Interview With Ben Pappas, B.J. Sigesmund, Lisa Bernhard
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: As you well know, summer is prime time for networks to unveil their newest reality TV programs. Makes me nervous just talking about it. So what will be worth sampling this summer? To find out, we have assembled a wonderful panel of board certified entertainment experts. We have B.J. Sigesmund to my left here, entertainment reporter for "Newsweek." We also have Lisa Bernhard, deputy editor for "TV Guide," Ben Pappas, senior writer for "U.S. Weekly" (sic). We so appreciate you guys being here with us once again. Let's talk first about celebrities, and their reality TV programs. One of them, I know, is going to be with Roseanne. Do people really want to see more of Roseanne?</s>B.J. SIGESMUND, ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER, "NEWSWEEK": I can't believe I'm saying this, but Roseanne and other celebrities are taking pages out of a book written by Anna Nicole Smith.</s>COLLINS: Anna Nicole Smith.</s>SIGESMUND: Whenever you think of her show on E!, it has been hugely successful for her, and it has kept her in the public eye when she should have -- her fame should have run out years ago.</s>LISA BERNHARD, DEPUTY EDITOR, "TV GUIDE": But don't you think this woman has been living a reality show all her life? I mean, what more do we need to know? Normally you learn these new little tidbits about somebody. We already know she has got the multiple personalities. We already know about the many husbands. She has grabbed her crotch, National Anthem, I mean, tip of the -- we've seen the whole iceberg with her.</s>BEN PAPPAS, SENIOR WRITER, "US WEEKLY": Well -- I think that is why it is going to be exciting to see something like a fish out of water show with Paris Hilton, who I'm happy to report made it for five weeks without her diamond-encrusted cell phone.</s>COLLINS: That's a good thing.</s>PAPPAS: She is leading "A Simple Life," which will be on Fox this summer, and I think that will be really exciting.</s>BERNHARD: A socialite, yes.</s>COLLINS: Ben, let's talk, too, if you can start for me on this, about the matchmaker shows. A lot of those coming up as well.</s>PAPPAS: Of course. Simon from "American Idol" just wrapped up his duties as a judge, and now he is going to be going behind the camera for "Cupid," which will be on CBS this summer. Think that will be a really exciting matchmaking show.</s>COLLINS: Why?</s>PAPPAS: I think it is going to be neat because Simon is really an interesting judge of character. These men are only going to have a few seconds to prove themselves. I think we are going to get a lot of interesting sound bites, and she has two friends with her, sort of an angel friend and a devil friend to help her make this choice.</s>BERNHARD: A hundred get whittled down to ten, and then, like "American Idol," viewers can vote again, so it's interactive. And, obviously, he knows how to make a success.</s>SIGESMUND: One that I'm most into is "For Love or Money," that is one NBC. These women compete for one guy, like on "The Bachelor," but they get a million dollar prize if they get picked by him.</s>BERNHARD: Which he doesn't know.</s>SIGESMUND: He doesn't know that. So it brings out a lot of sort of good girl versus evil gold digger-type things, and you are going to see some women who really want love, and some women who are just there for the money, and I think it will get really interesting at the end, when this woman who gets chosen has to choose between him or the money, because as we've seen on reality shows like this, half of these relationships don't work out anyway. "Bachelor I" didn't work out. "Bachelor II" didn't work out. The women might as well take the million bucks.</s>COLLINS: Talk quickly, too, if you would about the new dating show being referred to as the "gay bachelor," "Boy Meets Boy." This is going to be on the Bravo network.</s>SIGESMUND: Right. A lot of people have been waiting for a gay reality show -- I'm sorry, for a "Bachelor"-type show about a gay man. It has finally come along, but there is a twist, as is de rigueur in reality shows these days. Some of these guys are straight, and the poor guy, the poor 32-year-old gay guy who is the gay bachelor doesn't even know this until midway through the program when this is -- information is given to him, and producers haven't even decided when they are going to let America in on who is straight and who is gay. So it is going to be very interesting.</s>COLLINS: I think there -- I mean, there is more gay programming. There is even a sitcom on ABC with two gay dads, so I think we are going to be seeing more and more of this.</s>COLLINS: Probably. OK. We have to talk about it: "Fame" last night. Its debut or premiere, what did you think?</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My opinion...</s>BERNHARD: You are not a big fan. What I think is so funny about "Fame" is that we are coming up with so many ways to make reality shows. You are basing (ph) -- they are talent shows, they are dating shows, they are this and that. "Fame" was -- is based on a TV show which was based on a feature film which was based on real life here in the High School of Performing Arts in New York City. So we now have reality based on reality. We've come full circle.</s>SIGESMUND: Debbie Allen -- Debbie Allen has been waiting for this moment for 23 years. The Oscar thing never really worked for her that well, but she probably watched "American Idol" and thought, I did this in 1980. I want in on this action again.</s>COLLINS: She's very nice this time, though. I mean, I watched it, just a little tidbit, not the whole thing. We'll have to see how that goes. B.J. Sigesmund, entertainment reporter for "Newsweek," we have Lisa Bernhard with "TV Guide," and Ben Pappas from "Us Weekly." I don't know why I always do that, the way it is written here. I swear I have seen the magazine many times.</s>PAPPAS: It's "Us."</s>COLLINS: Thanks so much for being with us, you guys. Appreciate it very much. 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