Reality (TV) Bites - Part 1

In this super fun TWO-PART Episode We do a deep dive into a brief history of Reality Unscripted Television. Where it started, where it's been, and where we think it's going. Nomi has a lot to say about the Housewives, and there are some other nuggets about some of our other favorites. We even chat about Nomi's time on BRAVO's BlowOut in the early 2000s.
Then we reminisce a little about our favorite reality TV Star Anna Nichole Smith, and throw out our ideas for brand new TV Show Ideas that we'd love to see. What are some of your ideas for a Reality Show?

Download this and future episodes of our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, and anywhere else to find your favorite shows. You can search MR & MRS and please be sure to subscribe, and/or write a review if possible to help build our show. Have an idea for a future episode, or want to join us for a conversation? Email us at hello@mrandmrs.show!

Download this and future episodes of our podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocketcasts, and anywhere else to find your favorite shows. You can search Why Are We Like This? and please be sure to subscribe, and/or write a review if possible to help build our show.  Have an idea for a future episode, or want to join us for a conversation? Send us a message with the link above!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Hello.

SPEAKER_00 0:16

Hi. Hi.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

Uh today we are talking about reality TV.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

Oh, is that what we're talking about?

SPEAKER_01 0:23

Yes. Okay. Yes, reality TV. And for our listeners, I know that we've talked about Bravo, reality TV specifically, but this is a much broader exploration. A much broader stroke conversation. Yeah, of reality TV. Yes. And so that includes lots of things, especially those things that are not on Bravo or have not been on Bravo. But that's kind of like the home of reality TV now, right? Like that's just kind of all they do.

SPEAKER_00 0:52

The epicenter. Maybe they'll show a movie once or twice, but it's like the Boston of reality TV. They think they're they're the center of their own universe. Oh yeah, those masses. Soccer blue. My souffle has fallen. Did you hear?

SPEAKER_01 1:08

It was the shothead round the world.

SPEAKER_00 1:12

Okay, it's the funny joke.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

Okay. It's definitely an inside joke.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

But let's make it an outside. Let's let's take George Michael's advice and let's go outside with it. So we're in Boston many years ago visiting my family, some of my family, and we're out to lunch with my mother and my sister and my uncle. And we're talking about our opinion of Boston. And it's just not a city I gel in. Everyone is, I think everyone is very um into being a Bostonian. And just feeling, I guess, really superficial to me. Um, so we were rousing my mom because she's uh she was born in Indiana, but she was raised in New York City. And for her to move back to Boston um after being uh back on the West Coast and in the South for a while, she she liked it because it was a major metropolitan city back on the East Coast. And so she just really threw herself into the Boston culture. So we were teasing her one day at lunch about how everyone in Boston thinks that the center of the universe, because Paul Revere rode his damn horse through town one night, and then we started talking about the shot heard round the world, and it's like, really? Like you're that arrogant, you think that that shot was heard round the world. Like someone, everyone, someone in France baking was like Sacre bleu, masouffle has fallen, and all of us at the table were laughing, but my poor mother was yeah, wanting to laugh only to be a part of what everybody else was laughing at, but you could tell was feeling a little, I don't know, called out.

SPEAKER_01 2:50

Yeah, there's something about uh this is sometimes an East Coast trait. It's this false sense of pride in something that you had nothing to do with. Um, and I found it very focal, like very focused in Boston, especially with your parents. It's it's funny to watch because really they're transplants themselves. I find it especially with people who weren't born there. Like I have friends who were born and raised in Boston, they're like, I don't care, it's Boston, whatever. But the people who who live there now and have like our transports there at Boston are just like, oh yeah, it's the place to be. It's so it's the Harvard with the Harvards over there with all the Harvard stuff doing the Harvard things.

SPEAKER_00 3:30

Well, it's like LA, isn't it? Yeah, like I'm from LA, so I have a very, and I don't mean from because I lived there for a long time. Like I was born in LA proper. So I have a different take on the city and how the city works, and I get something different from the city, but then people that move there are very much the Angelino stereotype. Yeah. Not those of us that were born there or that have lived there for most of our lives, or can truly call ourselves in some honest shape or fashion an Angelino. Right. Um, you know, it's like that with the with whatever city you live in. But Boston in particular, people who are from Boston act like they're not from Boston. Well, it's the spirit of America, it's the spirit of Massachusetts. It's the spirit of America.

SPEAKER_01 4:18

Anyway, that's the joke, and now you're in on it.

SPEAKER_00 4:21

Uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:22

So now you know what we mean. Um, so reality TV. Do you know what the first reality TV show was? I didn't know this, by the way. I had to look it up.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

Um, I think it was the Anna Nicole Smith show.

SPEAKER_01 4:35

Oh, interesting.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

That would be my vote, because that was the year, I think, before Blowout.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

All right, so I've got a bit of an eye-opener for you. So the first technically reality TV show, like unscripted, was Candid Camera in 1948.

