Not very often in now 87 podcasts that I’ve actually gotten to speak to any actors or actresses. Trust me, it’s very refreshing to and I wish I could do more. But it is what it is and I’ll keep trying. Because of my partnership with Hulu last week promoting the 4th and final season of “UnReal,” I appreciate that they were able to get me Shiri Appleby for this week, who plays Rachel Goldberg on the show. If you’ve watched “UnReal,” you know that Rachel is probably the character that most fans of the “Bachelor/ette” franchise find the most interesting because of her relationship with the contestants. Yes, it might be an exaggerated version, but it’s pretty dead on in terms of what a producer’s role is on this show. Which is to stop at basically nothing to manipulate contestants into giving you good TV. I thank Shiri for giving us 30 minutes of her time as I really enjoyed hearing her talk about her career, the show, playing the Rachel character, and her directing aspirations. As always, if you’d like to respond to the interview, please include Shiri’s Twitter handle (@ShiriAppleby) in your replies. Thanks again to Hulu for the partnership over the last couple weeks and for arranging this interview. Hope you all enjoy it.
You can listen to today’s podcast on a number of platforms, but you can also tune in by clicking the player below:
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts, RSS, Stitcher, Spotify
Music written by Jimmer Podrasky
(B’Jingo Songs/Machia Music/Bug Music BMI)
(SPOILERS) Shiri joins me to talk about how she’s been acting since age 3, what she thought of the Rachel Goldberg character when she first read for it (6:43), was she surprised about the reality TV genre (10:38), did she see the success of this show early on (14:26), season 2 getting heat from critics (17:34), the Quinn/Rachel relationship and the effects it had on the women’s movement (19:25), was it difficult playing the Rachel character (22:52), directing some of the episodes (25:00), and we end with the Final 5 (32:07).
Facebook – Shiri Appleby
Twitter – @ShiriAppleby
Instagram – shiriappleby
Send all links and emails to: steve@realitysteve.com. To follow me on Twitter, it’s: www.twitter.com/RealitySteve. Instagram name is “RealitySteve,” or join my Reality Steve Facebook Fan Page. Talk to you next week.
LM111
July 19, 2018 at 11:28 AM
Love Unreal and Shiri does an amazing job playing Rachel. Thanks for finally getting a guest that I’m interested in hearing about!
rob22
July 20, 2018 at 7:00 AM
I listened to this one since it’s short and I love the Rachel character (Shiri is awesome in that role). Unfortunately RS is better at long-winded discussions with reality stars where he can tell his irrelevant stories and still have plenty of time for the guest to talk. I don’t think it’s his forte to interview actual actors, who are performing & creating a character vs. Reality “stars” that are mostly being themselves and creating drama on and off the show. I was a little disappointed in the result.
gonzothedog
July 20, 2018 at 10:37 AM
I really love Unreal. Thanks for informing your readers that Season 4 would be on Hulu. Otherwise I would not have known. I marathon watched 5 episodes last night. I’m bummed the show was cancelled.
wavecatchingmom
July 22, 2018 at 9:49 AM
I agree with Shiri that the writing went downhill after season 1. By season 4 Rachel was not relatable, by season 3 Jay was not. It would have been nice for the characters to have more subtle flaws and dilemmas. It didn’t need to be so extreme in order to be fascinating. Also I was so sick of all the rain. Filming in Canada of anything other than a noir police drama sucks. Too bad, thumbs down on unreal.
upmyalley
July 24, 2018 at 11:43 AM
@rob22 I have to agree with you about Stevo needing to learn to edit and being better with interviewing reality wannabes. UnReal is a great show despite a few bad turns. I am so disappointed it got cancelled. It is the nearest thing to reality albeit extreme, that shows what goes on behind the scenes of these trashy reality shows. I will miss it 🙁