Reality TV Ad Nauseum!

With the looming writer's strike, we may see more reality television and/or reruns. Some reality shows are good, such as The Amazing Race, but too many networks have jumped on the bandwagon and the format has become watered down. It seems like ever since Survivor became a runaway hit, everyone and their brother has a reality show. It used to be that reality shows would only feature non-celebrities, but now has-been celebrities like Scott Baio and Danny Bonaduce are resurrecting their careers. MTV and VH1 seem to be the worst offenders when it comes to giving shows to former celebrities. They have done this with Celebrity Fit Club, The Surreal Life, Hogan Knows Best, Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, Breaking Bonaduce, Flavor of Love with Flavor Flav, and Scott Baio is 45 and Single. If it were not for the popularity of reality shows, maybe the only place you could find these "stars" would be flipping burgers at the local fast food joint. Hogan Knows Best and Rock of Love featured 2 guys past their prime who never remove bandanas due to their balding heads. Hogan's show is not so much about the former wrestler, but about his overprotective attitude toward his daughter and how desperate they are to make her the next singing sensation. Be careful what you wish for Hulk, she might end up as the next Britney. Rock of Love is about a bunch of women vying to be the main squeeze of a rocker whose career peaked 20 years ago. Some people have one reality show evolve into another. Flavor Flav and former wife of Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Nielsen, kindled a romance on The Surreal Life, which turned into their own show called Strange Love. The twosome broke up, Flav needed to find a woman, and the wheels were in motion at VH1 to cook up another show for him. Flavor of Love was born, where the premise of the show was to find a girlfriend for the former Public Enemy member. That was a hit, and it spawned a spin off for one of the contestants nicknamed New York. Now she has the second season of her show called I Love New York. There is another one called Shot at Love with Tila Tequila on VH1 where model Tila has to choose from a variety of suitors. Shows like this are trainwreck TV, but they get good ratings. Why do people watch them? For the same reason that people follow the trials and tribulations of people like Britney, Lindsay and Paris. It's uncomfortable, but yet they cannot look away. Maybe it makes people feel better about themselves to see the rich and famous screw up and have problems just like everyone else. It's sad, but our society seems to be drawn to people with issues, and meantime the people who are doing good in this world seem to be ignored.