A new year = new reality TV recommendations for you. Plus: Betty White on Match Game, and Amazing Race's unusual start
Dear newsletter friends,
Happy new year! I hope you’ve had a wonderful start to the new year, and that this is a wonderful year for us all.
I think my favorite week of the year is the one between Christmas and New Year’s: post-holiday rush, very few TV show premieres, and a general slowing down, at least in my lines of work. I would like at least three more of those weeks, please!
All of these reality TV shows premiered this week: I counted 28 reality TV shows and/or new seasons in the last three days alone, and almost 100 this month! 😱
And then there are all these documentaries, too.
That’s a lot to potentially watch, but I have a few recommendations for you, so let’s get to to those.
Recaps and reviews
This week, I reviewed and/or recapped:
Amazing Race 33, and its very unusual start. This season had a 1.5 year pause that resulted in many changes, which we’ll see between the next two episodes.
Next Level Chef: Gordon Ramsay’s new Fox show with its three kitchens and missed opportunities
Reality TV news
Why are there 16 missing American Idol seasons? I investigated this sudden disappearance, which means I offer you a bit of a rant wrapped in a pseudo-mystery!
In other news:
Joe Gatto is leaving Impractical Jokers, citing a divorce. While the show will continue, some of his episodes have been removed.
On New Year’s Eve, the world lost Betty White, but her work—including in unscripted TV—lives on. Game Show Network is airing an eight-hour marathon of her Match Game episodes this Saturday at 9 a.m. ET.
DIY Network became Magnolia Network yesterday, and now most of the shows that premiered on Discovery+ last year will be on cable
🤩 I recommend
Coming up next week: Reviews of Guy Fieri’s new show, which is kind of a trainwreck, and the new season of Cheer; plus another Amazing Race recap, as my plan is to do that all season.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 272, first sent Jan. 7, 2022, and it’s ready for a fantastic year.
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