Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Viva Hollywood!

Has anyone watched "Viva Hollywood" on VH1 a couple seasons back? I think it aired last year, but I can't completely remember. It was a "reality" TV series that was looking for the next hot and new telenovela star, and the prize was a contract with Telemundo for the winner (Dr. A, do you know if this really happened?). I never watched it, but I remember skimming through channels and seeing it a few times while being really confused. At that time, I hadn't really been exposed to the telenovela world and so I thought it was pretty random that VH1 was airing a show about telenovelas. I'm wondering about this show, because I suddenly stumbled across it again and started thinking about consumption. Telenovelas have gotten to the point where American owned companies are making reality TV shows about them (a pretty big deal, I'd say!), but at the same time I'm assuming the show didn't do too well since it was only on for one season.

Either way, the episodes are online and I think I might start watching them! Supposedly, the situations are even more over the top than regular telenovelas so we'll see!

3 comments:

  1. Miranda and all,
    When Viva Hollywood came out I was pretty horrified by it. I even wrote about it in my blog: http://telenovelas-carolina.blogspot.com/2008/04/viva-hollywood-viva-stereotypes.html

    I don't know if the winner actually received (acted) his/her award...I'll try to find out.

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  2. I remember when this came out! I was somwhere between horrified and utterly amused. If you watch any of the episodes you quickly realize that like with most of Vh1's reality shows this one was more of an attempt at roping in a new audience demographic than a search for a good actor.

    It had over the top challanges and drama that often didn't make sense.

    My least favorite telenovelas were better than this show! But you're right that it does show how telenovelas are seeping into North American culture!

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  3. Yeah, I just watched the introductory episode online and it was ridiculous! I wholeheartedly agree with your post on your blog, Dr. A--it's so stereotypical, and the tagline is just awful. No wonder VH1 canceled it after one season! I think by trying to appeal to this certain demographic, VH1 probably scared them away further, but at the same time, pretty much all of VH1's "reality" shows are just as over the top so maybe they wanted it to have the same appeal but instead came off as offensive.

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