Results tagged “realitytv”

Breaking news: Fame cancels out conviction. Reality television star Jon Gosselin shared this late-breaking, profound information last night with celebrity Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and a live audience at New York City's West Side Jewish Center. He even begged the media to leave him alone, "Thank you guys for showing up tonight, but please, stop showing up... I didn't ask for this [fame]... I hardly ever go out in New York because of it. The paparazzi are everywhere here."

We haven't been paying much attention to the NYC Prep kids on Bravo's reality show... yet it's still not surprising that one of them, Sebastian Oppenheim, has some scandalous photos that just leaked to Perez Hilton. Blowing right past the standard sexually-driven teen star photos that usually surface, this guy went straight for anti-Semitism—"cruising around in a town car with his buddy, wasting time and tape by making swastikas and fake Hitler mustaches." Classy. Chuck Bass would never pull this sh*t. [via NY Mag]

Not shocking: Reality TV show producers heighten the dramatic potential by leaving copious amounts of alcohol around or depriving contestants of sleep! A NY Times article explores the world of tortured reality TV contestants. Contestants on the 2006 season of The Bachelor said that after waiting many hours for a 12-hour party, "there was little food but bottomless glasses of wine. When producers judged the proceedings too boring, they sent out a production assistant with a tray of shots," with one pointing out, "If you combine no sleep with alcohol and no food, emotions are going to run high and people are going to be acting crazy." Perfect for ratings! And on the 2005-2006 season of Project Runway, with "multiple 18-hour days of shooting," Diana Eng was once very startled by a crew, "One morning they scared me so bad I jumped and screamed. They said that wasn’t good, so I had to pretend to wake up again." A University of Iowa communications studies professor sums it up, "The bread and butter of reality television is to get people into a state where they are tired, stressed and emotionally vulnerable." Hear that, reality TV fans? You might be sadists for watching it! Then again, the contestants might be masochists, so it works out.

Reality television will soon confront its latest victim: art. Bravo is now casting for "The Untitled Art Project," which brings Sarah Jessica Parker and her production company, Pretty Matches, together with the Emmy-nominated Magical Elves ("Top Chef," "Project Runway") and Eli Holzman, to produce an hour long creative competition series among contemporary artists. It's just like how all the great artists were discovered. There will be thirteen total aspiring artists competing for a gallery show, money, and more. Each episode will have the artists creating "unique pieces highlighting art's role in everyday life" in everything from sculpture to photography. Get your portfolio together and your beret perfectly situation atop your head, the NYC casting call is July 18th and 19th at White Columns.

Oh universe, please let this be fake. Allegedly there's some reality television casting call signage hanging out in Williamsburg (and being hosted online) that Curbed got a hold of. We can't in good faith even print the entire ad here, but it starts out with a bang, asking: "Did you wake up today around 1:30 EST in your industrial loft, pull on your favorite (and only) pair of cutoff jean shorts, and take a leisurely stroll down Bedford Avenue in search of organic green juice and the new DFA on vinyl?" References to tofu, American Apparel, Dan Deacon and even the Hipster Grifter follow. They're looking for 18-25 year old stereotypical hipsters who won't mind opening their doors up to a camera crew—shouldn't be too hard, especially since there is somehow cash involved—and the email to contact the show ends in hipsterhood.com, though nothing is hosted at that URL right now. Maybe they should just get Kari Ferrell to host a Super Funtime Happy Grifter Game Show Hour where helpless hipsters win fabulous prizes for fending off mouth handjobs.

The Real Houswives of New York's Kelly Bensimon proves once again that she's a terrible person. On the heels of allegedly assaulting her boyfriend, she's now lashing out verbally in Harper's Bazaar. Page Six has an excerpt from the interview, where she calls her co-star Bethenny inauthentic, and asks: "Will she ever sit next to Lauren duPont?" Burn? (We don't know who that person is.) She then pats herself on the back for being authentic because she's "the ambassador for wool." What? This is so confusing! You don't need a crazy-talk translator to understand the following, however—when asked why she even agreed to be on the show, she declared, "I wanted to put my name up there. I was like, it's not enough for New York to know me. I wanted the rest of America to know me. I have a great life." America, if you're ready for more, you can get the full interview here.

