Watching the next-to-last episode of TLC's "Jon & Kate Plus 8" felt like you were going through a dumpster. You felt soiled the minute it started, and things got worse the deeper into it you went.

TLC labeled the episode "Broken Dreams, Broken Promises, Broken Episodes." The half hour was made up of scraps of episodes that didn't pan out during Season 5. Talk about throwaways.

I am going to ask some of the core bloggers here to pick up the baton and help out as Kelly did last week with detailed critiques of their most hated moments.

One of mine, of course, involved the segment called "Dog Training," which was about the training that those two poor dogs didn't get. I was also struck by how obvious TLC was in including film that showed Jon in the worst possible light. See Jon. See TLC trash Jon. See Kate laugh at TLC trashing Jon. Kate and TLC really do deserve each other.

Continue reading "Next to last 'Jon & Kate -- a new low for TLC" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (214)
Categories: Reality TV
        

It is getting harder and harder to figure out where the ads end and the TLC show "Jon & Kate Plus 8" now begins -- or resumes after commercial breaks anyway.

While the product placement on "Jon & Kate "often seemed excessive to me this season, Monday's show seemed especially problematic for the way the main story lines of the episode and the ads merged.

As soon as Kate said she was going to have "family game night" with the kids in Monday's episode, we went to commercial, and what was the commercial for? You guessed it: family game night.

Either TLC is shopping the show to advertisers, and telling them they can get their ads placed right at the point where the Gosselin family endorses the product, or worse, the producers and TLC are having the family engage in activities for products that are pre-sold. In order words, the ads are driving what the family does onscreen. Either way, tell me again what part of the entire 30 minutes is reality TV entertainment -- and not an ad.

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: Where do ads end, shows now begin?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (95)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Only three weeks into the return of "Jon & Kate Plus 8," and TLC did not give viewers a new episode of the series Monday night -- only reruns.

Instead of a fresh episode that reflects the "reality" of this divorced mother and father that is chronicled throughout the rest of the media on a minute by minute basis, what fans get this week is another appearance of Kate doing an interview solo. That's Tonight on "Larry King Live" on CNN at 9 p.m.

Is it starting to look like cable channel TLC has Kate, but it might not have a viable show that viewers can count on anymore? Instead of fresh episodes, what we have is Kate all over the place -- "Today" show, "Live with Regis and Kelly" and "Larry King Live" -- talking about the show.

Continue reading "TLC has Kate Gosselin, but does it have a show?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (72)
Categories: Reality TV
        

"Project Runway" got off to strong start Thursday at its new home on Lifetime with an audience of 4.2 million viewers. That was up 32 percent from the Season 5 premiere on Bravo.

That audience also made it the highest rated competition reality series premiere on cable this year.

The series was also up in the key demographic of women 18 to 49 years of age -- by 28 percent over last year's premiere on Bravo.

Continue reading "'Project Runway' starts strong on Lifetime" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 2:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reality TV
        

The reality TV special was two hours of film of Nadya Suleman, her 14 children, her parents and the birth of her octuplets -- all of it in search of a story line or a reason for being on TV.

I love cinema verite documentaries, the formula to which this production seemed to aspire. But this was not cinema verite filmmaking, this was cinema slop sleazeball exploitation.

I suppose in, say, a graduate seminar in film theory, one could argue that because Suleman's life appears to be chaos, any documentary about it might well adopt a chaotic structure as well. OK, but then why not have a team of monkeys with handheld digital cameras follow Suleman around, and make a film?

You know what, a team of monkeys could not have done worse than the producers from Radar Online, which made this film. And Fox could have probably gotten this tainted footage for even less from the monkeys -- a few bananas. Hey, there's a new business model for Rupert Murdoch to ponder.

Continue reading "'Octomom' really is 'incredible' - incredibly bad" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (25)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Jon & Kate Plus 8 returns to prime time Monday night on the TLC cable channel after a six-week time-out called in the wake of the divorce of mom and dad.

With it come a host of questions. How will the show change? Will it be able to go on with dad living in a condo in Manhattan with his girlfriend, and mom reported to be moving to a condo in Maryland near her bodyguard and alleged boyfriend? And what about the kids?

Laurie Goldberg, senior vice president at TLC, offered some answers to those questions in an interview with me this week. And based on what she said, I think this tabloid-ravaged series might actually have a chance to re-invent itself and carry on.

