If you haven’t noticed, reality shows are killing television. Destroying every network it touches, the ‘genre’ of reality is reducing prime time television into league of badly edited and over-produced programs, starring egotistical sociopaths and camera whores selling their lives and emotions to create prosthetic drama. Above all, they are quick and exponentially cheaper to produce, script (if you didn’t realize it was all fake yet) and cast than real shows. And for some reason, the more obnoxiously staged and obscure the shows get, the more we enjoy it. It really makes me sick seeing people idolize these ignorant, morally bankrupt nobodies on equally deplorable shows.
Needless to say, I was less than enthused when I saw promotions declaring IFC the newest network to add ‘original series’, headlined by Rhett and Link: Commercial Kings. Rhett and Link are an internet sensation, a pair of creative minds managing to toe the line between commercialism and obscurity (they are most famous for making branded commercials with original ideas and film-making techniques). The same question I always have when I see promos for any reality show arose: how could this possibly add anything to our culture (positively, that is)?
Each episode of Commercial Kings revolves around one or two featured small businesses, spread out across the nation. After learning about the owner and their business, Rhett and Link produce a local commercial for them, revealed at the end of the episode. The businesses are odd (as you’d expect from a reality show), including a taxidermist, colonic center, and a pro wrestling school. On the surface, it seems to be the same old reality show with unique ‘characters’ and opportunities for over-wrought drama. I imagined a possible scene: “Oh no, Link! We’ve only got ten minutes to finish the commercial and my computer broke!!! What will we do!”
After watching the first six episodes of Commercial Kings, I’m amazed to say I was wrong. Watching Rhett and Link interact with the different owners is breath of fresh air from the usual screaming and chest-pounding that goes hand in hand with reality TV. It’s the only reality show I’ve EVER watched where the subjects of the show (or celebrity judges, or asinine behaviors of said protagonists) aren’t bigger than the stories they tell. Amusing and entertaining, Rhett and Link spend a lot of time on camera, but the people they profile are always the center of the show (a rare quality). Usually you turn on Home Makeover to see some douche in cargo pants make some family cry, parading around in a house he underpaid a couple hundred Mexicans to remodel.
People like that- and those you find all over Bravo and VH1- are so self-centered, they don’t care about the destruction they cause around them. Say what I want, cash my check, and get famous off being a piece of shit. Rhett and Link care about helping these people with their businesses, and they walk around the world aware of their reality (a particularly interesting racial discussion breaks out in an urban salon at one point) and the feelings of the people around them. They are willing to show on camera (and not in some money-grubbing reunion show “outtakes” that nobody really watches) their mistakes and shortcomings as people. If someone doesn’t like their idea, they aren’t afraid to admit it to the audience, and do the one thing none of these TV assholes want to do: they listen. And what happens then, is television magic.
These two guys love to make commercials, and it shows. Yes, they have sponsors and it is their television show, but Rhett and Link aren’t your regular reality show stars. They actually have talent, and the depth of shines in every episode. It’s quite a sight to watch them at work, thinking on the fly, trying to develop funny and memorable local gems with a range of different business owners, from cautious foreigners to soldiers turned yoga instructors.
Commercial Kings is definitely a show to check out, and for those who make television ads for car dealerships, you should probably bring a notepad. Kings is funny, entertaining, and even though it’s occasionally (usually intentionally) awkward, it has charm and a heart you don’t see in the shark pool of terrible reality television. If you despise reality television like myself, give Rhett and Link a chance. You will be really surprised at what you find.
Overall: A-
Characters: A+
Production Values: A
Ingenuity: A
(note: I will not take requests to review other reality shows. If you want that, go read Entertainment Weekly or some other bullshit.)
Great review. You described everything I detest about reality TV. Rhett and Link have class. It is something only their internet fans have known for years, now I’m glad others are noticing.
What outofthegrey said… I’ve known (IRL but initially via the web/FB) them about 5 years now and they’re so sweet; they’re really, along with the Avett Brothers, good representatives (entertainment ambassadors of a sort, internetainers as they call themselves) of North Carolina, where they, the Avetts, and I all grew up… they have a bit of snarky sass, wit, good educations in engineering and communications I believe (the engineering lends itself to how they nitpick over little details, including making things so bad they’re good for, say, the trashicorn guy who made me uncomfortable to say the least!!)… they’re really great people, and they connect so well with their audience; they used to have “RhettandLinkasts” with video streaming back and forth or just one way with typing on the other side… they’ve collaborated with great people for everything from crayon songs to making their own shoes (the first Tweak Footwear ever carried actually) to their idea of Mythical Beasts just popping up one day in conversation and being a community now, like “Nerdfighteria” for the Vlogbrothers/nerds in general (which R&L definitely are, as they are not just nerds but nerds decreasing world suck). Thanks for this great review. I’m glad to see them loved on TV (you should DEFINITELY see the stop motion commercial they did and the video, T-Shirt War, that got McD’s to hire them… pretty special stuff, CRAZY amount of work, but awesome result!)
Rhett and Link’s creativity knows no bounds. These guys are the real deal 24/7 and they are loyal to their fans. I’ve known them for about four yeas and I’ve seen these guys grown along the way.
They even made a special stop to see me on the way to Hollywood. I was Mythical Stop 8.5.