A reality TV show is seeking out grandmothers in their thirties for a reality TV show. So basically teen mums whose kids are teen mums also.

If it was an Australian show they could have gone to my home town, as there were a few grandparents in their thirties.

Casting agent should have no problems finding people wanting to go on the show, as the stars of the Teen Mom have made a bit of money from being on the show.

It is not known which channel the show is being made for however MTV has had huge hits with Teen Mom, and 16 And Pregnant.

Casting agent should have no problems finding people wanting to go on the show, as the stars of the Teen Mom have made a bit of money from being on the show.

If you have not seen either of those shows there appears to be a 16 and Pregnant marathon on MTV this weekend.

Source: (Daily Telegraph)

This is an article I wrote for Media Week Australia:

Top Ten Highlights On Reality TV in 2011

 1.    The Social Media Space Exploded

Every Network hit Twitter and Facebook with a vengeance. Reality shows came with hash tags, and the cast and contestants were connecting with their fans which enhanced their own and the shows popularity.  Barry Dubois and Matt Preston were two of the most prolific in the area. Expect to see more of this in 2012.

2.    The Amazing Race Australia Lived Up To The Pre-Publicity Hype

Grant Bowler said it was better than the US version and it was. Not only was it fast paced and exciting, it also challenged stereotypes with the favourite team being two young Islamic guys, Mo and Mos, who charmed Australia with their self-deprecating wit.

3.    Reality TV Taking Back The 7pm timeslot

Channel Nine stripped The Block stuck it on at 7.00pm and struck ratings gold. Even the fizzer of the finale where only one of the houses sold could not tarnish the glow of the series. Channel 9 did the same with Celebrity Apprentice, and in 2012 it will be all reality in that timeslot.

4.    The year of the design and renovation show turned into the year of the talent show.

The much hyped The Renovators and Top Design underperformed, but Seven’s talent shows, Australia’s Got Talent and The X Factor were rating winners on the back of two teenage talents Jack Vidgen and Reece Mastin.

5.    Reality TV genres merging and working

Channel 7 had King Midas’s touch when it came to reality TV in 2011, even when they mixed the cooking and dating genres for the show Dinner Date.  This on paper sounded dubious however it surprisingly worked.

6. Big Brother Returning

Even though Big Brother was not on TV screens this year, the announcement of its return created many column inches and discussion over the months. If it wasn’t about if it was coming back, it was about the host, how to apply or where the house will be. Sonia Kruger has defected to NINE to take on the crucial role of host of the show.

7.    The Splitting of the Masterchef Finale

Channel Ten’s angered fans when they split the Masterchef finale into two sections to wedge The Renovators in-between. Instead of attracting fans to the new show it repelled them. It was the worst programming decision of the year, and possibly the decade.

8.    The Kardashian Wedding

Even though very few Australian’s actually watched it, the engagement, wedding and subsequent divorce received more coverage then the royal wedding. It also was raised the issue of whether the whole event had been more about endorsements, then love, to generate more cash for the Kardashian reality TV empire.

 9.    The Masterchef brand became fallible

Masterchef Australia was one of the highest rating shows on TV in 2011, however it was deemed to have not been as successful due to the loss of fans. The poor ratings of Junior Masterchef confirmed the leading reality franchise in Australia had lost its spark.

10. Memorable Reality TV Villains

Reality TV is nothing without its villains, and 2011 brought a new batch. There was angry Chris, and super intense Joey and Richard from The Amazing Race. Sun, Dani and Matt from Masterchef.  Deni Hines and Jason Coleman from Celebrity Apprentice. Also Mel and James from MKR and Joe from The Biggest Loser attracted criticism early were forgotten about by years end.

Firstly sorry for the tardiness of blog posts, this should improve from now on, I just recovering from post ratings period fatigued mixed in with pre-christmas shenanigans.

The big gossip in TV at the moment is who is going to sitting on the couches on morning television chat shows.

Kerrie-Anne Kennerly was boned for new Big Brother host Sonia Kruger, and news is It Takes Two cast member David Campbell will be joining her. This could be a good combination.

