I've been so freaking busy lately that I haven't had time to devote to this. However, I have had soooo much on my mind. I will try to summarize it.....
First, let me speak about the new American Idol. What are they thinking? They are making it into a more reality based tv show than a talent contest. I don't give a rat's ass about Patrick's father.... in fact, when he joined him on the stage while Patrick was getting reamed by Simon, I was embarrassed for him. I thought... man, if that were me and my mom or dad jumped up on stage to stand up for me, I would be furious.... and totally embarassed. So, now they are interviewing the parents or siblings backstage. LAME! I don't care about the families. I want to know about the person... the performer... I want to know if they are "star quality". You can't tell anything about them when the parents are speaking on behalf of them. So dumb. And the talent thus far.... really bad. I think the 10 year old performers that are on the new Star Search are better than some of the chosen ones on American Idol. I hope the whole season isn't like this.
That brings me to my next topic. Reality TV shows. AKA, High School Reunion, Surreal Life, The Bachelorette, Joe Millionaire, and the newest one, Are You Hot? Ok, seriously, what is the deal with these? Any WHY do I watch them? What is the secret ingredient that draws all of us in? Joe Millionaire is a retarded oaf who has no personality, Tristan, the Bachelorette is a ditzy blonde who is going to bone down with both of those guys, the High School Reunion show is absolutely ridiculous all around, and the Surreal Life is pure comedy, just because of Corey, Hammer, and Emmanuel. They are really funny to watch. The new Are You Hot show looks so WRONG..... I don't know what else to say about that.
So, what is the deal with the reality shows? And do you watch them? More on my life later for those that are curious.
Posted by Jenny at February 6, 2003 09:27 AMYes, well. For me it all started with the Real World on MTv. That’s the first and best as far as I’m concerned.
Then there was Big Brother. Oh really. Ok, the first few were ok, but it gets so predictable and boring. How can watching a bunch of diverse individuals get predictable? I don't know, but it does.
Then there were the various pop idol type shows, following a group of kids through stage school or something. Something new, until the second or third show of that kind..
It's kind of getting lame..
But I can't stop watching them either, so….
Posted by: james on February 8, 2003 04:10 AMI never got into reality TV, with the exception of Boot Camp in 2001 / 2002. The idea of drill instructors screaming abuse at regular people and watching them cower in fear was something I found amusing - perhaps even cathartic, as it is something I'd like to do my superiors at work ;-)
I think that one was okay, because it wasn't about fame, it was about endurance in the face of adversity. Most of the shows you write about (we don't get some of them here in Europe, we have our own terrible ones) exist with fame or attention seeking being the goal.
The worse show *ever* is running here at the moment - it's called The Salon - thing Big Brother set in a hair dressing shop, and it runs on a cable channel for about 12 hours day, and then on the mainstreanm affiliate of this cable channel they show the one hour "here's the latest" type program. I haven't seen it, but it appears to be truly awful, from what I hear from others - full of cliches and stereotypes - the tart, the camp, gay hairdresser guy etc etc.
I hope TV gets better soon.
Posted by: tomcosgrave on February 8, 2003 02:05 PM