Reality TV News Rumors & Rants
A Running Log Of The Latest RTV News
Compiled By RTVC Editor Ron Lemon
December 11, 2004 Ceasars 24/7 Premieres January 10, 2005 at 10/9c on A & E
From A & E
THE REAL-LIFE STORIES BEHIND THE GLITTER, THE GLAMOUR, THE GAMBLING,
THE SHOWGIRLS AND MORE AT LAS VEGAS’ MOST LEGENDARY CASINO
NEW YORK, NY DECEMBER 10, 2004 – You are the high roller when A&E Network takes viewers behind the scenes at Caesars Palace. Meet the pit bosses, the showgirls, the bookies and everyone else who make this sun-up to sun-down casino operate, with the series premiere of CAESARS 24/7, 10pm ET and PT / 9pm CT on Monday, January 10, 2005.
A&E Network has been granted unprecedented access by Caesars Palace to create CAESARS 24/7 a new real-life series offering the ultimate insiders look at Las Vegas' most legendary resort and casino. CAESARS 24/7 will focus on the trials, triumphs and tribulations of a compelling cast of Las Vegas characters, including a regular cast of Caesars Palace employees and a revolving cast of wide-eyed tourists, first-time gamblers, sophisticated high rollers and other visitors of all descriptions who come to party in the world’s most famous adult playground.
Viewers will experience the Entertainment Capital of the World as they have never seen it before – through the eyes of the indomitable pit boss, the savvy sports book oddsmaker, the tactful hotel concierge, glamorous showgirls, imperious high-rollers, excited low-rollers, Vegas newlyweds and any number of the 60,000 visitors and employees who pass through the marbled hallways of Caesars Palace each day.
Encompassing more than 80 acres right in the heart of the Las Vegas Strip, Caesars employs over 5,000 people to service more than 2,400 guest rooms as well as five wedding chapels, 22 restaurants and a five-acre swimming pool complex, providing a perfect backdrop for non-stop action.
Nancy Dubuc is the executive producer for A&E Network. CAESARS 24/7 is produced for A&E Network by 44 Blue Productions (“What Should You Do?” “Cell Dogs” “True Story of Black Hawk Down”) and Cypress Point Productions (“Nuremberg” “Out of the Ashes” “44 Minutes”). Rasha Drachkovitch, Gerald Abrams and Michael Goldstein are executive producers.
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December 10, 2004 It's Alive!
Wednesday the Hollywood Radio and TV Society got together and issued the following statement: The Reality TV "genre is still very viable."
Well I guess that makes it official. I, for one, am very relieved.
Variety reports that "reality producers and execs ... said they still believed in the vitality of the genre."
Ben Silverman, producer of The Restaurant, points out "The real story of the fall is derivative programming doesn't work." What? Copying each other rather than being creative is not a good idea? Who knew?
Producer and former CIA Assassin Chuck Barris offered his take saying,"Reality shows are basically gameshows, and gameshows are reciprocal. If (the genre) dips, it will certainly come up again."
It's been around since the at least the 70's. It's just more popular now.
Laguna Beach
Are you a fan of Laguna Beach? If so, you and the other guy watching the show should be very happy. MTV has picked it up for a second season. They are keeping most of same cast of self important misfits and MTV is promising some news faces and some new drama. Always preferable to old drama. The first season will be released on DVD when the second season kicks off next year.
Martha and Mark
According to TV Guide Online desperately hoping to be an ex-con Martha Stewart and desperate for a new hit Mark Burnett and simply desperate NBC have come to terms on a daily, syndicated homemaking show. The show is set for a fall 2005 launch and will be taped in front of a live audience. The Restaurant, The Casino, Commando Nanny, The Contender and now Martha? Does any of this make sense? Mark is better than this.
And Finally
Survivor, The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Joe Schmo, America Idol, Big Brother, Outback Jack....more please.
December 9, 2004 Big Man On Campus
The WB continues it's charge into the world of Reality TV. They have announced that Big Man On Campus will premiere on Wednesday, December 15th at 8/7c. The six episode series is produced by Bachelor-Bachelorette Producer Mike Fliess. Fliess tells Daily Variety that the show is not "a younger version of The Bachelor."
We haven't seen it and presumably Mike has, but below are excerpts from The WB press release. Decide for yourself.
Shot on the beautiful University of Central Florida campus in Orlando, BMOC executive producer Mike Fleiss and his team searched among 41,000 students to find 15 co-eds who were looking for love. Then, the 15 lucky ladies discovered that they would be conducting their own campus-wide search to ultimately choose one special gentleman as their BMOC.