SPEAKER_00 4:51

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:52

Like that's technically the first one.

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Of course.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

Yeah. Um, and then they followed that that and that's kind of like uh America's Funniest Home Videos format, right? And we found out over the years that there are multiple different types of reality TV shows.

SPEAKER_00 5:06

Yes, I think the one that people most commonly refer to as we are in this episode is unscripted television. Right.

SPEAKER_01 5:15

And it's usually like uh a group of people thrust together in a small situation and watching them duke it out because they just don't get along, or it's competition-based. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 5:25

Yeah. We were just watching Halloween wars and we were talking about how silly the competition reality TV genre is because everything is so forced in this attempt to be organic or seem authentic in the moment.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

It really is, and we all know it now at this point, where even if you haven't seen any of these shows before, you know what's coming because the music changes or they pause for a minute and they like close up on the person's face before something awful happens, or you hear this.

SPEAKER_00 5:59

Any sound effect. Any type of close-up on sugar work.

SPEAKER_01 6:02

Yeah, yeah. Especially with the show. Yeah, you know, you know something is gonna break no matter what.

SPEAKER_00 6:07

There's nothing real about reality TV in the sense that we're being sold it.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, and it it makes me not sad, but I I look I look back on reality TV shows that I used to watch um when I was younger that actually felt like reality TV, like the real world when that hit, that actually felt real to me. Uh, Road Rules was the beginning of that like competition element for me. It was still real world, but it had that like contest associated with it, but they still felt like real people and their interactions were real, and they didn't feel as produced as I think I recognize now.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Well, it was early on enough in the game that they didn't realize how they could market themselves through reality TV back in those days. Right. To them, the show was the goal. Nowadays, the show is merely a platform to other revenue streams.

SPEAKER_01 7:01

Yeah, and it was before the people on the show realized that they could be characters, which could then be brands of themselves. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I have a couple other like keynote reality shows that I haven't really thought of very often, but well, I have a bit of trivia in regards to the competition shows.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

So one of my clients was uh a wardrobe designer for The Bachelorette or The Bachelor. Same thing, but different. Well, it's important because The Bachelor had the female contestants.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Oh, right.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

With the one guy. She told me that before they even film the episode, the girl knows they know who's going home because every week they're given outfits for each episode. And so based on the number of outfits they have, they know if they're making it to the end of the week or not.

SPEAKER_01 7:53

Oh, that's weird.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Uh-huh. You'd think they're gonna fake it out. But there's nothing real about reality TV.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, yeah. What was the name of that show that was about The Bachelorette or Bachelor on Lifetime that was real good? It was like the fake behind the scenes of how those shows work.

SPEAKER_00 8:08

Unreal. Oh, that was so that was a great show. I love it. That was really good. Okay, so who was in that? So it was um Jeffrey Boyer Chapman. Boyer Chapman. I was gonna say Jesse Tyler Ferguson. Constance Zimmer, who we met at Dragon.

SPEAKER_01 8:23

We met them both at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

But well, they're friends. So he was doing the meet and greet, and we met him, and then he sent us over to her, who was wait, she was waiting in the sidelines with her daughter. Yeah, that was a great show. So he sent us over to talk to her. So we met her, and um, yeah, so she was fantastic. I first saw her in uh the Kevin Spacey show on Netflix. I don't know. Um shoot. Who played the card? House of Cards. House of Cards. Who played the big guy? Uh Craig Bierco.

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yeah, I liked him. He was good in the show.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

I have loved him since the 13th floor.

SPEAKER_01 8:58

Oh, that's right.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

That I love, absolutely love, love, love that movie. If you guys hadn't checked out the 13th floor, it's uh it's a sci-fi movie from '99, and it's about uh these guys that create this machine that it's like a it's like uh the ultimate virtual reality. And in do well, I you know what? I can't give any of that. But don't talk about it. Just say watch it. Go watch that's what I'm doing. So go and watch the movie um because it's really cool. But Craig Bierko, who was in that, uh, is also Constance Zimmer's boyfriend slash fiance slash husband slash ex slash boss on Unreal uh with Jeffrey Boyer Chapman. And who was the woman um who played the lead? I can't I can picture her face, but I can't think of her name, and that's so awful, but we weren't expecting to go here. No, just check it out. That's a good show. Go check it out. That's a really, really good show. And and that is uh very much the kind of the stories that I would get from my client that worked on The Bachelor.

SPEAKER_01 9:55

Yeah, that's interesting. I I would feel like I I feel like in the day of RuPaul's drag race fake finale situations where they try to prevent any information from leaking out beforehand, that they would probably just give all the girls the same amount of dresses at this point, just so that no one would talk unnecessarily. Because everyone's got Twitter and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Yeah, I mean, this is going back to like 2005, 2006. So, I mean, everyone was still figuring out the reality TV game show at that or the reality show game at that point in time. I think Real Housewives of Orange County didn't premiere until 2006.

