Today in the Netherlands, public broadcaster BNN aired the first episode of sex- and drug-themed television show "Spuiten en Slikken"; the punning title translates to either "Shoot Up & Pop (Pills)" or "Squirt & Swallow". [more inside]
posted on Oct 10, 2005 - View this thread

Let me on survivor!!! Oh the lack of justice! Canadians make up 10% of the Survivor audience and yet the show doesn't want to allow canadians to be on the show. This young courageous man wants to change the rules, and he thinks he qualifies to be a good survivor. Because after all 'Canadians live in igloos 50% of the year, so we're perfect for outdoor survival reality-tv shows '. So he's on a crusade to be the first canadian citizen on the show, and ask people to sign his petition.
posted on Dec 17, 2004 - View this thread

And the apprentice is: Kwame Jackson! Trump fired Bill for how he ran a tournament at Trump National Golf Club and hired Kwame for the way he put together a Jessica Simpson concert at the Taj Mahal casino in Atlantic City. USA Today makes an ooopsie.
posted on Apr 16, 2004 - View this thread

The Joe Bug Bachelor might not be as handsome as the real Bachelor but he has a much better selection of women (well .. other thank Jacko).
posted on Mar 25, 2004 - View this thread

Political Survivor? The Candidate's Apprentice? Who Wants to Be a President? Yep, it's a new "Reality" show: American Candidate (from the people who brought you "The Reagans" when CBS wouldn't).
It's a golden opportunity for anyone who missed the deadline to get on the New Hampshire Primary ballot... I think every politically-minded MeFite should apply to be a contestant/candidate. (And meet the candidates who've made the first cut so far.) I'm gonna do it, and I intend to elevate the level of rhetoric by calling my opponents dandiprat dogberries, slubberdegallions, doddypolls, fop doodles and flibbertigibbets.
posted on Mar 23, 2004 - View this thread

Kurt Nilsen wins World Idol. Gap-toothed and described by judges as "with the looks of a hobbit," the Norwegian plumber with the voice of an angel proves that there's hope for all of us to become popstars. True talent triumphs!
posted on Jan 1, 2004 - View this thread

From the "Bound to Happen Sooner or Later" department: Mary Carey to host reality TV show in which 28 women will complete for the grand prize of a one-year contract in adult video.
posted on Nov 5, 2003 - View this thread

3. The girls are always there: you make breakfast - lapdancers. You brush your teeth - lapdancers. You try and sleep - lapdancers. Can you handle that?

The Lapdance Island contestant application. Can you handle that?
posted on Aug 18, 2003 - View this thread

Just Because They're Celebrity Chefs Doesn't Mean They Aren't Damn Fine Cooks: We're all supposed to yawn when it comes to TV Chefs, but that's just as silly as ignoring a writer or an actress because they're famous. Wolfgang Puck's website, for instance, is generously full of the most enticing recipes. On another note, my favourite TV chef, Rick Stein, has online a superb list of UK suppliers. Do you know of any other cuisine auteurs on the Web who are as generous with their savvy? Which chef wouldn't you mind having as your own private cook?
posted on Jun 28, 2003 - View this thread

Survivor Sucks A nice little site which rips every reality show apart quite nicely, but my favorite is the "Off Topic" section where threads on any subject offer up some of the best trolling/flamebait and some very funny comments. More inside...
posted on Apr 15, 2003 - View this thread

While you were out at a Peace Rally or reading your 'books' that somehow use words in combination to form 'sentences', us smart folks were watching the high culture extravaganza Joe Millionaire. Yes, I know you don't own a television, which is why Television without Pity is here to get you up to speed in case you're at the next dinner party with Nobel Prize laureates and all you can talk about is Iraq. [intelligent discussion inside]
posted on Feb 17, 2003 - View this thread