Once the young women choose the guy, it will be up to the BMOC to turn the tables on them to find his perfect match -- and that's just the beginning. In subsequent episodes, the BMOC will get to know these young women through a series of group and one-on-one college gatherings and romantic dates. These special outings include pool, toga and slumber parties, a bikini car wash, a football game and tailgating at the Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium. The BMOC will also be introduced to -- and scrutinized by -- the girls' parents, who are there to make sure he is the right man for their daughter. Every episode will be filled with romance, fun and surprises as the BMOC searches for his Campus Queen.
Our BMOC follows a gradual process of elimination; he starts by narrowing the field from 15 girls to ten, presenting them with a fraternity-type pin. He will continue to eliminate girls each week by asking them to return their pins. Ultimately, he will present the girl who has captured his heart with the final pin.
Ok...they did trade out the rose for the pin. If you are a Bachelor fan you will probably like this one as well. But Bachelor fans seem to be a dwindling breed. Our guess is that it will do well by The WB standards. And we will probably watch it...another guilty pleasure.
We don't have a recapper for it yet. If you are interested please check out our Writers Wanted page, here, and then get in touch with us.
December 8, 2004 Survivor News
Don't you just love it when some news organization doesn't name their source, but rather gives them a title. "A reliable source" or a "highly placed source" or even "a source at the top". Well, that is the position I am in today. It is Survivor Palau.
More Survivor News:
Boston Rob Mariano and Survivor All Star Winner Amber Brkich are one of the teams in Amazing Race 7. The seventh edition of Reality TV's best is currently filming.
Mark Burnett confirms "CBS has already gone ahead and ordered both versions for next year, 2005. Survivor 11 and 12 will happen, and we're scouting everywhere: Patagonia, southern Argentina, Mozambique--Madagascar is a hopeful--the Maldives, India, China, Papua New Guinea."
Survivor 2 - The Australian Outback will be released on DVD in March. No details other than that are known. But we do know what the box art looks like. Click here for a peek.
Paris Hilton
In tonight's Barbara Walters special Paris Hilton talks about her amateur porn career, or at least about one of the tapes. It's rumored there could be ten or more that have not seen the light of day, or the glow of millions of computer monitors. The Simple Life star claims she was in love with the video's co-star Richard Salomon and says the scandal "was very painful. I was so embarrassed for all my teenage fans and my younger fans. I thought it was over." We were hoping.
December 7, 2004 High School Reunion 3
TV Guide Online calls it "The reality show that makes getting older even uglier", the school's principal calls it "a black eye for us", and we call a wonderfully delicious guilty pleasure.
Officially dubbed High School Reunion: Fort Lauderdale it will take place thousands of miles away in Hawaii. Once again we will witness temper-tantrums, the return of teenage angst and of course a hook up or two as the students of Cardinal Gibbons High School Reunite.
Here's what The WB is saying:
Back stabbing! Boyfriend swapping! Brawls! The WB brings it on with the return of High School Reunion. Watch as 14 classmates from Cardinal Gibbons High, an ultra ritzy, private, Catholic school in Fort Lauderdale - all of whom are no strangers to teenage snobbery and sex scandals - are reunited after 10 years on the island of Maui. The ante is upped daily as vengeful new arrivals from rival cliques, classes and a nearby public school, do everything they can to crash the party and seek redemption.
Meanwhile Cardinal Gibbons Principal Paul Ott tells the Sun-Sentinel hat the show "is going to be a black eye for us," "But we'll recover. Cardinal Gibbons has graduated about 11,000 outstanding individuals. ... The people on this show are a small group, who are not typical of our students past or present." "These aren't bad kids. I taught some of them."
Reality TV Calendar is very happy to add Hank Cook to our writing staff. Hank, who was a 2000 graduate and Home Coming King at Cardinal Gibbons, will be recapping the show for us. You can read his recap of the season premiere on RTVC tomorrow.
December 6, 2004
Two New Reality TV Shows Get January Premiere On CBS
Released by CBS
CBS announced January premiere dates for two new mid-season programs -- the reality series WICKEDLY PERFECT, the search for the next great style maker, and THE WILL, a new reality series from Mike Fleiss, who describes it as "reality TV meets 'Dynasty.'"
"Wickedly Perfect" Premieres Thursday, Jan. 6, 8:00-9:00 PM
Hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist Joan Lunden, WICKEDLY PERFECT pits 12 people with a creative knack for the finer things in life in a no-holds-barred competition to crown the country's new authority on at-home living. These perfection-obsessed contestants, whose motto is "anything you can do, I can do better," will compete in different areas of beautifying the home and entertaining, including party planning, gardening, cooking, baking, sewing, crafts, floral arranging and decorating.
In addition to chronicling the sometimes funny, sometimes factious relationships that develop among the tightly wound, extremely competitive participants, each week a contestant will be eliminated from their luxurious estate located in New England.
