I ... do not have a good feeling about this.

[giandujakiss]

Fangirls: The Reality TV Show. No, seriously, apparently.

Comments

[cathexys]

Yes, a friend linked me a couple of days ago and i was horrified! That's a thing we REALLY don't need!!!

[giandujakiss]

Yes, I fear no good can come of this.

[cofax7]

::twitches uncontrollably::

[giandujakiss]

Eeeyup. I gather that actual fans are putting it together, but the medium of a reality TV show ... I just don't think that's gonna work out well.

[were_duck]

... oh no.

[giandujakiss]

Yes. Sadly, I do not believe I possess an appropriately horrified icon.

[ratcreature]

...

[lotesse]

I have a bad feeling about this ... /leia

[lian]

...oy.

[facetofcathy]

Now I know how Italian-Americans from New Jersey feel.

[softestbullet]

Ha, exactly! I was happy being unrepresented in reality tv. D:

[niqaeli]

Well this should be a horrorshow.

Really, I don't care who is involved in it or how much they want to make it respectful and non-exploitative. This will almost certainly end badly for the women portrayed and for fandom as well.

[eisen]

... oh, goody.

[vanitashaze]

I agree with cofax7! Twitch, man. Twitch.

[crypto]

But it could be awesome, too. Couldn't it?*

* Disclaimer: Fan of The Hills and Jersey Shore.

[giandujakiss]

Though I realize that for Jersey Shore in particular there is some disagreement, I suspect it's more awesome if you aren't, yourself, a fangirl.

[crypto]

Point taken! I guess I think it's possible to do compelling reality TV that elicits identification, not just mockery & contempt.

[giandujakiss]

I ... do not think that given the economics of the enterprise and the marketing niche that it is possible, actually. I mean, theoretically possible as a work of art, but not practically possible. I think a documentary would be more suited.

I also am not certain it is possible to do for a "fangirl" subject, at least not if you want to stick to the reality TV format of following a single group of people around. Because real life fangirls day to day, in most cases, don't live in any way that's unusual. Fannish stuff is a hobby, and it's mostly done on computer, which is boring to watch. And then the rest of your life is just ... the rest of your life. To find someone outside that mold you're likely going to grab the extreme.

[crypto]

I have no idea what they're planning, but I could see doing, say, eight episodes or so around a few big events -- say, following a group at ComicCon & Dragon*Con and something else, where a day of con = a half hour episode. If it airs on MTV, which does a lot of docu-reality stuff, it wouldn't need big ratings to be moderately successful on a small budget (my favorite in that MTV genre was one about a year in the life of a high school newspaper).

But yeah, I wouldn't be so psyched if it were more along the lines of The Real Fangirls of Orange County.

(I'll admit, when I saw the question on the YouTube video about whether you blog, I did imagine a lot of boring scenes of people typing in front of a monitor, though.)