Pop Culture Curmudgeon reality television

The Inside Scoop from Reality Television Insider Irene Cazares

Today, we have a special guest here at Pop Culture Curmudgeon: Irene Cazares. Irene has worked on a ton of the VH1 reality shows you love (or love to hate). Check out her IMDB resume here.

Pop Culture Curmudgeon: What do you think draws viewers into reality shows?

Irene Cazares: I think what makes reality television so appealing to so many viewers is the reality of it. In essence as a viewer, you are not watching Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on screen. You are watching a normal person, who after their fifteen minutes will most likely return to their normal everyday lives.

Most “stars” of the reality genre are many times no different than the person sitting watching them on the other side of the television. Anyone can see themselves in front of Simon Cowell and imagine how they would react if they won American Idol, or for many, how they would react to his thorny remarks.

Reality stars are often the introverts, the dorks, the bachelors who can’t find a woman of their own if not for the help of a national television show.

But to put it bluntly, what draws viewers into these shows most is the drama. Watching Jack and Kate break up on Lost, a show where actors are playing parts and true emotions are not on the line, pales in comparison to seeing real couples devastated as they break up, like on Temptation Island, or watching the slow unraveling of a marriage on John and Kate plus Eight.

At the same time, the three things that help reality thrive? Cheating, fighting and flowing tears. Real people. Real feelings. Real situations. That’s reality at its best.

PCC: What would viewers be most surprised about if they were able to go behind the scenes of their favorite shows?

IC: I think viewers would find the grand production that goes on, both boring and fascinating. For a show like Big Brother, thousands of hours of footage is shot. To sort through that and find those interesting moments that fans would most like to see takes tons of manpower and requires weeks, sometimes months per episode. It’s a very daunting task at the beginning of a new show.

Also, here’s some food for thought. With that much footage and only an hour per week of airtime — 42:30 after commercials — a lot of great material is left out based on time constraints.

PCC: What memorable experiences have you had on the set?

IC: I don’t spend much time on set as an editor, but I must say the most memorable moment had to be when season one of Flavor of Love. One of the girls could not control her bowel movements and pooped on set.

PCC: That is no good! What happens in the editing room? (I hope nothing quite as messy!)

IC: Despite there being so many cameras surrounding them, there are always those cast members who think they can sneak away from the camera. When this happens, and we catch them going about their “private” business, we usually get some of our best footage.

It’s another reason people love reality, because its voyeuristic. Like watching a soap opera, but with real people’s lives and feelings at stake.

Also, cutting it down to the wire literally. Teams of people stressed having to do the creative and technical work almost at the same time in order to make air.

PCC: What do you look for in the footage to decide what makes it on the air?

IC: The footage has to be compelling. Something that evokes emotion, whether it be laughter, hatred or sympathy. Boring footage will not be received well, and your show will be canceled. When looking through footage, I tend to go with a scene that grabs me for some reason or other. One that is so scandalous I cannot look away, one so funny that it makes me laugh out loud, or one where the character is just so charismatic that I recognize something within them that people at home would enjoy.

But my opinion isn’t the only one that counts. After I turn in my first cut, it goes into a screening room where producers and other people who are involved with the show get to add their input. From there, it’s a collaborative effort to make a show that is unique and one audiences will love.

PCC: You have had quite steady work. What lessons have you learned that have helped you stay employed in a business that is known for the constant hustle for the next gig?

IC: Keep honing your skills and realize where you are. It’s Hollywood baby. While I don’t consider myself much of a schmoozer, networking and putting yourself out there is key in this industry, even behind the scenes, so if you’re not up to it, then this isn’t the business for you.

However, if you still think you want to break in, cut a demo reel together and have it ready. It’s not a bad idea to have it on the internet, so prospective employers can view your work immediately.

PCC: Do you have any new projects in the works that we should be on the lookout for?

IC: Yes, but none I can officially talk about as our air date is pending. I will let you know as soon as I can.

PCC: Thanks so much for visiting with us today, Irene. I learned a lot — and had some suspicions confirmed — about reality television.

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Is This the End of the American Idol Era?

As you know, I don’t like reality TV. It pisses me off that it is making my beloved scripted programming an endangered species. Reality TV gets ratings, it is dirt cheap to produce, and people talk about it. I understand why the TV executives love it. But, I will get off my soap box and turn to the issue at hand.

Today, I’m interested to see if American Idol’s dominance of the TV landscape is truly over.

According to USA Today, the ratings were stinkers compared to last season’s finale. And, they note that the continued watering down of the talent pool has led to some milquetoast winners in recent seasons.

The Dancing with the Stars finale nearly beat the AI finale in the ratings, which many industry people are pointing to as the end of AI. Don Reisinger, TV Squad, offers tips to AI as it contemplates its post-Simon Cowell future. They are all based on the keys to the success of DWTS.

I think AI will continue to limp along for a while longer, giving us fewer and fewer interesting artists and more and more generic pop-rock.

What do you think? Is the end nigh for AI?

