I should say first of all that I don’t have cable and don’t plan on getting it. Unless it comes out on DVD and my local rental place deicides to carry it, I will probably never see one episode of this show, so don’t be stingy with the details.
I’ve seen posters for “Mad Mad House” all over the subway and I’m intrigued. It looks like an extreme version of “The Real World”. From the ads, I gather that the participants include a nudist, a “vampire”, a beauty queen (or porn star), a Ms. (Miss? Mrs.?) Cleo clone and someone who looks to me like a Maori tribesman.
Has anyone seen this show? What’s the deal, are they all expected to live together until the end, or do people get voted off? I suppose they all reside in one house - is each person’s room decorated to suit their lifestyle? I ask because if the “vampire”'s room is a modern number with sassy little rugs, I’d want to watch it just to see his style being cramped. What’s with the Cleo lady? Is she in any way affiliated with voodoo? Also, I don’t know why but I’ve gotten the idea that the most important person in the house is the nudist. Am I right?
The premise: ten “normal” people from various walks of life live in a house with five “alts,” or people with “alternative lifestyles.” The “alts” a vampire, a Wiccan/witch, a voodoo priestess, a “modern primitive” (lots of tattoos and piercings) and a “naturist” (eats only raw food, lives by “nature’s laws” whatever that meeans). The “normal” people go through a variety of trials along with living in the house and the alts vote off one norm per episode.
I watched the first episode last night. I’m not sure who the producers want us to sympathise with, the normals or the alts. Don the vampire is the most annoying of the alts and the whole “modern primitive” thing to me is just stupid (not to mention the whole raw foods trend, which a friend of mine is caught up in), but the norms are pretty damn dreadful too. Especially the vapid fat girl Republican and the homophobic trucker/farmer guy who can’t eat lunch near a naked man. Highlights of the first ep included a “blood bath” (the norms wallow around in a big pool of stage blood grabbing objects from the bottom and dropping them in the urn of the person they want to lose; the one with the fewest objects wins) and a voodoo ritual which 6 of the 10 norms opted out of because of their religious beliefs. The alts split their votes between the token black norm and one of the professing Christians (the female) and the other professing Christian (who won the blood bath) voted off the black guy despite having promised he wouldn’t, in hopes of scoring with the hot Christian chick.
There’s an online contest and the winner gets the alts as guests in their home for the series finale.
I think some of the footage is faked, and I base that on the blood bath results. The objects they dove for were covered in “blood” but when they were held up later during the count they were spotless.
Haven’t decided yet if I’ll watch again. Depends on what else is going on at the same time.
Oh, and the “naturist” is named, I kid you not, “Avocado.”
caught the first episode and liked it. Avocado and Art are my two favorite Alts. Not just for the naked part but they both just seem so happy and comfortable in their own skin. I’m undecided about the others so far.
the normals are decent. I’m shocked they didn’t kick out the that obnoxious janitor. And I liked Karib (??) who they did ask to leave. As for Kelly the republican christian… well. Didn’t we ALL go to college with her in some way or another?
What’s funny about Avocado (so far) is that the promotional material for the show kind of let you think he was a nudist, but apparently, he isn’t. He’s billed as a “naturist”, but the only manifestation of “naturism” we’ve seen so far is Avocado’s eating of raw fruits and vegetables and the burning-sage ritual. IOW, SciFi may have performed a bait-and-switch with Avocado. I guess we’ll see in later episodes.
Art – the “modern primitive” – OTOH, did get naked. He seems to be even-keeled. I could see going out and having a chat with a naked Art. But Otto – it’s a bit much to ask Tim to sit and have a meal right there next to Art. I didn’t see any of the other Alts out there with their lunchpails. The whole moment was contrived anyway – Tim could have easily eaten indoors.
The six contestants who refused to go through the voodoo ritual were lame. Newsflash – Jesus doesn’t mind if you partake in a voodoo ritual. One can leave the ritual as Christian as one was beforehand. It wasn’t a conversion – it was just a ritual for the cameras. Sheesh.
Avocado. Wow, that’s great.
So how do the contestants’ political leanings come into play? Is it part of the intorduction, or are these people just very vocal about that part of their lives?
Who’s Art?
