Popular Reality TV

Magical Elves, the creators and producers of Top Chef, have sued the Texas attorney general to prevent the release of information in documents from the Governor Rick Perry’s office related to the $400,000 Texas paid for product placement in the new season. Today, The Dallas Observer reports on the progress of its requests for documents detailing what the money will be used for, and describes what happened: “…the governor’s office asked the Attorney General’s Office to first decide whether the records should be released. (Certain proprietary information is exempted from the state’s public record laws.) Despite pleas from Magical Elves, on September 21 the Attorney General’s Office ruled that, yes, whatever the governor’s office dug up belongs to the people. Perry’s office ‘may not withhold any of the submitted information.’ [Now,]…Magical Elves has sued the attorney general, hoping to stop the governor’s office from turning over some amount of information regarding its arrangement wi...

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics found that the teen birth rate dropped among all groups in 2009, the year that 16 and Pregnant debuted, and a survey reveals that teens say the show has helped them not get pregnant, probably by scaring the bejeezus out of them. The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy found in a survey that “among those teens who have watched MTV’s 16 and Pregnant, 82% think the show helps teens better understand the challenges of teen pregnancy and parenthood and how to avoid it,” while “most teens (79% of girls and 67% of boys) agree with the statement: ‘When a TV show or character I like deals with teen pregnancy, it makes me think more about my own risk of becoming pregnant/causing a pregnancy and how to avoid it.’” A National Campaign spokesperson, Bill Albert, told the Christian Science Monitor that “Entertainment media is one of the nation’s favorite punching bags, but we have to acknow...