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Topic: REALITY Reunion (Read 512 times)

lakelady
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REALITY Reunion
« on: Oct 20^th, 2004, 8:25am »

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Wasn't sure where to put this. Good read.

REALITY Reunion
Wednesday October 13 1:06 PM ET

What happens when you throw a bunch of former reality TV show contestants together and start serving drinks? Columnist Larry Carroll experiences the perils of Reality Unleashed.

By Larry Carroll, FilmStew.com

In a thousand years, when some futuristic race of evolved beings uncover the remnants of our society and try to piece together the details of our day-to-day existence, what will they make of reality television? Perhaps some archeologist-type will discover a dictionary and use it to form a loose understanding of what we meant by the word reality: the quality or state of being actual or true. It would only make sense, then, that when they unearthed a time capsule containing a VHS tape of Temptation Island 3, they would assume that every one of us took professionally videotaped vacations to exotic islands where slick hosts directed us from one forbidden encounter in a hot tub to another, all culminating in someone being dismissed from our lives while someone else hands us a million dollars.

Theyd see the backstabbing and the scheming; the alliances, the cockiness and the rampant sexuality, and they would likely view ours as a self-centered, hedonistic society. And thats without even touching Puck, Omarosa, Richard Hatch and The Donald.

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Which is why you should do 21st century humanity a favor and purchase a copy of Reality Unleashed, the brand-new DVD that shows reality stars uncensored, unedited, the way they are inwellreality. The disc, which went on sale last week, is presented by website The Fishbowl.com, a group that giddily flaunts its adoration for televisions most popular genre of show.

Reality Unleashed is fourteen wacky reality people brought together for one night of booze and truths and all sorts of crazy talk about reality TV, says Rob Cesternino of Survivor 6: The Amazon fame. It really is pretty wild, because you get to hear a lot of stuff about what really happened, and what the editors didnt let you see, whats happened to these people since then.

Theres a lot of really crazy people on it, he maintains. I like Trishelle [Cannatella, from Real World: Las Vegas] on Reality Unleashed the best, because shes hot and shes sassy and she likes to drink and talk about the times she had threesomes, and Im cool with that.

Well, okay, maybe this disc wouldnt convince a future race that we werent hedonists. But, last week, when FilmStew attended the DVDs launch party at a trendy Beverly Hills nightclub, it was obvious that a new chapter in this whole reality movement was being written: the stars as a fraternity, banding together to fan the flames of notoriety for a little while longer.

Sarah Kozer of Joe Millionaire fame, wearing a flower in her blonde hair, was at the bar ordering a glass of wine. A well-dressed Richard Hatch lingered in the corner with the tie-dyed shirt wearing Rupert Boneham, presumably comparing their winning Survivor strategies. Laughs were shared, drinks were hoisted, and far too many flirtations were going on to count in this crowd of nearly fifty fifteen-minute fame mongers. Reality fans would have been in heaven.

Which is precisely what TheFishbowl.com is counting on with Reality Unleashed. The company hand-selected a sampling of Type-A personalities from various shows and invited them to a Los Angeles pub this past summer, filling them with food, booze, and the promise of a half-dozen cameras running continuously. The evening began with polite comparisons of each others shows and how they got involved with them; by the end, they were discussing porn and sucking Jagermeister shots out of each others belly buttons.

Its so funny when you get a lot of reality people in the same room together, says Nathan Marlow of Big Brother 4. Everybody blows up their chests and starts bragging about how their show had more viewers than yours. Everybody tries to one up each other but it wasnt that way on Reality Unleashed. Towards the end of the night theres some fun stuff, even Jell-o shots.

Yes, Bill Cosby probably wouldnt approve of the way everybodys favorite gelatinous dessert is used here, but then again Cosby was a primetime star in the Eighties. These are the people who hold Americas attention now young, hard-bodied, opinionated, with a predilection for make-out sessions in tubs of bubbling hot water. The topics of conversation on the quick-moving and endearingly produced DVD include what Sarah really did in the bushes with Evan Marriott, ways to get the camera to go away (playing basketball drowns out the audio), Jenna Lewis sex tape, and so much more.

Reality Unleashed is a good-natured invitation to a party, a get-together of old friends that is so unabashedly about fun that, when Kim Powers complains about her paranoia that the Survivor cameras would keep focusing on her butt, the Reality Unleashed cameraman stealthily zooms in on her rear-end. Fans of the many shows represented here The Apprentice, The Amazing Race, Big Brother, The Real World and more will enjoy the chance to see what these people are like when theyre unedited.

Is Shawna Mitchell really that nice? Yup. Is Lex Van Den Berghe really a jerk? Well, yeah. Theyll also enjoy all the inane knowledge to be garnered here who smokes, what everyones drink of choice is, who swears like a sailor once they start imbibing, and whos nice enough to venture outside and say hi to the gathered fans.

I wish I had known many of the things I now know, Katrina Campins of The Apprentice told FilmStew. I would have played it very differently if I had to do it again. I would shut up thats one thing I would do I would shut up. And I wouldnt really disclose every last thought I had in my head at every point in time. I would also try not to get manipulated by the producers as much.

You film so many hours of footage, you think, God, Im bound to come out as the person I really am, she continues. But, for example, I filmed for fifteen weeks, and I had one fight with Omarosa and yet, the one thing you see time and time again was that. The producers said it was one of the best fights ever on national television, and I never even thought it would make it on television.

