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New York, 10:50 PM
Fri Dec 18
54 posts in the last 24 hours

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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of ampersandparade ampersandparade
    12/17/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Just adding my own sidenote: obviously the British need their own category, because they've basically got this whole reality thing sealed up over there, and they freaking own it (so sayeth Snooki). Besides giving us the proto-AI with Pop Idol (and improving the format with the X-Factor), they've birthed the "...Got Talent" franchise, and also given us those ridiculous BBC3 documentaries that sometimes get shown here in America (Me and My Big Breasts, Super Botox Me, What's Eating Victoria Beckham?). Katie Price's (nee Jordan's) line of television shows, in their own right, are a gift to the human race, especially when coupled with her appearances on Graham Norton, which rank as both the most cringe-worthy and hilarious examples of a reality personality literally piercing the lexicon and worming their way into it headfirst. And unlike our meandering results of competition shows, their winners actually achieve greatness: Girls Aloud (and subsequently Cheryl Cole), Leona Lewis, Will Young all have done surprisingly well. While their formats might be dying (Big Brother just got canned), I don't think they have the diminishing returns of American reality, as evidenced by the strength of the X-Factor alongside the general weakness of American Idol. So, long live the Queen and all that horseshit.
     Reply
    ampersandparade was starred ampersandparade was unstarred
    Image of ampersandparade ampersandparade
    12/17/09

    @ampersandparade: I should also add the British have a tendency to be somewhat self-aware with their reality programming, and not so goddamn serious about it as we are in America. For those that need evidence, please Google or YouTube Dead Set for all your zombie Big Brother horror/hilarity.
     Reply
    ampersandparade was starred ampersandparade was unstarred
    Image of kappakappaspankme kappakappaspankme
    12/17/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    :sigh:

    The highly underrated Bands on the Run was overlooked. You people have no soul.
     Reply
    kappakappaspankme was starred kappakappaspankme was unstarred
    Image of D2theMatthews D2theMatthews
    12/17/09

    In reply to Steve Carell and Tina Fey Love Starring in Films Together
    Disney is doing the Yogi the Bear movie?
     Reply
    D2theMatthews was starred D2theMatthews was unstarred
    Image of Arken Arken
    12/17/09

    In reply to Steve Carell and Tina Fey Love Starring in Films Together
    Well you have to blame the Vikings for naming her Frigga (a.k.a. Frigg). She is the wife of Odin and mother of Thor and Loki, among others.

    Besides, the bible has people named Ham and Nimrod.

    On top of this, the Mormons believe that Joseph Smith received the text of the Book of Mormon on golden tablets delivered by an angel named Moroni.
     Reply
    Arken was starred Arken was unstarred
    Image of CrayonSmoothie CrayonSmoothie
    12/17/09

    @Arken: Moon Unit and Dweezil say 'you go' Arken!
     Reply
    CrayonSmoothie was starred CrayonSmoothie was unstarred
    Image of limber limber
    12/17/09

    @Arken: I want to know who's playing Sleipnir, a name I have delighted in since finding it in a dusty Nordic Gods book in 1992.

    Just try it: Sleipnir! Sleipnir Sleipnir!
     Reply
    limber was starred limber was unstarred
    Image of raincoaster raincoaster
    12/17/09

    @Arken: Frigga is gonna kick their asses at Gawker media.
     Reply
    raincoaster was starred raincoaster was unstarred
    Image of ClockOnTheStove ClockOnTheStove
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Don't forget Trailer Fabulous and MILF Island!
     Reply
    ClockOnTheStove was starred ClockOnTheStove was unstarred
    Image of crookedE crookedE
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    I also love "How Not To Decorate" on BBC. A perfect example of the gays' dominance in this genre.
     Reply
    crookedE was starred crookedE was unstarred
    Image of TheUptightMidwesterner TheUptightMidwesterner
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    I have never, ever watched Suvivor or American Idol.
    This makes me somewhat notorious among my friends and coworkers.
    I haven't been
    consciously avoiding the shows, I just cannot remember when these things are on.
     Reply
    TheUptightMidwesterner was starred TheUptightMidwesterner was unstarred
    Image of JennaW JennaW
    12/16/09

    @TheUptightMidwesterner: I watched a single episode of Idol under duress (trapped in a laundromat), and it was like the semifinals or something (it was the season Fantasia won).

    Everyone -- and I mean everyone including Fantasia -- started their song off-key. Appalling.
     Reply
    JennaW was starred JennaW was unstarred
    Image of Spirit Fingers Spirit Fingers
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Gotta add my two cents in here, bubbe. Where do we put in star-maker shows starring useless second-string talent like P.Diddy's Making a Band out of a Band, under a Band, using a Band to smack a Band, and then taking Rev Run and Joey Fatone and making a salad of dance-a-sing-a-rap-beatings that do their thing in a singing bee (the hell did this even mean?!), walked to Brooklyn for cheesecake (Loved that!), or made family-style rap in a Bill Cosby/Father Knows Adidas Best kind of way, and then mixing that genre with legitimate crazy reality (Cheaters) and wonderfully done documentaries (Meerkat Manor RIP Flower, forever.)?

