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February 11, 2012
 
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surreal life

Best TV of the '00s: Reality Participant / Contestant

by Annie Wu, posted Dec 29th 2009 7:02PM
the osbourne familyMore of our best of the decade coverage, which started earlier today. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about our favorite reality contestants and participants.

Whether we like it or not, the '00s introduced us to a new form of celebrity: the reality star. In previous decades, the closest we got to this were especially entrancing personalities from MTV's Real World. These people gained fame for acting like well-crafted exaggerations of their real selves.

Faster than you can say, "I didn't come here to make friends," networks picked up on the public's fascination with reality TV like Survivor and they pushed it to the popularity that it has reached today. Now, reality shows barely reflect what happens in normal people's lives but are generally more like high-concept game shows or extremely scripted improvs. But people keep watching, because the personalities are big and captivating.

Yup. Strategic footage editing does wonders. Here are some of our personal favorites from the genre, but feel free to comment with your own worthy additions!

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5 Worst VH1 Spin-Offs

by Chris O'Connell, posted Dec 15th 2009 11:30AM
VH1 is expanding on its 'Tough Love' franchise by ordering eight episodes of a show that is to include couples, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The spinoff, aptly titled 'Tough Love: Couples,' will feature 'Tough Love' star Steve Ward and his mother JoAnn. The two will assess the relationships of the couples just before they are set to marry, determining if they are fit to tie the knot together.

This is certainly not the first time VH1 has spun off off their popular shows, sometimes unnecessarily. In fact, there are so many spinoffs of their reality shows, we have compiled a list of just the worst ones.

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Omarosa, Donald Trump Reunite for 'Omarosa's Ultimate Merger'

by Michael D. Ayers, posted Nov 10th 2009 3:15PM
OmarosaThe world has yet to experience opportunity to court 'Apprentice' super villain Omarosa in a 'Bachelorette'-style television show -- until now!

Variety
reports that the most infamous contestant from Donald Trump's reality show is getting her own deal for TV One. Besides finding Omarosa a new love interest, 'Omarosa's Ultimate Merger' wants to paint her in a new, less-evil light. Trump Productions and Juma Entertainment will produce with an initial order of 8 episodes.

Not only will this reunite the reality-watching public with Omarosa, the Donald will appear on camera, offering advice to Omarosa (yep). In a statement, Trump described 'Omarosa's Ultimate Merger' as a "tremendous new show." We shall see.

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Fox Reality Channel announces new original series

by Kristin Sample, posted Jun 24th 2008 2:27PM
Traci BinghamFox Reality channel has a new series called Gimme My Reality Show. This series will feature celebrities competing to have their own reality show. D-Listers already signed on for the competition include Traci Bingham, Santino Rice, and Gretchen Bonaduce.

Bingham, who played Jordin Tate on Baywatch, has also appeared on VH1's Surreal Life 2 and Celebrity Boot Camp. Rice appeared on the second season of Project Runway and finished in the semi-finals. Bonaduce was on VH1's Breaking Bonaduce which chronicled the life of her husband and former child-star Danny Bonaduce.

That's it? They need to get some Idol alums in there. I'm thinking Sanjaya, just so the rest of the cast can ridicule him. Also, I would love to see one of the guys from I Love New York. Say, Mr. Boston? Who would you like to see on Gimme My Reality Show?

Gimme My Reality Show will premiere on October 11th at midnight, right after the Fox Reality Really Awards.

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Mystery rocker stars in new reality series

by Julia Ward, posted Dec 6th 2006 9:29AM
Fred DurstThe producers of VH1's Surreal Life and My Fair Brady have another card up their sleeves. They're currently casting twenty bachelorettes to live in a Hollywood Hills mansion and compete for the love of "one of the 90s hottest rockers." They're keeping the name of the rocker under wraps, but claim that he's a "famous, sexy, bad boy rocker" and "lead singer of a famous 90s rock band."

This Flavor of Love-type premise requires some real loons to make it work. Idolator has made a few guesses at who said bad boy might be. They've floated Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Stephan Jenkins of Third Eye Blind, Steve Harwell of Smashmouth and Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit. I'd find it way more humorous if someone like Eddie Veder or Billy Corgan had decided that they were going to try and undermine the genre by colluding with it, but Idolator's list makes sense. I'd say the smart money's on Durst or Duritz. Anyone interested in auditioning?

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Short-Lived Shows: Small Wonder

by Julia Ward, posted Nov 13th 2006 12:01PM
Small WonderTechnically, this show may not have been short-lived enough. Small Wonder ran for four seasons - from '85 to '89 - in syndication. Whenever I am baffled by the popularity of tween vehicles like The Disney Channel's Hannah Montana, I just think of the inexplicably high ratings little robot Vicki got in her first year and the solid following that held on until the show's demise.

The show's conceit involved a robotics firm engineer designing an AI cast-off from Annie to come live with his family. The robot was a "Voice Input Child Indenticant." VICI. Vicki. You get it. The Lawson family had quite a time trying to keep the monotoned Vicki's origins a secret from those pesky Brindles next door. They couldn't possibly destroy the adorable bundle of bolts that Dad had so lovingly (and sorta creepily if you think about it) put together and kept at home long past her beta-testing date.

