Trib Total Media TV writer Rob Owen offers a viewing tip for the coming week.
If you’ve paid enough attention to TV for long enough, sometimes just a title alone will tell you what network the show airs on. The cheekiness of the title (“Stars on Mars”) and the ridiculousness of the show concept (celebrities colonize a fake Mars colony) pretty much screams Fox. And that is, indeed, where “Stars on Mars” will make its debut at 8 p.m. Monday (WPGH-TV).
Credit where it’s due, as “celebrity” reality shows go, this one didn’t do too bad in its casting — although they’re more a collection of semi-household names, but “Semi-Household Names on Mars” doesn’t have the same ring to it.
Lance Armstrong, Natasha Leggero, Marshawn Lynch, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Adam Rippon, Ronda Rousey, Richard Sherman, Tom Schwartz, Tinashe, Porsha Williams Guobadia, Tallulah Willis and Ariel Winter are what the show calls its “celebronauts.” “Star Trek” actor William Shatner serves as “ground control” for the mission.
Celebronauts compete to be the last celebrity standing (AKA “the brightest star in the galaxy”). At the end of every episode there’s a vote, and one celebrity will be eliminated each week. (Fox did not make “Stars on Mars” available for review by this column’s deadline.)
With the comedic “Holey Moley” on his resume, you’d think “Stars on Mars” executive producer Chris Culvenor would have his tongue planted firmly in cheek when hawking this new series. But, alas, he called it an “experiment” with a straight face in a recent Zoom interview.
“What we’re looking for is the person who has all the skills to survive on Mars,” he said. “This experiment is designed to simulate life on the base with missions out in the field and the emotional, mental and physical challenge that being in a Mars colony puts you through.”
As for the casting, Culvenor said many were interested in the adventure, including Rousey, who went to Space Camp as a child.
Filmed in the South Australian mining town of Coober Pedy, “Stars on Mars” built sets in the red sand-hued desert used for the movies “The Red Planet,” “Pitch Black” and “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.”
Culvenor would not say whether the exteriors viewers see of the Martian colony are also used for the interiors or if interiors are filmed on a nearby soundstage.
“I don’t want to reveal too much of exactly how we shot it, but it’s made up of multiple set locations in and around Coober Pedy,” he said. “We simulate Mars in multiple locations is the best I can say, but you’ll see it’s very seamless in how it’s all put together.”
Celebronaut Sherman said competitors had to ration food, take care of the base and complete gardening tasks.
“There’s one major challenge every episode, but life on Mars is never predictable,” Culvenor teased. “There (are) emergencies that could happen at any time of any day.
“As soon as you think they have a system, there’s a format, there’s a pattern, then there’s going to be surprises that hit you from every angle on this show, just like it hit the celebrities.”