The winner will receive numerous prizes, including six appearances on "The Early Show" on CBS, a development deal for a lifestyle-oriented television show and a publishing deal with Atria Books, a division of premier publisher Simon & Schuster.
Renowned chef and restaurateur Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill), Emmy Award-nominated stylist David Evangelista ("The Rosie O'Donnell Show") and best-selling author Candace Bushnell ("Sex and the City" and "Trading Up") will serve as judges.
The series is produced by LMNO Productions. Eric Schotz and Bill Paolantonio are executive producers.
THE WILL premieres Saturday, Jan. 8 (8:00-9:00 PM, ET/PT).
In this new series, a wealthy patriarch will put a large portion of his estate up for grabs as 10 potential heirs, both family and friends, compete against each other in both physical and mental challenges in an effort to win rewards and stave off elimination. As each potential heir fights to stay in the game, they'll also need to stay in the patriarch's good graces in order to survive. Family reunions will never be the same as we finally discover if blood is truly thicker than water when the last member standing wins the inheritance and claims the title of most deserving heir.
THE WILL is produced by Next Entertainment, in association with Telepictures Productions. Mike Fleiss ("The Bachelor," "The Bachelorette") is executive producer.
CBS's mid-season changes:
Thursdays, Effective Jan. 6
8:00-9:00 PM WICKEDLY PERFECT (P)
9:00-10:00 PM CSI
10:00-11:00 PM WITHOUT A TRACE
Saturdays, Effective Jan.8
8:00-9:00 PM THE WILL (P)
9:00-10:00 PM CRIMETIME SATURDAY
10:00-11:00 PM 48 HOURS MYSTERIES
December 5, 2004 Getting Cast On Reality TV
Reality TV Casting notices are often issued with very short notice. The studio or production company wants you to fill out an application and send in a tape or attend an open casting call. Rarely do they give you much advance notice. They expect that if you are interested, you are keeping in touch with what's going on. It's a hurry up process and if you want to be considered you have to act immediately. But you can't act quickly if you don't even know about the casting call.
Here's a simple and very inexpensive solution.
Reality TV Calendar receives notifications of Reality TV Casting Calls on a regular basis. We get them by email, by fax, and by phone. Sometimes we get two or three in a day.....sometimes two or three in a week. For a one time payment of $7.95 we will pass these notifications on to you immediately via your email.
You may have seen similar offers advertised for twenty to thirty dollars paid every month. We find that ridiculous. Our charge is a one time payment of $7.95. It's a simple matter to get you the information so we will make it an inexpensive but critical tool in your search to get recognized and get on the show you want to be on.
Payment is via PayPal, the most secure internet payment system in the world and you do not have to be a member of PayPal to use PayPal. Remember its a one time only payment. Just click on the button below. Your Reality TV Casting notifications will begin showing up in your email box almost immediately. And if we have already sent out a notice on the show you are interested in, once you have subscribed you can request back notices. We are here to help you.
December 4, 2004
Scheduling News
Survivor: Vanuatu's two-hour finale will air at 8/7c on Sunday, December 12th and be followed by a one hour live reunion special. Jeff Probst will host the reunion, which will take place at the CBS's Television City Studios in Los Angeles. Despite what Donald Trump wants to believe Survivor remains the most watched Reality TV program of the 2004-2005 season to date Neilsen Ratings. It ranks 5th among all programs in the same category.
Speaking of the Egomeister - NBC will echo the Survivor finale format by running a two hour finale followed immediately by a one hour reunion show for The Apprentice 2. It's been scheduled for 8/7c on Thursday, December 16th.
The Biggest Loser finale is set for a 90 minute episode on January 11th. Although The Biggest Loser 2 is in the casting phase there is no word on when it will premiere.
The Next Great Champ was a ratings failure, but very compelling Reality TV. Now it's Mark Burnett's turn. His boxing show, The Contender will premeire on Monday, February 21st. It will then move to Tuesday nights at 8/7c time slot on Tuesday March 1st. The show will star Sylvester Stallone.
They promised us it was over. They lied. Newlyweds Nick and Jessica will get a third season. MTV announced the third season will begin in January.
Even the Gotti's make scheduling news today. You can join Victoria and the Boys for A Very Gotti Christmas, Monday, December 13th, 9/8c on A & E. The networks says "This holiday season nobody knows how to do it up like Victoria and her boys. Tag along as the Gottis deck the halls, go Christmas shopping, wrap presents, and look at home videos of Christmases past!"
December 3, 2004 American Idols
Ruben Studdard, who was hospitalized for "exhaustion" has been released. According to his uncle he returned home and feasted on a Thanksgiving dinner. This guy needs help and I hope he gets it.
