Claim to Fame answers • new Netflix baking show • Below Deck • Watergate @ 50
Dear newsletter friends,
Before I forget as I did in our last issue: I was on the podcast Extra Hot Great last week discussing Wayne Brady’s show and other fun subjects— like my fascination with Survivor aquadumps. 💩
Apologies for starting with poop. On to bulges.
This week, I’ve been continuing to enjoy the Olympics, and not just for the wardrobe and hilarious headlines.
Peacock’s coverage has just been fantastic all around, from the live sports to the celebrity stuff.
If I’m watching during the day, though, I turn on the live and incredible Gold Zone.
It’s like NFL Red Zone, just covering three or four Olympic sports at once. That’s perfect for my attention span and desire to see spectacular moments.
I wrote about my love for it—and why we need an Olympic Gold Zone for reality TV.
Looking forward to watching more climbing, breaking, relaying, and more this weekend, and I’ll genuinely miss these Olympics when they’re over, which is not something I said the last few Olympics.
🤔 Claim to Fame
I recapped the latest, wild episode:
I interviewed one of the show’s executive producers, who answered all my burning questions:
And I have more from my interview with Kinetic’s Eric Detwiler next week!
🥧 A recap and a review
I reviewed:
Netflix’s new Blue Ribbon Baking Championship, the newest Bake-Off-style show, starring Sandra Lee and Jason Biggs
I recapped:
Below Deck Med: Joe’s jingle jangles stews awake as Aesha devises a plan
🔪 True crime
For the 50th anniversary of Watergate:
A review of Tricky Dick, a documentary now on Max
🎧 Listen to The Docket:
Fake around and find out: Sarah’s recommended reads and watches in the forgeries subgenre, including bad paper, art “reproductions,” and fugazi whiskey.
True-crime news from Sarah D. Bunting:
Wondery's Dr. Death podcast has announced a live tour starting this November. Per the PR email, the event "dives into the unsettling true stories of medical malpractice and the unregulated treatments brought to light by the acclaimed Dr. Death podcast," with "expert speakers and interactive discussions," including Dr. Death host Laura Beil, Suspect creator Matthew Shaer, and others. More info at the link.
💬 Comments of the week
So much great discussion on so many stories. Here are a few of those comments, ones that made laugh, think, or both:
On this Below Deck recap, ZZZ wrote of Ellie:
You KNOW when she gets home she'll be telling people she has guys that write songs about her! Leaving out the unflattering details of course.
On the reality TV premiere guide, Chuck wrote:
Jason Biggs and Sandra Lee??? Good golly this sounds like a train wreck waiting to happen… I have to watch it. I don’t trust Sandra Lee to pass judgement on chewing gum.
🗞️ Reality TV news
From The Digest, reality blurred’s front page mini-blog:
"Why the reality TV bubble finally burst" is part of the L.A. Times’ headline about the unscripted TV industry, which has been suffering alongside scripted TV since the strikes.
Christi Carras reports that "reality TV production in the Greater Los Angeles area plummeted by 57% compared with the same period last year and 50% compared with the five-year average," and notes that some productions and jobs have moved overseas.
The real reason, though, is that there are fewer companies (thanks to disastrous mergers) while "studios are slashing their production slates and budgets." More money for the rich people, fewer jobs and reality TV for the rest of us.
Amazon's Are You Smarter Than A Celebrity? will arrive Oct. 16, and I missed the twist when it was first announced: Instead of a contestant competing against celebrities, contestants will use them for help.
Besides the fact that the title now makes no sense, were celebrity egos so fragile that no one would agree to compete against a normie? Were the fifth graders from the original less terrified of losing?
NBC's Deal or No Deal Island is jumping on the lo-fi music trend—which I had to have explained to me—by releasing a 44-minute YouTube video of b-roll from the island, including sloths.
The video is accompanied by a soundtrack that producers Endemol Shine North America describe as "an ambient audiovisual experience comprising twelve original Lo-Fi Amapiano tracks blended with elements of Afropop, Chill, and Trip, influenced by the adventure-packed reimagination of beloved game show."
🤩 I recommend
Netflix’s Blue Ribbon Baking Championship, for a quick, fairly fun eight-episode watch
Dawn Chorus, a website where you select a location, and listen to its chorus of birds in the morning 🌅🐦⬛
That’s everything I have for you this sweltering August Friday. Happy Olympics- and reality TV-watching this weekend and beyond!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 392 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 9 August 2024, and it never tires of pole jokes