutes and 45 seconds of content the editors didn’t include in the previous episodes. Although Jeff promised “19 new scenes from one of the most memorable… continue reading
Shocking video of Indian reality show contestants eating glass bulbs and much more
Last year at this time, a video of a Dutch So You Think You Can Dance auditioner dancing on his penis went viral, and now, another audition on an international talent show is blowing up, thanks to contestants who eat glass bulbs and get run over by a car, among other things that should destroy… continue reading
Thanksgiving reality TV marathons
It’s Thanksgiving, and there is an alternative to Thursday’s orgy of calories and Friday’s orgy of consumerism: television. And along with day-long marathons of scripted shows, there are plenty of reality TV shows are here to provide comfort and fulfillment. This year, that includes a rerun of the entire Glee Project, the summer’s sleeper competition… continue reading
Jeff Probst thinks only “evil,” “immoral” people are fun to watch on TV
Survivor host and executive producer Jeff Probst thinks that nice doesn’t work on the CBS reality show, because the most entertaining characters are “evil” and “immoral” people such as Parvati Shallow (!), Russell Hantz, and Boston Rob Mariano. In an interview with Xfinity’s Gordon Holmes, he said, in part (read the whole interview), “…I do… continue reading
Top Chef’s agreement with Texas released, reveals what Texans paid $600,000 for
The Top Chef Texas “brand integration agreement” between Mission Productions, AKA Magical Elves, and the state of Texas has been released, and the production company apparently won’t sue the state of Texas, which said it had to release the document to the media. The San Antonio Express-News reports that producers “did an about-face and released… continue reading
J.R. Martinez beats Rob Kardashian for the world’s worst reality TV prize
Actor and injured Iraq war veteran J.R. Martinez beat Keeping Up with the Kardashians extra Rob Kardashian to win the crummy mirrorball trophy on the finale of Dancing with the Stars, even though Rob outscored him by a single point during the finale. That represents pro Karina Smirnoff’s first win; talk show host Ricki Lake… continue reading
Game Show Network will re-air Dancing with the Stars 4-14, insisting DWTS is a game show
Dancing with the Stars fourth through 14th seasons will repeat on GSN starting in January. While this makes the Game Show Network the latest in a line of cable TV networks to evolve their programming so far beyond their names that their name no longer makes sense (MTV, VH1, A&E, et cetera), GSN is actually… continue reading