ShowBiz Tonight - Tragedy of Reality TV Part III
Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 10:45AM Breaking News: Bravo plans to air a one-hour special on the death of Russell Armstrong. What do you think? Is this Bravo's attempt to honor Russell and the family he left behind, or just another attempt to cash in?
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Part III
by Mickey McKean
In regards to the suicide of Russell Armstrong, the real life tragedy of the RHOBH a reality TV show, Matt Lauer asked, "Do you think this a case where people just don't fully understand how their lives will change once they allow cameras in?"
ShowBiz Tonight pointed out that Russell's death comes in the exact same week that we saw two other big reality show events. On Monday TLC officially canceled Kate Plus 8, the reality show some say helped rip apart Jon and Kate Gosselin's marriage, and on Saturday Kim Kardashian married Kris Humphries, a wedding and marriage that will become a big part of Kim's reality show Keeping Up With The Kardashians.
Is the Armstrong tragedy the latest example of another family destroyed by reality show fame? Should this be a warning to Kris and Kim as they prepare to allow cameras in their upcoming marriage?
Showbiz Tonight said they obtained a copy of the new season of RHOBH and they confirm that once again the Armstrong's crumbling marriage was front and center.
Former reality star Jon Gosselin of Jon and Kate Plus 8, Nick Lachey of Newlyweds, and Hulk Hogan of Hogan Knows Best all have something in common with Russell Armstrong; they all have placed some of the blame for their family troubles on their time in the reality show spotlight.
Dr. Lillian Glass (one of the many interviewees in Polly's book) said, "Reality stars are not prepared for what goes on ... I would tell Kim and Kris to really get to know each other and to communicate off air before they communicate on air, to not do things just to make good TV because it will have a lasting effect on them and it could have bad repercussions for their marriage."
Showbiz Tonight said, "It may be a stretch to say that reality shows lead to suicide as some think happen in the Armstrong case, but the trail of destroyed reality marriages and families is too long to ignore. Still, for many, the allure of reality show fame is too strong to resist."
Glass said, "It really makes you stop and think ... wow, is it worth it? In many cases it is not."
Showbiz Tonight then interviewed Russell's attorney:
ST: There are reports that are claiming that it is not just reality TV fame that led to Russell's death, is it unfair to blame the show?
Atty: I'm 100% convinced that Housewives created Armstrong's depression.
ST: How much financial pressure do you think came because of the show itself?
Atty: The show caused a lot of financial pressure because the show was sort of the baby of Taylor and anything that Russell would do to effect the show's success would be negative in their marriage so Russell tried his best to keep this fictitious lifestyle going by overspending by a large degree.
ST: Do you believe that Russell was worried about how he was going to be portrayed in the show this season?
Atty: He was absolutely terrified about how he was going to be portrayed. especially on the issues of domestic abuse and how it would effect him as a dad and on his business. and he was doing his best to make sure none of the other housewives would just casually defame him, to only stick to the facts that people had personal knowledge of
ST: Do you think the best thing for Bravo to do is to cancel this season?
Atty: Bravo needs to do what they want to do, but I think it would be very bad form to have this whole fiasco and fake crisis regarding Russell's marriage and whether they are going to reconcile when the man is dead. I think they should do something other than go forward as is.
ShowBiz Tonight then interviewed Omarosa on the dangers of reality TV:
ST: What drove Russell Armstrong to commit suicide? Some people are pointing their finger squarely at the undeniable 24/7 pressure of reality TV fame. Obviously there are some stars who have been through quite a bit, rehab, jail, divorce, and now we are talking about Russell's death. Do you think that the pressure of living life in front of the cameras can be a trigger, if not the cause of, these troubles?
O: Absolutely. If you don't have a good sense of who you are and what you are about and you go on these shows you can either crumble under the pressure or you will thrive, and we can see that Russell crumbled. When I was on the first season of The Apprentice we actually had a show psychologist who was on set every single day due to the pressure of being in the boardroom and being filmed 24 hours a day was too much for many of the 16 contestants. I now wonder if Bravo will now have a show psychologist to help the different people on the show to deal with the pressures.
ST: What helped you survive the pressures of reality TV?
O: I have a wonderful family to keep me grounded ... but the true danger of reality TV is that you are no longer anonymous, when you go to the grocery store people know who you are. That means that if you are on The Biggest Loser and you go through the drive thru for a big burger people are going to say hey here is a guy that is supposed to losing weight and now he is eating a quarter pounder. If you have a mental break down, everyone will witness it and people will talk about it.
ST: Let's face it, Omarosa, people said some unkind things about you, you were called the woman America loves to hate, of course you spun it into a franchise including your two books. There are reports that Russell may have been overwhelmed trying to keep up with the Beverly Hills persona ... is there a lot of pressure to keep up the persona on and off camera because of what viewers expect?
