'Mr. Personality' Goofs Out of the Gate

[John]

'Mr. Personality' Goofs Out of the Gate

By Vince Horiuchi
TELEVISION
Salt Lake Tribune

"Mr. Personality," the new Fox reality series, which debuted Monday, blew it from the start because it revealed the end.

Leave it to Fox, home of "Joe Millionaire" and a network not afraid to look silly with its occasionally absurd ideas, to come up with another outrageous twist to the dating series.

This time, it involves a bachelorette, Hayley, who must choose between 20 men. But she can't see their faces because they are covered by masks.

What the network hopes is that she will choose the right beau based on his persona, but be appalled by his looks when he reveals himself in the end.

"Mr. Personality," which runs every Monday at 8 p.m., began like any program reminiscent of "The Bachelorette." The 20 men courted Hayley in the premiere. They danced, gave her gifts and had their astrological signs read (one was particularly unnerved by his reading and almost went ballistic on Hayley.) All the segments were designed to give her a taste of their personality traits.

Then she booted off 10 guys, who unmasked themselves in front of her. The other men who made the cut received new colored masks and will be featured week to week as she winnows the contestants to her final man. Only then will he expose his true identity.

First, the show is kind of creepy. The men parading in those masks was like a frightening combination of the orgy scene in Stanley Kubrick's movie, "Eyes Wide Shut" and one of those old Mexican wrestling movies.

But worst of all, "Mr. Personality" made a fatal mistake: It exposed all of the contestants' faces in the first episode.

What producers should have done is kept the remaining contestants' identities secret to give viewers a taste of what it is like for Hayley. Chances are, audiences would gravitate toward a favorite contestant's personality through the course of the series, then commit to watching to the end to find out what he looks like.

Still, the network is banking on people staying to the end to see how Hayley reacts when she finally sees her pick. But viewers are likely to be disappointed: All of the men were decent looking and she is not likely to be shocked that much.

[cali]

He has a point.
I was sitting there watching the other night thinking it was too bad you couldn't choose to not see them. REAL interactive TV

I wonder if people who watched only for the novelty, never to watch again would have stuck around to the end?

[fluff]

I wish we weren't really in on things either.
I would love the guys to have been masked until they were booted.

[Bill]

Good article, I think the surprise of the final unveiling would have been great.

Not that some website would not have figured it out.

[fluff]

True.

[cali]

Someone would have had pictures, but you'd have to look for them meaning if you wanted to stay in the dark, you could.

I wonder if FOX started kicking themselves after reading this article?

[John]

No, they're probably saying "We've got a twist for Mr. Personality II!"

[cali]

Yep
You are probably right!

[flibbity]

I have to admit, I was a little bummed out last night when they showed the faces of the contestants again.

I was going to try to forget their faces and concentrate on their personalities. However, every little interview they were unmasked, so you *COULD NOT* forget what they looked like.


BLAH

[nofx242]

after watching it last night and seeing there faces I probably wont watch again. Well not to mention that the girl is pretty anoying and full of herself.