Scream Queens

Hey loyal few! Apologies for the reduction in rate of posts here, it'll probably dwindle to a bit less than we got used to as we head into this busy time of year, and it's eventual end. I did want to mention something I saw last night though and which I figured would be appropriate to bring up here.
As I was doing my usual channel surfing I hit upon an obscure digital channel named "Viva". Recently launched and kind of a weird music and shows mix showing everything from reality shows to sitcoms. In this particular case it was screening a show named Scream Queens. Has anyone seen this? I had, truthfully, in passing and disregarded it. For anyone unaware who gives a damn it is a cheesy, fairly typical american reality show in the whole Bachelorette/Beauty and the Geek etc mould, but related to horror. Basically a bunch of wannabe horror actresses (get the title yet?) are competing for a role in Saw 6 (obviously the show is not live or in the least bit up to date). Along the way they are mentored by an acting coach I haven't heard of, film director James Gunn (Slither), and Saw actress Shawnee Smith. The girls must complete various challenges to impress these judges and win the day.
Now I get that the show isn't great, as I say it took me this long to even bother properly watching it and half the contestants are gone. It's also the worst genre of t.v spawned by the depths of Hell. Add to that the blatant attempts at titilation and exploitation of these girls and yes it looks bad.
But something last night drew me in. The craziness and sheer wtf moments of the tasks I saw perhaps? Everything from being dumped in a swamp of blood and told to act, to being locked in a morgue just to achieve an acting effect that a good imagination could utilise (or a better actor). Finally this culminated in our director dropping live cockroaches on each girl. The first thing that sucked me in was this sheer lunacy. Then something happened, I started buying into the melodrama, recognising the Hollywood nature of how this is probably what the "biz" is like. Along the way it was interesting to see the trade being plyed in the form of watching Mr Gunn at work, or seeing a glimpse into acting coaching. There are some truly terrible actresses, some greatly fitting B-movie ones, and a couple of potentially great new stars, though they have no visible or interesting personalities as such. The real meat here is perhaps the glimpse into the industry itself, imagining being there in front of and behind the camera and just the voyeurism typical of the genre, but in this case showing me something that interests me in the putting together of horror and utilisation/manipulation of it's tropes. We'll forget the pointless attempts at poignancy from the contestants' sob stories and say that this might just become a permanent guilty pleasure, I'd be interested to know what others' thoughts are on this and what they make of it.

MM