Unreal: Inside the World of Reality TV

Unreal, which just began its 3rd season on Lifetime, aims to show viewers what really goes on behind the scenes of a reality dating show.  Everlasting, a fictional version of the real long-running ABC show The Bachelor, is led by uber bitch executive producer Quinn (Constance Zimmer).  She sits in the control room, barking out orders to her minions and cackling to herself as she manipulates the contestants for maximum dramatic effect.  Producer Rachel (Shiri Appleby) is Quinn's right-hand woman.  She uses her false friendships with the contestants to make them do whatever Quinn wants.  Chet (Craig Bierko) is the show's creator, whose presence serves only to distract the cast and crew.  He has a volatile, on and off relationship with Quinn and later dates a string of dumb young women.  There's also several other supporting players: Jay (Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman), a gay producer and friend to Rachel, Jeremy (Josh Kelly), a camera operator who dates Rachel and later tries to rape her in a drunken rage, and Madison (Genevieve Buechner), a meek production assistant who pleasures Chet to get ahead on the show.  Finally, the host is Graham (Brennan Elliott), a full-of-himself clone of real Bachelor host Chris Harrison.

The show is full of insane moments, which have become pretty commonplace by this point.  In season 1, Quinn intentionally meddled with a contestant's medications to make her appear crazier on camera, leading her to jump off the roof of the mansion where the show was being filmed and commit suicide.  Season 2 saw the best friend of Darius (B.J. Britt), the first black suitor, getting shot by the police.  Also in season 2, Coleman (Michael Rady), the producer temporarily hired to replace Rachel, got into a car accident with a contestant, who was actually an investigative journalist trying to expose the show for its manipulations; they were presumably both killed in the accident, since they are so far absent from season 3.  And just in the first episode of season 3, Anna (Johanna Braddy), the first female suitor, had sex with a jockey, cast on the show only for laughs due to his short stature, in her bathroom. 

The biggest strength of the show lies in the performance of Zimmer as Quinn.  She commands both the fictional Everlasting and Unreal, savoring every minute onscreen in her bitchy boss lady role.  Appleby is also strong as Rachel, although her character comes off as pretty annoying most of the time.  She pretends to care about the people around her and judges Quinn for her actions, but she's really just as bad (if not worse) because she's so fake.  The rest of the characters are mostly one-note, although they all shine when they share scenes together in the control room, making bets with each other about which contestants will make it the farthest on the show.  Despite the outrageous moments, which are pretty entertaining, the show can sometimes feel pretty repetitive.  In season 2 it tried to keep viewers' interest with a faster pace and the twist of a black suitor, but the plots tended to be really all over the place and didn't make a whole lot of sense.  Season 3 so far seems more promising, because Anna is an interesting suitor and the show has toned down the craziness a bit.  While it seems unbelievable that Everlasting would still be on the air after so many deaths and scandals, it's still interesting to get a glimpse into the true fakeness of reality tv from this show.  Despite its flaws, I recommend Unreal, because it's genuinely unique and its comments on the tv industry are bold and intriguing.