The Point Radio: UNREAL Exposes Reality TV

With a tagline like “when bad people make good TV”, we have to watch UNREAL when it premieres tonight on Lifetime. Constance Zimmer and Sheri Appleby talk about why this series will blow the cover off of reality TV. Also have you been binging NBC’s AQUARIUS yet? Cast member Grey Damon tells you what you have missed plus how cartooning turned to acting in his life.

We’re back in a couple of days with a look at a new twist on one of pop culture‘s oldest traditions – the horror movie host!

Transcript

The Point Radio. Hey, it's Mike Rock. Bad people making good TV. The new series, Unreal, blows the lid of what reality TV is really all about. Constance Zimmer and Sherry Appleby tell us the story.

Plus, if you're not watching it, Cory-us, well, you should be. And actor, Greg Damon explains exactly what you've been missing. Let's get to The Point. This is The Point. The Point Radio.

Get The Point Radio. It's a story of bad people making good TV. Unreal is the new scripted drama that hits Lifetime, and it tells the story about what really goes on behind the camera on reality television. I asked actress Constance Zimmer to explain exactly what the concept of the show was.

Well, I'll tell you. It's a show that I don't think anyone has seen yet. And my character, Quinn, is the producer-director of the reality show within our show. So our show is behind the scenes of the making of reality television. And people love getting behind the scenes of anything,

whether it's a news program or a television show. They love seeing the crew and how everybody operates. And we've kind of turned it up a notch because we're doing reality television in specific, which is far more integrating relationships of producers with contestants and manipulating them into people that we want them to be, not necessarily who they are.

Also in the cast, actress Sherry Appleby, who has a pretty extensive backstory with her character and one that will come to light pretty quick. Well, I did by the end of the first episode. You really get it. We go back and you see what happened to her at the end of last season

and the meltdown that's causing everyone to act so weird when she first arrives on set. And she's an interesting character because she's really good at producing reality television. She's good at getting people to trust her and like her and using that to her benefit. But she has a conscience and she has, you know, really, she thinks she has a very strong set of morals and values.

So she's constantly at odds with herself. You know, she's taking people down, but behind, you know, behind her eyes, you can see what pain is causing her. So as an actress, she was just, you know, a character that was so rich to play. As you probably figured out, Unreal is not necessarily complimentary to the reality TV business.

I was curious if there'd been any blowback from reality TV producers, but Constance said, not really. No, I have to say it's been kind of amazing, the compliments that we've been receiving from people who have been in the reality world. I've actually had a few people from bachelor shows, bachelorette shows, you know, any dating competition series that's out there, they've been coming up to me and just saying, oh, my gosh, I can't believe it's taken this long for people to show this. And it's so amazing. And you guys are so on point.

And, you know, that has been so exciting, but also very terrifying because I went into this part as all being very fictitious. And because there are elements of it that are truly terrifying. And, you know, yes, it's an exaggerated version of the truth. But, you know, truth is sometimes stranger than fiction. So is it possible a show like this will take a big bite out of the popularity of the concept of reality TV?

Sherry doesn't seem to think so. I mean, I think it's going to continue on. I think people enjoy it. I think it's incredibly cheap to make. And I think, you know, I think our show is not necessarily a takedown of reality television. That's not what we're setting out to do.

We're just, you know, pulling back the curtain. Really, it's more about showing you who these people are than they're making it and the length that they'll go to. But, you know, if you've been a fan of reality television, I don't think it's necessarily going to turn you off to it. It just might make you look at it in a different eye. Constance's role in Unreal is a little different from the character she's played so far on shows like Entourage and House of Cards.

Not necessarily a likable character. And I was curious as to what drew her to it. You know, I have to say that there's a lot of truth in that. You know, I'm fortunate to be playing very powerful women that have a job, and they do their job very well. And for me, the exciting thing about Quinn was you're going to like her, whether you like it or not,

because we get to really dive into these characters as the series progresses. And you understand that, you know, we are all the same. It's just everybody has a different way of putting their insecurities out there. You know, she may seem strong, and she may seem in control, but she is just as messed up as the next person. And she's just a lot better at controlling it.

And Quinn is definitely the, you know, kind of the harshest of my characters I've played. But I also really grew to love her in the end because she was so tortured. Sherri's character, a little more likable, but extremely vulnerable and, well, very flawed. I ask her what she looks for in a role. I think in the last few years, ever since I did Girls, I'm really looking for things that can sort of break me out of the box.

And do things that, you know, are scary and challenging. I've been working a long time, so really looking to push myself and grow. And the kind of characters that I relate to are ones that you feel like you get to know on a personal level. Like, I'm not necessarily the girl that's always cast, I'm just the girlfriend or the assistant or the wife. You know, there's always characters that have something emotional at stake, not people to access my vulnerability pretty easily.

