Steve's Mailbag, Volume 1 Edition 2

Welcome to Steve's Mailbag where each week, Steve Rogers, Reality TV World's chief reporter, does his best to answer reader questions.


In this edition, Steve answers questions ranging from the status of former reality TV couples from Cupid, For Love Or Money, and Big Brother 5; the broadcast status of Fox's My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss; the possibility of American Idol and Joe Schmo 2 DVD collections; and what's happening with Top Model 4 and The Amazing Race 7.

If you have a question that you'd like to see answered in a future edition of Steve's Mailbag, please email it to stevesmailbag@realitytvworld.com







I would like to know if My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is still on the air. I keep looking for it and do not see that is on anymore.

- Debbie

Hi Debbie, glad to see that someone noticed that the low-rated Fox series hasn't aired since the December 12 evening of CBS's Survivor: Vanuatu finale. After taking a worse than usual drubbing versus Survivor and ABC's Desperate Housewives, Fox put My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss on hiatus for a few weeks. According to Fox publicists, Boss is scheduled to resume its run on Sunday, January 16, after the network airs a two-day, four-hour Sunday/Monday season premiere of its 24 series the prior week.


Dear Steve,

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Have you heard anything about Erin and Chad from For Love or Money 2? Are they still together?

Do you know if Fox or anybody is planning to release the American Idol seasons on DVD for us to buy? I taped the second season but have nearly worn out the tapes watching them over and over again to see Clay's incredible performances.

Thanks. I think this new column is a terrific idea!

Dedicated Reality TV World devotee,
Sharon

Hi Sharon, thanks for the kind words. Unfortunately I haven't heard any update on the status of original For Love Or Money couple Erin Brodie and Chad Viggiano since this summer. NBC alluded to their engagement during this summer's promos for For Love Or Money 3, and the San Francisco Chronicle reported the two as still together (but not yet engaged) during a June 2004 feature, but that's the most recent news that I've heard about them. I have however just learned that E! will apparently be re-running the original For Love Or Money beginning on Tuesday, January 4, so, being E!, I'd expect them to have some type of accompanying update at some point.


As far as full-season Idol DVD's, there haven't been any plans for them announced yet, but with an American Idol magazine due out next year, I'd have to assume they're just a matter of time.


Hi Steve -- what ever happened to Big Brother 5's Drew and Diane?

Thanks,
Dee

Hi Dee -- this is an easy one, like every Big Brother viewer figured, Big Brother 5 winner Drew Daniel dumped third-place finisher Diane Henry shortly after the show's late September finale. And in an Aaron Buerge-like "I dumped Helen at a Starbucks" move, he did it while they were both hanging out drunk at a bar the night before she was due to fly back home. You can read all the gory details for yourself in the "open letter" that Diane published on her website.


Diane is understandably a little bitter about the whole thing, saying, among other things, "thanks for the trip asshole!" But don't be fooled, they "remain friends" -- whatever that means. For the record, both are now living (separately) in Los Angeles, where they presumably have joined hundreds of other former reality show contestants in a desperate bid to extend their 15 minutes and break into mainstream Hollywood.

One marriage did result from this summer's big Brother 5 broadcast however -- according to media reports, Big Brother host Julie Chen has finally married her long-time boyfriend Les Moonves (CBS's president) during a Christmas Eve ceremony in Mexico. The couple had previously had to delay their marriage plans due to the pesky fact that Moonves still hadn't been granted a divorce from Nancy, his previous wife of 24 years.


Are there any plans for a second Cupid show? I really liked the first one. Do you know if the couple is still together?

- Christy


Wow, although the ratings for reality dating shows might be falling, clearly fans are still interested in what's happened to the couples that emerged from them. Lisa Shannon and Hank Stepleton, the couple from CBS's Summer 2003 Cupid series, are pretty protective about their privacy (something that shouldn't come as a surprise considering that they did refuse to marry on TV for $1,000,000.) The two have been maintaining a low profile, with a December 2003 feature with Lisa's local Detroit News newspaper having been one of the most recent interviews that the couple has granted. At the time, the two were said to be living together at Hank's apartment in Chicago, with frequent visits to Lisa's family in suburban Detroit, but according to a CBS spokesperson update from August 2004, the couple, while still together, has since relocated to Los Angeles.

As for the chances of another Cupid series, it doesn't appear meant to be. In addition to the mediocre ratings that the first series drew, David Lyle, the former president of Cupid's FremantleMedia production company, recently told Reality TV World that show's live format resulted in "significant structural problems" that despite Lisa's "fantastic" dedication to the series, made its weekly dating logistics an overwhelming production challenge. Look for more news about David Lyle when we publish our story regarding his appointment as chief of Fox's new Fox Reality Channel digital cable channel (due to launch in Spring 2005) later this week.


Hi Steve, is Joe Schmo 2 ever going to be released on DVD?

Thanks alot,
Frank


Unfortunately Spike TV's Joe Schmo 2 seemed to suffer from a Joe Millionaire 2-like curse and never delivered anywhere near the ratings of the first edition (although frankly, Spike TV's strange decision to move the show to the Monday 11:05PM ET/PT time period following WEE RAW wrestling probably didn't help matters.)


As such, given the low number of viewers who appeared willing to watch it for free on basic cable, even Schmo 2 co-creator Rhett Reese wrote in his blog that he doesn't seem to think the show will end up having a DVD release.


Hi, I would just like to know when the fourth season of America's Next Top Model is going to start.

Thank you!

Top Model 4 is scheduled air in UPN's Wednesday 8PM time period beginning in March 2005 -- following this winter's broadcast of The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott. The Road To Stardom With Missy Elliott premieres January 5.


Hi, do you have any idea when I should be watching for application calls for The Amazing Race 8?

- Cheryl

Hi Cheryl, assuming that The Amazing Race remains on a twice-a-year Fall/Spring broadcast schedule, The Amazing Race 8 would air in Fall 2005. That would mean that TAR8 would likely film in late Summer 2005, which should mean that application information should be announced sometime within in the next few months. The Amazing Race 7 -- rumored to be featuring Survivor: All-Stars couple Amber Brkich and fiance Rob Mariano competing as a team -- began filming in late November.

That's it for this week's mailbag, if you have a reality TV question that you'd like answered in a future Steve's Mailbag column, please email it to stevesmailbag@realitytvworld.com.