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Out of the Blogosphere

by Bob Sassone, posted Jun 2nd 2006 8:40AM
  • Kelly RipaKen Levine has a great post about the killing off of popular TV characters, and talks about how the unexpected death of Henry Blake on M*A*S*H really stunned people.
  • Aaron Barnhart has the press release NBC sent out, announcing that DirecTV had picked up the Sleuth Channel and its 15 million subscribers. That's the same amount of subscribers that TRIO had when DirecTV dropped that channel.
  • Entertainment Weekly's PopWatch blog recounts what must have been an odd episode of Live with Regis and Kelly, with Vince Vaughn (subbing for Reege) talking about a childhood car accident, Kelly talking about her son breaking his arm earlier this week, and guest Denis Leary talking about how his dog died by eating 27 pounds of deer meat.
  • Reality Blurred blog is reporting that the cast for Surreal Life 8 will include Randy "Macho Man" Savage, Phil Hellmuth, Playmate Tina Jordan, and Type O Negative's Peter Steele.
  • Geek Entertainment TV has a video interview with comedian Tom Green.

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What's on tonight: West Wing, Grey's, Cheerleader Nation, Surreal Life, Family Guy

by Bob Sassone, posted Mar 26th 2006 4:30PM
  • FOX has a new lineup tonight starting at 7pm: Malcolm, King of the Hill, The Simpsons, The War At Home, Family Guy, and Free Ride.
  • CBS has a new 60 Minutes at 7, followed by a new Cold Case and repeats of CSI and Without A Trace.
  • NBC has a new Dateline, followed by new eps of The West Wing, Law and Order: CI, and Crossing Jordan.
  • ABC has two eps of Extreme Makeover, followed by new eps of Desperate Housewives and Grey's Anatomy.
  • Also at 7: The WB has two repeats of Reba and then two repeats of Charmed.
  • There's a marathon of Little People, Big World starting at 7 on TLC.
  • At 8, Lifetime has a new ep of Cheerleader Nation.
  • Looks like they're running out of ideas for the E! True Hollywood Story. Tonight at 8: behind America's Next Top Model.
  • AMC has Goldfinger at 8, my favorite Bond flick.
  • At 9, Food Network has a new ep of The Next Food Network Star.
  • A new Sopranos airs on HBO at 9.
  • VH-1 has a new Surreal Life at 9, followed by a new Hogan Knows Best.
  • On a new Intervention, the son of former lead singer of Three Dog Night tries to kick drugs. It's on A&E at 10.
  • 10pm movies: IFC has Johnny Depp and Martin Landau in Ed Wood, while Sundance has Heathers.
  • At midnight, Cartoon Network has a new Minoriteam.

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What's on tonight: 60 Minutes, West Wing, Sopranos, Simpsons, Grey's

by Bob Sassone, posted Mar 19th 2006 4:29PM
  • Michael ChiklisAt 7pm, CBS has a new 60 Minutes, followed by a new episode of Cold Case and the movie Time Bomb.
  • ABC has two new eps of Extreme Makeover, followed by a repeat Desperate Housewives and a new Grey's Anatomy.
  • NBC has a new Dateline at 7, followed by new eps of The West Wing, Law and Order: CI, and Crossing Jordan.
  • FOX has a new Malcolm at 7, then a new Simpsons, a new War At Home, a repeat Family Guy, and then a new Free Ride.
  • At 7, The WB has something called The Second JammX Kids All-Star Dance Special, followed by two Charmed repeats.
  • Two Tom Hanks classics air at 8: Forrest Gump on TNT, and Big on AMC.
  • Also at 8: The History Channel has a marathon of new Super Tools episodes.
  • There's a new Sopranos on HBO at 9, followed by a new Big Love.
  • Get ready for another season of The Surreal Life. It's on VH-1 at 9.
  • Also at 9: Spike has a marathon of The Shield.
  • At 10, HGTV has a new If Walls Could Talk.

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Pink ties the knot

by Kim Voynar, posted Jan 8th 2006 8:08AM

Singer Pink reportedly tied the knot this weekend with her motocross racing boyfriend Carey Hart, in Costa Rica. I can't say that Pink is one of my fave singers, but dang! I gotta give the girl props for those abs. Hart, as you may recall, was also on the fifth season of Surreal Life (What? You didn't watch it either?). Hopefully the Grammy-winning singer will have sense enough not to allow anyone to talk her into making a reality show of her first year of marriage (she can ask Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey how well that idea worked out).

 

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Janice Dickinson returns with new show

by Annie Wu, posted Dec 29th 2005 7:37AM
Janice DickinsonJanice Dickinson was booted from her judge position on America's Next Top Model and disappeared off the face of the TV-world after she stormed out on the finale of The Surreal Life 5 (oh, Omarosa...). Well, guess what? Janice is back with her own show. Oxygen has ordered 10 episodes of Janice's own reality modeling show, in which she'll pick five models to join her new Hollywood modeling agency, Janice Dickinson Models.

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