Monday, June 18, 2007 Inside Avenue on "Ex Wives Club" -ABC TV

Did anyone see us on "Ex Wives Club", aired on ABC last Monday? Okay, if you blinked you probably missed it. We did too, actually.

So this is what happened. About a year ago we got a call from a producer from ABC TV. They want to use our store to shoot a scene for a new reality show staring Marla Maple, Angie Everhart and Shar Jackson (Shar who??). Shar Jackson, let us inform you, used to be married to Kevin Federline, who used to be married to Britney Spears, got it?

Being in Southern California, we are just as celebrity obsessed as anyone else. Plus, we thought it would be a nice little publicity for our store. Mind you, we are a little store (and we meant, LITTLE) with no more than two pennies to rub together for an advertising budget, so we jumped at the chance. We got all dressed up, all made up, cleaned up our store--all in anticipation of the filming.

The next day the crew came with Marla Maple and Shar Jackson. They were extremely nice, and we could tell they were amused that we were all dressed up. I, the owner, was given one line--"cash or charge". I was told to pretend that they are buying all these things, but that they will give them back after filming. Fair enough, I said. Free publicity, who can ask for anything more?

So let us tell you something about reality TV, there is nothing realistic about it! It's all scripted. From what we can see, people were told what to say and how to say it. That doesn't even count the editing that is done afterward.

We saw the first episode of the show and to be honest with you, it is such a YAWN!! We never see so many blubbering people in our lives! Man, these people cried and cried. You just want to slap them and tell them to get over it already.

And that is why we might have missed our 5 seconds of fame on TV....

Tuesday, February 13, 2007 Top Design-Is it A Yawn?

Is Top Design, the new interior design show on Bravo, a yawn? We think it's an absolute yes. Unlike Project Runway, Top Design doesn't have any DRAMA! We want drama, we want talents, we want blood! We want cat fights!

The first episode shows the candidates working in team with a budget of $50,000 to design a room. Now, $50,000 seems like a lot but it is not because it is based on RETAIL prices. Like cars, you should never pay MRSP (manufacturer suggested retail prices for furniture), especially at places like Pacific Design Center. Just so you know, the vendors don't expect to sell them at that prices either. The standard is 30-40% off the retail prices. You usually have to go through a decorator to buy at the design centers, but don't pay a mark up on top of the design fee. That is just plain silly.

Ok, back to Bravo. We don't see any talents on the show yet. The second episode features the candidates doing a kid's room. This time the budget was limited and required more creativity (did you notice the Target logo was not displayed? They must have not paid for product placement). A couple of the rooms were such a joke. We think the right guy got eliminated though.

Hopefully future episodes will hold more exciting designs and better talents.