Fantasia's debut album, "Free Yourself," is out. It hit Billboard at number 8. That is the first of the American Idols not to debut at number one; a feat that both Kelly Clarkson and Ruben Studdard accomplished. (Although Ruben's second album, "I Need An Angel" debuted at number 20) At the close of American Idol 3 we predicted she would not sell as well as other Idols. She just does not have the same appeal. We hope American Idol 4 will be stronger.
American Idol 2 Runner-up Clay Aiken is doing well. His Holiday album premiered on Billboard at number 4 last week. That ties a record that has been held by Celine Dion for six years. Clay's book Learning to Sing: Hearing the Music in Your Life, which he co-wrote with Allison Glock hit the New York times best-seller list at number 2. He has a Chistmas special on NBC next Wednesday and he has an interview right here on Reality TV Calendar. You can read it here.
Gilligan's Island
We were very pleased to see the ratings for the premiere of The Real Gilligan's Island. The show pulled in 7 million viewers. Very good for cable channel TBS. They beat FOX and UPN and even topped some of ABC's disappointing ratings for The Bachelor. We hope the ratings will build and that TBS will not burn it out by immediately running the whole show. In two days they aired 3 episodes. During those 3 episodes we saw a Reality TV contestant suffer a heart attack, and watched as competing contestants ignored his pain. We saw a large group on contestants who seem to be genuinely nice people. A refreshing change. The only exception to that was one of the two Millionaire Couples. The Beavens, especially Millionaire wife Donna, define the words Snob and Biggot. Fortunately they have been banished to the other side of the island. The only other problem with the show is a romance between Gilligan Chris and Mary Ann Kate. I'm sorry, but Gilligan getting the girl is just to much to believe. If you haven't seen it, watch it...it's worth it. You can learn more, see the photos and read the recaps here.
December 2, 2004 Diary of An Affair
Here's what the show's official site says:
Imagine hearing true confessions of real women and men who strayed from their partner to pursue perilous and provocative acts with another. Diary of an Affair allows you to live vicariously through the intimate details of an infidel's torrid tale.
Each steamy episode recounts real stories from real people. The excitement, the fear, the passion, the remorse, the pain and the eventual resolve of the rendezvous--all in their own words! Want more? Read the torrid transcripts, or check out our episode guide.
How far will cheaters go? Find out in the explosive reality series Diary of an Affair.
New Episodes: Saturdays at 9 p.m. on the Style Network; also catch it on E!, Tuesdays at 10:30 p.m.
When I first heard about this show I pegged it as a rip-off of Cheaters. A show so distasteful it could not even qualify as a guilty pleasure. But I made that judgement without bothering to watch it. Shame on me. I've been told that this show is not only interesting, but fascinating. That it actually has class. I'll reserve judgement on that for the time being until I've had a chance to see it. But we have made the commitment here at Reality TV Calendar to start covering the show. We'll have recaps and a show page up soon.
Simple Life 3
Those loveable scamps are coming back for more hilarious hijinks. Is "Gag me with a spoon!" still in vogue? I guess my age is showing but that sums up my feelings for Simple Life perfectly. Nicole and Paris completed filming of the third and I hope final edition of this mindless fluff. Once again we will learn "That's hot!" while they intentionally annoy and irritate the people who are generous enough to put them up. The big twist this time is they are traveling on a Bus. Our guess is the insurance for them to drive just got to be too much. Again they will stay with decent people who will get treated as doormats in return for their kindness. Once again they will deliberately sabotage any job they take for the "cool" humor of it. Once again anybody over 18 will cringe while watching it. At least I hope so.
The third season premieres on FOX January 26th.
Humorist Randall The Vandal will be recapping. I can't wait.
December 1, 2004 Gilligan's Island
The show premiered with two episodes last night on TBS. A third new episode will air tonight at 9/8c on TBS. Next week it appears the show will settle into a Tuesday and Wednesday night schedule with one new episode each night.
We'll have recaps by humorist Randall The Vandal for both of last nights episodes up shortly.
Martha Stewart and Mark Burnett are still an item. Even though Stewart is currently languishing in Camp Cupcake, Burnett wants a Reality TV show with the domestic diva.
According to the Hollywood Reporter the show, which may debut next year after Stewart gets sprung, would be a competition based elimination format similar to Survivor. Stewart's company, Living Omnimedia, is also pitching top syndicators in an effort to revive her daily TV show. We are not a domestic diva so we aren't qualified to comment on her daily show. We are 100% Reality TV fanatic so we will comment on the Burnett / Stewart connection. We just don't get it. What is the attraction of Martha Stewart? Why should I want to watch her? This looks like another Restaurant to me. While Burnett's Survivor is giving us the most boring season to date he is working new shows. Draw your own conclusions.
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