The Surreal Life (2003)
The Surreal Life is a reality television series that sets a select group of past-their-prime celebrities and records them as they live together in Glen Campbell's former mansion in the Hollywood Hills for two weeks. The format of the show resembles that of The Real World and Road Rules, in that the cameras not only record the castmates' participation in group activities assigned to them, but also their interpersonal relationships and conflicts. The series is also likened to The Challenge in that previously known individuals from separate origins of entertainment are brought together into one cast. The show's first two seasons aired on The WB, and subsequent seasons have been shown on VH1.
Seasons & Episode
The Surreal Life 6 cast move into the mansion. Smart-mouthed bellhop Jimmy Pardo greets, insults and coerces our cast into carrying their own luggage as they check into a surreal motel.
The housemates help film a video for Smash Mouth's “Story of My Life.”
Part 1 of two. The cast must do a TV news report, with Alexis as executive producer, Florence as anchor, Sherman as weatherman, C.C. doing the sports, Steve as field producer and Andrea reporting from a local winery.
Part 2 of 2. The cast does a TV newscast, with Alexis and Steve producing, and Florence, Sherman, C.C. and Andrea on air.
Part one of two. The house mates film talk shows in front of an audience, with Tawny vowing to reveal the real Florence and C.C. wanting to hit the bottle before he hits the stage.
Part 2 of 2. The pressure is on to win the talk-show competition. Guests include Bridget the Midget, Marla Gibbs (“The Jeffersons”), a man with a 10-foot mustache and a 92-year-old bodybuilder.
The housemates must form a hair-band to go up against cover band "Posin" in a battle of the bands. C.C. feels the pressure as he prepares to perform "Talk Dirty to Me", a song from his Poison days.
The Surrealifers awake to find the living room rearranged for a group therapy session with in-house advisor, Florence Henderson as "Dr. Flo"! Can Maven face the truth about his pain? Will Andrea finally come clean with Florence when she is shown footage of herself aggressively badmouthing Flo? And, can Tawny cope with any advice or criticism given to her, or is this just one more reason for her to think Florence is "a pushy, pain in the ass"? It's the moment they've all been dreading, Mrs. Brady challenges them to come clean and face their biggest fears.
The final morning finds the guests packing and reminiscing about their time at the Surreal Life Motel. Tawny spends most of the day sleeping and ignoring the rest of her cast mates. Later, tensions begin to bubble in the house as Tawny breaks up with her fiancé on the phone. In complete disbelief, the cast watches as Tawny throws her clothes off, and jumps into the pool naked. CC is left scratching his head and wondering what has happened to Tawny in the last few days. She has become completely erratic. Once reclusive and closed-off from the rest of the cast, Tawny is now skinny-dipping, and sensually kissing the other women on the lips. Better order some room service, it's going to be a very bumpy final night at the Surreal Life Motel.
