Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love A Reality Flash Back
What were you doing 15 years ago? I was sitting down with my wife watching another reality show called Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love. Fifteen years ago reality tv was strong with the force. Viewers could not get enough consumption of former stars and the fly-on-the-wall look into their lives. We had so many shows to choose from like The Salt-N-Pepa Show, Scott Baio Is 45…and Single, Charm School, and of course, Rock of Love.
While my wife couldn’t get enough of these reality shows, I was very skeptical of the whole lot and watched them more like a car accident. I always wondered at the origin of why so many existed and I have one theory. In 2007 there was a major writer’s strike. According to huffpost.com, there were roughly 12,000 writers that went on strike. This was television armageddon! More than 60 shows were put on hold and the Golden Globes were canceled. Most late-night shows could not go on. Reality shows were already here, and with writers gone, they became the go-to entertainment. And even when the writer’s strike ended in 2008, the reality floodgates were thrown open.
Enter Rock of Love
And one of those shows that came through that flood and lasted for three seasons was Poison frontman, Bret Michaels’ Rock of Love. It is fascinating watching these (supposedly unscripted) spectacles and wanting to see where they are going to go. Ultimateclassicrock.com said that Bret Michaels actually did ask for no lines to be written for him because he would suck at it and would rather just talk.
The first episode of Rock of Love drew 1.6 million viewers. If you are not aware of the concept, it was 25 women competing to be Bret’s girl. Take beautiful girls, lots of booze, and the desire to win and you apparently have yourself a winning design. To quote Bret:
“Those girls, they were stars,” the rocker attested. “Even though I got to be the guy looking for love and hosting it, the girls made that show amazing.”
Over on episode.ninja (seriously .ninja) has a list of some of the most memorable episodes. I’ve listed the top five below and if you are not aware, Bret and WCSX are throwing a huge party. The Parti-Gras 2023 featuring Bret Michaels is coming in 2023 and you could win tickets and you got to go check it out.
