It’s an image you’ve seen a hundred times before: A score of gorgeous, perfectly-groomed young women in evening gowns standing nervously by the edge of an underwater-lit, electric blue swimming pool. Behind them is the immaculate landscape of a Southern California mini-palace, so verdant and lush (drought be damned) you can practically smell the night-blooming jasmine. In front of them is a handsome young man with a necktie and a studiously sober expression, clutching in his carefully spray-tanned hands a single, long-stemmed red rose.
But this time, it’s not yet another rose ceremony on yet another season of The Bachelor—this is actually a scene from UnREAL, Lifetime’s buzzed-about, new scripted television drama that takes us behind the scenes of the fictional reality TV dating show “Everlasting,” a shot-by-shot stand-in for the tabloids’ favorite romantic behemoth, which will soon enter into its 20th season! Through a mixture of evocative storytelling, biting social critique, and shockingly vital characters, UnReal, created by Marti Noxon (Mad Men, Girlfriend’s Guide to Divorce) and Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, UnREAL purports to show us how our reality sausage is made—and see if we still like the taste.
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