Popular Reality TV

One of the more unintentionally entertaining parts of Thursday’s American Idol results show was the group number. Despite being choreographed by So You Think You Can Dance favorites Tabitha and Napoleon, it was a hot mess, as usual. While it seemed like the finalists were lip syncing their way through part of a singing competition, the show’s executive producer says they were singing live. On Twitter, executive producer Nigel Lythgoe wrote , “I have no reason to lie to you all! I promise you they all sang live on top of a recorded a backing track with harmonies.” Nigel repeatedly insisted this during his normal battles with fans. Two years ago, the show’s production company responded to similar claims by saying basically what Nigel did: they sing along with pre-recorded backing tracks. That prompted The New York Times’ skeptical reaction: “a subtle assessment might depend on how one defines ‘lip-sync.’” Even if that’s what they’re doing, they do it badly. Thursday, their lips did...

A&E »     by Andy Dehnart / January 14, 2011, 12:52 PM A&E and Arnold Shapiro’s new reality series Beyond Scared Straight , which follows kids kids got in trouble as they go prison to get the shit scared out of them by actual inmates, became the network’s most-watched new series ever. It’s based on the Oscar-winning 1973 documentary . An average of 3.7 million people tuned in on Thursday, including 2.2 million ages 18 to 49, “making it the most-watched original series launch in the network’s history among all key demos,” A&E said in a press release. By comparison, Hoarders season finale was watched by 3 million viewers on Monday. The debut repeats Saturday at 8 p.m. ET if you missed it. Here’s a preview: View the original article here

December 20th, 2010 by Lisa McGarry. 2 Comments Unsurprisingly Matt Cardle has scored a Christmas number one single. The ‘X Factor’ winner beat off stiff competition from Rihanna – who he collaborated alongside in the ITV1 show’s final – and anti-’X Factor’ campaigners to scoop the top spot with his cover of Biffy Clyro’s ‘Many Of Horror’, which was renamed ‘When We Collide’. However, the 27-year-old former painter and decorator admitted he is still trying to come to terms with his overnight success. He said: “I can’t believe it, as if winning wasn’t enough. I honestly didn’t think I’d even make it on to the live shows, let alone win and now be the Christmas number one. “I can’t even begin to describe how it feels. It’s nuts, crackers and crazy. I’m going to have one or two beers to celebrate.” Selling 439,007 singles, Matt’s debut track beat Rihanna’s ‘What’s My Name’ – which charted at number two – and 1960s US rock act The Trashmen’s ‘Surfin’ Bird’ following a campaign on social ne...

On the occasion of reality TV’s 10th anniversary on broadcast TV, the Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart has produced a tremendous package of stories that are “about the decade’s most influential, most prolific, most dynamic cultural product.” From behind the scenes of shows such as The Biggest Loser, Mythbusters , and The Real Housewives of Orange County , and interviews with Bethenny Frankel and Ken Burns, he covers a lot of ground. In the first part, “How reality TV took over prime-time,” he traces the history of unscripted entertainment, finding that “classic documentary movies, in fact, were masterpieces of manipulation,” but also finds that “even on reality shows where producers do relatively little gaming, the reality format has a built-in unpredictability that sets it apart from scripted TV shows.” (Check out this great infographic [PDF] of key moments.) We don’t always agree on the exact definition of reality TV—I’d leave out Dateline, for example—and some of this may be fa...