Applebee's meltdown • Amazing Race crew screws a team? • Survivor 50 • more
Dear newsletter friends,
This week, I published two pieces about people whose behind-the-scenes work makes for excellent television.
First, I interviewed the person responsible for the set design for Top Chef Wisconsin and so, so many other shows, from The Voice to Holey Moley:
I wrote also wrote about—and briefly interviewed—a crew member from the first seasons of Survivor who’s gone on to redefine a genre of television:
And now, to the on-screen drama…
Survivor
News about Survivor season 50:
Survivor 46:
🌭 Recaps
Amazing Race
Top Chef Wisconsin
Recap: Coming later today!
Big Brother
Hamsterwatch recaps BBCAN12:
Episode 24: The tide has turned as BBCAN12’s endgame approaches
Episode 25: BBCAN ends on a veto cliffhanger after some premature bragging
Episode 26: A bitter betrayal battle
🔪 True crime
Depardieu detention, Antarctica a-holes, and Weinstein revelations
Who’ll take the Best Fact Crime crown at the 2024 Edgar Awards?
Listen to The Docket:
Lives Of Crime: Has anything changed in the last few decades, in the way “celebrity-crime” obits get written, or in how we think of them?
From Sarah D. Bunting:
Thanks to Tara Ariano for tipping me to this announcement from Lifetime:
Lifetime has officially announced its forthcoming docuseries on Nicole Brown Simpson, timed to the 30-year anniversary of her death. Titled The Life and Murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and billed as an explosive two-night event, the four-part series will premiere June 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
It's not that I won't watch/cover it and it's not that I don't think we should center Nicole (and Ron Goldman) in case coverage -- obviously. But between the timing of it and the superfluity of it as well (You're Wrong About, OJ: Made In America, Sheila Weller's book, I could go on), this feels a bit icky.
💬 Comments of the week
On this Amazing Race recap, Brekkie wrote:
Sounds more like they lost due to living up to the stereotype of Americans not being able to do roundabouts – with both contestants and crew messing that up in different ways.
On this Survivor news, Darrel wrote:
Fascinating! When given a choice of ‘nothing special’ or ‘a twist we’ve used nearly a dozen times now’, the crowd chooses the latter! Perhaps in the future he can get feedback on whether to use living contestants or dead ones, or whether they should televise the show or not.
🗞️ Reality TV news
From The Digest, reality blurred’s new front page mini-blog:
The very first Survivor player to have their torch snuffed by Jeff Probst, Sonja Christopher, died Friday at age 87.
Amazing Race 36 team contestant and firefighter Bizzy Smith, who competed with Sunny Pulver, told Us Weekly that "that Amazing Race physical saved my life." The exam contestants go through discovered lumps in her breast that turned out to be cancerous. After a double mastectomy, she's now cancer-free—and is now advocating "for breast cancer awareness for younger women because I was only 36 years old."
Dance Moms: The Reunion aired Wednesday on Lifetime, though not all the show's cast participated. Rob Owen has a fascinating story and series of interviews with wild details, from the fate of the Pennsylvania dance studio to the group text that one-time enemies Christi Lukasiak, Holly Hatcher-Frazier, Jill Vertes, Kelly Hyland, and Melissa Gison all share now.
I'm excited a new season of Couples Therapy is coming—it's amazing! But I am struggling to make sense of this part of the press release:
April 30,2024 – Paramount+ with SHOWTIME today announced that COUPLES THERAPY, the award-winning docuseries featuring acclaimed psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik as she guides couples through real-life therapy sessions, will return for a fourth season. Nine episodes will drop for binge-viewing on Friday, May 31 on streaming and on-demand for Paramount+ subscribers with the Paramount+ with SHOWTIME plan before episodes 401 and 402 debut on air on Sunday, June 2, at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT. Two back-to-back episodes will continue to air on Sundays at 10 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. ET/PT with episode 409 airing on Sunday, June 30, at 10 p.m. ET/PT.
I think it means that it will air on Showtime, which is now named "Paramount+ with Showtime" even though it's a channel, and stream on Paramount+ but only for those who also subscribe to Showtime.
"Paramount+ with SHOWTIME" = the stupidest fucking branding in an era of it.
🤩 I recommend
This special, now streaming free
This unhinged episode of Survivor
This profile of Padma Lakshmi
I hope you have a great rest of your week!
best,
Andy
🌄 This is issue 381 of reality blurred’s weekly newsletter, first sent on 3 May 2024, and it loves roundabouts!