Love is Blind secrets! Amazing Race (stops) filming! Supernanny's advice! And much more
Dear newsletter friends,
Everyone is talking about Love is Blind, and for good reason: it’s addictive and compulsively watchable. Watching the finale, I may have screamed at the TV more than once. (Here’s my review of Love is Blind.)
I also think there’s another reason why everyone was talking about the show yesterday: Netflix, the service that got us used to binge-watching, basically treated the finale as an episode of television, making everyone wait one week to see what happened after the cliffhanger.
I hope they learn from this and start giving us some reality TV shows weekly. Just let us watch together, and have time to talk about an episode before racing to the next one. I love instant gratification! But I also love anticipation.
After watching Love is Blind, I had questions, so I talked to its creator, Kinetic Content’s Chris Coelen.
Read my questions and his answers, which have a lot of behind-the-scenes insight (for example: Did you know the couples couldn’t hear each other through the wall?!).
That story includes finale spoilers, including which Love is Blind couples are still together today—which, by the way, is 1.5 years since the show filmed.
Also this week, I got behind-the-scenes insight into two other reality shows:
Jo Frost on how Supernanny has changed, and creating ‘compassion and more empathy’ for families. We talked about how easy it is to judge the bad parenting and/or obnoxious kids on the show, and also what producers do to protect those kids.
ABC’s Great American Baking Show: who producers want to cast, and how it’s filmed. This story includes a look at how the very different production schedule for the American version is handled. And if you want to apply for the show, the deadline is today!
Also this week, there was some big reality TV news:
The Amazing Race 33 is now filming, and one team is a Love Island couple. OR NOT: Right as I was about to send this, I saw the news that the show has suspended production because of coronavirus fears. I’ll have a story up here about that soon.
The Bachelor is casting a 65+ seniors edition, which prompted me to think about why this spin-off is happening while the main shows still won’t cast people of color or queer people.
Late last week, we learned that the much-anticipated Friends reunion will actually be unscripted. Wait, what?!
Another classic series is being rebooted: Monster Garage is returning with Jesse James, and the most interesting part of the story to me is what he said one year ago about the Discovery Channel, which is the network that’s bringing the show back.
The big question going into this week’s Survivor: Winners at War is one I addressed in my recap: Did Survivor’s winners finally target one of the ‘power trio’?
Finally for this robust week, RuPaul’s Drag Race returns tonight (on VH1, before moving to Showtime next season), and that’s just one of the many reality TV premieres this week.
Thanks for reading this, clicking links, and reading reality blurred!
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I hope you have a great weekend—and especially enjoy your Saturday, which is like bonus day, since it’s Feb. 29 and we only get that once every four years.
best,
Andy
🌄 This is Reality in Focus issue 183, first sent 28 February 2020, and it’s grateful that its childhood tantrums weren’t broadcast to the world.
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📷 Photo of snowy trees by Daniel J. Schwarz