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: TLC tells Z on TV how it will change" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Last week, I asked if Kate Gosselin was moving to Maryland based on reports of her looking at condos in Rockville near her bodyguard, Steve Neild. 

Today, the reports say it's a done deal -- the mom in TLC's troubled reality show Jon and Kate Plus 8 is moving to this very upscale stretch of Montgomery County in Maryland.

It appears that the kids will stay at the family home in Pennsylvania. When Jon has the kids there, she has Rockville.

When she has the kids in Pennsylvania, Jon has Manhattan, the French Riviera and the world.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin's Maryland move called done deal" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (42)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Is Kate Gosselin headed for Maryland?

That's what US magazine says in its latest cover story extravaganza on the implosion of the Gosselin marriage and TLC's Jon & Kate Plus 8.

Kate toured condos in Rockville that go for $1,600 to $3,200 a month, according to the magazine. Funny, she never struck me as the Washington type.

Actually, one of her bodyguards, the one she was rumored to be having an affair with, lives in Rockville with his wife. What a crew!

Continue reading "Is Kate Gosselin headed for new home in Maryland?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (46)
Categories: Reality TV
        

How many times are we in the media going to get played either by an American Idol judge or host trying to use the press to negotiate a contract -- or by Fox and the Idol producers themselves to create controversy and hype ratings?

Does anyone in the media remember all the way back to two months ago and the scores of headlines driven by quotes about how Simon Cowell might be leaving the show. Here's what I said then. Talks continue on a new contract for Cowell, who will be back next year, the final year of his old contract. Did host Ryan Seacrest leave? No, he just signed a new mind-boggling deal.

Here's a link to a Monday Los Angeles Times story quoting Abdul's new manager as saying she might leave the show. The story is reported responsibly and properly includes the context of managers trying to use the press to negotiate.

Continue reading "Paula Abdul: Are we being played again for suckers?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reality TV
        

I was just thinking Monday night how much I did not miss Jon & Kate since it has been on hiatus and how I ought to ask readers if they felt the same. 

And then, I saw the pictures of Jon Gosselin, the perpetual adolescent slacker boy, on a boat on the Riviera with his 22-year-old girlfriend, Hailey Glassman. And now I'm wondering how people who watched the show regularly feel about that.

I'm wondering, because those viewers -- you, my dear readers -- are the very folks who put Jon on the Riviera in one the greatest TV hustles in a long time. The more you watched, the richer he and Kate and TLC got -- even as they were lying through their teeth on air and off about what was going on and playing us for fools.

Now, as you and your family worry about the soaring unemployment rate and your job, Jon is on the Riviera, Kate is in a mini-mansion, and TLC made more money in half a season than most cable channels of its size will make in the next three years. And you're still worried about the Gosselin kids! In God and television we do trust.

Continue reading "Congratulations, you put Jon Gosselin on a yacht" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Reality TV
        

In a post Monday night, I suggested that viewers stop watching Jon & Kate Plus 8 if they really want to help the Gosselin kids. With the divorce of these two self-absorbed parents, there is no way for viewers to justify tuning in any longer. It's nothing but debasement and voyeurism from here on out.

But with the show going on hiatus until Aug. 3, let me further suggest that we in the mainstream press also step back, slow down, take stock and try to wean ourselves off the narcotic of Jon & Kate page views unlike anything we've seen since Sarah Palin's vice presidential candidacy.

I say this after the embarrassing story put out by the Associated Press Tuesday that Jon and Kate Gosselin had been living "separate and apart" for the last two years while acting as if they were living together on their TV show. Had that fact been verified and true, it would have been the basis of a very big TV story -- a story just a few of cuts below the quiz scandals of the 1950s in terms of deception on the part of those who make American television.

But it wasn't verified and true, according to a correction the news service sent out later in the evening saying the couple had been apart only a week or two, according to lawyers involved in filing the very papers the AP cited as evidence for its first report. It appears that even AP, one of the bedrocks of mainstream fact-based journalism, was caught up in the Jon & Kate frenzy of getting it out there first before getting it right. Does anyone in the land of new media know what the word gatekeeper means anymore?

Continue reading "It's time for press to take stock of itself on Jon & Kate" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Reality TV
        

A local casting director is looking for single women in the Baltimore/Washington area who want to be on reality TV.

