I knew it was only a matter of time before I would receive an email like this from a casting agency.

Greetings Kathryn-

We are working with a major production company to develop a series about powerful African American women in the tech space. Whether you own a lucrative business or a new start-up, we are looking for strong leaders with a passion for success. Are you known in your industry for your over-the-top personality and unconventional approach to business? Do you and your friends celebrate your successes by enjoying the finer things in life like five star restaurants, luxurious vacations, and high-end shopping sprees? We’re looking for the African American female movers and shakers of the tech industry.

The ideal candidates are African American female business owners with dynamic businesses — and huge personalities to match! We are looking to connect with stylish, hard-working women in the tech industry who want to showcase their fabulous lives both in and out of work, and show what being a boss is really all about.

The fact that this is a even under consideration is problematic and shows that folks behind this don’t understand the definition of being a “boss” in the start-up world. A boss in this world is someone who has successfully exited a company (either via IPO or acquisition) and received a solid amount of cash (well into the millions) in the process. There is no black woman who fits this description. If this show happens, there probably never will be.

Even if we expand to the larger tech community and take a liberal view of “power”, the number of powerful black women in tech can fit on a single hand. Shellye Archambeau isn’t bringing an entourage of “weave-ologists” to TechCrunch Disrupt. Ursula Burns doesn’t have time to do a walk and talk at the Stanford Shopping Mall.

Through #ProjectDiane, we know every black woman startup in the country and, as one of the leading companies in this space digitalundivided knows a large percentage of black women in the overall tech world. With less than 30 black women raising $100,000 in revenues and less than 1% of the employees at major companies like Google and Facebook identifying as black women, the sample to draw a cast from is extremely small.

To those who might consider participating in a show like this, I beg of you to put your ego to the side and think about the impact this will have on the larger community of black women in tech. Yes, it might (stress: might) be beneficial to those of you with fashion/beauty related blogs, but it will have a profoundly negative impact on the ability of any black woman to be taken remotely seriously in tech. It would underscore that you are, in fact, not tech at all. It won’t translate into any significant amount of sales for your company and, unless you consider hosting parties at Vegas nightclubs speaking engagements, it won’t translate into any position of prominence in the start-up world.

For a founder, this show will guarantee you will not raise any funds for your start-up from a real investor. Tech is a world where billionaires drive Prius and Chevy Volts during the week, and save their Ferraris for weekend race tracks, as to not draw too much attention to themselves. A “fabulous” black woman founder going to a meeting in a $3,000 weave and carrying a $5,000 bag, at a time when we’re trying to get these same billionaires to invest a tiny amount in diverse founders, feeds directly into the stereotypes that exist about black women.

The thing about reality television is that entertainment is derived from conflict. Because TV is two dimensional, in order for the conflict to “pop” it has to be amped up 1000%. This means whatever conflict you have in your life will be amplified. You will be asked to do things that go directly against your moral character in order to create a compelling storyline and to stay relevant on the show. If you don’t believe me, just watch how morally conflicted Cynthia Bailey is on Real Housewives of Atlanta.

The sad (very sad) fact is this show is going to be produced no matter what I say and the production company will find black women to participate because there’s a number of people who want the validation of being on television. These, “thirsty”, people will attached themselves to whatever industry, category, or person who can help them become famous. They know nothing about tech, but everything about narcissism 

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A casting flier for a new reality show set in Silicon Valley has some people in tech scratching their heads. 

With a headline of "Calling all girlfriends of Silicon Valley," the flier asks, "Are you a confident, glamorous and outgoing woman who's dating or married to someone working in the tech industry? Do you have a fabulous lifestyle, a great group of friends, and live life to the full?" 

London-based production company The Connected Set will be creating a documentary-style series profiling the Silicon Valley social scene. According to creative director Jason Mitchell, the "girlfriends of Silicon Valley" is just one social group the show will follow. 

"The flier campaign we're running is part of a wider campaign for a new show that is in development," Mitchell told Business Insider. "We also have many successful female entrepreneurs involved, although we are not primarily focusing on work-life for this particular project."

The casting flier seemed to strike a nerve with a community still reeling from Friday's decision in the Ellen Pao sex discrimination law suit and other discussions of gender imbalance in the tech industry.  

Last week, digitalundivided founder Kathryn Finney wrote a Medium post about a casting call she had received for a reality show focused on black women in tech. "We are looking to connect with stylish, hard-working women in the tech industry who want to showcase their fabulous lives both in and out of work, and show what being a boss is really all about," the casting call read.

"There is no black woman who fits this description. If this show happens, there probably never will be,"Finney wrote.

