TV Eye
Get Real
By Belinda Acosta, Fri., March 15, 2002
TV Eye
It seems it was just a short while ago that we were all scratching our heads asking, what is this "reality television" and more importantly, when is it going to end?
Not so fast, my little couch potato.
The reality show has established itself as a viable TV staple with varying degrees of success and, dare I say it, quality. Now that this genre has continued -- that's in spite of media critics' predictions that it would go belly up following 9/11 -- here's a roundup of some of the more notable reality series out there and what makes them so gosh-darn watchable.
The Osbournes: I don't like this show -- I love this show. Returning to continue the riff started on their MTV Cribs appearance, Ozzy Osbourne and family star in The Osbournes, "the first reality rock & roll sitcom from the first family of rock." Metal-head and former lead singer for Black Sabbath Ozzy Osbourne stars as dad, Sharon Osbourne as his devoted wife, and teenage Osbournes Kelly and Jack are the kids. (Aimee, the Osbournes' oldest child, chose not to participate.)
Three camera crews, along with cameras and sound equipment mounted throughout the house capture the day-to-day reality of being the Osbournes, 24/7. Think living the life of a multiplatinum heavy metal star is all guns 'n' roses? Well, sorta. Dad and Jack have a penchant for firearms and bayonets, and huge vases with even larger flowers take their place among cool high tech gadgetry (that Ozzy can't operate) and shiny home appliances. While the Osbournes look like they stepped out of a goth version of The Addams Family, behave like the Simpsons, and curse like sailors (all the expletives are annoyingly bleeped), they're like any other TV family. Well, except for the devil heads.
All right, so the Osbournes aren't like other TV families. That's a good thing. Moments of genuine familial warmth are captured, but so are the real-life battles that occur in all families. Kelly in a snit throwing a can of diet Coke at her brother gets mom angry. And Ozzy, like all good TV dads, listens intently as Jack complains about his sister's behavior, to which Osbourne says with Michael Brady-like exasperation: "You know, I love you kids more than life itself, but you're both bloody mad!"
Their madness is our TV viewing entertainment. The Osbournes airs Tuesdays, 9:30pm, and Wednesdays, 5pm, on MTV.
The Amazing Race: Survivor may be the No.1 reality series on CBS, but it's The Amazing Race that actually puts some punch into the "outwit, outlast, outplay" edict of the former. Now in its second season (it launched last Monday), The Amazing Race premiered to little fanfare, but of the two reality-adventures series, and especially when compared to the similarly formatted Lost (NBC), The Amazing Race is an adrenaline-fueled romp. Two-person teams are pitted against 10 other pairs in a race that takes them to all corners of the world. Physical and mental challenges occur along the way, shortcuts are earned, and precious time lost when pairs don't work together when most necessary -- usually when nerves are frayed and sleep comes in small doses. The object of the game is to beat all the other teams from location to location after completing a challenge. The last pair to reach the target location is eliminated. The race continues until there are two teams left, with the first to arrive at home base as the winner of $1 million.
This year's series will be played under much different circumstances. Sept. 11 has put a strain on travel and limited locations. The first season had all the teams start from New York's Central Park, but it's unknown at press time how New York will figure into this season's game. The Amazing Race airs Mondays, 8pm, on CBS.
Protagonistas de Novela: Welcome to the first Spanish-language reality television show in the U.S. Taking a page from the Big Brother series, Popstars, and Making the Band, Protagonistas offers a new twist on the genre. Twelve contestants who want to star in a telenovela are put together in a living arrangement that has their every move and action watched by cameras and microphones set throughout the facility (described as a TV studio, not a house in press materials). Throughout their two-month stay, the contestants are subject to acting, dancing, and singing challenges in addition to learning to live under a microscope with a bunch of strangers. Viewers vote off two contestants each week by phone or e-mail (www.terra.com). The last two standing will star in a telenovela. And you thought the struggle to lure David Letterman to ABC and cut out Ted Koppel was full of drama. Actor and telenovela star José Angel Llama hosts Protagonistas de Novela, which airs Mondays, 8pm, on Telemundo.
That's entertainment, folks!