Elena Moscatt, who I wrote about in November as she started filming Web episodes of her serial, Life After Lisa, has been hired as a casting director to find single women between the ages of 25 and 44 to star in a new reality show based on the film The Holiday in which two women switch lives. So far, she hasn't had much luck. In fact, the producers and Soapnet, the cable channel that will air the new series, have put a Baltimore episode on hold and moved onto Dallas until Moscatt can find some candidates here.

So here is your chance to be on reality TV. I'll let Moscatt describe the show and tell you how to apply herself.

Continue reading "Single women in Baltimore: Reality TV wants you" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Jon's in Utah, and Kate's in Baltimore. Then, Kate's in San Diego, and Jon's in Pennsylvania. What a great family show -- if you don't mind the niggling little fact that the parents were generally a continent apart throughout the two episodes that aired Monday night.

As if that weren't enough, the producers have to go and insult our intelligence about what our eyes are seeing with Jon telling us that he and Kate are apart so much in part because their "schedules are so busy."

Going to Utah for snowboarding, as Jon did in the first episode, or going to San Diego to a spa, as Kate did in the second episode, does not exactly support your case for having a busy a schedule. This is what most people -- at least those lucky enough to have any disposable income these days -- do for pleasure or rest and relaxation.

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: daddy on one coast, mommy on the other" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (22)
Categories: Reality TV
        

As we read this morning about Scottish singer Susan Boyle being hospitalized under the UK's Mental Health Act for what is being described as "emotional and mental exhaustion," I am reminded of questions I once asked about the ethics and morality of reality TV.

Back in 2000 as the genre started to get prime-time traction, I wondered about the people who signed up to be on reality TV without really understanding the way that TV cameras and instant celebrity can knock you off center -- if not shred your life. Like many critics, I have stopped asking in recent years for a variety of reasons.

But between Boyle's troubles and the sorry spectacle of Jon and Kate Gosselin and the crackup of their marriage before the eyes of their eight kids and the nation, I am thinking maybe we should be asking if we who watch bear any guilt for what's happening on screen.

Continue reading "Susan Boyle, Jon & Kate: Watching reality TV devour" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Reality TV
        

As hard as it might be to believe after almost a decade of reality TV as a prime-time staple, we have without much notice entered a new and harsher realm of the genre in recent weeks. 

I have been worrying about where reality TV is headed since early May when NBC announced an airdate for Farrah's Story, Farrah Fawcett's video diary of her battle with cancer. Using Fawcett's own narration and images shot by her and friend Alana Stewart with Fawcett's video recorder, the special that aired May 15th felt so private and personal I wondered at times if I should be watching.

I had a variation of that same uneasy feeling Monday night while viewing the season premiere of the TLC series Jon & Kate Plus 8, a hit reality TV show about a suddenly unhappily married Pennsylvania couple and their eight kids. Watching two angry parents barely able to share a couch as they spoke to the camera, I wondered if this year on Jon & Kate we would see a marriage implode before our eyes.

Continue reading "Farrah Fawcett, Jon & Kate: a new, harsher reality TV" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (29)
Categories: Reality TV
        

All the tabloid mania was certainly good for Jon & Kate at the ratings gate Monday night. The new season opener for the reality TV show about a Pennsylvania family with eight children drew an estimated 9.8 million viewers, according to preliminary Nielsen ratings.

That would make it the highest rated show anywhere on TV for Memorial Day -- a remarkable feat for a relatively small basic cable channel like Maryland's TLC (The Learning Channel), which has never had a show that kind of mass appeal.

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Jon & Kate Plus 8 returned for a new season Monday night on The Learning Channel, and I am sick of it already.

If I didn't feel exploited before by this jumped-up soap opera, I do now. I haven't seen a show that padded with so much extraneous editorial material to accommodate an overflow of ads since Super Bowl or the finale of American Idol.

Some of the footage was replayed two and three times, like the kids blowing out the candles on their birthday cake. Or, how about Kate saying she doesn't know what the future holds -- and then breaking into tears?

Continue reading "Jon & Kate Plus 8 season opener: I'm sick of it already" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (246)
Categories: Reality TV
        

You have to love the preview of the new season opener for Jon & Kate Plus 8 that's up at The Learning Channel's site. Is it not just too much with Jon turning philosopher and Kate saying, "My kids are the reason I have always done everything"?