David wins Fame Academy! Mix Big Brother with Pop/American Idol and you get the Fame Academy, where 12 gorgeous under-30s are thrown into a glorified stage school for a few months, and only one emerges an idol. The prize? Supposedly the 'biggest TV prize ever.' A £1 million recording contract, a fancy apartment in London, a personal shopper, chauffeur, and more. All is not lost for the 'losers' though, as they've all gained professional management and Mercury Records is considering them all for solo careers. In contrast to the 'Idol' shows, being couped up for weeks on end has caused even the wackiest contestants to grow in their singing and songwriting abilities. So will this show reach the US? Probably, given these other crossover shows.
posted on Dec 13, 2002 - View this thread

What's Joe's Big Secret? The FOX network has quietly finished production on "Joe Millionaire," a seven-episode series that combines elements of Fox's "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire?" with ABC's "The Bachelor." I won't spoil the "secret" for anyone who cares but isn't someone's financial status a valid factor when forming a relationship. If you lie to someone the entire time during a relationship doesn't that effect your perceptions and feelings towards the person who lied to you?
posted on Dec 2, 2002 - View this thread

Beverly Hillbillies, Redux! No... not a new movie, but a reality series under development by the shiny and shimmering Tiffany Network. CBS scouts are scouring for a "rural, rustically telegenic" family to be whisked to a brand new home in Beverly Hills, and have a life of luxury bestowed upon them for a period of a year... cameras following them all the way. Crass exploitation of the poor when the gap between rich and poor gets larger and larger? Fun idea to see what happens when someone's dreams come true? Somewhere in the middle? What do people think?
posted on Aug 28, 2002 - View this thread

Amanda won. I knew it would be her four episodes ago. I can't believe I missed Will and Grace for this crap.
posted on Apr 25, 2002 - View this thread

Survivor III Finale Flawed. If there's any doubt still that this show is a complete waste of time, check out this "news" tidbit that CBS is doing a good job of squashing. Turns out the ending was flawed; the other finalists have now been paid handsomely to behave.
posted on Feb 22, 2002 - View this thread

Will wins Pop Idol - the contest to win a recording contract finally comes to a conclusion. To me, this programme just about showed how easy it is for anyone to end up in the charts. Now it's time for them to find out what the music industry is really like...
posted on Feb 10, 2002 - View this thread

New Survivor 4 Contestants Announced Sixteen back-stabbing, over-competitive, fame-seeking, hunger-loving castaway wannabes were announced this morning on CBS' Survivor site. Fewer people watched the mother-of-all-American-reality-TV-shows in it's last incarnation in Africa - will this one in the Marquesas continue the ratings slide?
posted on Feb 6, 2002 - View this thread

Are you 25-29? Like to travel? Wish you could influence global politics? Look good in front of the camera? Maybe you should be President.
posted on Jan 31, 2002 - View this thread

Every Third Word Is A Bleep Hey, hey, it's The Osbournes.Yep, Ozzy has his own TV show now.I just thought America needed to see what a normal family was really like says Mrs. Osbourne.Ozzy won't be getting subtitles, though.
posted on Jan 16, 2002 - View this thread

Season 11 of the Real World started tonight! Among guitly pleasures, this one's gonna be good: 2 person showers! lifeguarding! conflicting interests! I'm hooked.
posted on Jan 15, 2002 - View this thread

The East Coast knows... Survivor Africa is over. You may not have noticed it ever starting... But Kim, Lex, Ethan, or Tom won. I'll let someone else spoil the surprise for those West Coast viewers.
posted on Jan 10, 2002 - View this thread

CBS Plans Military Reality Show Feel the need for speed? Can you be a wingman? Is this what Karl Rove was talking about?
posted on Dec 11, 2001 - View this thread

It was bound to happen. "The NBC TV network is looking to revive the old fantasy TV series FANTASY ISLAND -- as a reality series."
posted on Oct 30, 2001 - View this thread

CBS posts 'Survivor: Africa' cast profiles If reality TV is even marginally relevant to anyone anymore, the bios of the latest Survivor contestants have been posted. My questions are: 1. are these people representative of the American population at large? Almost all of the women list In Style magazine as their favorite and one picks "shopping and ads" as her favorite section of the newspaper... and 2. will more or less people be watching Survivor post-WTC tragedy?
posted on Sep 25, 2001 - View this thread