The Connected Set is also producing a show called "How to Be a Young Billionaire," which follows three British entrepreneurs as they set out to find success in Silicon Valley. One of the startup founders, Mitchell notes, is a woman.

SEE ALSO: Race car driving is the latest hobby for the wealthy of Silicon Valley

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You may recognize the serial whistleblower who helped the Justice Department get its $16.65 billion settlement with Bank of America last year from his role on The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

Jim Marchese and his wife, Amber, are cast members on the reality TV show — but in his downtime, Marchese, who owns a local New Jersey mortgage firm, likes to take fraudsters to court, reports The Wall Street Journal's Christina Rexrode.

It's not a bad side gig: in his lawsuit against Bank of America, in which the bank was accused of making bad mortgage investments leading up to the financial crisis, Marchese reportedly received $8.5 million for tipping the government off.

Back in 2007, when he blew the whistle on his own company — a pharmaceutical firm that allegedly defrauded Medicare — Marchese scored $1.6 million for his efforts, the Journal reported.

Of course, the money is not why Marchese says he does it.

"I’m trained as an attorney, I’m Sicilian, and I’m from New Jersey," Marchese told the Journal. "If I see you kick a puppy, I’m going to say something. It’s not within me to not say something."

Pretty altruistic for a guy known for regularly blowing up in his friends' faces on television.

Here's a NSFW example of that:

Read the full story in the Journal »

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Aaron Levie and Dylan Smith, cofounders of newly public cloud software company Box, are now worth more than $100 million combined, the Wall Street Journal reports. 

Before they achieved fame in the tech world, however, Smith made an appearance as an eligible bachelor on Bravo's "Millionaire Matchmaker" reality show. 

Box had about 70 employees in Palo Alto at the time (they now have more than 1,500). 

The episode, which aired in 2010, casts a 24-year-old Smith as a stereotypical wealthy nerd. Matchmaker Patti Stanger goes so far as to call Smith the nerdiest guy she's ever met in her life. 

"I know it's pretty rare to be a self-made millionaire at 24, but I like to think I'm a pretty smart guy," he says in the episode. "I definitely wouldn't consider myself a typical millionaire. I think most people would consider me a geek, myself included." 

In an effort to loosen Smith up, Stanger sets him up with a dance coach. Smith shows up to the dance studio in moose pajama pants.

Things get interesting during the dance class.

Stanger plans a mixer for Smith and another millionaire on the show to meet a group of women and choose one to go on a date with. 

"I didn't have any specific algorithms in mind," for comparing the girls, Smith says.

He eventually chooses a 24-year-old woman named Arielle for his date. At dinner, he tells her that he used to play professional Wiffleball and that he's looking for a lead singer for his band. 

"When I say 'band' I don't mean a real band. I mean a band that is actually a video game that I'm afraid to take out of my own living room," he says. 

Overall, it seems the date went well. They kiss near the end, and Arielle tells Stanger she'd go out with Smith again.

He even shows Arielle some of the dance moves he learned. 

The date never turned into a lasting relationship, however — Smith married Yael Goshen in 2013. 

SEE ALSO: How the CEO of guy-rating app Lulu organizes her pink-filled work space

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Two Yahoo employees are in the running to get a spot on the next season of "Survivor." 

For its 31st season, the show is letting its fans choose the cast of castaways from a pool of 32 former contestants.

Shirin Oskooi, senior director of product management at Yahoo, was the 11th person voted off the island in the most recent season of "Survivor: Worlds Apart."

She is a longtime fan of the show and had tried out 10 years in a row before finally being selected for the cast. 

"My enthusiasm going into the game was like out of control," Oskooi told the San Francisco Chronicle after she was voted off in April. If she got the chance to do it over, she said, "I wouldn’t start out the game so obsessed, so focused on 'Survivor' and annoying people from that. I would go in it more like I am everyday not talking about 'Survivor' all the time."

 Andrew Savage, deputy general counsel at Yahoo, made his "Survivor" debut in 2003, when he was a cast member on "Survivor: Pearl Islands." A twist late in the game got him voted on the island.

"The desire to get back on Survivor and pour every ounce of energy I have into the game I love has been building for 12 years and it’s time to make it happen,"he told the Chronicle.

Viewers can vote for 10 men and 10 women each day. Voting closes May 20. 

Even Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer tweeted her support.

SEE ALSO: Tech billionaires are paying hundreds of millions to get their privacy back

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A 30-year-old former Morgan Stanley vice president is competing to find love on the new season of ABC's "The Bachelorette." 

Prior to filming the show, Corey Stansell was working in business development for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Midtown Manhattan.