Oh, you poor, self-sacrificing, model of motherhood, Kate. We weep for you -- and we stand in awe of your selflessness.

The season starts Monday at 9 on TLC, and you can already feel the venom toward this couple building in cyberspace.

Here's Jon, a slacker who is living like a millionaire because of this reality TV show, saying, "The world isn't about ratings and TV."

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: This new season preview is just too much" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (14)
Categories: Reality TV
        

It's official: We are a nation of weenies. We can't handle art, ambiguity or men who wear too much makeup.

I am talking about the 100 million persons who outrageously selected Kris Allen over Adam Lambert as the new American Idol Wednesday night.

I am so through with this hyped-up show. I put up with the fake judges' controversies and phony claims that some of them wouldn't be back next year. I put up with the producers raiding funeral homes to find over-the-hill performers like Freda Payne and Lionel Richie who they could get for peanuts. I put up with the shameless product placement and the unconscionable commercialization and commodification of the performers in music videos ads for Ford.

I put up with all of that for the transcendent moments when Adam Lambert re-invented pop classics by taking them up into a range where no male singer should go -- and then standing there defiantly holding one of those impossible notes for all the world to see and hear. I haven't been that excited about a new performer in years.

Continue reading "American Idol: Kris Allen wins, and we are all losers" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (166)
Categories: Fox, Reality TV
        

Nothing else matters about Tuesday night's competition final except what Adam Lambert did with Sam Cooke's A Change Is Gonna Come. If anyone in the audience of 30 million still didn't know which of the two finalist was an artist, they did after this soul-stirring, electrifying interpretation by the 27-year-old singer from San Diego.

Kris Allen did do better in the first round with Ain't No Sunshine than Lambert did with Mad World. But in the second round when Lambert soared up into the high-note/bent-note land of Patti LaBelle where gospel meets blues and rhythm & blues, the competition was over. Allen, with that pretty-boy smile and thin voice, was left for dead on the killing room floor.

Continue reading "Adam Lambert steals the show in final Idol competition" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (33)
Categories: Fox, Reality TV
        

I promised myself I wasn't going to write about Jon and Kate Gosselin for at least 24 hours. But since then, several loyal readers of the blog, who saw an online interview with Kevin and Jodi Krieder, Kate's brother and sister-in-law, saying the marriage is a "sham," have written to say they now believe the show is toast.

Here's one from Sherry: "I just watched the interview....  If this is true then Jon and Kate may have been living a lie for quite sometime.  I think the show will be over."

The interview Sherry is talking about was paid for by Star magazine, the definition of tabloid journalism. I am not defending Jon and Kate. I think they are both screwballs -- Jon especially. I think he has the maturity and life skills of a seventh grader. More's the pity that he's the father of all these kids.

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: Don't let the tabloids (or in-laws) fool you" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (20)
Categories: Reality TV
        

You knew this was going to happen: Once The Learning Channel's Jon & Kate Plus 8 became a big hit, everyone on cable TV was going to try and do a knock-off.

We tv embraces the super-sized-family genre of reality TV with Raising Sextuplets, which debuts on June 11. In its description of the new series, the cable channel clearly tries to identify itself as offering some of the same TV goods as TLC's hit.

But you don't find Kate Gosselins growing on trees. The combination of obsessive behavior, constant irritation and barely suppressed contempt for her slacker husband is rare indeed. But wait, WE tv's "super" mom works outside the house as a physician's assistant and is said to see her marriage as partnership. Could this be the anti-Kate?

Continue reading "Jon & Kate Plus 8: Let the cable TV imitations begin" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Reality TV
        

With Mother's Day just around the corner and Kate Gosselin being schmoozed up on CNN's Larry King Live Thursday night, I couldn't help thinking: Is this TV's new top mom? Has Kate Gosselin become the epitome of motherhood on television?

I know, scary thought. My boomer generation grew up with with the image of June Cleaver in pearls, full makeup and an evening dress standing over the stove as Wally and Beaver came home from school on Leave It to Beaver. We had Donna Reed as the perfect TV mom, too.

And now, there's Kate. And if Kate is not TV's new top mom, who is? Kate has a hit show and a best-selling book, and Larry was sure giving her the big-star treatment.

