Reality Television

I have this watch/hate relationship with reality shows. The granddaddy of them, Survivor, I’m over and have been for several years now. I don’t care if Boston Rob or Russell stay or go, I won’t be watching. Others I find myself watching and then when it’s over, I wondered why on earth I watched it when I could have been reading a good book. I saw the Hoarders episode where the mean guy hoarded bunnies – now was that a strange episode! The really rude dude had a house full of rabbits. They were eating the house – literally! They showed a half eaten chair. I saw the one where they guy hoarded rats. They had to tear down the walls to get them all and when all were caged, there turned out to be over 3,000. I also saw the rather sad one where the nasty trailer trash woman kept these poor chickens in cages. Hundreds! They discovered a few flattened chickens and the woman herself was enough to give one nightmares. She had no teeth and big gums.


A couple of weeks ago I watched about two hours of a Toddlers and Tiaras marathon and afterwards thought “what the heck were you thinking; wasting your time when you could have been doing something productive like housework?” followed by the thought, “what the heck are these mothers thinking entering their children in these things?? What kind of message are they trying to send these children that somehow there worth is tied up in whether they wear flippers (false teeth) or a sprayed on tan?”


As you can see, I sometimes get too invested in some of these reality shows, going as far as too boycott them when they made me mad. This has happened a number of times with if Survivor is the granddaddy then this is the grandmamma, American Idol. I stopped watching altogether a couple of seasons ago - I mean where is Kris Allen? We know where Adam Lambert is – rockin’ it with ‘If I Had You’. But I decided to give it a try when J Lo and Steven Tyler were announced as judges and I’ve watched all the episodes so far. And I’ve been amazed at how really good they are. Seriously – before this I wasn’t a fan of J-Lo, though a couple of us at work agree that Stephen Tyler has this odd yet compelling kind of sex appeal. I may even try downloading his upcoming book from the library once it comes out.


But, being too heavily invested at times, I think Randy and the gang made a mistake last night when choosing the final girl. I’m of the opinion that 15 is too young to be on this show. Yes, yes, I know that Justin Bieber has made it big and he’s been younger. But so far at least he’s been a bit of an exception. Look at the mess that’s been made of the lives of Brittney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and the train wreck that may be headed our way of Miley Cirrus. Fifteen is just too young to be overwhelmed with fame and fortune for many a young person.


So it was with dismay that when it came down to the final two last night, a young 15 year old girl – I’m rotten with names so I don’t know her name, and the 25 year old rocker chick who had tried out 7 times already, that they went with the 15 year old. They didn’t highlight the 25 year old rocker chick much, but from the bit they showed last night, she could really sing!! And to me, at the age of 25, with 7 attempts under her belt and a real good husky, rock tone, she’s paid her dues and should have been put ahead of the young girl. They already have quite a group of really young singers. I don’t know the exact number, but there are a few. I figure it’s not going to hurt them to have another couple of years to mature. If they have great voices at 15, and they do, I won’t deny that, they will have them at 18 too. So when faced with two young women of equal great talent, I felt Randy, Jennifer and Stephen should have put through the older singer. I told them that too – but as the show was prerecorded, they didn’t hear me.


If the old guard, Simon et al were still on, it wouldn’t have been an issue with me since I wouldn’t have been watching, but since they weren’t and it was the new guard – guys – you blew it! And no – not enough for me to boycott AI. I still plan on watching it as I think there’s a lot of talent, Jennifer Lopez strikes me as being a warm, caring, compassionate judge, Steven Tyler is a hoot and the way he sits there sometimes with his eyes closed just seeming to take in the music and Randy Jackson never bothered me and he seems to have cut back on the ‘dawg’. So until the voting public manages to annoy me, I’m back with this reality show.