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Reality Shows Continue to Plumb the Depths

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (33)



michael-vickd.jpg

Reality producers are stepping up the bullshit again. Just weeks after FOX announced that it’d be rolling out “More to Love” — a dating show with overweight contestants — and “Something’s Gotta Go” — a reality show where actual employees of a company are forced to fire one of their own — NBC is now recruiting a future felon for its summer celebrity reality show, “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!”

The show, based on a U.K. hit, takes several C-level celebrities and pits them against each other in challenges, with the proceeds going to charity. The charity, of course, is the celebrities involved. They are paid $60,000 an episode (though, they can be voted off, which explains their tears). Blagojevich’s participation is pending court approval, as his travel restrictions have to be loosened so that he can participate in the show, which will be filming in Costa Rica.

The NBC’s summer schedule will also include another round of “America’s Got Talent,” as well as a few new scripted shows, including “The Philanthropists” starring James Purefoy and Neve Cambpell (oh, Neve. Really?). It’s about a billionaire who gives away money to people in need. Also on tap, “Merlin,” a 13-part series about the wizard of Camelot. And, of course, a mini-series, Meteor, about a rock hurtling toward the Earth. That’s an original idea.

But, NBC is banking on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!” to be the linchpin of their summer schedule. They plan on airing it five nights a week for a full month.

Of course, Blagojevich isn’t the only criminal poised to star in a reality show. Guess who else wants a reality show? Dog killer Michael Vick. He’s currently talking to producers about a reality show that would follow him from the day of his release, July 20th (really? Already?), and it would purportedly show him trying to make amends for his past sins. In other words, some network may be rewarding the motherfucker for animal cruelty. Apparently he needs the money to pay for millions in debts in legal fees. The poor bastard.









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Comments

As long as the reality show centers around Vick's weekly battles with examples of various LARGE dog breeds, I'll watch. Here's a few I'd like to see him go a couple of rounds with: Rottweiler, Akita, Doberman Pinscher, German Shepherd, Mastiff, and perhaps a dozen Chihuahuas with bad attitudes.

Posted by: Kolby at April 15, 2009 10:10 AM

Unless that a-hole's reality show is about how many maulings he can survive by rabid dogs, there's no way that guy get his own show.

Posted by: Whorish Mouth at April 15, 2009 10:11 AM

I like where you're head's at, Whorish Mouth.

I also like your name. Fantastic.

Posted by: Kolby at April 15, 2009 10:12 AM

Wait is that "Merlin" the BBC's extremely gay crazy screamingly historically inaccurate badly written Merlin, or a new Merlin?

Posted by: twig at April 15, 2009 10:17 AM

i want to go on the amazing race with my dog.

Posted by: celery at April 15, 2009 10:21 AM

But, NBC is banking on “I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Outta Here!” to be the linchpin of their summer schedule.

Thanks, NBC, for inspiring me to camp and hike all summer instead of having you sodomize my brain with your programming (and not the fun sodomy).

Posted by: branded at April 15, 2009 10:31 AM

I hope an integral part of Mr. Vick's making of amends involves him being strapped into a rape rack and then having hundreds of pit bulls run a gravey train on him.

Then cover his balls in delicious meat loaf. The food, not the singer. On second thought....

Posted by: admin at April 15, 2009 10:31 AM

there actually was a prison break reality show on british tv channel 5 pre Prison Break. It was called Break Out or something and was back in the day when they thought it would be good to televise porn, football and people touching cars for as long as possible.

Teams of men and women were imprisoned and had to break out.

Why is reality never in air-quotes with these shows... they have a tenuous grip on the concept at best.

Posted by: jim of the lower case at April 15, 2009 10:34 AM

Didn't Merlin already happen? With Sam Neill?

Posted by: Mr. Tusks at April 15, 2009 10:35 AM

"America’s Got Talent."
---
Could have fooled me.

I have an idea for a show: "America's Got Taste."

It would attract 0 ratings and be canceled in the first 30 seconds.

Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at April 15, 2009 10:40 AM

Isn't there a chance Blagojevich (and his hair) will be in jail by then?

