The Envelope: ‘UnREAL’ on Lifetime? You better believe it

Something funny happened over at Lifetime this year. Funny but dark. A network founded on women-in-danger programming and reality shows premiered “UnREAL,” a drama that peeks behind the scenes of a fictional “Bachelor”-type dating show. And, girl, does it get ugly back there. Fortunately, the critical reviews have been a thing of beauty; Lifetime renewed the show for a second season halfway through the first.

Nobody seems more surprised that “UnREAL” ended up on Lifetime than the show’s stars, Constance Zimmer and Shiri Appleby, who each had to be convinced that the show would be “darker and dirtier than anything [the network] had ever had,” says Zimmer. She plays Quinn, the producer of “Everlasting,” “UnREAL’s” show-within-a-show, and Shiri plays Rachel, her best field producer.

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More than that, the two play mentor and protégé from hell, pushing each other to come up with bigger and badder ways to create on-screen drama among their contestants. Nobody is safe from their machinations and betrayals, including each other.

That said, “I didn’t want everybody to be like, ‘Oh, Quinn’s a bitch,’ because she’s not,” Zimmer says. “I call her unfiltered. I call her honest. She doesn’t have anything to lose. It scared me, and that’s why I wanted to do it.”

Meanwhile, Rachel’s character suffers from being raised by a psychologist mother who constantly treated her for problems she didn’t have. That background gave Appleby an understanding of Rachel’s own manipulative nature, as well as her search for a mother figure in Quinn.

The conflicted relationship between the two lead characters forms the core of the show.

“It’s a love story between these two women in a non-sexual relationship,” Appleby says. “I thought that was really exciting because women’s relationships can be so complicated, and you rarely have that much time on television to explore that in depth.”

The chemistry between the two had to work for the show to succeed. And with Zimmer and Appleby, the fireworks were immediate.

The two had never really crossed paths before showing up on set together, but immediately found each other to be kindred spirits. “We have a million friends in common,” Appleby says. “And when we were cast, they all said, ‘You’re like the same person, you’re going to get along so well.’ And they were right — it was really natural between the two of us.”

The first episode introduced Rachel wearing a T-shirt that read, “This is what a feminist looks like,” before she proceeded to work pitting young women against each other in the battle for a man.

Appleby notes that the conundrum only feeds Rachel’s self-hatred. “Feminism is this huge conversation in our pop culture world right now,” she adds. “The show is putting all of these thoughts in the forefront without exploiting them in a way where the show becomes preachy; they’re using it as a backbone to tell good stories.”

“UnREAL” never shies away from such complexities. These women are great at jobs that are terrible. “The show is so fascinating because we’re super-strong women who are supporting each other but yet taking each other down at the same time,” Zimmer says.

As shiny as “Everlasting” is, the underbelly is gritty. That feminist shirt? Rachel wears it for days until it can practically walk away by itself. “That was really important to telling a truthful story, leaving hair and makeup and all sorts of actress vanity aside to play this role,” Appleby says. “It ended up being very liberating.”

At one point she slips into the shower with “Everlasting’s” prince, Adam (Freddie Stroma), not to get busy, but simply to clean off.

How much dirtier do things get? The first season managed to include bouts of bulimia, mental illness, spousal abuse, assorted backstabbings (figurative), a suicide (literal), and countless indiscretions, including one complete with an invited audience. That last scene shocked even Zimmer. “You’re like, ‘Wait, what just happened?’ Which makes me super-excited for next season because I feel like now we can actually go further.” And darker.

calendar@latimes.com