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August 26, 2005 > Arts & Entertainment > Summer belongs to reality divas

Summer belongs to reality divas

By Jonathan Schumann | Thresher Editorial Staff

I had a very relaxing summer. I was at home, writing feverishly, contemplating my future and preparing for the GRE. And while all of this was quite important, my summer was really all about rekindling long-lost relationships. Sure, I did reconnect with a few high school friends, but the real relationship I rediscovered was between myself and my television.

During the year, I have no time to waste away in front of the tube. I allow myself Arrested Development and Desperate Housewives on Sunday nights (as everyone should), but otherwise I am too busy to get sucked in.

Summer is a different story. I have found nothing is better than watching the Food Network in the afternoon (now I know how to make my own hummus!) and trashy reality TV at night. I know such shows pose a threat to legitimate, scripted television, but something about reality TV is so inherently manipulative, disingenuous and tacky that I just can’t look away.

The best new trend is the “celebrity” reality phenomenon. Being normal and boring is not exciting enough anymore. Now it’s all about the mundane lives of the famous, or more appropriately, the once-were-semi-famous. We have Nick and Jessica to thank for this one, but since they opened the door, actually interesting and funny people have jumped on the bandwagon.

Just look at Bravo’s line-up. We have Being Bobby Brown, which confirms everything I ever thought about Whitney Houston and her perpetually arrested husband Bobby. Brown is affable, goofy and quite a bit more rotund than in his “My Prerogative” days. For her part, Houston comes across as the chain-smoking, fan-slapping, obsessive-shopping diva of the summer season.

Wait a minute, that isn’t fair. As far as divas go, Blow Out’s Los Angeles hair stylist Jonathan Antin deserves the title. His antics — yelling at his staff, fighting with his business associates, crying to his therapist — are far more ridiculous and hence more enjoyable. Houston, at least, has sold a few records to earn her diva status. If she wants to fend off fans with her icy stare, she is totally allowed. But Antin cuts hair. This makes his neurotic combination of self-importance and utter pompousness — sealed nicely under a thick coating of hair gel, no less — all the more absurd. And when it comes to reality television, absurdity is the key to entertainment.

The only one of these new television stars who seems clued into the truth is Kathy Griffin, who has been all over Bravo with her stand-up comedy specials The D-List and Kathy Griffin is not Nicole Kidman. Now she has her own reality show, Life on the D-List.

Griffin’s approach to comedy is quite simple. She believes all celebrities are inherently both fabulous and ridiculous. And while she clearly adores some of them — spanning from Kelly Clarkson to Warren Beatty — she has no problem using others as fodder. Griffin’s specials concentrate on anecdotes that provide a backstage view of celebrity behavior, from stories about Sharon Stone at a charity benefit to Anna Nicole Smith on the set of Hollywood Squares. Her reality show reveals the strange place she occupies in the Hollywood sphere — big enough to have a personal assistant but too small to have her agent return her calls. The show humanizes Griffin, revealing her as a driven performer who, no matter how caustic her banter, really does have a vulnerable side.

And that’s what this entire “celebrity” reality craze is all about: No matter how big the house, the hair or the hype, celebrities are people too.

Jonathan Schumann is a Baker College senior and arts and entertainment editor.

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