Reality TV rant

I have a love/hate relationship with reality tv. On the one hand, it can be entertaining as all heck and complements some Chubby Hubby and a glass of Chardonnay so beautifully when you're having a bad day. On the other hand, it can be painful to watch knowing that such people exist in our society and gene pool and to see people ruin their potential careers and futures for a few thousand dollars, an invitation to THE hot party, and a blurb in People magazine. I used to watch The Real World back when it was still good and dealt with real people having issues. (Does anyone remember Mormon Julie getting kicked out of BYU for appearing on the show?) Lately it seems that the formula for just about half the reality shows out there is to throw a bunch of strangers into a house and see who comes out with the least sexually transmitted diseases after 8 weeks. (I have to say that my faith in humanity was restored a bit when Fear Factor finally got cancelled.)

With this said, I do have to say that I have been a fan of The Real Housewives shows since season 1 of the OC. I love the mixture of fakeness, bling, lack of parenting skills, Lois Vuitton bags, plastic surgery, and occasionally even real human emotion. (In my opinion, it took a lot of heart for Jacqueline from New Jersey to talk openly about her struggles to conceive.) One thing that is starting to annoy me with these shows is Bravo's blatant overuse of the word "economy." Yea, I get it- no one's financial situation is particularly great and we kind of owe a thank you card to Greece and Iceland for making us look good, but come on now. Economy is not the new black. You do not have to have every housewife use the word at least five times before the season ends. I get that Bravo is trying to make them seem more relatable to middle America, but enough already. How relatable can you really be when you are getting paid a few grand per episode, are griping about having to sell one of your houses while toting ann LV/Hermes bag, and wearing about 10-15K worth of diamonds? People don't watch these shows to relate to plastic surgery ridden women with 3 kids and two nannies, they watch to mock and be entertained by them.