FUCK MICHAEL VICK!

Posted by: Henry at April 15, 2009 10:51 AM

hehehe...Whorish Mouth for the win.

Posted by: PissBoy at April 15, 2009 11:02 AM

Oh boy, I know I am going to get flamed for this, but Vick has paid his debt to society and should be allowed to make a comeback.

He financed and attended vicious acts of animal cruelty, I know. I don't dispute that the crime is heinous. But he has lost two years of his life and more money than the entire staff of Pajiba will likely make in their lifetimes. He's paid far more for his crime than any animal abuser in the history of this country. It's time to lay off and give him a chance to get his life back.

Posted by: ed newman at April 15, 2009 11:11 AM

Getting his life back need not include syndicated television programming.

I know. I know. So don't watch.

Posted by: Henry at April 15, 2009 11:26 AM

I love summer TV! It gives me a chance to not watch it so I can catch up on all the quality shows I've missed on DVD and the movies I haven't gotten around to yet. Hell, I'm almost at that point during the regular television season.

Posted by: TylerDFC at April 15, 2009 11:26 AM

It's time to lay off and give him a chance to get his life back.


I hope you appreciate the epic amount of self control I am excercising right now.

Posted by: admin at April 15, 2009 11:29 AM

Will Best Friends Animal Sanctuary get any and all proceeds from Vick's business enterprises until the costs incurred in rehabing the dogs are covered?

Posted by: Melody at April 15, 2009 11:33 AM

Sure do. Thanks, admin.

Posted by: ed newman at April 15, 2009 11:39 AM

So does getting his life back include getting insanely rich (again) for having a reality show solely because of his animal abuse? While I don't disagree that he's paying his debt to society and once he's finished his sentence he should be able resume a relatively normal life provided he remains crime free, I don't think rewarding his noteriety with a reality show is appropriate.
If he really wants to turn his life around he should work with animal rescue groups and do what he can to help abused and neglected animals, not try to get back to his prior standard of living by some half-assed attempt to make himself look good on TV. Put in some real effort and use that noteriety productively.

Posted by: Whorish Mouth at April 15, 2009 11:50 AM

I would enjoy watching Michael Vick get mauled by dogs. So if this is the direction producers are thinking, I'm there. Throw in Donald Trump, I may shell out for Tivo so I can be sure not to miss it.

Posted by: Slash at April 15, 2009 12:06 PM

If he really wants to turn his life around he should work with animal rescue groups and do what he can to help abused and neglected animals, not try to get back to his prior standard of living by some half-assed attempt to make himself look good on TV. Put in some real effort and use that noteriety productively.

Well played, Mr. Whorish Mouth.

Posted by: Julie at April 15, 2009 12:13 PM

The reality show is probably a bad idea and I won't watch it, but I doubt it will make him insanely rich. I'm pretty sure you'll see him working with animal abuse groups (based on his interviews in prison and his need to rehab his image to get back in the NFL) but whether it is a true character change or a business decision, we'll have to wait and see. My point is only that compared to anyone who has ever been involved in animal cruelty he has suffered the harshest penalties. I know much of it here is for effect, but from the comments it seems some would like to see him executed for the crime.

Posted by: ed newman at April 15, 2009 12:15 PM

Paid his debt to society? According to the courts, yes. But there is nothing... NOTHING... Vick will ever be able to do that would enable me to forgive him. Fuck him. He can find forgiveness in the afterlife, but he won't get it from me. Two years isn't nearly enough time for the kind of awful, sickening shit he did.

So forgive me if I lack sympathy for his two cushy years of incarceration, and forgive me if I can't justify him getting a fucking television show that, let's be honest, would never exist had it not been for the fact that he's a sadistic, animal-torturing bastard.

I don't dispute that he should be able to play football again, because that's not based on his notoriety. But reality TV? That's nothing short of repugnant.

Posted by: TK at April 15, 2009 12:33 PM

All he needs to do is show he can still run really fast and occasionally throw the ball to get back into the NFL. Some QB strapped team will take a chance on signing Vick to an incentive laden contract. If the Players Union wanted to fight it, the ban has really no merit. They let Leonard Little play and he killed human beings with his actions.