"As Business Development Manager for Morgan Stanley Wealth Management in Midtown Manhattan, I am responsible for helping our Financial Advisors grow their existing practices by leveraging the best intellectual capital on Wall Street. By providing access to the best and most timely investment strategies, I seek to provide the engine of growth for our Financial Advisors and their clients. I am also seeking top Financial Advisors in Midtown Manhattan looking to have a discussion to see if Morgan Stanley is the right firm for them and their clients," his bio on his personal webpage states.

It's pretty shocking to see a Wall Streeter on a reality TV show. In this industry, folks tend to keep a relatively low profile. Firms tend to be really strict about social media too.

What's more is this dating show is one of the most-watched shows on Monday nights with millions of viewers. Basically, 8 million people will be able to watch you make-out.

In the past, there have been former Wall Streeters on the show. On this season, there's also a former investment banker.

FINRA records show that Stansell has been with Morgan Stanley since 2010. He previously did stints at Merrill Lynch and Edward Jones, the records indicate.

By the way, on the show Stansell is referred to as an "investment banker" from New York. Technically, he's not an i-banker since he doesn't run money or do deals.

We reached out to Stansell for comment about what he's currently doing since he's finished filming.  

The 6-foot-tall bachelor is originally from Weatherford, Texas. He graduated from the University of Houston in 2007. During undergrad, he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.

When it comes to marriage, he views it as, "two people agreeing on a long-term vision of life and a family. A partnership with attraction, open communication, and ultimate trust."

This season of "The Bachelorette" has a bit of a twist. For the first time ever, there are two bachelorettes–Britt Nilsson and Kaitlyn Bristowe. On Tuesday night's episode, the 25 male suitors will vote to pick which woman will proceed as this season's bachelorette. (Spoiler: It looks like it's going to be Kaitlyn Bristowe, according to screenshots from the show posted on Stansell's website.)

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Ryan Seacrest has found a new summer gig.

He will be producing and hosting a new reality show on Fox called "Knock Knock Live," the network said in a press release on Tuesday.

Premiering July 21 at 9 p.m., the show will feature Seacrest from its Los Angeles studios while a "Knock Knock" team surprises people with "life altering" prizes ranging from cash, visits from with their favorite celebrities, or the opportunity to fulfill their wildest fantasy.

But contestants will have to win the prize by either answering a question correctly or performing some other kind of challenge. Those questions could span from being asked to name nine kids who live on the block to playing a game of H-O-R-S-E.

To apply or to nominate someone else for the show, visit knockknocklive.com.

Seacrest's production company will produce the show alongside Dick Clark Productions and "American Idol" creator Simon Fuller's XIX Entertainment.

News of this new summer show arrives just two weeks after Fox announced that "Idol" would end after the upcoming 15th season.

Seacrest also hosts and produces "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" on 102.7 FM, ABC's "Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve" and serves as the executive producer of E!'s "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" franchise, Bravo's “Shahs of Sunset,” CMT's “I Love Kellie Pickler," ABC Family's “Becoming Us," and the upcoming NBC drama “Shades of Blue,” which stars "American Idol" judge Jennifer Lopez.

SEE ALSO: 15 TV shows to watch this summer

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Many Americans have a conflicted relationship with the media they watch.

In particular, those who think of themselves as "cultured" tend to have a negative view of certain "low-brow" contemporary television shows.

Scripted shows like "Two and a Half Men" and "Reign" are described as "banal" and "dumb," while the latest crop of "trashy" reality shows – "The Bachelorette,""Keeping Up with the Kardashians"– are to be enjoyed only by "hate-watching" them.

Nonetheless, these verysameshows are watched by millions of people each week.

The popularity (and profitability) of reality TV has reshaped the landscape of television. In fact, many TV producers are purposely making "bad" shows to appeal to a certain type of viewer.

How can so many people complain so much about these shows – yet still watch them?

We sought to understand this seeming contradiction by going to the source and talking to self-described viewers of "bad" television.

Many of the people we interviewed found trashy television too offensive to watch, but there were others who kept on consuming, even as they described the shows as "awful,""terrible," and "just downright bad."

Those we talked to were often what society considers to be "cultured"– upper-class, educated and comfortable talking about art or their favorite novelist. These sophisticated television viewers felt the contradiction of watching trashy television even more acutely than most; they struggled with the idea that, for all their appreciation of "good" culture, they found themselves repeatedly watching such "bad" TV.

In order to overcome the contradiction of condemning while also consuming, our interviewees generally resorted to three explanations.

A guilty pleasure

Many cultured viewers actually feel quite badly about watching trashy television, but they can't seem to stop themselves.

