https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTV_Y5b72Hk
Reality shows are often full of drama, but in the case of dating show "Everlasting," there may be more drama behind the scenes than there is in front of the camera. Executive producer Quinn commands her staff to get dramatic and outrageous footage for the show, which forces young producer Rachel to manipulate the relationships among the contestants to get the show's final cut to match Quinn's vision of it. As show star Adam searches for his perfect mate, the show's staff members deal with their own romantic predicaments on the set. Rachel's ex-boyfriend is one of the show's cameramen, and his current fiancee, Lizzie, is the makeup artist.
both lemons; and FlyingJesus; {neither who have watched it yet the fake asses} suggested this and i'm hooked!! it's so funny and dramatic pls watch so i can talk to ppl about it !!
Absently; Zealoux; FlyingJesus;
seems like s2 is going to be focusing on some racial issues with the new everlasting bachelor cast!
http://www.ew.com/sites/default/files/styles/tout_image_612x380/public/i/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3AY%5D/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3Am%5D/%5Bcurrent-date%3Acustom%3Ad%5D/bj-britt.jpg?itok=rNS7IUFB
B.J. Britt is here to find love. In the second season of Lifetime’s subversive (and sequined) series about the making of a reality dating show, the 33-year-old Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. alum will play Darius Hill, a pro football player and Everlasting’s first black bachelor. He steps into EW’s confessional.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Production starts in March: How are you preparing?
B.J. BRITT: I’ve been doing my homework by watching the first season. Honestly, before I got the role, I never knew how big the show was, but I was hooked immediately. It talks about things people don’t want to talk about, whether it’s domestic violence or mental illness or suicide. People like to sweep these things under the rug, but this show hits them head-on.
And now it’s tackling race by featuring a black suitor — something its real-life inspiration, The Bachelor, has never done. How are you feeling about that?
Oh my God, I just feel pressure! People don’t like to talk about race. Everyone’s like, “Shhh, you can’t say this, you can’t say that.” You know, no one can get in trouble for [casting a black suitor] because he’s a fictional character, but at the same time, we can bring [the issue] out. And so I’m very excited and very stoked to be able to play a character that’s going to speak to a lot of people. It’s going to make you think.
How will Darius further the race-in-reality-TV discussion? What have the writers told you?
They’ve given me the outline. Quinn [Constance Zimmer] and Rachel [Shiri Appleby] are going to touch on black issues a lot, but for Darius, it’s like, “Is it their story to tell?” These [are] two white women. Will Darius stand up and be like, “This is my story to tell”? His job is to stay squeaky-clean, to be seen and not heard, so this is going to be difficult for him. He basically steps into this full, all-out war between [former Everlasting showrunner] Chet and Rachel and Quinn. … It’s going to be interesting to see [what he does] in order to clean up the mess he put himself into.
Have you met the other cast members yet?
No, not yet, but it’s funny, I met Constance over at Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. when they were doing the whole Dubsmash War. We all went in and did it, and I met her very briefly in the last one they did … Josh Kelly [who plays Jeremy] reached out over Twitter welcoming me. I can’t wait to see them in person and everything, to hang out. It’ll be fun … I love working with people I’ve never worked with before, and I mean, on a show that has me hooked, I’m looking forward to it. I’m just ready to get in there and get started. I wish we were starting to shoot tomorrow, I’m so ready!
Let’s go back to the beginning: Tell me about your casting. Do you remember how that went and how you felt?
It was actually my last audition before Christmas. I loved the role, loved where they were taking this character, and after reading, my agent emailed me and said they loved what I’m doing. So I was like, “Yay! Great Christmas present! Yay, me!” [Laughs] I was jumping up and down. Especially as an up-and-comer, you always want to work. When you get roles like these that are meaningful, that’s going to shake up hot topics… it’s an honor. It’s just amazing to be a part of this groundbreaking show, you know?
Seeing as this show pulls back the curtain on The Bachelor, have you been tuning in to this season of the real-life Everlasting?
