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CNN Live Today

Oh, Get Real!

Aired March 03, 2003 - 11:45   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR; It's getting stranger, weirder, racier, sleazier, if you can believe it. The butler from "Joe Millionaire" turned up on the live season premiere of Anna Nicole as she went shopping for beefcake. All right, count them, there's a half dozen new or returning shows coming to the tube this week. John Kelly is our man here. He is the weekend anchor and correspondent for "Extra," joining us from L.A. to talk about reality TV gone crazy.
John, good morning.

JOHN KELLY, "EXTRA": I'm doing good.

KAGAN: We're going to wake you up looking at some of these. Some I will have admit I have even seen, including the first one we are going to look at -- "Are You Hot?" I mean not are you hot, John. I'm not asking you.

KELLY: My mom thinks so. I appreciate that.

KAGAN: But the show, it's so mean.

KELLY: What I love about this show is they say, you don't need talent, competition. You don't need real skills. Just stand up there and look good. People every day judge people based on their looks alone. But this is one of those that's mean, because they put you up there, they put you under the microscope, they chop you down. But the people that go on the show, they know what to expect, and I think some of them are just craving that attention anyway. And for them, it the perfect vehicle.

KAGAN: Thing that makes the show so mean is the people doing the judges are three such has been celebrities. It's like, who are you to be pointing fingers?

KELLY: Yes, I guess they had to find somebody to do it. So they got Lorenzo up there with his little pointer kind of checking out all the cellulite, et cetera.

KAGAN: Smack him.

KELLY: It's crazy, it's like a train wreck.

KAGAN: Speaking of train wrecks, let's move on to Anna Nicole.

KELLY: Good transition, yes.

KAGAN: Yes, thank you. KELLY: Anna Nicole this year, I guess they had last year's season opening, and they had a huge start and everybody was watching it, but then it slowly went downhill after that.

KAGAN: Shockingly.

KELLY: It was something, like you said, a train wreck that people do enjoy those type of situations. But this year, she's going undergo hypnosis to try to better herself. She's going to take some acting lessons. And she's combining "The Bachelorette" with blind date, and so she's going to find five hunks out there and see if she can find the true love of her life. I think she's finally getting the attention she always wanted as an actress, kind of that Marilyn Monroe recreated in her own mold.

KAGAN: Well, if her past history is any indication, she'll look at their bank accounts first.

KELLY: Exactly.

KAGAN: Now, there are a lot of single folks who are looking for that special someone, and I guess a few of them are willing to let America pick their mate.

KELLY: Yes, a lot of them are willing to be put in front of the television cameras. But "Married by America," hosted by the eternally tan George Hamilton, so that will be interesting. But they're going to have five different singles come on there, family, friends, and then America will choose their mates, and then they go into a house to live together. They will spend four or five weeks. They have a choice to stay in the same bedroom or a different bedroom, depending how tight they feel right off the bat, and then at the end of it, they'll have a wedding. And I guess, if it doesn't work out, they'll have "Divorced by America."

KAGAN: Yes, exactly. And if we so choose, we can watch all this take place?

KELLY: Yes, exactly, if you choose, but it seems like a lot of people are watching. "Joe Millionaire" on the finale drew 40 million people, which is comparable to the Academy Awards. And two weeks ago, during that finale, seven of the top 13 shows on TV, seven of them, were reality shows. So people have real drama, real situations. They are flocking to see it.

KAGAN: And the networks have real cheap programming. It's not like you have to hire writers and actors and all that kind of stuff.

KELLY: Exactly, as opposed to "Friends" just for paying they salaries per week, it's going to cost them $6 million plus, and that's not including anything else. For one of these reality shows, top to bottom, it will probably cost you about $500,000 to put this thing on the air, so what the heck.

During the summer, they're going to test no less than a dozen of them through the big networks, because it doesn't cost anything. It replaces all the reruns, where they lose lot of the young viewers. So it's just a chance now to test it and keep hammering this reality rush.

KAGAN: I want to get one more in here, "Family," that's hosted by George Hamilton. This is some people's worst nightmare, you're stuck in a house, even though it's a beautiful, huge mansion house, with members of your extended family. But it also has kind of a "Joe Millionaire" kind of twist in that you don't really know what the real premise is, the viewers do, but the people in the house don't.

KELLY: Exactly. George Hamilton's hosting this one. And what it is, they have family of 10 go into this huge beautiful house down in Palm Springs, 20,000 square feet. They have all the luxuries. They're going to have anything that they want, and there's going to be people waiting on them in the house, and that's the trick. The people in the house don't know that it's going to be special secret board of trustees that will be judging them week to week that will then vote one off, and then those people that are voted off still stay in the house. So it's going to be this family drama wall to wall to see who wins a million bucks.

KAGAN: What fun, can hardly wait.

KELLY: Yes, anything and everything goes on these shows.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And it looks like we're not quite done with them yet, because as you said, they're getting the big ratings. We can make fun of them, but apparently, this is what America wants.

KELLY: These are the type of shows that the more off the wall they are, the sillier they are, the goofier they are, if it's a real comedy, and they're dumb, people don't like it. But in these situations, people like that video voyeurism, a chance to kind of look into other lives and situations they can relate to. So the crazier the better. And like you say, as long as the ratings are there, we will have more and more reality television.

KAGAN: There you go, John Kelly from "Extra," thanks for stopping by this morning, appreciate it.