They feel ashamed, almost unclean, after watching an episode of "Reign" or "The Bachelor," but they can't help it.

As one 50-year-old nonprofit manager explained:

You feel a little dirty in a way…I'm like, "Oh my God. Why are you doing this to yourself, and why am I choosing to sit here and watch it when it's just ridiculous?" I feel terrible about myself. I'm like, "I've wasted twenty minutes here, just watching 'America's Next Top Model.'" And, you know, I resolve never to do it again.

But she does watch again, like most other guilty pleasure viewers. And again. And again.

"Just one more episode," they say. Or, "It's been such a long day and my job is so demanding, it's okay if I indulge in a little mindless crap at the end of the day."

Most claim it is simply out of their control, like being unable to look away from a car crash. One university professor described why he watches "Judge Judy" like this:

There is an element there of being freaked out by something, and watching it is almost like watching a car wreck. You know, you are driving along the highway and you see a car smashed up, you slow down; it's the same kind of thing.

Ironic consumption

Not all feel guilty about watching trashy television – some revel in it.

Ironic consumers, or "hipster viewers," think that the shows they watch are really bad, but they still enjoy them: they derive great pleasure from making fun of a terrible show. To them, trashy television is – as the saying goes – "so bad it's good."

These viewers tend to watch trashy television from an emotional distance. They don't really feel connected to the characters or care about their fates. (They are just there for the laughs, after all.)

Watching with this perspective allows them to feel superior to the show and its conventional viewers. A 28-year-old teacher who enjoys watching "Hoarders" stated:

It depicts such a bad scenario, but it's pleasurable to watch because it makes you feel better about yourself … a person will think, "Thank God I'm not like that."

In a way, by watching trashy TV from a position of superiority, ironic consumers can reaffirm their own self-perception of being cultured.

A camp sensibility

Audiences who view these shows as camp have more complex reasons behind their reasons for watching. Susan Sontag described "camp sensibility" as enjoying a cultural object that is so extravagant and exaggerated that it achieves a certain kind of "failed seriousness."

Those with a camp sensibility don't feel guilty, nor do they revel in the trashiness of bad television. Rather, these connoisseurs of bad culture have a strange kind of admiration – almost reverence – for really awful cultural products. As Sontag observed, "Camp is a tender feeling."

One graduate student compared his enjoyment of 1980s B-movies to honoring an embarrassing cultural moment:

It's a sort of a celebration of our failure. Like, I can't believe someone spent so much time on this and it's so bad; maybe that's it, celebrating our failings.

Whereas ironic consumers feel apart and above the cultural object, a camp sensibility allows a viewer to identify with the creators of the movie or television show. They admire the vision of the producers and rejoice in its ultimately disastrous outcome.

Our complicated culture

We exist in a complicated cultural environment where we no longer take the products of media at face value. We make aesthetic and moral judgments about TV shows – "that was awful,""this is trash"– but we keep on watching. Conflicted, we want to have it both ways; we try to hold on to the idea that we really do have "good taste," even as we consume television we judge to be terrible.

Not surprisingly, television producers have caught on. Now "bad" shows are expressly produced for connoisseurs of trashy television. Shows like "16 and Pregnant,""Jersey Shore," and "True Blood" can be specifically consumed as a guilty pleasure, ironically or with a camp sensibility.

All the while we try to remain aesthetically pure. We watch these "trashy" shows at a distance, in order not to be contaminated by the appearance of bad taste.

Charles McCoy is Assistant Professor of Sociology at SUNY Plattsburgh. Roscoe Scarborough is PhD candidate in Sociology at University of Virginia.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.

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On Sunday, E!'s hit reality show "Rich Kids of Beverly Hills" returned for a third season.

The hour-long, "Rich Kids Of Instagram" Tumblr-inspired show features seven friends from 90210 who drop thousands of dollars on clothes, shoes, cars, and partying like it's their job — because that's exactly what it is for some of these "funemployed" 20-somethings. 

Get to know the cast and catch up on the series here before delving into the current season three.

"Rich Kids of Beverly Hills" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on E!

Meet 27-year-old Dorothy Wang, who was born and raised in Beverly Hills — "The best city in the world."

In the pilot episode, Dorothy says, "Growing up, my parents never talked about money. It wasn't until it was printed in Forbes that I knew how much money we had."

Dorothy is currently "funemployed and fabuluxe," but "when I grow up I want to be the Asian sensation of the world."

Former commodities trader Sandy Goldfarb, known as "Trot" in the trading pits, will be appearing on a brand new Bravo TV series called "Secrets And Wives." 

