Is America really this shallow? A whole new round of brand new reality shows. Are we really watching that much reality tv? I say turn it off - listen to music - read a book. Dance Machine: Each episode features six real people from all walks of life who will face off against each other in a series of one-on-one dance-offs to the most popular songs of all time. Imagine a 70-year-old grandmother in a dance-off with a 25-year-old gravedigger to the tune of Michael Jackson's "Thriller." Throughout the night contestants will be eliminated by voters in the studio audience. By the end of the evening, just two finalists will be left to challenge each other for the honor of being crowned that night's "Dance Machine" -- and to take home the $100,000 cash prize. Popular E! News correspondent Jason Kennedy is host. I Survived a Japanese Game Show: This unscripted reality/game show takes an eye-opening, behind-the-scenes look at 10 Americans - many of whom have never traveled outside the United States -- who are whisked away to Japan and compete in the ultimate Japanese game show...with hilarious results. The final winner will take home $250,000. Guiding the American players through their stay in Japan will be Host/Interpreter Tony Sano (Touch Wood, Beating Vegas), an American actor who is fluent in Japanese; a house mother and resident pot stirrer, Mamasan; and the witty Game Show Host Rome Kanda (Pink Panther, Saturday Night Live), who leads the contestants through all of the zany challenges. Some of the games/challenges will include -- WHY IS THIS FOOD SO HARD TO EAT: Why? Because the food is attached to the head of one teammate who must run in place on a fast-moving treadmill, while the other teammate leans over a platform trying to eat from the moving dish. CRAZY CRANE FINDS FLUFFY BEAR: This takes the American arcade game to the next level as blindfolded teammates must operate a moving crane while another teammate precariously dangles trying to collect as many stuffed animals as they can. High School Musical - Get in the Picture: This summer's reality show, Disney's "High School Musical: Get in the Picture," will award one prize winner the chance of a lifetime -- he or she will literally "get in the picture" when that person appears in a music video shown in the end credits of the feature film, Disney's "High School Musical 3: Senior Year," opening this fall. Hosted by Nick Lachey, the television series debuts on ABC on Sunday, July 20 (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) and runs Sundays and Mondays (8:00-9:00 p.m., ET) for three weeks, then continues Mondays at 8:00 p.m., ET through mid-September. During the series, finalists will ultimately participate in a summer music program to hone their skills, and one talented newcomer will become a part of "High School Musical" history. Wanna Bet?: Wanna Bet? is a weekly, one-hour primetime event in which celebrities wager on stunt-performing contestants. The celebrities judge the performers and have the chance to earn big money for the charity of their choice by betting on the success or failure of the of the wildest stunts, tricks and mental challenges that ordinary Americans -- housewives, truck drivers, dentists -- can dream up and perform in front of a studio audience. Wanna Bet? premieres MONDAY, JULY 21 (9:00-10:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network. Hosted by British comedy sensations Ant and Dec, Wanna Bet features celebrity contestant/judges including Sherri Shepherd (ABC's The View), Tom Bergeron (ABC's Dancing with the Stars, America's Funniest Home Videos), Scott Hamilton, Bill Engvall, Jerry Rice, Drew Lachey (winner of ABC's Dancing with the Stars) and Corbin Bernson. Stunts include: Skiing over 2000 fresh eggs without breaking them, solving a Rubik's Cube blindfolded and submerged under water in under 20 seconds, memorizing 32 audience members' first and last names in under 60 seconds, and A 20-piece marching band piling into a small van while playing When the Saints Go Marching In. Wipeout: Human cannonballs! Human pinballs! Crashes, smashes and mud splashes! Twenty-four thrill-seekers will compete in the world's largest extreme obstacle course designed to provide the most spills, face plants and wipeouts ever seen on television, in Wipeout, a painfully funny new reality series premiering Tuesday, June 24 8/7c on the ABC Television Network. Each week 24 daring new contestants of all ages, shapes and sizes will go head to head through four rounds of grueling and physically demanding but wildly hilarious obstacle courses to win the title of "Wipeout Champion" and the grand prize of $50,000. The contestants and the courses change every week, with over-the-top obstacles including "Dizzy Dummy" the "Dirty Balls" and "The Dreadmill" -- which will have contestants jumping hurdles on a 40-foot long treadmill at warp speed. In the end, only one contestant will win, while everyone else will Wipeout! Wipeout is hosted by John Henson (E! Entertainment's Talk Soup) and John Anderson (ESPN's SportsCenter). Jill Wagner is co-host. The above are all premiering this summer on ABC. And then comes my non-favorite of all from Fox. The Search for the Next Elvira: Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, is on the lookout for a new minion to join her forbidden (and sexy) army of the night! The Search for the Next Elvira, a Fox Reality Channel Original series, follows Elvira as she goes through a gaggle of wannabes to find someone who can withstand the beehive hair-do and the buxom bosoms to be her apprentice. The search is on! Thoughts?
I disagree. The best reality show is NFL football, followed by MLB games and NBA basketball. Everything else is blah.
See - this is why I can't wait for football - with all the garbage that's on tv these days. I do like Survivor, though.
Can't wait for this show - my all time favorite. The only season I didn't like is when they did the family race. Coincidentally, that almost got the show canceled because that season had the lowest ratings of all.
i'm 100% with you mary. nothing is worse than damn reality shows.... and for some reason this country is obsessed with them. are our lives so vacant that we have to watch other people's lives on tv to the extent that we are? ugh. i wish i had a time machine - i'd go back in time and assassinate the person who first thought-up reality shows.
Well, unfortunately, as long as people keep watching them, they're no-brainers for the networks to run, because production costs are SO much lower than regular television.
What, the reality shows Derek? Thank goodness the strike ended then! BTW - I see Lost is on for 2 hours tonight. Is it the season finale? I really don't watch it. Thanks.
Yup. Actually, the previous writer's strike was one of the main impetuses for the development of Survivor.
damn unions and their strikes... i kinda wish that the show "survivor" lived up to its name.... (i.e. all the contestants except for the final one DIE). if there were more deaths in SURVIVOR, then less people would try out for it, they would have no contestants, and then they couldn't produce it anymore. take those people that would have auditioned for SURVIVOR and instead create a huge search team... then take that search team and send them out to find the LOST people. then the LOST people get found, and that show doesn't have to be made anymore. then we solve 2 problems!
I still fall back on Friends, King of Queens and Everybody Loves Raymond when there is a lack of interesting sports .
I survived a Japanese Game Show For anyone who cares, I watched the first two episodes of the show and: 1) There is no show in Japan called "Maji De!" 2) The show is actually taped here in Japan and the places they are going/things they are doing are real 3) There really are whacked games on some Japanese games shows, but usually actors are playing the games, not regular people off the street (less chance of lawsuits that way). I've actually seen similar games on other, real Japanese TV shows. 4) It would've been better if they actually had a Japanese TV host instead of a US guy playing a Japanese TV host. 5) The crowd is a bit more "involved" than most Japanese gameshow audiences 6) It's too "over the top" and will probably never be shown in the Japanese market
To answer your question, I don't watch any reality shows unless you count "Ghost Hunters" as one. I loathe reality shows. Nothing better to do then sit at home watching other total strangers live their lives? I feel sorry for the folks who watch that type of bull****