If you love to hate the Real Housewives of New York, how will you feel about The Real Housewives of New Jersey? It's really happening, people. Word is that the newest cast includes a former cosmetologist, a stay-at-home mom, and ladies who love to shop, get spa treatments and spend time at The Shore. And during the tough economic times, isn't it comforting to know that one of them "prides herself as one of the first female American Express Black card members in New Jersey." Just think of all the polyblend one can buy with that baby! Find out more about the latest recession busters here, and set those DVRs for May 12th.

It seems like just yesterday MTV was searching for a home for their Real World Brooklyn cast, and now the show is ready to air! How fast these reality programs grow up. You've already met the cast, seen their home in Red Hook, and read all about our very own Billy Parker sending the show's first transgender into a blogging tizzy...so what's next? We've seen the first episode, which will air tomorrow, and here are a few "spoilers." First up: you'll know you're in Brooklyn when they start playing rap music and showing graffiti. Soon after that, Mormon roommate Chet refers to the borough as a place where you "don't want to end up" and worries about getting shot there (another spoiler alert: he doesn't). Later on the roommates will get some slices at L&B Spumoni Gardens, and ever further into the show there's some bonding over dinner at Elmo in Manhattan. Other than that, you'll hear things like how they like to sit out and look at the ocean from their Red Hook digs. By which they mean Buttermilk Channel or the Hudson Bay, of course. The NY Post has another look inside their temporary home, and the Daily News has a preview.

Donald Trump, the man who once said that Kevin Federline was "fantastic" and "doesn't get enough credit" is back in the news for sharing his thoughts on current events and pop culture icons. In an interview with NY1 that began airing last night and will continue tonight, he called President Bush "so bad, so evil that I don't think any Republican could have won." To explain his political insight, he added, "He'd go into a country, attack Iraq, which had nothing to do with the World Trade Center and just do it because he wanted to do it."

While MTV is keeping mum on the whereabouts of the upcoming Real World Brooklyn location, the borough is all wise to the fact that they're setting up camp in Red Hook (after not moving to Carroll Gardens or Downtown's BellTel Lofts). The Brooklyn Paper asked some residents how they felt about their new future neighbors, who will reside at Pier 41 at 204 Van Dyke Street.

“I’d rather have another Ikea,” said John Varonian, who has lived in Red Hook for two years, and would prefer that MTV reopen and run the Laundromat down the street.

Continue reading "Red Hook Talks Real World"

From a source who was over at the Pier 41 building in Red Hook earlier today, where the latest Real World cast is rumored to be moving, word of "progress" on the cast's living space comes in: "They're building them a cabana, and a sand pit right now." They also tell us that "somebody also did a short film shoot the other day down the block from the Pier 41 building, permitted/blocked off streets, possibly for MTV." Developing!

After yesterday's rumors about Ashley Alexandra Dupre setting her sights on MTV reality TV fame, the Post found the high-class hooker who serviced former Governor Eliot Spitzer at the Jersey Shore. While she only offered a "coy giggle" and a "no comment" when asked about reality show plans, her mom said, "You'll have to follow her out to LA."

Breathe a sigh of relief Carroll Gardens, The Real World's newest seven strangers won't be moving in to your neighborhood after all -- the original report of the cast heading to Downtown Brooklyn is now confirmed.

Last week the Brooklyn Paper reported that MTV's Real World cast would be moving into a Downtown Brooklyn loft; this week they have much more believable news of the locale. Sorry Carroll Gardens, looks like the network has their eye on you.

What part of Brooklyn will MTV's newest seven strangers inhabit when their show "The Real World” moves in this summer? The Brooklyn Paper reports that they may move into the BellTel Lofts (pictured) located Downtown...and decidedly "unhip." Allegedly MTV has scouted the penthouse units at the Bridge Street building, which is still under construction.

Executive Producer Jim Johnston confirmed that he has looked at the building, though he would not say if a lease has been signed.

Continue reading "The Real World in Downtown Brooklyn?"

Entering its 21st season, MTV's The Real World returns to New York for a third time...but for the first time it's headed to an outer-borough. That's right, the seven generic, good-looking roommates will be heading to Brooklyn.

While current Top Chef contestants battle it out in Chicago, the series prepares for its next round of the culinary contest/reality show. Bravo has announced its casting call for the 5th season (New York's open call is May 11th at the Culinary Institute of America in Astor Center):

Chefs with a passion for food, creativity, a thorough knowledge of cooking techniques and trends and oodles of charisma are what we're looking for. We want both self-taught cooks and those who have trained at top culinary schools.

