Reality Blurred

There's another major change coming to So You Think You Can Dance this summer, besides its new once-a-week schedule and longer season: there will be two winners, one male and one female. "Girls dance totally differently than guys," Nigel told TVLine, which says that Nigel was "pointing out the apples-vs.-oranges vibe that's pervaded most SYTYCD finales. By naming a male winner and a female winner in Season 9, Lythgoe hopes to avoid that problem." What... keep reading »

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After a ridiculously fast season, six hours over four weeks, Whale Wars: Viking Shores concludes tonight with two back-to-back episodes, having taken us into the minds of Sea Shepherd's activists to find its drama. (Alas, Sea Shepherd founder and captain Paul Watson won't be able to watch, as he's in a German jail facing extradition to Costa Rica.) Animal Planet's spin-off of one of its most-popular series has been fascinating, but it's not at all... keep reading »

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America's Next Top Model has named its new judging panel, but those judges won't have all the say: viewers will be able to vote each week. Following the firing of the judges, the new panel will consist of Tyra Banks, Kelly Cutrone, and "international male model" Rob Evans; stylist Johnny Wujek will be the new mentor, who the show is calling a "creative consultant." As to voting, the show won't air live when it moves... keep reading »

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America's Next Top Model is being moved to Friday nights after 16 seasons on Wednesdays. The CW has also fired the show's panel of judges: Nigel Barker, Jay Manuel, and J. Alexander. The CW has themed each night of its 2012-2013 schedule, and says in its press release that "Fridays are filled with fierce females," as the show will be paired with Nikita, starring Maggie Q. Top Model has aired on Wednesdays since its third... keep reading »

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Swamp People star Mitchell Guist died Monday of natural causes, according to an autopsy. He'll be buried Saturday, which would have been his 48th birthday, and fans are invited. The Baton Rouge Advocate reports that "Ascension Parish Sheriff Jeff Wiley said the parish coroner, Dr. John Fraiche, determined from preliminary autopsy findings that the star of the popular reality television show died of natural causes. Guist, who appeared in segments of the series with his... keep reading »

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Jennifer Lopez appears to be quitting American Idol after two seasons judging and less than two years since the drama of her hiring unfolded over the summer. Yesterday, she laid the groundwork for exiting by telling Ellen DeGeneres on her talk show, "I don't know. I enjoy it, I really do enjoy it. I've done it--now this is my second year. I don't know; I don't know if I can go for a third year.... keep reading »

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Survivor spoiler Russell Hantz suggested last night that he's training for The Amazing Race with Big Brother star "Evel Dick" Donato. This is, we hope and pray to whatever gods we can find to pray to, a terrible joke, although it's not like The Amazing Race can get any worse. The two interact on- and offline (reality stars are inducted into an incestuous fraternity after their show airs), and Russell actually first mentioned this possibility... keep reading »

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Survivor One World's long, drawn-out finale was the show's lowest-rated finale ever, down 30 percent among people 18 to 49 from Survivor Redemption Island last spring, while the more lively reunion lost 29 percent of last season's viewers. Overall, an average of 10.22 million people watched, with 8.07 million sticking around for the finale, according to TV By the Numbers. Unsurprisingly, host Jeff Probst used the opportunity to acknowledge the problem in an interview with... keep reading »

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Reality TV is once again affecting the names of babies: An increasing number of people named their kids Mason and Briella, which the Social Security Administration attributes to the son of Keeping Up With the Kardashians' Kourtney Kardashian and a star of Jerseylicious. While Briella--like Jerseylicious's Briella Calafiore--is the 497th most-popular name, it moved up 394 positions; Mason is much more popular, having moved from 12 to 2, having jumped from 34 to 12 following... keep reading »

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Britney Spears and Demi Lovato are joining Simon Cowell and L.A. Reid to judge the second season of Fox's The X Factor. If you're still conscious after that sentence, you can see the new panel in a photo of the new judging panel Simon tweeted this afternoon. Fox said in a press release that "Spears is one of the most successful and celebrated entertainers in pop history," while "Lovato is an accomplished singer and actress... keep reading »

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Kim Spradlin is the winner of Survivor One World, and won $1.1 million for convincing both her peers and viewers that she played a pretty flawless social and physical game. Besides winning four of the five last immunity challenges, including the final two challenges, she managed to betray people and backstab them, and for some reason, they did not care. That's remarkable. Alas, the finale was not, and felt long and drawn out--more nature shots... keep reading »

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Survivor Philippines will be CBS show's 25th season, bringing back three men who "have paid the ultimate price, pulled from the game with one uestion in their hearts: what could have been," according to Jeff Probst's preview of the new season. While it showed images of Jonathan Penner, Michael Skupin, and Russell Swan, it did not explicitly name them as the returnees, and instead showed silhouettes. Probst said that "three castaways who were airlifted out... keep reading »

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NBC's decision to air two seasons of The Voice every year means that the show may need to cast new coaches for its spring edition, potentially replacing some or all of the current coaches: Christina Aguilera, Adam Levine, Cee Lo Green, and Blake Shelton. Having screwed up its second season, the show will also make other changes. NBC Entertainment President Bob Greenblatt told THR that "We love them all and they're all spectacular and different... keep reading »

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NBC has made some major and somewhat unexpected changes to its schedule next season, and several of those changes affect its biggest reality series, including The Voice and The Biggest Loser. A rundown of what the network announced today: Most significantly, The Voice will return in the fall and then air in the spring, using it to help launch a new drama and two new comedies. There will be changes to the format, possibly including... keep reading »

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In Bobcat Goldthwait's new movie God Bless America, watching a satirical version of My Super Sweet 16 sends the movie's star on a killing spree, during which he murders the spoiled teenager featured on the show and others. His targets range from an annoying person in a movie theater to those on a show that looks just like American Idol. The movie stars Joel Murray, who was recently in both Mad Men and Shameless. Obviously,... keep reading »

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ABC's Shark Tank has been renewed for a fourth season, and for the first time, it will have a full season of episodes. That's fantastic news for a series that has grown into a must-watch show. For The Daily Beast today, I wrote about why the show works so well, and interviewed three of the sharks, Kevin O'Leary, Robert Herjavec, and Lori Greiner. Among the revelations: Each presentation and deal can take 45 minutes to... keep reading »

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Survivor One World now belongs to women, but really it belongs to an original tribe's alliance of four that was formed--with one subsequent substitution--in the first few minutes of the game. That's an incredible achievement, and we head into the finale ready to see how that group will splinter, now that it will be forced to. That strategy and social game play is kind of interesting, but I'm not passionate about it, which sums up... keep reading »

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After warning ABC about the connections between its announced series Glass House and CBS' Big Brother, CBS has filed suit. The full lawsuit [PDF] (via The Hollywood Reporter's story) sues Disney, ABC, producers, and many individuals who now work on the ABC show but used to work on the CBS show, claiming ABC's "is a carbon copy of Big Brother and an obvious attempt by Defendants to capitalize on its unique success." The lawsuit says... keep reading »

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A report today suggests what's been rumored for months: Britney Spears will join Fox's The X Factor as a judge in the fall. E! News reported the confirmation, citing a source obviously on Britney's side of the equation who said, "She can't wait to sit down next to Simon at the judges' table and give this everything she's got. She is excited about showing the world that she can do this, and do this well.... keep reading »

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If Dancing with the Stars has an all-star season this fall, no past winners will be included in the cast. TV Guide reports that "casting would exclude mirror ball champions." That's according to a staff member on the show, who said, "It's better if the winners don't come back, because then, we have a cast of people who have another shot at the title." Those who are being considered "could conceivably fit the show into... keep reading »

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