No. [Laughs] I caught an episode or two, but my buddies keep teasing me about being “the bachelor.” [I watched] just to see what goes on from that side. People like to think that just because one of the execs [Sarah Gertrude Shapiro] worked on The Bachelor, that [UnREAL] is the same. a lot of these topics are topics the writers and producers feel very, very strongly about, and they have a platform they can use to get these issues talked about. Still, in this day and age, we’re doing the things we were doing [decades] ago. It made me get even deeper into the role.
[B]So far, you’ve caught up on UnREAL — what else is on your to-do list?
[The producers] said they wanted me to gain some muscle. They were like, “B.J., you’re probably going to have your shirt off a lot,” and I’m like, “Come on, abs! Let’s go!” [Laughs] So I started to [work with] a trainer, and every time I’m feeling fatigued, my trainer goes, “Do it for UnREAL! Give me that last set, do it for UnREAL!” … I mean, [the show] is killing it right now. I gotta bring my A-game.
SOURCE: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/02/12/unreal-season-2-bj-britt-interview
also feminism and the men's right movement will have a part in s2 apparently
Naturally, Shapiro and the writers aren’t taking the show’s sophomore season lightly. When the series returns, it’ll tackle issues like race and feature new cast members. Still, Shapiro emphasizes, UnREAL will always remain about Quinn and Rachel, even as the reality-show-within-a-show switches things up. “In the writers’ room, we literally just break the Quinn and Rachel [story] line, and then we figure out stuff that works with them,” she told EW. Below, Shapiro talks the plan for season 2, the success of season 1, and the one plot Lifetime asked the writers to walk back because it felt too “far”:
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: What’s your game plan going into the second season?
SARAH SHAPIRO: The first season was really about the princess fantasy, and the power of this fantasy of being rescued. For both sides of the gender spectrum or all sides of it, [there is] the idea that one person can show up and rescue you and change your whole life. And [in] the second season, we’re really exploring race and masculinity. And that is a big shift for us. It’s still Everlasting, but with a different suitor, and the suitor is going to be black, so [we’re] exploring the race politics of that. Also, Chet has absconded to a Paleolithic man lifestyle retreat and become obsessed with the men’s rights movement and lost 50 pounds, so he comes back on a really heavy man trip. And so it’s seeing the intersection of the men’s rights movement and feminism.
Structurally, we follow the one season of Everlasting with this new suitor named Darius Hill, and there are a bunch of women who come and they’re eliminated week by week, so all of that is pretty similar. But the job descriptions have changed. Rachel is sort of doing Quinn’s job, and Quinn is doing Chet’s job because Chet has disappeared. All of that is a power struggle for the whole season.
Will Jeremy still be around? Last we saw, he went to see Rachel’s family.
Yes, Jeremy will be around. He has really turned a corner, too. He has gone from her conscience to being just a total f—ng a–hole, and basically, he’s come near by Chet and the men’s rights movement and he’s like anti all those bitches, he hates them.
[B]Is there a chance of seeing Rachel’s other first-season suitor, Adam?
There is a really good chance of seeing Adam in the second season. … We don’t feel like that’s done.
Any other familiar faces?
Jay is coming back, and Dr. Wagerstein will be there, and Madison will be there. I think those are all the regulars.
Where are we picking up with Quinn and Rachel’s dynamic?
Where we feel like we landed was that Rachel has realized that as much as she hates it there and as much as it’s hell, there’s nowhere else for her to go. And so she’s resigned to her fate and what she’s decided is that if she’s resigned to her fate, she’s going to kill it. And she’s going to be the master of the universe. … Just imagine Rachel with a lot more money and a lot of power.
With Chet gone off hunting, like, wild boar in Catalina or wherever the hell he is, Quinn sees a power vacuum. She grabs for power, and Rachel goes up a rung. So, they’re back in cahoots, because they need each other to f— over Chet.
Is there still a part of Rachel that holds animosity toward Quinn for how much she screwed her over last season?
You know what, I think that’s just part of their relationship. That last scene for us at the end of season 1 was so important, because there are so many layers in it. In some ways. Rachel needs to be protected , and Quinn says, “Look, at least you’re not waking up using your panties as a pillow having been dumped on a beach in Tahiti.” And there is some truth to that. I think in the sober light of day, it probably wouldn’t have worked out between Rachel and Adam. So Quinn’s protected her, and what we’ve always said is that Quinn is the mom that Rachel doesn’t have. And even though she’s a really f—ed up, mean mommy, she’s a mommy, and Rachel doesn’t really have anywhere else to go.