O: There is an incredible amount of pressure because people expect you are on television all of a sudden you have tons and tons of money and tons and tons of wealth and that is just not the reality for reality show contestants. Reality TV may be getting a bum rap here ... Russell had a lot of pressures before this show. What the reality television program does is magnify any problems that you had prior to going on and you have to live that in front of an audience and you get torn down on the blogs every single day.
ST: What do you think Bravo should do with the new season of RHOBH?
O: I would not be surprised if Bravo decides to continue with the season and keep Russell's parts in because this is reality television and this is a real situation.
According to TMZ, Russell Armstrong's business partner committed suicide the day after Russell's suicide by shooting himself in his car on Mulholland Drive. It is unknown what the business partner's finances were at the time of his death.
Reader Comments (19)
Bravo is doing damage control...If they cared about the family this show would be axed...they care about the profits.
Personally I think it should be taken off the air.
I agree 100%. There are 3 children learning to deal with their father's death and the knowledge that their father chose death over life with them. Don't make it any harder for them.
Bravo is not doing this to honor Mr. Armstrong they are doing it for their own, selfish and greedy purposes. We cannot expect a corporation to necessarily have compassion for a family but we as people can by not watching this nightmare continue to unfold!
I think they should remove all excerpts involving Taylor's family from the show and give her the choice of opting out of her contract if she wants to. They should also not do this special. WTH are they thinking? It makes them look VERY bad imo, and I am a BIG bravo fan! (love me some andy cohen)
These are vapid people vying to flaunt their vacuous selves. Poison. They don't care who they hurt. I don't care when they get hurt. Nothing is going to lead them to examination of conscious. Not having one, they will blame others and excuse themselves. They don't deserve my time.
These woman on the "Housewife" shows make women look so trival. Like all they care about is clothes, shoes, money, things, plastic surgery and fighting. It's all so pointless, and not even entertaining. I don't like to see them lie and fight every week. Such stress. Who needs it . If they took them all off the air it would be a big favor to us all. I'm one who likes to see how people interact, but I don't find those shows interesting at all. JMO
Sorry to go off topic, but I just read that Kate found employment on The Talk as one of the hosts. Can any one confirm this? (I just do not understand why any one is interested in her views) (outside of friends and family...and even in those instances I am stretching.)
On topic, I completely agree that this family should be allowed to grieve in private!
Good morning ladies! Hi Rachel-
I read the following comment at gwop weeks ago and told Irene about it. The comments there ridiculed this person. But, now...I'm wondering if she was right all along. What do you guys think?
Anonymous said...
I agree with most of you, but I had wrote before, long time ago, about my niece who works for TLC. She finds out things and passes only some of them along to me.
They will be announcing that Kate is a free agent, which means she will do some shows with the kids on TLC, but she will be The Bachelorette sometime this coming year (probably during the 2012 Season when the kids are in school, with ABC TV. We will see her picture at the end of the next Bachelorette, then Bachelor Shows in the Fall and late December. Kate will show up on TV in late Spring of 2012, after filming during Jan/Feb somewhere, but not in PA.
See, just when she starts dropping her droppings on both The Today Show and then the Joy Bahar Show.
She acts like she has "secrets" when she is being interviewed.
Hate all of this, like she is a Star, but none of them are Stars, just trying to stay in the limelight like Jake and Vienna on that Bachelor Pad Show on Monday nights.
Terrible what is on TV. Don't watch her or anything that the Reality Shows put out. Let's end all of this by not watching Kardashians, etc. They make a fortune on all of us.
8/09/2011 3:38 AM
Scary????
Rachel--a job on The Talk appears to have been smoke and mirrors/Katie Irene playing with her twitter fans as she is now saying it is not true, but she DREAMS of such an opportunity as she "would have a lot to say." Translation: I've already thrown Jon under the bus, but let's see if I can back it up and run over him again.
Rachel,
I don't know if that rumor re The Talk is true although there was an article about it in Hollybaby.com.
Because last night, somewhere on 15, someone posted that per CBS they announced that Kris Jenner would guest co host when Sharon was not available and that Sheryl Underwood was coming on board. No one else was mentioned per this anonymous source at CBS.
Then it was noted that all of Kate's tweets where I guess she was saying she would be available to do the The Talk or something along those lines were deleted by Kate.
If I were Kate and wanted to stay working in the media, I would look for employment in NYC because there is no way that Jon is going to approve those kids moving to CA. Why? Because he will not be able to see them every other week because no way no how can 8 kids fly cross county to visit him nor can he fly back and forth either. But hey, if Kate gets a job in CA, then she can leave the kids in PA with Jon and she can commute.