That and other advice on what to do if you ever find yourself auditioning for Mark Burnett gets a special section in the DVD bonus features. So does a behind-the-scenes featurette thats worth your time, bios on the stars, deleted scenes and the fun little trifle When Editors Go Wild, which has the DVD footage re-mixed to make it seem like the stars are putting each other down behind their backs. The feature itself runs a just-right 86 minutes, and director Scott Zakarin wisely takes the majority of his footage from the latter part of the evening, when the alcohol has taken hold.

Like any great gathering, however, there are some party fouls. It gets extremely difficult to understand what is being said at times, due to the unscripted atmosphere that has people constantly talking over each other. Some conversations are infinitely more intriguing than others, and the cameras often frustrate the viewer by following the wrong conversationalist. Lastly, unless you are a die-hard fan who knows these people and their shows inside and out, you may occasionally find yourself lost among the inside references.

I think its definitely something that hasnt been done before, Kozer says of the DVD. Shes quite right: youve never seen a DVD like this. If a future generation uncovers Reality Unleashed, they may think our thoughts originated below the waist; they may think we all would do anything to get a few minutes of attention on camera; but theyll also think that we really knew how to party, that we enjoyed each others company and shared a lot of laughs - and is that such a bad way to be remembered?

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lakelady
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Re: REALITY Reunion
« Reply #1 on: Oct 20^th, 2004, 8:29am »

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Reality Unleashed
Razor Digital // Unrated // $19.99 // October 5, 2004

Review by Randy Miller III | posted October 6, 2004 | E-mail the Author | Start a Discussion

From an objective standpoint, it's pretty easy to see why reality TV appeals to so many people. Although it doesn't represent real life in the way I'm used to seeing it, it's a lot closer to reality than most other kinds of programming. And hey, if you're someone that enjoys watching other people, it's no wonder that this particular brand of TV would be right up your alley. Personally, I don't tend to enjoy these kinds of shows (as if the miniature rant above wasn't enough proof), but I can still see why some people like them: week after week, month after month, these shows allow viewers to get to know the participants on a near-personal level. While most of these chaps are usually slathered in waay too much lip gloss, body glitter, and hair gel to be labeled as "the girl/guy next door", they're still much closer to the label than your typical big-name celebrity.
I'd go more into the history of reality TV, but most followers of the genre are familiar with shows like The Real World, Survivor, Big Brother, and countless others. Keep in mind, this represents only the more modern form of reality shows---although there are plenty more throughout television's long history, the not-so-recent explosion of the genre is what Reality Unleashed is all about. It's basically a sorta-behind-the-scenes look festival of gossip that goes a little further than most of the previously mentioned shows---and many more---normally allow.

From the very beginning, the general atmosphere of Reality Unleashed is energetic, but still relaxed and casual. Set in a Los Angeles pub, Reality Unleashed depicts cast members sharing personal experiences from their respective shows, and also how their TV roles have affected their lives. And of course, some of them even battle raging hormones (in most cases, the hormones win). In all honesty, the cast is extensive, including such young personalities as Trishelle Cannatella, Irulan Wilson and Alton Williams from The Real World; Marcellas Reynolds, Josh Souza, Erika Landin, and Nathan Marlow from Big Brother; and Kim Powers, Shawna Mitchell, and Lex van den Berghe from Surivivor. There's also Valerie Penso and Kaya Wittenburg from Temptation Island; Sarah Kozer from Joe Millionaire; and Derek Riker from Amazing Race. It's a nice cross-section of current and past shows---and while I'm admittedly not a regular follower of any, it's pretty entertaining to see these people compare their personal experiences with one another. In short: while I really wasn't expecting much overall (and that's putting it mildly!), Reality Unleashed proved to be a pleasant surprise.

It's obvious that if you're a fan of at least two or more of the shows involved, Reality Unleashed will be of much interest to you. Hey, even if you aren't (like me), you might find yourself actually enjoying yourself. While it's not something that belongs in every DVD library, there's a pretty devoted fan following out there for this stuff. Even though the bulk of the main show contains tons of fluff, gossip, and that annoying squeal that girls do when they haven't seen each other in a long time, it's still a decent "tribute" to the genre it pays homage to. While reality TV may be something I might never fully appreciate, those that do will definitely enjoy what Reality Unleashed has to offer.

The DVD itself was produced in conjuction with TheFishbowl.com, a site devoted to reality TV in its many forms. In short, it provides a surprisingly nice technical presentation with a good handful of bonus features...and hey, the dirt-cheap price tag is a pleasant surprise as well. While I'm fairly certain that most lovers of reality TV have already made up their minds about this release by now, it never hurts to preach to the choir. With that said, let's see how this set stacks up, shall we?

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Heather
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Re: REALITY Reunion
« Reply #2 on: Oct 24^th, 2004, 3:35pm »

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LOL, I can imagine people several hundred years from now finding an "antique" VCR in some rubble with a tape full of Reality TV episodes.

They would probably think we're all nuts or something. I mean, a guy running around naked on a beach? A person locked in a house with about a bajillion tattoos on them? A short person running around carrying a piece of meat on them?

They will think that we were all nuts. Which is the truth...

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Jenna
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Re: REALITY Reunion
« Reply #3 on: Oct 26^th, 2004, 6:50pm »

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is this gonna b on again

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