#watched UnREAL S1E1-E5

I have since watched 5 episodes (4 on Cable TV over a weekend marathon telecast, and the 5th online) of UnREAL, and cannot get enough of it! The "look behind the scenes" premise of broadcast and filmmaking always fascinated me, with shows like South Korea's The Producers (somewhat) of similar concepts … but in the case of UnREAL, the deviousness and evil behind the making of this "fictional" dating reality show known as "Everlasting", is dripping with dramas galore, in front of the camera and in-between takes!

ABOUT: "Set against the backdrop of the hit dating competition show "Everlasting," "UnREAL" is led by flawed heroine Rachel Goldberg (Appleby), a young producer whose sole job is to manipulate her relationships with, and among, the contestants to get the vital dramatic and outrageous footage that the program’s dispassionate executive producer, Quinn King (Zimmer), demands. What ensues is an eye-opening look at what happens in the outrageous world of unscripted television, where being a contestant can be vicious and being a producer a whole other reality." (Source)

Main character "Rachel Goldberg" (played by "Shiri Appleby") intrigues me, with her sob-story past, no doubt emotional meltdown on a previous season of the show, making her the "crazy one", back into the grind of evil television manipulation, an ex-boyfriend cameraman who is otherwise engaged to someone else, and … SPOILER AHEAD … sleeping in the grip truck (because she has no where else to go) and masturbating under the sheets to a video recording of her past, is interesting a character maketh … one of the most flawed and sad characters on television I have seen in a while, IMHO. She'd be quite a character in Orange Is The New Black tho, methinks!


Yes, there are plenty more characters abound in the show, but she's the one worth looking at, while everybody seems to be playing their cliched paces … but perhaps that is a safe bet not to alienate folks who have come to embrace the notion of reality tv in the recent generation.

I plan to continue following this series till it's end, and you can check out full episodes and clips here: http://www.mylifetime.com/shows/unreal. (Additional still images via IMDb).

"UnREAL is an American dark comedy/drama television series that premiered on Lifetime on June 1, 2015.[1] It stars Shiri Appleby as a young reality television producer pushed by her unscrupulous boss (Constance Zimmer) to swallow her integrity and do anything it takes to drum up salacious show content. The show was created by Marti Noxon and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, and was inspired by Shapiro's award-winning independent short film Sequin Raze."