Bibliographic Information:
Creator: Jonathan Murray
First Episode Release: December 5th 2006
Network: Oxygen
Theme Song: Love Me or Hate Me
Genre: Reality Show
Summary: Seven girls from all over the United States are picked to live in a house for three months together in a specific location. In order to be allowed to stay in the house the girls all have to follow specific rules; the main rule is no fighting which seems to be broken every single season, resulting in a Bad Girl having to leave the show early. While this doesn’t sound very exciting or special, these group of girls have been known to have both various kinds of psychological and behavioral issues. Usually the type of girls that are picked to participate have certain characteristics: loud, opinionated, drama starters, quick tempered, confrontational, have family issues, pretty, charismatic, tough, hence the title “bad girl”. While of course the Bad Girls are showing off their different backgrounds, personalities, and beliefs, the main objective is for them to prove that they are mentally strong enough to stay in the house for the full three months. By staying in the house most of the Bad Girls want to try to grow and change some of their destructive ways.
Critical Evaluation: When I was younger, this was my favorite show. I pretty much have watched and owned most of the seasons. However, as I got older and now at the age of twenty-nine, the show doesn’t seem as appealing as it once was. It is a very repetitive show, the only thing that changes are the girls in each season. Every season there are a lot of fights, drinking, talking behind people’s back, threatening, lying, pulling pranks, complaining, throwing stuff, throwing up, potentially going to jail etc. At least two people get kicked off for fighting every season, and there are usually two cliques that the girls fall into. Everyone wants to prove that they are the toughest or prettiest Bad Girl. While some of the girls say that they may want to change their “bad” ways, they usually don’t end up following through. Now it is just boring, and it is like if you have seen one season you have seen them all.
Reader’s Annotation: N/a
Creator Information: Jonathan Murray currently lives in Los Angeles. He obtained his degree from the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Jonathan has built quite an impressive career in television; he started out spending six years at WLUK-TV, WXIA-TV, and WKYC-TV in documentaries, news, and station management. In 1987, he joined together with Mary-Ellis Bunim to form the partnership Bunim Murray productions
In 1991 Bunim Murray productions sold an idea for a TV show to MTV and MTV bought it. The Bunim and Murray partnership turned into a powerhouse as they went on to produce a wide variety of TV shows including: Making the Band, The Simple Life, The Real Word, Road Rules, The Real World/Road Rules, and more. He is known as the co-creator of the Bad Girls Club Series. Also Jonathan was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame in 2012.
https://www.bunim-murray.com/jon-murray
Genre: Reality Show
Curriculum Ties: N/a
Book Talk Ideas: N/a
Interest age: 13 and up
Challenge Issues & Defense Preparation:
Challenge Issues: Profanity; Sexual Content; Mature Content
Reviews: https://www.influenster.com/reviews/bad-girls-club
Tanisha Thomas, a famous bad girl who benefitted greatly from going on the show by jumpstarting her career https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3245655/
Natalie Nunn, another bad girl who went on to do positive things after the show: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3758798/
Why included: This show came out when I was seventeen and I absolutely loved it. It was pure entertainment and what I liked most is that it seemed the girls could do and say what they wanted and seemingly not have consequences from it ( not true). I’m sure there are some teenage girls that probably feel this way too. Hopefully they will be able to use this show to see what not to do and how not to act. I will say that the show does promote unique personalities so I hope the girls would get the underlying message to be yourself no matter what anyone thinks.
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