BB FANS

Tara Conner to play Big Sister

Former Miss USA Tara Conner, who nearly lost her title for alcohol abuse, is joining several other beauty queens on a new MTV reality show that follows what happens to the pageant winners when their crowns come off.

The eight-part series Pageant Place, which debuts in the US this week, repackages the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA champions as TV roommates for the kind of behind-the-scenes spectacle that made hits from shows like Big Brother and The Osbournes.

The new series follows Miss Universe Riyo Mori from Japan, Miss USA Rachel Smith of Tennessee and two Miss Teen USA winners - Katie Blair and Hilary Cruz - as they share a high-rise apartment in New York City for one year.

Acting as their minder and "unofficial peer advisor" for the show will be none other than Conner, the 2006 Miss USA queen who was almost forced to give up her crown over revelations of her underage drinking.

Real estate mogul Donald Trump, co-owner of the Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants, publicly rebuked Conner for her behavior but let her keep her tiara when she agreed in January to enter a rehabilitation program. Conner later admitted to struggling with both alcoholism and cocaine abuse.

Pageant Place press materials say the four beauty queen roommates will "have a now sober Tara to guide them away from the temptations and unrelenting attention that led to her notoriety when she was Miss USA."

And if that's not enough, Trump himself will be "dropping by to check in and make sure they all stay on track," according to the press release from MTV.

The show will no doubt help focus some much-needed attention of younger viewers on U.S. beauty pageantry at a time when such contests have suffered a ratings decline, prompting the US ABC network to give up the Miss America telecast in 2005.

Earlier this year, Trump renewed his deal with rival network NBC to carry the annual Miss Universe and Miss USA pageants for three more years.

More recently, NBC agreed to bring Trump's corporate reality show The Apprentice back to prime time for a seventh edition early next year. This time, the show will feature celebrity contestants raising money for various charities.
www.smh.com

Meet the beauty queens of Pageant Place

www.mtv.com

Reality TV guru in Asia venture with Singapore's Genting

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Reality TV impresario Mark Burnett has formed a 50-50 joint venture with Singapore-listed gaming group Genting International to develop, produce and distribute game shows and reality television series in Asia.

The two partners said they would invest $20 million in the firm as part of a 10-year exclusive partnership that covers all of Asia excluding Japan.

Besides possible Asian versions of Burnett's popular U.S. shows "Survivor" and "The Apprentice," the venture could develop original programs for the international market, Burnett said.

"I really believe in the global village," Burnett told reporters in a telephone conference.

Burnett said the joint venture would likely start production for its first show early next year. The Los Angeles-based producer declined to give further details but said the bulk of filming would probably be in Singapore.

The joint venture is the first TV production deal for Genting International, the unit of Malaysian conglomerate Genting Bhd that is building a $3.4 billion casino on Singapore's island resort of Sentosa. The casino, which will also have a Universal Studios theme park, is expected to open by 2010.

Reuters

Does Reality Show Exploit Immigrants?

The television world is buzzing over a new reality show, "Who Wants to Marry a U.S. Citizen?"

It's "The Dating Game" with a twist: A United States citizen interviews three legal immigrants and chooses one of them to date.

The contestants have visas or green cards, but not citizenship.

Adrian Martinez hatched the idea for the program, and shot a pilot. He says he's speaking with at least one network about picking it up. His cousin, Angelo Gonzales, is host. Both of their families are from Mexico.

Showbuzz

You Couldn’t Write This Stuff: TV Reality Sets In nytimes

Boxing clever for BBC3


FOR anyone brave enough to think they could keep the public entertained by performing in a glass BOX, now’s your chance.

If that wasn’t pressure enough, not only will your box be on a stage on display in Millennium Square in Bristol, your antics will be streamed on the web and voted for online by the public.

What’s more, you’ll be competing against someone else in ANOTHER box next to you.

It’s all part of Upstaged, a new multi-platform entertainment event on BBC3.

Open to anyone across the country, it's made by a company owned by Big Brother makers Endemol.

Beginning next year, anyone can audition online to go into the specially built glass boxes, where they can do anything (legal) they chose to keep us amused.

Then via social networking, the online community will decide who they want to watch and who they don’t.

Performers in the glass boxes will be changed every day throughout the eight-week run.

The first five weeks will be streamed exclusively on the web, while the last three weeks will also be shown on BBC3.

Tim Hincks, Chief Creative Officer of Endemol UK, says: "This is one of the most ambitious projects we've ever undertaken.

“It will start life as an exclusively online event and evolve into a simultaneous TV series, bringing together these different mediums in an exciting new way."

If you're interested in taking part, keep your eye out for information on how to enter in the new year.
Sun

BBC search to find Oliver! boys


A new TV talent search to find the next stars of the musical Oliver! will begin in the new year, the BBC has announced.