KELLY: My pleasure. We'll do it again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired March 3, 2003 - 11:45   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR; It's getting stranger, weirder, racier, sleazier, if you can believe it. The butler from "Joe Millionaire" turned up on the live season premiere of Anna Nicole as she went shopping for beefcake. All right, count them, there's a half dozen new or returning shows coming to the tube this week. John Kelly is our man here. He is the weekend anchor and correspondent for "Extra," joining us from L.A. to talk about reality TV gone crazy.
John, good morning.

JOHN KELLY, "EXTRA": I'm doing good.

KAGAN: We're going to wake you up looking at some of these. Some I will have admit I have even seen, including the first one we are going to look at -- "Are You Hot?" I mean not are you hot, John. I'm not asking you.

KELLY: My mom thinks so. I appreciate that.

KAGAN: But the show, it's so mean.

KELLY: What I love about this show is they say, you don't need talent, competition. You don't need real skills. Just stand up there and look good. People every day judge people based on their looks alone. But this is one of those that's mean, because they put you up there, they put you under the microscope, they chop you down. But the people that go on the show, they know what to expect, and I think some of them are just craving that attention anyway. And for them, it the perfect vehicle.

KAGAN: Thing that makes the show so mean is the people doing the judges are three such has been celebrities. It's like, who are you to be pointing fingers?

KELLY: Yes, I guess they had to find somebody to do it. So they got Lorenzo up there with his little pointer kind of checking out all the cellulite, et cetera.

KAGAN: Smack him.

KELLY: It's crazy, it's like a train wreck.

KAGAN: Speaking of train wrecks, let's move on to Anna Nicole.

KELLY: Good transition, yes.

KAGAN: Yes, thank you. KELLY: Anna Nicole this year, I guess they had last year's season opening, and they had a huge start and everybody was watching it, but then it slowly went downhill after that.

KAGAN: Shockingly.

KELLY: It was something, like you said, a train wreck that people do enjoy those type of situations. But this year, she's going undergo hypnosis to try to better herself. She's going to take some acting lessons. And she's combining "The Bachelorette" with blind date, and so she's going to find five hunks out there and see if she can find the true love of her life. I think she's finally getting the attention she always wanted as an actress, kind of that Marilyn Monroe recreated in her own mold.

KAGAN: Well, if her past history is any indication, she'll look at their bank accounts first.

KELLY: Exactly.

KAGAN: Now, there are a lot of single folks who are looking for that special someone, and I guess a few of them are willing to let America pick their mate.

KELLY: Yes, a lot of them are willing to be put in front of the television cameras. But "Married by America," hosted by the eternally tan George Hamilton, so that will be interesting. But they're going to have five different singles come on there, family, friends, and then America will choose their mates, and then they go into a house to live together. They will spend four or five weeks. They have a choice to stay in the same bedroom or a different bedroom, depending how tight they feel right off the bat, and then at the end of it, they'll have a wedding. And I guess, if it doesn't work out, they'll have "Divorced by America."

KAGAN: Yes, exactly. And if we so choose, we can watch all this take place?

KELLY: Yes, exactly, if you choose, but it seems like a lot of people are watching. "Joe Millionaire" on the finale drew 40 million people, which is comparable to the Academy Awards. And two weeks ago, during that finale, seven of the top 13 shows on TV, seven of them, were reality shows. So people have real drama, real situations. They are flocking to see it.

KAGAN: And the networks have real cheap programming. It's not like you have to hire writers and actors and all that kind of stuff.

KELLY: Exactly, as opposed to "Friends" just for paying they salaries per week, it's going to cost them $6 million plus, and that's not including anything else. For one of these reality shows, top to bottom, it will probably cost you about $500,000 to put this thing on the air, so what the heck.

During the summer, they're going to test no less than a dozen of them through the big networks, because it doesn't cost anything. It replaces all the reruns, where they lose lot of the young viewers. So it's just a chance now to test it and keep hammering this reality rush.

KAGAN: I want to get one more in here, "Family," that's hosted by George Hamilton. This is some people's worst nightmare, you're stuck in a house, even though it's a beautiful, huge mansion house, with members of your extended family. But it also has kind of a "Joe Millionaire" kind of twist in that you don't really know what the real premise is, the viewers do, but the people in the house don't.

KELLY: Exactly. George Hamilton's hosting this one. And what it is, they have family of 10 go into this huge beautiful house down in Palm Springs, 20,000 square feet. They have all the luxuries. They're going to have anything that they want, and there's going to be people waiting on them in the house, and that's the trick. The people in the house don't know that it's going to be special secret board of trustees that will be judging them week to week that will then vote one off, and then those people that are voted off still stay in the house. So it's going to be this family drama wall to wall to see who wins a million bucks.

KAGAN: What fun, can hardly wait.

KELLY: Yes, anything and everything goes on these shows.

KAGAN: Absolutely. And it looks like we're not quite done with them yet, because as you said, they're getting the big ratings. We can make fun of them, but apparently, this is what America wants.

KELLY: These are the type of shows that the more off the wall they are, the sillier they are, the goofier they are, if it's a real comedy, and they're dumb, people don't like it. But in these situations, people like that video voyeurism, a chance to kind of look into other lives and situations they can relate to. So the crazier the better. And like you say, as long as the ratings are there, we will have more and more reality television.

KAGAN: There you go, John Kelly from "Extra," thanks for stopping by this morning, appreciate it.

KELLY: My pleasure. We'll do it again.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com