It's Called Reality

This week, we're breaking down Next Gen NYC. On the surface, it's a glossy spin-off about rich twenty-somethings in Manhattan, but it's actually a pretty fascinating document about what happens when Bravo farms its own IP by taking kids who were dragge... Hosted on beehiiv. Read the full Privacy Policy at https://www.beehiiv.com/privacy.

Season 5 of Secret Lives of Mormon Wives just dropped, and with it comes a massive cast shakeup. This week, Willow and Briana do a quick rundown of what went down in S5, but this episode is less about the tea and more about the whole pot: a full retros...

Stassi Schroeder, star of Vanderpump Rules, is back on TV, and this time she's the one in charge. House of Stassi is a reality show about making a reality show, and we love the meta-ness of it all. We're digging into what happens when a woman who survi...

For our tenth episode, we're zooming out and reflecting on how making this show has changed how we watch reality TV, and then get into the current state of reality TV. There's a massive drop of shows coming out this fall, and we're doing everything we ...

This week, we get into all three seasons of America's Sweethearts: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders, from the audition process that breaks your heart, the five-year ceiling, the pay fight, and the slow transformation from Season 1 to Season 3 of women who w...

Love Island USA Season 8 ran for 32 episodes, set records on Peacock, and somehow still felt like something was missing. Will Willow feel this way about every new season because she just can't let go of Season 6? Perhaps. This week, we're breaking down...

Rhode Island: it's the smallest state in the US, and it also just delivered one of the most compelling first seasons in Real Housewives history, and we are here for it! This week, we're breaking down the cast, the drama, the reunion, why showcasing stor...

This week, we're getting on the therapist's couch -- specifically, Dr. Orna's couch -- to dig into what Couples Therapy is really about. We're breaking down the three couples at the heart of Season 2 to look at anxious-avoidant spirals that are hard to ...

America's Next Top Model ran for 24 cycles, launching a generation of girls into a modelling fantasy world. This week, we're digging into what ANTM was really selling: the makeover myth, the beauty-is-pain narrative, the contradictions of a show that c...

This week, we're getting into the iconic hit reality franchise, The Traitors. We analyze the actual origins of the game (it started as a Soviet social psychology experiment, no joke), who's actually good at playing it and why, and the unhinged joy of w...

This week, we get into the machine that made Taylor Frankie Paul, and what happened when it couldn't contain her anymore. From MomTok to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives to The Bachelorette season that has yet to air, we break down her redemption arc, ...

This episode contains Survivor 50 spoilers! You've been warned. This week, we dig into Season 50 of Survivor: the twists that overshadowed the players, the fan participation that wasn't, the gendered edit that disappeared some the season's top players, ...

Welcome to It's Called Reality! In our inaugural episode, we get into our origin stories with reality TV, and the argument that's going to drive every episode of this show: reality TV isn't just a guilty pleasure, it's a kind of mirror. And if you look...

Reality TV. You already watch it. You already have opinions. It's Called Reality gives you somewhere to take them seriously. Hosts Willow Beck and Briana Brown have been texting each other about their reality TV obsessions for years. Now they're yappin...