First a quick update on the STM...over 7400 followers and 2,086,000 unique visitors. That is over 1700 new followers since last weeks appearance on the Today show and GMA. And I don't even have one reader yet (that I know of, since I haven't installed a hit counter). Oh well, he who laughs last, right?
Okay, today I finally have to get into Reality Show TV.
Apocalypse sign extraordinaire!
Back in the 90's I was good with Seinfeld, Friends, NYPD Blue (always for the boobie shots), L&O, ER, X-Files, Millennium, and other sitcoms and dramas. There was not one reality TV show on, and if by some chance there actually was, I don't remember the name of it. The term "reality TV" was not even in the vocab .
I mean when ER finally ran its course after like 15 years, I truly thought I was a doctor! This was honestly the most riveting show on TV. It was what I considered reality TV at the time and I can proudly say I saw every single episode. I was actually sad when it ended...like losing a good friend.
Now, holy shit!...I want a reality TV show. Every possible stupid idea is becoming a television show. To whit:
Cake Boss
WTF...a show about baking and decorating...you guessed it CAKES! Who freakin' cares...my wife that's who, she watches this show and I am happy for her.
Undercover Boss
This was spawned I'm sure from a similar brain as the one above. This one is due to air after the Super Bowl. It's not too hard to figure out what it's all about...CEO dons worker-bee garb and infiltrates the company's workforce to I guess find out if he could be an hourly employee, or if the workers are happy, or how fast he can get "fired" before revealing who he really is. Sounds like a yawner to me.
Little Miss Perfect
I don't know much about this show. My wife also watches it and when I walk in the room it is immediately paused. What very little I've witnessed seems very disturbing and borderline child porn or mental abuse. Something to do with very young girl beauty pageants. Again, not watching this could cause me to jump to conclusions.
Hell's Kitchen
Let me say this, if I was truly in this hostile environment I would have killed that bastard by now and fed him to somebody. In an Eating Raul kind of way. Seriously, how do you think it is a good idea to berate and belittle a gang (not one or two) of would be chefs with very sharp instruments at their disposal? I am really surprised someone has not snapped after the show and taken out the Devil with a sous-chef knife in the back alley.
Survivor
Oddly...No interest whatsoever. This is "real business-like life on Wall Street" stuff boiled down to bikinis, loin cloths, headbands, and really smelly people. Deception, plotting, nasty food, Lord of The Flies atmosphere. DO NOT care at all. Maybe in another life.
The Little Couple (or some crazy shit like that)
This one hooked me like a sturgeon for 15 minutes as I was channel surfing (now a days a really dangerous sport!). Premise...two married dwarfs, midgets, whatever is the correct term de jour, living in an apartment. This whole episode apparently had to do with taking their "little" dog to get trained. That's it! Really? Will someone please come and film me and my dog...please, and pay me. At the end the "little" lady had bought the dog some kind of rhinestone harness to wear. That is what I got out of the end of the show.
Now for the funny part...everything in the apartment is life-size! Getting on and off the couch like a four-year old, feet sticking straight out while the "little" guy pondered whether his dog was really trained. Very emotion-packed. Ya can't help but laugh.
But wait it gets better...I stayed long enough to watch the previews for the next week's show...SHE goes to Florida and HE goes to Galveston and they both (I just can't make this up) go deep sea fishing! That's right...big boat, big poles, big fish, no parachute! I immediately, and I mean immediately consider setting my DVR for this upcoming show.
Why?? The challenge is who will catch the biggest fish...I say, it is really about which midget gets jerked off the boat like a cartoon character and goes skimming along the water like a fishing fly! As soon as one of those 500 lb sailfish snatches their hook, it's over. They actually showed them holding poles that were in the water...no harnesses or anything but little tiny life vests. This will be great! I almost peed my pants at the thought of this. To test the humor factor of it I re-told this preview the next day at work to my department and they were in tears. That passes my test!
Yeah, well I didn't set my DVR and missed the showed. Maybe for the best as I can imagine the outcome as I like and still laugh about it...like I'm doing now...ha ha ha! As Dudley Moore said in the great movie Arthur, "Sometimes I just think funny things".
Then...
The start of it all, at least as far as exploding the popularity....
THIS IS YOURRRRRRRRRR.....
American Idol!
I will admit to watching this the first couple seasons. I love Kelly Clarkson's voice and she's from the DFW area. Then in an effort to continually increase ratings, the show became bloated with the try-outs from around the country. Bringing us such singing sensations as William Hung with his chilling version of She Bang...and he got an album deal out of it???...Apocalypse take us all now! It just got ridiculous and contrived. Maybe I'm too sophisticated.
I'll watch the final week or two now with my wife but she watches every single show for 5 months...it is the only show on for 2 to 4 hours every week for that long. It has become mind numbing. Simon leaves after this year...show tanks. My prediction.
Deadliest Catch
Love this show due to two big reasons: 1) it is really happening! People die...boats sink...the work is backbreaking and you can feel the weather, 2) the season is real short, only a few episodes and it is over for a year.
The Biggest Loser
If you have never seen it it's not what you may think...it is a weight loss show. An extreme weight loss show. There are people weighing well over 400 pounds being driven like pack mules in the gym by fitness drill sargents. For most of them, cardiac arrest seems eminent throughout the exercise sessions. I must say that I have caught the end of some of these finales and it is truly amazing what these people have done with their physical selves. Even those who don't win are changed forever.
This is a good reality show...yet I am sure there are lazy fat people eating ice cream on their couch watching this. They are either saying I could do that if I wanted to or they feel completely hopeless and want to OD on the Haggen Daz they are eating. Either way, denial or poor self-esteem some people are worse off for this show being on the air.
There are tons more. WARNING: DO NOT CLICK HERE!
There are more being thought up right now as I type. When I need something to post in the future I will surely re-hash this topic.
I leave you with a thought to ponder...What effect do you think these shows have on society today? Don't we all know someone or maybe several someones that watch damn near every one of these shows that comes on? Every week. What does this do for their mental state of mind?
Alright time to go..."Bones" and "Fringe" are about to come on and I gotta have my non-reality TV!
May the force be with you....
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