We get three new shows this week, but one is not totally new. In fact it’s an old favorite of many. That being the return of Run’s House That brings our total of shows to cover to 7. All of them get covered in this new mix, some way or another. So hang on tight, it’s another wild ride on the MTV express…
MONDAY
The Hills
Lauren wants a new man. But she doesn’t know where she stands with Brody. Lauren is also busy with Whitney as they attempt to pick out male models for the “Young Hollywood” party for their job. Hard job for them. Lauren runs into a model named Gavin. Lauren tried to set him up with Heidi back in the day. Anyone for Heidi to date except Spencer. Gavin then makes his move on Lauren. Lauren gives him her number and they may hang out this weekend. Whitney doesn’t say a word about it. Haha!
Heidi gets a new “event coordinator” at her work. Kimberly takes Elodie’s place. Spencer doesn’t like the fact that Heidi is working all the time now, even though he pushed her into getting this promotion. Heidi gives Spencer a small burn by saying that maybe Spencer should try working some time.
Lauren brings Gavin to Brody’s BBQ. This should be interesting. Gavin brings his friend as well and Brody puts down Gavin at every turn. Gavin is not scoring major points on his own. Lauren doesn’t like to camp, while Gavin does. Not a match, the board goes back. Gavin and Brody talk as they cook for Lauren. Brody’s friend, Frankie, thinks Brody got jealous that Lauren brought Gavin here. Lo and Frankie talk to Lauren about her feelings for Brody, which she denies. Brody pretty much does the same thing as well. So Brody is like Lauren’s dad here.
Spencer continues to get more and more mad when Heidi has no time to go out to eat with him when he wants her to. You know, she has a real job, which he can’t seem to get the concept of. Gavin and Lauren have their date and they continue to not match up so well. They give it a good try, though. Lauren tells him that all her recent dates have seemed normal at first, but ended up being crazy. Not a great thing to say Lauren. But after the date Lauren calls Brody and tells him that there were “no sparks” between her and Gavin. Then, she invites Brody over to watch a movie with her. Well really he invites himself over, but she gave out the signals and Brody just picked up on them. Not an entirely bad thing, I guess. We shall see.
Kaya
Really this show shouldn’t be in this column. Honestly, it shouldn’t be on MTV. This is a “scripted” show. This is not a reality show. Some would argue that most of MTV’s “reality” shows often walk the thin line between being “unscripted” and “scripted”, but at least all of those shows feature “real” people. The characters in Kaya are played by actors. As far as the content of the show, well it looks like every other reality show on MTV. Typical teen drama. In fact, I think you can just call this show a “scripted” version of Cheyenne, since it features a young girl in the music business. That being said, I will still continue to cover the show here for those interested. But I will only be provided a recap. Don’t look for any extra commentary. If you want my thoughts on “scripted” shows, head on over to Prime Time Pulse. Anyways here is what happened on the premiere episode of Kaya.
Thousands of fans anxiously await Kaya, the world’s biggest up-and-coming rock star. Kaya’s manager eyes her backstage. He counts down the moments before Kaya is supposed to hit the stage. As the crowd grows restless, rumors swirl that Kaya has bailed on the show and her band, “Crossing Coldwater”. Before we go any further, though, lets flash back.
Three weeks earlier, at a press conference to discuss the band’s new recording contract with major label Metro Sound, Kaya strolls in, signing autographs for fans as reporters bombard her with questions. The inquiries are about her band or lack thereof. It looks like the rest of Crossing Coldwater, drummer Gunnar, guitarist Taylor and bassist Manny, have decided not to show up, but Kaya doesn’t lose her cool. She says her bandmates are probably still asleep or getting ready to party later that night.
When a reporter asks whether Crossing Coldwater, whose first album went platinum, is on the brink of breaking up, Kaya halfheartedly laughs. As she’s inundated with questions about selling out, trashing hotel rooms and whether she’s launching a solo career, Kaya grows quiet. The pressure of being a rock star is clearly taking its toll on this 21-year-old singer.
As Kaya retreats from the conference room, she refuses to do any more interviews. She hates feeling like a piece of meat that’s being thrown to the lions. Kaya’s father, who’s also her manager, tries to calm her down but she ends up peeling out of the garage in his car, finally safe from the hungry mob.
