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NY Times

Cable Series Returns With a Provocative Twist

Jun 6, 2016  •  Post A Comment

A well-received cable drama makes its season debut tonight with a key plot twist that caught the attention of TV writer James Poniewozik.

Writing in The New York Times, Poniewozik notes that the show, “UnREAL,” premieres its second season tonight on Lifetime. The series is set behind the scenes of the “Bachelor”-like dating show “Everlasting,” and the story calls “UnREAL” “both a workplace power drama and a laser-focused work of media criticism. Returning for Season 2 on Monday, ‘UnREAL’ remains one of TV’s most sharp-minded and -tongued escapes, a heart-shaped box full of chocolate and razor blades.”

Poniewozik adds: “Like any good reality show, ‘UnREAL’ has come back with a Surprising! New! Twist! The twist’s name is Darius Beck (B. J. Britt), a pro-football quarterback cast as the first African-American suitor on ‘Everlasting.’ ‘He’s not that black,’ [Quinn King, played by Constance Zimmer] assures a network executive. ‘He’s, like, football black.’”

The story notes: “Fake reality is ahead of real reality here; ‘The Bachelor’ has yet to cast a black star. (Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, who created ‘UnREAL’ with Marti Noxon, was a producer on that ABC show, and ‘Everlasting’ mirrors it right down to its unctuous human stock photo of a host.)”

Please click on the link near the top of this story to read Poniewozik’s full analysis.

unreal-lifetime

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