[B]What are the big questions for Rachel going into this season?
I think it’s the questions for everybody. [They] are sort of like, we’re all workaholics, we only hang out with our work family, what is our life? What is love? In the first season, we set up a love triangle, and Shiri and I talked about this early on, that neither of those guys was right for her. They were just projections of ideas for her. And so what we’re interested in doing this season is looking at what happens to Rachel when there is a viable candidate in front of her, like, she’s met her match. There’s another producer who comes in, who’s educated, smart, liberal, cunning, manipulative, and Jewish, and all of these things that line up for her in ways she’s never been exposed to. What happens to a person when they’re faced with the potential of a real relationship?
What can you tell me about this producer?
He’s slumming it in the business for a minute. He’s been sent by the network to babysit this show, but he actually produces shows like Frontline. … He’s, like, the classiest person that’s ever been on that set.
With season 1, you guys already delved into so many of the tropes seen on reality TV. How do you top that?
I think race is a big way to top that. It’s the elephant in the room … the fact that those shows have never had an B-American lead. For us, I think you top that by pushing our universe into a place the real universe hasn’t gone.
Also with the first season, you went pretty far with the drama that happened behind the scenes, including one contestant committing suicide. Was there anything that Lifetime told you went too far and wanted to hold back?
Yeah, there was one note that I got in the first season that I was like [makes frustrated sound], “If I was on HBO!” But it turned out to be great. In episode 5, which was the episode where Faith went home and almost came out, I had it opening with Rachel getting f—ed by a FedEx guy and getting, like, railed over a barrel in the back of her truck, and then it ended with her f—ing the FedEx guy, but kicking him out before he came, like, getting herself off [instead]. [Lifetime] was like, “It feels a little far. It feels like we haven’t really established her as a sex addict.” And I was like, “Why is she a sex addict?” I had this whole thing where I was like, “If I was on HBO!”
But then what was so great about it was what I came up with as a solution to that note, and I think it ended up being so much better for the story. I love the masturbation scene. It turned into her jacking off instead of getting f—ed by this guy, and so in that way, those restrictions sort of force some really creative storytelling. And with the language, too, there are so many times you can imagine we were going to say the F-word, like Quinn wants to say the F word all the time, but she can’t. But I have to say, I think we’ve started inventing a language to work around it, and it’s a great language that we have a lot of fun with.
And how are you personally feeling now, going into the sophomore season, knowing that the first was an unexpected hit?
Psychedelically happy, like next-level happy. Honestly, the accolades are amazing, we all feel so grateful and happy, but to be understood is a whole different level. We didn’t know if anyone was going to pick up on the fact that Rachel and Quinn are the primary relationship, and the fact that we’re painting women in three-dimensional ways. We were making a really fun show and that stuff was really important to us, but the fact that people got it has been f—ing mind-blowing.
UnREAL has been praised for the way it portrayed women. If The Bachelor and The Bachelorette have been considered as shows that paint women as “crazy” or other stereotypical terms, do you think you’re taking that idea back a bit with this show?
I do! It’s sort of my mission in life. It’s why I’ve f—ed my whole life and been a workaholic to get here. Jill Soloway talks about this a lot with Transparent, but [the mission is] having women be subjects instead of objects so that you’re telling the story from their point of view … [and] talking about two women working together and what that relationship is like and not about anything else. [The show is] about their ambition and ideals and their home lives that have nothing to do with who they’re f—ing or who they want to marry.
One last question: What should we be most worried about this season?
[Laughs] Everything. Breaking this story is so scary. I’m a Jewish white girl breaking a story about race. We have people of color on our staff, and they’ve definitely taken a very, very primary role in talking about a lot of these things, but yeah, it’s terrifying. I think you should be worried about us making a show about race, I think you should also be very, very worried about Rachel’s mental health, like super concerned about what it’s like when Rachel actually falls in love for real.
SOURCE: http://www.ew.com/article/2016/01/12/unreal-season-2-sarah-gertrude-shapiro-feminism
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