Watching VH1

This weekend’s VH1 video clip is from the extra footage of the Charm School Reunion Show. This clip shows Mo’Nique setting the record straight with the Charm School girls and giving her final words on why she did the show. Enjoy!

VH1, VH1 CelebReality, VH1 reality, VH1 reality shows, Charm School, Charm School Reunion, Mo’Nique, Charm School extra footage, Charm School extras

Welcome to a new feature of WatchingVH1.com! Every Monday after new CelebReality shows air on VH1, I will give you a glimpse into my thoughts and what you may have missed. As soon as recaps of the shows are available, I will link to those as well.

I Love New York–Reunion Show

Tiffany Ballard (New York) was back and so were all the men from I Love New York. Last time we saw New York, she had just accepted Tango’s marriage proposal…but will they live happily ever after? If you’ve been reading my blog, you know that Tango already has a girlfriend. Well, fireworks flew as he came on the reunion show and broke off the engagement with New York. He said he had proposed to “Tiffany” but after watching her as “New York”, he didn’t want to have anything to do with her since she dissed his mama. As he left the stage, New York let fly a lot of bleeped out words and used some hand gestures to the delight of the crowd. Meanwhile, Chance was just lounging on the couch nearby with a smirk on his face talking about how she should have chose him. Of course he didn’t mean that because rumor has it Chance and his brother Real will be getting their own spinoff on VH1.

Charm School–No Mo’Nicknames

What a delicious mess the Charm School girls are! They get to ride around in a short bus and the sound effects people on this show are just brilliant. Everytime Hottie blinks her eyes, a bicycle bell goes off that makes me think nothing is going on up under that giant weave of hers. After they all found out they were assigned rooms (oh, boo hoo, Pumkin, you’re stuck with angry girls who don’t like you), Mo’Nique made them burn their nametags with their nicknames on them and use their real names (yes, that means you too Krazy/Heather…not some made up ridiculous singing name of yours). Luckily, when they flash on screen for confessionals, their nicknames are still there under their real names because otherwise I’d have no clue who they were. The funniest part of the nickname burning ceremony was Mo’Nique making fun of Saaphyri’s nickname only to learn that is her real name (she was shown the door for fighting in Flavor of Love before he handed out nicknames, so she never got one). The girls are then forced to hike up a hill for two miles with a bunch of camping gear (it took them 4 hours! I think I could crawl 2 miles in 4 hours and I’m definitely not in shape). Between Schatar/Hottie and Thela/Rain complaining non-stop about things and thinking a spa was at the top of the hill, I was ready to turn off the show. However, they all made it through the night and then the next morning competed in a Marine obstacle course. Captains Saaphyri and Leilene/Smiley picked teams and Leilene didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings so she chose a crappy team for a physical challenge. Saaphyri’s team easily won the competition and all were immune from being expelled that night. When they got back to the mansion, the girls got their “good Catholic girl” uniforms and slutted it up as best as they could. In the end, crazy Thela/Rain was sent home after a one-on-one with Mo’Nique where she admitted to doing pot and how she couldn’t control her rage. Looks like it will be an interesting season…and New York will make a guest appearance sometime as well.

The Springer Hustle

This is probably the show I’m most disappointed in. Not enough Springer show action and too much behind the scenes stressed out boring stuff, in my opinion. It was interesting to see how they put the shows together and make the crazy guests even crazier, but I don’t know how they are going to keep this up for the rest of the season. The pace is so frenetic that I had to do breathing exercises to calm myself down just watching them. It’s high stakes, just like The Agency, but in fast forward and they deal with what they call “trailer trash” instead of high end women’s fashion models. There was so much yelling and coaxing of these people who want to be on the show it made my head spin. Salina, the producer we followed this week as she put a show together, was definitely driven, but she only left herself 48 hours to book an entire show, fly the guests in, prep them, and pull it all together for taping. I think my head would explode if that is the “daily grind” at my work. Next week, we follow a different producer named Toby as he puts his show together. It’s probably going to be the same thing with a different producer every week. Unless a producer comes along that actually makes me care about them, this is going to be one long season for me.

