UnReal

[bklynred]

Scripted series about what lurks behind the scenes on a reality show. Shiri Appleby is wonderful, as is her boss & foil. The first 4 eps are available on Lifetime on Demand. I hate Bachelor type shows so this is my new TV crack. Thoughts?

[laboria]

I watched the first episode. It was okay, but I think I would understand it more if I'd ever watched a minute of the Bachelor or RH type reality shows. I will watch the next episode to see if it is something I want to watch, though.

[mrspickles]

Jun 9, 2015 16:47:59 GMT -4 laboria said:

I watched the first episode. It was okay, but I think I would understand it more if I'd ever watched a minute of the Bachelor or RH type reality shows. I will watch the next episode to see if it is something I want to watch, though.

Where it really took off for me was when Rachel went to visit her mother. Things got about eleventy billion times more layered then for me.

[Deleted]

I love how the opening title credits look like they came straight out of a horror movie. The first two episodes were so dark I wasn't sure how they would sustain it. But episodes 3 and 4 are just as bleak. I do like though that they are moving away from Rachel being all conflicted about her job and full of self loathing. She is starting to embrace that she is good at what she does. By the end of the season she is going to be Quinn 2.0.

It is weird to see Ashley Scott as Mary, the "crazy, withered up desperate older lady". She was the young cute starlet for so long.

[biondetta]

I've only seen the first two eps so far, but I've really enjoyed it. I was surprised at first about how dark the show is, but I gather the darkness is much more accurate. I used to watch the Bachelor, and while I knew it was far from reality, it's interesting to see some of the actual machinations that go on.

[bklynred]

I'm still hooked.

[Deleted]

I watched the first episode and found it pretty fascinating. I want to know just how much the writer exaggerated her experience working on The Bachelor -- 20% 50%? 80%? My guess is that, sadly, it's closer to only 10%. In fact, the character representing Mike Fleiss might be portrayed as less evil than he is in reality. I liked seeing the contrast between the "bad girl" woman of the show and the "vulnerable girl working out her issues in a poor way" woman of reality. Part of the fantasy of shows like the Bachelor is the way they use real people and then edit them in such a way to allow viewers to easily sort out the good guys from the bad guys, making life a lot easier to figure out. It's funny how complicated it is behind the scenes to create this simplified version of the world.

[sardonictart]

I just started my binge watch this weekend and am LOVING this show. Best line so far: "Now remember, it's the network, so keep it upbeat. But also, somebody died," as delivered by the brilliant Craig Bierko. This show is just fantastic - dark and funny and such a social commentary on everything that is wrong with our society. I love it.

[mrspickles]

I am so addicted that I re watched the latest episode at work yesterday. (Nobody else was there, and I have 3 monitors so I was only cutting my productivity by 1/3, I swear. Since my partner is on vacation and I was there on Saturday I didn't feel too bad. Okay, I felt like a total slacker.) I was looking for a couple things in particular, and it turns out that my 'prediction' of both was wrong. I love that I'm involved enough to try to figure out what's happening, what's going on next, etc. It's not just background noise. I'm almost always wrong though. It just fascinates me that all the characters seem aware of how manipulative they are, and sometimes they seem to feel guilty about it, but they seem pretty clueless when someone does it to them. Who knew Chet was the best at it out of all of them?

[bklynred]

Chris Harrison is a total killjoy, hates how on point Unreal is. (I had to google his name, that's how little I watch the actual Bachelor shows.)