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Intervention camera operator, who naked woman spit chicken on, answers questions

Andy Dehnart — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:14:13 -0500

An Emmy-nominated Intervention camera operator for A&E's is answering questions on Reddit, offering insight into filming a show about addicts who are often using on camera.

Chris Baron, who has also worked on Hoarders and other shows (such as the awesome and sadly short-lived Showdog Moms & Dads), said he's the one who a naked addict spit chicken on before fighting with another person (watch that scene).

Answering questions on Reddit, he's discussed being affected by drugs that are present, and said that the show disguises security as production assistants: "We do have security occasionally if we know that there people or situations that we find ourselves in are going to be particularly dangerous. We just make them out to be production assistants, not to draw any attention to them."

He also revealed that treatment centers offer rehab for free in exchange for the exposure, and added that sometimes, production discovers the family members and addict are working together try to get free treatment, and although those episodes are cancelled, production still works with them to get treatment.

Chris calls Intervention "the truest cinema verite documentary show that I have worked on," and said he has put his camera down during an OD and suicide attempt by the subjects he's documenting.

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The Voice gets insanely high post-Super Bowl ratings

Andy Dehnart — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 18:39:42 -0500

With 111.3 million viewers, the Super Bowl was the most-watched television show ever, and NBC's post-game debut of The Voice benefitted significantly from that: it had 37.6 million viewers and an insane 16.3 rating among adults 18 to 49, which made it the highest-rated non-sports show on any network in six years.

NBC also announced that it was "NBC's highest-rated entertainment telecast overall in both adults 18-49 and total viewers since the series finale of 'Friends' on May 6, 2004." Perhaps most significantly, more people watched it than watched last year's post-Super Bowl offering, Glee: 47 percent more people ages 18 to 49, and 40 percent more viewers.

Of course, the real test comes tonight, and in the weeks to come, to see how many of those viewers The Voice can keep.

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Too many ads drag out a strong start to The Voice's second season

Andy Dehnart — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 10:19:05 -0500

After the Super Bowl ended with some hard-to-top drama and suspense, The Voice's second season began somewhat abruptly, about 10 minutes before its scheduled start. Its blind auditions were as entertaining as ever, except that they came in-between a barrage of ads that seemed excessive even after having just watched the Super Bowl. After nearly every audition, the show went to a commercial break, and although some speculated that was going to pad the episode to make it end at its scheduled time, it ended after an hour that felt like two because of all the ad breaks. Big, greedy mistake on NBC's part, I think.

The format still feels fresh, and one thing that struck me as I watched is how much more weight it has for a performer to see the four coaches spin around--or not--than it is to do the American Idol/X Factor-style "let's vote" system. For one, the outcome of those votes is usually obvious, and thus it's an exercise in time-wasting. But even hearing no from three or four judges seems less harsh than staring at the backs of their chairs through an entire song.

The show doesn't hide that it casts people with experience, and actively seeks them out, so the talent was pretty strong overall, even for those who were rejected, although most of them appeared via a montage. The coaches' banter, however, may start to get on my nerves. I didn't mind it last season because, while it occasionally seemed forced, it was mostly playful and obvious that all four of them actually like each other and were having fun together, which makes all the difference. But if they try to ramp it up this year, especially the Adam Levine versus Christina Aguilera thing, I'm going to get impatient.

Speaking of X-Tina, as she calls herself (she actually said "Team X Tina," which I cannot remember her doing before), the final performer was Tony Lucca, a cast member on the Disney Channel's New Mickey Mouse Club, which also starred Christina Aguilera (and a number of other our current stars, such as Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears).

Hilariously and super-awkwardly, although Christina spun around with the other judges, she did not recognize him, giving him a generic and forced compliment. The cameras followed her backstage and she suddenly was acknowledging that they were on the show together, which I'd bet resulted from a producer or someone telling her--or perhaps it finally clicked.

