Casting Reality TV
With one exception, I prefer scripted TV over reality TV. That exception is my shameless addiction to this show.
But it's almost impossible to completely avoid reality TV, especially when you watch the show that specializes in making fun of it.
The Soup's coverage of one reality show prompted me to check it out.
It seemed like an intriguing premise, I'll admit. "Real people" go on dating adventures with other "real people" and we watch. About five minutes into the first episode, though, I realized one guy looked familiar.
Alex, it turned out, wasn't a "real person," after all. Alex Stein is known as a reality TV show veteran, having appeared as himself on The Glass House, Sweet Home Alabama, and Worst Cooks in America. Apparently now "reality TV show star" is a resume credit...and something casting directors no doubt specialize in.
It didn't stop with Alex, though. Episode after episode, familiar faces popped up, many with existing IMDB profiles. In the finale of Online Dating Rituals of the American Male we saw Lydia, a long-haired, tattooed brunette who "cut her hair" prior to meeting the male star of the show. He was beyond perplexed that she'd cut all her beautiful hair off.
Every Big Brother fan on the planet watching the show was screaming, "That's Lydia from Big Brother!" Lydia Tavera always had short, blond hair. She's Lydia, people.
Is it reality TV when casting directors are out rounding up reality show stars to fill all these roles? If reality show casting is an actual process, is it really real at all? When did "reality TV star" become a lifelong career?
Do you watch reality TV? Does it seem real to you?
If you live in the Nashville area, come out for my first bookstore appearance! It's May 15 from 4pm-6pm at BookmanBookwoman in Hillsboro Village. Click on the image below for details.
But it's almost impossible to completely avoid reality TV, especially when you watch the show that specializes in making fun of it.
The Soup's coverage of one reality show prompted me to check it out.
It seemed like an intriguing premise, I'll admit. "Real people" go on dating adventures with other "real people" and we watch. About five minutes into the first episode, though, I realized one guy looked familiar.
Alex, it turned out, wasn't a "real person," after all. Alex Stein is known as a reality TV show veteran, having appeared as himself on The Glass House, Sweet Home Alabama, and Worst Cooks in America. Apparently now "reality TV show star" is a resume credit...and something casting directors no doubt specialize in.
It didn't stop with Alex, though. Episode after episode, familiar faces popped up, many with existing IMDB profiles. In the finale of Online Dating Rituals of the American Male we saw Lydia, a long-haired, tattooed brunette who "cut her hair" prior to meeting the male star of the show. He was beyond perplexed that she'd cut all her beautiful hair off.
Every Big Brother fan on the planet watching the show was screaming, "That's Lydia from Big Brother!" Lydia Tavera always had short, blond hair. She's Lydia, people.
Is it reality TV when casting directors are out rounding up reality show stars to fill all these roles? If reality show casting is an actual process, is it really real at all? When did "reality TV star" become a lifelong career?
Do you watch reality TV? Does it seem real to you?
If you live in the Nashville area, come out for my first bookstore appearance! It's May 15 from 4pm-6pm at BookmanBookwoman in Hillsboro Village. Click on the image below for details.
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