TV Talk: Workout Season 3 on Bravo

Ok, I am going to write about a show I have probably not mentioned before because after watching this week's epissode I just need to let a view things out. I think I might try to be more regular with my TV Talk because I do have a lot of opinions on TV and I try to watch a variety of shows, not always just what everyone else is watching.

So today I am going to talk about "Workout: Season 3" on Bravo TV. I tend to watch it in the off hours because I have my tivo tape it in the middle of the night but I believe it is on Tuesday Nights at 10pm.

This year it is the shows 3rd season. I started watching it on a whim during the first season because I think it came on after something else I figured I would give it a shot. I thought it was interesting to see the "drama" but also the little odds and ends related to working out and I am a sucker for this type of show (person builiding their business, etc). Here is a brief decription from the Bravo Website (www.bravotv.com):
"Following an emotionally charged second season, Bravo's docu-series "Work Out" starts its anticipated third season on Tuesday, April 15 at 11:00 PM ET/PT, catching up with fitness maverick Jackie Warner as she prepares to tackle her personal relationships and business endeavors with a newfound maturity. The third season introduces the four skilled trainers Warner recently hired at her exclusive Beverly Hills gym Sky Sport & Spa, and her new live-in love, Brianna. "

I really enjoyed the first season and the second season I was reeled in with the banter between trainer Rebecca (who I recall from The Amazing Race) and Jackie as well as the tragic unexpected death of one of the trainers, Doug. I did feel Jackie seemed to have changed a bit from the first season when I could appreciate how she seemed down to earth and really into building a strong business and helping people by sharing her information with others who needed to learn. But, that was Season 1.

Season 2...I started to notice the way Jackie had changed and seemed to have more of an ego than the previous season but I chalked it up to that is what happens when you have a TV crew following you around. The season was still interesting and heartbreaking with the death of Doug but overall I enjoyed it.

This season, Season 3, I still find interesting when Jackie is not on screen. I find that I get more annoyed each time she talks or is shown on screen. I also think the addition of her new assistant, Lisa, who is totally there to be her eyes and ears and "tattle" on the trainers really degrading to the quality of the show. I think this year Jackie's attitude towards the trainers and people in general seems to have just gone down and she tries to cover it up with how she is doing such a good thing with her Skylab clients and how they "need" her help and its just the way her ego has enlarged I think. It may be because in the earlier seasons she tried too hard to be chummy with the trainers and has realized that running a business that does not always work and now she tries to distance herself but overall it seems like she has little respect for the people who work for her.

If you are still with me at this point, let me give you a few examples of how I think the show has started to take a turn for the worst when it comes specifically to how Jackie is shown on the show. Let me also preface this with the fact that I do understand that the show's producers and editors really have the final cut with what we see and what we do not see but as with any "reality" tv or "unscripted drama" there is some qiggle room in maybe not getting the who picture but there is also truth to what you do see.

First example is with the cruise Jackie took the female trainers on. I don't recall exactly why she was going but I believe Jackie was asked to speak or something and was holding "boot camps" on the cruise for people who were interested. On one of the mornings she had Erica and Rebecca run a boot camp for cruise guests. Partway through it, Jackie comes in and starts changing it up. This confused and offended Rebecca and Erica a bit and rightfully so. When it was brought up to Jackie her only answer was "this is my boot camp and if I want to come in for 30sec (although on tv it did seem like a few moments at least!) I can do that". It was an "all about me" type of response and she had no time for her trainers to be offened and couldn't imagine why they would be since "its all about jackie".

The next big example is from the most recent episode where Jackie fires Brian Peeler. Some quick back story for anyone who has not watched the show, Jackie and Peeler (as he is referred to most commonly) have always butted heads. It became even more evident an episode or so ago when she was having a meeting with this guy Don who set up a charity in rememberance of the trainer, Doug, who died last season. Peeler thought he was to be a part of that meeting because he was involved in this charity event, and Doug was his best friend. Jackie completely shut him out of the meeting and seemed offended that Peeler even thought he would be included. He genuinely seemed perplexed as to why he was shut out because it was something about Doug and not something personal. This past episode (befor the firing incident) Jackie's assistant "tattled" on Peeler that he had called Don to complain about being excluded. Talk about being someone's pet!

Anyway, so back to this most recent event that has completely shown to me the true colors of Jackie Warner. Peeler was training a client one evening and Jackie and her assistant Lisa were watching through the glass and Lisa made a comment about the clients breasts that was inappropriate. The clients boyfriend/husband heard it and was offended and let them know that she was a cancer survivor and that he was offended about their comments. Lisa suppossedly apoligized and that was all that was said. We later learn that the client's husband/boyfriend told him about it after the training which basically says it was still upsetting to them and so Peeler felt it was best to go and talk to Jackie about it. (And I have to say I agree with him on that. If I were him I would have done the same thing.)
So, Peeler goes into Jackie's office and says he wants to talk about his client and what happened the night before and she basically tells me she is not going to talk about it. And he didn't want to drop it because he thought it was important and she threatened to fire him if he kept trying to talk about it and he said to do it and so she did. Jackie tries to play it off like Peeler was just picking a fight that was not important and she really didn't seem to see how it did matter and that even if she didn't make the comments, she allowed Lisa too and it makes sense he would go to her first to get the situation cleared up.

I think she totally took that opportunity to fire him because as much as she disliked him he has not given her a real reason before and she felt she could. I actually wnet to the Bravo website and saw her reaction on her blog and I have to say that she did not help herself. It seems to me she tried to play the "Editing" card and that we didn't see the nice stuff but honestly, we DID see the conversation and the way she told him she wasn't going to talk about the incident was not the way she tried to play it. Her comments made it sound like she tried to say "not at this time, I am busy" type of reply to Peeler but on camera it was an "I am NOT going to talk about" reply and then a "if you continue to try and talk about it your are fired" statement.

I was comforted to see that the comments on her blog for the most part seemed to agree with my observations about how her "Character" has changed from the first season and how put off a lot of fans currently are after the last episode especially and even that many felt she handled the situation completely inappropriately.

Overall this season I am unimpressed and a bit turned off by Jackie on the show. I do think it would be interesting if Bravo go Peeler his own show because I tend to think it would get a lot of viewers, even if just out of curiosity. I am not one to let one episode stop me from watching, I do like to give a show a chance to redeem itself and in all honesty, as much as I don't like Jackie, I do enjoy other people on the show and the pure curiosity I have of seeing how things turn out is often my downfall in watching shows that have annoyed me. We will see where it goes...

ta ta for now...