She went into the green room and acted as if she remembered him all along and upped the awkwardness by saying, in front of his kid and wife, "Britney had the biggest crush on you." It's that combination of talent plus unexpected entertainment that will keep me watching The Voice.

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Beyonce judging X Factor rumor: more evidence that Simon Cowell and his ego still don't understand

Andy Dehnart — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:58:57 -0500

Fox's X Factor fired three of the five cast members, Paula Abdul, Nicole Scherzinger, and Steve Jones, signaling that Fox and executive producer Simon Cowell are serious about changing the show. But blaming the show's faults on them--especially by replacing one of them with Beyonce, as a report suggests could happen--may just be another example of Simon Cowell's out-of-control ego.

The reasons for the firings were obvious: The show was pretty much a disaster, alternately boring and over-produced, with too much of the fake stuff that once made American Idol insufferable. Critics and journalists didn't really seem to like it, although they certainly had to do the requisite pandering for page views. The X Factor also fell short of Cowell's lofty expectations, and was far from a show that truly broke through the pop culture zeitgeist; as HitFix's Dan Fienberg observed on Twitter, "FOX has gotten people -- 5 or 10, at least -- talking about a show nobody talked about when it was on."

However, it did get solid ratings for Fox, debuting as the number-one new reality show in the fall. Fox detailed it successes in a press release. A lot of shows would kill for an average of more than 12 million viewers a night.

So why change it? I ask that seriously, even though I could barely maintain my interest and would rather drink donkey semen every night than watch another season of Simon and L.A. Reid pretending to fight with each other.

New judges could bring some buzz to the show as it goes into its second season. Simon Cowell can make smart decisions--such as the hiring of Howard Stern to judge AGT--but this show is his baby, the one he bailed from Idol to do. His ego prevented the show from being a smash hit, even though Fox's marketing department did an exceptional job of creating hype for the show in the year leading up to it, because he just assumed people would show up for him and Paula and hype and a cool set. There's a real chance that the changes could further alienate the audience and ratings could drop.

Hiring a big name may just be another example of Simon thinking, once again, that a name--like his--is all a show really needs. Last week, in a story that gets the show's name wrong in the headline, Media Take Out reported that "Simon Cowell has offered Beyonce $500M," $100 million for five seasons; an alleged "insider" said, "He wants a big name female star on the panel. Mariah [Carey] is good, but she's not that hot today. He wants Beyonce because that would immediately give him the bounce needed to beat American Idol."

Let's assume that's true for a second: it's insane. There's no way her presence on the show would generate a proportional return for that cash. Even if it's not true, we're undoubtedly going to get relatively big judges to replace Paula and Nicole, and be subjected to months and months of rumors about who they might be.

But the problem is that the star power of the judges was not The X Factor's major flaw. Sure, a big name might lead some people to check out the show, and perhaps Beyonce would be a better judge than Nicole Scherzinger (although in fairness, a cardboard cutout would do a better job judging than Nicole). The show's foundation is its problem, and a big part of that is not going away, because Simon Cowell is its creator and executive producer.

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NBC's Voice promo during the Super Bowl: easily one of the best ads of the night

Andy Dehnart — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:36:37 -0500

The ads that aired during the Super Bowl tonight were mostly misses, I think, from the Teleflora ad that insisted giving flowers results in receiving oral sex to the Fiat ad with faux semen, aired on the network that wouldn't air a reality show with real semen. But I digress.

Some of the ads were good, but NBC's promo department really hit a home run--er, got a touchdown--with this spot for The Voice. It's perfection from start to finish.

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Contender boxer Jeff Fraza killed by train

Andy Dehnart — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 13:39:34 -0500

The Contender season one and two cast member and boxer Jeff "Hell Raza" Fraza was killed early Saturday morning when he was hit by a commuter train in Haverhill, Mass. He was 34.

His former girlfriend and mother of his son, Sylvia Pastrana, told the Boston Herald, "I was just told that he was walking the tracks, heading back home, and he's done that many times before." She said "he was fine and he was in good spirits."

