July 2007 News Archive (Page 2)

When racing around the world, time is a factor. Same goes for when airing a show about a race around the world.

Hence, The Amazing Race's twelfth season will run two episodes shorter and drop the course's non-elimination Pit Stops in an effort to "create more excitement," executive producer Jonathan Littman told reporters at the Television Critics Association summer press tour last Friday, according to the Orlando Sentinel and Reality TV World.

Non-elimination Pit Stops have been part of The Amazing Race since the reality competition series first premiered in Fall 2001. For the show's first two seasons, clues given to teams before each Pit Stop ended with the statement "The last team to arrive will be eliminated" - except in non-elimination legs, which made it easy for teams (and home viewers) to distinguish when they were coming up.

The non-elimination pocess got a little trickier for The Amazing Race's next two editions, as clues preceding the Pit Stop initially featured the same "will be" phrasing until midway through the competition, after which "The last team to arrive may be eliminated" clues were substituted to create some uncertainty as to whether the next location was in fact a non-elimination Pit Stop.

Up until The Amazing Race's fourth season, teams that finished last at non-elimination Pit Stops were not penalized.

The Amazing Race's fifth season was the first to use the phrase "The last team to arrive may be eliminated" for every leg except the first - a format that has since been used up through The Amazing Race: All-Stars, the eleventh edition that aired this past spring.

Starting with The Amazing Race 10, teams arriving last at a non-elimination leg kept their clothes and money, and were instead "marked for elimination," which meant they had to arrive at the next Pit Stop in first. If they failed to do so, they'd incur a 30-minute penalty, allowing other teams to check-in before them and possibly spelling the end to their game.

Meanwhile, Littman is excited about the next edition.

"The countries are very exotic," he said. "We're going to a couple of places that I don't even know where they are on the map. I've had to go look them up... This is a tough group [of teams]. They'll be younger. We still have a good balance."

Exile Island has been a Survivor staple since it was first introduced in Survivor: Panama, the long-running reality show's twelfth edition. However, the concept has been banished from Survivor: China, the still-filming fifteenth Survivor edition that CBS will air this fall.

"We got rid of Exile Island [for Survivor: China]," Survivor executive producer Mark Burnett told reporters attending the Television Critics Association's summer press tour and Reality TV World reported today.

While Exile Island may not be returning as a roadblock for Survivor: China's castaways, Burnett said the show's hidden Immunity Idol will return.

First introduced during Survivor: Guatemala, the hidden Immunity Idol has been tied to Exile Island since Survivor: Panama, which aired in Spring 2006. In both Survivor: Panama and Survivor: Cook Islands, which aired in Fall 2006, the hidden Immunity Idol could be found somewhere on Exile Island and only those banished there were provided clues to its whereabouts.

While two hidden Immunity Idols were present for Survivor: Fiji, neither was actually located on Exile Island - forcing the exlied castaways that received clues about the hidden Idols' locations to search for for them back at their camps without tipping off their fellow castaways.

"We still have a hidden Immunity Idol but it is right under [the castaways] noses," he said, hinting at a twist to come.

In addition to Exile Island's absence and the continuation of hiding an Immunity Idol, Burnett also revealed that Survivor: China will - for the first time since Survivor: Panama and only the second time in Survivor's last eight seasons - feature only 16 castaways.

Survivor: All-Stars, Vanuatu, and Guatemala each featured 18 castaways, while Palau and Cook Islands had 20. Fiji was also originally supposed to have 20 but ended up with only 19 when Melissa McNulty had to leave the game a few hours after filming began due to panic attacks she was suffering from.

The following is an editorial from the A.V. Club, dissecting a pair of new reality shows...

As a rule, I'm not fond of reality TV, but that rule has been shattered in recent years by shows about faded celebrities on the edge. There's pure schadenfreude involved in watching Danny Bonaduce (the world's first post-reality star, in my opinion) get fired up on 'roids and drink himself silly; and an equal amount of joy and pain is involved when Tim Sizemore falls out of his car.