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Pop Culture Roundup, May 13

Welcome to this week’s collection of fun pop culture stories.

TV Stories
Supernatural
Random Stuff

TV Stories

Lo Bosworth Talks about Reality of The Hills on Bonnie Hunt
This is an interesting look at what is actually real on reality TV.

GLAAD: Newsweek Articles Sends a Damaging Message
The flap over whether an openly gay actor can play straight heated up again this week with the publication of the essay “Straight Jacket.” Do you think an actor’s personal life affects your ability to suspend your disbelief? I think it does in most cases. If it doesn’t work, it’s a problem with their acting, not their personal life.

I still hold Harrison Ford in low esteem because of his comments that no one would believe Anne Heche as a straight woman when she was cast as his lead in Six Days, Seven Nights. I mean, people believe her when she plays someone who isn’t insane. (She did have a nervous breakdown. And it’s been long enough that it’s funny, right?)

Supernatural

Supernatural Episode Recap: Two Minutes to Midnight
Just in case you don’t remember what happened last week.

First Finale Look: Vampire Diaries and Supernatural
I can’t believe it is already the season finale tonight! Here’s a little preview of what is to come.

Swan Song Finale Clip
A clip from tonight’s episode.

Sneak Peek #2: Supernatural 5.22 “Swan Song”
And another.

Joe Schreiber Talks Supernatural, The Unholy Cause
Another piece on the newest SPN tie-in novel.

Exclusive Interview with Jim Beaver
Beaver talks about the reasons Supernatural has stuck around so long and his other projects.

Random Stuff

Goodbye, Sookie
When is it time to break up with a series? I’ve talked about this before, and I think it is perfectly okay to stop reading or watching a series when you realize it no longer brings you joy.

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TV Is Out of Balance

There was a time when the entertainment arm of the big networks was seen as the patron of the educational and informational arms. The money made on primetime shows was used to fund the important things, such as educational programming for children or the news.

Now, each arm of the big entertainment conglomerates must make money or it is cut. The news must win in the ratings and make money, rather than being provided as a public service and to fulfill the charter granted to the television station by the government (and by extension, the American people).

And scripted shows seem to be given the cold shoulder when networks are shown the shiny, cheap reality shows that will bring in the ratings. Never mind that the reality shows have little, if any, redeeming social value. Or that good scripted shows can make us think and possibly change the world (e.g., All in the Family, which challenged racist values and led to one of the first African American sitcoms on television).

I’d like to see a return to a time when the less artistic, more money-focused aspects of the TV biz helped subsidize the more socially responsible pieces. I would feel better about horrific nightmares like Hitched or Ditched if I knew they were helping make possible a good local news program or a high-quality scripted show. And don’t even get me started on what the local networks count in their public service programming to keep their charter.

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Actor's Strike Could Mean Another Long, Cold Winter

According to Reuters, SAG leadership will ask members to vote on a strike authorization.

I support the actor’s union in doing what is needed to ensure fair payment for its workers. Even after all of the public education done before and during the writer’s strike, so many people still think everyone in the entertainment industry is rolling in money. And some are–the studio executives. Marquee name actors make a good living, but there are countless other no-name actors who are essential to the shows and movies we watch but who don’t have the name recognition to argue for more than the absolute minimum pay rate.

Salary.com gives a median income for actors living in the 90036 zip code of $55,0000. By comparison, the median income for a Chief Operations Officer in the same zip code is $471,000.

The struggle of the actors union mirrors the struggle of all organized labor in the U.S.

Workers have watched their wages stagnate, while the compensation packages of top executives have grown exponentially. Currently, the median income in the U.S. is $48,000. The median income for CEOs was $14 million in 2004. CEOs make 291 times what the average worker makes.

Business guru Peter Drucker believed CEO pay shouldn’t be more than 25 times average pay for a company. According to a recent Business Week article, Drucker “hated high CEO pay on every level: what it said about the individual as a leader, how it undermined the smooth functioning of the organization, and the way it tore at the fabric of society as a whole.”

Thus the outcome of this strike vote and these labor negotiations have a tremendous bearing on the future of labor in the U.S. And, more important, it will affect how we spend our evenings and weekends over the next few months. Remember the wasteland of reality television of last winter? I do, and it makes me shudder.

Remember the great shows we watched before the strike that didn’t come back until this fall? You know, Friday Night Lights, Pushing Daisies, Chuck, Heroes, 24, and Dirty Sexy Money? Only Chuck has shown any legs, getting critical acclaim and finally showing increasing ratings. (Friday Night Lights and 24 have not yet returned to the network airwaves.) Heroes has entered freefall and let some of its writers go in an effort to regain its ratings power. And Pushing Daisies and Dirty Sexy Money have been cancelled. Which shows will be destroyed be an actor’s strike?

Let me know what you think about all of this. Do you care about an actor’s strike? Do you care about the power of organized labor? Do you love reality programming and look forward to a winter and sring of American Gladiators, Exploit My Kids, and Lock My Neighbors Dog in the House so I Won’t Hear It Barking?

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