The Eagle Tribune reports that he "had to put his boxing career on hold" because of Crohn's disease.

Fraza returned for the second season, which moved from NBC to ESPN, after leaving the competition because of chicken pox during the episode in which Najai Turpin was eliminated; Turpin killed himself after returning home.

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The Voice debuts post-Super Bowl as American Idol continues to fall

Andy Dehnart — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 11:00:19 -0500

NBC's The Voice returns for its second season after the Super Bowl this Sunday, and the big test for the show is whether it can sustain both the interest that sweet timeslot will provide and overcome the general fatigue from music talent competitions that both X Factor and American Idol have contributed to by, well, sucking.

American Idol continues to lose viewers, dropping significantly compared to both last year and last week on Wednesday night, and on Thursday, now consistently losing to The Big Bang Theory, with more total viewers and more viewers 18 to 49.

It will be interesting to see if The Voice will do further damage to American Idol, or if the reverse will be true, especially with all the promotion it will get Sunday. The competition is intense, which explains why, on Ellen DeGeneres' show today, Adam Levine responded to Randy Jackson's insecurity-laced comments by saying "shame on Randy."

On Sunday, join me for live thoughts on both The Voice and, before that, Super Bowl commentary, which should be particularly great because I know nothing about football, probably because when I played I was always in the outfield. All of this will happen on the Twitter, of course. Follow me!

Follow @realityblurred

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Trump endorses Romney, convinced we'll follow him blindly, when the opposite is true

Andy Dehnart — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:57:39 -0500

Donald Trump endorsed Mitt Romney yesterday, a brave, unexpected choice, considering how Romney just easily won Florida. The endorsement has already inspired an ad comparing Trump and Romney's firings. Upon his endorsement, Trump said that people love to follow him, including viewers of The Apprentice, but in fact, the opposite is true.

"I bring a lot of people with me. If you look at my Twitter, if you look at my anything, if you look at my ratings, period, we bring a lot of people, not because people like me, but they are with what I'm saying," Trump said while endorsing Romeny in Las Vegas, according to the Los Angeles Times.

This is classic Trump. He's so full of himself that he mistakes our attention for endorsement, even though facts say otherwise. A January Washington Post-Pew poll found that 8 percent of people are more likely to vote for someone Trump endorses, while 26 percent "said that a Trump endorsement would actually make them less likely to vote for his choice," according to the Washington Post. Republican strategist and George W. Bush and John McCain adviser Mark McKinnon told the paper, "He brings zero votes, zero credibility and zero impact — [Trump] actually has a negative impact. At a time when Romney needs legitimacy, the head clown steps in and welcomes him to the circus."

As I've said before, Donald Trump's delusion is one of the best parts of The Celebrity Apprentice; what makes him insufferable in real life makes exceptional television, although it's too bad his real life bullshit causes some people to skip a pretty outstanding TV show.

Update: For evidence of Trump's opportunism and/or shifting ideologies and/or indecisiveness, check out his voter registration history at The Smoking Gun.

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Top Chef gets a 10th season to hopefully find its way out of its formulaic rut; Kitchen Nightmares renewed

Andy Dehnart — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:53:41 -0500

Bravo has renewed Top Chef for a 10th season, despite the pretty disappointing season that's currently airing. The 10th season is currently casting and will tape in May for broadcast later this year. In quasi-related food reality TV news, Fox's Gordon Ramsay vehicle Kitchen Nightmares has been renewed for a fifth season.

As to Bravo's show, it's hard to believe that just a year ago one of its best seasons ever, Top Chef All-Stars, was airing, only to be followed by a dumbed-down Top Chef Masters, absurdly formulaic Top Chef Just Desserts, and a pretty weak Top Chef Texas that did manage to air one of the show's best episodes ever.

In The Daily Beast yesterday, Jace Lacob detailed why the show "has never felt quite so irrelevant and predictable", and points out that they're rarely allowed to just cook.

