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Media/TV/Film Archive

Dream Derby: Week 1

“American Dream Derby,” airing on the Game Show Network, premiered on January 10 and features 12 contestants vying for a prize of $250,000 and a stable of eight Thoroughbreds. Each week, one contestant is eliminated following a match race. The final episode will air live on February 21.
Episode 1: In which introductions are made.
The show opens with shots of the contestants wandering around Santa Anita Park intercut with interview clips. Here’s a determined-looking woman named Susan telling the camera, “There’s nothing I care more about than horseracing,” and a young man named LaVar looking dazed to be at a racetrack. “I’m from the hood,” he says. There may be no horses in the hood, but there are lots of horses in Delaware, where another contender named David grew up learning about racing from his handicapper/horse owner father. David is cocky — he’s not the only one to say he’s confident, but he is the only to say, “I feel I’m going to win.” I have a feeling he’s not long for this game.

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Posted in Media/TV/Film on January 11, 2005

Dream Derby Premieres Tonight

“American Dream Derby” premieres tonight on the Game Show Network at 9 p.m. The New York Times declares the show “less idiotic than many examples of the reality genre,” yet the challenges involved — contestants dig through manure with their bare hands, dunk their heads in a molasses and oat-filled trough, and race around the track with 120lbs on their backs — suggest it’s not that much less idiotic. No matter. It’s about racing, and that’ll be enough to get me in front of the TV tonight.
Related: The Baltimore Sun profiles contestant Jewel Savage, racetrack novice and devoted Christian, the Times-Picayune interviews Dean Pellegrin, self-described “funny guy,” and back in December, Ocala resident Susan Bosso talked about her experience filming the show with the Star-Banner.

Posted in Media/TV/Film on January 10, 2005

A Favorite for Eviction

Legendary British racing pundit John McCririck is one of eight cast members on the new season of the reality series “Big Brother.” Locked up in a house with former actress/model Brigitte Nielsen, feminist Germaine Greer, and a gaggle of minor celebrities, the “self-confessed sexist” has wasted no time offending his housemates. (ThisIsLondon)

Posted in Media/TV/Film on January 7, 2005