And so I really connect to characters that have a lot of warmth and a lot of heart to them. Constance Zimmer and Cheri Abbele in Unreal, new episodes every Monday on Lifetime. And you can see more right now at MyLifetime.com. Well, for your surprise, this is what's going on in pop culture. It looks like there won't be a third installment in the Tron movie franchise.

Tron 3 had actually been talked about as far back as right before the release of Tron Legacy as well. However, in March there was a move to get the film before the camera sometime this year with preparation for production to begin either in September or October. But now it looks like a spokesman at Disney has pretty much put the axe on it and says they will not be moving forward with any Tron projects at this time. The Boom Studios comic series Lumberjanes looks like it could be headed to the big screen. 20th Century Fox has picked up the option to do the movie.

And a script has already been ordered. The book is doing very well, especially in the trade paperback market. According to a spokesman from Boom, 60,000 has been the print run on the first volume it's available in stores right now. You can write the end of this story for yourself, but Marvel has released their poster of characters for the licensing show featuring pretty much all Marvel characters, except in the poster you won't find any X-Men. Or Fantastic Four.

And the first time that has happened pretty much I would assume in the history of Marvel. And if you want to check the poster out it's available online as well and then give your own reasons of why you think this took place. Yet another popular independent comic property has got a TV deal. This time it is Wicked and the Divine. It's set for a potential TV series, at least according to folks at Deadline.

Universal has picked up the option on the property, which was by the way the number four best-selling graphic novel in comic stores a few months back and this year picked up an Eisner nomination. Fans of Empire should be happy to know that the show will be back of course for an 18 episode new season in the fall. The official date is September the 23rd when season two premieres on Fox. Guest stars in the second season by the way will include Chris Rock, Alicia Keys and Lenny Krap. If you haven't jumped into the NBC drama Aquarius yet, well maybe you should.

Actor Gray Damon, part of the cast, explains what you've been missing. Aquarius is about cops in the 60s basically. Kind of, but it's also about the 60s. I mean really I think the company said it best who is just star of the show. It's about America in the 60s and it's about America sort of now and sort of why America is the way it is.

Now in the parallels, you know, there's a lot of parallels and I don't know it's just a cop drama and it's in some kind of circles around Charles Manson. He's like our main villain basically. Now where do you fit into this? What's your role? I'm an undercover. Basically I'm the only one who can really infiltrate Manson's commune I guess because we're trying to find a girl. That's the whole girl that goes missing and she sort of ends up there, but it proves to be harder to get to her than you would think because of Manson's cronies I guess.

Gray says with Aquarius it's still all about the story. Yeah, I guess as our creator of the show called it, it's historical fiction. So it's a little bit of everything. Yeah, you know, there's there's, you know, some action and stuff, I guess, but mainly, yeah, it's story telling. It's really good story telling. I think that's what's compelling about it.

So how did Greg get into showbiz? By accident, actually. I wanted to be a cartoonist kind of growing up. I wanted to be a cartoonist and then I needed work. I moved to LA because I've never I've never seen a beach and I wanted to go somewhere sunny because I was sick of living in Colorado with the cold and all that.

I love Colorado, don't get me wrong, but it was not my type of weather. And basically, I took up a background work, you know, like extra work. And I got sick of walking back and forth behind the actors and I had done a little acting myself when I was younger and I thought maybe I could at least get a role that would just give me a little more money so I didn't have to work as much. And then it kind of fell in love with it slowly but surely. And I just kind of happened like that and I just worked harder each time and and fell a little more in love with it.

Yeah, I guess that's the basic gist of it. All right. I had to ask if Gray was still drawing. Yeah, you know, generally I just end up drawing pictures of my cat or my girlfriend. But yeah, I mean, it's just, you know, I think for me, it was something I thought I would want to turn into work. But initially I realized I wanted to keep it just for me, you know, something special just for me.

I like drawing just for me, I guess. So if you could choose a dream role, anything in acting, what would it be? You know, early on in my career, I really wanted to be a superhero or like a super villain more than anything. Because I have an affinity for comics, there's a few roles that I would have liked to play that I think are sort of being adapted now, but have been cast or whatever. But honestly, it wasn't until I did Aquarius until I found my dream, my dream role, you know, Aquarius really brought to light to me just how fortunate I really was and how this is what I love doing in particular, this role in particular.

You know, I don't think there's many roles that are cooler than an undercover. Gray Damon joins David Duchovny and more in Aquarius with new episodes every week on NBC or download the entire series for binge watching right now on Hulu and NBC.com. For now, we're back in a few days as we look at one of the oldest concepts in pop culture, the horror movie host from the Spenguli to Elvira to MST 3K. It's a concept that's gone on for a while. And now it's taken a new turn in the digital age. All that and more on websites like ComicMix.com, Michael Davis world.com.

Get the point radio.com and in the iTunes podcast directly. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter under the point radio and we'll see you right back here.