The show, which follows a group of affluent long-time girlfriends from Long Island, premieres tonight at 10/9c. 

One trader told us that Goldfarb was "king of the natural gas pit."

He even made the now-defunct Wall Street magazine Trader Monthly's 100 Highest-Earning Traders list for 2005.

A veteran NYMEX pit trader who runs Energylinks Futures, Goldfarb (a.k.a. "Trot") knocked his natty-gas book out of the ozone layer last year amid one hurricane after another and some of the most treacherous volatility ever recorded in the decade and a half since natural-gas futures were created. Like most locals, Goldfarb relies on technical indicators more than longer-term fundamentals.

When the technicals line up, "that's when you load the boat," Goldfarb told attendees at a Natural Gas Intelligence workshop held this summer in New York. World-class energy trader, star racehorse owner, epic bash thrower, NYMEX institution. Not only is Sandy's boat fully loaded, but so are his pockets. For the record, Goldfarb insists he made less than $10 million. Our sources say otherwise.

Based on what we've seen of the show, it appears that Goldfarb is also the king of armpit laser hair removal, too.

During a teaser clip for the show, his wife, Cori, lifted up his arms and asked, "Did you laser hair removal all of your under arm pit?"

"What does it look like?" Goldfarb asked. "There's only one or two parts I have left to laser." 

After he left Wall Street, Goldfarb and his wife opened a spa on Long Island called Truth + Beauty.

Goldfarb's wife complained about his excessive skin and hair regimen. 

"In the morning, Sandy takes longer to get ready than I even do," his wife said. "He puts on his eye cream. He has toner. He has serums. He has creams. He has gels. He lotions up his body. He has neck cream. I mean, it's insane! He's like a woman." 

She added: "It drives me insane because he's a guy, like get ready and go." 

Watch below: 

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E! Entertainment has just released the first promo for Caitlyn Jenner's new reality show, "I am Cait."

The show will be an eight-part, one-hour documentary series that will show Jenner's transition and how it affects her friends and family. It will premiere on Sunday, July 26, at 9 p.m.

In the promo, we see Jenner applying makeup to her face:

And putting on lipstick. "You start learning the pressure women are under all the time about their appearance," she says in the clip:

 
Watch the full promo below:

While the Kardashian girls, as well as Kendall and Kylie Jenner, have agreed to appear on "I am Cait," Jenner's four oldest children have opted not to participate.

"They disagree with their father's decision to use not only the same production company that made 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians' but many of the same people, including several original executive producers," according to Jenner's Vanity Fair cover story.

SEE ALSO: Here's why Caitlyn Jenner's first 4 children refuse to appear on her new E! reality show

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Matthew McConaughey isn't the only star in his family: Mike "Rooster" McConaughey — a self-made millionaire investor and Matthew's older brother — is now the star of a new reality series called "West Texas Investors Club."

The show, which premieres on Tuesday at 10 p.m. ET/PT on CNBC, has been billed as a mix between "Shark Tank" and "Survivor." As the stars of the program, Rooster and his business partner, Wayne "Butch" Gilliam, fly aspiring entreprenuers to Texas on private jets and decide whether or not to invest in their products.

Unlike the hosts of similar reality shows, Rooster and Butch vet their potential investments through a series of very personal — and often hilarious — examinations.

"We’re more about the people, basically," McConaughey told Business Insider. "Sometimes we’ll pick up a glitch in their personality, and we’ll test that a little bit ...  The deal’s gotta be decent, but the person counts as much or more as the deal does."

Over the course of the season's eight episodes, Rooster and Butch meet with 16 entreprenuers and end up investing a total of $1.97 million in products ranging from apps and eyewear to guitars and barbeque sauces. 

The show breaks down into several parts: first, the entreprenuers pitch their ideas; then, in a segment that Rooster calls "scenarios," the two hosts test the product out in the real world, all while evaluating the character of the entrepreuner through a series of challenges.

In one episode, Rooster tests out an app that allows you to order drinks at a busy bar, while his partner Butch orders the old-fashioned way and get his drinks faster.

"The son of a b---- cheats," McConaughey joked about his business partner. 

By the final segment, if they think the product and the entreprenuer have potential, Rooster and Butch will sit the guest down and settle on a deal through some tough talk and, often, a lowering of expectations.

"The figures [the entreprenuers] come in with are out of sight,” McConaughey said. "And there’s times where we might beat them up a little too hard in other people’ opinions, but [when] we do, there’s really not much there."

In an exclusive clip from the show, Rooster and Butch become annoyed with an entreprenuer named AJ who clashes with them, and Rooster ends up throwing a Miller Lite can at the unruly guest:

According to Rooster, the beer can he threw was "empty."

