Reality TV

I've never been a big fan of reality TV. I didn't understand the whole hype about Survivor or American Idol. Yeah, I've watched the Amazing Race for several seasons, but that is the only show I watched.

Well, the past couple years, my interest has expanded. I've watched the last couple seasons of Survivor and really like it. I've also watched Beauty and the Geek and a few other reality TV shows. This year is the first I've watched American Idol, having never watched a complete episode before this year. I have to say that I'm entertained. I also started with my first full season of "The Apprentice". Trish has been a fan of that one for a while, but I've never been interested.

*******SPOILER ALERTS - if you haven't watched the latest episodes of reality shows, go no further**************

This season's Survivor is disappointing. Not only is there a distinct lack of personality in the pool, but one team has consistently lost every single competition. They haven't won reward or immunity at all. Last week's episode was so disheartening, seeing the downtrodden team losing once again. I'm almost to the point where I can't watch them lose anymore.

Apprentice is actually getting ridiculous, in my opinion. A show that started out moderately interesting has turned into a showcase for how pompous and idiotic someone can be. This last episode, Donald Trump fired a guy out of turn (he wasn't on the chopping block yet) because he referred to himself as "white trash". The guy was obviously joking around, referring to his roots, but of course Donald took it too seriously and just fired him. Donald Trump is not only a complete dickhead, but his "fame" and success have gone to his head. He's an overbearing prick who gets off on throwing his considerable weight around. I think I'm done with this one. I'll probably watch a few more episodes, but I'm certainly not going to be excited about it.

The Amazing Race tonight was disappointing too. Charla and Mirna, the biggest crybabbies in the history of AR (well, except for the 'bama team) managed to beat Rob and Amber and get them eliminated. Mirna and Shmirna should be gone. They fight with every team, are not entertaining or nice at all, and are just not fun. Rob and Amber, however, whether you love 'em or hate 'em, are entertaining and also good racers. My only hope is that "the cousins 'irna" get eliminated this next leg. They gotta go.

Finally, my greatest disappointment in the last week of reality TV was American Idol. I think all of the people who went to Hollywood were talented. However, there is definitely a tier of singers. One of the guys, Sanjaya, is 17 and has a nice voice. But, he doesn't have the performance capabilities of the other guys. Additionally, the last 2 weeks his performances have been...well, let's just say "lackluster" would be kind. But, America voted and he was retained last week. This week his performance was even worse and I was sure he was going home. Likewise for Haley, one of the girls. She's good, but she isn't of the quality of the rest of the girls. America decided to send home Jared Cotter, who, while not one of the top guys, was still infinitely better than Sanjaya. While this didn't bother me too much, the other guy eliminated was Sundance, one of my favorites. Sundance was consistently better than many of the guys and I don't know WTF the voters were thinking. Sundance was a real singer. Sanjaya is a 17 yr old kid who can sing OK, hasn't been good and really has no stage presence. Likewise on the girls side, while I could see that Antonella Barber had gone as far as she should have, the voters kept Haley and voted out Sabrina Sloan, who is much more talented than Haley. I don't think Sabrina would have won it, but she really deserves to be there above Haley. The judges were shocked. I just think these final rounds kinda suck. It should NOT be all based on America's votes. I think, like Dancing with the Stars, the scoring should reflect a 50/50 split between what the judges think and what America thinks. Letting an audience who obviously knows shit-all about singing or performance is really sad.

Overall it's been a very disappointing week in reality TV. I can only hope that someone on Survivor gains a personalty, Trump gets some humility, the cousins trip over each-other in AR, and America grows some balls on Idol.

All this and I just learned I have to wait until June for Rescue Me, the best show on TV. It's going to be a long spring...