Day Twelve: Whatever Tickles My Fancy

Reality Television.  These shows have so many people glued to their television sets each week.  I am one who enjoys reality television, but only some of them.  I hate the reality shows that rely on the people deciding who goes and who stays each week.  Many times people have NO IDEA what talent is and the wrong people leave and stay.  For example:

Clay Aiken should've won, not Ruben Studdard.  Clay was, and still is SO MUCH BETTER.  Adam Lambert should've won instead of the guy who did win.  The fact that I can't remember his name should say something!  I will give Idol some credit though:  at least their judges (up until this last season; I mean really, Ellen DeGeneres?!?) are involved and have credit in the music industry.  I gave up on this show last season.  I'm not too comforted by the new panel of judges, but at least they went back to the 3 judge panel.  I might check it out just to see how crazy Steven Tyler gets!!


That brings us to the next show:

AGT makes blood shoot out of my eyes!  This is one of the most ridiculous reality competitions on television.  They send the DUMBEST acts through to the next round of the show, giving the people false hope that they could actually win the competition!  I gave up on this show after the second season.  They were smart, got rid of David Hasselhoff but replaced him with Howie Mandel?!?  Where are his credits in the industry?

This is my favorite of the "people decide" reality competitions.  There are three legitimate dance judges, whose own personal score is added together with the votes from the people.  Where this show works is that the majority of the time the best dancers make it to the end and win (with the exception of a few years ago when Cheryl and Giles should've won!)

However, I have a few problems with this show.  First off, as the weeks go by, and there are less dancers, the Monday show should be cut down to one hour.  They put so much "fluff and stuff" in to fill two hours, it's ridiculous.  Second:  the results show needs to be cut down to half an hour.  Again, they fill it with so much "fluff and stuff" that it's faster to just check the internet to discover who's going home.  Third:  more often than not the people continue to vote for the WORST DANCERS, forcing the rest of the world to continue watching them each week. 

A few seasons ago, Cloris Leachman was around for way too long.  She was beyond horrible, difficult to watch, and had the mouth of a sailor.  But she stuck around because people thought she was funny.  Kate Gosselin from Jon & Kate is another example of someone who was around way too long!  Luckily this season the people seem to be making the right choices.  However, Florence Henderson and this Kyle guy need to go soon!

(Breaking news:  Florence Henderson was sent home last night!  The people seem to be getting it right this season!)

The reality shows where the judges decide who stays and who goes, or the shows where the contestants themselves decide, are my favorite. 

Project Runway is so fun to watch.  I love watching the contestants create clothing so quickly, and often with the strangest materials.  What cracks me up about this show is that during the runway portion of the program, I'll be commenting about how awful something looks and the judges will be in LOVE with it; or I'll like something and they won't!  I'm not the most "fashion forward" person, but at least these are legitimate judges who have been in the fashion industry their entire careers!  And they are the only people who decide who goes home. 

I'm relatively new to this show, having only watched it the past three, maybe four times they've started a new show.  Survivor gets it right because the contestants on the show are the people who vote each other off.  Players will end up "loosing it" at tribal council and the team will vote them out.  No one is safe.  And you never know what's going to happen.  Villians can make it to the end, good guys can as well.  This is such a fun social game to watch as people play mind games for their own benefit. 

And finally, my favorite reality show where the judges are the only people to decide who leaves:  Top Chef.  I want to be inside the kitchen with these chefs.  They make me want to eat all the food they're cooking.  I get frustrated at times because I can't just stick my hand through the television set and grab the food!  I get jealous of the judges as I watch them taste the food.  Even when the judges say it's bad, I want to taste it myself to see if I agree.  Is my pallet like theirs?

So, there's my take on reality television.  It has it's flaws, but people are hooked on it because it takes us away from our own reality and into another world, helping us forget about our own problems for just a little while.