The other news is Chrissie Swan is moving from The Circle back to breakfast radio on Mix FM in Melbourne, and rumour in the Daily Telegraph is that Julia Morris will join The Circle. Interesting move for Julia as I thought she was keen to work in the USA, but then whatever pays the bills.

Anyway it appears people who have the runs on the board on reality shows are in the mix for these prime TV spots.

The hot reality TV show at the moment is The Virgin Diaries, and last week I blogged about the couple that had not even kissed before their wedding night. Well now we find out how it went, and it was a disappointing.

NINE MSN writes:

The virgin couple who starred on the controversial reality TV special The Virgin Diaries have admitted their wedding night was not all it was cracked up to be.

The show premiered yesterday, after a week of promotions and advertisements featuring Ryan and Shanna’s first-ever kiss on their wedding day.

After losing their virginity to each other on their wedding night, the couple were left disappointed.

“It was good but not as good as I was expecting,” Ryan said.

“It was not really like in the movies.”

Shanna said it was amazing experience despite it being “very painful”.

Earlier in the show, the pair had discussed the plan for the wedding night in great detail.

“We’ll have out robes on, we’ll slowly take our robes off, then do foreplay and then have sex,” Shanna told the camera.

The show and TV network TLC have been criticised for being exploitative and voyeuristic.

Well the wife appeared to be more enthusiastic then her husband, but then maybe he needs to explore is sexuality more.

Check out their kissing technique below.

The large family reality TV genre has been big in the USA. There is Kate Plus 8 and the Duggar Family with 19 Kids And Counting which have both been very successful.

On Discovery Health there are also other shows of this genre, and add in the continual publicity about Octomum it was only a matter of time before an Australian production hit our screens.

And now on Lifestyle You tonight we have 11 Kids and Wanting More based on Dale and Darren Chalk, and Australian family who conceived two lots of quadruplets in a row, plus obviously a few other pregnancies.

I have issues with this large family reality genre, however I did try and watch the preview with an open mind. This did not work, however what it did do was got me thinking about a few issues which is a positive thing.

Firstly about the family – Dale and Darren Chalk had fertility issues and after conceiving via donated sperm a child, they then wanted further children and a fertility clinic gave her drugs plus sperm and she gave birth to four live babies, albeit very much pre-term.

Then again about a month after that she went back to the said clinic and got pregnant again with quads. Only three survived the pregnancy, however she then wanted more, thankfully finally they refused, and they went freestyle and got donated sperm from the internet…..

She now has 11 children but she still wants more, even though her last pregnancy she nearly lost her life.

Here are some issues that I thought about as I watching the show:

• Do we really have the right to have as many children as we want?
• Who was this fertility clinic and why did they allow a second multiple pregnancy to occur? Have they been investigated as quite frankly I think they have been negligent, good medical treatment must come before profit.
• The father is working 70 hours a week to try and support the family – so what is the point if you don’t get to be a more hands on father?
• He earns $1400 a week and the grocery bill is $900, obviously they must be getting some Government support?
• And why do I feel resentful about that when I firmly have been indulged with middle class welfare?
• Is it possible to be a good parent to eleven children and be able to nuture them all?
• How does she stand the noise?
• Is this woman sane with her desire to have more children? Particularly when there is a risk of her dying leaving the tribe of kids without a mother?

On the plus side, she was articulate and appeared to be a good mother. She was organised, loving and pretty unfrazzled considering. The children appeared to be well behaved and really sweet so she must be doing something right.

An interesting issue was they had not told the kids they have been conceived from donated sperm. They said they will tell them when they are older. Well hopefully they won’t being seeing the show as they may just find out then, or be told in the school yard from the other kids that have seen the show.

The last few kids have been conceived at home via donor sperm – and there are no contracts with the said donor so there could be legal issues in the future. She said “It was a heat of them moment so I didn’t think about it [doing a contract]“. All I could think of was “heat of the moment” sweetheart you were conceiving by a turkeybaster.

