Yesterday, I read that Randy Fenoli from Say Yes to the Dress is about to star in a spinoff of the show beginning April 1, with a working title of Say Yes to the Dress: Randy Knows Best. The first thing I thought when I read this was: another wedding show? And, more specifically: another wedding dress show?
It seems as though there are certain niches of the ever-expanding reality genre that are, well, getting played out. Wedding shows are one of them. I don’t even want to say that these shows “jumped the shark,” because I think that happened a while ago. Now they’re just getting annoying. Off the top of my head, I can list several: Say Yes to the Dress (the original, the Atlanta version, and now Randy Knows Best — all on TLC); Four Weddings (also TLC); Shedding For the Wedding (the CW); and Bridalplasty (E!).
CliqueClack’s own Katie reminded me of two wedding shows on WeTV that I had forgotten about: “I know there’s one about couples who go over budget on their weddings [Rich Bride, Poor Bride] thanks to one member of the couple wanting outrageous crap for their wedding (oftentimes the bride, but there’s a crazy groom here or there).” She also described My Fair Wedding, in which “a wedding planner named David Tutera makes over often silly-themed weddings a few weeks before the event. I guiltily watch this one because he’s actually very nice to his brides and is really good about incorporating their original ideas, but in a more fancy way.”
Now that we’re on the topic of overplayed reality TV, how about baking shows? There’s Ace of Cakes and Cupcake Wars on the Food Network; Cake Boss, DC Cupcakes, and Ultimate Cake Off on TLC … I am a buttercream whore and I still think this is too much.
Two more of our writers weighed in on what other reality themes had overdone it. …
Janey: There is a proliferation of those “let’s group well-to-do women with money and/or big personalities and toss them together into situations where they may or may not behave badly.” Yes, I’m talking about the Real Housewives (of which I will cop to loving the NYC version but can take/leave the rest) and something called Basketball Wives on VH1. I’m sure there are others in this genre I’m missing but they do seem to be everywhere.
Debbie: There are a million talent/singing competitions now, too, but since I don’t really watch reality TV (aside from Iron Chef-type stuff), I’m not a good one to add to this. Except to say that there are never too many cooking / food shows because food is awesome.
That’s OK, I’ll add the talent ones: There’s the ever-popular American Idol and So You Think You Can Dance (FOX); America’s Got Talent and The Sing-Off (NBC); Dancing With The Stars (ABC); and — one of my personal favorites — America’s Best Dance Crew (MTV).
May I digress a bit from my original point? I enjoy the aforementioned talent competitions much more than the “day-in-the-life-of” reality shows. This is not only because I am a musician myself and therefore have a great appreciation for the arts. It’s also because we get to see a bunch of formerly dead-to-us celebrities resuscitated and brought back to life as hosts, panel judges, and contestants to be mocked. (Obviously, this last point is just as much a justification of why people don’t watch these shows, but still.)
Think about Jennifer Lopez. People pretty much started to write her off around the time she became one half of Bennifer, but now? She’s back, as gorgeous and fashion-forward as ever! (Although, JLo? It would help to know who Ryan Adams is when judging one of your contestants for singing his song.) Many people I’ve talked to say they were 100% done with Aerosmith and Steven Tyler, until they started watching him on Idol and — suddenly, he’s cool again. Same goes for Shawn Stockman of Boyz II Men. (Well, I’m not sure how many people watching The Sing-Off thought he was cool, but I sure did.) Haven’t had an Osbourne fix in awhile? (Um … kidding …) Watch Sharon on America’s Got Talent. Did you love Jennifer Grey in Dirty Dancing? Watch her on Dancing With The Stars! (Trying really hard to refrain from telling you where not to put Baby.) So, while some shows drive us nuts, others are perfect for guilty-pleasure viewing — and it really all depends on the individual, obviously.
I feel as though I’ve just scratched the surface, but I’m going to refrain from writing a book. Are there other reality shows, or themes in general, that you are just sick of? Which ones can’t you live without? Let us know in the comments!
Clacked by Rachel Blum-Jose 
on Mar 10, 2011 @ 13:00 EST5EDT
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I am still not over the fact that JLo didn’t know who Ryan Adams is… at least she copped to it, rather than fluffing over it. But still. Should we tell her that he’s married to Mandy Moore, in addition to being a kick-ass musician?
And PS: I LOVED the first season of The Osbournes so much I have it on DVD. Shhhh….
Simon Cowell didn’t know who Keane was during one of the earlier seasons, and he should know better, being much more “in the biz” than J Lo.
