"Reality" TV

I held off for so long with the whole "reality" tv thing - and then I slowly got sucked into several shows. And now? Now they're really rather rapidly spitting me right back out. See, there's always the little caveat at the end of the credits that the producers weigh in on the final decisions. And ok, fine, they want to get the best TV possible out of their show. That's their right. Except, of course, when it ends up making the best contestant get kicked off.

And no, this isn't about the X Factor. I don't watch that. Probably never will. Don't really know what's going on there.

My disenfranchisement started with Gretchen "let's make knitted panties for people to wear under transparent skirts" winning Project Runway however many pathetic seasons ago that was. It wasn't really any better with this seasons "Oh, I don't really know how to sew, but I'm pretty" winning. I'm not positive I'll watch PR again - I love Tim Gunn. I love the judges, mostly (they're entertaining, if nothing else). But other than that? The show has devolved into grade school team picking practices where the popular win, regardless of talent.

Then we hit the various cooking shows. I still watch Top Chef, though mostly on fast forward because really, at the end of the day, I just want to see the food and decide if it sounds yummy or not. I really don't care about the house drama. Next Food Network Star (or whatever they've renamed it to) has seriously jumped the shark. And with last week's Next Iron Chef elimination, I deleted my DVR timer cause I just don't care anymore.

And then we have America's Next Top Model. Definitely a fast forward watch - see the photo shoot and the challenge and the judging and you're good. Except this time, they randomly disqualified one of the final 3 with no explanation. Now, I did not like Angelea, so it wasn't a big deal to me, but I still kind of think that they owe people an explanation, not just "she got disqualified."

And now? I hate to say it, but The Amazing Race is on shaky ground with me. See, this is one where skill and sticking to it really are what get you ahead. And sure, there's the random luck. But last week, what I consider cheating ended up eliminating the best team. (And something very similar happened last season where everyone ganged up to eliminate the strong team.) If I wanted to watch scheming and back stabbing, I'd watch Survivor. The DVR is currently recording the finale, but honestly? I'm just as likely to google the winner tomorrow and call it a day. Cause I can't really stand anyone in the final 3 teams. None of them deserve to be there.

I think maybe it's time to just go back to scripted shows....if only the networks would make some that were worth watching. (And they have some, they do, they just don't get the ratings so you know they won't be around next season and really, why get attached to something that's just going to end up cancelled.)