Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Tattoo Reality Overload - New Show "Tattoo Nightmares" premieres tonight on Spike TV

With last week's double shot of Inkmaster's second season (two episodes for the price of one!) and Tattoo Rescue, you'd think we'd be rolling toward Tattoo Reality Overlord. Although it appears Tattoo Rescue was a one-off pilot, we will now get a new series premiering tonight after Inkmaster.

For those in the tattoo industry who think that "reality" shows exploit their industry and that no new tattoo shows is a good thing, they will likely cringe at the title of Tattoo Nightmares.

But, similar to a TLC series I spotted over the summer called America's Worst Tattoos, the new series highlights artists who are trying to correct tattoos gone bad.

As their press release touts:
"Real people with really bad tattoos, ranging from hilarious to downright disturbing, seek the help of three of the best cover-up artists in the business to fix them – Tommy Helm, Big Gus and Jasmine Rodriguez. The stakes are high as the regretful clients ... see if the artists at Tattoo Nightmares can work a miracle and turn their disaster pieces into masterpieces. Reenactments allow us to see how the bad ink was born."
The way I see it, you're either a fan of these types of reality shows, or you're almost violently against them. Personally, I'm a tattoo half-full guy. For the most part, these shows are entertaining - just on the basis that they are legitimately trying to show a positive side to tattoos.

One of the three artists behind Tattoo Nightmares is New York's Tommy Helm, who was one of the three finalists in the first season of Inkmaster. He's a top-notch artist, so I'll give the show a chance based on that alone.

Tommy Helm is one of the biggest reasons to watch Tattoo Nightmares
Look, when show's like Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo draws millions of viewers, it seems silly to complain about a tattoo reality program that celebrates an art form and arguably helps the tattoo business. The same people who complain about these shows are likely also going to be taking appointments from clients who are inspired by these "tattoo nightmares" and seeking high-quality cover-ups.

Tattoo Nightmares premieres tonight on Spike TV at 11:00 and 11:30 PM.

1 comment:

  1. My boyfriend and i have scheduled to record on our DVR. I liked Tommy from last season too. I think it will be interesting to see the cover ups they can come up with.
    I'm still shaking my head at Ink Master's episode where she misspelled the word on that ladies arm. Holy cow!!

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