And the hate being spewed forth for Mr. Vick right now... that's why a reality show featuring him would be greenlit. Haters watch TV too.

Posted by: antietam at April 15, 2009 12:35 PM

That's Ms. Whorish Mouth, Julie. And thanks. :)

Posted by: Whorish Mouth at April 15, 2009 12:43 PM

'Tri-Sexual' Because He'll 'Try Anything'????
Not really sure about that! Perhaps, he does love hot cougars on ===="" Agelessmate. c o m" ==== they are sincere and sensual, wild and sexy, would offer you all old tricks to play!!!

Posted by: alish at April 15, 2009 12:59 PM

As a loyal subject of Her Majesty, may I apologise for further quantities of our effluent crossing the Atlantic. As if Simon Cowell wasn't enough.

I'm afraid 'C-list' is optimistic for participants in 'I'm a Celebrity...' It does have a certain schadenfreude appeal, but for some reason the British public always seem to vote for the women to do tasks involving putting unpleasant things in their mouths. I guess centuries of sexual repression die hard.

Posted by: Nikopol at April 15, 2009 1:34 PM

I completely agree, TK. Fucker needs to just stay the hell away forever. It's disgusting.

Maybe we should pair him up with the spambots.

Posted by: figgy at April 15, 2009 2:34 PM

yeah yeah, Vick paid his debt. I'd like to see someone offer a child molester fresh out of prison a reality show. See how that shit plays out. He's been denied his freedom for two years and he should have another chance? most jailbirds are maligned for life and i dont care that he's black or that he used to handle a ball in the way this country of (mostly) retarded people reveres.
Maybe i should go out and film myself raping homeless people and make a fuckin mint off that shit. Oh,what i'm comparing humans to dogs? Yes. Consciousness equals equality and i dont give a fuck that the prick has been punished. He deserves it and if he wants redemption there are a thousand fucking ways to go about it that are more honest, worthy, and substantial than a fucking reality show. THE ONLY REASON ANYONE HAS ANYTHING TO DO WITH REALITY TV IS MONEY. And if that wasnt true, we'd have shows as good as 'spaced' to watch all the time.

Posted by: david at April 15, 2009 3:03 PM

All he needs to do is show he can still run really fast and occasionally throw the ball to get back into the NFL.

Not true. Goodell will decide when he can come back, if ever. While individual teams will act as you say, "the league" doesn't want to alienate its fan base. As you can see from the above comments, Vick WILL alienate some regardless of ANY attempts to repent, but he'll alienate lots of fans if he makes no attempt to show he regrets his actions and just resumes his past ways as if it all never happened. Goodell knows this and will require a public mea culpa and acts of penance. And I don't think you'll see any resistance to this from Vick himself. In fact, if this reality show does come to pass, I'll be shocked if he's not shown prominently helping in animal shelters or the like. Otherwise he and his agent are dumber jackasses than I thought.

In the end Goodell might not be able to keep him out of the league, but he can delay his return long enough to make a huge difference in his ability to earn.

Posted by: ed newman at April 15, 2009 3:29 PM

Well, to be fair, Vick has shown himself to be pretty fucking stupid, so I wouldn't assume anything.

And truth be told, I was never on the Vick bandwagon anyway. He's an unbelievable athlete, to be sure. But he's a lousy, inconsistent quarterback.

He can disappear into oblivion and I wouldn't even blink.

Posted by: TK at April 15, 2009 4:51 PM

I whole heartedly agree with TK. That fucker can find forgivness in the afterlife. He may have been persecuted harsher than any other animal abuser in the past but that doesn't mean he's made up for his crimes. The things he did are fucking despicable and until he has lived through the kinds of abhorrent acts he made his animals live through, he hasn't been punished enough.

For him to make any kind of financial gain out of his crimes is just stupid. I would be outraged if any network gave him a reality show.

Posted by: Wormer at April 15, 2009 5:34 PM

For a site with such liberal tendencies, I am shocked at how conservative everyone seems to be on Vick.

Posted by: ed newman at April 16, 2009 8:27 AM


















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