Michaele Salahi Is The End Of Reality Television
Do you remember the first season of The Real World? In my opinion that was reality show that started reality television. If you are not old enough to remember anything beyond The Real World Vegas I encourage you to go back and find the first season of that show. It was real. There was no playing to the camera. It was an experiment to see what would happen when you threw a bunch of different personalities into a mix and with people out of their normal comfort zone and made them all live together.
All was good in the world of reality television until Puck came along. In the history of reality television I credit him with being the first person who was a "character," A lot of it was him, but there was some enhancement. The problem was that other people who also wanted to be on reality shows saw that Puck got a lot of the camera time even in a season with Pedro. Puck also became famous beyond the scope of the show and from that point in time, every cast member on every reality show has tried to be the "character" and to be famous for longer than the run of the current season of the show.
This has led down the slope to Michaele Salahi, the White House party crasher, who along with her a-hole husband are set to star in the Real Housewives DC. To me this woman is like the Michael Lohan of reality television. She will say or do or wear anything to get attention and tv time. In addition to the party crashing, the husband threw a drink in the face of another cast member and I think is banned from being around the other cast members for awhile because of it. Yesterday on The View, Whoopi Goldberg touched Michaele Salahi's back and now the woman is claiming she was abused physically and verbally and is holding press conferences. I think that Bravo needs to be very careful here. Yes, more people will initially watch to see what the fuss is about, but I think she could be so hated and her husband so despised by the end of the season that people will turn away from Housewives and the network.
She and her husband are that divisive. They will literally do or say anything for fame. They have no walls. They have no line. The repeated crossing of that line is going to be the end of reality television. Michaele Salahi is not going to end it on her own, but the crossing of this line means that from now on to get your 15 minutes or to try and stay relevant after the show ends, that line will be pushed so far it will disintegrate. In order to get attention in the 24/7 world of buzz, everyone who is on a show or wants to be on a show will push a little harder and harder and then finally in the next year or two, something will make it explode. I don't know if it will be a death or an injury, but something will happen. It has too. You can't just keep pushing and pushing and not expecting anything to happen. The bubble will burst. Michaele Salahi is the beginning of the end.
She's simply mimicking Danielle Staub...but DS may REALLY be crazy.
ReplyDeleteEnty well said. I totally agree with you and yes the original Real World was the only reality show. As one of the cast members stated to a member of the second season "you knew what to expect because you saw us on television so you had a chance to act in front of the camera". That is exactly what all of the other reality show "characters" have been doing to extend their 15 minutes of fame.
ReplyDeleteNow there are acting classes for reality shows so that you can be a particular character.
And last but not least this Michaele character and her husband are definitely not to be trusted.
This whole reality show thing will not end well. It's gone way too far.
Enty, your eloquent and perceptive comments show once again you show why I/we love you. You are bang on here. This woman and her husband are odious.
ReplyDeletePlease tell me these Sa-limy people don't have children.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I'd rather have my dignity than fame. I see the Salahi's do not share my opinion.
ReplyDeleteEnty acts like Spencer and Heidi never existed.
ReplyDelete^^ I think when your famewhore antics get the POTUS involved, you've jumped the reality shark and gone farther than Speidi ever dreamed.
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't they in jail for crashing the White House party in the first place?
ReplyDeleteDanielle is batshit crazy, this one is calculating.
I wish there was a 'like' button for this post.
ReplyDeleteRickatoo because one of the White House staffers (Desiree Rogers) became the fall guy for the whole debacle and she was fired.
ReplyDeleteThe fact there are people like the baloon boy's parents and Octomom out there makes me sad about where television has gone and is going. Everyone wants to have some "angle" to get them on TV. And by following around Z list celebrities (the Lamas family, Gene Simon's family, Denise Richards, every member of the Kardashian family...) TV execs show these people that getting your own show is completely possible.
ReplyDeleteI remember that staff was fired, but does that how leave her and her husband scot-free?
ReplyDelete*but how does that leave
ReplyDeletekind of OT, but also related: whatever happened with Puck after his car accident?
ReplyDelete@Kate - most of the people you mention had names that were known, for some other reason, even the Kardashians. The father thru OJ and by the time the show started Kim's tape had already been released (but not by her?). Putting this broad on TV is exactly what it would have been like if they HAD given Balloon Boy's parents a show, instead of fining, prosecuting and leaving them with no show.
ReplyDeleteIf these two idiots are going to bring down the final nail in the coffin that is reality television, I say, please bring it on. I would love nothing more to have reality television gone and the "celebrities" these kinds of shows create, gone as well.
ReplyDeleteIf Ms. Rogers had been at her post and not at the party, they wouldn't have been let in. She deserved to be fired (didn't she just resign rather than actually fired?? Too lazy to look it up.) Still, these morons should be in jail. They knew they didn't have invites.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't disagreeing in any way with the firing/resigning of the staff. In fact, I think more of them should have been shown the exit door.
ReplyDeleteI don't know these people, but this woman looks to me like one of those people who was told her whole life how beautiful she was, and thought she would make it big, via modelling, acting, or whatever. It didn't happen, and now she's trying to get the fame she always thought she deserved, eff the consequences. Now, like I say, obviously I don't know these people and I could be talking out of my ass, but when I look at her, that's all I can think.
ReplyDeleteI agree with not-on-my-dollar - reality tv is here to stay. I remember a few years back thinking that everyone MUST be tiring of every possible reality show under the sun coming out, but it doesn't seem to be the case.
