Ridgewood NJ, in addition to the labor movements within Hollywood’s CGI-dominated realms, another significant movement is brewing among reality TV stars. Spearheaded by figures far removed from the CGI-created worlds, such as former Real Housewives of New York cast member Bethenny Frankel, a public campaign for the unionization of reality TV stars gained momentum last summer. Frankel highlighted issues of mistreatment and poor working conditions within the industry, sparking conversations about the need for change.
AG’s Office Denies Dems’ Effort to Prevent Voters from Having LD38 Cappola Option
Bergen County Democratic Committee Counsel Carmine Alampi today fired off a letter to judges in Bergen and Passaic counties requesting that the LD38 voting machine levers be locked to prevent general election voters from being able to record a vote for Anthony Cappola. Max Pizarro, PolitickerNJ Read more
Assembly Speaker Prieto Denounces Bramnick for Stance on Cappola
Assembly Speaker Vincent Prieto (D-32) issued a statement Thursday speaking out against Assembly Minority Leader Jon Bramnick (R-21), who said during a press conference Wednesday that he would not be taking further steps to remove Assembly candidate Anthony Cappola from the ballot in the 38th district. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
SEPTEMBER 5, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Creditors’ hearings for the “Kitchen Cousins” personal bankruptcy cases have been pushed back to Sept. 30, and a new court filing in Newark shows that the legal wrangling may soon get more complicated.
John Colaneri of Ramsey, who appears on several HGTV home-improvement shows with his cousin Anthony Carrino of Jersey City, has asked for court approval to retain Joseph B. Fiorenzo of the Newark law firm Sills Cummis & Gross PC to lead his challenge to a large debt they allegedly owe to a Tenafly couple.
The couple, Robert and Peng Avery, had sued Colaneri and Carrino for allegedly botching the renovation of their Engle Street home.
Fiorenzo, who did not respond Friday to requests for comment, leads the law firm’s complex business litigation group.
Both entertainers list in their court filings $857,894 in unsecured debt owed to the Averys, resulting from an arbitration award that included the tripling of certain damages, which involved state consumer-fraud law violations. The award amount was what prompted the HGTV stars to file separate personal Chapter 11 filings on July 27, according to Wayne bankruptcy lawyer David L. Stevens, who is representing the cousins.
The renovation of the Averys’ home was not featured on any of the cousins’ cable TV shows, which include “Kitchen Cousins,” “Cousins Undercover” and “America’s Most Desperate Kitchens.”
SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 11:22 AM LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 11:24 AM
BY KARA YORIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
Rumors surrounding the next cast of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of New Jersey” continue even as filming is apparently already underway for Season 7 of the once wildly popular reality series.
Teresa Giudice
Kathy Wakile and Rosie Pierri will be “friends” of the main cast, which is not expected to include season six newcomers Amber Marchese, Teresa Aprea and Nicole Napolitano, according to an ETonline report this week, which cited two sources close to the show. They haven’t been asked back, the report added, which also said Dina Manzo will not return.
As The Record reported in July, current prison inmate Teresa Guidice is expected to return to the show that made her famous when she is done serving time. She will be joined by Melissa Gorga, Jacqueline Laurita.
Gorga seemed to confirm that filming had already begun with a couple of late July Instagram posts that showed her son and cameras set up in her home with the hashtags #rhonj and #setlife.
The rumors continue that Traci Johnson, wife of former Giant Tiki Barber, could join the cast, but that hasn’t been determined, according to ETonline, which also reported that Bravo sought out “Jersey Shore” alum Nicole “Snooki” Polizzi as well as Geraldo Rivera’s wife Erica Levy to join the cast. Levy declined, the website said.
Gorga’s Instagram account fueled the Johnson and Polizzi rumors as she posted photos of the three of them together having “a liquid lunch,” as well as some pictures with Gorga and Johnson’s daughters playing together in a pool. Gorga also posted a few shots with Cake Boss Buddy Valastro’s family, sparking some to think his wife, Lisa, may become part of the group.
Giudice had already continued her television life, in some capacity, while in prison, as she took part in filming of husband Joe Guidice’s Bravo special, The Record previously reported.
Bill Berloni, Broadway’s go-to dog trainer for stage canines, will get a TV showcase this summer with a new reality TV series set to begin airing in August on Discovery Family Channel.
Both a well-known specialist in the Broadway industry as well as a vocal proponent of the humane rescue and training of animals, Berloni will be seen in the series in all aspects of his life, ranging from his professional work as a trainer to his activism to his life at home, where he lives with his family and more than 25 animals he’s rescued. Produced for DFC by production and distribution company Earth Touch, the series — currently known by the working title “From Wags to Riches With Bill Berloni” — will bow in August as part of “Pawgust,” the network’s monthlong focus on dogs.
Reality TV facing its own reality: a ratings slump
By Scott Collins
Just a few years ago, underemployed TV writers were complaining that reality programming was taking over their industry.
Now the scribes are having their revenge: Unscripted programming is mired in an unexpected slump.
Onetime smashes such as “Survivor” and “Dancing With the Stars” are drooping with age. Coca-Cola recently wrapped up its 13-year sponsorship of “American Idol” after Fox’s singing hit plummeted in the ratings last season. NBC’s own singing show, “The Voice,” saw its season finale drop nearly 10% this month.
And what’s worse, no new hits are taking their place.
Fox bet the farm early this season on “Utopia,” a voyeuristic series in which a group of isolated “pioneers” was observed trying to create a new society. Viewers yawned, and the network eventually canceled the program, for a loss that insiders pegged at more than $50 million. ABC drew disappointing results this summer with its gimmicky singing show “Rising Star.”
“Reality TV was supposed to be a long-term fix to the problems of television, but that optimism was misguided,” said Jeffrey McCall, a media studies professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. “Program executives overestimated the true value of the commodity and drove the genre into the ground.”
Even cable networks, a longtime proving ground for the genre, are seeing diminishing returns.
A&E’s “Duck Dynasty” ratings have plunged, even though they are still high by cable standards. TLC this fall quickly shelved its hit “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” after matriarch Mama June was accused of dating a sex offender, but viewership had already declined sharply. And this fall, AMC largely abandoned a three-year foray into unscripted programming, deciding to return its primary focus to its signature scripted series such as “Mad Men” and “The Walking Dead.”
