Last night I attended The Paley Center’s “Evening with UnREAL” event. In attendance was the series Co-Creator and Executive Producer Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, Executive Producer Carol Barbee, and several cast members including Shiri Appleby, Constance Zimmer, and B.J. Britt. In addition to the moderated panel portion of the evening, we were also treated to the first episode of the season two!
Now I’m certainly not going to spoil anything here, but from what I saw and heard, let’s just say season two is going to be a doozy. Here’s five things I can tell you about the Peabody Award winning series:
1. Season two may be both darker and funnier than the first season, but they aren’t trying to one-up themselves. As Shapiro, Appleby, and Zimmer explained, season two is simply about telling the next chapter in these characters’ lives.
2. Shiri Appleby directed an episode of the upcoming season; it was her first time behind the camera.
3. Sarah Gertrude Shapiro, the show’s Co-Creator, stressed that from the very inception of UnREAL her goal was always to make a premium cable drama. She didn’t know where it would land, but the beauty of it ultimately finding a home on Lifetime was that she never had to justify the show having two strong female leads.
4. Carol Barbee, one of the show’s newest Executive Producers shared that when they were looking for writers for this season they were sent a decent number of half hour comedy scripts because the show is known for its dark humor as much as it is for its drama.
5. There may be a new suitor and new contestants on Everlasting, the show within a show, but Rachel and Quinn are still the primary love story of UnREAL.
Bonus: B.J. Britt promised that shirts will come off.
To see this panel or any other panel from The Paley Center, visit: http://www.hulu.com/paleylive
And don’t forget, season 2 of UnREAL premiers on June 6th at 10pm on Lifetime. You’re not going to be disappointed.