Where was this bloodbath held? Inside the house? Or do they have a seperate arena for their competitions? And, does it look like the contestes are themed? As in, the bloodbath would be something having to do with the vampire, and next they’ll all have to climb a mountain of potatos because it’s in keeping with Avocado’s lifestyle.
Never mind. I guess these two have been answered. Thanks!
The Catholic Republican chickie (who also happens to live in a convent - she is SO not going to survive this) brought it up in her intro.
The guy who won the Bloodbath brought up his heavy-duty religiousness in his intro.
The guy who got voted off brought up his religiousness when he was talking to Ta’Shia (which gave me an instant dislike to him - ‘You shouldn’t be doing what you’re doing’ is really rather a rude way to introduce yourself).
The good ol’ boy (who I think it’s way too early to call a homophobe just because he’s not comfortable being around a naked Art yet), the asian chick (the one who was almost voted off) and the middle-aged lady didn’t bring up their religious beliefs until asking to be let out of Ta’Shia’s ritual.
Art’s the ‘Modern Primative’ - the tattooed, peirced, and often naked guy. And the competitions seem to be held in different locations (outside) unless they take down a lot more set that I would think.
And, judging from the ads, Avacado’s challenge is going to be a lot more interesting than that.
I like most of the Alts. Dom seems like he might grate on me eventually, and I’m not actively fond of the Fiona, but I don’t (as yet) dislike either of them, and I do really like Ta’Shia, Art and Avacado.
To the OP - based on the first episode, it does seem that Avacado is the head of the household so to speak.
I’m surprised how much I liked this show. I watched it out of morbid curiosity, figuring I’d be in a better position to make fun of it if I’d seen it. But I liked it! ^o^ I might actually watch this one right through to the end - and I don’t DO reality shows. Last one I watched was the original Big Brother, and that was only until a housemate I thought was hot got voted off.
He was naked in his room with Kelly the fat vapid Republican. Perhaps he tends to stay dressed when not in his own space out of respect for others. Dunno, I guess we’ll find out.
ANyone who needs to proclaim that loudly about not wanting to be near a naked man has “issues.” He refused to go out initially unescorted. What did he think was going to happen?
Yeah, the whole “my myth says I can’t play with your myth” bit was ridiculous. At least the token black guy was like “I believe in this and it scares me” which for some bizarre reason I find more rational.
I hear you. But I might have seen something than you saw. What I saw was a guy who didn’t want to eat in the presence of a nude man. Now I can’t speak for Tim, but I can say that I personally would not want to eat a meal in the presence of any naked person. That’s just me – others’ MMV – but I think I’d have a lot of company if I polled 10,000 random strangers.
Now, as to whether Tim was thoroughly freaked by the simple fact that Art was nude … I didn’t pick that up conclusively. Tim was taken aback, yes … but in the context of the show, I couldn’t be sure of how Tim would react to Art’s nudity at times besides mealtime. I can give Tim the benefit of the doubt that he could outwardly handle Art’s nudity in some other circumstance.
I don’t have cable. But, watching all that Sci Fi channel while staying with relatives(looking, in vain, for Dark Shadows reruns) I saw a bunch of the ads.
I don’t understand why they have a Mambo/Babalawo/whatever the correct term for the Voodoun priestess is (IIRC besides other connotations, the title of houngan refers exclusively to males) and a Wiccan. While they certainly operate in different belief systems, they appear very similar to most outsiders- spells, offerings to spirits, etc.
Don looks to be the standard ‘vampires are real and Anne Rice is god!’ jerk. He’s the kind of customer White Wolf advises to seek psychiatric help.
What exactly was the ritual that some of the guests refused to take part in? Depending on the specifics, I might have declined as well. While I treat other folks’ religious beliefs and practices with the same respect I ask them to treat mine, I don’t offer worship to Erzuli or Chango.
Having looked at the show’s site, I agree with the assessment that Art comes across as likable and level-headed. And frankly, if I was that buff, I’d wear minimal clothing as well.
Maybe they actually picked one or the other because of what they would bring to the show other than their alt-ness.
The only thing I like about Don is his name. “Don the Vampire.” Hee.
I didn’t see enough of the ceremony to be really definitive but it looked like what I understand to be a fairly standard ritual, resulting in the “possession” of the priestess by the spirits. It involved dotting the participants’ faces with paint.
Wasn't that one of the figures in the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles line?
Riding. The loa/orishas ride the Mamaloa.