I'd Do Anything will be looking to find an actress for the role of Nancy and three young actors who will take turns as Oliver in the Lionel Bart musical.

Graham Norton will again host the show after leading previous searches for the stars of Joseph and The Sound of Music.

Auditions will begin in early 2008 and the programme will be broadcast on BBC One later in the year.

Norton will be joined by Andrew Lloyd Webber for the programme along with fellow impresario Cameron Mackintosh.

'Much-loved'

"We're really pleased to be building on the success of Any Dream Will Do with a new search for West End stars next year," Elaine Bedell, the BBC's controller of entertainment commissioning said.
Oliver!
Mark Lester (right) played Oliver in the 1968 film version

"Oliver! is a much-loved British musical so we're sure the show will unite families and melt hearts across the UK as we watch some of Britain's best new talent take centre stage."

Based on the Charles Dickens book, Oliver! was made into a film in 1968, starring Mark Lester in the lead role.

Earlier this year, Lee Mead won the TV search to become the lead in the West End production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.

In 2006, former call centre worker Connie Fisher won How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria? to take the lead in Lloyd Webber's revival of The Sound of Music.
BBC

Coming Out With Cher And Chas Mail

Celebs in reality rehab TV show
By Nick Owens 10/02/2008


Celebrities battling to beat drink and drug addictions are to star in a controversial Big Brother-style show.

"Celeb Rehab" will follow eight stars in a clinic around the clock for two weeks - getting the kind of treatment Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty did.

The so far un-named celebs will be paid £20,000 each to take part in the show, being made by Big Brother producers Endemol at the Promis addiction centre in Kent. There they will be under the care of Dr Robert Lefever, who claimed last night: "It will provide an important insight into the steps addicts take on the road to recovery.""

But alcohol expert Moira Plant said: "Going on a show like this is the worst thing a celebrity addict could do."

And David Knott, who treats dozens of celebrities a year, said: "I would never let cameras inside my clinic."
Mirror

Women Rule In New Reality Show

Presenter Steve Jones is to host a new Channel 4 reality show in which women get to boss around men on a paradise island.

When Women Rule The World will see the eight women preside over 10 men as they build a "female created" community in the Caribbean.

"The men must do whatever the women demand," said Jones. "The only absolute law is that 'women rule, men obey'."

The eight-part series will air later this year.
waveguide.co.uk

Ten's long dance

Network Ten's hit reality program So You Think You Can Dance Australia is here to stay for many more years.

Executives from Ten today credited the series for helping propel the network into its best ratings position in history and said the show had now been flagged as a "multi-year" franchise.

"So You Think You Can Dance, we now know is going to be around for at least the next couple of years, because it's such a break-out hit," Ten Holdings executive chairman Nick Falloon told a media briefing in Sydney today.

SMH

Lee turns green for kids yahoo.com

Pamela Anderson Reality Show

Former Baywatch actress Pamela Anderson will star in a reality TV series to screen this summer on E!, the U.S. network has confirmed.

The former Playboy model has agreed to what E! calls an "observational documentary series" on her life.

The series will focus on Anderson's life and loves, but not include her two sons. The thrice-married star broke off with latest husband Rick Salomon last December.

Tentatively titled Pamela, the show is being produced by Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey.

"Pamela will be an artistically rich and visually stunning series," Barbato said in a press release.

"The series will offer an unprecedented look inside the life of one of today's most iconic superstars in the style of a uniquely shot documentary film."

waveguide.co.uk

Justin Timberlake To Produce Reality Show

MTV said today it will screen a new reality game show called The Phone to be executive-produced by pop star Justin Timberlake.

The series, which is based on a Dutch reality show format, begins each episode with two hidden mobile phones ringing at opposite ends of a major city.

Contestants who answer the phones will have five seconds to decide if they want to play along for a cash prize, and a guide on the other end of the line then gives contestants a mission to complete before time runs out.

As they race through the city on their adventure, a helicopter tracks their every move. MTV described the show as a wild and cinematic ride reminiscent of such films as The Bourne Identity and The Game.

"Genre-busting and reinvention is at the core of what we do, and The Phone does just that," Tony Disanto, MTV executive vice president of programming and series development, said in a statement.

"Each week will be an action-packed mini-movie," he said.

The show, which will be produced by reality specialist FremantleMedia North America, will begin airing in the United States this autumn, though no specific launch date was disclosed. Timberlake will act as an executive producer.
waveguide.co.uk

Sky's School Musical Series

Denise Van Outen is to host a new musical show for Sky One.

The 34-year-old will present Hairspray: The School Musical, where a school will be challenged to recreate the his West End show.

Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton will also be appearing in the show.

Sky's Richard Woolfe said: “Over the past few years Hairspray and High School Musical have brought musical theatre to new audiences worldwide.

“We’re going to show all the emotions of the theatre — stage fright, crises in confidence, life-changing accomplishments and tears of joy.”
waveguide.co.uk