archiveReality Shows

Two popular reality cop shows received their respective pink slips amid protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.

Fifty-five years ago this week, the then head of the FCC described television as a 'vast wasteland' and challenged broadcasters to do something about it. On May 9, 1961, Newton N. Minow gave his first speech as the new chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, telling a meeting of the...

It's not that the concept of nudity on cable is particularly new; it's where that nudity is being seen. So there's a new dating show on cable TV called “Dating Naked.” Have you heard about this one? It airs on VH1, and the premise is disturbing: The premise of the...

A casting call for underage teens who ‘party like a rock star’ has people speculating about plans for a possible new reality show. Well this doesn’t sound good. A casting notice from a television producer is calling for teens as young as 13 years old who “party like a rock...

A&E, which broadcasts the reality hit Duck Dynasty, announced it was indefinitely suspending the reality show's family patriarch over “anti-gay” comments, prompting a loud and predictable backlash. I'll go ahead and admit it: I've never watched Duck Dynasty. Not one single episode. I've never even wanted to watch it. Or...

The Chinese government is targeting its reality TV shows for cancellation, citing the programs for committing “low taste” and “excessive entertainment”.  If you think The Voice is popular on NBC, you might be surprised how well the Chinese television version is: while 14 million US viewers watch the program on...

Despite an outcry from South Carolinians who created a petition to stop MTV’s Real World Charleston from happening, there may be a bigger reason that the show decided on a different location. Producers of MTV’s The Real World may not make it to the Holy City of Charleston, South Carolina,...

A New York PBS affiliate is airing promos for fake reality shows to remind people of the value of its own programming. But the promos may be a little too convincing. There are so many reality shows these days that when an odd idea pops up for a new show,...

Here’s something you don’t see every day: a company offering to pay celebrities not to use their products! But it’s apparently happening with Abercrombie & Fitch, a company that isn’t a stranger to controversy because of its catalogs that have attracted negative attention because of sensuality depicted in the images...

I’ll admit it: I had no idea that David Hasselhoff even had his own reality show. I’m not surprised to learn that he did, I just never realized it. But I’m apparently not alone in that particular ignorance; A&E has pulled The Hasselhoffs from its schedule after only two episodes,...