Reality

Tila Tequila had looked everywhere, but she could not find her pills. "I need to take my medication. My happy pills," she said, as she pushed aside some of the empty Red Bull cans that were strewn about her Studio City house. She wouldn't name the medication but explained, "Just so much has been going on, my doctor has been giving me stuff to help me cope." It was a late, very rainy evening in January, and the 28-year-old reality television star and tabloid mainstay -- born Thien-Thanh Thi Nguyen -- had not had a good day. Only a few moments earlier, she'd opened the door to her home to find that her dog, Onyx, had chewed up a pair of her Lucite heels.

Nikki shouldn't have any trouble remembering the magical moment when Justin, her longtime boyfriend, popped the question. She was standing in front of a giant cascading fountain, a marching band and more than 800 singing and dancing strangers — and the intimate moment was captured on Fox's reality series "Mobbed. " "I'm the luckiest girl in the entire world," the tall blond cried. Her answer kicked off an instant wedding, complete with frilly dress thrown over her clothes, right on the spot.

Plenty of actors will say that performing freed them, but Aniello Arena really means it. The star of "Reality," a new film from Italian director Matteo Garrone, Arena is a former mafia hit man 20 years into serving a lifetime prison sentence for murder. In the movie, which opens in Los Angeles on Friday, Arena plays Luciano, a Neapolitan fishmonger who becomes obsessed with appearing on the Italian version of the reality show "Big Brother. " The film won the Grand Prix at last year's Cannes Film Festival, in large part on the strength of its wide-eyed and charismatic leading man; Garrone discovered him after seeing Arena perform a monologue dressed as a clown in a theater troupe at Tuscany's Volterra Detention Center.

What might ringmaster-of-the-subconscious Fellini have done with the peculiar phenomenon of reality TV? The gifted Italian filmmaker Matteo Garrone (the excellent "Gomorrah") gives us his own magically eccentric homage of sorts to that hypothetical with the psychologically astute, dreamlike gut-punch that is "Reality. " Predicated on the idea that the promise of 15 minutes of fame is as treacherous a mental minefield as instant celebrity's fizzled aftermath, Garrone gives us Napoli fishmonger Luciano (Aniello Arena)

The ultra-tan crew of "Jersey Shore" is already fist-pumping, Ben Flajnik has, by now, gotten back in the reality dating game as the newest "Bachelor. " And celebrities have been switching spouses on "Celebrity Wife Swap. " But if your DVR has not yet reached its reality show limit, here's a look at some new reality offerings networks are rolling out later in the season. Shipping Wars: A&E has already made us wish we had the patience to make a life out of scouring repossessed storage units for riches.

Clad in gold pants and a silver-fringed halter top, Jennifer Lopez slinked across the glaring "American Idol" stage recently, crooning the lyrics to her hit single "On the Floor" as millions of people tuned in at home. It's a stark contrast to two years ago, when Lopez fell on her backside during a performance at the American Music Awards. Lopez, 41, is back on top after going through a career recession that include a flop record, being dropped by her record label and making a movie, "The Back-Up Plan," that opened to bad reviews and middling box office.

In television, the reality is reality works. Even so, the ever profitable genre is often regarded as the uncouth and self-involved relative who should never be invited to mingle with respectable company. But that's exactly what a handful of prestige basic cable networks are finally poised to do. After years of mostly defying the siren call of reality, networks like USA, TNT and AMC plan to launch a slate of reality programming in the coming months. Don Draper and Brenda Leigh Johnson, meet your new neighbors: Comic book geeks, treasure hunters and the U.S. Coast Guard, among others.

Having dinner with Michael Kors is like having dinner with Auntie Mame. When you sit down with him, you know nobody is going to be at a loss for words or laughs. Over hamburgers and vodkas a few nights before his spring runway show last September, he was full of quotable quotes. On his spring collection: "It's all about the anti-stiletto and the anti-tight dress. I can't stand to see one more warrior" woman. His favorite getaway: "We've gone to Big Sur three times in the last year and a half.

San Diego Chargers star linebacker Shawne Merriman said he did not harm reality TV actress Tila Tequila at his home early Sunday and added he was concerned for her safety because she appeared to be intoxicated. Merriman was arrested and accused of choking and throwing Tequila to the ground as she tried to leave his home in suburban Poway. Tequila signed a citizen's arrest warrant charging Merriman with battery and false imprisonment. Both are felonies. Merriman spent about 2 1/2 hours in the downtown jail before posting bail.