SPEAKER_01 10:32

Yeah, 2006. That was the first uh like look behind the curtain, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 10:37

That was a game changer in the reality genre.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 10:42

Because before that, we had The Bachelor, we had The Bachelorette, we had Survivor, we had Real Worlds Road Rules, uh, we had the Anna Nicole Smith show. Big Brother. We had Big Brother, we had the show I was on Blowout, and we also had Sheer Genius going into Tabitha's salon takeover.

SPEAKER_01 11:02

There's a couple others that I never watched. There's one called An American Family from 1973. Have you heard of that?

SPEAKER_00 11:08

No.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

It was one of the first reality shows where they actually took real people and just followed them around. Um, and this was a family where they had an openly gay person, and it was the first time that an openly gay person was on TV, like on the regular and talking about their experiences and stuff. So I would like to find that sometime and see that little time capsule. Um, do you consider cops a reality TV show?

SPEAKER_00 11:33

No, it's it's a docuseries to me. Oh, okay. That makes sense. It's more documentary style.

SPEAKER_01 11:39

Yeah. It it may be based on reality, but it is very much a documentary. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 11:43

Well, and everything that you see on TV has to sell advertising dollars. So they have to make it sellable, they have to make it palatable, they have to make it desirable for the human consumer.

SPEAKER_01 11:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:55

So you're not going to get a lot of reality in reality TV, which is why I think it should be called unscripted television.

SPEAKER_01 12:01

Yeah, I think so. That makes sense. Um Project Runway.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

Project Runway is it's considered one of the first um talent-based reality competition shows. Because in the past you have something that's either based on like luck or a game show kind of style, but this was something where they're bringing people in who are supposed to be the like the best of the best of their of their trade, and you put them all together and then kind of put them through the ringer of of contests.

SPEAKER_00 12:31

Yeah, we are sold that, aren't we? We are sold that in like sheer genius and uh drag race and Halloween wars. Yeah, these are the best of their best in their field. Like upper as well. That's why they're on this show. And I believe that for the first couple seasons, maybe. No, I mean, bullshit. If that were the case, then why would you have someone like Tabitha on sheer genius yelling at the other contestant for doing something totally fucking stupid that as a hairdresser I know she should have gotten yelled at for that?

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Oh, that's true. Yeah, I see it more apparent as as the seasons go on, especially with something like Drag Race, where we see like season 14, it it sometimes feels like they're scraping the bottom of the barrel because we've already seen all the queens go through. Um but yeah, you're right. It is a situation where they just sell it to us as marketing.

SPEAKER_00 13:29

Right. Okay. It's a platform. But no, no, listen, somebody's gotta go home first. Right. So it's you know, it's like you can't what's the point of flying first class if there's no coach? Like you're right, not every person is a first place winner on the show, which is how we're sold.

SPEAKER_01 13:49

Well, and and that's why something like All Stars works so well, right? Because now you're actually looking at the top of the top because these people have all won this contest in the past or have all competed highly or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 14:00

Um and it's also the familiarity of seeing these people again without having to watch them in a rerun.

SPEAKER_01 14:07

Yeah, that's true.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

That's kind of brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

I do like that.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

Yeah, very much so. And you get to see them paired up with other cast members from other seasons that you didn't get before either.

SPEAKER_01 14:18

Yeah. Especially something like Drag Race. I like seeing how the competitors have grown since we've seen them last.

SPEAKER_00 14:26

You mean like their teeth and lips?

SPEAKER_01 14:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

That's the all-stars makeover.

SPEAKER_01 14:33

No, I mean lips. I mean talents, like their their confidence in themselves changes, and it's usually for the better. Sometimes it's not, and you can recognize where someone has taken a wrong turn.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

But it's who was that? That was Adora Delano.

SPEAKER_01 14:46

Yeah, she had a hard time. Um I'm thinking Fifi O'Hara.

SPEAKER_00 14:49

Well, fuck Fifi. She's her own worst enemy. Uh no, who was the the the last one that just went home that was like, I can't take this, I can't.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

I want to say it's not Oh, um Heidi in Closet.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

Heidi in Closet. That was that was really that was infuriating to me. And it and the same thing with Adore Delano. Like to me, that felt very much ego. My opinions about Drag Race aside, that felt very ego-driven.

SPEAKER_01 15:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:13

I'm and Benda La Creme felt totally fabricated. Like that was that was a choice that she made before she even filmed her first episode.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

I like Benda Le Creme a lot, but that I don't care for I don't care for the performance that she puts on for drag race. She's a Sarah like everything else she's darker.

SPEAKER_00 15:30

Yeah, she is highly entertaining on screen, but a mess in real life.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

Yeah. Um, I'm talking more about like the Trixie Mattel situation where like she showed up for her first season, five or six or something like that, and she was fun and I enjoyed her, and then she comes back for all-stars, and she's she's incredible. She's like this this juggernaut of drag that she's discovered in herself. And I really love it.

