NBC's suspect 'I'm a Celebrity' mess

A few thoughts on the "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here" drama with Heidi and Spencer supposedly quitting and why it all looks like an increasingly awkward con job.

1. After years of being supporting players on a cable TV show, the ever-self-promoting Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt would not quit an NBC series that's giving them their biggest audience they've ever had and a potential new career stage unless it was part of a plan. (Update: Wednesday night the duo were back on the show, pleading to be allowed to play the game).

2. Heidi and Spencer are from "The Hills." The stars of MTV's show aren't reality participants and they're not actors. They're like professional con artists, a band of tabloid media grifters. You can't take anything they say seriously. They sent look-alike friends to arrive at LAX under hoods, for god's sake. "If nothing else, you need to give them credit for acting," one source said.

3. Pratt got NBC co-chair Ben Silverman on the phone, on the air, when threatening to quit and said the following: "I'm too rich and too famous to be sitting with these people ... this cast is devaluing my fame" -- a line that sounds hand-fed. Not to mention, can you imagine Coach from "Survivor" getting Les Moonves on the horn?Melissa Rycroft on a "Dancing With the Stars" results show callingSteve McPherson for a pep talk? Scripted or unscripted, it was odd.

"Why would Silverman even touch the phone for this guy," emailed another insider. "Silverman devalued his own fame by talking to that douche-nozzle. How many agents, managers, NBC's own talent can't get Ben on the phone, but by god, he'll take Spencer's call?"

Which brings us to --

4. It's one thing to air a silly (and possibly bogus) reality competition. It's another thing to drag your executive ranks into US Weekly. This morning NBC's alternative head Paul Telegdy went on Ryan Seacrest to say Heidi and Spencer need to perform a "major act of contrition" to return, as if NBC is all reluctant to take back the duo generating headlines for their show. As much as "The Hills" was a huge hit for MTV, you didn't see its top execs like Tony DiSanto and Brian Graden diving headfirst into the storylines. It's like parents getting mixed up in their teenager's high school gossip. Don't they have more important things to do?

5. And what about the game? The actual game of "Celebrity" has been sidelined. Any sense of genuine competition or viewer interaction seems pointless after the anything-goes Heidi and Spencer stunt. You could argue NBC is brilliant for creating a media soap opera that cliffhangs every night and continues off-line in the blogsphere instead of relying on the on-camera action. But at some point everybody gets weary of having their chain yanked.