VH1 turns C-listers into retro-cool reality
By Gary Levin, USA TODAY
VH1 is riding a wave of pop-culture nostalgia to ratings success.

Celebrity security guard Andy Dick admits Bronson Pinchot to the Surreal Life house.
VH1

Three years ago, MTV's younger sibling hit a low point after burning out on the biography series Behind the Music. But a love affair with the '80s has redefined the channel, distinguished it further from MTV and lured young baby boomers: Ratings this year set a channel record of 618,000 prime-time viewers, up 20% from 2004.

Embracing the "celebreality" genre that MTV staked out with The Osbournes, VH1 has three series on tap for summer:

•Hogan Knows Best. The show casts retired wrestler Hulk Hogan as a traditional suburban dad to two teenagers on a 20,000-square-foot estate in Clearwater, Fla. Programming chief Brian Graden was intrigued by the blond-maned grappler's "tenderly gruff and protective" side. "He goes to elaborate lengths to protect his daughter on her first date," surreptitiously planting a GPS tracking device in her car.


•Being Bonaduce. The series is a look at ex-Partridge Family child star Danny Bonaduce, keyed to his troubled 15-year marriage to a woman he had known just seven hours. Couples therapy sessions provide the loose framework for each episode, which then goes into the family's home.

•The Surreal Life. Production started Monday on the fifth season of this celebrity C-list Big Brother (due Sept. 4), which moved from WB and became the top-rated series in VH1 history. Newest housemates: ex-baseball player (and ex-steroid user) Jose Canseco, combative Apprentice Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, America's Next Top Model judge Janice Dickinson, actor Bronson Pinchot (Perfect Strangers), hip-hop singer Sandi Denton (Salt 'n Pepa), British model Caprice and "motocross madman" Carey Hart.

"There are so many shows following around celebrities, you have to look for a unique dynamic," Graden says, whether it's Hogan's softer side or the precise mix of overeager personalities on Surreal, where casting has become easier. "Retro-cool fame turned out to be more fun than has-been," he says.

VH1's reality shows have also become feeder systems for future series: Former Surreal housemates Brigitte Nielsen and Flavor Flav won their own spinoff, Strange Love. Bonaduce stemmed from the former child star's work on In Search of the Partridge Family, last fall's contest to recast the beloved 1970s TV family, a ratings disappointment.

And Hogan's series stemmed from a VH1 documentary that centered on his quest to launch a singing career for his 16-year-old daughter, Brooke.

"A lot of people think all I do is yell and scream," says Hogan (real name Terry Bollea). "But once they see me at home and how I deal with hands-on parenting, they'll see I'm a (regular) Kmart guy."

meltwithu said:

Damn. Did she ever qualify as a celebrity? Glad to see her time is ticking.
15...14...13...

Oh dear what will they think of next? The sad part is that i'll probably end up watching most of these shows.