Upcoming: a themed reality game show

As those who have been reading this know, reality competitions - who someone pejoratively called "game operas," a title I have picked up on - is a favorite thing of mine to follow.  For the last three years, I have posted summaries of such programs to the506 (registration required to view), and I have found feedback and support from some other users who are also fans.  I even made up one, Sing for the World, in a previous post.

Now, I want to get to the next level, with posts following an entire season of a "game opera."  The "press release" announcing the show is below. - D.H.

On January 1, 2013, Barefoot Media Network will debut BMN Superfan, its first reality competition series.   This season will feature 13 of the greatest fans of the Barefoot family, as featured on Buddy Wayne: Coming Home and other network shows, in various weekly contests for the most unique grand prize ever awarded - access to the Barefoot family for one week!

The winner will live exactly as they do, from making homemade food and clothing to attending church services and even participating in entertainment and events.

In addition, the winner will get $50,000 cash and a 2013 Chevrolet SS Supersport, and the show will donate $10,000 to each of five different charities.

Host: Shandi Finnessey (Miss USA 2004)
Judges:

• *Brandon McLamb (Buddy Wayne Barefoot's publicist)
• Matt Rogers (finalist on American Idol season 3, host of various TV shows)
• Various guest judges

Contestants:

• Barbie (Kelly Kelly) Blank, 26, Jacksonville, FL - WWE "diva," former world women's champion
• Brendon Bump, 23, Lawrence, KS - Seminary student, son of Methodist preacher
• *Mikel De Vries, 27, Los Angeles - Male model, aspiring actor, originally from Cape Town, South Africa
• Anna (Lil' Bit) Granthum, 31, Marbury, AL - Owns Mountain Creek Mud Bog, which was featured in 2011 TV special Mud Lovin' Rednecks
• *Lindsay Hall, 34, Fort Sill, OK - Army medic, would like to become a midwife
• *Josh LoMonico, 36, Pittsburgh, PA - Fitness instructor, volunteer firefighter
• Ivey McClelland, 50, Albuquerque, NM - Part-time jazz musician
• Frankie Meadows, 40, Charleston, SC - Auto mechanic, fan of NASCAR and minor-league hockey
• Dustin Plunkett, 35, Bellflower, CA - Special Olympics athlete renowned for his athletic accomplishments and community service
• Jeff Porter, 46, Alpharetta, GA - Athletic trainer, Atlanta Braves baseball team
• Brittany Ramos, 33, Boca Raton, FL - Extreme couponer, stay-at-home mom, former teacher
• *Jake Stubblebine, 32, New York City - Graduate student, hobby farmer, nephew of Reuters photographer
• *Megan Turnipseed, 20, Brandon, MS - College student, cheerleader (Millsaps College)

*Characters made up by me

BMN Superfan will premiere with a special two-hour episode at 9 p.m. ET.  Thereafter, it will appear every Tuesday at 10 p.m.

Barefoot surname "battle of the bands"

This is a spinoff of the Barefoot collection page I made last year.

I have found two modern rock guitarists with the surname.  Ben Barefoot and the Hand Shakes are based in Perrysburg, OH and Jonathan Barefoot and the Bulrushers are in Encinitas, CA.

Here are songs from both of them.  What do you think?
*Ben - "Nothing Is As Beautiful As You"
*Jonathan - "A Portrait of the Idiot Who Claims to Be an Artist"

Barenaked ladies and a blast from the past

OK, so it's been more than a month since I've been here, but the finale of The Celebrity Apprentice tonight on NBC gives me an excuse to do things: put up a picture of my made-up doo wop band called the Barenaked Ladies, and share a quote from when the "other" group of the same name appeared on a past finale of this franchise, which was held in Los Angeles:

"Wouldn't it be great if these were real barenaked ladies performing?"

P.S. Welcome to theicedog from the506.com. Hope you enjoyed this post!