"I would never throw a full beer at anybody, I can tell you that," McConaughey said. "Not because I wouldn’t hurt them ... It’s a waste."

Alcohol happens to be a dominant feature of the program — "Let's you get to know somebody better," Rooster said — and of McConaughey's life altogether. In an interview with People magazine, Rooster revealed that he named his children, Miller Lyte and Margarita Olympia, after his favorite alcoholic beverages. 

And though his brother, Matthew, hasn't seen the show yet, Rooster is nonetheless excited to knock his younger sibling off of his spot as the only McConaughey in show business. 

"We're gonna surprise everybody," McConaughey said.

Watch the trailer for "West Texas Investors Club" below:

SEE ALSO: The single most important element to successful investing

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If you look forward to Friday nights to watch new episodes of "Shark Tank," you're hardly alone.

Since it debuted in 2009, the reality TV show, in which aspiring entrepreneurs pitch their businesses to millionaire and billionaire investors, has developed something of a cult following.

Fortunately, there's a lot more where "Shark Tank" came from.

Here, we've rounded up reality TV shows that will satisfy your need for drama — and make you savvier about business.

SEE ALSO: 12 documentaries on Netflix that will make you smarter about business

'Kitchen Nightmares': A chef takes the reins at a struggling restaurant.

Based on a UK TV series called "Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares," the Fox series "Kitchen Nightmares" features chef Gordon Ramsay working with failing restaurants across the US. Ramsay makes suggestions about the menu, the staff, and the aesthetic, and the restaurant owners must decide whether to heed his advice.

After seven seasons, the series ended in May 2015. You can watch it on Hulu.

'Undercover Boss': Execs see a new side of their companies.

It's every employee's nightmare. In the CBS series "Undercover Boss," a high-ranking exec or the company owner shows up to work disguised as an entry-level employee in order to learn how the business really functions. At the end of each episode, the boss reveals his or her identity, promoting deserving staffers and sometimes firing others.

The sixth season ended in spring 2015, and a seventh season has yet to be announced.

'Bar Rescue': A restaurant consultant does recon in failing bars.

In each episode of the Spike TV series "Bar Rescue," restaurant and bar consultant Jon Taffer helps bring a struggling business back to life. Taffer's team starts out by doing reconnaissance work at the bar to figure out exactly what needs to be improved, then works with the owners on making serious changes to salvage their business.

The series is currently in its fourth season.

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I have been refusing to write about Donald Trump, because – let us be frank – that is exactly what he wants us to do. He will certainly not be President.

He is riding high in the polls of August, our political silly season, just like Michelle Bachmann or Herman Cain were back in 2011.

At some point this fall, voters will start to imagine these candidates not just running for president but actually being president, sitting in the Oval Office making crucial decisions about national security--that’s when they get serious. So let’s jump the gun, put Donald in that office for a minute, and ask what would Trump’s foreign policy look like?

There’s actually a lot to be said for him as Commander in Chief. He’s knowledgeable about the world, obviously bright, sophisticated beneath the spray-on populism, and experienced in high-stakes negotiations with foreign potentates. He also has an ability to speak plainly, which is critical in rallying American support behind a President’s foreign policy.

Woodrow Wilson’s foreign policy collapsed because the American id never bought into it; the people were unenthusiastic about their new burdens and Wilson became shrill trying to convince them. Richard Nixon’s foreign policy was more successful, though ultimately détente and its managed hostilities with the Soviet Union was too removed from the basic traditions of America’s world-view to survive. Voters never really cottoned to either.

Trump would have none of these problems. Using only his words, he’s seized the support of a significant portion of the Republican primary electorate from experienced orators like Ted Cruz.

That is not the same as seizing a significant portion of the general electorate, but he is a smart man and presumably canny enough to know how to do that when it is required. Presumably. Unfiltered proclamations can be useful means to an end, even if that end is a sotto vocepromotion of his own reality show.

No, the idea of Donald Trump as Commander in Chief that should give us pause is not his own skills. It is his focus on them. In response to foreign policy questions in the past, Trump has stressed the need for a “dealmaker” like himself, someone who knows the ins and outs of major negotiations.

Someone who knows when it’s time to bluff and settle, and can charm or hustle the most sullen foreign partners. He’ll force Mexico to build its own wall, stand up to the Chinese on everything, and seize Iraq’s oil fields from the Islamic State.

No other candidate has even a remotely similar foreign policy. It is Trump Global, trademarked under a copyright – and that is what should scare us. Diplomacy and the American interest are fundamentally not dependent on individuals, however clever and charming they are. Our interests, like those of many countries, are mostly unchanging. That’s why Barack Obama’s foreign policy looks so similar to George W. Bush’s – and in certain areas, more Bush than Bush.

