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the end of everything
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Reality TV
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the end of everything
the hills
The Hills Are Alive With The Sound of Absolutely Nothing
I'm not sure why I do this to myself. My roommate joined me as I watched The Hills last night and, having never seen it, was shocked by just how miserably bad the show is. Part of her distaste came from the fact that, yes, she was not inured to the show's particular brand of "nothing ever happens" and "what?", but also last night's episode was just plain bad. What exactly did we see? The old fake-out of the Stephen and Lauren "relationship" and some ridiculously staged Heidi/Spencer/Stephanie gobbledygook. While I am loathe to use that tired idiom about leaping over sea creatures, I do think that last night's episode issued something of a death rattle for the three year old series. More »
julia allison
Julia TV Gets The Green Light
Our culture cannot be so debased as to give a television platform to a woman who pretends to be a Star magazine journalist, one who claims to design handbags, and the third an heir to a Sun Microsystems dynasty that we've never heard of. But, of course, it has. That rumored reality television project, one of the few things that Star's Julia Allison has ever kept secret, has been greenlit by Bravo, we're told by people familiar with the cable network. The show, tentatively called IT Girls, begins shooting this summer. More »
things we actually like
Hot Off the Presses
So MTV's The Paper, about a Florida high school newspaper, may be my new favorite reality show. Airing right after The Hills on Monday night, it's a silly and pleasant and embarrassingly relatable antidote to the daftness of Lauren and Co. The kids' anxieties, passions, and intensities are exactly what I remember of those days (particularly of my time spent doing theatre). Things were so fucking important back then. It's a specific sense of urgency that feels lacking in the ever-cluttered and complicated adult world. More »
Real Housewives Husband At Soho House
Emailed sighting: "Currently: Alex's husband from Real Housewives of NY at Soho House sitting next to the game room. Where is Alex? She must be here somewhere!"
'Elle' Show Contestents Compete For Real Job in Fake Office
Elle update! So, in re. today's story on the magazine and all the reality show fighting and Joe Zee and Nina Garcia—well, Ben Widdicombe's item on the upcoming Tyra-produced show about the mag mightn't have been totally accurate. The contestants cannot literally be in the way of any Elle staffers, because the show is being filmed in a recently constructed pretend office for the magazine, which has a notoriously shitty real one. All the other stuff we're still no clearer on.
Elle update! So, in re. today's story on the magazine and all the reality show fighting and Joe Zee and Nina Garcia—well, Ben Widdicombe's item on the upcoming Tyra-produced show about the mag mightn't have been totally accurate. The contestants cannot literally be in the way of any Elle staffers, because the show is being filmed in a recently constructed pretend office for the magazine, which has a notoriously shitty real one. All the other stuff we're still no clearer on.
reality tv
The Real Housewives Finale Is Only the Beginning
So the first season of Real Housewives of New York City, Bravo's brilliant car wreck of a reality series (that will soon have an across-the-Hudson spin off...), came to an end last night. What a short run we had! But how much we now know about these truly terrible women! In the finale episode, Jill naturally took the opportunity to throw her money around and had a big party for all the ladies and their families. The big question was, of course, whether Ramona should be pardoned for her past offenses at Bethenny's little dinner party. In the end, the crazy blond dynamo (who also spent the episode shooting botulism into her face) was forgiven, but (oops!) she showed up terribly late and was as awful as everyone expected. More »
reality tv
Show Mommy on the Doll Where The Real World Touched Us
Jeff Gordiner tries to tease out the societal impact of The Real World in Details this month, and he mostly succeeds. I'm all for affixing big ideas onto shallow pop culture, the bigger and more out-there the better. Gordiner says that this reality show most in need of disinfectant "ushered in a New America"! One in which we not only navel gaze, but navel videotape and broadcast. Remember that little Real Real World book that came out a number of years ago? That was an early Facebook, he says! All the mundane and inane aspects of people's lives suddenly take on import, simply by being there, available for consumption. That sounds pretty accurate. We care about some pretty meaningless shit these days. But what he doesn't get into, and I wish he would, is how performative the cast members have become, how the show has ceased to be reality and now exists somewhere between fact and fiction, between a low budget documentary and community theatre. More »
life in elle
Reality TV Tearing 'Elle' Apart