SPEAKER_00 15:52

Well, I think Trixie also had the she catapulted the most between her season and her all-star season out of any other star, and has really done the most in terms of building a brand for herself. I mean, the bitch has bars, motels, and a cosmetic line.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

Yeah. She's taken over the world.

SPEAKER_00 16:16

I think she's worth like 20 million.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

That's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 16:18

Did you see I I was worth like uh, what was it, 1.4 million?

SPEAKER_01 16:22

Yeah, you mentioned that. You just let me know when that money comes in, babe.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

Just give me a heads up. I don't know where these people get their information. It is so weird how and what people speculate over and who they speculated over.

SPEAKER_01 16:36

It is eye-opening because I I think I maybe have done it twice over the years, just randomly looked up someone's net worth. But it's funny to think that you are on that list. Like, I don't think that I'm on that list.

SPEAKER_00 16:49

It isn't well, it's weird that it even popped up because I wasn't looking for what is my network? Yeah. What the fuck? So funny. Well, because I know what it is, I don't have to look it up.

SPEAKER_01 17:04

I keep books. What what is your favorite reality TV show? What do you think is your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 17:10

Blowout.

SPEAKER_01 17:11

Blowout. Of course it is. I'm gonna talk about that in a second.

SPEAKER_00 17:15

What is your it's the one that I respond to because it's so fam the content itself is so familiar to aside from me being a part of the of the project. But I think the one that I've invested the most time in is the Housewife franchises.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

I can agree with you on that.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

Most specifically Orange County and Beverly Hills. Well, we I just started watching, just started, like maybe three weeks ago, four weeks ago, I started season one of the real Housewives of Orange County.

SPEAKER_01 17:49

Yeah, just a full rewatch.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Oh my god. And not only was it totally nostalgic, but I mean the music, the style, and it that was that came out the year, that came out the third and final year of blowout. So we had already been on air for a couple seasons, and it was so in line with what was happening at that moment in time, that mid-2000s. And I don't know, it's kind of fun. And then you see, like, because you can binge watch it, the progression that happens, how they find their footing, and not the cast members, but production the show itself. Uh yeah, a hundred percent. Yeah, it's very fascinating to watch, and you can see these arcs that are created by the introduction or exits of characters. So for me, you've got like the first era of Real Housewives, which is seasons uh one, two, and three. And then Gretchen is introduced in season four, and that's the second arc of the housewives, which is my favorite. I absolutely love it. I mean, the first the first three seasons, it's like the first real season of any other TV show. Like it's just it's raw and it's real and it's unknown, and it's just very heartwarming and nostalgic.

SPEAKER_01 19:07

Yeah, it's been kind of fun to rewatch.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

They find their footing and they become aware, and then they start to really take off and have fun. And I think that's what happened in season four. And then the the third arc. Then the poison starts to seep in. Right. Um even with Alexis Bellino, was was uh I think pretty much a hot mess on the show, um, was still a part of that second arc that was going on with those characters. Um and then the third one was when Shannon Bador joined in season nine. Heather joined in season seven, and she's a big deal, but I felt that she really kind of meshed well with the rest of the cast at that time. And so, yes, she was an introduction and a new cast member, but didn't change the flow of the show like Gretchen did when she arrived in season four or when Shannon did in season nine.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

I would agree with that, and she was also very rich, and I don't think that the housewives of OC were used to that type of uh like richness.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

Well, she was the richest out of all of them.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, and I think that um they all wanted to be her friend, so they were real easy to please in that first season or so. Um plus she's just kind of nice, she's nice to be around generally. That changes over time too, and we start to learn more about her, and she's not a bad person, but again, like most of these characters on these shows, their own story arcs changes over time as they find their footing, so to speak.

SPEAKER_00 20:44

They almost become caricatures of themselves after a certain point in time.

SPEAKER_01 20:49

Yeah, I agree with that.

SPEAKER_00 20:51

Um and then Kelly Dodd showed up season 11. That's that's where I'm at now. That art that Kelly Dodd um in the first few episodes I felt really bad for her because I I empathized with what she was feeling and feeling ganged up on, and so needing to protect herself and not understanding her own boundaries. I think these women were way too quick to jump down her throat because Lord knows they've all got some bad behavior. Yeah. Um, but as the show progressed and her storyline evolved, I just felt she became more and more unhinged. And I don't think that um, in many ways, she and other aspects of the show became a very poor representation, not just of life in Orange County, but also in what what should be aspirational in life. Like the point isn't to become rich so you can act like an asshole without consequence. The point is to feel safe and secure in this world so that you can go out into this world being the best person you can be. And I think the show's missing that. And I think that's what's wrong with the show, it's what's making it antiquated right now to the point where they had to completely reboot New York City. And it's a bore fest, with the exception of Jenna. Yeah. And anything that isn't boring feels totally fabricated and manufactured because these young women. Grew up with the older generation of housewives, and they are too hyper-aware of the fourth wall in this situation. So nothing is as organic or genuine as it ever could be back then.

