The Hills Season Finale Spectacular

The third season finale of The Hills is scheduled to premiere on December 10, according to "People." MTV is planning a two-day long event for its popular TV series. On the big night, MTV and the cast will present Hills Finale: Live in Hollywood, which will broadcast live from L.A. hot spot Area. The actual finale will premiere at 10 p.m. ET, followed by a live after-show. Lauren Conrad, Whitney Port, and Audrina Patridge will answer questions then "make an announcement that will leave fans wanting more." The audience at the live show will include up to 40 winners of “The Hills Biggest Fan Contest,” which is accepting video submissions through Dec. 3 from fans explaining why they love the series.

The season finale celebration will begin December 9, when MTV airs a special called The Hills: Lauren Looks Back, beginning at 12 p.m. ET. This will be a “video scrapbook” of Lauren Conrad’s life from her time at Laguna Beach High to her life today. It will feature LC talking about past friendships and boyfriends.

Looks like Heidi won't be making an appearance on the after-show anytime soon.

This is one event not to be missed by The Hills fans!

Dramatic Finale for Dancing with the Stars

The premiere of Dancing with the Stars, which aired this week, left Helio Castroneves with the fifth-season title. This may have been the least interesting thing that happened that night though. We learned since that Helio Castroneves fiancee, Aliette Vazquez, has called off the couple's engagement, after six years as a couple. Elsewhere, Mark Ballas was actually rushed to the hospital after he injured his arm during the Cha Cha performance with partner/girlfriend Sabrina Bryan. At one point during the dance, you could see that he whispers something to Sabrina. We don't know if Maksim Chmerkovskiy was serious or not when he told Extra last night that he may be through with the show.
"If this is the limit of where I can get in a show, then let it be,” Maks said. “I’m satisfied and moving on."

WGA surveys reality show writers

According to a survey of 303 reality TV story writers and producers “writing jobs in reality television are characterized by long hours, almost no benefits, inconsistent meal breaks and inaccurate record-keeping,” according to the WGAw, which commissioned the survey.

Goodwin Simon Victoria Research’s study [PDF] found that “91% of reality TV writers receive no overtime pay,” but “88% of reality TV writers work more than 40 hours a week." On average reality TV writers on broadcast networks work 60 hours per week, while reality TV writers on cable networks work about 55 hours per week. Of those surveyed, "86 percent don’t get health insurance from their respective networks or production companies, and 18 percent don’t have insurance.” Overall, “the average pay range for reality writers was $2,000 to $2,500 per week. Based on an average weekly rate of $2,000, writers are losing $1,200 per week in overtime pay."

Basic facts:

• Only 3% of reality writers are given the job title of "writer." Others include story producer, story editor, segment producer, and others.
• Reality TV writers "spend an average of 18 weeks working on a particular production." On average, they work 32 weeks in reality TV anually.
• 70% of reality TV writers work on productions for cable networks, while the other 30% work for broadcast networks (CBS, ABC, NBC, etc.)
• "Almost 70% of reality writers are under the age of 40."

Also, “reality production companies may be committing multiple violations of wage and hour law based on the pervasive employment practices” such as a lack of overtime and meal breaks,” the WGA said. The organization has been working to unionize reality show story writers.

Dancing with the Stars 5 Finale

According to "The Washington Post," Dancing with the Stars has turned ballroom dancing into "can't-miss TV." The show has become one of the most popular reality shows in the country. Dancing with the Stars 5 ends its run within the next two nights. Tonight, the three remaining couples—Melanie Brown and Maksim Chmerkovskiy, Helio Castroneves and Julianne Hough, and Marie Osmond and Jonathan Roberts—dance at 8 p.m. ET for an hour. Tuesday, the show concludes with a two-hour finale at 9.

The show may be so popular, not just because of the dancing, but because of all the drama too. The non-dancing related stuff from Marie Osmond fainting to the death of two contestants' mothers also brings viewers back week after week. Clearly it's a combination of all of the above, the dancing and the drama.

