The Reality TV

Being I work for a place that observes the federal holidays, I got to sleep late and bum around the house instead of going in to work today. Its crappy outside so I didn't feel guilty vegging out.

In my television wanderings this afternoon I stumbled upon MTV's new dating show, a shot of love. The premise is that Myspace sensation Tila Tequila, is trying to find "love" so she's having 16 girls and 16 guys battle it out to win her over. I guess in the first few episodes both groups were separate and had no idea that she was bisexual and what they were in for. I watched (yes, i actually sat through it) the episode where both sides were brought together and found out. I then went to MTV in-demand and caught myself up on the show. (In order to blog about it, of course!).

I was amazed at the amount of alcohol that was freely flowing in the house they were staying in. All the contestants usually had a drink in there hand, and a majority of the interviews with them they had the drunken red eyes and slightly slurred speech. Then I got to thinking, you can totally tell its an MTV show because of it. Every reality show they have, (minus the super 16 birthday crap because they can't drink yet) must be sponsored by vodka, rum and tequila. Just think of the recent Real World seasons.

Well, i can't say that about ALL the Real World houses. In my opinion, the first 4 seasons, NY, San Fran, LA, and London really did a great job at capturing a hand full of strangers without the need of alcohol to make it interesting. When they got back to the states, it just went down the pooper. It was like they decided to use the following formula: Hot single people + alcohol + multiple beds + camera crew to film every minute = Hit sensation! When the contents of the Real World fish tank went from an awesome sensitive ecosystem of tropical fish to a bowl of hardy goldfish it was clear.

I admit it, I usually watch the first episode of each season to see if they will change the formula and surprise me and actually make it "Real". But with each new season, I'm continually unimpressed. So unimpressed that I still DVR each season and watch it for fun if I'm bored or need a break from redesigning my site. Again, one of the great things about DVR, is that you can clog it with as much mindless dribble* as you want and not feel guilty in the slightest.


*insite of the day: We had a small pond in the back of my house growing up complete with a pair of ducks that my step-great-grandfather Poppy gave me as a birthday present. I named them Archimedes and Dribble. They were pretty cool to have but then the pond dried up. So they went to live with my other grandparents who had stream running through the back yard. There they lived out there days happily.