(In case you missed the earlier post, left to right are Vicky Lynn Hogan, Brandy Roderick, Tara Patrick, and Michelle Mitchell.)

Country shocker: Spears wins top CMA award

Here is another fakeout news story.


Brittany L. Spears, the near-namesake of the famous singer and entertainer who had herself lived in obscurity, shocked the country music world by winning the biggest prize at the Country Music Association Awards Wednesday night - that of Entertainer of the Year.

Against a formidable field that included Kenny Chesney, Keith Urban, and Rascal Flatts, the 20-year-old bluegrass singer from Beattyville, Kentucky won the award in her first attempt.

At the moment she won, Spears dropped to her knees and cried. Her brother Blanton helped her up and she was able to walk to the stage to accept the award.

"I don't know what to say," Spears said on the live ABC telecast. "This is what happens when you are allowed to dream and make those dreams comes true."

"This is America's Susan Boyle right here," exclaimed Blanton later in one of a number of backstage interviews with the entertainment media. Boyle is the nearly-50-year-old woman who rose to become the most popular singer in Great Britain after appearing on the reality television show Britain's Got Talent.

Spears only became a solo artist in 2009 after years of being the lead singer of the Spears Family Band, whose albums are retellings of Appalachian folk tales through the medium of bluegrass music. The band consists of four generations of performers ranging in age from five to 62 years old. Because her name is a homophone of Britney Spears, she added her middle initial, which is different from Britney's.

In 2010, "When the Bough Breaks," a duet with Buddy Wayne Barefoot, gave Spears her first number-one song on both the U.S. pop and country charts.

Even with her increased popularity, no one figured that Spears would beat the Nashville establishment, with its slick production, professional songwriters, and marketing muscle, for one of its biggest honors.

"This is the greatest thing that ever could have happened to our music. It is on the map forever," said Alison Kraus, leader of the multiple Grammy-winning bluegrass band Union Station.

Spears married Barefoot in October 2009. The couple is expecting their first child in January 2011.

Odds and ends: Buddy's not racing, Brittany's pregnant, fundraiser

Some recent events in my world:

• Buddy Wayne Barefoot disappointed some of his fans by choosing not to participate in next week's Legends Millions at Lowe's Motor Speedway. However, he will be on hand for some ceremonies and to present the trophy. "If my life after NASCAR racing was not fulfilling, and that's true for many people, I would have been tempted to return," he explained. "However, I have always said that my racing career is not the reason for my existence. So I am happy to stay retired." The final day will be shown live on Speed on Saturday night, July 17.
• Brittany Spears, Barefoot's wife, revealed that she is pregnant and that the child, a girl, is due in mid-September.
• The Barefoot Fund, the charity that supports efforts to save family histories, held its first fundraiser at the new NASCAR Hall of Fame on June 23. The highest bid among the 22 items available in an auction was for a cruise to Greece, Italy and Malta with Hendrick Motorsports drivers Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and Mark Martin; that went for $11,000. Blondie and Bubba Brister performed.
  

Heaven TV: a closer look

Of course, this blog references My Ideal World, a television show on a network that I had Buddy Wayne Barefoot create in the book. The network was made out of seed money from a blockbuster feature film pooled together with money from Bud Paxson, a real life media magnate from Florida. I called it Rebel after the original film.

As it turns out, I have decided to expand the concept and change a few other things about it. For one thing, I would give it a new name: Heaven TV. The idea is to present what life is like in the world beyond for those who live in the here and now, and to be the official network for the world to come as described in the Bible book of Revelation.

Heaven TV would present the same kinds of shows that air on ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, except with a strong Christian message. It also presents programs that reflect the overall theme of heavenly life, "What life was before and will be again." In other words, nostalgic and timeless subjects prevail tying together the past, present, and future.

Here are some of the other primetime programs:

• BunkMaster: Operation X - This is also mentioned in the book. Bunky Barefoot plays a character best described as part James Bond, part Mick Jagger. He travels the world to solve mysteries.
  