Now, VH1 has done it again, though to a slightly less-depressing degree. Last Sunday saw the first episodes of Scott Baio Is 45… And Single and Rock Of Love, a Flavor Of Love knockoff starring Bret Michaels of Poison.

Both shows, which air Sundays (and will probably re-run every five seconds), are about marginally talented dudes who got lots of, umm, poontang, in their heydays, but who are now looking for a "meaningful relationship." In other words, pathetic man-children crybabies who somehow still make enough money this long after the fact to shame God. You get to laugh at them, America - that's your prize.

The clear winner in the pain/pleasure game is Scott Baio. Confused by the fact that he always "runs into a wall" in relationships - clearly when he tires of fucking whoever he's fucking - Baio hires a life coach to help him sort his shit out. She suggests that he not have sex with anyone - including his current long-term girlfriend - for two months, and that he revisit old lovers to find out where he went wrong.

In the first episode, Baio lunches with Erin Moran - that'd be Joanie Cunningham - with whom he lost his virginity. I'll let you watch to really experience the moist, ugly patheticness. (Fun fact: Hearing the word "Chachi" sends Baio into a rage.)

But far more exciting than Joanie - or even Chachi himself 0 is Baio's ridiculous Entourage-style posse, including Jason Hervey, a.k.a. the big brother from The Wonder Years, who now chomps on cigars and looks like a choad. But the star of Scott Baio, for my money (and based only on the first episode), is his friend Johnny V. He doesn't want Baio to stop getting laid, because that means he won't get Baio's sloppy seconds. This is almost, but not quite explicitly, stated.

Johnny - mind you, this is based on just one episode - might prove the best thing about the show. And after the show is over (especially if Baio gets his s-it sorted out), I predict Johnny V. will make headlines for killing a hooker. (This may be an exaggeration, but only slight.) In any case, watch this. It's as unnerving as a Michael Haneke movie.

Rock Of Love might lose its luster quickly, but the first episode was ridiculously fun. The premise: 25 slutty rocker chicks compete for the affection of slutty rocker dude Bret Michaels. He thinks they're all amazingly beautiful. (They are most assuredly not.) The first episode is overrun by a drunk Chicago woman who doesn't make the first cut, but begs her way back into the house anyway. She slurs, she insults, she's gross… And do you think she makes it to the next round? She does.

Here's how you know who made it: Bret places an all-access laminate around a girl's neck and says, "Will you stay in this house and rock my world?" What more do you need to know? The second episodes of both shows air this weekend on VH1, as do reruns of the first. Soak it in.

With yet another reality show coming out, Gordon Ramsay is in hot demand. TV Guide recently caught up with the celebrity chef...

TV Guide: You've developed something of a coarse reputation on Hell's Kitchen. Are you OK with that?
Gordon Ramsay: When I'm in the kitchen, and the s--t is hitting the fan, there are two ways you can handle things: my way or the soft way. To me, it's far better to reprimand the cook and say, "Wake up and get to it or you'll be flipping f--king burgers for a f--king living!" I mean, can you imagine trying to be polite in such a setting?

TV Guide: You're a dad of four kids. Are you concerned that they'll follow your cursing proficiency?
Ramsay: Well, my wife and I have four children with immaculate manners, and I certainly don't want them thinking they can go around saying whatever they want, whenever they want. That said, they need to know that there's a right place and a wrong place to speak that way. I think I do it in the right place.

TV Guide: In Kitchen Nightmares, your fall Fox show that's based on the U.K. series, you whip failing restaurants into shape. What did you find?
Ramsay: I thought I found some sh--holes in Britain, but nothing will ever compare to the places I encountered in the States. I can't wait for the viewers to have access to what I encountered. What dumbfounded me was the way some of the chefs take advantage of the customers.

