Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Reality TV is real?!

I have a few guilty pleasures such as this blog site, napping whenever I can and "Reality TV shows". I really don't discriminate against what type of show I like to watch and I have a few current favorites. I think this practice for me was born a long time ago when I was at my beloved Great Aunt/babysitter and every week day at 12:30 we were front and center (and all the other kids which were also girls quiet?!) watching Young and the Restless aka Y & R. I can personally tell you all the twists and turns of Victor and Nicki's torrid relationship, when Mrs. Chancellor had an actual face lift on the show and Jack was always trying to one up his arch nemesis Victor. I might have previously mentioned that my Mom tells me my name came from a character on Y & R but obviously I don't recall this being just a babe. Anyway I'm thinking this started at a pretty early age for me.

Fast forward 30+ years and when I compare my love for the soaps, which now is a dying breed and please Dear Lord keep my Y & R on daytime TV, the new reality shows are pretty much in my humble opinion a soap opera. There are multiple characters and situations of every sorted thing you can dream up but when you get down to the meat and bones of these shows it's all about the drama. I love Bravo channel and The Real Housewives of.......(NY,NJ,Atlanta,Orange County, Beverly Hills, Washington D.C--maybe more but that's all that comes to mind now). These women claim to be "friends" or are true siblings but they have more drama, more cat fights, more problems, more madness in 1 hour than most of us have luckily in a lifetime. However, I am not condemning these shows, quite the contrary I am sucked into this craziness. Like the car accident that you can not avert your eyes from. