Mistresses get a new start

By Kevin McDevitt, News Correspondent

Tiger Woods, Reggie Bush and Ashton Kutcher have more in common than godly physiques and brown eyes: Each has recently been allegedly involved with a mistress, or in Woods’ case, mistresses. Now their not-so-leading ladies have survived the scandal and are receiving their own show. “Mistress Makeovers: Starting Over” will allow these “other women” to start anew, which is to say, get plastic surgery.

According to Hollyscoop.com, Joslyn James and Jamie Jungers, Woods’ former women, will get breast implants, and Bush’s ex-girlfriend, January Gessert, will receive a Brazilian butt lift and botox injections. Kutcher’s alleged mistress, Brittany Jones, is still undecided.

The wild premise has the Internet abuzz with blog postings, but the actual time, date and station have not been released. At this point, the makers seem to be shopping the show around, looking for a home.

“It’s funny to me,” said Caleb Rock, a sophomore psychology major. “People get plastic surgery. It’s something to laugh at.”

Not everyone appreciates “Mistress Makeovers” as the apotheosis of American culture. Celebrity website Hollyscoop.com wrote that the show marked an all-time low for reality TV.

Northeastern professor of creative art and design Ann Galligan said she sees the show as an ongoing pattern of increasingly severe reality themes and a reflection of American popular culture.

Galligan recalled watching “An American Family,” a documentary-style reality show that aired in 1973 on PBS. Cameras followed the seven members of the Santa Barbara, Calif.-based Loud family’s every move, including son Lance Loud, who was fond of wearing lipstick and women’s clothes. The show ended infamously when wife Pat Loud filed for divorce on camera. Galligan said critics at the time called it a new low for television.

Filming trashy women getting breast implants, botox injections and butt lifts might not be a reality to most people, but when the risk of the surgery is real.

Though gossip sites and Hollywood blogs deem the show a new low, a poll on Wendywilliams.com showed that 48 percent of those that responded said they look forward to watching “Mistress Makeovers.”

“I guess I would watch it,” Alyssa Sullivan, a middler interactive media and graphic design major said. “Since these people are tied to celebrities, this is what people want to see.”

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