Reality TV has hit some hard times recently. First, VH1’s Megan Wants a Millionaire and I Love Money 3 had to be canceled after the shocking news that one of the contestants, Ryan Jenkins, murdered his wife, former Playboy model Jasmine Fiore. Then came the overdose of DJ AM who had just finished filming a new reality show for MTV called Gone Too Far, in which the recovering addict helps intervene in the lives of troubled kids. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like these two cases are curbing the public’s appetite for reality TV. Admittedly I too indulge in my fair share of Bravo reality TV, but I was shaken and disturbed by both of these cases – a good reminder to take everything we see on TV with a grain of salt!
That grain of salt reminder will hopefully trickle in when the flood of Magazine-centric reality television shows hit. It turns out that Elle isn’t the only one who has caught the bug (first via Project Runway and then via Stylista). Joanna Coles, the editor of Marie Claire, told AdAge that “all editors are spending a lot of time thinking about television because it’s one way of making the magazine stay relevant. When everybody’s clamoring for newsstand attention, anything that brings the brand to people’s attention is helpful.”
Harper’s Bazaar is looking to get their “Fabulous at Every Age” feature on television, Marie Claire is now paired with Project Runway and had a show called Running With Heels on the Style network. Also, Olivia Palermo will be “working” at Elle when The City returns for its second season.
Personally, while a part of me does look forward to seeing some of these shows make their way onto airwaves, I don’t see any of them pushing me to be any more inclined to buy any of these titles on newsstands than I would otherwise. Why don’t magazines focus on doing research into what it is that readers want to read about rather than look to reality TV to solve all their problems?
Images courtesy of the Fashion Spot forums.
