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• 'Baby Borrowers': Not Going Anywhere Anytime Soon

  Mike's post last week about NBC's new reality show, "The Baby Borrowers," got some commenters fired up. Apparently it also fired up the Nielsen ratings. "Borrowers," which debuted last Wednesday at 9 p.m., attracted 7.9 million viewers, enough to put it in second place for its time slot. The show that beat it? Fox's "So You Think You Can Dance?" Hmmm. Maybe NBC should change the name of the show to "So You Think You Can Parent?" That might put it over the top. Read More... Posted Jun 29 2008, 04:01 PM by Jen Chaney with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: television, tv, reality TV, FOX, NBC, holly hobbie, So You Think You Can Dance, The Baby Borrowers

• "30 Days" Not Long Enough to Change One Woman's Mind About Gay Parenting

  As an old writing teacher of mine used to say, just because something really happened doesn't mean it's a good story.  This pretty much sums up my feelings about reality TV, and is at least half the reason that the "Same-Sex Parenting" installment of Morgan Spurlock's 30 Days show sat on my DVR for nearly a week before I could bring myself to watch it.   I was also afraid of how upset it would make me.   Read More... Posted Jun 29 2008, 02:30 PM by Erin White with | with 14 comment(s) Filed under: morgan spurlock, adoption, foster care, reality TV, lesbian and gay families, sperm banks, "30 Days", gay dads

• Moron Parents Abandon Kids for TV Fame

  My first complaint about Baby Borrowers -- a new reality show in which five teenage couples care for the babies of a few morons who rented them out to NBC -- is that it's just bad television. If you're going to make a reality series about abandoned children, at least make it interesting. Choose a grittier locale. Get a furry dog. A bald rich guy. A cute little orphan with red hair and maybe some catchy Broadway numbers about what a hard knock life it is but that somehow, tomorrow maybe, the sun will come out. Oh wait, that sounds familiar in some odd, distant way. But you get the picture. Baby Borrowers is not entertainment. It's dregs from the writer's strike -- brought forth during the summer TV doldrums to either sink or swim. Let us hope it sinks. Because my second complaint has to do with the aforementioned morons.   Read More... Posted Jun 26 2008, 08:02 AM by Mike Adamick (Cry It Out!) with | with 14 comment(s) Filed under: tv, reality TV, sad kids, bad tv, baby borrowers, moron parents

• Baby Borrowers: Bad Idea?

  More than a few commenters on my "pregnancy pact" post suggested that the teens in questions watch "The Baby Borrowers" – a reality show debuting tomorrow night on NBC in which five teenage couples care for, in turn, an infant, toddler, teen and older person. Does this sound like a ginormous trainwreck to anyone else? – and not the VH1-type celeb-reality type trainwreck that's so bad it's almost funny, but an actual horrendously bad idea? First, the idea is to let these teenage couple test out if their relationship can withstand the rigors of parenthood. Hello. I don’t need to have watched a minute of the show to tell you no they can't – and if they can, so what? Read More... Posted Jun 24 2008, 03:03 PM by AmyinMotown with | with 8 comment(s) Filed under: teenagers, high school, teen pregnancy, reality TV, bad ideas, high school sweethearts, baby borrowers, pregnancy pact, publicity whores

• Tracy Ullman does Dina Lohan

  Does an IMPRESSION of Dina Lohan. Get your minds out of the gutter, people. "OK, when Lindsay's heart stopped at Bungalow 8, that was my fault." Funny, nasty, not safe for work. Video after the jump. Read More... Posted Jun 02 2008, 02:30 PM by Brett Singer with | with no comments Filed under: celebrity, news, divorce, bad parenting, celebrity moms, Google, reality TV, Vegas, gossip, lindsay lohan, dina lohan, hollywood, celebrity kids, Brett Singer, ali lohan, long island, bad parenting hour, living lohan, mother of the year, celebutards, mingling moms, e online, worst parents award, Michael Lohan, celebrity children, lindsay lohan nude, Celebrity Families, yahoo shine, e! Channel, worst parents, celebrity trainwrecks, the stars are nothing like us, linlo, Samantha Ronson, yahoo, linlo nude, Beverly Hills, ali lohan reality show, stripper pole, the stars are not just like us

