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September 08, 2004
The Surreal Life: Welcome To Terrordome
The Surreal Life is a Real World-type reality show with C & D-List celebrities as housemates. While adolescent drama makes The Real World tick, egos and hubris make this show the cultural pit it is.
In the past two seasons (aired on The WB), the creators have stuck with a rough casting formula, which always includes:
1 - One normal person, aka "The Mother Hen" (Gabrielle Carteris, Erik Estrada);
2 - Those with anger issues over their exploited fame (Gary Coleman, Corey Feldman, Vanilla Ice);
3 - One former reality contestant whose right to the title "celebrity" is questionable (Jeri from Surivor, Trishelle from The Real World);
4 - Those who are just plain crazy (Tammy Faye Messner).
The 3rd season of the show, which has just begun airing on Vh1, weighs heavily on the crazy. Sure, it would be nice to see Charo and Jordan Knight making music together, or the brunette American Idol reject singing "You Oughtta Know" to Dave Coulier. However, NOTHING compares to the burgeoning romance between former Mrs. Stallone Brigitte Nielsen and gold-toothed, pint-sized rapper Flavor Flav. Burn Hollywood Burn!
When Brigitte meets Flav for the first time, she dances around silly and then just slaps him on the face Mommie Dearest-style for no visible reason. This apparently seals the deal for Flav and foreshadows what is to come.
Throughout the premiere episode, Brigitte alternates between wearing an unflattering black bodysuit, flashing her chest, and throwing back significant amounts of alcohol. When she passes out right before dinner, the concerned Flavor Flav - who by the way, sports an unexplained viking helmet - brings food to her bed to help sober her up. Previews of upcoming episodes show their constant canoodling and kissing.
If you've known me long enough, you probably know that one of my biggest fears is live poultry (don't ask). Whenever I see them on TV, I cringe in terrible fright, but at the same time, can't help but peek. That's pretty much how I feel about Brigitte, Flav and The Surreal Life 3 in general. Its camp appeal will make me return on occasion, but too much surreality is bad for the soul.
Posted by Michele at September 8, 2004 10:10 PM
Comments
Stop it Brigitte! How can I cherish the memory of you and the governator in Red Sonja (http://imdb.com/title/tt0089893/ ) when you're hanging out with the Flav!
Posted by: Brian at September 9, 2004 10:47 AM
