The Moment of Truth

As most of us know, there is a strike going on in Hollywood. The Writer’s Guild of America has been on strike since November 5, 2007. Since that time Hollywood has been allowed to shoot the existing scripts but nothing new has been written. Many of TV’s popular series have run out of new episodes. Awards shows are being canceled or revamped due to no one being around to write the witty banter of the hosts and presenters. And we’re seeing a glut of reality television in prime time television.

I’m not one to complain. I truly enjoy reality television. Anyone that knows me or has read this blog with any regularity over the last 2+ years knows that. I’ve written about how much I enjoy these programs, particularly those that involve a competition. And you know that I have absolutely no success when it comes to predicting a winner. I’ve only ever gotten one prediction correct in all my years of watching this genre of programming.

Right now my TiVo is chock full of season passes for reality programs. And the series run the gamut in program concepts: CBS’ Survivor: Fans vs. Favorites, NBC’s American Gladiators, Biggest Loser: Couples, and Celebrity Apprentice, CW’s Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants, Fox’s American Idol, Bravo’s Project Runway, MTV’s Gauntlet 3, and Oxygen’s the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency. And soon to be added to my TiVo cues will be Big Brother 9, America’s Next Top Model Cycle 10, and Beauty and the Geek.

And for all of you other there wondering where I have the time to watch all of these programs – that’s the beauty for me about reality TV. I can turn it on, turn my attention to other tasks, and still know what is happening. Unlike an hour long drama that requires all of my attention, reality programs are good for entertainment but also allow for multitasking.

Anyway, the point of this post has to do with a program that I’ve watched the last two week’s on Fox called the Moment of Truth. It has to be the most uncomfortable and destructive hour on TV, and I hate to say it but if this is what networks are now turning to due to the lack of scripted programming then I beg of someone to please settle the writer’s strike.

The Moment of Truth was developed from a hit reality show in Columbia called Nothing But the Truth. In this program the contestants, prior to the show taping, are connected to a polygraph and asked 50 questions on a variety of topics, some of which are more personal than others. Then in front of the studio audience 21 of these questions are again asked to see if the person is truthful, with family and friends looking on.

In order to demonstrate how destructive this program can be, only needs only to look at the Colombian version which was ordered to be taken off of the air. A contestant admitted to hiring a hitman to kill her husband and won the equivalent of $25,000 American dollars for telling the truth. But the questions that have been posed have the potential to destroy marriages, family and working relationships, and to develop a general level of mistrust in the live of the contestants.

Here are some examples:

In the first episode the first contestant was a former college football player who was asked if he ever looked at his teammates in the showers, to which he said yes he had. His wife did not seem pleased by that. In addition he was employed as a personal trainer and was asked if he had ever touched a female client more than he was required to. He said no and the polygraph showed that to be a lie. The contestant lost the money that he had won up to that point, but what ramifications could this have with his job?

The second contestant had some embarrassing admissions, such as a former male model he did admit to stuffing his underwear for a photo shoot. But then the show took a nasty turn and got him to admit that he was a gambling addict, that he had lied to his girlfriend about how much money he had lost, that he had stolen money from a job and let it be blamed on a coworker, and that he believed he could not be trusted with his friends’ money. The only saving grace for this guy was when his son came out and asked if he had ever gambled away his college fun, to which he said no and that was the truth. But again, what kind of an effect is this going to have on this man’s relationships with his family and on his psyche?

I implore the people at Fox to please pull this program. I implore the writers and the producers to come to an agreement so that they can get back to work and programs like this one don’t make it to air.

But that’s not likely to happen. In its first airing The Moment of Truth had 23 million viewers – one of the top premieres of the 2007-2008 TV season. I guess the question now is what does this high audience turnout say about Americans as TV viewers?

So You Think You Can Dance-Season 3

I recently wrote about how I was a fan of Fox’s smash summer reality program So You Think You Can Dance. As it turns out, this season has not disappointed.