But it still comes down to if/when TLC will allow her to do other work on other network. She is still under their contract for who knows how much longer. If Kate decides not to be a contract honorer and gets another job that they do not approve of, then TLC will sue her for breach of contract just like they did Jon. Also, based upon how TLC hung her out to dry in these last two episodes and no doubt the two episodes that have yet to air showing all of her "warts", there is really no doubt in my mind that TLC is just waiting for an excuse to sue her for all their pain and suffering working with her. Just my opinion of course ;)
Something the Armstrongs and Gosselins had in common was that it was one spouse (in both cases, the wife) who decided to be in a reality tv show and the other spouse seemingly went along with it to please the fame-seeking spouse.
I think Jon Gosselin's behaviour in 2009 following the separation, which was discussed and criticized endlessly in the tabloids, might have been a kind of mental breakdown in response to the tremendous pressures he was under.
I believe that the person who actively seeks out reality show fame is better equipped psychologically to deal with the negative aspects of that fame than their spouse and children who are puilled into that world - which makes me very concerned about the long-term effects of the show on the Gosselin children.
Personally Diane, I don't believe it, and thought about not printing it here but decided to do so just for the sake of discussion.
"They will be announcing that Kate is a free agent, which means she will do some shows with the kids on TLC, but she will be The Bachelorette sometime this coming year"
They didn't announce she was a free agent. They just announced the show was over. I also don't think anyoe would put her on the Bacheorette. A woman with eight kids who is currently unemployed and is known to have an unpleasnt personality? Why would any men apply to date her? The only way it would work is if it was a parady.
"my niece who works for TLC. She finds out things and passes only some of them along to me."
Anybody can claim to be an inside sour ce and start rumors. if thia were true, word of it would have leaked out to Kate and she wouldn't have been so blindsided when the show was cancelled.
JMO of course, what does everyone else think?
Polly
I think Kate wishes to be the Bachelorette. Whether ABC would do it is another question. They've already had a taste of her diva ways on DWTS, and seen how inept she is at social interaction in her "correspondent" debacle for "Skating With the Stars". I wouldn't be surprised to see her on The Talk", although I don't think she'll do a very good job. She's made no effort to improve her knowledge and her conversational skills since she co-hosted "The View".
BTW Polly, last night Kate apparently made a tweet that strongly implied that Jon smacked her around. What do you think (Personally, I think it's more of her dramarama, and pure BS)?
Hi Polly,
Yes, this poster also said in another post that Kate would get a couple of week gig out of co-hosting the Talk. I wonder who the Hollybaby source was?...maybe, the anonymous commenter at gwop? lol. But, if she really gets the Talk, I'll be ready to scream. It is supposed be after mama k.'s gig.
But, if any of it happens, I do hope she leaves the kids where they are. Disrupt them as little as possible. Have a good evening everyone.
Thanks for the answers in the previous post Polly and Heather. XOXO
WG, I totally agree who would sign up to date her!? WHO? I agree to a parady. It doesnt make sense. Flying all over the world like that show does? Leaving her kids for a few months? Oh I just can't see it. What a risk the network would take. I don't think those ratings would be so great. I could see just see her now, throwing one of her fits on there and being rude to the guys..... I shutter to think about it. She is NOT an affectionate person at all I can't imagine her kissing men on the show . BLAH !!! She judges people too she could never try to understand someones "story" . Please NO to The Bachelorette.
Any thoughts on the recent RV episode, folks?
My bf and I watched a repeat RV episode this week after I read some of the comments. I agree that TLC showed the true Kate, warts and all, because they did little to no editing. I'm sure that next week's episode is going to be more of the same.
Finally TLC proved what many of us knew all along. With everything that Kate has these days, for her to bitch and moan about anything and everything is completely unacceptable especially on her what, 10th vacation THIS year?
Get this: I noted that in the beginning of the episode, where Ashley on Day 13 says, "I'm done" she is in a blue RV, yet the two RVs they were in one was primarily white and the other is beige and chocolate. Which means Kate bitched so much that they had to get a replacement RV mid trip.
In 1964 my family of 4 took a road trip for two months cross country in a 16' Aristocrat trailer and we had a very small frig so we also had a cooler. We went to see Old Faithful, Grand Tetons, Canada and on the way back to CA the Grand Canyon. We did it with no TV, no AC and no shower, and yet Kate has not only had a professional driver, she and her family flew out from PA to South Dakota to meet the packed RVs already there!!!!
Kate pitched a big fit about "unauthorized photographs" by the other tourists at Mt Rushmore. Based on this fiasco my guess is that she kept the kids locked up in the RVs at the campgrounds most of the time so they were not recognized either and paparazzis would show up.
"Tempers Flared" and "Relationships Changed" yeah, no doubt because traveling with Kate even in high end RVs is going to be stressful ... which just proves to me that living with her 24/7/365 must be hell.
"BTW Polly, last night Kate apparently made a tweet that strongly implied that Jon smacked her around"
Kate's tweets can be so confusing. I don't think she was talking about Jon but about a tweeter's husband. Of course, who knows?