That's exactly it, and what made the Charlize Theron episode so awesome: each chef was able to create a one dish by themselves. That's it. No phony team drama, no making 600 portions for 500 guests while standing in a swimming pool in 110-degree heat. Just showcasting their skills as a chef under intense pressure. Imagine that!

I think a lot of network executives and reality show producers are under the impression that a show must continue to top itself and get ever-crazier to keep viewers' attention. Things do need to change, but good casting can solve most of that, and incremental changes to the formula can keep things fresh, as Survivor has proven, even with its occasional missteps. Stick to what you do best and viewers will show up and stick around.

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"Hypocrite" Emily Maynard "scared to death" of Bachelorette but still believes it can work

Andy Dehnart — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:51:16 -0500

Emily Maynard says she's frightened of what will happen when she films The Bachelorette, and also feels like a hypocrite for saying she'd never do it, but she's also convinced the format can work, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary.

Emily told People, "It really hasn't hit me, what I've signed on to do. I'm scared to death." I presume she means signing on to a show where the producers are understandably more concerned with making entertaining television than with finding her a partner for life, and thus is worried about how they'll fuck with her through the casting and/or set-up moments.

Meanwhile, Emily says that when she said she didn't intend to be the next Bachelorette, "I genuinely meant that. I feel like the biggest hypocrite because I said that and now I'm doing it." But she also said, "I know it can work. I fell in love the first time and no, we didn't end up getting married, but in the end just falling in love, for me, is a success."

Emily also said her daughter is "not going to be involved in a lot of filming and certainly not meeting the guys." So at least her daughter will be spared whatever the producers could come up with for her.

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Hoboken, our new best friend, refuses to let Snooki, JWoww's show film there

Andy Dehnart — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 12:56:12 -0500

A Jersey Shore spin-off starring Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi and Jenni "JWoww" Farley is supposed to start filming this month, but Hoboken, New Jersey, has denied 495 Productions a filming permit, protecting the rest of the country by at least delaying their return to the attention of cameras.

City of Hoboken's film commission denied the permit Monday, calling the production "an attractive nuisance" and noting that a "proposed 24-hour filming permit would violate" a rule against "filming after 11:00pm in a residential area." It also says that filming people whose whereabouts would be known by fans would be "making crowd and traffic control impossible" and affect residents, "unnecessarily degrading their quality of life." The Jersey Journal published the letter from the film commission.

Might the show try to film there anyway? A letter from mayor Dawn Zimmer [PDF] says the city was "extremely surprised to learn ... that 495 Productions filmed in public areas without a required film permit in one location," and citing the community's past "significant corruption," says that "there will be zero tolererance for this kind of approach." It adds, "Any attempts to film in a manner that is not permitted without a permit will be dealt with immediately and aggressively by the city of Hoboken."

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Donkey semen drinker threatened by NBC for talking about the Fear Factor stunt

Andy Dehnart — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 11:10:12 -0500

One of the Fear Factor contestants who drank donkey semen and urine during a stunt says she has been threatened by NBC for talking about it. The network pulled the episode Monday and has not yet rescheduled it.

Twins Brynne and Claire Odioso talked about drinking the semen on Tampa Bay's Cowhead Show, revealing that one drank semen while the other drank urine. Claire called the taste of semen "so bitter" with a "hint of hay," and said it was "way thicker" than human semen.

Claire describes it as "the hardest 15 minutes of my life." She said that "if you vomited, you'd have to start over," so she "vomited it my glass and just drank that." Claire adds, "everyone was throwing up" and "the cameramen were vomiting." (Listen to the full interview.)

Claire "got a threatening call this AM, after execs saw a video of her talking about the stunt posted on" TMZ, the site reports, saying that she was prevented from "appearing on TMZ Live today, and further told her if she dared to say another word about animal spunk, they would enforce the confidentiality agreement and sic their lawyers on her."