Things are apparently a mess at fashion magazine Elle. A terrible reality show is has taken over the office, according to Ben Widdicombe. The show is called "Fashionista," it's produced by Tyra, and it will air on The CW later this year. It documents the search for a new assistant for creative director Joe Zee, even though he has an assistant already, one who is by all reports perfectly competent. So the show's contestants are just running around the office, getting in everyone's way with pointless "challenges," competing for a job they won't get. Meanwhile, an email we received from an anonymous tipster seems to suggest that maybe Mr. Zee, with his star-making new reality show on the way, might be helping to publicize the ouster of the mag's last reality show star, former fashion director Nina Garcia. More »
30 rock
MILF Island Champion Acts On Broadway
The return of 30 Rock included a spoof reality show called MILF Island, which in turn included a champion named DeBorah, alternately praised and imitated by the characters within 30 Rock. It turns out the real-life DeBorah, Deidre Goodwin, is a theater actress who plays Sheila in A Chorus Line and was Velma in Chicago. Goodwin told Entertainment Weekly that filming of MILF Island involved cockroach eating and "cooter slams:" More »
reality tv
Model Gig For Hills Greaseball (The One Named Justin)
Justin Bobby, poorly-behaved ex of Audrina on The Hills, is determined to make this reality TV thing pay off. Bobby scored a modeling gig for men's clothing company Orthodox, which is represented by a PR firm with ties to the show. The Times' Moment blog has additional shots for your viewing pleasure. [Times]
reality tv
Only a Few Stray Trannies Show Up For Paris Hilton's BFF Audition
Casting directors for Paris Hilton's new reality show were hard at work in New York this week trying to find contestants for her new reality show Paris Hilton's My New BFF. Only it seems that they couldn't rustle up many contenders who want to be her bestie. The eternally excited magazine OK! has the report. More »
reality tv
It's 10pm. Are Your Housewives at Taco Night?
I don't quite know where to begin. Last night's penultimate episode of Real Housewives of New York City was at turns so vile, appalling, oddly likable, and deeply hilarious that I'm again tempted to just post the whole damn episode without comment. This grand opera of vanity and inanity needs very little introduction or analysis. It simply is. But! That's not what I get paid for, so here goes. Maybe it's best to do this by character, as each had their own little arc. More »
feuds
Project Runway Pimped Out By Weinstein
Harvey Weinstein is moving Project Runway from Bravo to Lifetime because his company will now be making $1 million per episode rather than around $600,000 per episode, the Post reported. Understandable, even if some fans of the reality show may have to emigrate from their homelands to watch it. But what's kind of gross is how the media mogul exploited (and probably undermined) the show when it was at Bravo in order to earn more money for Wesintein Co.: More »
reality tv
Lifetime Steals Project Runway, Gays Confused
Lifetime (television for "Women") announced today that it has poached hit reality competition show (and Peabody award winner) Project Runway away from Bravo, where it has been the flagship series. The Weinstein Company, which co-produces the design show, said that it has entered a five-year deal with Lifetime. NBC Universal, which owns Bravo, has apparently started legal proceedings trying to block the move. "We believe that this lawsuit is without merit. While good for the market for lawyers, it is always unfortunate when parties try to win in court what they have lost in the marketplace," said legal counsel for the Weinstein Co. Meow! Should the move stick, look for many gay men, too lazy to change the channel, to develop strange relationships with Tracey Gold movies of the week. [EW]
I Will Never Love You
Were you as excited for Dolly Parton week as I was? And then, as you watched everyone warble their way through her classic songs, did you think "Why do I do this to myself every week?" Jason Castro sounded nice with his little guitar and perfect, pearly white teeth... Carly sounded pleasant but boring as ever. David Cook continued to rankle and is apparently a GIANT. At least compared to Ryan Seacrest. That dude must be tiny. Who's going home? Will it be the forever-struggling for votes because she's obviously a complete monster Syesha? Or perhaps the continually sinking Ramiele? Nah. My vote's on Carly. She's very talented, yes, but too unexciting, old, and Irish for this debacle. If she can act at all, she should get her arse over to the West End posthaste. After the jump, watch ol' Carly's performance.
reality tv
daughter son Noelle took breakdancing lessons from a man named Cyclone. He later performed in front of his family (including the Count himself) and was heartily praised, most of all by Countess LuAnn, who was glad to see him getting involved in something artistic (other than, you know, the cello at school). It was a fairly sweet moment, and yet still bleakly representative of everything that is wrong with these people. Breakdancing lessons? From an instructor who comes to your mansion? Really?? Talk about co-opting and stuffing money into an unpluggable hole. These women are smearing themselves and their families with cash and rubies and chic "urban" things like breakdancing to mask the cheap, desperate stink they wallow in daily. OK, yes her husband's a fucking old money Count but her name is LuAnn and she considers wealth a personality trait. So do the rest of these clueless, lovable, and insanely irritating gorgons. Let's find out what they're up to!
More »
Real Housewives 2: Electric Boogaloo
Hey, that rich white boy can breakdance. Well, sort of. On last night's Real Housewives of New York City, the Countess LuAnn's
the gays