    There's just so much reality. Remember when getting real meant jumping into a pool/hot tub/Trichelle naked?
     Reply
    Spirit Fingers was starred Spirit Fingers was unstarred
    Image of daveyjonesisdead daveyjonesisdead
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Who's the girl in the top picture? At first I thought, an early Allison.
     Reply
    daveyjonesisdead was starred daveyjonesisdead was unstarred
    Image of Brian Moylan Brian Moylan
    12/16/09

    @daveyjonesisdead: She's some girl on Australia's Next Top Model.
     Reply
    Brian Moylan was starred Brian Moylan was unstarred
    Image of OldTowneTavern OldTowneTavern
    12/16/09

    @Brian Moylan: Oh, I thought she was Emma Roberts (who has nothing to do with reality TV, unless it's Cribs).
     Reply
    OldTowneTavern was starred OldTowneTavern was unstarred
    Image of BookishLookish BookishLookish
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Of all these shows, the only one I have only seen is "Queer Eye," and that was about three years ago.

    Don't you people have sex? Where do you get all this time to watch TV?
     Reply
    BookishLookish was starred BookishLookish was unstarred
    Image of ChampagneSherpa ChampagneSherpa
    12/16/09

    @BookishLatkeish: Jet Blue. Flavor of Love from coast to coast.
     Reply
    BookishLatkeish promoted this comment ChampagneSherpa was starred ChampagneSherpa was unstarred
    Image of BookishLookish BookishLookish
    12/16/09

    @ChampagneSherpa: From you, I would expect nothing less!
     Reply
    BookishLookish was starred BookishLookish was unstarred
    Image of Astigmatism Astigmatism
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    The Joe Schmo Show. I'm not sure where to fit it into your classification system; maybe it needs its own category, "Apotheosis". Introduced Kristen Wiig to the world, was hysterical in its own right, and made us feel exactly as bad as we deserved to for watching it and all the other reality crap on TV these days. God bless that show.
     Reply
    Astigmatism was starred Astigmatism was unstarred
    Image of Beau Nerd Beau Nerd
    12/16/09

    @Astigmatism: I remember that show but I did not remember that Kristen Wiig was in it. Holy cow that is so cool.
     Reply
    Beau Nerd was starred Beau Nerd was unstarred
    Image of Magister Magister
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    All in all, a good list and I agree with most of the classifications, but wasn't there a Fox show where they put a bunch of couples on an island to see if producers could get them to cheat?

    I believe it was called Temptation Island and it has to qualify as one of the lowest lights, ever. IMHO
     Reply
    Magister was starred Magister was unstarred
    Image of Brian Moylan Brian Moylan
    12/16/09

    @Magister: OH, yes. A horribly great show.
     Reply
    Brian Moylan was starred Brian Moylan was unstarred
    Image of DahlELama DahlELama
    12/16/09

    @Magister: YES. Holy crap, I loved that show. Forget reality shows; that was one of the lowest lights of human existence, ever.
     Reply
    DahlELama was starred DahlELama was unstarred
    Image of TNT Freckles McGee TNT Freckles McGee
    12/16/09

    @Magister: Yes! Then they created Paradise Hotel. And then used many of those Paradise Hotel people for the boat one - Love Cruise? Love Boat? Something like that. I had forgotten about these.
     Reply
    TNT Freckles McGee was starred TNT Freckles McGee was unstarred
    Image of Muggs Bigglesworth Muggs Bigglesworth
    12/16/09

    @Magister: I'd argue that the one show where they hooked your spouse up to a lie detector and then asked them if they cheated on you (and almost always they did) was even lower.

    But who knows where rock bottom may be? I'm still holding out hope for the porn-reality show (WORKING TITLE: Lickedy Split) or something involving a senator. What about "Make Me a Muppet?" Or maybe even, "Dude, where's my Student Aid?"

    That last one may actually work, btw.
     Reply
    Magister promoted this comment Muggs Bigglesworth was starred Muggs Bigglesworth was unstarred
    Image of Magister Magister
    12/16/09

    @Brian Moylan: & @DahlELama: It was kind of delicious to look at in a soft-core type of way, but the wife really didn't appreciate the concept, for sure.
     Reply
    Magister was starred Magister was unstarred
    Image of crookedE crookedE
    12/16/09

    @Magister: YES! Temptation Island was deliciously terrible.
     Reply
    crookedE was starred crookedE was unstarred
    Image of ArmCandy ArmCandy
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    Great stuff here. I would say another lowlight of the documentary genre was "My Super Sweet 16." That show made me want to throw my coffee table through the TV.
     Reply
    sfBirdie promoted this comment ArmCandy was starred ArmCandy was unstarred
    Image of PamBeesley PamBeesley
    12/16/09

    @ArmCandy: Did you ever watcgh the follow up series when they sent those brats to live in villages in Africa and in the jungle in Thailand etc? That was fun to watch. One girl had to smear poop on her host family's house to keep the rain out. She was bawling. It was rewarding to watch.
     Reply
    sweet_communist promoted this comment PamBeesley was starred PamBeesley was unstarred
    Image of senatormayer senatormayer
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    I've only seen one of those and that was American Idle. Though I haven't even seen that in five years. I don't know who half or even the majority of people mentioned on Gawker are.

    I'm not sure why I come here everyday.
     Reply
    senatormayer was starred senatormayer was unstarred
    Image of Smitros Smitros
    12/16/09

    In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
    There are a bunch of lesser cable versions of these as well.

    The majority of them--and Launch My Line is likely no exception--serve to keep some dubious characters in one place and safely away from the rest of us for a while.
     Reply
    Smitros was starred Smitros was unstarred
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