Who wants to be a Princess? Remember "Who wants to marry a Multimillionaire?" Remember how it turned into a big scandal? Remember how Fox promised they wouldn't do it again? Well, they're doing it again this coming Monday.
posted on Sep 22, 2001 - View this thread

Another probable victim of the attack was Angel, the winner of FOX's "Murder in Small Town X" reality show. He's a NY firefighter.
posted on Sep 14, 2001 - View this thread

Where are these people's priorities? CBS has done it again. "Many people can't get enough news about the terrorist attacks in the United States, but a few are getting absolutely none: those locked up in ``Big Brother'' houses. " Apologies if this has already been posted, search didn't return anything useful.
posted on Sep 14, 2001 - View this thread

Running Man for real? Reality TV takes one more step closer to that plateau we're all awaiting. (Found on the Warren Ellis Delphi Forum.)
posted on Aug 24, 2001 - View this thread

Who did it? Probably the only reality show with a bit of a brain, Murder in Small Town X has a group of "investigators" who must find a murderer by way of searching for clues and interviewing the townspeople. The first episode comes on again Sunday.
posted on Jul 27, 2001 - View this thread

People Cards featuring everyday people. Reality TV hits trading cards?
posted on Jul 6, 2001 - View this thread

Big Brother 2 goes pay. They're tripping on themselves before they even get out of the starting gate. At the Official Site they've recently reported they will charge for live Internet feed access after the first few days. The obsessed and addicted are none too pleased. What do you think? Shrewd business move or greedy reaction by clueless network executives?
posted on Jul 4, 2001 - View this thread

Nasubi entered a contest.. A contest that required luck... It soon dawned on Nasubi just what type of luck he had needed to win.
posted on Jun 14, 2001 - View this thread

"He doesn't say please, he doesn't say thank you." Yeah, it's Survivor, British-style. A natural leader with survival experience emerges, gets his tribe organised, and is promptly voted out in the quietest of revolutions. My American girlfriend, who'd watched Colby marshal his people through the Outback season, is visibly gobsmacked. ("I really couldn't do psychology in this country.") Different levels of power distance at work?
posted on May 22, 2001 - View this thread

Somehow We Survived Survivor 2 "Sunshine" Tina wins, for those who care and for those who don't. Poor Bryant Gumbel... I can't believe he got conned into hosting last night's "special." And we'll never understand why Colby didn't pick Keith to go up against in the final vote, which would've all but guaranteed his own win of the $1 million grand prize. And now, back to your regularly scheduled summer reruns...
posted on May 4, 2001 - View this thread

The winner of Survivor II may have leaked... but CNN and other media won't report it. "Everyone wants to do it," one exec said, "it will just come down to who has the guts to do it first." Possible spoiler? Misinformation?
posted on Apr 30, 2001 - View this thread

Survivor is filled with crap for sale - so why can't I find that groovy Panama hat Colby wears for sale, anywhere?
posted on Apr 29, 2001 - View this thread

Casting call goes out for Survivor III CBS issues a cattle call for idiots to broadcast their idiocy on national TV this fall. Is it me, or are the two current cast members who work in the computer industry total dolts or what? Who's the bigger embarassment to the high-tech industry, this guy or this guy?
posted on Feb 16, 2001 - View this thread

Stacy sues Survivor. She claims that producer Mark Burnett urged Dirk and Sean to vote against her rather than against Rudy, in hopes that the last older contestant would not be booted.
posted on Feb 6, 2001 - View this thread

dear debb- we're all going to have sex with each other and you're not invited! -kucha

[you're all bitches. -debb]
posted on Jan 28, 2001 - View this thread

SurvivorBlog2 - Crazier than the first time around Now, if only Yahoo would add this as a module for my start page. For those who followed SurvivorBlog1, all the old contestants are back in the peanut gallery and there's a heap load of drama, cat fights, & smack talking going around for SB2. Sick, twisted, embarrassingly addictive.
posted on Jan 26, 2001 - View this thread

