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SPOILERS: LOOKING AT WWE'S LEGENDS HOUSE - THOUGHTS ON THE FIRST EPISODE

By Mike Johnson on 2014-04-15 20:04:54
I attended the NYC media conference for WWE Network’s Legends House earlier today. As Dave noted earlier, the entire cast except Pat Patterson were in attendance. The first episode was screened for the media and the talents were available for interviews. We'll have some of those up in the coming days.

The first "Legends House" episode was screened for media in advance of its official debut this Thursday on the WWE Network and if you like the type of reality shows that VH-1 used to produce during their “Celebreality” era, you will probably enjoy the show. I thought it was really fun and similar to “Surreal Life” in that you took these unique personalities and they all had to react to each other but it wasn’t done in a way that mocked or hurt the aura they worked so hard to build during their time as stars.

I actually enjoyed this far more than E!’s Total Divas, which builds a reality show around real and conceived drama with the female WWE performers and their significant others. Here, the entire show is built around, at least for the first episode, silly and fun but strong personalities clashing. When the first episode was over, I was ready to watch the next and was immediately bummed I couldn’t binge-watch them on the WWE Network.

The basic concept, as you probably know, is WWE assembling a number of their legends – Roddy Piper, Hacksaw Duggan, Jimmy Hart, Tony Atlas, Howard Finkel, Pat Patterson, Gene Okerlund and Hillbilly Jim – under one roof in California, where they will live for the duration of the series. Although the series was filmed about two years ago, there was nothing in the first episode that made it feel dated or old.

The group legitimately lived together for six weeks as they were filmed for 24 hours a day and for a number of them, they were roomed with personalities that they knew from the road and from sharing locker rooms but weren’t really friends – Hacksaw Duggan and Roddy Piper are a prime example of this in the first episode - which makes for some interesting bonding.

Unlike some of the reality shows that script out segments, WWE Legends House didn’t do that, instead placing those involved in different scenarios to see how they reacted and filmed and edited those reactions. To a man, every talent I spoke to today noted that they weren’t scripted in terms of verbiage or in how to react.

The first episode breaks down who each legend is and showcases their success within WWE, so even someone completely unfamiliar with professional wrestling can immediately understand who and why they are characters the viewer should care about. After all the hugs and pleasantries are exchanged, the drinks are flowing and the conversations begin. So where do the Legends go from here?

As we learn, the Legends are met every day by a hot blonde in a tight red dress named Ashley (called a “bimbo” by one of the Legends in the debut episode) and given different activities each day. Some of the activities will be local while others will send them to different locations, including Las Vegas.

In the first episode, the Legends have to break up into pairs and go visit neighbors to introduce themselves. The reaction of some of the neighbors as the likes of Tony Atlas and Roddy Piper knock on their doors is pretty funny, especially when it comes to little kids.

There is some fun character stuff on the show. Piper is presented as someone who usually kept to himself even when he was the top villain in the industry and being forced under one roof with six others is something his normally over-protective self has to deal with. Tony Atlas’ loud and boisterous attitude, as anyone who has ever met him can attest, is loved by some and abrasive to others and you can start seeing the buildings of issues between Atlas and another of the Legends. Pat Patterson’s one liners as he shopped in a super-market were awesome. Duggan is the everyman his pro wrestling persona has always portrayed and the importance of his family to him shines strongly. Pat Patterson and Gene Okerlund have their moments as well.

As if the zaniness of the WWE personalities aren’t enough, actor Gary Busey, an insane character in his own right, visits the Legends, which leads to some interesting conversation about life and philosophy. The reactions Piper, Duggan and Atlas each have to this are pretty interesting to watch and you begin to realize that as insane as some wrestlers are reputed to be, they really don’t hold a candle to other celebrities on the nutty scale.

Legends House has received a lot of promotion over the last few months on WWE programming and the WWE Network itself. Obviously, WWE hopes to build a franchise here and do additional seasons. Based on the first episode, I’m hoping that actually happens as I miss the days of “Flavor of Love” and “The Surreal Life” on my TV and Legends House was certainly a more than suitable replacement – and the first episode was fun, which is more than a lot of other TV series try to be these days. I hope the remainder of the series is as well because I’d love to see this become a regular cornerstone for the WWE Network.

Mike Johnson can be reached at MikeJohnsonPWInsider@gmail.com and can be followed at @MikePWInsider.

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