"Reality gone with a single click"

Besides reading, another choice activity of hermits is TV watching. I particularly love reality TV. One cannot go wrong with reality television. There are entire channels dedicated to reality TV and the shows that recap reality TV just in case you didn't get enough the first time around. Today we will take a look at the shows I (and sometimes David) watch and how my viewing habits have changed since moving.

When I first moved I never turned on the television. I even went so far as to pretend we didn't have cable. I hadn't even watched television in years. Back in California we had switched cable for the Internet and never looked back. Slowly television crept back into my life in between reading and NPR. I started watching one hour a day, the hour before David was due home from work. TV made that hour go by so much faster. I watched a program on the Style Network called Peter Perfect. Peter Ishkans is a British stylist who visits failing businesses and like a fairy godmother, gives the owner(s) and the store a makeover to boost business and save them from debt.

Peter led me down the primrose path to other Style Network shows like Clean House, Clean House Comes Clean, How Do I Look?, The Dish, Dress My Nest, Ruby, Split Ends, Whose Wedding Is it Anyway?, My Super Sweet 16 and so on and so forth. Most of the shows take place in California so it was like tuning into the best parts of home like the mall on a sunny day. Then I jumped to the E! network where I sat glued to True Hollywood Story, Keeping up with the Kardashians and Kimora: Life in the Fab Lane. Then I moved on to TLC where I watch Little People, Big World, The Little Couple, Cake Boss, Jon & Kate + 8 and my all time fave TLC show What not to Wear. A show I like to call Stacy & Clinton (the first names of the hostess and host) as if they were my next door neighbors and my bestest, most stylish friends in the whole world.

Majority of these shows are makeover shows. There is nothing the American viewing public loves more than a transformation. It taps into the American ideals most of us were raised with. The ability to make something from nothing, to become great in the face of adversity and rise to the occasion looking fabulous.

Most of the time I watch the makeover shows (How do I Look? and What not to Wear) just to be horrified at the before subjects. People who haven't changed their hairstyle since 1983, bought a new pair of pants in ten years or just weren't blessed with the fashion/shopping gene. Clean House is particularly disturbing because it's a show about people with a pack rat/cleaning problem. A whole team of people descend upon the house and make the families give things away and clean. It's shocking what people hold on to and let clutter up their homes. It's a lesson in how not to end up living.

In that same vein I watch the shows about extravagant living (Kimora) to be shocked as well. Americans are obsessed with the rich and famous and how they live. We want to know what people spend their money on and why. Which is why shows like My Super Sweet 16 and Whose Wedding is it Anyway? exist. In general we are just curious about how other people live (J & K + 8). Like why is Jon Gosselin living in an apartment in Manhattan when he should be looking at the leasing/living options available for a Chuck E. Cheese's.

David watches Cake Boss with me but what he really is addicted to is truTV programming. truTV's slogan is "Not Reality. Actuality" which is a dumb slogan considering one of their shows (Operation Repo) is fake. The pioneer of reality shows,"Cops", is on this network along with Man Vs. Cartoon, Inside American Jail, Speeders and shows that consist of celebrity commentary on dumb/shocking/daring videos.

We also watch The Daily Show and The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. David gets agitated when he misses The Report. So we have a few shows we watch religiously and a few we don't. I have cut back on my TV watching because it was turning my brain into mush and I was using it as a crutch.

Watching all that reality programming makes me wonder how much of it is staged. How often are the "characters" asked to act more? I mean it's all about ratings and you can't follow boring people around. You need hams and drama queens and the crazy situations they create. I'm one of those drama queens who acts out when uncomfortable or when I think people are waiting for me to say or do something stereotypically Samina, like lapse into Valley Girl or put my foot in my mouth. The only difference (okay, there are several differences) between me and Kimora Lee Simmons or Kate Gosselin is that they have an editor. If I had an editor the world would be such a better place.