You deal with a lot of hard-to-believe things when you cover reality television.
When we saw
Michelle Deighton feel somewhat ambivalent about her sexuality and suffer through parts of her face falling off on
America's Next Top Model, and heard
Jonny Fairplay on
Survivor use his grandmother's life as a tool to manipulate others, did you ever suspect the two would date, much less procreate? Could you ever have imagined that a member of Public Enemy like Flavor Flav would have a second career in reality romance-related shows, starting with a bizarro relationship with Danish Amazon Brigitte Nielsen? What about the very existence of shows like
Kid Nation,
Celebrity Rehab or
The Moment of Truth?
The first time one hears about almost any one of those things, the mind rejects the idea that could happen, until, of course, you get used to it and find it hard to be incredulous about anything any longer.
Nevertheless, the rumors circulating this week about a new
Charm School-style series possibly featuring some of the men of
I Love New York include rumblings about what I find to be a thoroughly implausible host.
The casting notices for the series, which will be for the fellas and will be called
From G's to Gents, have been popping up here and there, and many of them indicate that Jamie Foxx will be filling in the role originated by Monique.
That's right: ACADEMY AWARD WINNER Jamie Foxx.
As of this publication, I haven't found adequate confirmation to make my mind accept that this bizarre career trajectory could possibly be for real, despite the proliferation of the notices.
Maybe it is entirely legit, but I think I will need something akin to level of proof that Dave Chappelle required in his sketch about the R. Kelly jury selection: I need Jamie Foxx himself to confirm this via video, while holding up two forms of government-issued identification AND his Oscar, with an officer of the court and his grandmother confirming it's him.
Another element of the show being debated in forums and in response to the casting notices is whether or not the
I Love New York alum will, in fact, be attending to get some of that etiquette training.
The participation of those guys seems more plausible, as much of VH1 and MTV business model at this point seems to hinge on shuttling stars of one reality show onto a new one, and so on, ad infinitum. Casting
I Love New York guys would ensure at least some carryover audience. Without it, that's a pretty big crap shoot for the network, even if they did somehow land a big name host.
Some of the
I Love New York men currently rumored to be on the show include
Chance,
Buddha,
Tango,
Mr. Boston and
Trendz.
As the details firm up about
From G's to Gents, BuddyTV will continue provide updated information on the host, stars and potential air dates.
- Leslie Seaton, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Sources: RealityWanted, Fox Reality, BuzzKilled
(Image courtesy of VH1)