SPEAKER_01 22:28

It's also for me, just plain and simple, a boring show now. We've already seen it. Jenna's pretty cool. Jenna's pretty she is a very cool person. I would much rather see her do something else. Like a show about her life and her own experiences. But the housewives format for me.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

That wasn't too successful with Bethany.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

Because she wasn't that important of a person. She she owned a business, but she really wasn't changed though.

SPEAKER_00 22:53

That's to your point. Yeah. Right? Like she left the Housewives because she said it was like the like the Housewives is the heavy entree. And then Bethany gets married as like the light dessert, like the sorbet afterwards. And then as soon as as soon as she got her footing with her own show, she became a crying, dramatic mess. Every episode. It was like, oh my god, the hypocrisy of these unaware women.

SPEAKER_01 23:17

It's typically what happens when Bravo does give these women their own shows, like Tardy for the Party and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_00 23:23

Oh, she's in trouble now.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

You tend to just get over.

SPEAKER_00 23:26

Oh my god, how did we bury the lead? 23 minutes in, and we haven't even talked about Miss D UI 2023 Shannon Bador.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Well, because this was originally going to be a reality show podcast, but now it's not.

SPEAKER_00 23:38

We've gotten sucked into the Bravo Wormhole.

SPEAKER_01 23:42

You can't help it. For more information on the Housewives, be told to listen to the podcast from CBS.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

Better stop. So we do have, yes, we do have a Housewives podcast.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

I'm just teasing. It's fine. But this is current events.

SPEAKER_00 23:53

We can talk about whatever we want. That's right. So Shannon Bador. OC Housewife. OC Housewife, um, who helped Gina, her castmate, out of a DUI a few years ago, has come under fire recently for continuing to bring it up to and in front of Gina and around other people.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

As like ammunition to speak to her character or something, right?

SPEAKER_00 24:19

Like she's this great person, and Gina would have her children taken away because of her DUI if it wasn't for me and the phone calls I made from my lawyer. And apparently she's got a great lawyer because ironically, she was arrested Saturday night, Sunday morning for a DUI hit and run. It is all over. Like I have never seen anything spread as fast as this on social media.

SPEAKER_01 24:46

Really? I feel like anytime the housewives do anything, it's like wildfire.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

I completely agree with you. And this is the fastest burning wildfire I have seen. Okay, I believe it. She has been off the rails for so long. Sorry, I'm thinking of the footage I saw from the ring camera, and my comment was from Pretty Woman at Corners like it's on rails. Jeez. Because she left, I guess she was out with Tamara and somebody else, and she was drunk. She had her dog in the car. I don't know. Like there's a million different stories going around. But the footage shows her whipping around this corner, making a left-hand turn, and not stopping the turn. And so instead of turning left and then going straight, turned left and made like a J right into someone's front door.

SPEAKER_02 25:33

Oh.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

Then backs up. Like of a house? Yes. Oh, geez. Then backs up, drives down the street, parks her car in the middle of the street, and then pretends that she's walking her dog, which she had with her, which pisses me off. Uh, like she was just out for an evening stroll with her dog. And then, of course, anyone who watches the show knows what she's like inebriated, so it didn't take long for the cops to realize that she was inebriated and that hello, the car was registered to her. Yeah. So she, I guess, has a good lawyer because he got her out before the arrest record was like even filed or some shit like that. Um, but anyway, um, it's all over the media and it's a big mess and it's a big to-do. And I think that it's going to force her to eat a lot of crow because of the way that she has treated Gina over her DUI.

SPEAKER_01 26:26

Yeah, for sure. Not okay.

SPEAKER_00 26:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:30

Well, and she's too old for that. Like DI DUI, we all make mistakes, but yeah, that's that's I don't like it. It'll be interesting to see if something happens, but like you said, because she has a good lawyer, who knows? Um well, let's chat blowout. Because that's your other favorite show. I have my favorite shows, but they're long gone. Like they're I think the first one, Jim Henson Creature Shop Challenge, was on for one season, and that's just because I love puppetry and all that.

SPEAKER_00 27:06

Um well, competition show, I'd say face off was probably my favorite.

SPEAKER_01 27:10

That was gonna be my second. I do love face off as long as it's like the first four or five seasons. Yes. But then like the rest of them, it got so formulaic that I would actually fast forward through the show while they paused between making announcements and just it it turned a half hour show into an hour.

SPEAKER_00 27:26

Oh no, is someone's mold gonna get stuck this episode? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

Or let's make sure to speak real quick.