But if June Cleaver represented the passive, repressed, housebound, 1950's mom, what does Kate represent with her large brood, constant kvetching, passive-aggressive husband and control issues? And if Kate is the paragon of motherhood today, and what does that say about us?

..."M" is for the million ways Jon irks her ... 

Continue reading "Is Kate Gosselin TV's new model of motherhood?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (121)
Categories: Reality TV
        

The number of passionate comments each post here generates never ceases to surprise and further enlighten me. People really care about this Gosselin family.

The dynamic of dominant Kate and goof-boy Jon is fascinating in its own right. I have ripped Kate for her nonstop kvetching, and defended her because someone in that household needs to be the adult.

So, trust me and my 25 years of writing about TV when I say the current "scandal" of Jon being photographed with another woman is nothing but good news for this series -- and probably the marriage. Honest, it's all good. When this show comes back for a new season on May 25 on TLC, the ratings that have already been through the roof are going to be through the sky.

Photo of Kate Gosselin: Getty Images

Continue reading "Jon & Kate: It's all good, really, even the alleged affair" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (71)
Categories: Reality TV
        

As the long-running CBS reality TV show The Amazing Race, nears its season finale Sunday night, host Phil Keoghan (left) hits the home stretch of a 40-day, 3,500-mile bike tour that will bring him to Baltimore Wednesday morning before arriving at his New York City destination Friday. (Fans will be able to meet him 8 a.m.-9:30 a.m. Wednesday at White Marsh Mall's GNC.)

Keoghan, 41, took some time along the road Tuesday morning to look back at another winning season and his cross-country ride that started March 28 in Los Angeles. The secret to a good season are the contestants, he says. And while hosts are not supposed to have favorites, it sounds like he might be pulling for the mother-and-son team of Margaret and Luke Adams of Denver to win. Luke is deaf.

"I think this is one of the most dynamic teams we've had in years -- and quite a different casting selection," Keoghan said. "I was really excited when they first walked in the room during the early casting period and I thought the potential for having a team like that on the show would be tremendous. And what's so nice is to see that they've come this far."

Continue reading "Phil Keoghan headed for Baltimore on his own race" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Here is some solid evidence from the Maryland-based Discovery Channels that cable TV is still a pretty good business despite the harsh economy: Profits have more than tripled year to year for the company.

Discovery Communications. Inc. -- which includes The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet among other channels -- said first-quarter profit rose to $119 million from $34 million in the same period a year ago.

Reuters offers this explanation: "Advertising spending across media has fallen off sharply in recent months as automakers, retailers and financial institutions cut budgets, but Discovery is typically less reliant on some of the hardest hit U.S. ad categories. National cable channels has also proven relatively resilient compared with local TV stations or broadcast networks."

Continue reading "Discovery Channels making money despite recession" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Reality TV
        

After seeing Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin on TLC's American Chooper Thursday night, don't you just think she's made for reality TV? She was phony, over the top and absolutely empty of anything that would pass for a thought.

And she accomplished all that in what amounted to little more than a cameo appearance.

Over the top: What did you think of the bearskin on which she chose to sit? It was a bearskin, wasn't it? Did she have to sit at that spot on the couch with the poor beast's head right over her shoulder throughout the conversation? I wonder if she shot this animal out of plane like some of the others she boasted about back in the day (however brief) when she was a national candidate.

Continue reading "Palin talks patriotism and fishin' on American Chopper" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (19)
Categories: Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

Move over, Kate Gosselin, a bigger hot dog than you is coming to The Learning Channel Thursday night when Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin appears on American Chopper.

Is this a marriage made in reality TV heaven or what?

Thursday's episode featues Paul Teutul Sr., the father of the chopper building clan that stars in this series, journeying to Alaska to do research on a special bike that he and his posse are building to honor the 50th anniversary of the state.

And, of course, who better to be his new  best biker mama friend than that moose hunting sharpshooter, who blew up any chance the Republicans had to make it to the White House last fall with her divisive rhetoric and disastrous TV interviews. 

American Chooper airs at 9 Thursday night on TLC. Click on the jump for a clip of the show.

Continue reading "American Chopper: Sarah Palin gets her motor running" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (88)
Categories: Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

From the deepest jungles of Pasadena, comes Heidi Montag, Spencer Pratt and Rod Blogojevich.