Obama has stepped up drone strikes, sanctioned Russian aggression, and negotiated free-trade agreements with vital nations of the Pacific Rim. All of these policies serve the basic, mostly unchanging interests of America as superpower:

• Destroy transnational threats.
• Uphold principles like territorial sanctity.
• Promote liberal values like free trade.

In that respect, differences between the two have been matters of degree.

Where Obama has run into trouble, like Wilson before him, was personalizing too much his own foreign policy, mixing too much his own political interests with America’s. Obama had invested a great deal of personal prestige into nuclear negotiations with the Iranians, and surely the Iranians could sense it. Walking away from a bad deal would have been a crippling political blow, and by the end, no deal was clearly worse for him than a bad deal.

And we were almost certainly going to get a bad deal, because the US and Iran do not really have that many common interests. Iran wants a larger, dominant role in the Persian Gulf and in the world, which could only come at the expense of traditional US allies. Iran wants hardline Shia governments in Middle Eastern countries and the US wants democracies. Iran would like a nuclear weapon capability and the US is appalled by the thought. There is a temporary, flickering commonality in the fight against ISIS in Iraq, but even that doesn’t carry over to Syria, where Assad is happy to fight his moderate rebels while the Americans and Kurds deal with ISIS. We just don’t want the same things.

Except – except the Iranians want their sanctions lifted and Obama wants a deal. His personal prestige and interests are wrapped into the negotiations, and so we got one.

It is not difficult to see the same thing happening to Trump. With the ego, with the money, with the reality show, and with the swagger, it is easy to see a deal for Trump the Magnificent leaving America behind. The US hasn’t had a hostile relationship with Mexico for a century and a half. Friendly neighbors are a good thing.

I’m somewhat amused with the idea of invading the Islamic State and seizing its oil (take THAT, conventional paradigms of the Middle East!), but the US hasn’t been in the business of resource grabbing since the Polk Administration. Would Americans support the 52^nd state in western Iraq? How many electoral votes should it get? Would the Iroquois vote for him?

Probably pretty socially conservative. The Trump show will probably not last through the fall. Comparatively few voters are paying attention, and even less have begun to imagine the candidates as commander in chief.

There’s a possibility Trump’s platform will gain traction as the second coming of James K. Polk and manifest destiny, but more likely, in the end, he’ll just be Trump. Glorious, no doubt, and successful, but not the commander in chief.

SEE ALSO: DONALD TRUMP: 'We'll call it the Great Wall of Trump'

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Full Throttle Saloon, a popular bar in Sturgis, South Dakota that called itself the "world's largest biker bar," burned down Tuesday morning.

The bar was the subject of a reality television series that ran for five years on truTV and Reelz.

Produced by Lamar Salter. Video courtesy of The Sturgis Volunteer fire department. Additional video courtesy of Black Helmet Films.

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Four members of the Teamsters union were arrested on Wednesday and charged with trying to extort a non-union company filming a reality television show in Boston last year, federal prosecutors said.

A fifth man was also arrested, but charges against him were dismissed after the court determined he was wrongly identified in a photograph.

Prosecutors contend the men approached the production company and demanded that it hire union members for the show, and when the company refused, they threatened to picket filming at two locations, prompting the owners of those locations to cancel production.

Federal prosecutors did not identify the production company, but the behavior and locations described in court papers matched with complaints made by a company filming the show "Top Chef," the Boston Globe reported.

"A group of rogue Teamsters employed old-school thug tactics to get no-work jobs from an out-of-town production company," said Carmen Ortiz, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts. "The strong-arm tactics the FBI has seen in this case are egregious and our investigation is far from over."

The men, members of Teamsters Local 25, also threatened physical harm to people working on the production, prosecutors said.

The four are Mark Harrington, 61, of Andover, Massachusetts; John Fidler, 51, of Holbrook, Massachusetts; Daniel Redmond, 47, of Medford, Massachusetts; and Robert Cafarelli, 45, of Middleton, Massachusetts. All four pleaded not guilty.

Each faces one count of conspiracy to extort and one of attempted extortion. If convicted, they could face sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock ordered all charges dropped for Richard Jeffrey, 55, of Woburn, Massachusetts, after prosecutors determined that he had been misidentified and wrongly arrested.

"This case points out the frailties of eyewitness identification under the best of circumstances," said Jeffrey's attorney, Edward Ryan. "It's unfortunate that he was identified in a press release as someone who was involved in this matter only to be vindicated hours later."

