Common Sense Media Review
By Melissa Camacho
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Surprisingly fun spacey reality competition has language.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 13+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Stars on Mars
What's the Story?
STARS ON MARS features celebrities living on a set that simulates the planet Mars for 28 days without being eliminated. A mission team of "celebronauts" (athletes Lance Armstrong, Adam Rippon, Ronda Rousey, Marshawn Lynch, and Richard Sherman, along with actors, entertainers, and personalities like Modern Family's Ariel Winter, Vanderpump Rules' Tom Schwartz, Christopher Minto-Plasse, Tallulah Willis, Natasha Leggero, Tinashe, and The Real Housewives of Atlanta's Porsha Williams Guobadia) move into a space station where they must live and (hopefully) get along to survive. They're given instructions from Mission Control (aka William Shatner) and compete against each other in missions and emergency situations that require them to be strong and think strategically. Every 48 hours they must vote on which celeb is the least vital to the mission, and send that person back to Earth. The last celebronaut remaining gets the title of "Brightest Star in the Galaxy."
Is It Any Good?
The silly, but surprisingly fun, reality competition mixes spacey challenges and mild interpersonal drama to create some far-out unscripted entertainment. Each celeb brings their limited astronaut-related skill sets and unique personalities to the competition and create an amusing vibe, especially when they take the whole experience too seriously or not seriously at all. Meanwhile, the missions, many of which take place out on the reddish Marscape (which is actually the Australian outback) create some semi-tense moments, and the elimination process leads to some disappointment. Dealing with unexpected emergencies and having to come up with food options to supplement their limited rations also adds to the drama. Ultimately, Stars on Mars is just mindless fun, and asks nothing from viewers except to pretend, along with the cast, that the traditional reality fare being presented is happening on another planet.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about what living on Mars would really be like. What would be some of the challenges? Benefits? Will earthlings ever be able to make it their permanent residence?
Why do you think these celebrities agreed to be on Stars on Mars? How hard did they have to pretend that they were on Mars while participating?
TV Details
- Premiere date : June 5, 2023
- Cast : William Shatner , Ariel Winter , Lance Armstrong , Marshawn Lynch
- Network : Fox
- Genre : Game Shows
- Character Strengths : Teamwork
- TV rating :
- Last updated : June 8, 2023
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