I'm excited to recommend these two new reality TV shows to you
Dear newsletter friends,
My favorite part of covering reality TV is finding a new show that is immediately engrossing. I can’t wait to watch more—and also to share and discuss it with you!
This week was one of those weeks when I reviewed two shows and just fell in love with them both immediately.
My highest recommendation goes to both:
Philly D.A., a thrilling, revealing look at an attempt to ‘destroy the system’ from within, and
Couples Therapy, which is is even more riveting and enlightening in season two
Also this week, I:
recapped Survivor’s first loved ones reward challenge, which involved IMing their family members on an iMac! I’d completely forgotten about this challenge, which really took me back to 2001. Catch up on my entire season-two rewatch here.
wrote about how TBS’s Wipeout, despite being a failure, is a ratings success. (And this is why it’s a failure.)
created this guide to the week’s premieres, which includes the new Chopped + marijuana show, and a bunch of Earth Day documentaries and specials, including Cher rescuing an elephant.
The Survivor community lost another castaway
Survivor Millennials vs. Gen X cast member Sunday Burquest died last Sunday. By all accounts, she was absolutely beloved by those who knew her.
Jeff Probst wrote on Instagram that “She radiated kindness and understanding to anyone lucky enough to be in her presence.”
Sunday is now the ninth Survivor alumnus to die, and the second this year, after Angie Jakusz died in January. While it’s somewhat morbid, I created a page to memorialize them:
Reality TV news
RuPaul’s Drag Race “contestants are spending anywhere from $4,000 on the low end to upwards of $20,000 on the higher end” just to compete on the show (Vice)
“Colton Underwood backlash brews over rumored Netflix series, with 20,000 opposing it” (LA Times)
Are You the One? “Contestant Gianna Hammer Claims Production ‘Drugged’ Her and Covered Up Sexual Assault” (Daily Beast)
⭐️ I recommend
This show, which just ended its first season and is free on truTV.com through this weekend
This show, which is even better in its second season
This show, which just started on PBS and is absolutely thrilling
This piece about The Real Housewives in which Brian Moylan asks, “does Bravo’s crown jewel attract grifters?”, and this piece, about “the ethical dilemma of loving the Bravo franchise”
That’s everything from me. I hope you have a happy, safe, and healthy weekend and week ahead.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 240, first sent April 23, 2021, and it may watch Couples Therapy season two twice.
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