• The Real (Nekkid) Housewife of New York City

  I have no shame when it comes to reality TV. The ones that draw me in I will fiercely defend against all cultural snobs who rail on about how they degrade society. For what it's worth, I think said snobs are a bigger drain than any amount of reality TV -- but that's another fight.       Read More... Posted Apr 21 2008, 05:30 PM by Adrienne Martini with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: culture, reality TV, naked, socialites, pretension, real housewives

• Southern Belles Struggle to Objectify Themselves

  Thanks to the Internet, I have no reason to buy a TV. All the fun stuff that makes me embarrassed to be a member of the human race winds up on Jezebel.com eventually. Most recently, Jezebel brought my attention to an eye-opening MTV “documentary” about Southern Belles. Following the lives of three young women who see themselves as valiantly struggling to uphold a dying tradition, we learn that tried-and-true Southern gals never ask boys on dates, but are old maids if they’re not married by the time they’re 24.  Read More... Posted Apr 12 2008, 05:36 PM by Hannah Tennant-Moore with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: reality TV, MTV, crazy cat ladies, southern belles, southern hospitality, old maids

• Supernanny Kid Sets House on Fire

  Yep. When I need parenting advice I go straight to TV. Don't you? After all, everything is so...real on TV. And always has a happy ending that fits within 30 minutes or 60 minutes. Isn't life just like that? Apparently Paul and Susan Young thought it was. They appeared on "Supernanny" in 2005, hoping that Supernanny Jo Frost would help them figure out how to handle their five boys. All under 11 (yikes). And she did! For 60 minutes of television, that is. So did it work long-term? Did it help? Not if setting fire to the house is any indication. By a three-year-old.   Read More... Posted Oct 02 2007, 05:19 PM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: parenting, kids, reality TV, setting fires, supernanny, trainwrecks

• New CBS Kid's Reality Show: "Lord of the Flies" in Action?

  Everyone who made it past the eighth grade in my town was forced to read William Golding's Lord of the Flies, the story of planewrecked and stranded English schoolboys who eschew British niceties when attempting to govern themselves and instead turn to savagery and murder. The formula for upcoming CBS reality show Kid Nation, on the other hand, is forty kids ages eight to fifteen stranded alone in a ghost town for forty days, tasked with creating a workable society, and all without modern conveniences.  Though kids on the show won't be voted off, some will be nominated to be part of the "Upper Class", and occasional winners, or Gold Star Kids (a designation worth $20,000) will be declared by the town council every few days. It's hard to say whether the backbiting and intrigue of other reality shows (Survivor) will be a part of Kid Nation, but early reports indicate that it may actually show some depth while portraying kids earnestly attempting to work together and create something worthwhile. Which means that maybe I can use it as a tool to help my kids let go of their constant fighting. It's worth a try. Posted May 21 2007, 09:06 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: reality TV, CBS, Kid Nation

• "Fat Kids Can't Hunt": New Brit Reality-TV

  I don't know whether to be extremely amused or simply appalled by this new reality TV show set to air in Britain: fat kids are being sent to Australia where they will have to hunt for their food in the bush with Australian Aborigines. It's true! Yes, ten obese British teens will be living with Aboriginal families and will be required to hunt and eat worms and grubs, or go hungry. Grubs on the barbie: an exquisite, crunchy, nutritious taste sensation! Like a train wreck, this sounds like another "can't look away" scenario. I'm thinking it makes light of the Aborigines, however, so I hope they get plenty of opportunity to poke good fun at the kids, and maybe the whole thing will end up well. This show follows the similar "Fat Men Can't Hunt" which sent fat British men to live with tribes in the Kalihari desert in Namibia. Damn! I wish they had this show in the U.S., because I would totally watch it!  Would you? Is it any more improbable than American TV? I don't think so; these kids might learn something.   Posted Apr 16 2007, 07:36 AM by Karen Murphy with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: australia, Australian Aborigines, Fat Kids Can't Hunt, reality TV, fat British teens