SPEAKER_00 27:32

If you're really the best of the best, then these things shouldn't that happen should not be so dramatic. Yeah. Like when I'm working behind the chair and someone's hair surprises me, I don't have a meltdown because I'm a fucking professional who's educated and knows how to handle the situation.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah. I also really liked Work of Art, which was that really brief like two-season show that Sarah Jessica Parker produced.

SPEAKER_00 27:54

With designers. Fuck me.

SPEAKER_01 27:56

I really liked that show a lot. I wish that the show.

SPEAKER_00 27:58

That was like the show that Ellen did where she just like it's like the franchises that RuPaul doesn't host, but she just sends in the videos to I'm like, hey, good job.

SPEAKER_01 28:08

Bye.

SPEAKER_00 28:09

Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:09

But the show itself was cool. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:11

Okay. Blowout is not my favorite reality show. I say that sarcastically.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Because you were in it.

SPEAKER_00 28:16

Because I was in it. So I have questions for you. Okay. Let's let's answer those questions.

SPEAKER_01 28:21

So, how were you selected for blowout?

SPEAKER_00 28:25

Um, how was I selected? Um, so there was this guy that came to the salon that I worked at. He was sort of like um, like he was the the Johnny on the spot guy. Like, if you needed something like a pro tool, he could get it. If you needed education, he could get it. And he hit me up one night and said, I have a business opportunity for you that I think you would really like. Usually those conversations don't end up. I know. And I was like, well, I don't do that anymore now that I have my cosmetology license. But uh no, and and I s and I was like, okay. Uh so he's like, I want you to meet Jonathan Anton. He's hiring, and I think that you would be a good hire and a good part of the show. And this was going to be for the second season, so it was already on one season. So you were already aware of it at that point. I was already aware of it, and I kind of didn't like it because it was the first time I realized how fake reality TV was. Because as a hairdresser, I know what salon life is like. Yeah. Then once I got on the show, I was like, holy shit. So why did you say yes? Uh I well, I was desperate for exposure.

SPEAKER_01 29:35

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 29:36

And at that point in my career, I could not afford the level of PR that some of my colleagues could or that the salon owners could. Sure. And so I was really struggling to try to capture a client base. And I thought that this would be good exposure for me and would build my cachet. And I thought that I would get built so that I could be a busy colorist on the show. And um I went and met with him. It was like a 15-minute meeting with Jonathan. And um, we just talked about like what kind of blonde do you like? And it was like, well, I like a dimensional blonde that's a little roody, a little golden y and then bleached out tips. And he's saying blonde. And no, and he's like, he's like, that's exactly the kind of blonde that I like. And he was talking about how you know blonde should look like they just got back from the beach. And I'm like, oh my god, that's what I always say. So it was like a match made in hairdressing heaven. Nice. Um, and and then he's like, Okay, you're you're in.

SPEAKER_01 30:36

Then that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 30:38

After I got that, he told me I needed to film the audition scene. Oh for the show. The fake auditions. They have the uh, well, it was fake for some and not fake for others. Oh I forget the style off, I think they called it.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Interesting.

SPEAKER_00 30:55

So I brought my friend an agent with me and did her hair, and we went blonde to brunette, and I knew I could do it because I had been doing her hair and it looked amazing. And Jonathan prepped me, and he's like, We want something really dramatic from you, so make sure you give us like a wow makeover. That's cool. Um, because he's like, You can't do shit hair and then me hire you on the show because I've already hired you in real life. So, and we were both taking a gamble. Like, I hadn't told my employer at the time who trained Jonathan that I was leaving, because I'm like, I want to shoot the scene where he hires me and then I'll put in my notice.

SPEAKER_01 31:36

Jeez, that's so funny.

SPEAKER_00 31:37

So, um, so I went, we we filmed the style off, and it was the first time I got real awkward, um, like in the salon, because there were um people there that I knew didn't know what was going on, and they thought that they were there to actually get the opportunity to get hired, and most of them were just, I think, production filler. And um, so he hires me. We I will have the interview and we do the practical interview, and then he hires me and he's got my business cards for me. And it's like, well, obviously, I've been hired if he already has business cards, you can't get them printed in three hours. And it was real, I think it was honestly, it was just more of a gesture for the show, but it's another example of how these shows really are produced, whether there's a script or not.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

We take it for granted. Yeah. There's a lot of stuff like that that happens where we're like when someone shows up at the door and they're like, Oh, what a nice surprise! Like, it's not a surprise because there's cameras standing behind you. You knew someone was coming in the house.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

