Popular Reality TV

An HBO documentary helped free three men who’ve spent 18 years in prison, and a new film already in the works will tell their full story when it’s released in January. The men known as the West Memphis Three, Jason Baldwin, Damien Echols and Jessie Misskelly, were released from prison today, having been convicted of raping, murdering, and mutilating three Cub Scouts—although as the New York Times reports , their release “does not result in a full exoneration; some of the convictions stand, though the men did not admit guilt.” HBO announced today that the 1996 documentary, Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills , and Paradise Lost 2: Revelations , will be followed by Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory , which debuts in January and “tells the entire story, from the arrests in 1993 to the growing movement, through the entire appeals process and the uncovering of new evidence, concluding with their release.” Director and producer Joe Berlinger said his first two films contributed to...

The Real World 25 is currently filming in Las Vegas, a season it has been to before, although this time it’s at the Hard Rock Hotel. The production is already impacting the economy, and not just from the infusion of eight fame whores who drink as much as a small village every day. “It’s obviously helping the economy now. They’re paying wages to crew members, hiring locals, and they’re out spending money,” Nevada Film Office director Charlie Geocaris told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. And Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority VP Vince Alberta said the eventual exposure helps, too: “When you have a television program that uses Las Vegas as a backdrop, I think the publicity that is generated is tremendous. It introduces or reintroduces Las Vegas to a broad audience and keeps Las Vegas top of mind for the consumer.” Palms owner George Maloof told the paper that he contacted producers about bringing the show back to his hotel, and though it is filming elsewhere, the cast will likely ...