At a lavish party thrown by her new label, Kaya is introduced to Grammy award-winning producer T. Davis, who wants to produce Kaya and Crossing Coldwater’s next album. After the band finds out that they’ll be able to stay in a pimped out Malibu mansion while recording their new album, they take a celebratory dip in the pool. When Gunnar tries to put the moves on Kaya he’s interrupted by Taylor, who cannonballs off the balcony above.
The following week the group heads into the studio with T. As they rehearse a very personal ballad Kaya wrote, T halts the performance, saying no one is going to listen to such a depressing song. Kaya thinks people will relate, but T says it won’t sell. He says people listen to music so they can fantasize about getting lucky, meaning sad songs don’t sell, sex does. When he says he’s going to retool the song to make it more marketable, Kaya storms out of the studio.
Crossing Clearwater’s Gunnar, Taylor and Manny chase Kaya outside, trying to reason with her so they can finish the album. Kaya reveals she slept with T and thinks he’s just out to hurt her by tinkering with a song that’s close to her heart. As her bandmates try to talk her into changing the tempo of the song to appease T, she wonders if they even care about what the album will sound like or if they just want a paycheck. Being pressured by her bandmates and her father, Kaya heads back into the studio.
The next day, Kaya listens to the up-tempo track T forced her to rerecord. She thinks it’s overproduced bubble gum crap, not the indie rock sound that Crossing Coldwater is known for. But when she calls her father to complain, he reminds her that the president of the label loves it, which is all that matters.
At sound check before the big gig, bandmates Gunnar, Taylor and Manny are furious at Kaya as soon as she walks in. Taylor tosses a magazine her way that features a full-page story about how Kaya is supposedly leaving the band. Kaya says it’s all a misunderstanding stemming from the fact that they failed to show up at the press conference, but Gunnar says they weren’t even told about the press conference. When Manny mentions that he heard she’s moving out of the mansion, Kaya says she doesn’t want to live in a frat house anymore. As the argument escalates, Kaya turns and walks away.
To relieve her stress, Kaya flies down the street in her car. When she thinks she hears someone say her name, she looks in the rearview mirror. A young girl appears in the back seat, telling her to get her act together or face the consequences, causing Kaya to slam on the brakes. The figure vanishes, leaving Kaya all alone and in tears. At home later, the apparition appears again, telling Kaya she must regain control of her life or things will surely spiral out of control. When Kaya spots a tattoo on the girl’s wrist, she has a flashback to a car crash that left the girl dead on the side of the road.
Cut back to the club full of cheering fans and an empty stage. Where is Kaya? She’s in her hotel room, lounging around in her bathrobe watching a news report on how she could be the next Gwen Stefani if she’d just dump her band, Crossing Clearwater.
A few minutes later, Kaya rushes into the club, where the band tells her she must perform the up-tempo song that T produced because it’s going to be the first single off their new album. Her father says that the success of the song is going to shape her future. But Kaya wonders if he’s more concerned about his future.
Finally hitting the stage, Kaya begins performing the song as-is. But just one line into it she stops and tells the crowd that she wrote the song for someone she loved and if she can’t sing the song the way she wants then she won’t sing it at all. As she leaves the stage, the crowd is bewildered and the rest of the band is pissed.
TUESDAY
A Shot of Love with Tila Tequila
So the remaining guys and girls move into the house with Tila. Everyone has to sleep in a GIANT bed together. That spells trouble. What we get for the majority of this episode is some drinking, some flirting, and some trash talking. So just the usual.
Here are the major events of this week. Ashley, a guy, is crazy and kisses Michael B, Vanessa fell on her head trying to be a stripper, and Steven and Rebecca “mess around” with each other at night. Domenico runs and tells Tila. Tila confronts them both. Rebecca sells herself out by telling Tila that she kissed Brandi. Tila had no idea that happened. Rebecca and Steven swear nothing happened. Some people are lying.
Tila also got to know Dani more, who is not Tila’s kind of lesbian at all, but Tila actually likes her more now. But it’s time for five more people to go home this week. They are Rebecca, Rob, Krystal, Alex, and Eric.