That there's a confidentiality agreement isn't a surprise, and on the radio show, the host mentions the "pretty strict rules" and says "let's speak in hypotheticals so you don't get in trouble." Brynne says they can discuss things because pictures of the episode were posted, but they discuss all three stunts, which implies that made it to the end, although when confronted with that, says, "we're not allowed to say."

But really, who cares if they talk about it now? This is probably just a network being controlling and people exercising their tiny bit of power to make themselves feel better about their powerlessness, but it could also imply that NBC does intend to air the episode, and thus doesn't want the results spoiled.

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Jill Zarin's fascinating response to gossip that RHONY wants her back

Andy Dehnart — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:03:15 -0500

Fired The Real Housewives of New York City cast member Jill Zarin has responded to a gossip report that she was asked to return to the show. She confirms that she was asked to cameo, but says she's too busy with other projects, such as her appearance on Iron Chef America's top-five moments countdown.

Radar reported that "axed cast member Jill Zarin received a call from a show insider recently asking her if she would consider returning to the show," but "that came just a little too late, [because] the New York socialite and businesswoman has found a new TV gig on a cooking show."

That's a pretty transparent report, considering how it describes Jill and frames the whole thing, so it's not a surprise that Jill confirmed that it's true, saying "it was more than one person" who invited her back, though it's not clear if that refers to cast members or producers. However, she says it would have just been a cameo, and, most interestingly, calls out Radar for reusing an old interview and presenting old information as if it was new: "most of the questions I answered a long time ago from and [sic] older interview."

The writing is sometimes challenging to read but is also amusing, such as the fact that she gets the name of the network wrong ("COOK channel"). But at least she wrote it herself, unlike so many reality stars who write things for web sites.

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Win $50 from Cash Cab, now in syndication

Andy Dehnart — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:18:33 -0500

Discovery's game show Cash Cab, which takes place in an actual cab and is hosted by the cab's driver and comedian Ben Bailey, is now in syndication, airing five nights a week (check your local listings).

To mark that occasion, the show has offered three lucky reality blurred readers prizes: a $50 Visa cash card and the Cash Cab board game to the winner, and, for two runners-up, the board game alone.

To enter, you need a U.S. mailing address, and you must do two things:

Comment below. That's your entry, and you can do this once per day until Monday.
E.mail me your contact information: your name and mailing address. If you do not send me an e.mail message with this information, your comment entries will be invalidated, because I need this if you win to pass along to show's representatives, who will send your prize. I won't use that information for anything else.

You can enter once a day--again, by commenting--until Monday at noon ET, for a maximum of six entries. I'll randomly select one winner and two runners-up at that time. No purchase is necessary, et cetera, blah blah blah.

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Bering Sea Gold's record ratings show our fascination with Alaska, boats, fishing, plus swamps, monsters, and more

Andy Dehnart — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:09:18 -0500

Discovery's debut Friday of Bering Sea Gold, the new reality series from Thom Beers that follows people searching for gold in Alaska waters, was the network's most-watched series debut ever. An average of 3.66 million people watched, according to the network, and it set records for the network among households, adults 18 to 49, and adults and men ages 25 to 54.

The series' popularity indicates, on some level, that we still have a fascination with Alaska, the state that has hosted a number of reality series--just as Louisiana has. Since network executives are inherently insecure, the popularity of one show often means a bunch of similar shows crop up on other networks.

That kind of duplication is nothing new, nor is merging two popular formats into a new one, but a fascinating Venn diagram put together by Vulture has illustrated the relationship between a number of popular topics: Texas, cake, weddings, "wars," monsters, Alaska, Louisiana, boats and fishing, swamps, and repo/pawning/towing.

It's far from a perfect representation, and to make it work, there are some glaring omissions (like River Monsters or Whale Wars, which should overlap with "Wars" and boats/fishing, but those circles are too far apart to make that happen). And there are plenty of other topics and trends that could be included, from New Jersey to restaurants. But it's still an awesome and informative visual.

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