An official at Teamsters Local 25 declined to comment on the charges.

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The Kardashians have their share of haters. Actress Rebel Wilson recently slammed the family during an interview with Australian radio station KIIS FM, saying that "everything they stand for is against everything I stand for... And they're not famous for talent."

But an unlikely celebrity is coming to their defense: Oprah.

The TV veteran told the same radio station, "I interviewed the Kardashians two years ago and I couldn't believe how hard they work. People don't understand that, people think, 'Oh, if a television camera's just following you, then that's just easy.'"

But, argues Oprah, reality TV isn't easy.

"To really create a reality series that looks like something's actually happening, it means you have to be on all the time," she explains.

Oprah knows because she has worked with the Kardashians.

"I went to film them as a family and I couldn't believe how hard they worked," she continued. "We were there for seven hours, and they were going to tape another seven hours after I left. No matter who you are, that is work."

Story by Aly Weisman and editing by Jeremy Dreyfuss

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ABC reportedly won't allow two men to dance as a couple together on "Dancing with the Stars."

An openly gay singer, Who Is Fancy (yes, that is what he calls himself), is set to perform his new song, "Boys Like You," with Ariana Grande and Meghan Trainor on the reality competition show's November 23 episode. The song is about a man falling in love with another man, so the singer's choreographer wanted to have two men dancing with each other in the performance. But TMZ reported that ABC wasn't having it.

According to the site's sources, a "DWTS" producer responded to the choreographer's request via email: "Apologies all but this is a definitive no from the network." 

ABC reportedly said it would allow "near dancing," such as the performance earlier this week in which pro dancers Alek Skarlatos and Carlos PenaVega basically toss each other around to Queen's "We Will Rock You."

Show representatives declined to comment for this story. One of TMZ's sources said, "Creative conversations are ongoing about the dance number."

This isn't the first time that an ABC show has been embroiled in controversy over a diversity issue. For years, the network had been pressured to have a minority or gay man lead "The Bachelor." Ironically, its first minority bachelor, Juan Pablo Galavis, who's Latino, would say that a gay man could never be the Bachelor.

It would seem that ABC's nonfiction shows haven't caught up to its scripted series. A gay couple is part of the central story on "Modern Family," for example. But it did take "Modern Family"one season for its gay couple, Cam (Eric Stonestreet) and Mitch (Jesse Tyler Ferguson), to kiss, after pressure from viewers and critics.

But "Quantico," the FBI-themed series that premiered this season, has portrayed two men kissing already.

SEE ALSO: Aziz Ansari is diversifying TV one white person at a time

MORE: Kathy Griffin opens up about a lifetime of unequal pay as a female comedian

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Marco Rubio wants Republican primary voters to know that reality TV stars like him, too.

Earlier this week, reality TV star turned GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump shored up his credentials with conservatives by snagging the endorsement of former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, who left office shortly after her 2008 vice presidential campaign to pursue a career outside of politics, namely with a show on TLC.

Not to be outdone, Rubio is out with a new television ad featuring Rick Harrison, the owner of the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop from the show Pawn Stars.

In the ad, which will start running Thursday in the early-voting states of Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, Harrison calls Rubio the “real deal.”

Harrison first endorsed Rubio in June and has appeared at events for him in several states, according to the Florida lawmaker’s campaign.

The new ad is the latest sign that the GOP’s White House hopefuls take the clout of reality TV stars seriously.

The spot comes less than a week after Sen. Ted Cruz (TX), who is leading the polls in Iowa, revealed that Phil Robertson, the head of the family featured on the television show Duck Dynasty, was endorsing him.

“My qualifications for president of the United States are rather narrow: Is he or she godly, does he or she love us, can he or she do the job and, finally, would they kill a duck and put him in a pot and make him a good duck gumbo?” Robertson said in a video. “Cruz fits the bill.”

Cruz’s campaign will spend $700,000 to air the spot, which features him duck hunting with Robertson in camouflage makeup, during the NFL conference championship games this weekend.

By picking up endorsements from the stars of some of the biggest shows on basic cable in recent years, Republican contenders hope to boost their credentials with working- and middle-class families that make up the primary electorate.

Some critics have suggested that entire 2016 GOP primary could be viewed as reality TV show, given Trump’s past as an entertainer and his unexpected monopoly of public opinion polls.

But the arms race for reality TV star endorsements isn’t limited to just the GOP. In August, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton posed for a selfie with Kim Kardashian.

I got my selfie!!! I really loved hearing her speak & hearing her goals for our country! #HillaryForPresidentpic.twitter.com/zGpdcGSZBD

— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) August 7, 2015

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