Category Archives: Reality Bites

She only finished sixth on “American Idol,” but Kellie Pickler since built a country music career and on Tuesday, completed another one in dance. Kellie Pickler came from behind to win season 16 of “Dancing with the Stars,” edging the Disney star Zendaya. Both women had perfect scores this week, but Zendaya had been averaging [...]

Theoretically, there would be a lot of reasons to be excited about the end of this season’s “American Idol.” It’s the first all female finale in nine years. Both women are very good and either would be a deserving winner. Finally, the show originated from the Nokia Theatre, before 7,000 fans, the biggest live audience [...]

The live shows on The Voice began Monday amid a Los Angeles heatwave that knocked out the air conditioning in the studio. That meant Carson Daly beginning to sweat immediately, joking about Blake Shelton’s hair while his own was going haywire. Less than 18 minutes into the two hour show, Daly doffed his coat and [...]

John Corcoran, who insisted from his first stint on “Survivor” to be called only by his last name, like James Bond or one of his earlier show heroes, lived up to his name Sunday and won the $1 million prize on the finale of “Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites.” Cochran was a favorite from [...]

There may be no crying in baseball, but there is no stopping the tears on reality shows. Both “Survivor” and “American Idol” were soaked in them Wednesday as they approached their finales. (“The Voice” may have had some crying as well, but the DVR can record only so many shows at the same hour). On [...]

Part of the appeal of “The Amazing Race” is to see exotic locations and cultural practices, so it was strange to see it wind up in Washington D.C., a few miles from my house, making common mistakes like the difference between 11th Street and 16th. Producers of the show made D.C. look like some scene from [...]

“American Idol” has been scrimping on guest stars and mentors this season, but Harry Connick Jr. returned Wednesday to give the final four some tips and encouragement. The last time he mentored, it seemed more that Connick wanted to plug his latest album, but this time he was genuinely concerned with the singers. So much so [...]

It’s the final four on “American Idol,”  so shouldn’t we be more excited? Maybe it’s because there’s not the sense of cutthroat competition or desperation among the survivors. But the overall quality, maybe the highest of any final four on the show, ensures that any of deserve to win. And what does winning mean anyway? All [...]

The Battle Rounds are winding up this week on “The Voice,” to make way for the slightly different Knockout Rounds next week (when competitors on the same team go up against each other singing different individual songs). For now, each two competitors have to support the other in duets, creating some pretty good performances but [...]

One thing about having an all female final five on “American Idol” is that the quality of the singing and hence the entire show has gone up. And having a good show has gained some importance in aiding the national psyche at a dark time. Ryan Seacrest began the show with the requisite acknowledgment of [...]