My personal prejudices mean I did not like the show, nor think that these large families should be glamourised. However was it thought provoking? You bet it was.

11 Kids And Wanting More on Lifestyle You – Thursday 8 December at 9.30pm

Blog posts like this must be why I am getting all those seedy Google ads on my page….

Anyway there is a one hour reality TV special called the Virgin Diaries, where all the cast were virgins until their wedding day.

However one couple went one step further and decided to have their first kiss on their wedding day and it was well….. actually you check it out and tell me you think.

Please Lifestyle You fast track this show to Australia.

Reality Bites Back author and media commentator in the US, Jennifer Pozner, has done some satirical clips on aspects of reality TV shows. She calls it Reality Rehab.

This one she talks about reality TV stereotypes, she makes some good points and it is amusing.

It is Christmas time and Lifestyle Channels especially the Food Channel give the viewer lots of Christmas cheer.

On Sunday the 4 December they kick off the Christmas festivities with Christmas Lights Spectacular.

The show hosted by former cricketer Matthew Hayden,  looks at Australia’s most spectacular Christmas street lights.

This year the show will feature an entire street where over 60 homes are decorate in lights. Also there is a computer-controlled equipment involving 12,000 flashing lights synchronised to music. The show will also go behind-the-scenes of the renowned David Jones Christmas windows, where it takes six months to create them.

Christmas Lights Spectacular is on Sunday 4 December at 7.30pm and it  is also on Saturday 24 December at 8.30pm.

Reality TV dominated the 2011 ratings with four of the top five programs in this years survey being reality shows. Great result for a genre which previously has been much maligned.

The Block ‘The Winner Announced’ was the highest rating show of the year with 3.37 million viewers, followed by Australia’s Got Talent with 2.98 million viewers.

Third on the list was Underbelly – Razor – Ep 1 with 2.794 million, closely followed by Masterchef Australia – ‘The Winner Announced’ with 2.745 million viewers. The Block – ‘The Auction’ rounds out the top five with 2,736 million.

Next year it will be no different with TV Networks relying on their reality shows to bring in the viewers.

Here is an article I wrote for the Herald Sun yesterday which outlines some thoughts on what occurred this year in reality TV and some thoughts on next year.

What shows are you looking forward to watching next year?

As the commercial networks finish off their shows this week, tonight SBS are premiering The Family, a show which follows a family over the course of their day to day lives.

It is bringing back the reality genre to where it all started, and some would say what it should be, just the cameras and the cast.

The Family  follows Melbourne family, the Cardamones, which consists of three sons plus the mother and father over a period of three months.

In a great article in the Sydney Morning Herald, Paul Franklin from Shine Australia talks about the casting of the family.

He said:

Of the hundreds of families that applied, 30 to 40 were considered, according to director of programming at production company Shine Australia, Paul Franklin. Some were eliminated on the basis of background checks and psychological assessments but the Cardamones were always at the fore.

”We weren’t sure there was enough dynamic there,” Franklin says. ”There was nothing major coming up in their lives but eventually we hit a point where we felt they were right.

”I flew to Melbourne to meet them and they were so likeable I thought, ‘Perfect’.”

It was, he admits, a daunting project as the show rides entirely on the selection of the family.

”We were strict in not getting involved other than having our cameras in [the house]. You couldn’t stimulate storylines as you normally would as a producer. It was [a matter of] sitting on your hands with fingers crossed.

”From that point of view it was exciting, anxious program making. You have to let it play out, have faith that the cast will be likeable enough, that enough will take place.

”If you were making it for a commercial network you might not feel comfortable with that. It was nice to make something pure, though.”

Will the show be like the iconic Sylvania Waters which really was fantastic at the time?Noelene Donohue was scarred by the show and how she was portrayed. However, Noelene was the early protoype for all those Real Housewives we see on our screens weekly.  Hopefully it is a more positive experience for the Cardamone family.

What I do know is it will be very entertaining and interesting for the viewer.

The Family on SBS One 8.30pm Thursday nights.