The second week of the finals just completed, and I definitely have two favorite couples. They wowed me the first week with original and beautifully choreographed routines. Fortunately the producers of the program have not asked You Tube to remove their dances, so I thought I’d share them in hopes to bring others to the audience of this interesting competition.

First up is Kameron and Lacey. Kameron is a hip/hop contemporary dancer while Lacey has expertise in West Coast Swing, and is the sister of last season’s grand champion Benji. In the first week they danced a sensual contemporary number, which truly showed how quickly they were able to develop chemistry between themselves.



My other favorites are Jesus and Sara. Jesus is a salsa and lyrical dancer while Sara is a b-girl. That’s what made this performance from week one so great. As a breakdancer Sara had never performed with a partner. This dance was categorized as pop jazz, which is a genre I had never heard of. This dance was quirky and a bit strange, but mesmerizing at the same time. This was nearly topped in week two when they danced the Paso Doble; Jesus was awesome and Sara showed how she could adapt to any style, while wearing high heel shoes for the first time.



If you haven’t taken the time to watch this show, I strongly suggest you should. At the very least set your TiVo for it. You won’t be sorry.

So You Think You Can Dance?

Yesterday marked the end of May Sweeps, which means today is the start of the summer television season.

Even though I leave today for the annual International Communication Association conference in San Francisco, I definitely have my TiVo set to record the premiere of a summer reality series. Now entering its third season, So You Think You Can Dance starts this evening showing some of its best and worst auditions.

Some may not think it a show worth checking out, but below are, in my opinion, the two best dances from last season. The first dance is contemporary (which is a style that, overall, I don’t quite understand) and the second is hip hop. Watch them and judge for yourself.

Interesting Counterprogramming or Ridiculous Concepts?

You’d have to be living under a rock or not watching a television to not know that reality programming over the past seven years has become a staple of the television schedule. In comparison to the typical sitcom or drama, a reality show (or even a game show) is relatively inexpensive to produce. Less writers, less talent, and less behind the scenes personnel needs to be paid in the production of a reality program. Plus these programs are interesting ways for networks to counterprogram against the sitcoms and dramas that appear on the other networks’ schedules during those time slots.

The television networks have recognized this and typically a day doesn’t go by where you don’t find a reality program somewhere on the prime time schedule. All of the big five broadcast networks have their hits that seem to return year after year to their schedule, often posting some of the best ratings that the network sees. ABC has Extreme Makeover Home Edition and Dancing with the Stars, CBS has Survivor and the Amazing Race, Fox has American Idol and Hell's Kitchen, and the CW has America’s Next Top Model and Beauty and the Geek. The NBC brass has gone so far as to recently announce that they plan to program much of the 8:00 hour in prime time with reality and game shows. While NBC has had modest hits with the Biggest Loser and the Apprentice, their biggest ratings have been coming with game shows such as Deal or No Deal and 1 vs. 100. (It’s also worth noting that cable networks aren’t exempt to these programming trends either.)

I must admit that the ideas behind reality programming fascinate me. Real people placed in contrived situations and watching their reactions is something that I watch with great interest. With the start of January many new reality programs are on the slate, and I plan to give each at least one viewing to see how entertaining it really is.

So far I’ve given NBC’s Grease You’re the One that Want and the Apprentice Los Angeles, the CW’s Beauty and the Geek, and CBS’s Armed and Famous a shot. Beauty and the Geek has been the best of the bunch, but over the past two seasons has been a quality performer. The Apprentice Los Angeles was interesting because it took and existing show’s formula and tweaked it just a bit. Grease You’re the One that I Want was definitely lacking, appearing as if they were trying to be American Idol for the Broadway audience. And last night I watched Armed and Famous, which looks like it is going to end up being Cops with celebrity police officers. (Am I the only one frightened by the idea of LaToya Jackson carrying a gun?)

Still to come are new seasons of American Idol, Survivor, and the Amazing Race. You can bet that I’ll be there to at the very least sample these programs.