Appearing on Oprah’s Master Class Sunday night, actor Billy Bob Thornton issued a devastating critique not only of reality TV’s obsession with competitions and similarly themed shows, but of viewers’ desire to see others fail instead of experiencing the “magic” in life. “We’re just living in a time that’s just become judgmental and everybody wants to see… continue reading
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A partial list of active NFL players on reality TV shows, not including Michael Sam
Two days after announcing that it would produce and air a Michael Sam documentary reality series following the first-ever openly gay player to be drafted in the NFL, Oprah Winfrey’s network “postponed” its plans. The reason, as his agent said: the desire for “Michael to have a total focus on football, and will ensure no… continue reading
Michael Sam reality series “postponed” after pushback
The Oprah Winfrey Network’s plans for a documentary reality series following recently drafted football player Michael Sam are now “postponed” following backlash that came after the announcement of the series. The network’s president, Erik Larson, said in a statement: “After careful consideration and discussion with the St. Louis Rams, ‘The Untitled Michael Sam Project’ has… continue reading
Michael Sam follows Lindsay Lohan as the subject of an OWN documentary series
Recently drafted football player Michael Sam will be the subject of OWN’s next documentary series. Just like the network’s recently concluded series Lindsay, the show will be produced by Amy Rice and Pilgrim Studios, although in this case there probably won’t be lots of footage waiting for him to come out since he already is…. continue reading
Thanks, Lindsay Lohan and Oprah, for giving us a reality show about the making of a reality show
Last week on Lindsay, OWN’s documentary reality series that follows Lindsay Lohan, Oprah said “fuck.” Twice. Then she said “bullshit.” Twice. “You’re not going to be fucking up. And I know you’re surprised to hear me say ‘fuck,’” Oprah says, adding soon after, “You need to cut the bullshit, you really do. Just cut the… continue reading
Watch the Lindsay Lohan reality series trailer right now before OWN takes it away from us
OWN previewed Lindsay, the new Lindsay Lohan documentary series produced by Amy Rice and Pilgrim Studios, tonight, and now has the trailer online–but only for 48 hours, until 9:35 p.m. ET Thursday!–because why let people continue to share and watch something when you can create scarcity and create an event around that. Of course, their… continue reading
Lindsay Lohan’s reality show gets producers, credibility
Producers for the 2014 Lindsay Lohan reality series, which will air on Oprah Winfrey and Discovery’s network OWN, were announced today: They are Pilgrim Studios’ Craig Piligian and Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker Amy Rice. Together, they bring a lot of credibility to the show, which perhaps may have seemed like a craven attempt for OWN to… continue reading
Film about Chaz Bono’s transition from female to male kicks off OWN’s documentary series
Tonight, Oprah’s new network OWN debuts its Documentary Club by airing a documentary film from the producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race that follows Sonny and Cher’s child Chaz Bono’s transition from female to male. Becoming Chaz debuted at Sundance earlier this year and is directed by World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato, and… continue reading
Oprah cheats by giving letting both Your OWN Show finalists win while viewers still lose
The Oprah Winfrey Network’s first competitive reality series, Your OWN Show, ended its low-rated first (and thus probably last) season on Friday night with predictable ending: Oprah refused to pick between the two finalists, Zach Anner and Kristina Kuzmic-Crocco. She didn’t even fake out one of them, she just said, “The truth is that both… continue reading
OWN’s most-popular show is Oprah Behind the Scenes; Your OWN Show is losing viewers
After a month on the air, OWN’s most-popular series is also its best reality show: Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes. And its weak reality competition Your OWN Show has actually lost viewers. The network’s CEO, Christina Norman, told Broadcasting and Cable that the competition has “been declining. So that’s disappointing to us. We believe… continue reading
Oprah’s behind-the-scenes series: unexpectedly great television
While Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next TV Star is a pretty weak competition series, the other major reality show on the new network, Season 25: Oprah Behind the Scenes, is surprisingly great television. I rarely watch Oprah, but I find this to be fascinating; I’d watch an hour of it every day… continue reading
Your OWN Show is an Apprentice and Design Star knock-off that almost works
Your OWN Show: Oprah’s Search for the Next Big Star is a weird show. It’s The Apprentice plus HGTV’s Design Star, with the charm of neither show, nor does it have any of Oprah Winfrey or her philosophy. But it is still watchable and sometimes engaging, assuming you find the central challenge interesting, because it’s… continue reading
Oprah’s OWN will give a talk show to the winner of a Mark Burnett-produced competition
Oprah and Mark Burnett are producing a reality competition series that will search for a talk show host for Oprah’s new network, OWN. The series wants those with “a big personality and a big dream for yourself,” and the show can focus on cooking, interior design and fashion, or health and well being–or it can… continue reading