Everyone was shocked that Steven was still in the competition. Domenico and Brandi are still in as well. So basically Tila likes drama. She kept everyone that causes drama, except for Rebecca, and got rid of people who didn’t get enough camera time because they didn’t do anything dramatic. Tila didn’t trust Rebecca anymore, which is why she is gone. That shouldn’t be any surprise, though. Judging by this show right now, Tila will probably pick someone lame and dramatic just to make this show interesting and that’s not right at all. But I see it coming from a mile away!
WEDNESDAY
The Real World: Sydney
Dunbar needs to relieve some stress. Good thing his girlfiend from home, Julie, is coming to visit him. Before that he and Parisa get into a screaming match over dirty dishes. Issac believes that they are really arguing over sexual tension and Parisa liking Dunbar and Dunbar liking his girlfriend more.
Julie arrives and Dunbar makes out with her for the rest of the episode. They get to “spoon” and “fork”. Trisha thinks Dunbar should apologize to Parisa for yelling at her like he did, but he won’t do it.
Meanwhile, Shauvon has to decide if she is going home or not. He boyfriend doesn’t like drinking and doesn’t like her partying. Oh good lord, don’t do it Shauvon! If you like to drink, don’t get back with him because you think you love him. He will only attempt to change you and you can’t change unless you want to. From what I have seen on this show, you can’t change. So stay in Aussie land!
Apparently the roommates all have to eat at various places for their job. They have to judge the food as their assignment. This just causes more problems between Parisa and Dunbar. They fight like an old married couple in front of Julie. Julie gives Dunbar a slight “burn” as she agrees with Parisa. He can be mean sometimes and violent. Parisa is gloating. Kelly Anne respects Julie, if she can put up with Dunbar’s crap.
Julie has to leave, though, and it’s back to more yelling between Dunbar and Parisa. They blame the other person on not getting a receipt from where they ate. Parisa then tells their boss that she feels threatened by Dunbar after she yelled at her in an aggressive manner. They both try to make each other look good in front of their boss. Apparently they will just have a “working relationship” now. And that’s all folks! Good lord, I guess they really are dragging this “who is leaving the house” thing out. Maybe it was just a rumor.
Pageant Place
We pick back up with where we left last week. Katie’s retarded boyfriend didn’t like her doing a sexy shoot with a male model. Katie is leaving a message on Josh’s phone wanting to talk about things, but it will have to wait as there’s always business to attend to.
We head over to the Miss Universe Offices where Tara is talking to Esther, a Miss Universe rep. Katie, Rachel and Riyo show up and Esther tells Rachel that she and Katie are going to head down to Turks and Caicos to help out with a pageant. Rachel is actually going to be a judge but Katie will be going down just to represent the organization. Katie is starting to feel like she’s playing second fiddle to Rachel, but she keeps it to herself. Riyo won’t be traveling with them though; instead she’s going to Indonesia to appear at the Miss Indonesia pageant.
Now back to the drama at home. Katie repeatedly burps as loud as she can. After the second belch Rachel gives her a, “Oh, come on!” But Katie just shrugs it off. It becomes clear that both Rachel and Riyo are getting a little tired of Katie’s immaturity. That night Riyo invites Roston and Katie out to dinner with her and her Japanese sponsors. Riyo’s sponsors are all older men and very proper. Roston warns Katie to be on her best behavior and there will be absolutely no burping! At dinner Katie does her best to be polite and respectful but it’s very awkward, and, of course, she accidentally lets out a huge burp after some soup, shocking all the sponsors.
Even though Katie and Rachel seem to be having their problems Tara and Riyo are doing just fine. Tara comes over to help Riyo pack for Indonesia and they have a nice heart to heart where Tara tells Riyo she knows how hard it is to live in a strange place with no family but she will always be able to count on her for help.
Rachel, Katie and Esther arrive in Turks and Caicos. In the evening, when the girls are on their way to the pageant, Katie is completely preoccupied with her phone, messaging Josh nonstop. After they get to the pageant and Katie will still not put the phone away, Esther sits her down to tell her, “Officially, the phone is gone!” The rest of the night goes smoothly, but Katie continues to sneak a text in here and there.
