Not only does MTV debut its reality-spinoff movie My Super Psycho Sweet 16 Part 2 (a scripted horror romp based on the admittedly incredible My Super Sweet 16) this weekend, but the network just announced two more original movies: Worst. Prom. Ever. and a Spring Break caper called The Truth Below. Both of those flicks indirectly play off the appeal of the network's unscripted series Made and, to a certain degree, those Spring Break summer romps of yore. I'm confused.
What's the endgame here? Or better yet, what's the point? We want scripted versions of purportedly real programs? Anyone else reminded of the network's 2002 cinematic non-gem The Real World: The Lost Season, about "an obsessed fan, who has been rejected during the audition process numerous times, [who] kidnaps the cast and brings them to a new house"? Or what about that other middling retread of Real World antics in Pedro, the Dustin Lance Black-penned film that suffered from scathingly unconvincing performances? Chris Linn, the executive vice president of MTV production, said in a statement, "With the success of The Hard Times of RJ Berger, we've been trying to add more balance to our air between reality and scripted." But based on the poor performances of similarly pseudo-real shows (My Life as Liz comes to mind), what's with the push for genre-twisting? If you're going to go fake, go unabashed: In the sometimes-addictive world of warped reality, it's The Hills or bust.
ยท MTV Takes a Break from Reality [Gawker]