Heres some info from the life coaches if anyone is interested, I enjoyed it
http;//famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap05-24-121917.asp?t=apent&vts=52420051231
I will copy and paste the article for you.
Self-help TV: 'Starting Over' takes desperation out of housewives
By DERRIK J. LANG
ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW YORK, May 24 — Rhonda Britten and Iyanla Vanzant, the life coaches from the daytime reality series ''Starting Over,'' hope to take the desperation out of housewives — one woman at a time.
''There's no place that gives people hope,'' says Vanzant. ''People are suffering. They need hope. 'Starting Over' gives them hope.''
The NBC-syndicated show, which wraps up its second season Wednesday, strands six women in a Los Angeles mansion to achieve a dream and deal with some drama, aided by Britten, Vanzant and consulting psychologist Stan J. Katz.
The overall effect is like placing ''The Real World'' house on Wisteria Lane with a built-in revolving door. After a housemate reaches her goal, she's sent packing and replaced by another woman with an entirely different set of baggage.
''It's a microcosm of their world,'' says Britten, who once hosted a talk show in the United Kingdom. ''It's an immediate laboratory for their behavior.''
Britten and Vanzant's made-for-TV therapy reeks of Dr. Phil-isms. They can be soft. Therapy sessions often end in hugs. And they can be tough. They've booted two women out of the house due to an unwillingness to change.
Both coaches point to spirit-remembering talk show host Oprah Winfrey as a major inspiration for ''Starting Over.''
''When she changed her format to the feel-good and very caring, she paved the way,'' says Britten. '''Starting Over' is just taking the baton from Oprah and going a little deeper than she is capable of doing in her format.''
''Oprah Winfrey taught America how to say my name,'' says Vanzant, who also once hosted her own self-titled talk show. ''I don't think I would be on 'Starting Over' if it wasn't for Oprah.''
Last week, the ''Starting Over'' crew concluded a 15-city tour in which they dispensed behind-the-scenes stories, personal advice and a few thousand ''Starting Over'' workbooks, which include such pearls of wisdom as ''Unless you are willing to tell the truth, you cannot change,'' to thousands of devotees across the country.
''It's unbelievable,'' says Britten. ''I am Britney Spears at those events.''
Much like its soapy daytime neighbors, ''Starting Over'' boasts a super-strong fan base. The show's Web site message boards are hotbed of group therapy and girl talk. Ratings are up on a market-by-market basis thanks to the tour. After a stop in New York, ratings jumped 50 percent the following Monday. And the show just won an Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Series, a surprising first for reality TV pioneers Bunim-Murray Productions, the force behind MTV's ''The Real World.''
Although she's never seen an episode of ''Desperate Housewives,'' Vanzant points to social desperation as the reason behind the increasing popularity of feel-good reality TV like ''Starting Over'' and ''Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.'' And Britten says people are finally ready to acknowledge their wrongdoing.
''I think we've reached a place in our consciousness as a culture that people are starting, just a little bit, to see that personal responsibility is the greatest gift you can give yourself,'' says Britten.
Britten and Vanzant scoff at any descriptions of ''Starting Over'' as sappy or hokey, saying anybody who criticizes the show is just fearful of their feelings. They also insist producers don't direct them to prompt tears or emotional outbursts from the housemates — it happens naturally, they say, after lots of on-screen therapy. When it comes to the counseling, the life coaches work with producers to structure and organize each housemate's story: how they'll tackle their issues and how it'll come off on TV.
''By the second week of the first season, they realized what they thought the show was going to be about wasn't happening,'' says Britten. ''Production really had to support me versus me supporting production. They realized they gotta give me leeway or I can't change lives.''
''I tell them what I want to do and they do it,'' Vanzant, who joined the show at the beginning of the second season, says of her relationship with producers.
Sometimes the touchy-feely exercises Britten and Vanzant lead border on ''Fear Factor''-like stunts. Layne, a runaway bride who's broken off three engagements, hung weights on herself and three male models to represent the heavy expectations she places on men. Claustrophobic Megg was shut in the ''Starting Over'' house closet to practice centering herself. There's no $50,000 prize here. The only reward is personal growth.
''I get TV,'' says Britten. ''I understand what needs to happen. I've got to make this a metaphor to make it visual. It makes me more creative.''
After a woman completes her ''Starting Over'' journey — monetarily earning nothing more than a small stipend, but emotionally earning something more — she's not left without guidance. Britten and Vanzant stay in touch with former housemates because, as Britten puts it, ''I am your life coach for life.''
''I always tell women the hardest day in the 'Starting Over' house is the day you leave because you're going to go back to your old life and nobody knows you've changed,'' says Britten. ''They haven't seen you on TV yet. They don't know what you've done. And they're going to treat you exactly the same way.''
''When they first get out, every bump in the road they call,'' says Vanzant. ''Then as the months go on, they know that they can integrate what they learned in the house in their life. Then, the calls and e-mails go down to every other week.''
For the upcoming third season of ''Starting Over,'' casting producers are seeking distressed couples, news that shocked some ardent fans who don't want the show straying from the girl power dogma. There's even talk of coaching a house of men — but would women want to watch a group of guys gush about their feelings?
''Oh, heck yeah,'' Vanzant responds. ''They would send us the men. Men don't know yet that it's safe to feel. There's no place in the world where a man is encouraged to feel. Men are not allowed to be vulnerable. So many of them suffer in silence.''
Britten says devotees don't have to worry that ''Starting Over'' will, well, start over if couples or men get involved. If mates move into the ''Starting Over'' house, it'll be briefly, not the whole season.
''This show has always been for and about women,'' Britten says. ''That's not going to change.''<br><br>Post edited by: sofan1, at: 2005/05/24 21:27
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