Just saw the clip of Gloria Steinem calling the Real Housewives franchise a minstrel show straight in Andy Cohen's face, and I'm very satisfied with my purchase.
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Thank you for the heads up on this – my jaw dropped when he asked about Paglia, it felt like he hadn’t done the most basic research & didn’t even understand what feminism was
Agreed. He is a jerk, but she has a history of going where the story is. She worked as a Playboy bunny for about a month at one of Hefner’s Playboy clubs to get the real story. She’s definitely not a fan of that kind of exploitation.
Yes, but only since Bravo became trash TV.
Once upon a time, its programming was focused on the arts and it was actually culturally enriching and edifying.
FINALLY someone said what I've been thinking. Those (un)reality shows platform the very WORST stereotypes of women -- b*tchy, petty, catty. I refuse to support undermining my own self worth by watching crap like that.
Andy: Katerina, you had a complete breakdown this season, tried to murder everyone on the show, and were ultimately institutionalized. Your psychiatrist has called you an incurable sociopath with homicidal tendencies. Are you coming back next season?
Well, doesn’t everyone want to date Anderson? I mean rich, cute, dresses well, can string two sentences together coherently… 😆 But knowing this does shift my opinion a tiny bit.
The worst part is that it all ceased being real by the second season of The Real World when they started engineering the casting. Scripted reality (as it’s all in the biz) is the stuff of Idiocracy and the fact that ENTIRE channels are dedicated to it is proof of our path. 1/2
2/2 In the early 90s I worked in television and I watched the rise of the form and the insidious way it started taking over everything because it’s cheap as dirt to make. Everything boils down to profit. Now we have an entire population addicted to watching train wrecks.
Reality TV has played a significant role in the problems we face today. Taking the worst among us and holding them up as examples to be emulated may be good for advertisers, but it is bad for society.
You are right. I bet ten percent of Trump voters did it just for the entertainment value. And no one is expected to be a decent human being any longer because that's not entertaining.
Exactly this. Which is also why the major news organizations have been playing down dumps mental infirmity. Because strife and discord sell more newspapers than prosperity.
The first I stumbled across watch what happens I thought cohen was like "special" and I thought it's weird they let a mildly disabled person host a talk show. True story. I think it was his eye and goofy dumbness. Couldn't believe he ran the network.
Andy Cohen may be a dick but he found a niche in "entertainment" that spawned an outbreak of similar crap. Maybe the question isn't why he did it but why it was so ridiculously popular. Are we all that shallow?
I can appreciate a Project Runway or a Top Chef, but I think that reality shows are generally some straight-up evil shit, and I think that there's a pretty straight line to be drawn from what Andy Cohen's made his fortune on to the dungbucket we're living in right now.
I enjoyed Chopped but my favorite “competition” shows are Forged in Fire and Face Off. But I’ve never watched any of the “reality” shows like Real… or anything Kardashian, etc.
Televised competitions with qualified judges where people actually create and learn things are all fine, but I never understood the appeal of reality TV where you just follow people around or watch their drama unfold, like… it just feels exploitative no matter who the subject is.
Agreed; Great British Bake Off is the gold standard. Very qualified judges, friendly & funny hosts, and contestants that seem like genuinely good people in a competition where they lift each other up. No sabotage, badmouthing, nor backstabbing.
There are plenty of shows that are the polar opposite.
Some of it is. Not all of it. And even when the interactions are scripted, the words usually aren’t. And just because something is scripted that doesn’t mean people don’t get hurt. These people aren’t actors. They’re not trained for this. And they are appearing as themselves.
It’s hard to divorce yourself from what you’re doing on screen when you’re supposed to also be yourself at the same time. I think it’s a horrifying and sadistic form of entertainment.
Absolutely true and I apologize that my statement about “scripted” was reductive. I forget that people don’t realize that “scripted” can mean that the situations are scripted and not the words. And they’re not actors so they’re not doing actual improv.
It’s not exploitative when the subjects are well informed, are rich as fuck, and it’s not actually their lives - it’s scripted. It’s weird, and people look at them differently, but they love it imho
Sometimes that’s true, sometimes it isn’t. And even when it is, they bring other people into it. Family member, their kids even, who are absolutely not capable of giving informed consent about things like that. Someone is always being exploited.
