How is this for irony?
On Monday night, ABC aired The Bachelorette.
Also on Monday night, Lifetime aired a series that poked fun at The Bachelorette, specifically any notion that the series is unscripted.
UnReal is a program that focuses on the manipulation of a Bachelor-type reality show, highlighting the players who make everything go behind the scenes.
On UnReal Season 1 Episode 1, the show-within-the show is titled “Everlasting.”
It is produced by Rachel Goldberg (Shiri Appleby), a cunning woman who knows how to both find and manage contestants who will be entertaining reality TV fodder.
By the end of opening hour, we’ve discovered that Rachel suffered a crisis of conscience during the previous season of Everlasting, melting down during its filming.
However, the urge for a paycheck (and the legal restitution she owes) forces her to come back.
Rachel is living in a production trailer, working around 24/7 and in very much debt… but she’s also very good at her job.
There’s also Constance Zimmer as executive producer Quinn King. She’s in charge. She knows everything that goes on with Everlasting at all times.
King has close personal ties to the series due to her ongoing affair with Everlasting creator Chet (Craig Bierko).
Quinn sort of serves as a maternal figure to Rachel and she enjoys pitting her producers against each other via bonuses if they get the women to fight, call 911 or burst into tears.
Finally, there’s Freddie Stroma as Adam, a TV-friendly British bachelor who has no issue at all getting cozy with his castmates.
He quickly learns how to play to the cameras, bearing in mind how to make himself look good in order to promote his hotel business.
UnREAL does not claim to be a documentary, but it does expose the seeming truth behind The Bachelor and its ilk.
Everyone involved is in it for a reason (love, power, fame, money, etc.) and none of those reasons are actually love. It’s a fun, scathing critique of any concept of the reality TV genre.
Did you catch the UnREAL premiere?
If not, have no worries: you can always watch UnREAL online via our friends at TV Fanatic.