TV Guide: You take it personally, don't you?
Ramsay: I can't help it. Food is personal to me. I was in Las Vegas earlier this year and I had an executive chef who had never touched a stove in his life. He looked like a pig, he smelled like a pig. He actually tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Tell me the truth â€" you're not a chef, you're an actor. Right?" I said, "Do me a favor, f--k off." A lot of these guys forget that they're here for the customers, not to feed their egos.

TV Guide: Are we going to see a kinder, gentler you on the American version of Kitchen Nightmares?
Ramsay: Nicer? I don't think so. I am who I am. Truth is, I don't even watch the shows, because I don't want to see myself and say, "Man, I need Botox" or "Those jeans look terrible" or "My teeth need to be whitened."

TV Guide: You've completed 10 marathons. Does running help you as a chef?
Ramsay: I run about 30 miles per week, and it lifts a great deal of stress. Pressure is healthy, and enough pressure can actually make a good chef. But being a chef is a very physical job that's both mentally and physically draining. You have to keep yourself in shape to maintain.

TV Guide: Are you concerned about what people write about you online? You're described in 8,000 horrible ways.
Ramsay: I never surf the 'Net, like some lazy ass with nothing better to do. I don't give two f--ks what people are writing about me. My critics are my customers. I've never Googled myself, and….

TV Guide: Really? Never?
Ramsay: Never. I wake up in the morning, take a run and work my ass off. I don't wanna listen to some vegetarian in Texas or Minnesota who can't stand the way I talk to my staff.

TV Guide: You're driving down a highway and you're hungry. You see a McDonald's on the side of the road. Do you stop for a Big Mac?
Ramsay: My friend, I'd rather eat a f--king cow-pie sandwich.

Fourteen reality television shows received a total of 39 nominations in this week's announcement of the 59th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards nominees - with the number of shows and the amount of total nominations representing the highest ever for both.

Leading the 2006-2007 reality TV Emmy Awards nomination field - and knocking Fox's American Idol from the perch it held last year - is ABC's Dancing with the Stars.

Dancing with the Stars received eight nominations from the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the same number Idol received last year.

It received six nominations in its first primetime season last year and won two. While Idol has been nominated a whopping 29 times since it was first eligible in 2003 - including the seven it received this year - the Fox mega-hit does not yet have a single Emmy Award win to its credit.

CBS' The Amazing Race, the most successful reality show at the Emmys with seven statuettes (including three last year), received five nominations, placing it second behind Dancing with the Stars and Idol. Most notably, The Amazing Race was once again nominated in the Outstanding Reality-competition Program category, which it has won ever since the Academy first created the Emmy Awards category four years ago.

Discovery Channel's Deadliest Catch received four nominations in its second year of eligibility - up from the three it received last year - followed by Bravo's Project Runway, which received three nods for the second year in a row in its third year of eligibility.

ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (which has won the Outstanding Reality Program award two years in a row and is nominated in the category again this year) received two nominations - as did Fox's So You Think You Can Dance and Bravo's Top Chef, marking the first time that either of the second-year eligible shows received any nominations.

Rounding out the nominations with one apiece are Discovery Channel's Dirty Jobs; Fox's Hell's Kitchen; A&E Network's Intervention; Bravo's Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List; Fox's On the Lot; and CBS' Survivor.

ABC has approved a second song-and-dance reality show, with Dancing with the Stars' critics extraordinaire Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba signing on to appear.

Rather than searching for the best happy-footed celeb, however, the competition will seek to assemble a musical troupe of talented unknowns, E! Online reports.

Dance X will, like most reality shows to have hit U.S. shores in recent years, be based on a same named Brtish reality-competition. This time around, however, the show from which they're borrowing is relatively unproven in terms of longevity, having only launched on the U.K. airwaves last month.

However, what the original version lacks in duration, it more than makes up for in viewing figures. The Brit hit, which also stars Tonioli, has built up an audience of more than five million since its premiere just a few weeks ago.