As part of a promotional shoot for Get me Out of Here...I'm a Celebrity, Montag and Pratt, who will be part of the show's cast this summer, posed with Blogojevich who won't.

The former governor of Illinois was denied permission to leave the states to film in the jungles of Costa Rica this summer, so the clever folks at NBC invited him out to Pasadena for a press event Friday and posed him in the wilds of that most upscale California community.

Click to see more of the intrepid crew

Continue reading "As close to Costa Rica as Blogojevich is going to get" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Stephen Baldwin has quite a career going these days. Unfortunately, it is as a D-level reality TV star rather than an actor.

Baldwin is expected today to officially be announced as the replacement for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich on the reality TV show Get me Out of Here...I'm a Celebrity to be taped this summer in Costa Rica.

Blagojevich, who is indicted on 19 counts of corruption from his time in office, was this week denied permission by the court hearing the case to travel to Costa Rica. The disgraced Illinois politician still might have a role with the show, however, and is expected Friday at a promotional event for the series in Pasadena, according to the trade publication TV Week.

Continue reading "Goodbye/hello Costa Rica: Blagojevich out, Baldwin in" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: NBC, Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

Last Sunday, I wrote about the producers of American Idol trying to use the judges to generate some ratings energy down the home stretch of a less than inspired season. The high visibility of Simon Cowell and Paula Abdul in newspaper and network interviews this week talking about their contracts makes me all the more certain the producers are worried about the ratings.

And why shouldn't they be? On Tuesday, Idol won the night. But it did so with its smallest Tuesday night audience in almost seven years. With 23.2 million viewers, Tuesday's telecast was down 6 percent from the previous week -- and down 12 percent from its comparable night last year. It was the lowest-rated Tuesday performance telecast since August 2002.

And why shouldn't ratings be down with telecasts like the one we saw Wednesday? Out of respect to the 1970s and the classic song, Band of Gold, I am not going to characterize Freda Payne's performance, but I literally had to leave the room I was so embarrassed for her. But it was only a prelude to Harry Wayne Casey, aka KC of KC and the Sunshine Band, stumbling through Get Down Tonight.

Continue reading "American Idol: KC and Freda mark new low" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (21)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Lifetime Television announced that Project Runway will make its debut on the cable channel at 10 p.m. Aug. 20, followed by a companion series, Models of the Runway, that will take viewers backstage at the reality TV series.

Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn and judges Michael Kors (fashion designer) and Nina Garcia (fashion director of Marie Claire magazine), will guide 16 contestants as they demonstrate their design skills this season.

Models of the Runway will air at 11 p.m. beginning Aug. 20, following Project Runway. According to Lifetime: "Each 30-minute episode will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the reality competition – from the models’ perspective."

(Above: Associated Press photo of Tim Gunn and Heidi Klum at last year's finale by Richard Drew)

Posted by David Zurawik at 1:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, Reality TV
        

It looks like disgraced Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is going to have another dubious distinction on his resume: the shortest reality TV show career in history.

A federal judge in Chicago Tuesday denied Blagojevich, who faces 19 corruption counts from his time in office, permission to go to Costa Rica to film segments of I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here at $800,000 an episode.

"I don't think this defendant in all honesty ... fully understands the position he finds himself in," the Chicago Sun-Times reported U.S. District Judge James Zagel saying as he made the ruling. 

"I have to do it for my kids," Blagojevich said before his court hearing, explaining to reporters why he needs the money from the NBC reality show that features D-list celebrities in a Survivor-like setting.

(Left: Chicago Tribune photo of Blagojevich being swarmed by reporters last week by Antonio Perez)

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: NBC, Reality TV
        

On Thursday, I did a post on Susan Boyle, the Scottish singer with the huge voice, whose YouTube video of her tryout on Britain's Got Talent became a global phenomenon. I had lots of video of her singing, of her being interviewed, and a nice little feature CBS News did of the village in which she lives.

And that post about this super talented but very modest performer did very well in page views and the number of comments it received.

But then yesterday, I posted a preview of Sunday night's TLC special, Jon & Kate Plus 8 Go Green, which focused on Kate Gosselin and her kvetching, and it drew more response than Boyle -- without video.

Here's my question: Could people really be more interested in Kate Gosselin than Susan Boyle?

