How many of you think reality television is real? Just what I thought…you aren’t sure. The information I am sharing is purely from my investigation––many hours spent watching reality TV and one brief appearance on an episode of a reality television show. When I say that reality TV is getting real, I was just watching the news and see that Pittsburgh native Abby Lee Miller was sentenced to one year and a day in prison. Wow! I’ll bet she never expected that to be the outcome of her reality show “Dance Moms.” It’s funny, but she almost got away with her bankruptcy until the judge happened to see “Dance Moms” and realized the lady was making money. Then, Miller went to a real life courtroom and now will soon be behind bars with real life inmates.
Not that the dancers and parents on the show aren’t real, it’s the situations that are “lightly scripted.” I mentioned I had a brief appearance on a reality show, that show was “Dance Moms.” I went to the book signing of Holly Frazier, I had to sign a release before I went into the area where the book signing took place and then when I tried to take pictures of some of the cast members for this paper, I was stopped. I was able to see firsthand that things were somewhat staged.
I really enjoyed that experience. However, it leads me to my next reality show observation, “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” Things sure did heat up during the four-part reunion. All the nasty stories about Kandi Burrus and Todd Tucker were being fed to Porsha Williams by Phaedra Parks and now legal action has been taken against Williams by Burrus, and rumor has it that Parks is going to lose her peach and who knows what will happen to her law license. Why would a southern belle be so cruel? Parks says she was fed the stories by RHOA producers and all of that was edited out of the reunion show. All of these people are going to need Iyanla Vanzant to come to the rescue and “fix their lives.”
Speaking of “Fix my Life,” did you see the episode that featured Neffe and her husband, Shelby? You may remember Neffe, she is the sister of singer Keyshia Cole, who had a reality show several years ago. The family members were so “colorful” that many of them became reality stars as well. Allegedly, Neffe wanted her marriage fixed and Vanzant came with her basket of good advice to get them on the right track. However it appeared that Neffe thought this was more reality TV than therapy. When they rolled the credits at the end seemed like Neffe and Shelby were filing for divorce.
The biggest reality show is the one that is going on in the nation’s capital. Someone needs to tell 45 that this is not “The Apprentice.” I’m sure he thinks this is just a television show, but he doesn’t need to fire someone each week. Get busy and act like the president.
(Email the columnist at debbienorrell@aol.com)
Like us at https://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Pittsburgh-Courier/143866755628836?ref=hl
Follow @NewPghCourier on Twitter https://twitter.com/NewPghCourier
About Post Author
