A Reality Show Worth Playing: Mad, Mad House

A Reality Show Worth Playing: Mad, Mad House by Roxanne McDonald

One show has made me reconsider how maybe, maybe I would go for a stint: the show is Mad Mad House, on REALTV (also, evidently, on the SCIFI network), and it appears to work on more levels than just the monetary grab level.

As much as I adore, am fixated on, and most appreciative of reality TV and the people nutty enough, courageous enough, or clueless enough to participate on them—for our viewing benefit—I have not been able to fathom going on one myself.

For the most part, I am not up to any grueling physical extremes, cannot stand conflict (backstabbing, etc.), and have no interest in further challenging my IQ beyond oh, maybe a Carmen San Diego game puzzle. But one show has made me reconsider how maybe, MAYbe I would go for a stint: the show is Mad Mad House, on REALTV (also, evidently, on the SCIFI network), and it appears to work on more levels than just the monetary grab level.

Mad Mad House is based on the general reality TV game show premise—you make through a series of trials and you do so as the last one standing and you make $100,000.

But you don’t have to emotionally destroy

a family member, don’t have to develop some pseudo alliance, and don’t need to risk ripping every muscle from groin to gourd in any physically ridiculous challenges. Rather, you—and nine others—commit to moving into the Mad Mad House with five alts, five individuals who live (not just play at) extremely alternative lifestyles (those the mainstream culture typically balk at, giggle over, and utterly misinterpret/misunderstand). This season the alts are Art Aguirre, a modern primitive; Ta’Shia Asanti, a voodoo priestess; Avacado (David Wolfe), a naturalist; Don Henrie, a vampire (also spelled “vampire”), and Fiona Horne, a white witch (or wiccan).

The alts run the house, deciding the activities, the events, and the fate of the Mad Mad House guests (who will stay for more spiritual growth, who will go because he/she is not opening up, not participating, or no longer needing spiritual, higher consciousness expansion).

Unlike many a game show host or emcee who is in the process for the fame and big bucks, the alts are devoted to their lifestyles/practices, and bering a reverence, a seriousness, to the tasks at hand. Whether they are designing and conducting a kind of rites of passage ritual, mentoring a Mad Mad House guest, deliberating about eviction (someone gets evicted, or released, once a week), or carrying out the elimination ceremony, they are in “character,” and they are truly concerned with the guests.

For example, have you ever seen Jeff Probst cry when a Survivor contestant gets voted off the island? Fiona gets choked up when the surrogate matriarch Bonnie—who is a cool middle-aged woman—gets eliminated. Have you ever looked into the eyes of or been ALLOWED to look into the eyes of Big Brother (or, let’s say, the Stepford-like Julie Chen) and see true respect for and paternal love toward a contestant who is making an emotional/psychological and hence spiritual breakthrough? Art can be seen silently expressing such fine regard for his minions in this and many ways.

Again, then, I can almost see myself on Mad Mad House…not only in hopes of earning some much-needed dough but in anticipation of greater lessons learned.

Mad Mad House is a fresh, unique approach to the Xtreme bs of so many of those adventure-based, breakneck-paced, LOUD and ostentatious

shows…most of which are leading us closer and closer to the Running Man construct than they realize. Running Man? If you haven’t seen the film, and you are hooked on reality TV without really thinking about it all that deeply, go rent this movie.

Then go back to the shows: you will never look at them the same way again. Unless you are viewing those in the sovereign category that Mad Mad House is in.

SirLinksAlot Mad, Mad House Links

No Comments »

No comments yet.

Leave a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.