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin vs. Susan Boyle -- you be the judge" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (43)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Fans and foes of the hit TLC series Jon & Kate Plus 8 will be happy to know that Kate Gosselin is in fine form on the Jon & Kate Plus 8 Go Green special airing at 9 p.m. Sunday.

The Gosselins and the eight kids have this fabulous house, and now comes Steve Thomas, of Renovation Nation, to do everything from install solar panels on the roof to making a picnic table out of reclaimed wood, at no cost to her, and what is Kate doing? She's kvetching.

Not big-time kvetching at first. Kate always starts low key and then builds. But she hasn't got even a hint of a smile on her face from the moment the workmen arrive.

Continue reading "Kate Gosselin totally kvetching in Jon & Kate special" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (85)
Categories: Reality TV
        

I have criticized CBS The Early Show for some of its "octomom" moments in recent weeks, but the last-place network morning show showed some hustle and smarts in bringing YouTube singing star Susan Boyle to American viewers this morning.

Boyle is the middle-aged woman seen auditioning for Simon Cowell's Britain's Got Talent show on a YouTube post -- and knocking the judges and viewers out. More than 11 million have already seen the performance. But for those who haven't, I promise you that you will get choked up when you hear her sing. The moment captures everything that is good about shows like American Idol -- with an unknown person, who many might dismiss, stepping onstage and singing the lights out.

Outside of a few silly, breathless questions from the hosts, CBS News did a great job in presenting Boyle this morning. It included bringing on Patti LuPone, who first sang I Dreamed a Dream (the song Boyle sings on the YouTube post).

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (31)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Isn't reality TV great? Fox is going to make a show out of people getting fired in the recession. Spike TV is going to "hunt" pirates with the U.S. Navy. And now comes disgraced former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich hoping to join the D-list cast of I'm a Celebrity...Get me Out of Here.

Blagojevich has reached tentative agreement with the producers of the reality show to be a contestant in episodes that would air starting June 1.

Because the show is scheduled to be filmed in Costa Rica, Blagojevich, who is under indictment, on 19 counts of corruption, needs permission to travel. His lawyers sought that permission in court Tuesday  where Blagojevich pleaded not guilty to the corruption counts as well as seeking permission to go to Costa Rica, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Continue reading "Blagojevich headed for reality TV -- where else?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 7:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, NBC, Reality TV, TV and Politics
        

One thing you have to respect about reality TV: Its practitioners see an event or movement in the larger culture, and they try to find a way to make it into television as fast as they can. These folks are on the case -- journalists should be this plugged to shifts in the social fabric.

Last week, Fox announced a new reality game series that will play off corporate downsizing with contestants deciding who should be laid off and kept on as a company "gets smaller" and shrinks its staff.

And now, today, comes Spike TV with a reality-doc series about modern-day pirates -- just like the ones who have be front page news the past week after kidnapping the captain of an American ship off the coast of Somalia. It's called Pirate Hunters: USN.

Continue reading "Spike TV gets real about modern-day pirates" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, Reality TV
        

How eager are cable channel TLC executives to get Jon and Kate Gosselin and their brood back on the air since their season ended two weeks ago with a finale that beat network series like Heroes and 24 with young women viewers?

Well, on April 19, less than a month after they went off the air, Jon & Kate Plus 8 will be back with a special on how they are making their new house "eco-friendly," according to TLC. Does this commitment to the environment on the part of the Gosselins sound like a bit of a stretch? Of course, but if you are a savvy programmer like TLC's Eileen O'Neill, you do whatever you can to keep this bickering couple and their kids on the air.

Here's how the folks at TLC explain the special:

Continue reading "Jon & Kate get eco-friendly in new home -- what next?" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (24)
Categories: Reality TV
        

But NBC Universal Wednesday issued the following statement:

NBC Universal, The Weinstein Company and Lifetime have resolved their disputes. The Weinstein Company will pay NBCU for the right to move Project Runway to Lifetime. All of the parties are pleased with the outcome. Harvey Weinstein added, "I want to personally congratulate Jeff Zucker and NBCU on their success in the litigation and thank Jeff for resolving this in a professional manner. We look forward to working together on our ongoing projects.”

Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn  & Co. are back in the prime-time fashion and reality TV business after the nasty spat that hurt their fans more than any of the three show-biz entities involved.