• The Barney Show - Barney is one of the most common names ever for comedic characters, but this one is different. Barney Laughinghouse and his family star in an improvisational sitcom that combines "reality television" elements with strong messages.
• The New Black - Singing star Melanie MacMelville plays fashion-magazine writer Melanie Black, who tries to balance family life and her magazine work.
• King and Queen - Married rodeo stars Billy Bob Bryant and Krista Bamburg star as a pioneer couple in modern-day Arizona. This is the first Western series on primetime television since The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. went away in 1995.
• Escape to Reality - Sixteen characters who are reminders of reality TV shows live together and try to use their talent in the context of the outside world. But as in the worlds they have left, one at a time are eliminated until there is a winner.
• Bellinger Island - A cast comprised mainly of African-Americans play out drama, romance, and suspense in a world left for them by their former slaveholders after the Civil War.

Add a nightly newscast with Magdalena Babblejack, regular morning and late night shows, some daily game shows, a soap opera, a primetime newsmagazine, children's shows, and Sunday church services, and there is Heaven TV. It's a mix of religious and mainstream television that would be unique, and suitable for all family members.

My characters go to school; UWF results

I haven't posted in exactly two weeks, so appropriately I have combined two posts into one.

The first part is that I have integrated my characters as part of classroom assignments at ABC Adult School in both classes I attend. In the Photoshop I class (10 a.m.-11:50 a.m.), I am creating a "concert poster" with Buddy, Blondie, Brittany Spears, and Bubba Brister performing at Brian Warner Park on a fall day with the colorful leaves as a backdrop. (I chose Brian Warner's name because it is the given name of punk rock star Marilyn Manson.) The Photoshop assignment is due at the end of class on April 1. In the Illustrator class (12:20 p.m.-2:10 p.m.), I am creating an artwork in which Barefoot has a bluebird on his shoulder, symbolic of the title of his hit song. That task has already been completed, and I am thinking of a second project which could have a similar theme.


The other subject is the Ultimate Wrestling Federation card I wrote about in Chapter 3. Strangely, I was inspired by the infomercial that pitched both Santo Gold jewelry and a B-grade picture called Blood Circus. (This page has all the details.) That got me to thinking that I haven't given away all the results yet. So, as Jim Lange said decades ago, herrrrre they are:

• The Hillbilly Kid pinned Bobby James. Kid was played by all-league tight end Ricky Biffle, who was making his wrestling debut
  
• Chill Town (C.J. Brookshire and Bryan McFalls, dressed as reality TV stars Will Kirby and Mike Malin, respectively) defeated jobbers R.D. Reynolds and Bryan Alvarez in tag-team action
• "The Real" Biggie Smalls took the UWF Television Title away from the Dead Men Wrestling clique by pinning Danny Boy (based on Davey Boy Smith, but with an Irish accent)
  
• Barbie Blank (WWE's Kelly Kelly) beat Big Rhonda of DMW to win the women's championship
• DMW member Badd Boy Brady Boone, Jr. pinned Super Black Ninja to defend the hardcore title. The final blow came when Boone attacked Ninja with the handle of the scythe provided by the ringleader The Ripper.)
  
• DMW member Squashing Leamy beats Crusher Bennett. After the match, Bennett threatened former manager Ashley Mae Basher until "The Real" Biggie Smalls entered the ring to save her.
• The New Blade Runners, Brick and Flash, won the four-way international table ladders and chairs match as representatives of the U.S. They beat "Owen Hart" and "Brian Pillman" (Canada), Tanaka and Ito (Japan), and El Rana and El Vaquero (Mexico).
• Big defended his UWF heavyweight championship when he pinned One Man Gang. The pin move came from a head scissor move after Big had plunged from the top of the video lighting stand 45 feet above the ring.
  

