Read The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion Online
Authors: Lois H. Gresh
The Unofficial Hunger Games Companion (32 page)
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. These reality television viewing numbers come from
Entertainment Weekly,
widely known for reporting accurate viewing numbers. But again, these guys are spin artists, too, the ultimate in entertainment publicity and news. The
Jersey Shore
numbers, by the way, have been reported at 8.9 million viewers and more.
NEXT UP ARE
The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
(a TV press release reports 3.7+ million viewers,
5
January 14, 2011) who follow in the footsteps of the insanely successful
The Real Housewives of New York City
(2.64 million viewers, as reported on June 5, 2010).
6
Perhaps viewers are more interested in cat fights among celebrity wives more than they’re interested in squabbling among wealthy Manhattanites. And yes, there are
The Real Housewives of New Jersey
(3.2 million viewers, as reported on July 15, 2010)
7
and
Atlanta
(3.5 million viewers, as reported on February 2, 2011),
8
as well; and they’re not in Beverly Hills with film celebrity wives, so why are they so popular? Lest we forget them, we also watch
The Real Housewives of Orange County
(2+ million viewers, as reported on January 27, 2011),
9
and even
The Real Housewives of D.C.
(1.6 million viewers, as reported on August 9, 2010).
10
And don’t forget about
The Millionaire Matchmaker
with its 1.3 million viewers.
11
Plus
Project Runway, Rock of Love, A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila, America’s Next Top Model, The Bachelor
and
The Bachelorette, Celebrity Rehab, The Girls Next Door, The Hills, Laguna Beach, Hogan Knows Best, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, The Fifth Wheel, Shear Genius, The Surreal Life,
and those old favorites,
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica, The Osbournes, The Simple Life,
and
Flavor of Love.
If we dig even farther back, we can list a slew of original reality shows in
The Real World
series: These programs took place everywhere from New Orleans to Las Vegas to Key West to Hollywood to . . . well, name a city and there probably was a
Real World
show there.
What fascinates us, why are we glued to reality TV shows? And what do they have in common with
The Hunger Games
? (Astute readers are now thinking, “
What?
No mention of
Survivor
?” Trust me, we’re going to talk about
Survivor
in this chapter.) Here’s a sampling:
Reality Television Program |
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The Hunger Games |
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Keeping Up with the Kardashians |
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The Real Housewives of Orange Country |
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Rock of Love |
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Fashion and Style |
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Before competing to the death, tributes are scrubbed, stripped of hair, and styled to the hilt at the Remake Center. Katniss meets her stylist Cinna early in Also on her fashion and style team are Flavius, Venia, and Octavia. Katniss knows that “the best-looking tributes” get more sponsors ( |
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Entire Web sites are devoted to Kim Kardashian’s fashions, makeup, hair, and trendsetting styles. |
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The housewives have fashion shows and buy thousand-dollar dresses in their living rooms. |
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Trashy outfits galore. Tattoos, mini-bikinis, strippers! |
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