Continue reading "Lifetime cleared to air season six of Project Runway" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 4:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, Reality TV
        

Premiering at 8 p.m. Wednesday on the MTV and LOGO cable channels, the 90-minute production tells the life story of Zamora, who emigrated as a child to the U.S. in 1980 as part of the Mariel boatlift from Cuba. About 125,000 refugees were allowed to leave the island by Cuban leader Fidel Castro in hopes of crossing to the United States in a flotilla of ill-equipped boats and ships. To its credit, the film includes bits of Zamora's life in Cuba as a child and the agonizing separation from several of his teenage brothers when the Cuban authorities denied them the chance to leave because they were of military age.

The focus of the film, though, is the span from when Zamora was 17 years old and found out he was HIV-positive to 22 when he died of AIDS. Shortly after getting the diagnosis he became an activist -- speaking to high school students in the Miami area about the disease. But he became a national and international figure in 1994 when he appeared on MTV's The Real World: San Francisco as the first openly gay, HIV-positive lead character on the series -- and in the history of prime-time TV. Pedro is made by Bunim-Murray, the production company that created The Real World.

Continue reading "MTV's Pedro -- reality TV and a life that still matters" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Reality TV, TV Review
        

Mike Darnell (right), Fox TV's mad monk of reality programming, is launching a new show based on the premise that millions of viewers are tired of looking at magazine-cover beautiful young people fall in love -- and want instead to look at dating show contestants that look more like themselves.

The idea is to replace the beautifully sculpted contestants of shows like The Bachelor and The Bachelorette with an overweight guy looking for a plus-sized woman to love.

Darnell is a whiz at creating new reality TV concepts and not only making ratings magic with them, but also making it sound as if the series are going to make the world a better place for all of us to live in. The results are usually more along the lines of his Joe Millionaire creation. But it is fascinating to see him probe and try to exploit social reality and the national psyche.

Continue reading "Overweight is the new skinny on Fox reality TV series" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 10:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Coming Soon to TV, Fox, Reality TV
        

Here is one the better ratings stories of the season. The Monday night season finale of Jon and Kate Plus 8, a reality series about the day-to-day life of super-sized family, beat such network series as Fox's 24 and NBC's Heroes with the advertiser-dream audience of women 18 to 34.

It also topped Two and Half Men and Rules of Engagement with that same audience. Both comedies are on CBS.

Meanwhile, nothing on cable came close to Jon and Kate in any major demographic.

The series, which is produced by The Learning Channel, a Maryland-based cable operation, was featured as part of trend story about TV and big families, that I wrote in my Z on TV column for the Sunday Sun two weeks ago. You can read it here.

Continue reading "Young women love TLC's Jon and Kate Plus 8 " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)
Categories: Ratings, Reality TV
        

If it wasn't such a case of rank exploitation, you would have to smile at the screwball antics of that great daytime TV hustler, Dr. Phil, who has been squeezing every ratings point he can out of the Octomom story for weeks.

The saga continues today with yet another show devoted to Nadya Suleman firing the free nanny service, Angels in Waiting, after only three weeks in her home.

Now, you might think the fact that Dr. Phil did 10,000 shows about how he helped arrange for Angels in Waiting to aid Octomom might be an embarassment to the talk show host. But, nooooooooooooooooooo. Octomom throwing Angels out is just more raw material for Dr. Phil's sleaze machine of false tears, empty concern and psycho-babble.

Continue reading "Dr. Phil and Octomom: Made for each other in TV hell" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 8:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (63)
Categories: Reality TV
        

Donna Vogel, a Johns Hopkins scientist who last year donated her $85,299 in winnings to charity, returned to the popular game show Jeopardy! tonight only to be eliminated in the semi-finals of the "Tournament of Champions" competition.

The Bethesda resident, who works at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute, finished last but still walked away with $10,000, which she is expected to again donate to charity.

In a press release from the show, Vogel explained her philanthropy by saying, “Being on Jeopardy! last year was so much fun, but I felt like I didn’t 'earn' the money—I received it for playing a game. Need is enormous now, and contributions are down all over. I  have a pretty comfortable life and so many people need this more than I do.”

Also appearing in the "Champions" competition is Dave Simpson, a pastor from Belcamp, Md.

(Picture of Donna Vogel and Alex Trebek courtesy of Jeopardy!)

Posted by David Zurawik at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Baltimore Television, Reality TV