Bachelor's host is out, for now; Real World's first cast is back, soon
Dear newsletter friends,
I start with that greeting every week because writing this feels like writing a note to a friend, even if I don’t know you personally. But I do know we share a love for this genre of television, and I’m so grateful that we’re able to connect in this way.
And I had several examples of that connection this week. For this week’s Ask Andy, I asked for help answering one question, and was so excited by people’s instant willingness to help—and by their impressive memory!
Meanwhile, an e-mail from a reader led me to ask a streaming service’s executives about what you’d noticed.
So, thanks for reading this, and connecting with me.
Before we get to this week’s news, and most importantly: For those of you in Texas, especially without water or power, we’re thinking of you, and hope this crisis abates soon. For those of you not in Texas who’d like to help, the Austin Statesman has a list of suggestions.
Chris Harrison leaves The Bachelor indefinitely, and other news
The big reality TV news was The Bachelor’s meltdown, led by Chris Harrison’s disastrous interview with Rachel Lindsay. This began with photos of a Bachelor contestant attending a racist event.
I summarized the events and wrote about all this: Chris Harrison’s indefinite exit from The Bachelor won’t fix the franchise’s racism
In other news:
The Real World season one reunion I told you about last month was officially announced, but it won’t be on MTV
A host and a reporter at Reply All, a nonfiction podcast that I’ve recommended many times, turned out to be guilty of the very thing that they were reporting on
Survivor
Survivor isn’t airing new episodes, but…
Survivor winner Wendell Holland is in a new competition that premiered this week and was hosted by Snooki
And I continued my re-watch of season two, and two firsts:
Tim Allen had a question for me
During a virtual TCA press conference for Tim Allen’s new History Channel reality competition Assembly Required, I had a question or three, and Tim Allen had a question for me.
The exchange is in the transcript I posted to Instagram:
Must-reads
This story from The Real World San Francisco, an excerpt I published from Amanda Ann Klein’s new book Millennials Killed the Video Star: MTV’s Transition to Reality Programming.
Daniel D'Addario on How American Idol Used Claudia Conway
Kevin Fallon on how Tamron Hall’s interview with “admitted sexual predator Sherry Pie became a meditation on scandal”
⭐️ Recommendations
This Netflix show, which is perfect and exactly what I needed right now
Tough As Nails, which is just great
Fast Foodies, which I’ve been really enjoying
That’s everything I have for you this week. Enjoy your weekend, and thanks for being a subscriber to this newsletter and a fan of reality TV!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 231, first sent Feb. 19, 2021, and it’s tired of shows moving to pay streaming services but will definitely pay to watch the season-one cast of The Real World back again.
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📷 Photo of a path through snow in Ontario, Canada, by Jaime Dantas