"The Hills" Finally Concluded as Fake

One of MTV's most popular TV shows "The Hills" FINALLY concluded a few weeks ago, and the final episode was quite the treat for fans who just wanted the producers to tell us all that it was actually fake and overly-produced. If you really thought after all these seasons that the show was legitimately these girls' lives, you were seriously mistaken and/or living in a dream world. From the long-shots of Lauren and Audrina sipping frappucinos at some chic Hollywood cafe from across the street to perfect head-on shots of Justin Bobby pulling up to the club in his motorcycle at 11 pm... There was just no way these events were real and just happened to be caught on film perfectly at the precise time. It was all planned and mapped out from the beginning. The jobs, situations, friends, and drama the girls had on this show were clearly made up by some clever writers and producers who knew exactly what would sell to oblivious teenage girls. Some of the things that went down on "The Hills" were so gossipy and dramatic that it was almost like a drug to keep young girls watching every week and see whose life was going to "dramatically change" as MTV would advertise.

After six seasons and the departure of "The Hills" original protagonist Lauren Conrad, MTV knew it was time to give it up and put this show to an end. Regardless of how popular and successful it has become, there were just no more situations producers could possibly think of. I'm not going to get into everything that went down on the hour-long snooze fest of a finale, but it upset a lot of fans including myself. The final episode ended with Kristin and Brody giving their sappy goodbyes to one another followed by Kristin driving away down the street off into the sunset of the Hollywood hills to a slowed-down remixed version of the show's theme song. Then, as no one would actually expect to happen, the set's background is pulled away on rollers and the viewer clearly sees it is a back lot of some production studio. With lighting crews, cameramen, and the Hollywood Sign being taken down by the show's production team; the last scene of the final episode finally acknowledges the fact that much of the show has been unreal and edited all these years. Kristin's car didn't even make it 100 feet down the street! It wasn't even a real street you find out! You clearly see her car (who knows if its even hers) stop in the middle of the set once the scene's falseness has been revealed. It was nice to know in the ending that the show was set up, but the producers really didn't need to go as far as essentially showing its loyal viewers the deception and lies that went into making each scene appear realistic.

Makeover Reality Shows

Makeover reality TV shows are probably some of the most demoralizing, shameful shows on television. The producers of these shows pick the most out of this world people who wear orange sweatpants, purple sweaters, and worn-out sneakers on a daily basis. Then, they'll tell these people (mostly women) they are due for a makeover and point out every single one of their flaws. Once they have torn apart their own individual styles... they will give these women free makeovers to "boost their self esteem." In reality, the hosts and makeovers teams on these shows are simply scrutinizing the participants and making them feel like they're the ugliest pieces of **** ever.

Anyone remember The Swan ? If you don't, let me just break it down for you. People with basically deformed faces and body parts would appear on the show and get free nose jobs, teeth re-alignment, eyebrow lifts, you name it. At the beginning of the show there would be like an interview segment with some pretty horrendous looking human beings. It wasn't their faults. Some got into accidents, were involved in burn incidents, or just born with disproportionate faces and hairy bodies. They would explain their story and ask the people (surgeons) of "The Swan" for help. At the beginning, they would look in the mirror and see a hideous person looking back at them. Basically, as a way for the staff to demean whichever contestant was lucky enough to get free plastic surgery. At the end of the hour-long show, the person would look like a model after about 5-10 different surgeries. Then all the transformed ladies would compete in a pageant, which none of America would watch. It was a rather scandalous show and was taken off the air immediately because it was just plain awful. Awful - in the sense... Not morally right.

British Epidemic on Reality TV

It seems these days like there's a plague of notably wealthy British people on reality TV. The outbreak has produced some of the most successful television shows in American history, which are mostly all spin-offs of popular shows in Britain. They already have millions of dollars, so why do these Brits come here and invade our television sets with new reality competitions? Because they have lucrative ideas we haven't thought of yet.

Simon Cowell - You love him, you hate him... Don't matter. Has anyone ever wondered why this judge is the head of the judging panel, gets the heftiest paycheck, and is giving his opinions on AMERICAN Idol? He's not even American! Who are you to judge and tear American people apart, Simon? Probably because him and Simon Fuller co-created the show as well as co-founded the Spice Girls. This man's loaded and he knows what works on television and what will sell. He came across the pond simply to expand his reality TV empire, and he's pretty much in control of the TV industry at this moment in time.

Gordon Ramsay - This guy has to be one of the loudest, meanest, and rudest people on television. He comes to America, like Simon, and just tells everyone on his show to **** Off. Usually when you go to another country, you try to make a good impression. Not Gordon Ramsay, he'll tell you like it is. If your corn is burning on the broiler, he'll take the hot corn over to you and throw the pot full of hot water at the wall. Then these poor contestants have to start over every time he's dissatisfied. I honestly don't care if you're American or British; there's no need to completely lose it every time a contestant makes a mistake. It makes you look bad as a professional chef who owns a restaurant. I wouldn't want to work at your restaurant anyways. Why do people even go on Hell's Kitchen?