ReplyDeleteThese people are awful, granted, and everything wrong with reality tv, but that doesn't mean the genre's going anywhere.
I have no intention of watching this show even though I watch the NYC and OC ladies.
ReplyDeleteGood post, Enty.
Yes, I DO remember the first season on The Real World and how much I loved it. It was awesome! I watched season 2 and 3 as well and loved them...after that I think I followed the New Orleans and Hawaii ones for a while but nothing ever beat the first couple of seasons.
ReplyDeleteWhat not my dollar said. After season 1 of RW (which was great television) the participants knew what to expect.
ReplyDeleteI think they jumped the shark before Puck. Season 2 or 3 I remember them starting to edit the show to add drama. Then bringing in "characters" that would obviously have conflict...then came the crazies.
Kind of like that with Survivor. Richard owned the first season...established the strategy and even the terms (alliance, etc.). The show still follows that pattern. Eventually, they had to go to men v women, celebrity, good v bad...Apprentice followed.
I miss the day of the sitcom and tv drama.
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ReplyDeleteI remember and miss Road Rules. They were the original Amazing Race. Oh and say what you want about Fear Factor, it may have been gross but at least it was unscripted and the results were not fixed.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Real World, I watched re-runs of season 1 and 2. It was the best but by my time (around '99) that special thing was already gone and it was obviously so fake. I remember Trishelle who was one of the most annoying people on the RW.
ReplyDeleteSadly,I don't think reality TV will end soon, I find really offensive Toddlers and Tiaras and all that kids related profit.
I totally agree with everything he said about Puck. I HATED that guy so much and that has pretty been the way I have felt about most reality tv ever since. I thought the first Real World was the coolest show ever when it first came on (I was in the right age demo, too) and I agree that Road Rules was pretty cool, too.
ReplyDeletethe difference is the first Real World shower their real world..now they just follow them to the bar for 12 episodes.
ReplyDeleteOld Enty is back!
ReplyDeleteRight on the money. It's comin'.
What a lot of people don't remember about the first season of the Real World is that there was no "casting call." Producers and casting agents went and picked those people off the street. They all had days jobs and lives and they were just "picked...to live in a loft!" That's why some of them didn't seem to be around very often -- because they were actually out doing things like working.
ReplyDeleteThe show got a lot less real when they stopped picking people off the street and started advertising for them. It also got a lot less real when they demanded that the people taking part put their real lives and jobs on hold so they could come live a completely sequestered, completely fake life. Remember those seasons where they tried to have the roommates run a "business"? Why not just have them go about their actual business? It was always way more interesting and real seeing what they actually did for a living.
There hasn't been much reality to the Real World in a long time. I wish they would just re-run the old seasons for the younger generation who doesn't even realize what the show used to be.
Whoopi is an icon. This stupid fame whore picked the wrong person to use for publicity.
ReplyDeleteMaybe this couple can adopt Balloon boy, and crash the Kardashian tv show. And while I don't always agree with Whoopi I wish she had beat the crap out of this woman just on the principle alone that there seems to be nothing real about her.
ReplyDeleteHere's why Enty is 100 percent correct: She "crashed" the White House. I'm a former credentialed Capitol Hill reporter and even with those credentials issued by Congress I -- and any reporter who didn't work at the White House each day -- had to submit my social security number and a form for a background check BEFORE GOING TO THE ANNUAL WHITE HOUSE CHRISTMAS PARTY FOR THE PRESS CORPS. I assure you that if it were me or you, and we "crashed" the White House, we would be sitting in an orange jumpsuit in a federal prison right now with no hope of getting out for decades because it's an issue of national security. I have no idea how the hell she is not doing so right now unless there was some serious tap dancing by big-name people behind the scenes -- but it was definitely well over the line. We're in territory now where, really, one of the few ways to top that is to commit murder while the cameras are rolling.
ReplyDeleteWell said, well said. Most of the original cast from Real World, didn't attempt to extend their new found minutes of fame either. There wasn't a train of "reality shows" for them to jump to, repeatedly. Michele does seem to be hungrier than most, and along with her husband; they seem to be TNT just waiting to explode.
ReplyDeleteI hope Enty is right, because reality tv sucks!
ReplyDeleteI remember the first real world and thought it was very moving, especially around all the ideas of race and class that came up.
I think it was Real World LA (2nd season) where it got stupid. That whole faux rape thing was just dumb. Real World London was beyond boring.
As others have stated, why these two are not serving time is beyond me.
Oh, I also hate reality television and all the other "real" worlds, because they killed the music video for MTV. I don't think it is even MTV anymore.
ReplyDeleteUm no. This bitch will never make me stop watching Housewives. I cannot live without the NY cast. I just can't.
ReplyDeleteIt's a sickness.
God I hated Puck. What a douche bag.
ReplyDeleteKiller rant. Love it, and agree.
ReplyDeleteI have heard so many bad things about this show. Not going to watch it.
ReplyDeleteBut there is ONE good reality show out there... The amazing race! :)
I'm not sure whether to get snarky and predict that in one year Michaele Salahi will be married to {or having an affair with} Spencer Pratt or point out the actual first reality show was on PBS in 1973 -- An American Family. And it was really, most sincerely good.
ReplyDeleteHah! I caught it way late last night and figured a bunch of y'all also watched it.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, I can almost take Michaele rather than cheekbone-woman Cat -- is she self-important or WHAT? Boy, did she ever piss off the celebrity chef and the other ladies!
Oh, and the lot of them came across as total lushes...they had a wine glass in hand in EVERY dang shot.