This week my reality tv life started out well with perhaps the best show of them all--
The Amazing Race. My only real complaint with this show is that sometimes winning does not give the team a time advantage on the next leg of the race as waiting for flights or for a specific business to open allows other teams to catch up. I'm sure this is done to keep the whole thing competitive though.
On to Monday's
Bachelor--yikes, there are no words! I haven't watched this show for quite a while, but there was something really appealing about Jason Mesnick, single dad of a 3 year old son & two-time loser in love. He seemed like such a stand-up guy. A couple weeks prior to the finale though, the sleaze factor emerged for me as he spent the night with three different women in the span of a few days. (Anyone else worried about STD's?) In addition, he was routinely shown kissing & making out with all of them in the same day & sometimes even on the same date! As you may have heard, he was torn between two women in the end. Now in my opinion these conflicted feelings should have been enough for this man to know he was not ready to propose marriage to anyone, but nooooo! He dumped one, sobbed uncontrolably, then proposed to the other all on the same day. Fast foward to the show immediately following the finale--Six weeks have elapsed from the proposal to the taping of this
After the Final Rose show. On this show, he changes his mind & dumps his fiancee; then asks the one he rejected to take him back. Like a fool she agrees! Of course, in five minutes they are making out. The real winner here--bachelorette Jillian, who made it to the final three & was then eliminated. Well, I'm so angry that I wasted
three hours watching this on Monday & that I ever actually thought this man had any redeeming qualities. Somewhere his ex-wife is probably laughing her head off!
Last, but not least,
American Idol. For me this show has become over-produced & far less of a "reality" show each season. In the preliminary auditions, they cut a huge number of people who can actually sing so that some of the crazies go through to see Randy, Paula, Simon, & Kara.
That might have been a mildly entertaining in the first season, but it's become old & tired now. It seems the power-that-be at
Idol are more interested in drama, backstories, etc., than in providing an opportunity for an unknown singer to emerge to win a recording contract. As a viewer I would like to see all singers who make the top 36 have a televised audition. Since the show chose to show drama instead of singing in the early weeks, a few of the top contestants were seen for the first time the night they had to sing to be voted through to the top 12 while others already had been so heavily featured that they already had fan clubs & had the message boards buzzing. Level playing field? I think not! Yes, I've become cynical & am so over watching this contrived show!
The good news . . . Dancing with the Stars premieres on Monday!