If they're in the house already, you know something's up. Yeah. Um, yeah, it was there were there was one scene in particular where I kept switching between folding towels and reading a book because what happened was Alan and Kiara got into a fight because she was breastfeeding in the break room. Okay, and he didn't think that it was professional. She's like, it's the workplace, I have the right to do it, I need to feed my child. And I was like, Yeah, this really surprised me because this isn't Alan. And so I was like, Oh, god damn it, this is for airtime. Fuck them for being so savvy. I was so naive during the whole experience. So, in the beginning, I'm reading a book in the break room, waiting for my client. What book was it? Do you know? I think it was Angels and Demons. Oh, interesting for you. Yeah. And well, it was real big at the time because it's 2005, right? So I think we're we started, we were started filming in February of 2005, and then we stopped in April, and the show aired in July. So I'm reading this book, and they're having the fight, and I'm like, fuck this, and I leave. And then they come to Kiara and uh Kara Kiara, Kiara, I can't remember her name. She was the extension queen. She did Lizzie Kaplan's hair, who you like. Um, and Alan and me, and they're like, We missed something. We need you guys to redo this. And I was like, No, thanks. I'm not even a part of this. But they're like, Well, you were at the table. So then I don't have the book, so I'm folding towels now, and I'm just like, God damn it. And the production is blocking the door because of the angle that they needed to film them at. So I couldn't start the scene and then have them film me leaving so that you can explain why I'm no longer like I don't just disappear like Jeannie. Right. So I couldn't do that, so I'm stuck there and I'm pissed. And it's why when I watch specifically Bravo shows, I can catch those editing ticks, those editing markers, because it happened to me. Like you can't edit what you don't give them, right? But and this wasn't a thing that it was bad for me, but it opened my eyes to how they can navigate the storyline.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

Um, what was the hardest part of the show for you? The lack of privacy. Interesting. Only in terms of how it like if you want to record me in the break room, that's fine. But when I'm having that time with my client, my client needs to feel that this is a safe environment. And so there were a lot of times where I was turning my mic pack off. And I think it was to my detriment because what production did is they sat in the booth and they listened to all of our microphones. And as soon as they heard something dramatic, they would get on the speaker and tell all the cameramen to go over to whomever station. And you'd see like three cameramen run through the salon. We're like, uh oh, someone's doing something. Can I get in on that scene? Yeah. That's funny. So they they would take off and so without my mic on, there wasn't a lot of footage for them to pick up on. Sure. And so what ended up happening is I went from being a featured cast member with an opening credit to just being like a recurring guest role. It's a shame you didn't think to fake an illness or something. There was so much now in hindsight that I could have done, but I was coming into this thinking I'm going to approach this with integrity. I'm going to show the world how hairdressers should act and be professional. I like I had no idea. I was stepping into the line. The exact opposite opposite. It was a freaking free-for-all. We were all out in the back. We were smoking like two packs of cigarettes a day. We were drinking. We were going to like El Toritos every night and getting wasted. So good. It was, it was, it was a lot of fun, but the invasion of privacy was difficult. So again, I was smart and savvy about protecting my business, but it ruined my role on the show because then I told my clients I would give them a heads up and I'm like, don't sign the release when you come in because they had a big sign on the door and production was out front and you couldn't enter the salon while we were filming without signing a release. Unless you said, I'm not signing the release, and then they had to blur your face out. So I'm like, don't sign the release because they're not going to film us to pay to blur you out. It'll just keep them from filming us because they know that they won't be able to use any of it.

SPEAKER_01 37:04

It's almost as if you didn't want to be on the show.

SPEAKER_00 37:06

It I honestly, when I first interviewed, I thought, let me work at the West Hollywood Salon because that's not the primary focus of the show. No one in West Hollywood had an opening credit in the show. It was all about the Beverly Hill Salon, but they're like, no, we need you in the Beverly Hill Salon. We're gonna pair you up with Jason because he's the cutter, you're the colorist. And we did, and it worked great for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Well, a long time. What was as long as it did.

SPEAKER_01 37:31

What was the easiest part of the show, or maybe the the most enjoyable part?

SPEAKER_00 37:36

As soon as the episode started airing, people started pouring into the salon. And it wasn't always for hair. Um, and it was also the first time that I started getting recognized for stuff that I was doing. I mean, I would for stuff in San Francisco, but that's so far removed from the like the actual entertainment industry. So, like standing in line at Disneyland um for Scream in California and someone tapping me on the shoulder and asking me if I'm from that show blowout. Like that was kind of cool. I was like, yes, but I didn't know how to handle it. And I was with Alan at the time because we a lot of us actually became friends on the show and hung out outside of the show. Um, and and so Disneyland was one of my favorite places to go in the 2000s, and so we were there, and I just kind of like would grab him and then throw him to the people. And I was like, but not as much as he is. Here's the star. He fights over breast milk. Totally. So I wanted, I was like, I wanted to be like the anti-reality reality TV personality. Well, you did it, and I I did it too effectively.

SPEAKER_01 38:43

Um so looking back on it, is it something that you would do again?

SPEAKER_00 38:48

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:49

Would you do it the same way?

SPEAKER_00 38:50

No. Okay. I would not take myself so seriously. I would separate the actual work that I'm doing from the entertainment value of the work that I'm doing and let the audience be savvy enough to differentiate between the two.