Reality tv with a neato science lesson curve. Plus the mom claims to be "one of the ugleist women in Britain."
posted on Oct 14, 2000 - View this thread

UK Big Brother ends, and people actually care. (Hint to US producers: An ex-nun who converted to hedonistic lesbianism beats a guy with one leg and a roofer whose idea of individuality is dying his hair.) The thing I'm most interested in, though: Is it true that the UK's National Health Service refuses to do heart and lung transplants on the, um, genetically inferior?
posted on Sep 17, 2000 - View this thread

"Space Survivor" deal is cut to the tune of 40 million. Watch in drooling wonder as perky americans from every age/race/sex demographic go though the trials of a "Survivor" race to be an astronaut- on Mir!! Wasn't Mir supposed to be ditched in the ocean years ago?
posted on Sep 12, 2000 - View this thread

SURVIVORblog. . . It had to happen eventually.
posted on Aug 30, 2000 - View this thread

{{{Spoiler Alert}}} The exercise in broadcast shame has crowned an evil queen.
posted on Aug 23, 2000 - View this thread

"And you're little dog, too!" (via Taken Outtacontext in an unrelated post). Finally someone puts this whole Survivor nonsense into terms I can understand. The PC-types are going to be all over Stuever on this one, but damn it's funny!
posted on Aug 23, 2000 - View this thread

Big Brother may be even more Orwellian than I thought. It may not be so much about constant surveillance, as about manipulating public perception of events.
posted on Aug 22, 2000 - View this thread

So farewell then, Nasty Nick! Or was he a stoolie all along?
posted on Aug 18, 2000 - View this thread

Last One Standing. Now this is reality tv. Just came on at 8PST on USA. About 10 people have to keep a hand on a car in order to win it. After 3 days awake, they started losing their wits and begin to imagine that they're being plotted against. What Big Brother should have been.
posted on Aug 13, 2000 - View this thread

RealityRun is apparently real; 'Roger', the world's first 'Reality Runner', starts evading the masses on the 14th of this month. He has a 10K USD bounty on his head.
posted on Aug 11, 2000 - View this thread

"a family spent three months living as Victorians, and THE 1900 HOUSE chronicles their experiences." Personally I find everything from Real World to Big Brother to Survivor disappointing, and only occasionally more entertaining than dog food commercials. The 1900 House takes the idea of 'reality-based' programming to an unprecedented level of maturity and elegance. I wish we had more shows like this one.
posted on Aug 6, 2000 - View this thread

One of the best media manipulations of modern times: CBS and Mark Burnett fool everyone about the ultimate Survivor. For weeks now, it's been more or less common knowledge that Gervase was going to be the last one standing on the island. Why? The two main reasons: An unused graphic discovered in the bowels of CBS.com's site showing all the contestants with Xs over their faces, except for Gervase; and a quick snippet of a Tribal Council in the opening credits a few weeks back showing only four people, one of whom was Gervase. There have been other bits of evidence conveniently popping up lately, such as reports that Gervase has been seen driving around Philly in an expensive new sports car. So guess who got voted off last night?
posted on Aug 3, 2000 - View this thread

Take one reality based TV show, add one 'angry black man', and stir. Are reality based TV shows like "Survivor", "Big Brother" and "insert-the-name-of-any-Bunim-Murray-production-here" guilty of resorting to stereotypes when casting African American males? One critic seems to think so.
posted on Aug 2, 2000 - View this thread

"When Plastic Surgeons Attack"? It's good to know Fox is going about pandering to the worst instincts of American television viewers *responsibly*. I feel better, don't you?
posted on Jul 21, 2000 - View this thread

Who's 'Big Brother' is most boring? The Brits prize is "only" $105,000, but any sex they have will be videotaped. Is their show more boring than ours? How does it compare to the Spanish and German ones?
posted on Jul 16, 2000 - View this thread

The first episode of 1900 House was really cool, and I can't wait to watch the rest tonight. The main link (above) is to pbs.org's cool site about the project. And if you're not a fan of "reality TV," but you like history, you might still enjoy the Victorian links page.

