Welcome to a new reality blurred feature: a curated monthly selection of long-form writing that looks in-depth at reality TV: people, shows, and the industry.
Archives for September 2016
Finding Prince Charming review: 5 reasons why the gay dating show fails
Logo’s Finding Prince Charming, the gay dating show, could have done something original. Instead, it cast a boring bachelor and badly copied The Bachelor.
On Survivor, a make-out session and a possible heart attack
A recap of Survivor Millennials vs. Gen X’s second episode, “Love Goggles,” on which Figgy and Tails’ make-out sessions made them a target.
19 renewed and new reality shows
A list of newly renewed and newly announced reality shows, including a competition to find new Mythbusters and a Dance Moms-ish series about kid cooks.
How a college student went from The Voice to Syria to The New Yorker
The unlikely story of Ben Taub, a Princeton student whose audition for The Voice eventually led him to Syria and a job writing for The New Yorker.
10 of 13 Big Brother: Over the Top houseguests are in their 20s
CBS announced the 12 houseguests who will be on Big Brother: Over the Top, and most of them—including one returnee—are in their 20s, as usual.
How keeping ‘Revenge of the Queens’ off VH1 affected RuPaul’s Drag Race
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars did not simulcast its most anticipated episode, “Revenge of the Queens,” on VH1. How did that affect the show’s ratings?
Why Love Productions and Channel 4 are delusional about Bake-Off’s future
Statements from Love Productions and Channel 4 suggest that The Great British Bake-Off won’t change, even though Mary, Sue, and Mel quit. Why they’re wrong.
Survivor starts its generation war with a cyclone, choices, and an odd vote
For a Survivor premiere, Survivor Millennials vs. Gen X had just about everything: choices, alliances, idol searches, a brand-new twist, miserable weather, beautiful cinematography capturing the miserable weather, a mass evacuation, paranoia, bros, puzzle failure, and an unexplained vote.
For an episode titled “May the Best Generation Win,” it had plenty of generation-defining generalizations. By the time the challenge rolled around, host and showrunner Jeff Probst was already body-shaming the Gen X tribe as a bunch of fat asses who couldn’t fit through part of a challenge, an obstacle through which the millennials’ lithe bodies just slipped through.
Mary Berry quits The Great British Bake-Off, collapsing the soufflé
The worst-case scenario for The Great British Bake-Off has occurred: its beloved, cheeky judge Mary Berry has quit the show.
Live feed watchers will pick Big Brother’s next winner, and one returnee
CBS revealed new details about Big Brother: Over the Top, the CBS All Access season that starts next week, and BB:OTT’s unprecedented interactivity.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars won’t air on VH1 this week, when eliminated queens return
The Sept. 22 episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, “Revenge Of The Queens,” will not be simulcast on VH1, like all other episodes have been—and will be.
16 stories about what it takes to win, but mostly lose, the presidency
PBS’ The Contenders: 16 for ’16 tells the stories of 16 presidential hopefuls, three of whom became president, and many of whom shared similar traits.
The problems of The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey
A review of CBS’ now two-part, four-hour The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey, which tries very very hard as it presents old and new evidence about her murder.
Mark Burnett fumbles the most high-profile reality TV Emmy
The Emmy for best reality competition program went to The Voice again. Mark Burnett—the target of joking criticism from Jimmy Kimmel—accepted and stumbled.