It’s manufactured drama. There’s been a few people leave the show bc it gets too personal .. the other thing about most of them , what you see , isn’t what is real. The wealth some display isn’t really true ! There’s been a few who had some sketchy businesses!
I think that too, Benjamin. Most reality shows are junk food for the mind. These shows are scripted and not based in reality. I don’t consider shows like Project Runway reality shows, but are a demonstration of creativity and skill. The Real Housewives franchise is a load of hooey.
GBBO and The Repair Shop are about the only reality shows I’ve been able to stand consistently. Not coincidentally, they’re also the most “real” in many ways. People are naturally kind, despite the nonsense that gets spewed out there…
Even GBBO had gotten off track. They definitely engineer the casting and the presenters are ridiculous. At least the contestants aren’t scripted to be horrible to each other and they do seem very authentic.
Burnett had to pitch his”Bible” doc to my family member at History Channel. His pitch was “if you knew for certain it was God and he told you to kill your daughters, you would do it right?” and he was like “um, no…” and Burnett had to change his pitch
HA! He lived downstairs from me in the 80s. He had a studio apartment and sold clothes from a rack on Venice Beach. I suspected he was undocumented but got away with it because he was white and cute.
That man's work has done in more than a few brain cells by growing reality TV, & now we are all playing Survivor in our real lives. I remember seeing MB visiting Trump as he was interviewing ppl for cabinet positions in 2016 & thinking they must be plotting a reality TV show around the presidency.
Trashy “reality” shows have a direct hand in eroding discourse and decorum in our society. The trashier, ruder, meaner and more self-promoting you are, the more screen time you get. People, especially young girls, see this and believe to be “famous,” this is who you should be. Thanks for listening
They have no talent or skills but that’s probably the source of the franchise’s success. Other vapid, talentless nonentities with no skills see themselves on the screen, writ large.
I was just thinking about this earlier today. It's all like an invitation for nosy neighbors to snoop on nearby houses by clicking a remote instead of standing at the window.
Years and years ago Matthew Broderick was a guest, Andy tried to get his opinion on some Housewife scandal, and Broderick replied "Why are we swimming in this toilet?"
I avoided bravo content until RHSLC aired 5 years ago. There is a reason why they call it trash TV. I plan on spending the next 4 years watching all that mind-numbing blather. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
At 54 I was a devotee of the first season of the real world. I quickly realized the nightmare that is reality TV and deliberately withdrew my viewership. I don't want any of my energy going to that crap.
And the first season of the Real World was much less contrived than it became--it had some recognizable connection to the documentary format that inspired it.
I too saw the deleterious implications of reality TV & pulled out. Meanwhile, brain rot set in as ppl became addicted to it & the web.
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But I'm disappointed she even went on the show.
Once upon a time, its programming was focused on the arts and it was actually culturally enriching and edifying.
https://www.bravotv.com/watch-what-happens-live-with-andy-cohen/season-12/videos/after-show-glorias-distaste-for-the-real
I saw one episode, probably a high point since it was about a charity event, and they still all came across as so self-centred and obnoxious…
Literally just brainrot for older generations. Idk how she stands watching haughty annoying ppl argue for hours! Bleep this, bleep that. Constantly.
seriously never watched that garbage -
as real as that plastic in their faces
and barely tolerated my daughter watching
that K family of Asses!!
Andy: Katerina, you had a complete breakdown this season, tried to murder everyone on the show, and were ultimately institutionalized. Your psychiatrist has called you an incurable sociopath with homicidal tendencies. Are you coming back next season?
Pulling no punches. 😂
I’m embarrassed for those shows.
Where can I see this?
I prefer the cooking competitions, house makeovers, and house hunters (especially expats moving to other countries).
Lifestyles-> The Real World -> Jersey Shore -> Kardashians-> Housewives
Survivor -> The Apprentice
There are plenty of shows that are the polar opposite.
Always sounds like catty nonsense. Not only do they get into it, they REALLY get into it. And some of what I hear sounds just plain mean.
I too saw the deleterious implications of reality TV & pulled out. Meanwhile, brain rot set in as ppl became addicted to it & the web.