Celebreality
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Celebreality is a portmanteau that combines the words celebrity and reality, and is generally used to refer to programming in which celebrities star and participate in reality television shows.
The first known published use of the word was by Michael Gross, writing for the Toronto Star on May 12, 1991, who used it in reference to celebrities looking like everyday people at the 1991 Oscars. The next known published use of the word was by Joyce Millman, writing for the New York Times on January 5, 2003 [1], who used the word in its commonly accepted form. Since then, the word "celebreality" has become increasingly popular, in part because the genre of television programming it was used to describe started to gain popularity.
On November 19, 2004, Viacom applied for trademark registration of the word [2]. Since December 5, 2004, Viacom subsidiary VH1 has used the word "Celebreality" as the title of its block of reality shows featuring B and C-list celebrities, but the term is also commonly used by writers about pop culture to describe this type of program (examples: Dancing with the Stars, Skating with Celebrities, The Osbournes).
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[edit] Season One
The first season of Celebreality premiered on January 9, 2005. Anchored by the fourth season of The Surreal Life, which VH1 picked up from The WB, the block of reality TV also debuted the inaugural season of Celebrity Fit Club and a Surreal Life spin-off from the previous season: Strange Love which followed the relationship between Flavor Flav and Brigitte Nielsen.
[edit] Season Two
Celebrealty made a comeback on July 10, 2005. Once again, The Surreal Life was the main attraction. Celebrity Fit Club returned for its second season, and Hogan Knows Best, a reality show documenting the life of wrestler Hulk Hogan and his family, premiered.
[edit] (Part Two)
The second season of Celebreality featured more than twice as many shows as the first. Since both Hogan Knows Best and Celebrity Fit Club were both five episode shows, and The Surreal Life featured ten, two new shows picked up for the two concluding shows as the second half of The Surreal Life continued. The new shows were Breaking Bonaduce, chronicling the life of former Partridge Family star Danny Bonaduce, and My Fair Brady, another Surreal Life spin-off, which followed the relationship between Christopher Knight and Adrianne Curry. Both shows premiered September 11, 2005.
[edit] (Part Three)
The third part of the second series of Celebreality continued the series of My Fair Brady and Breaking Bonaduce (both ten episode shows), but also introduced a replacement for the concluded The Surreal Life. This was But Can They Sing? a five episode singing competition featuring stars who are famous for things other than singing (boxing, acting, modeling).
[edit] Season Three
The third separate series of Celebreality began airing on January 1, 2006. Unlike all previous installations, it did not debut a new season of The Surreal Life. However, Celebrity Fit Club did return for season three, and Flavor of Love, a dating competition starring Flavor Flav premiered.
[edit] (Part Two)
Once Celebrity Fit Club and Flavor of Love had concluded their ten episode runs, two returning favorites took their place. These included another new season (the sixth) of The Surreal Life and season two of Hogan Knows Best (both premiering March 19, 2006). The second season of My Fair Brady premiered May 28, 2006. Flavor of Love returned April 2, 2006 for its reunion show.
[edit] Season Four
The fourth season of Celebreality began on August 6, 2006 with season two of Flavor of Love and season four of Celebrity Fit Club. Breaking Bonaduce and Hogan Knows Best will resume in October 2006, as well as a Halloween special entitled Celebrity Paranormal Project.
[edit] Season Five
Season 5 of Celebreality is set for January 7, 2007. with the premiere of Surreal Life Fame Games and I Love New York, a spin-off with New York from Flavor of Love, that will air on January 8, 2007.