While Dance X will seek out the best dancers, whose rhythm will be tested on everything from breakdancing to disco, would-be contest winners must also be able to carry a tune, with the show's end game focused on building a viable song-and-dance troupe.

As for Tonioli and Inaba, the camera-ready duo won't act as judges, but rather as coach-choreographers, with each selecting a group of contestants for their own dance teams and becoming responsible for teaching them new routines to perform every week.

As reality-competition tradition dictates, at the end of each performance show, viewers will be able to vote for which team they believe out-pranced the other and the burden then falls to the teammates of the losing ensemble to vote out one of their own.

ABC has ordered at least six episodes of the series, which is expected to debut in January, between seasons of Dancing with the Stars.

CBS has announced that Survivor: China - the fifteenth edition of its long-running reality competition series - will premiere on Thursday, September 20 at 8PM ET/PT.

Survivor: China will mark the first time a major American television program will film an entire season on location "in the heart of China," which is how host Jeff Probst termed the show's location when CBS formally announced the title of Survivor's fifteenth installment at the conclusion of Survivor: Fiji's May finale.

"This fall, Survivor leaves the tropical islands for something completely different... China, where the modern world meshes with 5,000 years of colorful history," Probst teased in the preview. "The adventure will play out in the shadows of a sacred mountain on the shores of a remote lake in the land known for tigers, giant pandas, snow leopards and ancient tradition."

Probst had previously disclosed China as Survivor's next location when he appeared as a guest co-host on CBS' Live with Regis and Kelly in April.

Neither Probst or CBS have formally revealed any additional details about the show's production location, however according to online reports, Survivor: China began filming at Zhelin Lake, a man-made reservoir that was formed by Asia's largest earthen embarkment dam, in late June.

CBS has also not made released any additional details of Survivor: China's cast or what twists are in-store for them, including whether the season will feature the Exile Island concept that has become a Survivor staple since it twelfth season introduction.

Move over, Boy Shakira.

Paul Potts is to perform on the season finale of America's Got Talent next month.

The Britain's Got Talent champion, who releases his debut album One Chance this week, will sing in front of judges Piers Morgan, Sharon Osbourne and David Hasselhoff on the US version of the hit TV talent hunt.

His wife Julie-Ann has been given a three-month sabbatical from her job in insurance to allow her to accompany him on the trip.

An insider said: "Paul really wanted her by his side to experience all of this - especially while everything is so new. She's been able to live through every moment with him.

"Paul has only had chance to return home once for a few hours since winning Britain's Got Talent as he's been so busy recording the album, so he's delighted Julie-Ann has been able to travel with him."

First, Larissa Aurora.

Now, Shay. Or Buckeey. Or whatever you wish to call this Flavor of Love Girl.

Following in the footsteps of a nearly nude Larissa Aurora, Shay is also releasing a racy calendar. Here is a look at it:

Snoop Dogg's home and work lives will be on display in a new reality series, E! Entertainment Television said Friday.

The series, scheduled to debut in late 2007 and described by the cable channel as "hilarious and heartwarming," will show the hip-hop heavyweight trying to balance his different worlds.

"The juggling act that Snoop faces day-in, day-out between career and family is certain to resonate with our viewers," said Ted Harbert, president and CEO of Comcast Entertainment Group, which operates the E! channel.

The rapper, whose real name is Cordozar Calvin Broadus Jr., has three children, is active in community causes and is involved in a youth football league he founded.

He's also had court-ordered obligations on his plate. In April, he was sentenced to five years' probation and 800 hours of community service after he pleaded no contest to felony gun and drug charges. The charges followed his arrest last year at an airport in Burbank for investigation of transporting marijuana. Police later found a gun at his home.

Also recently, in 2006 Snoop Dogg and five other men were arrested on charges of violent disorder and starting a brawl when some in his party were denied entry to British Airways' first-class lounge at Heathrow Airport.