SPEAKER_01 39:04

I think that's smart.

SPEAKER_00 39:07

Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 39:08

I mean it's hindsight, but yeah, it's smart. Hindsight.

SPEAKER_00 39:10

Hey, I'd rather have smart hindsight than dumb hindsight. Your hindsight's so smart. If you're dumb in hindsight, then there's no hope for you.

SPEAKER_01 39:19

Yeah, I can't fix that.

SPEAKER_00 39:20

No. That's just that's ignorance.

SPEAKER_01 39:23

That's it for my questions on blowout. I'm just I'm disappointed that I can't watch it. We've been searching for it for almost 20 years now.

SPEAKER_00 39:29

No, it's in the vault, it's not coming out. Uh, you're you might be I know that the I've seen people have sent me a couple clips here and there, but um, I it's the one thing that I've searched for myself on the internet, and no, I can't find it. Kim, um I know at least the first season, her mom recorded all of them on VHS when they aired and then had them transferred to a DVD for her. Nice. So I there's that I know that someone somewhere has them. I'm sure they're in the Bravo Vault. I don't even know if Jonathan has copies of them. I can't imagine he wouldn't because I think as the primary of the show, he must have been sent the episodes before they aired.

SPEAKER_01 40:18

I'm sure he has a little bit of a few.

SPEAKER_00 40:19

Unless they weren't doing that yet at that time.

SPEAKER_01 40:21

I'm sure he's got something. Yeah. From like a watch party or something that he hosted and is just tucked away in a cabinet or something.

SPEAKER_00 40:27

And everything was so unprotected back then. Our contract was literally two pages, and they had me sign it the first day of filming on a producer's back in the alley. That's so crazy. Like it everything was, but it was so fun. And that was probably the realest reality TV was ever gonna get. Yeah.

unknown 40:44

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:45

And then you enter the Kardashian era and everything just got so corrupted and deranged.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

Now, see, that feels like that docuseries that you were talking about before with cops. Like you're not really there, really isn't any point to it. You're just watching them do stuff.

SPEAKER_00 41:04

I guess, and people think that that is a talent. They think being able to captivate an entire world without actually doing anything in and of itself is a talent. But I don't think it's the people we were watching that was the talent. It was the production, it was the producers. Yeah, it was the auto-tune on Paris Hilton's album that made it so great. It was the production value that they put into it because what they did was make what they were doing look that much more spectacular simply because they had more money to do it with. Anybody can live well if they've been given the means to and they've been directed how to. Right. And these women, these are produced women. There is nothing natural, organic, authentic, or real about any of these women. These women, they're like NPCs, they have one goal and one goal only, and that is to be this entity that is a Kardashian. And it's scary because it's so vapid.

SPEAKER_01 42:14

Well, it's scary because it's vapid, but it for me it's scary because it's vapid, because it promotes.

SPEAKER_00 42:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 42:24

It promotes that vapidity in other people to the point where now now young people are looking up to these terrible examples of human beings.

SPEAKER_00 42:33

I saw I said it to myself today on the way to work because there was someone in the garage that had that like matte primer gray that Kim Kardashian has, I guess, her like Maybach SUV painted, and now it's become this popular color, like this flat dove, warm dove primer looking gray. Yeah. And I was like, oh my god. It's like, what you're gonna paint your like Kia Scorpio that color because someone might think that they're seeing Kim Kardashian drive down the road, or because you're so in tune with what's in vogue that you've got the same color car that Kim Kardashian does.

SPEAKER_01 43:17

I think that has a lot to do with it, being able to say, oh, it's the same color that Kim has, or it's the same purse that Betty had, or it's the same, like why would you want the same thing that someone else has?

SPEAKER_00 43:28

Those are the types of people that have primitives all over their house. Um if you guys don't know what primitives are, because I didn't until someone told me what they are. Like a decorative primitive. A decorative primitive. It's the it's the wordy chotchy wall art.

SPEAKER_01 43:45

It's usually wood based.

SPEAKER_00 43:46

Live, love, laugh, venny, viti, vichy.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Yeah, it's like black and white. Home is where the heart is.

SPEAKER_00 43:53

Yeah. I always cook with wine and sometimes like put it in the thing.

SPEAKER_01 43:57

Because alcoholism is so funny. Oh my gosh, I love that addiction. Yeah. It's it's very much or or it turns like a a religious bend, and it's very much like Psalm 13, 45, 69, whatever.

SPEAKER_00 44:13

Oh my god, the footsteps on the beach.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

Yeah, it's that kind of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 44:16

Lord, why when my life was at its hardest, did you abandon me?

SPEAKER_01 44:20

Essentially anything you could find at HomeGoods. Yes. And I love going to Home Goods. Oh my god, I love HomeGoods. But for specific stuff, I skip that aisle definitely. I agree with you. Um we're gonna pause there, but we'll be back next week with a part two of our reality TV episode. See you then.