The Mole debuted 15 years ago today on ABC. Here’s why, even a decade and a half later, it remains one the best reality television shows.
Mole
The one reality show I applied for
I was just wondering if you have ever applied to any reality tv show? Would you like to be a contestant in any reality, or be the subject of a docu-reality series? Just curious! –Francisco I’ve applied to one show: The Mole season two. That story in a minute. As to the other questions, the answer is… continue reading
Anderson Cooper on The Mole and its future
More than a year ago, Anderson Cooper broke my heart. I was so crushed by what he said it’s taken me 13 months to write about it. Yes, this has to do with The Mole. The competition series, which first debuted on ABC in 2001, remains one of my absolutely favorite reality series. I rewatch it… continue reading
Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show will end after this season
Former The Mole host Anderson Cooper’s daytime talk show has been cancelled and will end at the end of next summer, finishing its second season. The show it has significantly improved since last season (and since he came out), adopting a format that includes banter with generally strong co-hosts and airing live, but its ratings… continue reading
Anderson Cooper comes out: “I’m gay, always have been, always will be”
The Mole host–and CNN host, talk show host, and 60 Minutes contributor–Anderson Cooper has come out as gay. This isn’t a surprise, since this has been not just rumored but reported as fact for years, and he’s even vaguely joked about it with Ryan Seacrest. It’s mostly newsworthy only because he’s refused to discuss his… continue reading
12 days of reality: Four seasons of The Mole
The Mole is one of the best reality competitions that has ever aired. It had the right combination of everything. From Anderson Cooper’s dry yet extremely personal hosting–he had dinner with the players!–to the challenges that perfectly combined physical and mental tasks to the conceit of having one player working for the producers, it was… continue reading
Former Celebrity Mole PA now oversees production on Survivor, Big Brother
Over the summer, CBS hired that Louis Boyd as vice president for alternative programming (i.e. reality TV) to report to executive vice president for alternative programming Jen Bresnan, who was hired two years ago. In June, Bresnan told The Hollywood Reporter, “As a producer who I’ve worked with, I know firsthand that Louis brings a… continue reading
Second season of The Mole now on Hulu, even though it’s not on DVD
My love for the first two seasons of The Mole will never die. Both season one and the first celebrity season are on DVD, but season two has been ignored except for a rebroadcast on Fox Reality. Having offered the entire first season free starting this summer, Hulu has just added season two, subtitled “The… continue reading
The Mole’s first season is on Hulu
If you’ve never watched The Mole, you now officially have no excuse. The entire first season, which has been on DVD for some time, is now available for free on Hulu. Hopefully, season two will follow, although it has never been released on DVD, so there could be rights issues. While the series first debuted… continue reading
Anthrax suspect threatened to kill Kathryn Price
The Mole‘s original mole, Kathryn Price, was threatened by the man who the FBI and Justice Department say is responsible for killing people with mailed anthrax in 2001. Army researcher Dr. Bruce Ivins, who killed himself in late July, was apparently fascinated by Kathryn and wrote about killing her in an early July 2008 e.mail… continue reading
More DVRed Big Brother than the Olympics; Mole 3’s finale up the most from DVR viewers
In mid-August, of the top 10 shows that were DVRed by viewers and watched within one week, there were just two programs: NBC’s coverage of the summer Olympics and CBS’ three broadcasts of Big Brother 10. And The Mole 3‘s finale came in at number 11. Sunday’s Big Brother 10 episode led that week in… continue reading
Nicole was “the fastest quiz taker in The Mole’s history,” also broke a rule
The Mole 3 player Nicole was “the fastest quiz taker in The Mole’s history,” the show’s executive producer Clay Newbill said. That helped her stay in the game, as the finale revealed, especially at the final-four level when she beat Paul by four seconds. The fastest she ever completed the 10-question quiz was 37 seconds,… continue reading
Mole ends with fewer than 3 million viewers, 2 million fewer than watched the debut
The Mole 3 ended its run last night, and likely ended its time on ABC, as the show managed to lose even more of its already low number of viewers. Only 2.97 million viewers watched Jon Kelley reveal the mole’s identity and announce the winner, according to TV By the Numbers. That’s a loss of… continue reading
Mark wins The Mole 3 after almost being executed repeatedly; Craig is the mole
After nine episodes, The Mole 3 reached its conclusion, revealing the identities of the mole and the show’s winner. History teacher and soccer coach Mark Lambrecht won the pot of $420,0000 despite almost being eliminated on multiple occasions. His time on the show was “full of near-misses,” host Jon Kelley said, but his “drive to… continue reading
Mole fans plan to send lemons to ABC to save a show that should be allowed to just die
With one episode of the show to go, fans of The Mole are attempting to organize a campaign to save the show by sending lemons to ABC. The show’s producers are already campaigning to save their series because, as ABC’s president told me, the show will likely be cancelled because its ratings have failed to… continue reading
Neil Patrick Harris cites Real World’s Danny as “a role model”; Anderson Cooper watches Project Runway, hates Living Lohan
If there’s still a need to prove reality television’s pervasiveness and influence, an interview with a TV star and a segment from a TV show should provide sufficient evidence. In an interview with Out magazine, Neil Patrick Harris, star of How I Met Your Mother and, previously, Doogie Howser, M.D., said that when he was… continue reading
ABC president: If The Mole 3’s ratings don’t improve, it won’t be renewed
The Mole will be cancelled after this season unless its sliding ratings improve, according to ABC’s president. I asked ABC entertainment president Steve McPherson about the show’s future (ironically at a Dancing with the Stars-themed party, as the show’s professional dancers taught TV critics how to dance) and he noted that no decision has been… continue reading
Mole producers say show “could be facing execution at the end of this season”
The producers of ABC’s The Mole 3 have launched their campaign to save the show–but not from being cancelled this season. Instead, they’re trying to ensure that it gets renewed for a fourth non-celebrity season. On an extraordinarily rudimentary and amateurish web site, Scott Stone and Clay Newbill write that “[t]he very future of The… continue reading
Mole 2’s Bill says Mole producers “are coming out with a campaign to keep the mole from being executed”
The actual mole from The Mole 2 has posted to his blog that the season that’s currently airing is in danger of being cancelled by ABC, which already preempted the show last Monday for The Bachelorette‘s reunion. Bill McDaniel wrote on his blog that “Scott Stone and Clay Newbill, producers of the Mole, are coming… continue reading
Nashville Star up 214 percent but down for NBC; The Mole loses 16 percent of its viewers
Reality TV isn’t doing too well on Monday nights, getting trounced by repeats–repeats!–of shitty shows like CSI: Miami and Two and a Half Men. Nashville Star‘s move to NBC for its sixth season was good news for the show and bad news for NBC. That’s because its 6.6 million viewers made it “the network’s lowest-rated… continue reading