BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. — A&E’s July 31 Television Critics Association Summer Tour breakfast touting the docureality series Born This Way gave TV critics a chance to socialize with several of the stars from the series, which follows the lives of adults living with Down syndrome.
Six cast members from the show went from table to table charming the assembled writers with their gregarious personalities and their excitement for the show’s second season, which launched on A&E July 26.
After a successful first season that introduced the young stars to viewers, series executive producer Jonathan Murray said the second season will focus more on their personal lives and relationships.
“The second season will explore relationships and sex,” Murray, who also created MTV’s The Real World, told The Wire. “Our cast has the same hopes and dreams that all of us have — they hope to fall in love and get married, and they hope to have a good sex life.”
At least one cast member, Elena, wasn’t afraid to share details about her personal life with The Wire. After unabashedly introducing herself she proudly warned that she was “taken” and in a relationship.
DNC Puts the ‘F’ in FNC
What does at least one high-ranking Democratic National Committee staffer think of Fox News Channel? Probably just what you would think they would think about the conservative- leaning network, only in, uh, more colorful terms.
Apparently that sentiment also extended to a freelancer who was working on an election story for the news outlet’s website, based on an email exchange uncovered in the WikiLeaks DNC data drop.
“The a--hole from Fox emailed us again. I did some research and there’s still no ‘f--- you’ emoji, unfortunately,” the e-mail read.
That was in reference to a pretty standard and upbeat follow-up request for comment from the freelancer, per the e-mail string: “Hello again. I am working on a freelance story for FoxNews.com about Donald Trump’s attacks against Secretary Clinton as an ‘enabler’ of President Clinton’s alleged misconduct with women,” the freelancer wrote. “I hoped the DNC could weigh in on the appropriateness of Trump attacking along these lines? I would really appreciate any response you have. Thanks very much.”
The Wire is not sure we would have appreciated the DNC staffer’s comment had we gotten it.
— John Eggerton
Not the Destination but the Journey, Maybe
Does more choice lead to more inertia — or is searching through lots of great shows fun by itself? Hopefully the latter is true, as a new survey (of 2,000 Americans) finds that Netflix and Amazon Prime users take nearly 18 minutes on average to find a show to watch, versus about 9 minutes on average for cable-TV viewers.
Maybe as a result of the efficiency or inefficiency in finding shows, cable-TV viewers watch 4.1 programs per day against 3.2 programs per day for Netflix users. And cable-TV viewers watch entertainment programs an average of 5 days per week against 5.5 days per week for Netflix users.
The survey of entertainment habits — sponsored by Reelgood, an app that helps viewers find and select content — was done with Learnipity Data Insights between June 27 and July 1.
