Sizzling Constance Zimmer is Quinn King on Lifetime’s “UnReal”
An “UnReal” Bachelor:
Genesis Redux to “Everlasting”
“If the devil don’t want me?
Where the hell will I go?”
-- Ashley Monroe
by Jamie Jobb
last of three parts
Next year marks the twentieth season of “The Bachelor”, a reality-tv game-show where the annual grand prize is one hunka-hunka-burnin-love, and week after week, some poor solitary man has to eliminate one gorgeous babe after another from his dozen choices at the start. Just like real life!
Twenty years, twenty bachelors: 240 women to choose from.
So, it finally had to happen: the original “Bachelor” had been around so long, it was high time for a serious send-up of that kind of loaded love competition. This summer Lifetime offered such with “UnReal”, a ten-episode hard-scripted series about a fictionalized soft-scripted cut-throat reality dating show called “Everlasting”, which looks more than a lot like “The Bachelor”! And there’s a good reason for that.
“UnReal” was conceived by Sarah Gertrude Shapiro and Marti Noxon. Noxon is a Hollywood veteran (“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” “Grey’s Anatomy”), while Shapiro is a new writer extracting from her experience working on “The Bachelor” as a “field producer” in the show’s first season, 2002.
Neither woman seems to be holding anything back here as writers. It’s all in the characters, cut-throat cats in a cut-throat cathouse. Nobody is immune from the competition and the exploitation of “UnReal”.
Hardened Hollywood crew veteran Quinn King (sizzling Constance Zimmer) is the killer executive producer who keeps a tight grip on “Everlasting” as well as the show’s coke-crazed creator Chet Wilton (Craig Bierko), an out-of-control studio executive whose wife Cynthia Wilton (Sonya Salomaa), is more than willing to give him up for her share of the franchise. Nobody has scruples intact in this trio.
Another “UnReal” triangle involves field producer Rachel Goldberg (terrific Shiri Appleby), Quinn’s blackmailed right-hand henchwoman and over-the-edge talent manipulator. Jeremy Caner (Josh Kelly) the show’s Director of Photography is Rachel’s fated crewmate, while Lizzie (Siobhan Williams) plays Jeremy’s key grip until Rachel rebounds back into Jeremy’s wandering depth-of-field. We know over-the-top photo-metaphors are apt when these characters reunite in the back of the DP’s production truck.
When she read the “UnReal” pilot script, Appleby said “it wasn’t like anything I’ve ever been a part of, or have ever seen on television. Sarah and Marti really emphasize that the show is not a satire of another show. They’ve created their own world, and it’s really more about exploring the characters, the people who make reality television and their own personal struggles with it, as opposed to taking down any specific show.”
Adam Cromwell (Freddie Stroma) is the bachelor in this “UnReal” paradise, subject to any whim “Everlasting” throws at him as the so-called star of the show. Adam, a stiff upper Brit, is forced to choose among his dozen beauties which he narrows down to this lovely half dozen:
Grace (Nathalie Kelley) the no-nonsense brunette who gets an early charge out of Adam. Anna Martin (Johanna Braddy) the girl-next-door blonde who’s sophisticated yet cunning. Shamiqua (Christine Laing) an exotic number who knows she doesn’t stand much of a chance. Same goes for likewise exotically gorgeous Maya (Natasha Wilson) who knows she won’t make the final round. Faith (terrific Breeda Wool) the inexperienced Mississippi tomboy who may not be “on the same page” with all the other girls. Especially after unlucky-in-love high-strung mom Mary Newhouse (Ashley Scott) meets her untimely demise in Episode Seven.
The backstage show-within-a-show quality of “UnReal” takes a bit of adjustment on the part of the audience. And it can make anyone uncomfortable, particularly if we can’t distance our feelings from all the connivingly “UnReal” plots. It’s a fast-moving story with lots of interruptions, so it’s best seen on a DVR, You Tube or portable device so you can pause and rewind. Plus, the characters on this program would not survive on a kinder, gentler show like, say “Big Bang Theory”. The storylines are not particularly funny and almost every character is quite nasty. “UnReal” doesn’t give us much to root for.
Perhaps that’s the show’s main appeal? The drama averaged almost five million views after its first three weeks and it was renewed for a second season before the first season had concluded. Certainly this program is a calculated upgrade for Lifetime, and a strong effort toward getting tv back to the writers' room.
Faith (terrific Breeda Wool) is inexperienced country tomboy on “UnReal”
one of the only sympathetic characters on the new Lifetime series.
“UnReal” Links
“UnReal” premiered on Lifetime in June and may still be on the streaming choices for some cable tv packages. Or you can see all of it on line. It’s worth watching all ten episodes in order. Episodes are an intense 42-minutes long.
Episode Guide:
Video on the Lifetime website:
Also see episodes here:
Wiki:
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