MTV's "Real World: Brooklyn," ABC's "True Beauty" and "The Principal's Office" are Among the Season's Best Unscripted Series
By Ed Martin TV / Video Download Archives
Lost amid all the excitement about the recent return to network schedules of such top-flight scripted fare as Fox’s 24, ABC’s Lost, NBC’s Friday Night Lights, TNT’s The Closer, Sci Fi Channel’s Battlestar Galactica, HBO’s Big Love, FX’s Damages and USA Network’s Burn Notice have been a number of unscripted gems that are making it easier to escape from the harsh realities of punishing winter weather and crushing economic concerns.
Topping the list is Real World: Brooklyn, the 21st season of MTV’s venerable reality franchise in which twenty-something strangers live together in splendid environments and try to get along. In recent years this show has devolved into a shocking and ultimately depressing celebration of the very worst in young adult behavior. But early episodes from this season have been as entertaining and enlightening as just about anything else on television these days. The Brooklyn bunch includes Katelynn, a post-op transgendered female who is slowly coming out to her new friends and acquaintances and dealing with the difficulties of a long-distance relationship; JD, a young gay man who was raised by a physically and emotionally abusive father; Ryan, an Iraq War veteran and musician; Sarah, a former lesbian who is now in a relationship with a guy; and Chet, a colorful, outspoken Mormon. The exchanges between these guys and gals have been consistently and surprisingly humorous and heartfelt, and there has been one standout sequence that I will never forget, in which Ryan and Chet comically bonded while singing to each other in a small boat. (Note to Brody Jenner: This is a true bromance.) The scene in which Katelynn came out to JD and the two exchanged stories about the challenges they faced growing up was the most moving I have seen on this series since Danny learned that his mother had died during Real World: Austin back in 2005. So far, Real World: Brooklyn is rich and rewarding television.
Similarly engrossing and more than a bit alarming is truTV’s compulsively watchable The Principal’s Office, in which principals and other administrators in a handful of high schools around the country are shown dealing with problem students in this era of adolescent empowerment. The endlessly patient and preternaturally composed adults on this program are a marvel to behold. The smug, snotty and sometimes ridiculously stupid kids are another matter. Best to laugh at them (and that is very easy to do), lest the awful truth set in: These empty headed, responsibility averse, digitally driven youths represent a significant cross-section of the future American work force. The Principal’s Office is mandatory viewing for anyone concerned about what goes on in schools today and how taxpayer dollars are spent (or wasted). Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Similarly thought-provoking is ABC’s irresistible guilty pleasure treat, True Beauty, in which several impossibly attractive men and women compete for the distinction of being named the most beautiful, unaware that the show’s judges place greater importance on their personalities and compassion for others than their looks. Every week two of them are called to the Hall of Beauty – a gallery filled with large photographs of the remaining competitors – where one is made to suffer the indignity of painful elimination. Each send-off concludes with two janitors taking out the portrait of the latest reject with the rest of the day’s trash. How can you not love this? Sadly, it would appear that because the secret of this show has been so well publicized that it cannot return for additional seasons. Then again, future potential competitors are likely so self-absorbed at present that they aren’t aware of the details, or even the show, so maybe hope is not lost.
MTVhas another winter winner in Randy Jackson Presents America’s Best Dance Crew, which in its third season is more professionally polished than before. Mario Lopez makes an appealing host and judges Lil’ Mama and Shane Sparks give informed, extremely detailed critiques that seem far more instructive than those from the judges on such big-budget talent contests as American Idol and Dancing with the Stars. (The third judge, JC Chasez, was absent on last week’s season premiere, but guest judge Kid Rainen, a member of the Season 1 winning crew JabbaWockeeZ, did a fine job filling in and should be asked to return.) It is impossible to not be impressed by the dancers in all of the crews.
Over on VH1 is a new unscripted effort that should serve as a gripping cautionary tale for all those young and famous celebutards in Hollywood who think the current good times will never end. Confessions of a Teen Idol plops seven former young male stars that once enjoyed huge teen followings into one of those nicely decorated reality show living environments, where they endure a series of frequently humiliating experiences that are designed to prove they are still fame whores at heart. (The embarrassments include shocking, rudely-lit close-ups that reveal the depth of every line and pore on their faces.) The guys are also subjected to loopy sessions with a perfectly dreadful “therapist” who specializes in fame. She seems not to understand that fame and reputation are two very different things, but whatever. Some of the guys are recovering substance abusers who derailed their careers. Others simply walked away and started new lives outside of the entertainment business. Now they all want back in, or so the “therapist” would have them believe. I hate to say it, but at this point Christopher Atkins, Eric Nies, Adrian Zmed, Jeremy Jackson, Jamie Walters, Billy Hufsey and David Chokachi appear to each have a better chance of achieving cheesy reality show stardom than reviving their former careers. Has-beens Scott Baio and Jason Hervey are also on hand as hands-on executive producers.
Also currently on VH1 is Tool Academy, a piece of prime, Grade-A reality show trash the likes of which this network continues to put forth with a sustained gusto that is awe-inspiring. The premise: Nine guys lacking sensitivity chips have been enlisted by their desperate girlfriends to take part in a boot camp structured to make them better boyfriends. But the guys think (at least at the start) that they are participating in a reality series titled Mr. Awesome – and each one thinks he’s a shoo-in for the grand prize. Shocking surprises spill forth (and tears freely flow) as many of the girls learn that their guys are preening pricks, and at the end of each episode one of the boys is bounced out after being told, “You’re just a tool.” It may be the best exit line on any show ever.
Ed Martin
Ed Martin is the chief television and content critic for MediaVillage. He has written about television and internet programming for several Myers publications since 2000, including The Myers Report, The Myers Programming Report, MediaBizBloggers a…