Err… maybe it was 311 (which would have been even more egregious, as they were a pretty popular band), I can’t remember. It was some band that the beat boxing kid did.
*POST AUTHOR*
I think you are right about Keane, Bob. (“Something Only We Know”) And I think his name was Blake Lewis.
*POST AUTHOR*
True, Janey, she handled it well! And wow, you like the Osbournes, eh? Ha ha!
I know who Ryan Adams is now (though I will admit to never having heard any of his music) but for the longest time I thought people were just mumbling Bryan Adams! ;-)
I would say “say no to ALL of the reality shows.” But that’s just me :P
But honestly, why expect Lopez to to be familiar with an artist for a genre of music that she’s obviously not interested in? Just because she’s a judge on Idol, she should now be an expert on popular music?
(Says the guy that owns two Ryan Adams MP3s, and only because they featured a song of his on The West Wing once).
*POST AUTHOR*
Well, I guess I’m not really surprised that J Lo didn’t know Ryan Adams, but it’s sort of her responsibility to expand what she listens to now that she’s judging. (Maybe? I wonder what Ellen did.) I think they might know in advance what the contestants sing, too, and if that’s the case then she doesn’t really have an excuse. The reason I think they might find out in advance is because Randy often says, “Yo, dawg, when I heard you were gonna do _______, I was nervous, yo …” Unless he meant that he JUST heard it right before they sang.
. . . . .
Rachel:
The judges are privy to rehearsal performances on Idol, thus Randy’s “When I heard you were gonna do …”
I would rather watch any of those wedding dress or bride make-over shows back-to-back than have to watch Bridezillas ever again! That show gave me a migraine!
One of the best makeover shows that unfortunately got canceled after only one season was On the Road with Austin and Santino. It aired on Lifetime right after each episode of Project Runway last season. Austin Scarlett and Santino Rice had great chemistry, the show was funny and charming and went easy on the schmaltz and in the end they made really nice dresses for the women in need in each episode, whether it be for a military woman’s anniversary (and she hadn’t been in a dress in years) or another woman celebrating five years of being cancer-free. I don’t know why PR fans didn’t stay tuned (maybe the 90 minute episodes were just too much for some people) but it was one show that I looked forward to every week…and Lifetime never even aired the final episode!
I’m such a sucker for makeover shows and I really liked the feeling of the Austin and Santino show. They were always really lovely to the women they made over and they actually got along with each other well, which surprised me.
I know! I thought it was cool that they went to those small towns, met the women, had some fun, had such great chemistry, and even when it seemed like they had about 3 minutes to make a dress, it always turned out beautifully. And it was a compact show too at 30 minutes so nothing was drawn out too much. It was such a feel good show but it never felt manipulated like Undercover Boss or Secret Millionaire. And it was miles more entertaining than Models of the Runway! It’s a shame when a show like that doesn’t catch on.
Is it sad that I watched Santino’s season and it took this new show for me to realize he’s actually gay? I just assumed he was one of those eccentric straight designers… until he made the “I haven’t been in the closet for years” joke with Austin.
On the topic of Santino, I was really expecting him to be a dick because he was such a dick on PR… but he was actually a sweetheart!
*POST AUTHOR*
I’m so glad you guys brought up Austin & Santino. I always avoided the show, because I really didn’t like their personalities when they were on PR. Then one of my friends randomly commented on Facebook about how much she loved the show. I really value her opinion, so I meant to give it a try — but now it’s too late! It’s funny how some shows will be surprisingly good like that.
Maybe that’s why the show never caught on because people who knew Santino from his season of PR figured he was going to be totally annoying. I came late to PR and only say the first few episodes of Austin’s season (the first?) and I thought he was just a bit much. But I also got to see Santino as a judge on RuPaul’s Drag Race and found him to be quite funny there, so that’s why I gave that show a shot and I’m glad I did because I liked both of them a lot. If you want to see the show, I do believe they are still playing the episodes on the Lifetime Real Women channel. I keep hoping they’ll air that elusive final episode which has so far only been available on the Lifetime website.
*POST AUTHOR*
Almost forgot about another reality theme: the “I’m a huge-ass family” show. 20 (or however many) Kids and Counting, Kate plus eight, Sister Wives …
Reality shows are playing to the lowest of people. I rarely watch any because they are truly not reality.
Can’t stand “Say Yes to the Dress” Randy – he’s annoying and very overbearing. Why does TLC insist on having men be the narrators and “star” of shows about women. It’s insulting.