In the morning Katie is talking on the phone with Josh. Talking quickly turns into a fight and it’s clear Josh is very upset that Katie stopped responding to his messages the night before. Katie thinks it’s crazy for him to demand that he always be able to reach her. The phone call does not end well. Back in New York a delivery guy shows up with a ton of roses. Rachel, for some reason, thinks they are for her until Katie finds the card and realizes they are from Josh. Katie seems to instantly forget why she was mad at Josh in the first place. She calls him right away but has to leave a message. It would appear that flowers are enough to patch things up between them.
Katie finally reaches her breaking point and confronts Rachel, telling her that all the little, snappy comments are very rude and they hurt her feelings. Rachel doesn’t apologize but says she wasn’t intending to hurt Katie’s feelings and Katie just needs to tell her when she feels this way. This isn’t really the answer Katie was looking for and they continue their argument for a while before they both head off to their rooms to get away from all the drama.
THURSDAY
Run’s House
It’s back for another season. This is one of the funniest MTV reality show ever thanks to Reverend Run and his crazy family. This season was filmed around May to start with. It’s right before summer and JoJo is graduating from high school.
Vanessa and Angela want to move back into Run’s house apparently. Angela has second thoughts, but then Vanessa gets an opportunity. Vanessa gets an extended role on the soap opera, Guiding Light, and she has to stay in New York for the summer. Angela doesn’t like that at all. But it’s one big “happy” family again.
Run surprises JoJo by getting him a new car, a BMW with his name in the seats. Diggy and Russy now want a reward as well. Diggy said he made honor roll so he should get something. Run says no. When he graduates, he will get something. JoJo feels bad for his younger brothers and goes out and buys them both a present, some big belt buckles. How nice.
It’s time for the usual closing of this show. Rev Run sits in the tub and writes in his journal on his Blackberry phone. He provides wisdom of the day dealing with what we saw in each episode. Good morning. Do you tend to spoil the ones you love? Rewarding achievements that are expected make the ultimate prize disrespected. Life is a marathon not a sprint, so pace yourself and enjoy the journey. God is love, Rev Run.
Making Menudo
For those who don’t know, Menudo is a classic “boy band” made up of young Hispanic boys. Music stars such as Ricky Martin and Mark Antony all got their start in Menudo. Now it’s time to pick the new Menudo and apparently that is a job for MTV. We have 15 boys who want to be in the group. Here is the breakdown:
J.G. – 13 years old from West Palm Beach, Florida
Jorge – 15 years old from Miami, Florida
Jose – 15 years old from Puerto Rico
Antony – 15 years old from Miami, Florida
Pena – 17 years old from Weston, Florida
Henry – 18 years old from New Jersey
Eric – 15 years old from Valencia, California
Thomas – 16 years old from Dallas, TX
Hansel – 18 years old from Miami, Florida
Trevor – 14 years old from Tustin, California
J.C. – 17 years old from Colombia
Chris – 15 years old from Bronx, New York
Dennis – 19 years old from New York City, New York
Carlos – 17 years old from Chicago, Illinois
Monti – 18 years old from from Puerto Rico
They go through “music bootcamp” in Miami, Florida. Johnny Wright is on the scene to manage their musical careers and host this show. David Coury, the vocal coach and Anibal, the choreographer are along for the ride as well.
If you have watched any episode of Making the Band, especially the last season with all the guy band, you will know what happens next in this episode of this show. Johnny Wright and crew fill Diddy and his crew’s shoes. They put all the boys through lots of practice in attempt to “break them” and make them better in the end. Meanwhile, though, the boys have hormones blazing as they like to talk to girls.
The only real major development between the guys is that J.G. is an outcast. He is only 13 and the others consider him immature and they can relate to him. Johnny Wright also tells a few guys that they don’t have the right “look” for Menudo. He says they are only average looking guys. Soon the boys realize that it’s not all about talent, it’s about having the “Menudo look”.
Monti, Antony, and J.G. all perform and Johnny only gives them a 5 out of 10 for that performance. But Monti somehow impresses Johnny enough to give him the first spot in the new Menudo. That doesn’t mean that spot in set in stone, though. Johnny can take Monti out of that spot at any time, if he slacks up at all. Johnny lets Antony back into the mix with the other guys competing for the four other spots. However, J.G. is done with this show. He gets cut first! That’s all that needs to be said about this show right now.
And that ends the 56th volume of the “MTV Mix”! If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, or feedback of any kind..send them my way!!
I’ll see you next time when we mix things up a bit!
