The Week: Most Recent Reality TV

10 celebrities who turned down Dancing with the Stars

By The Week Staff — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 13:55:00 -0500

Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong is probably desperate for a little positive buzz in the wake of admitting to Oprah that he used performance-enhancing drugs — but at least for now, he's not reality-TV desperate. Entertainment Weekly reports that Armstrong has declined an offer to compete on the next season of ABC's immensely popular reality series Dancing With the Stars. Of course, Armstrong is hardly the first "star" to resist the glittery allure of the dancing competition; over the past few years, the long-running reality show has reached out to many, many famous folks who could use the...

The end of Jersey Shore: 4 takeaways

By The Week Staff — Fri, 31 Aug 2012 12:05:00 -0400

After several glorious seasons, MTV's hit reality series Jersey Shore is heading to the big tanning parlor in the sky. The hard-partying show's sixth season, which airs this fall, will be its last. Though Jersey Shore was once an incredibly buzzy and popular hit for MTV, its ratings have dwindled, its once-unknown cast members have demanded higher salaries, and its irrepressible star, Snooki, has embarked on a new adult-ish life, giving birth to a son this week. But never fear, Shore fans: There's still an entire season left to hate-watch, not to mention two spin-offs and an upcoming...

Nicki Minaj as American Idol judge: A big mistake?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:40:00 -0400

Outlandish hip-hop artist Nicki Minaj has reportedly been picked to fill one of the vacant chairs at the American Idol judges' table, as the televised singing competition attempts to boost its sagging ratings. "I'm not sure the deal is completely done yet, but yes, she is definitely doing it," one insider tells Us Weekly. The other new judge, Mariah Carey, is a five-time Grammy winner and pop music legend who seems to fit the veteran mold of past judges Paula Abdul, Jennifer Lopez, and Steven Tyler. Minaj, on the other hand, is a 29-year-old known for her big hair and bigger personality, and doesn...

Stars Earn Stripes: Should war be entertainment?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 15:14:00 -0400

When Archbishop Desmond Tutu and eight of his fellow Nobel Peace laureates take the time to chew someone out, something must be amiss. Tutu and company penned an open letter to NBC Entertainment Chairman Bob Greenblatt, demanding that the network cancel its new reality TV series, Stars Earn Stripes. The competition show, which premiered on Monday to mediocre ratings, pairs extremely minor celebrities — including Todd Palin and actor Dean Cain — with former members of the U.S. armed forces to undergo intense, simulated military training. Though the series' faux combat missions are intended...

Should Olympian Ryan Lochte get his own reality TV show?

By The Week Staff — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 18:18:00 -0400

What do you do after you've won Olympic gold? Well, if you're Ryan Lochte, you get on the reality TV circuit. The hard-partying swimmer is out of the pool, done with the London clubs, and reportedly planning a move from Florida to Los Angeles. According to his agent, Lochte is fielding offers to appear on Dancing with the Stars and The Bachelor, and rumors are swirling that he's even considering his own reality series. (Meanwhile, his fierce competitor Michael Phelps has already beaten Lochte to the reality punch, scoring a show on the Golf Channel about his putting abilities.) Here, a guide to...

Honey Boo Boo: America's littlest sweetheart, or 'its worst nightmare'?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 13:18:00 -0400

As if Toddlers and Tiaras weren't alarming enough, TLC has given its most eyebrow-raising contestant — 6-year-old Alana Thompson, also known as Honey Boo Boo — her own reality show. Debuting this week, the pint-sized Southern pageant star's instantly controversial program, Here Comes Honey Boo Boo (watch trailer below), tracks Alana and her eccentric Georgia family — dad Sugar Bear, mom June, and big sisters Pumpkin, Chickadee, and Chubbs — as they attend the local "Redneck Games," go to auctions to stock up on discount junk food, fart with pride, and generally defy the...

Is American Idol wise to spend $18 million on Mariah Carey?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 24 Jul 2012 13:38:00 -0400

Fox has found a new American Idol judge in superstar singer Mariah Carey, who will take up one of the slots vacated by Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez earlier this month and, by her own account, "can't wait to get started." The reality TV singing competition has struggled to maintain its once-enviable ratings in recent years, trying out a string of judges (remember the distinctly uncritical Ellen DeGeneres?) without managing to stop the slide; last season's ratings were down approximately 29 percent. Clearly willing to pay handsomely to keep Idol from imploding, producers are reportedly paying...

The American Idol shake-up: Predicting the new judges panel

By The Week Staff — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 13:40:00 -0400

American Idol is in the midst of a major shake-up. Steven Tyler and Jennifer Lopez have announced their departure from the judges table, while veteran judge Randy Jackson hasn't signed on for another season. Plus, the show's producers are "looking to tighten the belt of what has become one bloated reality series," says Leslie Kasperowicz at Cinema Blend. That means less money to splurge on big-name talent. Here, a look at potential Season 12 judges:

Will Bravo's Silicon Valley reality show be a hit?

