Professor Claims Possible Connection Between Deaths of Hollywood Stars and New Reality TV Shows
By Barry Keller, frequent contributor to Haunted Hideouts
NEW MEXICO. Could the deaths of Hollywood stars be connected to the rising phenomenon of reality TV shows? Rodney Glazer, an adjunct theatre arts professor at Chamisa Hills Community College in Bernalillo, NM, believes there is a direct line between reality TV shows and Hollywood stars’s deaths by misadventure.
“In this Internet age, public and private lives have been distilled down to a sort of…commonality, including Hollywood stars. We see every aspect of celebrities’ lives played out in real time on sites like “TMZ,” “Access Hollywood,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and with many of them now starring in their own reality shows, the general public is beginning to think that they are, at the very least, ‘equals,’ of sorts. As, of course, they should be.
But they also see stars as more accessible, and many address their own emotional problems by seeking redress from a celebrity who doesn’t even know them.
There are more stalkers, now, and people who feel they have a say in a celebrity’s life. And sadly, there are more Hollywood stars whose deaths can be linked to the self-justifiable anger of a disgruntled fan. Fact and fiction have melded into one amorphous mass.
“Now this can be good. I myself have taken a liking to someone whose persona I’d previously disparaged—Gene Simmons of “Kiss” fame. But in Gene Simmons reality show, “Family Jewels,” his real personality comes through. Like Ozzie Osborn before him, we see that he is at heart a family man, whether he has walked down the aisle or not.”
If Gene Simmons reality show has Rodney Glazer’s approval, what about the stars who do not? He poses the question: What about the stars to engender real anger?
“Looking at the trouble some of these celebrities have had with the public, you have to wonder if they are not putting their own lives, and the lives of their families, in danger.” Glazer cited the television show “My Sister Sam,” where a crazed man mistook a young actress’s persona on the show for true life, stalked her, and killed her. “That girl, Rebecca Schaeffer, had no idea she was being stalked by a madman who hung on every word, every line she spoke on that TV show.”
As more and more people confuse fictional reality shows with the real thing, there could be trouble ahead. “Look at the deaths of Brienne Cross and the contestants on her show,” said Glazer. “Did someone take a personal disliking to them because of their interactions on ‘Soul Mate?’ It may be we will never know.”
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Comment by sauropod on 11 February 2010:
“It may be we will never know.”
Then what’s the point of all this speculation?
“My Sister Sam” was not even reality TV; it was a sitcom. So it doesn’t even fit into this discussion.
I think Ms. Schaeffer’s stalker was obsessed with her because she was good-looking, not because of the character she played.
Bottom line: Mr. Keller should stick to writing self-published books that don’t sell. (Dayjur Press? What the heck is that?) “Hollywood Death Houses” ranks #1,976,218 on Amazon right now.
Heckuva job, Barry.
Comment by admin on 11 February 2010:
Is that you, Walter?
That was a cheap shot if I ever saw one. Not all professors (not even you Walter) are liberal elitists with their heads up their collective buts.
For your informaiton, Professor Rodey Glazer is a marketing guru with not one, but five books to his credit. One of them was on the New York Times Extended Beseller likst for a week! He has studied reality Tv shows for years, and he is the preeminenent authority on the subject.
Comment by sauropod on 11 February 2010:
“Not all professors (not even you Walter) are liberal elitists with their heads up their collective buts.”
Who’s Walter?
And who’s to say I have my head up my “but”? Maybe it’s up my “and” or my “if.”
Leave it to a self-published semi-literate confabulating troglodyte like Barry Keller to let his borderline personality syndrome get the better of him on his own site. Now he’s hallucinating that I’m someone I’m not.
“He has studied reality Tv shows for years, and he is the preeminenent authority on the subject.”
Wow, color me impressed. The world’s preeminent authority on crap. Does he have a Ph.D. in scatology?
“One of them was on the New York Times Extended Beseller likst for a week!”
The NY Times *extended* list – what is that, something that shows up only on their Web site? What is a “beseller likst” anyway?
Put a hundred monkeys in a cage with a hundred typewriters and in twenty minutes they’ll produce the complete works of Barry Keller, with fewer typos.
No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Comment by admin on 11 February 2010:
Oh, it’s you, Walter. There’s nobody else on this earth that is that snide.
And just so you won’t take a typo out of context and play holier-than-thou with it, I’m using spellcheck, just to mke sure.
Comment by admin on 11 February 2010:
MAKE sure. See? I caught it.