A brand-new season of The People’s Couch premieres tonight on Bravo! The show, which takes us into the living rooms of various groups of people and allows us to watch TV with them, will feature all of the cast members from the previous seasons, including West Hollywood trio Emerson Collins, Blake McIver and Scott Nevins!
“We’re all this big dysfunctional group of TV junkies who just want to get a fix, and now we have each other to share that moment with,” Scott said. “When you watch the show, you feel like you’re on the couch with us.”
In an exclusive interview with The Ashley, Scott answered the most frequently asked questions he gets about ‘The People’s Couch!’ (Special thanks to the Roundup readers who submitted questions!)
Q: Do you guys get paid to be on this show?
Scott said that he and his cast mates have achieved the ultimate dream: They get paid to watch TV.
“We know it’s the greatest job in the world,” he said.
Q: Do you get to pick the shows you watch? Or are you handed a list of things that everyone will be watching?
“Ultimately the producers pick the shows (and we actually watch a lot more than what makes it to air), but every week we are asked what shows we are loving/hating/dying to see,” Scott said. “The producers do a great job of picking shows from those lists, as well as the hottest trending shows, and these really off-the-wall, under-the-radar shows. It’s the mix that makes it so fun!”
Q: Can you refuse to watch a show?
Everyone–even folks that enjoy watching bad TV for a living like The Ashley– has their limits. Luckily for Scott and the gang, they are not required to watch anything they don’t want to.
“As a TV fanatic I will watch almost anything, but at the end of last season, we watched this weird Internet thing called ‘Too Many Cooks,’ and I’d love to tell you what the hell it was, but it was so odd and annoying that I got off the couch,” Scott said. “Emerson and Blake tried to hold out, but I think they gave up on it too.”
Q: Is this show scripted? Do you have jokes already written for you?
Scott says he gets this question all of the time. He assures the show’s fans that there is nothing fake about ‘The People’s Couch.’
“It’s probably the most real reality show out there,” he said. “We literally sit down, watch the shows, and there are two cameras on stands that film us watching hours upon hours of TV. That’s it. There’s no script or magic secret of how this is done.
“The poor editors sit through all of those hours of raw footage of all of the groups watching these shows, and they edit it down to make it quick and funny,” he said. “No producer has ever told us to say something or do something. I don’t know why people are so fixated on thinking the show is fake, but I find it kind of sad.”
Scott added that there are definitely no scripts given to the cast before the TV watching begins.
“If there was a script, don’t you think I would have fired the writers by now for not making me funnier?!” he joked. “If people on our show are funny with one-liners it’s because they are funny people! Some groups are funnier because of their honest interactions and some are funny because of dopey things they say out loud. I think if any of us were trying to be something other than ourselves, or trying to land a joke, the audience was see through it in 2 seconds, and we wouldn’t be returning for Season 3.”
Q: How did you get on the show?
Scott got lucky in that he knew someone involved in the show’s production. That person, knowing that he was a TV junkie, contacted Scott about participating and asked if he had any friends to watch TV with.
“I laughed and said ‘I do, and in fact, they are on their way over to watch some with me now!’ They then asked if I could set up my laptop so that they could watch us on Skype as we watched TV.”
It seemed like an odd request to Scott and his friends.
“You have to remember that we had no idea what the show was, or even what network it was for. Everything was very secretive,” he said. “After that night, they came to watch us in person and interview us, and still we had no idea why they wanted to watch us watching TV. I remember that night; the three of us were acting a fool as we like often do and they stopped us and said ‘You don’t have to be big and loud for us, just be yourselves’ and in unison we all said, ‘This IS us!’ We forgot they were even there! The rest is history!”
Q: Have you ever had to comment on a show that featured someone you know?
Scott said that things can sometimes get awkward when he knows a person that is starring on one of the shows he’s watching.
“I have watched shows on ‘The People’s Couch’ where friends of mine are actors or producers/writers on that show– that’s tricky,” he said. “Like I said, I never edit myself so once I feel something, I say something and my friends know that. One friend got her feathers ruffled over comments I made about her show, but ultimately she got over it. We’ll see if I get a Christmas card from her this year though!”
Q: Have you ever made a comment about a show or person that you wished you hadn’t?
“Every. Single. Episode!” Scott said. “What you see on the show is what you get with us in real life, and I have no filter from brain to mouth. My mind is always spinning 1000 miles a minute, and I never hold back!”
Every once in a while, Scott said his candidness gets him into trouble.
“I remember watching the show one night while we were live-tweeting, and I said something very crude, and suddenly my phone started to ring– it was my Mom!” he said. “I felt like a teenager getting caught doing something wrong!”
Q: What’s the best part about being on ‘The People’s Couch’?
“Honestly, my favorite parts about being on the show are Blake McIver and Emerson Collins,” Scott said. “I get to work with two of my closest friends, doing what we love– watching TV and making each other crack up! I’m the luckiest guy in the world!”
The third season of ‘The People’s Couch’ premieres tonight on Bravo! To read what Emerson Collins had to say about Season 3, click here!
Want the answers to your burning questions about some of your other favorite reality shows? Click the links below to read The Ashley’s past “Answers to Your Frequently Asked Questions” posts.
(Top Photo: Gerry Garcia, courtesy of Scott Nevins; Bottom Photos: Bravo)
