Recently, all the different television channels announced the shows they were renewing and the ones they were canceling. The majority of shows renewed were reality based while many fine scripted dramas and comedies went by the wayside. From an economic perspective, this wasn’t a surprise. It is far cheaper to film a reality show and, if viewers become attached to the cast/scenery, easier to make money off of product placement and repetitive showings.
Although
I personally have little interest in most reality TV shows, I’m addicted to the
ones that incorporate a competition. Because I’ll watch and even rewatch
gameshows like Jeopardy, cooking competitions including Top Chef
and Chopped, or shows that offer big prizes, I couldn’t resist
incorporating this world into the fifth Sarah Blair mystery, Five Belles
Too Many, which releases on June 28 (available for pre-order from
Amazon, Barnes & Noble, your favorite indie, or by calling your library and
asking them to obtain it).
In
Five Belles Too Many, Sarah’s mother, Maybelle, and Maybelle’s friend,
George, are one of five finalist couples hoping to win a perfect Southern
wedding being given away by a New York television show which is taping its
competitive segments in Wheaton, Alabama. The five belles vying for the prize
include four twenty-something-year-olds who love Day of the Dead, Auburn
and Alabama football, and the southern world inhabited by the Beverly Hills
Clampetts, as well as sixty-plus Maybelle and George. Each belle is required by
the show’s rules to have a chaperone. Because Mother Maybelle doesn’t want to
impose on her friends and Chef Emily works at night, the assignment falls to
Sarah despite the belles and chaperones having to stay at Sarah’s greatest
nemesis’ bed and breakfast. Sarah’s hope for the week to go by quickly is
complicated by murder. (For more details, catch Elaine Douts’ WWK review and
interview on June 22, 2022).
The
fun in writing Five Belles Too Many was incorporating what goes on
behind the scenes in reality shows. Much of what we, the audience sees, is
somewhat scripted and definitely edited to play on our emotions. My job was to
bring these fake moments to life for the reader, while establishing a whodunit
that was fun.
I
find reality TV doesn’t take much concentration to enjoy and each show provides
a relief from the true reality of whatever is happening in my life. Tell me, does
reality TV hold a secret pleasure for you? If so, which shows do you like?
I'm the wet blanket on this. I don't watch reality TV; I'd rather read a book (or write one).
ReplyDeleteI used to watch HGTV at the gym when I was pounding out the miles on the elliptical. It's always the cellar, the attic, support beams.
ReplyDeleteWhat happens in my imagination is always more fun than reality.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Jim.
I don't know that I've ever watched a reality show, although I did watch a few episodes of Cops with my husband when it was still on TV, if that counts.
I'm not much of a TV watcher, to tell the truth. In exasperation, my daughter finally made an instruction sheet for me because I could never figure out how to get anything.
I did pull it out to watch the Belmont Stakes (cheering all the way for Rich Strike, alas) but I can't remember the last time I had the TV turned on before that.