What spirit was called? What offering was made? I must know more. Though I do know a Bruja, she no longer practices Santaria.
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They didn’t say.
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They didn’t say.
And really, we didn’t see/hear much of the ritual at all… first, a good bit of the audio was overlain by Ta’Shia commenting on the six people who decided to sit out. Second, what we were shown was Ta’Shia annointing the faces of the participants (the white dots mentioned above) and then encouraging them one by one to dance with her (it’s true what they say about white men and rhythm… 
). We did get some good shots of her being ridden by the spirit… she hammered away at “Tiger”- the gentleman who was eliminated later- and his lack of awareness of his culture.
Finally… Ta’Shia is not Santarian- she’s an Asanti. And I think the primary reason they have both an Asanti and a Wiccan is so they can do the fluffy light spells and the ones requiring animal bits to freak out the norms… we know in an upcoming episode that Ta’Shia “buries” the norms in animal parts up to their necks (which isn’t a part of any Asanti/Santarian/Vodoun ritual that I know of…).
I thought the show was hilarious, and a great followup to Survivor. I may even enter the contest to have the alts come over to my house. I have a few quibbles here and there, nothing major, but I think one of my friends put it best… “Couldn’t they have gotten a vampire that didn’t whiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnneeeee when he talked?” ::snerk::
I didn’t mean to imply ‘they all look alike to me’. Just that according to all the reading I’ve done, the aformentioned Bruja, and even Ta’Shia’s own webchat, Santari, Macumbe, Voudun, etc are closely related offshoots of the same traditions and involve very similar rituals and often call upon the same beings.
I believe you’re right on the bloody traditional ritual vs the silicone-enhanced witch practicing sanitized-for-your-protection magic (please note that this is not meant to be an insult to Wiccans, Neo Pagans, Pagans, Druids, Asatru, etc in general. Fiona reminds me of a group in an old thread. Their ritual consisted of melting chocolate bunnies in a crockpot.).
Well, I found it a bit disappointing. One would think people with such outlandish belief systems would at least be sort of interesting to listen to – but no, they’re proving that regardless of your belief system or lack thereof, you are no more interesting to listen to than the average Stevedore (not meant as an insult to Stevedores, I could have just as easily said laborer or banker or businessman).
I thought the blood thing was just silly, the vampire reminds of of a nerd who wants so bad to be cool, he’d do anything. The Naturist is the natural (no pun intended) choice for leader as he seems the most concrete and down to earth person in the house “Norms” included.
I’d give it a star and a half out of 4. Not really good, but just a little below average.
For an old guy like me, it’s sort of like a Real World with slightly less annoying people on it.
My opinions:
Don (the Vampire) was the biggest fake there. It was almost as if he was trying to freak out the “norms”
The primitive (Art?) and Avocado were probably the coolest people there.
Also, I’d think the “norms” were chosen for their respective lack of tolerance. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if Sci-Fi Channel purposely chose the most uptight people they could to be part of this show.
Wait, you mean it’s not actually Miss Cleo and Marilyn Manson? The only thing I’ve seen on the show are the ads in the subway, and they sure look like them. I couldn’t figure out who the other people were, but I just figured the blond lady was a wrestler and the Tarzan guy was a Howie Mandell wanabe or something.
It seemed like the next logical step for Miss Cleo, after being de-throned, but I remember thinking what the hell is Marilyn Manson doing on a reality show? But he’s just that crazy I guess…
So they’re just lookalikes then?
Man, I wish I had seen this show. I totally planned on it but my roommate was hogging the living room TV which is the only one with a cable box descrambler that gets Sci-fi. No he had to watch his Home House Family Decorator Challenge III or whatever that boring ass drivel is he’s always watching. Grr.
This sounds like the one reality show that I really wish I’d got on. Living with Alts? Totally cool. I’d be all over that. I’ve had the coolest, most fascinating conversations with real life Alts.
Eating next to a nude guy? That is such a total non-issue I can’t believe it would bother someone. It’s not like you’re sitting at a McDonald’s downtown and some random nude guy sits next to you. You’re living in this guy’s house. It’s a life choice for some people and you respect it. What, little nude-germs are going to jump off his body and onto your plate?
I suppose after interviewing I’d never make it on the show. They’d find out I’d be having too much fun with it all.
The first ep will be on again at 8:00 PM EST Thursday, right before episode 2.