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"The Real World," the first modern, narrative, unscripted reality TV show, turns 25 when its new season debuts Wednesday night. It has been around so long that its alumni now includes a member of Congress, Sean Duffy, who was previously best known for being a cast member on "The Real World Boston."
"Survivor: Redemption Island" features the return of two overexposed cast members: Rob Mariano, who is competing for his sixth time on a CBS reality series, and Russell Hantz, who has now been on three of the past four "Survivor" seasons. Hantz was also recently accused of .
Brad Womack is the most reviled "Bachelor" star in the show's history, and people love to hate villains on reality TV. So his return to the show should have been well-watched; instead, it brought the second lowest debut audience ever for the show.
"The Amazing Race" has been on the air for nine years and 17 seasons, and it has finally been won by a team of two women.
Quitting on reality shows just isn't what it used to be. There's been a rash of quitting in recent weeks on competitive reality shows, and while the end result is always the same, quitting has less consequence than it used to.
Before "Dancing with the Stars" crowned Jennifer Grey its champion Tuesday night, there was all kinds of discussion about how the ABC competition series could lose its credibility if Bristol Palin won.
Reality television has been generating controversy ever since "An American Family" aired on PBS in 1973 and exposed a family's private life to the public. That controversy was echoed when MTV turned cameras on seven strangers for "The Real World" in 1992. Even now, 10 years after "Survivor's" big debut and reality programming became a staple on broadcast TV as well as a dominant force on cable, people still freak out about it.
Reality TV has always had cast members who are entertaining, outrageous and a little bit crazy. A decade ago, "Survivor" was won by a smart, strategic and often naked man named Richard Hatch, and the people who've followed him onto our television sets have brought varying degrees of insanity.
As "Survivor" begins its 21st season and second decade on television, the game heads to Nicaragua. There, it will adopt a conquistador theme and once again subtly reinvent itself by both organizing its tribes by age and introducing a brand-new twist.
Sandra Diaz-Twine became the first ever two-time "Survivor" champion by winning $1 million on "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" as she defeated Parvati Shallow and Russell Hantz, who lost his second season in a row. Russell was baffled yet again as to why he lost the game, even though the jury explained that he played a bad game by creating a jury of people who loathed him. At least he gets the $100,000 consolation prize based on viewer votes.
Between tears and rocketing coconuts, "Survivor" heads into its Sunday finale with its villains alliance intact, despite last week's events.
The 20th season of “Survivor” and its epic battle between the Heroes and Villains ends on Sunday. What's been most interesting, though, is not good versus evil, but what happened when 20 people who know the game came back to play again.
"Survivor" gave us two episodes in one and sent home a Hero and a Villain from the merged tribe in two back-to-back blindsides with a ton of strategy packed in-between.
Amanda literally got into a brawl to try to save herself on "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains," but she ended up getting her torch snuffed for the very first time in three seasons of playing "Survivor." Having set the record for being the first person ever to play the game for 100 days, Amanda is now on the jury.
On day 25, the evenly matched Heroes and Villains tribes finally merged on "Survivor," but Parvati's move at Tribal Council is really what shifted the game — and surprised the heck out of all of us.
"This is 'Survivor' history," Colby said as JT prepared to give Russell — a member of the opposite tribe — a hidden immunity idol. Yes, historical stupidity, although the exact consequences won't really be known or felt until the tribes merge next week.
More often than not, reality TV draws its drama from real life, and for the past few years, most people's lives have been impacted by a very real recession.
The "Survivor" all-stars have been in Samoa for 18 days, but they are still two separate tribes — and they remained that way after a reward challenge they all thought was actually a tribe merge.
The Losers tribe — or, uh, Heroes — lost yet again, unable to compete physically or mentally with the Villains and keeping their losing streak. Then they did their best to stay losers by keeping someone who's literally unable to walk. So heroic!
The remaining Heroes and Villains spent the latest episode of "Survivor" with shiny, oily skin. That was thanks to a slip-'n'-slide reward challenge that not only left them covered in oil, but also left them slipping and sliding in their tribes over an unexpected reward: a hidden immunity idol that gave the season it's first truly shocking Tribal Council result that sent master strategist Cirie home.
Finally, the Heroes won a game — one-on-one physical confrontations that left the losers in the mud. And when the Villains had to turn on one of their own, they went for the weakest link, the "old man," as Randy described himself. Obvious, maybe smart, but the most boring possible outcome.
So it's begun: The "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains" heroes are turning into the villains, and the villains into heroes, and that ended in a shouting match at Tribal Council that made us wonder even more who the actual heroes and villains are.
Take a group of people who've played a game once or twice before, separate them into two groups and then let them wrestle in the sand, and you get the brutal, violent, entertaining opening challenge from "Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains."
There are a lot of reasons why reality shows are fond of producing all-star seasons, when they bring back past contestants for another chance at a prize.
Simon Cowell announced Monday that he is quitting "American Idol" in order to judge the show he created, "The X Factor," when it debuts on Fox in 2011. But how will this impact "American Idol," and how will audiences react to a new but familiar show with a familiar face?
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