Assignment #5

I found probably one of Long Island's biggest reality fans. Here is an interview with Dennis Bartlett:

Do you like reality television?
"Yes, I do enjoy watching shows that are unscripted."

Do you have a favorite reality show?
"Yes. My favorite show that I like to watch is Big Brother."

What do you like about it?
"Besides being a reality show, it's also a social experiment. I like seeing the dynamic of people being throwm into a house together for 3 months. The producers do a good job finding conflicting and interesting personalities that make for good drama. "

Have you watched Big Brother for most of the seasons that it has appeared on television?
"Yes, I've seen all of the seasons. The first season was not that good, but the produceres changed the show around to what it is today and made it more interesting, which brings me to watch it season after season."

Are you excited that the writers' strike may lead to more reality television or do you think this will just lead to an overload of reality on TV?
"Although I really enjoy reality television, too much of it, like anything else, is going to take the joy out of it."

Have you seen any of the shows that are being advertised for the upcoming season if the strike continues?
"Well, I did hear they are making a winter version of Big Brother. I really haven't heard anything else about new reality shows."

Are there any other reality shows that you watch besides Big Brother?
"Yes. I also love Survivor, The Amazing Race, and even shows like Hogan Knows Best and The Osbournes are interesting to me. Shows like Hogan Knows Best and The Osbournes are a different type of reality show, but they are really interesting because you get a glimpse into the real lives of some celebrities that you would normally only get in a public light."

More of America's Next Top Model

Wednesday, November 14: Things get heated on ANTM!

• Heather continued to dominate the screen, but this time mostly because of her onstage freakout. Almost unable to deliver a few lines about her ensemble when it counted, she stuttered and stammered her way through it... and proceeded to beat herself up over the incident the ENTIRE EPISODE. When the girls returned home and hit the showers, Heather lost her cool. Feeling down after the negative criticism she got at the challenge, she flipped out at the other girls for getting in the shower when she called first dibs. She screamed, cursed, and demanded her shower time. The incident showed the other girls a whole new side to Heather and many of them weren't happy about it. They were all pretty steamed considering none of them really get the opportunity to shower alone either. The whole thing started and ended pretty quickly.
• In spite of her screwup, Heather avoided the bottom two (barely). Those places went to Lisa and Ambreal (okay, we saw that coming). Ambreal ran out of chances and went home.
• Before the judges deliberated this week, it was announced that whoever makes it through to next week will be joining Tyra and company on a trip to China.

Wednesday, November 21: The Girls go to China

• Down to six girls this week and everyone was off to China!
• When they got to their room, they quickly discovered that two of them would be sharing a bed and immediately designated Heather to be one of those girls. Heather took it personally and was upset that the others girls seemed to be picking on her again.
• On the ladies' first day in China, they were off to some martial arts training. The models were taught several martial arts poses and were asked to perform these poses while being hoisted into the air. The challenge brought out Bianca's intense fear of heights leaving her no choice but to drop out of the task and accept disqualification.
• The judge chose Heather as the winner of the challenge and she invited Chantal to join her on a shopping spree in Shanghai.
• The next day the girls met with Mr. Jay for a Cover Girl photo and commercial shoot. It was here that things took a turn for the worst for Heather. During the commercial, she couldn't get her lines down.
• Heather and Lisa were in the bottom two, but Lisa was sent packing.

A few updates: Bianca is still being her same old self and always picking on Heather. Bianca needs to change that NYC attitude of hers. It's not cute for America's Next Top Model. I really like Heather, but is it just me or can she really not handle all of this? I wish Heather would realize that the only reason some of the other girls are getting so vicious is because they know who their competition is. They are working on breaking Heather down so she'll crack and they won't have to deal with her. My pick still stands for winner though and that would be Saleisha. Sometimes her attitude is not so nice, especially to Heather, and I will agree with that, but I think she has some major talent. Her commerical came out amazing.

Project Runway

The latest season of Project Runway premiered on November 14. For those that need a quick recap, "People" has provided the following designer profiles on this year’s cast.

Click here to read all the Project Runway profiles.