• Bravo announces new 'Ready, Set, Van Gogh!' “extreme arts” competitive reality show

  July 9, 2003
  Jeff Gaspin, President of Bravo, today unveiled a new reality series pilot for a show named “Ready, Set, Van Gogh!" as the cable channel seeks to achieve a new identity with original programming. “Our new pilots push the concept that we’re willing to be independent and experimental, to challenge and entertain our viewers,” said Gaspin. “We want to be the first stop for creative people who have an edgy concept or are ahead of the curve in TV programming.”

• Bravo announces new 'underExposed' film-based reality contest series

  July 9, 2003
  Jeff Gaspin, President of Bravo, today unveiled a new reality series pilot for a show named “underExposed” as the cable channel seeks to achieve a new identity with original programming. “Our new pilots push the concept that we’re willing to be independent and experimental, to challenge and entertain our viewers,” said Gaspin. “We want to be the first stop for creative people who have an edgy concept or are ahead of the curve in TV programming.”

• Ship for Irish 'Cabin Fever' reality TV show sinks, taking show down with it

  June 19, 2003
  Maybe reality TV doesn't mix well with large boats. The problems with Fox's Love Cruise: The Maiden Voyage were well-documented. Now, the Hollywood Reporter has reported that the next seaboard attempt, an Irish boat-based reality TV show entitled Cabin Fever, sank this week when the boat hit submerged rocks and went under, with cast and crew escaping to nearby Tory Island off the Irish coast. According to the report, the 10 contestants on board have consulted with lawyers, apparently hoping to cash in from the accident since they won't be able to cash in on TV.

• Hot British reality show evaluates ... housework?

  June 18, 2003
  Many hit U.S. reality TV shows have their roots in the U.K., ranging from American Idol (a copy of the British smash Pop Idol) to The Mole. However, not every reality show can succeed in both countries. For example, Survivor, the idea of a U.K. production company, was never produced in the U.K. until after it became a U.S. hit, and it then flopped completely there. And its clone, I'm A Celebrity ... Get Me Out Of Here!, featuring D-list celebs, remains a U.K. phenomenon despite being a superdud in the U.S.

• ESPN planning 'Survivor'-like 'The Wild Rules' survivalist reality show

  June 10, 2003
  ESPN has announced that taping will begin June 13 for "The Wild Rules," an adventure race that will debut September 8, 2003 as part of ESPN's prime-time outdoors block. "The Wild Rules" will pit two six-member teams against each other and the forces of nature in a trek across British Columbia in which speed and outdoor survival skills will determine who among the 12 contestants takes home the $100,000 prize.

• FOX casting for new 'Love Spell' show that gives "personable" men a chance to date beautiful women

  June 10, 2003
  Are you a single, attractive, outgoing, and energetic woman age 21-30 who is looking to meet Mr. Right? Or are you a single, outgoing, and personable (notice no mention of the work "attractive" there folks) man age 25-35 who has always wanted to date a beautiful woman, but hasn't been so lucky? (likely because of above noted absence of the adjective "attractive.")

• Bravo Canada to air 'Strip Search' Canadian male stripper search

  May 27, 2003
  Ah, what a day it's been for the formerly highbrow Bravo cable channel. First they announce their pathetic "let's trick a gay guy into falling for a straight guy" new reality series, and now we learn that Bravo's Canadian channel is finally doing what Canadians have been clamoring for -- giving them an opportunity to tryout for their own reality television program.

• Reality shows take 5 of top 10 rating slots in U.S. 2002-03 season

  May 22, 2003
  They may be disappearing from the fall schedules, but reality shows are still atop the ratings. According to the Associated Press, five of the top 10 shows during the 2002-03 TV season were reality shows.

• Network fall schedules feature few reality shows

  May 19, 2003
  The Associated Press reports that, during the preview of fall schedules by television networks last week, few reality shows made an appearance. In fact, only one of the 38 new shows could even vaguely be called a reality show: Steve Harvey's talent show. The other 37 new shows are all scripted.

• UK 'Second Chance' reality TV "hero" expelled from elite school

  May 9, 2003
  Reuters reports that one of the most adverturous reality-TV shows, an English show entitled Second Chance that mixed a reality format with social reform, has come to a sudden and unexpected conclusion when its 16-year-old "star," Ryan Bell, was expelled from the Downside School in Bath, near the Welsh border..

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