Note: I love the Victorian period, but there are other periods that also interest me. It would be REALLY cool to watch a show called "Middle Ages House," but I doubt that will ever be possible. There were so many health and safety issues involved in just going back 100 years. In fact, the producers had to make some concessions for the safety of the family. No network would ever take the insurance risk of placing a family in any sort of authentically reproduced early period.
posted on Jun 13, 2000 - View this thread

We in the "intelligencia" have nothing nice to say about “Survivor,” but "the masses" can't get enough of it. Yet I watched this weeks episode and was riveted, so I’m turning in my intelligencia club card. And I reject the two lines of criticism that I keep hearing, (1) that the show isn't "real" and (2) that the contestants are losers who can't even start a fire. (more >>>)
posted on Jun 9, 2000 - View this thread

All he wants, is a fair, um, hearing. When I first read this, I thought to myself, "It is beginning." Meaning that whenever something, or someone becomes really successful and makes lots of money, the lawyers smell the money, and want it. But after reading this, there are a few valid points. And it isn't as if the man is asking for Multi-Millions... He just wants to win the $1 million prize.
posted on Jun 9, 2000 - View this thread

Video killed the weblogging star. Turns out ABC is casting for a tv show about the fast-moving world of online zines. But don't they know that webzines are oh-so September 1996, and weblogs are where it's at these days? Doesn't somebody around here think it's time to migrate the weblog genre over to television? Any of you crazy New York based webloggers thinking about making the move over to a different medium?
posted on May 2, 2000 - View this thread

meet zlatko trpkovski, superstar of germany's big brother, coming soon to a TV near you. "Alternately slammed and praised by media commentators here as "the brain," "a trash hero in jogging pants," or "the king of Germany," Trpkovski is suddenly one of the best known people in the country."
posted on Apr 30, 2000 - View this thread

The latest TV craze to hit Europe is coming to the UK. After the ratings success of Shipwrecked (18 volunteers living on an island) we have a kind of Truman Show but with volunteers.
posted on Mar 23, 2000 - View this thread

to follow up the scandal of who wants to marry a millionaire, might fox give us who wants to marry a staggering genius featuring 50 young, college-educated women vying for the affections of sympathetic literary star Dave Eggers?
posted on Feb 24, 2000 - View this thread

Darva the gold-digger wants out is anyone surprised? It was a matter of time...
posted on Feb 23, 2000 - View this thread

More bad news about Fox's multimillionaire. Now the smoking gun says he was abusive to a past fiancee. i'm willing to bet someone in the research department is sweating today.
posted on Feb 21, 2000 - View this thread

Who Wants To Marry A Liar-Loser/Multi-Millionaire? Unfortunately for Hard-bodied nurse Darva Conger, her. It seems that the pointy chinned-geek multimillionaire of Fox's ratingsfest "Who Wants To Marry A Multi-Millionaire" wasn't exactly the man he made himself out to be. (I personally would've gone wither with the other blonde, or the brunette next to her at the end.) - Aw c'mon - you can admit it - I know you saw at least some of that two hour scoop o' slop... - Uhhmmmm welll... yeah - well I was just testing you - I didn't see it either... yeah... umm I was watching basketball.... On an entirely different note - how about that 90210? - I'm really getting worried about Kelly...... Uh yeah, well I was just testing you again... Ummmmm... I gotta go now...
posted on Feb 19, 2000 - View this thread

FoxTV has reached a new all-time low. I couldn't find an official site, but here's the listing over at tvgrid.com. "Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire" is an upcoming special where a single guy will pick from one of 50 women, and get legally married by the end of the program. This one is pathetic all around; for the freak going on TV to pick his wife in a matter of 2 hours, the 50 women lining up to marry a man for his money, and for Fox pulling such a lame ratings stunt.
posted on Feb 6, 2000 - View this thread