6.8 /10 1 Votes
3.5/5 Amazon Original language(s) English | 6.6/10 IMDb Directed by Julio Kollerbohm Country of origin United States Final episode date 31 March 2008 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Genre Dating game showReality television Starring Calpernia AddamsAndrea James Cast | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Transamerican love story alec mapa intro
Transamerican Love Story is an American reality dating show in which suitors woo transgender woman Calpernia Addams. Addams chooses a suitor by process of elimination. When the show first aired, viewers could vote their preferences online, but it was Addams who chose whom to eliminate.
Contents
- Transamerican love story alec mapa intro
- Transamerican love story 15 calpernia s romantic date
- Production
- The suitors
- Call out order
- Epilogue
- GLAAD Media Award
- References
Transamerican Love Story is the first reality dating show in the United States in which contestants compete for the attention and approval of a transgender woman. Logo TV, a digital cable channel with LGBT content, announced the series in November 2007, and premiered the first episode the following February. The series finale aired on March 31, 2008. Actor/comedian Alec Mapa hosts each episode.
Zack Rosen of the Washington Blade praised the series, describing it as "refreshing for its lack of sensationalism". In 2009, the show won a GLAAD Media Award in the "Outstanding Reality Program" category, tying with I Want to Work for Diddy.
MTV Networks published the complete series in a four-disc DVD set in 2008. The series has also been distributed through Netflix, Amazon Video, and iTunes.
Transamerican love story 15 calpernia s romantic date
Production
Transamerican Love Story was one of three new reality television shows that Logo premiered in 2008, accompanied by Gimme Sugar and Shirts & Skins. It was produced by World of Wonder Productions with the assistance of Oh Really! Productions, a company that had recently begun co-producing The Big Gay Sketch Show for Logo.
Transamerican Love Story was not World of Wonder's first transgender program. Their documentary series TransGeneration (2005) won a GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Documentary in 2006, and Sex Change Hospital (2007) was a nominee for the same award in 2009. Transamerican Love Story contestant Jim Howley, who is himself transgender, appeared in the premiere episode of Sex Change Hospital.
After World of Wonder developed the concept for Transamerican Love Story, Logo called Calpernia Addams in the summer of 2007 to offer her the starring role, which she accepted. Addams is an actress, musician, writer, and activist from Nashville, Tennessee. She was 36 years old when the show was filmed.
Her friend, transgender activist Andrea James, co-stars in the series, and was a consulting producer. In a 2013 interview, James explains that she saw an opportunity for social progress in a program that accurately represented men who are attracted to trans women. Typically, she says, in US media trans-attracted men are stigmatized and shamed, and that can make them hate themselves—and "lead to unhealthy and even dangerous situations for trans women." "No one knows how hard it is for us to date!" Addams adds.
The show employs the competition-dating format established by The Bachelor (2002), a long-running series with numerous spin-offs and imitators. The bachelors in Transamerican Love Story are men who are "open to dating a trans woman". They lodge together in a mansion while Calpernia stays in a separate cottage on the estate. The contestants compete in group challenges, and the winners are granted time with Calpernia.
The suitors
Eight men competed in the show:
Call-out order
Contestants are arranged in the order in which Calpernia calls their names during the elimination ceremony. In episode five, no competition winner is declared. In episode six, each of the three remaining men gets a date with Calpernia. Episode seven is a clip show, and has no elimination ceremony. In episode eight, Calpernia turns down two of the three remaining suitors before declaring the remaining man the winner.
The contestant won the competition. The contestant won a date with Calpernia. The contestant won a date with Calpernia, but was eliminated. The contestant was eliminated. The contestant was to be eliminated, but Calpernia let him stay.Epilogue
"A reality dating show is… a very difficult circumstance in which to get to know someone", wrote Calpernia, a few weeks after the finale aired. "I look[ed] at it as… a fun romp… rather than a deadly serious path to matrimony." The following July, Calpernia reported that she and competition-winner Shawn "had some dinners and get-togethers, but… have not continued to date".
Contestant Mark "Razor" Rizzotti continued to perform in fighting sports, but also accepted roles in film, television, and commercials. Rich Tola produced and starred in his own yoga instruction videos. Barry Ratcliffe resumed his acting career.
Some months after the show aired, Calpernia did a photo shoot with portrait photographer Eric Schwabel, for a feature in The Advocate on the human body. Schwabel photographed Transamerican Love Story contestant Jim Howley for the same feature. Calpernia, Jim, Andrea James, and Alec Mapa all appeared together in the 2008 Los Angeles Pride parade.
GLAAD Media Award
At the 20th GLAAD Media Awards in May 2009, Transamerican Love Story tied with I Want to Work for Diddy for the GLAAD Media Award in the "Outstanding Reality Program" category. Calpernia Addams and Laverne Cox were at the awards ceremony in San Francisco to accept the honors for the respective shows.
Also in attendance was Transamerican Love Story finalist Jim Howley. He reports that when Transamerican Love Story won, he impulsively ran to the stage, past security personnel. After Addams' acceptance speech, he approached the lectern, introduced himself, and said a few words about transgender progress. Howley was one of the subjects of Sex Change Hospital, which was a nominee that year in the "Outstanding Documentary" category. He attended the awards ceremony with Clair Farley, a trans woman who was the subject of the 2007 documentary Red Without Blue. The couple married in 2011.
In 2016, two transgender-related series once again tied for "Outstanding Reality Program": I Am Cait and I Am Jazz. Chris McCarthy, general manager of Logo and VH1, told Adweek in 2015 that without Transamerican Love Story and other portrayals of diverse trans issues, "there would be no I Am Cait." Said World of Wonder co-founder Randy Barbato, "We always thought our subjects were ready for prime time. Not that many people agreed with us."