Billionaire Tim Draper, the founder of Draper University and one of the stars of ABC Family’s Startup U, is offering $1 million to charity if 1 million people watch the show this week. Draper wrote on Facebook: Tell all your friends to watch… continue reading
Archives for August 2015
In Alaska, President Obama will film an episode of an NBC reality series
While he’s in Alaska for the next three days, President Barack Obama will film an episode of Running Wild with Bear Grylls that will air later this year. This is the first time a sitting United States president will appear… continue reading
Todrick Hall returns to TV, showing how his viral videos come to life
Five years ago, Todrick Hall was a finalist on American Idol who made it to the top 16 before being eliminated. Since then, many of the videos he writes, choreographs, and performs in have been watched well over 10 million… continue reading
How a TV show may disrupt elephant poaching
What do a 2012 viral video, ivory carvings, terrorism, and investigative journalism have in common? They all come together in Warlords of Ivory, the first episode of the relaunch of National Geographic’s Explorer. In the one-hour episode, which premieres Sunday… continue reading
The first-ever Shweekend arrives, but how did Shark Week do?
Shark Week 2015 encores this weekend with Discovery Channel’s first-ever Shweekend. It’s three new specials—MythBusters vs. Jaws (Saturday at 9), Shark Alley: Legend of Dynamite (Saturday at 10), and Air Jaws: Walking With Great Whites (Sunday at 9)—plus repeats and… continue reading
This is not your childhood’s National Geographic Explorer
“Our goal is to do our own thing—to look over our shoulder at them a little bit, to make sure that what we’re doing is not-old fashioned, and is contemporary.”
The average age of a Survivor player, and how that’s changed
A few weeks ago, I analyzed the ages of all Big Brother houseguests over 17 seasons, to see if CBS’ summer reality competition was getting younger. Now, it’s time to do the same for contestants on Survivor, which has aired… continue reading
A constantly updated list of the Dancing with the Stars 21 cast
Dancing with the Stars 21‘s celebrity cast is being trickled out on Good Morning America this week, and via publications that either have exclusives or are actually reporting. Most of the pros have been already been revealed. Most notable so… continue reading
This is the funniest/scariest make-up in Face Off history
A very interesting Face Off challenge led to the most disastrously comic makeups that I can remember. Pairs of artists randomly chose a gate, and created both the gatekeeper and the creature being guarded by the gatekeeper. (The foundation challenge—creating… continue reading
The mystery of Alison Sweeney’s exit as Biggest Loser host
Alison Sweeney, who has hosted of NBC’s The Biggest Loser since season four, is leaving the show after eight years of watching that fake scale. (Sweeney replaced Caroline Rhea, who hosted seasons one to three.) NBC’s brief statement, delivered via… continue reading
All the Survivor Cambodia Second Chance details, twists, and tribes
Details about Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance‘s twists and cast flooded on to the Internet today, a month ahead of the series’ debut, as CBS lifted its embargo for the people who were on location back in May and who do… continue reading
Below Deck Captain Lee Rosbach on how real Bravo’s show is
The captain on Bravo’s Below Deck talks about how the show is cast and filmed, and reveals just how accurate the series is compared to actual yachting.
Survivor immunity idols, now with less hiding, more confusion
Survivor Second Chance will introduce two major changes to hidden immunity idols: they will no longer be hidden, and they will all look different. Instead, the idols will be in public locations at challenges, though clues will still be hidden… continue reading
Camp Cutthroat’s “secret” filming location was used by this Fox show
At the start of the Cutthroat Kitchen spinoff Camp Cutthroat, Alton Brown, wearing a red beret and shorts, stood in front of the first three returning chefs. “You cutthroat veterans are some of the first outsiders to set feet inside those… continue reading
Julie Chen reveals who CBS wanted to host Big Brother, and much more
Julie Chen is the one part of Big Brother that has remained the same since season one. Everything else—the game, the house, the producers, the contestants, the sidekicks (oh, Dr. Drew)—has changed. She’s the familiar glue that holds this dysfunctional… continue reading