These are just a few examples of Reality TV Brits. Others include:

Jo Frost - The stereotypical British nanny from "Supernanny" (like Mary Poppins)

Len Goodman - Judge on "Dancing with the Stars" (was originally head judge on the British version "Strictly Come Dancing")

Piers Morgan - Judge on "America's Got Talent." Does anyone actually watch that show?

Media Moguls

I consider a "media mogul" to be someone well known in the media industry that has risen to great success and has branched off into several other areas of artistic work within the industry. It's someone who has pretty much worked their way to the top from nothing. You know how the story goes. These types of media mogul celebrities have launched numerous brands in their names, have worked in print, music, film, fashion... you name it. They're ultimate goal is to invest in new products, make millions, and work their way to the top of the Forbes 100 each year. As these already insanely wealthy people make their ways towards new endeavors, a new trend is producing and directing their own reality shows to air on the cable network with the highest bidding price.


First Case: Kimora Lee Simmons

I don't know if anyone watches or keeps up with "Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane" on E!, but let me just tell you... this woman has no need for anymore income in her home. With the amount of money shooting into her bank account every minute, there is no need to be a diva ALL the time. She has about a million staff workers which she provides with crazy demands and outrageous deadlines. She started out as a model in the 80s (worked with Tyra in Milan; she's only said it about 10-20 times on her show), married the co-founded of Def Jam music label Russel Simmsons (immensely wealthy also), divorced him, and used all of his assets to expand her own empire. She basically used all of poor Russel's money to invest in the fashion line HE created, Baby Phat. Well, now that Kimora's Presient and Creative Director of Baby Phat she really has no financial concerns to worry about. She's just constantly building mansions, appearing in print, promoting Baby Phat, and on TV. Although she has a major tude, girl knows how to get down to business.


Second Case: Diddy (P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, Puffy)

He's definitely a media mogul, but at times very obnoxious. He has his fashion line "Sean Sean" (which is outrageously overpriced at Macy's unless you go to Burlington Coat Factory), his own cologne, record label, and other pointless enterprises. He's had at least 3 reality competitions on MTV looking for singers, rappers, dancers for whatever hip-hop group, girl group, or R&B male group he wants to sign to his label next. He'll barely be in an episode of "Making the Band." His segments are mostly prerecorded because he's most likely away in other countries promoting himself and negotiating new business deals. The show is lame because no matter how hard he tries to make money, the members of the groups he picks suck! There were way better contestants he let go because they had small boobs, couldn't get donations in the streets of NYC, or couldn't make it across NYC in a day to his office. Every time he's on TV, he just seems so egotistical and cocky to me. He tells people what to do all the time like Kimora only cause he's got the money. Wish I could promote my name and image on vodka and get paid for it. Must be a tough life for him.

Celebreality

While many often try to get their shot at fame by going on Reality TV, celebrities realistically get hired for money to let cameras enter their homes/environments and document their "everyday lives. The celebrities are obviously already famous so one must wonder, "Are they going broke and desperately need the money? Is it for attention? What's the deal?" There are several reasons both explained and unexplained as to why celebrities agree to appear on reality television. Celebreality shows, in my own definition, is essentially --- a show documenting a mediocre famous person or persons' lives which is usually portrayed as "normal" and "real."

Yet, episodes of Nick and Jessica going on weekly getaways AKA vacations paid for by the production crew (MTV), is not really what one would consider an ordinary occurrence. Nick Lachey (of 98 Degrees fame- "I Do (Cherish you)," & "The Hardest Thing") and Jessica Simpson (of her father's employment "I Think I'm in Love with You" & "With you") are prime examples of how television can ruin a marriage. Did anyone notice when "Newlyweds" premiered in 2003 both their albums were coming out? Jessica came out with a bunch of singles, toured, promoted her album on the show, performed at the VMAs, and her and Nick hosted Saturday Night Live as a couple.

Um, hello, Jess clearly knew no one was buying her obnoxious over-singing albums. She had to promote herself somehow. She put on the Dumbo act, her father booked the appearances, and she did whatever she could on "Newlyweds" to hype a new single. I was probably 15 or 16 watching Newlyweds in my room and I'm watching her film the music video for "These Boots are Made for Walkin." And I'm thinking in my head "How much more exploitation and trashier is this girl going to get to make it to the top?" It was basically like MTV was promoting the show as a documentary style 30-minute look into the life of a famous, glamorous "celbrity." Whether or not anyone considers Jessica Simpson a celeb is up for debate. Personally, she's done. Dead to America. Go eat some more of Regina George's chocolate weight loss bars and travel the world with whatever desperate boyfriend you have going for you.

