Confession of a Bravo Whore: I Enjoyed Flipping Out

I’m sure many of you watched the series premiere of Flipping Out last night. My friends over at Bravissimo wrote a great little piece about it. They even came up with their own list! To be honest, I was really looking forward to Bravo’s new reality show offering, but I was expecting the worst. Seriously, some of the clips I had seen over the past few weeks looked so fake and scripted. I know that’s not surprising for a reality show, but things didn’t look promising for Jeff and his gang. Fortunately for the suits at Bravo, I’m a proud Bravo whore and my general curiosity kept me glued to the television last night. That and my love for successful gay men!



Well, for some reason, I actually found the show entertaining. And I can’t really explain why. I mean, there are so many things about this show that make it seem like a bad idea.



For starters, Jenni and Chris are both struggling actors. They’re also married, which is the cutest thing. Oh, I should point out that I thought I was going to hate Jenni, but after watching the first episode, I’ve decided that I don’t hate her. I’m still not sure what to make of this Elaine (from Seinfeld) look-a-like, but I think she’s going to win me over. She seems a bit too lethargic and uninspired at times, but she also knows how to have fun. Also, I suspect most of Jeff’s employees are also actors or somehow affiliated with the entertainment industry. Hey, they all live in L.A.; I guess I shouldn’t be surprised.



The biggest hurdle for the show seems to be getting the public to connect with Jeff Lewis, the show’s star, on some level. Bravo failed miserably with Hey Paula! Yeah, let’s not go there. Anyway, Jeff talks openly about having OCD; he criticizes his assistants for every little thing; and he seems to think the world revolves around him (and his animals).

However, I would consider Flipping Out a surprising success. Ok, it’s not as good as Shear Genius, and I doubt it will have all the drama that was packed into Workout Season 2. But all the individual elements of this new show seem to be coming together quite well. I want more lists! I want to see more of Jeff wearing his perfectly ironed shirts! I want to see more of Jenni dancing (not rapping) and working in the studio! I want to see a shirtless Ryan working on something—anything! Yeah, I’m already looking forward to the next episode.