SHOWBIZ> Television
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SHOWBIZ> Television
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Unscripted TV fare balances real with "reality"
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-06 14:12 LOS ANGELES- When the Oxygen network green-lighted the reality series "Addicted to Beauty," the idea was to chronicle the day-to-day workings of a trendy California medical spa via the lives of its married co-owners, a socialite and a doctor. That was the plan, anyway. "Before we even got into production, they got divorced," Oxygen general manager Jason Klarman says. So when "Beauty" premieres next month, it will focus on socialite Dianne York-Goldman's attempt to start a med-spa at a different location, as well as her re-entry into single life. "You've got to roll with the punches when you're doing these shows," Klarman says. "These aren't characters; these are real people, and you always run the risk of them having lives." Indeed, as TLC has learned with its breakout hit "Jon & Kate Plus 8," the unanticipated real-life travails of reality personalities can prove both a boon and a bust to the network that's following their every move. In TLC's case, a record 10.6 million viewers watched Jon and Kate Gosselin announce their marital breakup during the June 22 episode. But the show -- only six installments in a 40-episode order have aired -- has since gone on hiatus until August 3 to figure out how to move forward. The "Jon & Kate" phenomenon has sent shock waves through Hollywood's unscripted TV community. TRYING TO BOTTLE CONTROVERSY "I'll bet there are some networks saying, 'Let's hire a VP of controversy; how can we make this happen for every show?'" says Arthur Smith, producer of Fox's "Hell's Kitchen" and ABC's "I Survived a Japanese Game Show." "I think it might be a misguided reaction, but a lot of people are saying: 'What a home run! Ten million people watched TLC. How do we bottle that?'" In a crowded reality landscape, executives even are strategizing ways to spice up their "diary" shows -- which track the day-to-day existences of ordinary people and celebrities -- with attention-grabbing real-life side stories. "In a world where you never seem to have as much marketing money as you'd like, you need people talking about you," Animal Planet president Marjorie Kaplan says. "There's no question that when we're talking about doing a series, we think about what will get people talking: What will get activists talking, what will get US Weekly talking, what will get the 'Today' show talking, what will get YouTube talking." Adds reality veteran JD Roth, who is producing A&E's "Hammertime": "Every time I've had a moment like that in a show -- and granted, none has generated the kind of press attention that 'Jon & Kate' has -- it's always helped the series, not hurt it. You don't want something to happen like what's happened to Jon and Kate, but you hope someone does something to shake things up. That's what moves the drama forward." The heat generated by "Jon & Kate" is only the most recent example of unscripted TV's increasingly tough balancing act between the real and the "reality." CO-STAR, NOT BFF Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie stopped being friends after the third season of "The Simple Life," but by then E! had shelled out millions to acquire the show from Fox, so producers concocted a conceit that allowed the duo to continue for two more seasons without interacting much. |