After a while, both America and Nick were getting sick of Jess' obnoxiously unintelligent & over the top personality. She is very good looking, or was, I will totally agree with that. But she just needs to give it up. Her singing is mediocre. Live, in concert, she belts out tunes like a broken radio losing reception. Just because you have your own show doesn't mean the world's fascinated with you. Basically, to sum up the idea of "Celebreality" --- It's just when famous people are financially not in a good place and need a promoting tactic to get their faces seen, voices heard, artistic work made available to the public. You get the idea. The reason the public is so interested in celebrity reality shows is because they are curious to know about what actually goes on in a celebrity's life. But after 3 or 4 seasons; America's interested in a new, cooler, funnier celebrity show like "Kendra" and "Holly's World."

There are multiple other examples of shows like "Newlyweds" which have helped and/or destroyed a celebrity's career. I simply chose to discuss "Newlyweds" because it's a prime example of how these celebrity shows may bring in money, but ultimately when the show's over and the cameras stop rolling these celebrities have nothing. No visual medium to get them seen and talked about. They have to rely on the public's likability at that point. But usually after a celebrity's reality show ends, he or she becomes a hot mess train wreck.

Kourtney & Khloe Minus Kim

Ok, so no matter what kind of television you watch.. Even if you HATE the Kardashian sisters, I'm sure you all have at least flipped past E! on your remotes and watched "Kourtney & Khloe Take Miami" for at least 30 seconds. So I love them & I think Khloe is the best one workin her curves and all... But let's start from the beginning.

Who are these girls and why are they famous again?

Oh yeah. Kourtney (oldest), Kim (middle), and Kourtney (youngest) are the daughters of Robert Kardashian and Kris Jenner as she is currently called. Robert Kardashian was one of the attorneys for O.J. Simpson. I know, I know. Why is O.J. still roaming the streets? Let's move on with the Kardashians. Has everyone been keeping up? LOL. They have a brother named Rob who used to date a Cheetah girl. He's a Kardashian too. Robert and Kris divorced in 1990. I'm pretty sure they're all of some sort of Armenian descent.

Their paternal mother Kris remarried Olympic athlete Bruce Jenner in 1991, whom they have two daughters with. Kendall and Kylie. Bruce has a son, Brody Jenner, from his second marriage before Kris came along. Brody was the one who dated Kristin Cavallari during Laguna Beach (she was obsessed with him). Her and LC had drama, and that's why Lauren got her own show "The Hills."

Basically, fast forward 12 year's from OJ's murder trial to 2007 and Kim is making huge headlines on national television for a scandalous sex tape with R&B singer Ray J. He had his own dating show on VH1, and may I just add he is gross. Then that same year in October, E! premiered "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" (produced by Ryan Seacrest's production company). Kim made bank off the tape I'm sure, the two other sisters got their exposure, and now they have their own spin-off show in Miami. And Kim is pissed, but still famous.

But anyways, Kim is considered a celebutante and adored by girls and women around the world. Everyone knows how the guys feel. I don't need to go there. It seems like anyone who lives in Los Angeles and has a family member who was at one point in time in the media... can somehow score their own reality TV show. They have multiple clothing stores and a clothing line. They're featured in magazines everywhere I go... Always at CVS. They wear designer clothes all the time and drive Porsches. They're rich and everywhere!

And here I am sitting here writing this blog for my "Foundations of Media Studies" class, trying to get a degree. And these girls got famous and rich because:
a) They're father appeared in a historical trial
b) Their mother remarried another semi-famous guy with money.
c) Kim had a sex tape.

The fact of the matter is, fame has different meanings and interpretations to everyone. If you consider someone who's had face time a "star," you need to get real. Fame is something you earn, work hard, and give your all to achieve. You must be focused and driven. You must create amazing work to be recognized and set your goals extremely high. You must give back in some way or form to society. That's my idea of a famous celebrity. Someone who has established their mark in the industry in whatever field they passionately love. Someone who is highly renowned around the world for good things. As I stated before I love them, but the Kardashian sisters got lucky. They may be famous, but their fame ultimately has no value to any of us other than pure entertainment for men AND women. They will continue to saturate the media until all the media consumption has worn us out. As for now, I'll watch them to get a good laugh until something better comes out.

My Favorite Reality TV Family & Profanity

My absolute favorite show in middle school was The Osbournes. Whether you do or don't condone much profanity in your life or enjoy obscenity, you still have to admit this was one of the funniest reality TV shows MTV has ever had. It was also the realest of any family to appear on television at the time. It was a huge phenomenon and I still have seasons 1 & 2 somewhere in my closet on DVD. Also, the whole show was based around a family with an already famous father, Ozzy Osbourne, the Prince of Darkness.

