Miscellaneous Reality TV News
- April 28, 2003
Can't get enough of the NBA playoffs? NBA TV has the perfect answer for you. According to Hollywood Reporter, the network, which generally airs only on DirecTV and Dish Network, is launching an eight-episode, half-hour show focusing on one player from each of the 16 playoff teams. Among the players featured, on and off the court, are Kevin Garnett of the Minnesota Timberwolves and Robert Horry of the LA Lakers. The first episode will air at 6 PM EDT on Tuesday, April 29.
- April 28, 2003
NBC, the last-place network in reality programming, once again seems determined to take on a "reality TV" project with no connection to reality. According to Hollywood Reporter, NBC has greenlighted a pilot of a new "reality" show entitled Celebrity Temps, which features the contrived situation of celebrities working as temps in "ordinary" jobs that they are ill-equipped to perform.
- April 28, 2003
Have you ever wanted to watch a reality show but there hasn't been one on at that particular time? That won't be a problem once Reality Central is launched.
- April 25, 2003
Looks like the reality TV boom may be reaching a crest this summer. The New York Post reports that TV network schedules for the fall will feature more scripted programming than previously anticipated, due to the difficulty of selling advertising on many reality shows.
- April 23, 2003
Can the infamous, as well as the famous and the once-famous, star in a reality TV show? We may soon find out. The Associated Press reports that Urban Television Network, a Fort Worth, TX-based cable channel, and Spiderboy International, a Miami-based production company, have reached an agreement to produce 13 one-hour episodes of a reality show focusing on American sports legend and accused killer O.J. Simpson.
- April 2, 2003
After September 11, 2001, many people predicted that reality TV would disappear, because reality itself would predominate on the airwaves. They were wrong, and the U.S. television ratings for the week of March 24-30 prove that not even a war will draw viewers away from reality TV.
- April 2, 2003
Many people have commented that reality TV produces comic-book characters as stars. The WB has decided to take that concept one step farther.
- March 11, 2003
So much for those people who hoped that reality TV was reaching overkill. The Associated Press reports that three of the top four shows in the Nielsen ratings book during the March 3-9 week were reality shows.
- February 24, 2003
Sore loser #1, meet sore loser #2. In separate articles, Reuters/Variety reports that both NBC president Jeff Zucker and CBS president Les Moonves blasted the reality-show genre for distorting the February sweeps -- apparently because the biggest ratings successes of the month, Joe Millionaire and American Idol, ran on Fox.
- February 20, 2003
Just in case you were still wondering how low reality can go, Variety reports that ABC is teaming up with the producers of syndicated television's "Blind Date" for an unscripted series some industry insiders are already labeling a reality take on the "Indecent Proposal" movie.