Man vs. Wild

Man vs. Wild, which aires on the Discovery channel, returns tonight for its second season. As a result of revelations that the show misrepresented star Bear Grylls and what he actually did in the wild. USA TODAY reports that the new season includes "more behind-the-scenes footage and text explaining off-camera elements." Bear says that for this season,

“We raised the bar considerably. The aim was to go to more extremes, to more
remote places. Looking back, the mistake was not telling viewers more from the
outset. The more they see, the more they realize how full-on a lot of the stuff
is. The new shows will reassure them. Everything is strong and double-checked.
Discovery is so cautious of everything. If I so much as break wind on these
shows, it’s acknowledged now.”

Bear thinks that the whole controversy was because people wanted to know more and they wanted to know how the stuff was done behind the scenes. So, here is their chance. The new season premieres tonight at 8 p.m. ET.

John Stewart Sums up Writer's Strike

I thought this was funny. Check it out.

Andy Dehnart, who writes a reality blog like mine , called Reality Blurred, is helping to raise money for people with leukemia and lymphoma. He joined a running group that’s raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society while they train for a marathon together. He wants people to help and I think it's a very good cause. Dehart writes:

"For every dollar you donate directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, I’ll
give you one entry in reality blurred’s biggest contest yet, with prizes worth
almost $600. So, a donation of $10 gets you 10 entries, and a donation of $50
gets 50 entries. The prizes are listed below, but you can win everything from a
Slingbox to items autographed by reality stars (Mike Boogie! Joey Lawrence!) to
multiple copies of the Colbert Report DVD."

The winner gets to pick four of the bulleted items on his list; second place picks three of the remaining ones; and third place gets whatever’s left. The prizes are yours to keep for whatever uses you would like.

"Enter by donating
directly to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society here. Use the box on the left
to enter your (tax-deductible) donation amount, and make sure you enter a
working e.mail address. After you donate via that third-party web site (I
receive no money; you’re giving directly to the organization), I’ll
automatically be alerted of your donation amount and e.mail address, and enter
you in the contest. Please donate right
now."

I thought some of you may be interested in donating or just check it out, see what a good cause it is. Maybe start your own team and donate. Until next time...

American Idol

According to The New York Post, The Hollywood round of American Idol 7 will allow to contestants to use instruments while they sing. The audition process begins this week and this is the first time in the show's history that they are allowing the contestants to do this. Executive producer Nigel Lythgoe told The New York Post "If [the contestants] can play an instrument this year we want to be able to see that, and we’ll introduce a couple of days of that during Hollywood week." That may or may not continue to the semi-final and final rounds of the competition in the spring. "We’ll make a decision when we see how many really talented people we have,” he said. He also said that American Idol’s tour may be combined with the tour from his other series, So You Think You Can Dance.

In my opinion, I'd rather not see the two shows combined. I'm a huge fan of So You Think You Can Dance, but I only watch the auditions portion of American Idol because I think the auditions are hysterical. I'd like it if they kept them separate.

TV & Film Strike

As of midnight last night, TV and film writers went on strike, which could lead to more reality tv. ABC News writer Sheila Marikar said:

"The contract the Writers Guild of America had with the major TV networks and
movie studios expired Nov. 1. For months, the union has been negotiating with
the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers over a new contract. But
both sides are at odds over how much of a cut writers should get for online
distribution of TV shows and movies, and talks fell apart Wednesday afternoon."

In the immediate future, not much will change, besides the disappearance of late-night series such as The Daily Show. TV networks have a number of episodes already written, so scripted shows will continue to air as usual. The Los Angeles Times has a chart that depicts how many episodes of major series are written. Without scripted series, networks need something other than reruns to fill time. Therefore, we could see an increase in unscripted reality shows as early as next year, if The Writers Guild of America is still on strike. This isn't very good news though. A bunch of people who produce great entertainment are out of work for an indeterminate amount of time, which hurts everyone. In addition, the immediate demand for reality shows could lead to more crap and producers will just start shooting out nonsense. The biggest change for reality television right now is that CBS might move Big Brother 9's premiere to March.

A Reality Update....

Here's some updates on our favorite reality shows:

Ebony Morgon quit America's Next Top Model, claiming "I just did not want to be there anymore." "The most unattractive thing in the world to me is a quitter, and for that, you can go," Tyra Banks told Morgan at the conclusion of Wednesday night's Top Model episode.

This is for all the I Love New York and Nip/Tuck fans out there. New York, aka Tiffany Pollard, will reportedly guest star on Nip/Tuck on their December 4th episode. The fifth season of Nip/Tuck premiered on Tuesday and the preview they showed at the end of the episode for the season showed her making an appearance.

Amazing Race 12's "married ministers" are the shows first lesbian couple. At ages 49 and 65, they are also this seaon's oldest team.

NBC has formally announced that Donald Trump's The Apprentice will return for a seventh season. This season will be a celebrity edition.

Forty kids in one place saying the name “Michael” over and over again probably made it inevitable that someone would combine footage from CBS’ reality series Kid Nation with footage from Michael Jackson talking about his relationship with kids. The result is completely hysterical and shows how much editing can effect reality TV.