Although there was pretty much a swear and a bleep at least every 5 minutes, you really saw this family behaving as their normal dysfunctional selves at home. At times I would think to myself "OMG. Did Sharon just really call Kelly a **** (Figure it out)?" They would exchange some of the most awful words to one another, but at the end of every segment their love for one another overcame the arguing. At least once every episode you would see the family together at some activity or event, still being dysfunctional, but always supportive of one another. Whether Ozzy called Jack a ****ing Idiot or told Sharon to **** Off, you just knew this family was not putting on an act or playing games.

The profanity was always censored, but it was just hilarious because everyone knew what they were really saying. I completely understand that the censoring is so children don't learn these words at a young age, but its still so blatantly offensive. It's just funny to me because a lot of people watched and enjoyed the show for several seasons, but no one ever really sat down and thought about the how this family was treating one another like viscious enemies. This could easily cause a child to act in these ways towards his parents. But many just don't really care or think about it. To me, it totally doesn't matter at all. If I ever have kids, I know sooner or later they're gonna be exposed to the world and learn these things. Why restrict them? Overall, I give The Osbournes an A+ for reality.

Reality TV's #1 Villain... OMAROSA!

Whether you agree or disagree, it's pretty obvious that Omarosa made the 1st season of The Apprentice a hit. By "hit," I mean it had more viewer's than Hell's Kitchen at the time (Gordon Ramsey's a major douche bag too) and Donald Trump's toupee was the talk of the town. The real reason why the show was originally watched be so many was because of Omarosa's feisty attitude and bitchy remarks, which drew viewers in week by week. For some reason, Americans love seeing a bitchy black woman in action. Why the show has continued on for this long and even features celebrities now...(Don't they already have jobs?)no one really knows for sure. But he matter of the fact is... this scam of a show not only put more money into Donald Trump's pockets, but created reality TV's most shamefully infamous villain of all time.

Omarosa has taken advantage of her "fame" and has appeared on countless other reality shows, talk shows, and guest spots on television. And on whichever show she appears, she somehow manages to offend and aggravate whomever invited her there in the first place. Every reality show has at least one villainous person thrown into the mix, but it just so happened that Omarosa's extremely vindictive behavior gained her some extra publicity which is EXACTLY what she wanted. Everyone knows it's either her way or no way. One thing I could never stand about her was her ability to always come up with some reason for why someone is being racist towards her. Sometimes I just want to jump into the TV screen and tell her, "Listen. It has nothing to do with your race... You're just a completely vicious, atrocious, and obnoxious human being. Why are you so rude to every damn person you encounter?!"

Yet, the media and the public can't get enough of her (Not in the good way). Six years after her first appearance on television, she still invades our homes with her bullshit and ridiculous nonsense. She is not a good representation of what she considers herself as a "strong businesswoman." Professional businesswomen at least have class. She is what one would consider the epitome of a "Reality TV Villain" and a Fame Whore(Not in the sense of being promiscuous, but more starving for attention).

Product Placement on Reality TV

So I was thinking the other day about how easy it is for well-known and influential brand names to promote and place several products in hour-long reality competitions, as opposed to a scripted drama or sitcom. As many people just don't bother watching the commercials (between bathroom breaks and snack time); it makes much more sense for many popular brands to secretly advertise their products through the duration of the actual show. By "secretly" I mean none of this kind of advertising is rehearsed, scripted, and made into a commercial; although it is still quite apparent that episode after episode a number of popular reality shows continue to promote the same products.


The simplest example is American Idol, which is notorious for plugging a number of items and products each and every season. I'm sure everyone has realized by now that Coca Cola sponsors the show in some way, as the judges are ALWAYS drinking out of the same classic red Coca Cola cups. Whether it's at the auditions or the Kodak Theater, Simon is always taking a sip out of those cups as he tears each contestant's dreams apart. Coke is advertised so much throughout the show brainwashing its audience with repeated images of the hugely popular cola brand. It's basically a marketing tactic to give the brand some sort of credibility. When the American public sees the Coke cups being used (even though they are most likely filled with water) by the judges over and over again, it may persuade some that it is a much preferred and accepted product.

Also, Ford Motor Company always advertises its cars in the later stages of the competition. Each week, the contestants make some musical commercial of them driving a Ford car with a new location and situation. Ryan Seacrest always gives behind-the-scenes looks at these upcoming commercials and always previews into a new one. Yeah, they're technically commercials... but the audience is too easily convinced that it's part of the whole "Becoming Famous" theme of the entire show. The Ford commercials are portrayed as a part of the whole selection process and who can succeed on camera, even though they have pretty much nothing to do with the singing aspect of the competition. It's just another scheme for a huge corporation to advantageously place a product in a popular reality show where it will be seen and noticed.