Walberg, Mark L. - host of TNT's House Rules
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
No, not the famous actor from Three Kings. While Mark is well known for being the host of Temptation Island, he recently started his hosting duties on "TNT's House Rules". In this interview he compares, and contrasts the "nice" reality shows from the "not so nice" ones.
DM) It seems that you're hosting another reality TV Show, TNT's House Rules.
MW) I'm grateful for all of the work, I'll tell you that much. Some of the shows I've loved more than others. This is one of my favorites though. It's just so much fun and it feels right to me.
DM) Why is this one of your favorites?
MW) It's got a heart. It's very real in that it's relatable to virtually any family that has a house or wants to have a house. Although it's extreme competition, it's not competition that's negative. It's not like they're sabotaging one another.
DM) When you were doing Temptation Island that show had a bit of a sabotage/negative reputation.
MW) Right, exactly. There was a thing about Temptation Island that I enjoyed doing, which was a moral dilemma that played out. Since I've been married 16 years and that was my standpoint, I felt that it was something I could offer to the show. But this one is lighter and a real experience. I really like the couples on it. I've had a really good time with it.
DM) Some of the criticism I've heard on reality shows has been that "mean-natured" attitude. Was it getting draining for you?
MW) I'll tell you what. The show I did, "Anything for Love", that drained me. It wasn't what I thought it was going to be. I did not particularly enjoy that experience, because I thought it was mean just for the sake of being mean. "Temptation Island", although it's one of the edgiest shows that I've ever done, it is mean but not so in that they chose to go there, and they know exactly what they're getting into. And quite frankly nothing happens that they didn't bring upon themselves. They are in a situation where they're taking their relationships for granted, they know they're going to date other people, they know that parts of their dates are going to be shown to their mates, and that just happens, and the rest is us following their story. That one doesn't sit poorly with me, because I don't think we're being pro-active in their misery. I think their misery is brought on by their choices. If there is misery, sometimes there is joy.
This show, "House Rules", I think the audience is going to respond to. I think it matches the fantasies and fears of doing their own home. To see people attempting and accomplishing it, is kind of cool.
DM) Do you think it can compete against those "meaner" shows? It seems the public enjoys watching people get hurt.
MW) Even those big, prime-time network shows that we talk about, in the vein that we just described, aren't as big of a hit as some of the home-improvement shows on cable that are running marathons with just armies of loyal fans. The truth is that I think this will compete on a better level and will sustain longer because it's far more sustainable.
DM) It seems that there's become too genres of reality shows. The mean ones and the nice ones.
MW) I think there are a lot of different reality shows out there. We have to remember that when we say "reality shows" it encompasses a much larger picture. There are shows like "The Real World", there are shows like "Bugjuice" on the Disney Channel, that basically observes an experience in a documentary style and are not mean or nice. Those are the ones that I'm really drawn to.
You have those with competitions involved. If you look at "Joe Millionaire" I guess you could say that was mean spirited because it's based on a lie that's perpetuated throughout. Then you have others like "Survivor". I don't think that's a mean spirited show, I think it's a hard-core survival show, it's just how you play it. The "Amazing Race" has nothing mean spirited about it, it's just game play.
If you sit around our table when we play Scattegories in our house, that might come across as mean-spirited. We play to win. But that's not the same as a show being pro-active in somebody's misery which is what I think you're referring to.
DM) Do you think that the reality show phenomena will follow the same path as the "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" phenomenon a few years ago?
MW) Well, all the game shows didn't go away, there are still a few around. You are best served to look at this stuff as cyclical. While "Millionaire" and "Weakest Link" are not around now, the truth is that those shows are no different then the shows of the 50s like "Twenty-One" and the others like it.
It's completely cyclical. There are times that we want more of a reality/documentary show. There are times when we want more of a reality/competition. Now we're on a trend of deceptive shows where they are living a reality experience, but there's something that the audience knows, that they don't know. But we might turn in the other direction again. What I think is more important to take away is that networks have realized that a balanced schedule is the best.
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