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The Brooklyn Academy of Music kicked off their fourth season of Eat Drink & Be Literary last night at the BAMcafé. The sold-out event revolved around author George Saunders, a craftsman of absurdly hilarious short story and essays that lovingly lift American consumerism and mass media to surreal heights. His laugh-out-loud short story Pastoralia, for instance, concerns a man and a woman portraying full-time troglodytes in a theme park exhibit. In 2006, Saunders, who has a degree in geophysical engineering, was awarded a MacArthur "Genius" Grant for “bring[ing] to contemporary American fiction a sense of humor, pathos, and literary style all his own.”

Last night Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert returned to their fake news desks, with picket lines outside of their studios and no strike beards in sight (however, a strike unibrow did appear). They were supportive as ever of the WGA though, in fact Stewart spent all 30 minutes discussing the strike, with only a lone joke or two about the primaries ("Cold white people have had their say"). He made it clear that "From now on, until the end of the strike, we'll be doing 'A Daily Show with Jon Stewart.' But not 'THE Daily Show.'"

The video of City Councilman James Oddo letting the f-bombs drop on a Norwegian TV comedian is getting mixed reactions - and a fair number of chuckles - from New Yorkers, but now it turns out that he wasn't meant to be a poor sap duped into answering stupid questions about whether Barack Obama is an American citizen and "Hillary Clinton's incident with a cigar."

For some reason, Norwegian comedians thought that City Councilman James Oddo would be a perfect target for their program, "Rikets Rost." Oddo, a Republican and the minority leader in the Council (he's recently supported legislation such as banning aluminum bats and giving the Department of Transportation the authority to name streets), apparently consented to the interview because the request was to discuss presidential politics.

American Idol has been on the decline ever since Kelly Clarkson stepped off the stage. It's understandable, the first time is always more exciting -- and c'mon, one can only take so much of Paula's craziness, Simon's snarkiness and Randy Jackson's what's up dawg's.

Just after Pet Fashion Week comes to an end (seriously), New York's (human) Fashion Week begins. The official start is tomorrow, but heels will be hitting the runway before that. Though far from fashionistas, we've been to a runway show or two in the past - and have always heard amazing things about Imitation of Christ's unusual showings. Tonight IoC's Matt Damhave and Tara Subkoff will be at Snitch (which is still open?!) showing off their new rags (maybe Scar Jo will walk the walk again).

Foxy Brown, after violating probation, got an all access pass to the big house this morning. The rapper managed to use a Blackberry as a weapon earlier this month - the latest on a list of violent outbursts, yet has managed to stay out of jail against all odds until this point.

I Dig Doug, a new production in this year’s Fringe Festival, concerns a status-obsessed uptown debutante who decides she should so get involved in presidential politics. When the farcical story begins, the unnamed teen (Karen DiConcetto, called Girl in the program) and her equally self-absorbed friend Nicole (Rochelle Zimmerman) are coasting along on their parents’ money, only mildly concerned about their imminent college application essays – Girl is smart enough to know that if they “can get into Bungalow 8” they can get into Harvard. But Girl’s perfect world is soon torn asunder when she discovers that her personal hero, a lovelorn reality TV star, is nothing more than a phony, craven opportunist. If a Girl can’t believe in reality TV, what can she believe in?

MOVIE: The new Hairspray has set up special Sing-A-Long screenings! They begin nationwide today, and there will be three right here in New York. If you don't like rowdy theaters, skip this one!

"I find people who read to be sexy. And I find people who have bought my book to be even sexier." Drinking, drugging, casual sex, and living at a group home. For fifteen-year-old Janice Erlbaum , this was everyday life. But if you want to make conversation with her now, you better be a fan of reality TV or an avid reader. "If a person does't feel a great need for reading, then it's just not important to them. but to me, story telling and listening to other people's stories is incredibly important."

READING: FreeNYC points us to a reading at B&N featuring Gong Show guru and possible CIA assassin, Chuck Barris:

THEATER: It’s “go time” for The Butane’s Group’s Operation Ajax, which ingenuously sets the CIA’s 1953 overthrow of Iran’s first democratically-elected government in the context of a casino. “Constructed from no less than 25 text sources (memoirs, documentaries, plays, poetry, novels, films, reality tv shows), the densely-layered performance explores how the addiction to risk and gambling has become a potent metaphor for U.S. foreign policy.” (For an enhanced theater experience, explore the show’s thorough bibliography, with links to all source material.) - John Del Signore