What did you think about the new shows? Comment below and give me the low down! If you haven’t seen the episodes yet, check out my handy TV Schedule to see when they are on next or see clips at the VSPOT.

VH1 Recaps, CelebReality Recaps, CelebReality, I Love New York, Reunion Show, Charm School, The Springer Hustle, Recap, Commentary, Mo’Nique

As I was surfing the internet, I came across an article at MediaTakeOut.com breaking the story that VH1 and host Mo’Nique are being sued for stealing the idea behind Charm School, VH1’s new show that takes former Flavor of Love contestants and tries to turn them into proper ladies. The following letter, which was sent to VH1, has details of the situation.

VH1
1633 Broadway, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10019
Attention: Legal Affairs

RE: Drew Sidora - “Ghetto Fabulous”

Ladies and Gentlemen:

We represent Drew Sidora and her affiliated entities. VH1’s new reality television series “Charm School” (the “Series”) is a blatant infringement of Ms. Sidora’s copyrighted reality television project “Ghetto Fabulous” (the “Project”).

Ms. Sidora and her manager, Allison Jordan, together with Charles Sims, prepared a treatment (the “Treatment”) for the Project, which they registered with the Writers Guild of America on February 19, 2004 and again on April 8, 2004. In early 2005, Ms. Jordan and Corliss King pitched the Project and submitted the Treatment to Stacey Jenkins at VH1. Ms. Jordan and Ms. King described the Project as a reality show about “Ghetto Fabulous” girls who are taught proper etiquette and transformed from ghetto to glamorous. Ms. Jordan and Ms. King spoke with Ms. Jenkins on multiple separate occasions over the course of more than a year, setting forth many potential story ideas and scenarios.

Although Ms. Jenkins unequivocally indicated to Ms. Jordan and Ms. King that VH1 genuinely liked the concept and told them that VH1 intended to pursue the Project, Ms. Jordan and Ms. King did not hear from Ms. Jenkins or anyone else at VH1 again. Ms. Sidora therefore presumed that VH1 had elected not to pursue the development of the Project.

In light of the foregoing, Ms. Sidora, Ms. Jordan, Ms. King and Mr. Sims were shocked and outraged last week when for the first time they saw the promotional segments for the Series. VH1’s description of the Series reads like the description of the Project. Specifically, VH1 describes the Series as a reality series about “ghetto fabulous” girls who are enrolled in a charm school and thereby transformed from ghetto to glamorous.

VH1’s liability under copyright and tort law is clear. It is undisputed that VH1 had extensive access to the Project. Moreover, based on the overwhelming substantial similarities between the Project and the Series, a reasonable person would conclude that the Series is a blatant misappropriation of the Project.

Accordingly, Ms. Sidora demands that VH1 immediately cease and desist from any further development, production, distribution and any other exploitation of the Series, and confirm to us in writing not later than April 1, 2007 that VH1 has done so. In addition, VH1 must compensate Ms. Sidora for the illegal and infringing use of the Project and the loss of opportunity to produce the Project as a television series. If VH1 fails so to comply, our client will protect her rights by aggressively pursuing legal and equitable remedies against VH1, including asserting claims for copyright infringement, breach of implied contract, breach of confidence, interference with prospective economic advantage, and unfair competition—claims that carry significant compensatory and punitive damages as well as injunctive relief.

This letter is not intended to be a complete recitation of the relevant facts of this matter. Furthermore, nothing contained herein shall be deemed a waiver of our client’s rights or remedies, either at law or in equity, all of which are hereby expressly reserved.

What will this lawsuit do to the premiere of Charm School (scheduled to air April 15th)? Check back here for more updates on the situation.

VH1 Lawsuit, Charm School, Charm School Lawsuit, Flavor of Love, Ghetto Fabulous, Mo’Nique, Drew Sidora