MetaFilter posts tagged with tv and RealityTV

15 Minutes of Infamy

ericb — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 10:52:29 -0800

After appearing last month on the ABC reality television show 'Wife Swap,' "San Francisco resident Stephen Fowler was forced to resign from the boards of two nonprofits, allegedly received e-mailed death threats and stood on the sidelines as his wife, Renee Stephens, issued a public statement condemning his behavior and asking him to get 'professional help.'...Thanks to online TV and easy access to private information, Fowler's 15 minutes of fame have snowballed beyond his control." "What has generated such wrath is Fowler's condescending treatment of Gayla Long, a mother of four from rural Missouri....In wince-producing remarks, Fowler, who is British, wrote off middle America with such pronouncements as 'Your two languages seem to be bad English and redneck.'" Video highlights - 1, 2. Fowler has since apologized publicly on his wife's blog for his behavior.

StephenFowlerSucks.com ABC News report. Fox News report. Yahoo!TV -- Husbands Behaving Badly. 'Wife Swap' Long\Stephens-Fowler Full Episode: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.

I don't care if you cry and cut, but you better cry and cut.

Blazecock Pileon — Fri, 24 Aug 2007 19:18:16 -0800

The Near-Fame Experience: A fascinating interview with former contestants of Bravo reality television shows Project Runway and Top Chef, presenting the fickle nature of fame and how it can come at significant professional and personal cost, if at all.

Win In China!

Burhanistan — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 08:32:21 -0800

Win in China! A "reality" TV show in China where young would be entrepreneurs compete for a large pile of startup cash to actualize their business ideas. Not everyone is happy about the glorification of capitalism, of course, and one losing contestant may have committed suicide, but overall reaction in China to the show seems positive. Video clips here (also a full length article by the Atlantic if you have a paid subscription).

War on Everything

augustweed — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:53:00 -0800

The Chasers reveal the irrelevant of many surveillance cameras and the ignorance of many Americans by declaring War on Everything.

Sex, check. Drugs, check. What, no rock & roll?

goodnewsfortheinsane — Mon, 10 Oct 2005 15:39:38 -0800

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]

Amelie Nothomb's "Sulphuric Acid"

matteo — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 10:24:53 -0800

Novelist posits Shoah as reality TV show. In her new book titled ’Sulphuric Acid’ published in France, the successful Belgian author Amelie Nothomb describes a “concentration camp reality show”. It's the story of a reality show called “Concentration”. There are ’candidates’ which are arrested in roundups, tattooed and guarded before they are executed one by one following a vote by the spectators.

A DESCRIPTION FROM THE LIVE PORTION OF THE SHOW

riffola — Fri, 16 Apr 2004 09:41:14 -0800

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.

World Idol

dagny — Thu, 01 Jan 2004 12:03:27 -0800

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!

Season One DVD to be most popular ever

XQUZYPHYR — Wed, 05 Nov 2003 09:23:16 -0800

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.

10 contestants, 40 lapdancers, 1 winner....

davehat — Mon, 18 Aug 2003 09:07:25 -0800

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?

Survivor Sucks

Mack Twain — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 11:48:40 -0800

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...

Fame Academy comes to an end.

wackybrit — Fri, 13 Dec 2002 18:16:40 -0800

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.

tittergrrl — Wed, 28 Aug 2002 21:17:02 -0800

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?

chuq — Thu, 22 Aug 2002 15:41:44 -0800

Survive This! Last week the Los Angeles New Times reported that NBC had signed teenage kidnap/rape victims Tamara Brooks and Jackie Marris to star in a midseason replacement "reality show", to be entitled "Survive This!"

After the initial jaw-drops of this revelation and alleged quotes from therapists and sex crime experts that "NBC may actually be doing the teens a service by exposing them to worldwide publicity", further along in the article we get this description of what the show will entail:

'Survive This!' contestants will be briefed by the girls before they are helicoptered to a remote, secret location. If things go according to plan, NBC will have placed several paroled repeat sex offenders in various locations miles from the drop zone. The contestants will have 48 hours to find safety at a remote building made to resemble a rural sheriff's station.

People were outraged. Protests were planned. There was just one catch. The author of the article made up the whole thing.

One wonders how this ever got past the editors.

robzster1977 — Sun, 10 Feb 2002 00:43:45 -0800

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...

sandor — Thu, 31 Jan 2002 18:08:14 -0800

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.

adrober — Tue, 15 Jan 2002 20:11:21 -0800

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.

jacobw — Thu, 10 Jan 2002 20:12:54 -0800

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.

BarneyFifesBullet — Tue, 11 Dec 2001 23:11:49 -0800

CBS Plans Military Reality Show Feel the need for speed? Can you be a wingman? Is this what Karl Rove was talking about?

donkeyschlong — Tue, 30 Oct 2001 20:29:54 -0800

It was bound to happen. "The NBC TV network is looking to revive the old fantasy TV series FANTASY ISLAND -- as a reality series."

popvulture — Tue, 25 Sep 2001 19:42:34 -0800

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?

Steven Den Beste — Sat, 22 Sep 2001 15:14:39 -0800

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.

holgate — Tue, 22 May 2001 09:58:37 -0800

"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?

yarf — Fri, 04 May 2001 05:53:08 -0800

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...

subpixel — Sun, 29 Apr 2001 14:08:24 -0800

Survivor is filled with crap for sale - so why can't I find that groovy Panama hat Colby wears for sale, anywhere?