Melanie MacMelville "interview"

My series of "interviews" with Idealian characters continues with its resident bubble-gum pop singer, Melanie Elaine MacMelville. She has a lyrical name and a girl-next-door look. Her music is a blend of pop, rock, and Christian music that all ages can enjoy. Once again, Magdalena Babblejack asks the questions.

MB: Mel, unlike most of the other music artists here, you are not from the Southeast United States. Rather, you hail from Long Island, New York. Does that make you feel awkward?
MM: Not at all. What is important to me is that my music matches the values and beliefs of all of the other singers, and that matter all the other entertainers. I stand for breezy, catchy tunes with an underlying message.

MB: When did you first dream of a musical career?
MM: I first sang when I was five years old. From that point on, I listened intently to every song on the radio and hoped to be one of them someday.

MB: When were your first performances?
MM: When I was in high school, I sang at shopping malls and coffeehouses on Long Island. Then at age 16, I jumped on the Long Island Expressway, stopped at the Grand Central Terminal [in New York City] and walked all the way to Times Square. That's how much I wanted so badly to have a career in music. I sang on the sidewalk. And yes, I had my parents' blessing.(LOL)

MB: How did Little Boy Records discover you?
MM: Brandon McLamb [Buddy Wayne Barefoot's publicist] attended a Mets baseball game and heard me sing "The Star Spangled Banner." He absolutely loved it! He went to the press box and arranged for a meeting face-to-face. Buddy heard that song and some demos and he signed me. That was before I "died" and entered Idealia. Once that happened, the contracts were transferred over.

MB: Talk about some of your songs.
MM: "I'm Breezin'" sounds like a standard-issue pop song, but in the end it is about how to stay grounded and stable in a world that is full of temptation. "I Will Not Yield" is similar, but it has a slower pace and a more overt Christian message. "Good-Natured Barb" is about a day I spent with my mother, who is also my best friend. Her name is Barbara.

MB: Like so many other singers, you have also dabbled in acting. Tell me about that.
MM: On OurNetwork on Thursday nights, I have a show, a sitcom, called The New Black. On it, I play Jennifer Black, a fashion executive who dreams of a better and less busy life and will do anything to get it. My father William is a retired executive at a tea company, so this is a role that I can identify with.

MB: What does your future hold?
MM: I have a movie and album out called Hollaback Girl. I heard Gwen Stefani say that she "ain't no hollaback girl," so this is my response. I love to be someone who talks to people and "holler back" at them.

MB: Thank you, Melanie, for your time.
MM: You're welcome as always.

Hey, Idol: Here's someone better than Stern

This week, American Idol wrapped up its first week of semifinal performances and four singers have been eliminated.

But two topics of conversation have dominated the show: its ratings are in decline (trailing the Winter Olympics for the first time), and Howard Stern has shown interest in becoming a judge. The show is seeking to replace the iconic Simon Cowell, who is leaving after this season.

Yes, Howard Stern. The "King of All Media" and the source of annoying prank phone calls for all occasions, whether it's a natural disaster or simply the retirement of an ex-pro football player.

I firmly believe that the inclusion of Stern will mean the end of Idol. He will be rejected by the public because he knows little about the music scene and is too controversial.

I have a better idea for the new judge on Idol.

He is one of the most famous recording artists in history. He once had a song that was number one for a record 18 weeks. Due to his parallel career as a pro athlete, he is one of the famous personalities in American history. In addition, he started his own record company with a stable of artists that have turned off hit after hit. Whatever projects he has been involved in have seen a surge in public interest. Finally, he can be blunt and honest when he has to be, an American version of Cowell.

If you haven't already guessed, it's Buddy Wayne Barefoot.

Too bad Fox and FremantleMedia can't hire him.



For that reason, I nominate either Ace Young (who looks a bit like Barefoot) or Matt Rogers for the vacant spot. Both have been on Idol before and would provide some good analysis.

Anyone but Howard Stern. Anyone.