Am I Losing My Grip On Reality TV?

Up until recently, I was a staunch opponent of reality television.

Coming from a background of TV production as I do, I am well aware that most shows we watch that are labeled "reality" are actually carefully edited to make a "good story" by some wan sleep-deprived editor and an over-caffeinated-chain-smoking director/producer in a dark editing suite, deep in the bowels of a nondescript building you wouldn't look twice at.

I will also never understand the total fascination the general public has with being on television, no matter what capacity. Let's be honest, 99% of world's population have no business being on the telly, they will end up looking like complete twats, yet millions are probably at this moment plotting how to do just that.

Having said all that, I have now come to realize that some people should be on the telly, if for no other reason than to warn us of who they are just so we can avoid them at all costs. Please watch this clip from a recent episode of Wifeswap. In it we see a glimpse of the home life of 15 year old beauty queen Alicia Guastaferro and her extremely creepy parents before a no-nonsense Feminazi mom rolls in to shake things up. I was completely riveted.

I'll wait, you go ahead and watch it, you won't believe it. You gotta watch it to the end, honestly.

You done yet? Okay.

Oh.My.God.

Now I know they were all probably encouraged to camp up their grossly inappropriate behavior for the camera, but that still .... ew. It's not the girl's fault, I lay blame solely at her parents feet. The Mother needs a slap to wake her up and as for the Dad ... well c'mon he's just plain icky. Although I couldn't take my eyes off of it while it was on, I felt kind of unclean after watching the episode and sad in the face about the state of my soul. Then I flipped channels to watch American Idol/Dancing With The Stars/The Amazing Race/Big Brother and Kid Nation. It does get easier to wallow in muck once you start to get used to it!

With the writer's strike continuing here, I'm afraid there's lots more where these came from. Like Alicia, the new shows will look pretty and smell sweet on the outside, but in reality they will be all gnarly and vacuous on the inside. I am beginning to see the darkness at the end of the tunnel....