By The Week Staff — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 13:33:00 -0400

Reality TV isn't just for misbehaving housewives, tattooed chefs, and bachelors on the prowl. Silicon Valley techies are getting a shot at small-screen fame, too, as Bravo is shooting a reality series tentatively called Silicon Valley, produced by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's sister Randi and inspired by the 2010 hit movie The Social Network. Randi Zuckerberg says the show will inspire more people to pursue the "entrepreneurial American dream" of launching a startup that becomes the digital era's next big thing. Startup entrepreneurs reportedly fear the show will make their industry...

Should American Idol hire Adam Lambert as a judge?

By The Week Staff — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:25:00 -0400

The judges' table on American Idol is in for another makeover, with diva Jennifer Lopez and rocker Steven Tyler reportedly both possibly not returning for another season. Even long-time judge Randy Jackson's future is uncertain. So who will Fox find to inject new life into the show when its twelfth season begins? According to E! News, Fox is eyeing season eight runner-up Adam Lambert, who says Idol producers haven't talked to him about the job, although he'd be interested. Would he a be a good choice to help lift up Idol's plummeting ratings?

Lambert is the perfect pick: This is "a pretty genius...

Just how loathsome is The Choice?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:40:00 -0400

Fox's The Choice is a new dating show that cheekily ripoffs NBC's singing competition The Voice — with none of the latter's breakout potential. Hosted by So You Think You Can Dance's Cat Deele, The Choice sits "celebrity" bachelors — last night's episode starred Jersey Shore's Pauly D, rapper/Dancing With the Stars alum Romeo, Dean Cain, and General Hospital's Jason Cook — in The Voice's famous swivel chairs with their backs to the stage while single women make appeals to be their dates. If the men like what they hear, they spin their chairs around — it's The Dating...

Burning Love: Jennifer Aniston's hysterical Bachelor parody cameo

By The Week Staff — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 17:10:00 -0400

The video: Mark Orlando is looking for love. His criteria for the woman of his dreams? She "can make me laugh, but isn't afraid of robots. Maybe somebody... ethnic." So begins Yahoo's new Bachelor-skewering web series Burning Love, which takes the conceit of the confoundingly popular dating show — 20 gorgeous women fall implausibly head-over-heels for a wealthy, attractive man they just met, and compete for his affection — and mercilessly parodies it. (Watch the video below.) The spoof features an unusual array of contestants: A blind girl, an 84-year-old, a pregnant flight attendant...

Will Phillip Phillips save American Idol?

By The Week Staff — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:06:00 -0400

For the first time in years, American Idol has a hit on its hands. Newly-crowned winner Phillip Phillips' first single "Home" (listen to it below) scored a huge debut this week, surging to No. 2 on Billboard's Digital Songs chart and putting up the second-best digital sales week ever for an Idol contestant, behind only Kelly Clarkson's "My Life Would Suck Without You." On the Hot 100, which measures sales and radio play, "Home" debuts at No. 10, the first time an Idol winner's coronation song has cracked the Top 10 since 2008. As rival talent competitions multiply, Idol's ratings were down almost...

Breaking Pointe: TV's classiest reality show?

By The Week Staff — Thu, 31 May 2012 16:30:00 -0400

From Snooki to the Real Housewives, most breakout reality TV stars are known for their petulant bickering and habit of tossing drinks in each other's faces. But pliés and pirouettes? The CW is attempting to elevate the reality TV genre with Breaking Pointe, a new six-episode series that showcases the demanding training and brutal stakes faced by the dancers at Salt Lake City's Ballet West dance company. (Watch a trailer below.) The first episode, which premieres Thursday, focuses on the tense renewals and cancellations of the dancers' yearly contracts. But can Breaking Pointe, which is produced...

The coming glut of American Idol ripoffs: A guide

By The Week Staff — Fri, 25 May 2012 15:01:00 -0400

American Idol wrapped up its latest season on Wednesday, but viewers hungry for more competitive warbling didn't have to wait long. On Thursday, ABC launched Duets, a singing contest that pairs amateur vocalists in search of a record contract with celebrities like Kelly Clarkson (who, not coincidentally, won season one of Idol). Though TV's crowded field of Idol rip-offs already includes The Voice, The X Factor, America's Got Talent, The Sing-Off, and The Glee Project, Duets isn't the only new entry set to debut in the coming months. Here, a guide to the onslaught of vocal competitions:

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Jennifer Holliday and Jessica Sanchez's bizarre American Idol duet

By The Week Staff — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:40:00 -0400

Phillip Phillips may have been crowned the next American Idol on Wednesday night's finale of the popular TV singing competition, but it's runner-up Jessica Sanchez who took part in the show's most talked about moment. The 16-year-old belter sang a duet of the behemoth ballad "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" from the Broadway musical Dreamgirls with Jennifer Holliday, the Tony-winning star who performed the song in the original 1981 production. (Watch the video below.) Holliday's wild facial contortions — she looked like she "just might eat" Sanchez, says Rolling Stone — upstaged...