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The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
Jersey Shore Gets a Fist Bump in the Ratings
Rupert Everett: Gay Actors Should Stay in the Closet
The Hills: Comic Book Adventures in Finale Land
The Hills: A Comic Book Adventure in Las Vegas
The Hills: Later, The Same Day...
Hollywood Invents Celebrity Twittering for Dollars
The Hills: Trolls, Ogres, and Scary Godmothers
The Hills: Birthday Party Massacre
The Hills: They Tried to Make Her Go to Rehab

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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.
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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.
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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.
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ClockOnTheStove
12/16/09

In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
Don't forget Trailer Fabulous and MILF Island!
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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?
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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.
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Brian Moylan
12/16/09

@daveyjonesisdead: She's some girl on Australia's Next Top Model.
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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).
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shortskid
12/16/09

In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
"Lowlights: The Mole"

I'm never going to take any thing you write seriously ever again.

Did you ever even see the two seasons Anderson Cooper hosted?
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Tart of Darkness
12/16/09

@shortskid: They were awesome!
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HelloTitty
12/17/09

@Tart of Darkness: @shortskid: Agreed! The Mole (Coop edition) showed that reality TV could be smart. Yes, you heard me SMART!

Also, I can't believe Brian missed the lowlight that was The Swan. Nely Galan haunts me to this day.
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Tart of Darkness
12/17/09

@HelloTitty: "Smart" is exactly right. Both Coop seasons were fascinating and I loved that there were even extra clues for the TV audience.

I never saw "The Swan". Just the concept made me sick.
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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?
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ChampagneSherpa
12/16/09

@BookishLatkeish: Jet Blue. Flavor of Love from coast to coast.
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BookishLookish
12/16/09

@ChampagneSherpa: From you, I would expect nothing less!
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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.
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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.
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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
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Brian Moylan
12/16/09

@Magister: OH, yes. A horribly great show.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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crookedE
12/16/09

@Magister: YES! Temptation Island was deliciously terrible.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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TNT Freckles McGee
12/16/09

In reply to The Decade Reality Evolved into a Beautiful Beast
I would also add that the impending writers and actors strikes helped to spur on the reality genre. Executives scrambled to find shows that would continue should the unions decided to go on strike and this genre fit the bill. It was after the impending strike passed that executives realized this type of show was cheaper to make than a scripted show with real actors.
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Brian Moylan
12/16/09

@TriedandTrue: Excellent point.
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crookedE
12/16/09

@TriedandTrue: definitely. Survivor coincided pretty perfectly with the actors' commercial strike back in 2000.
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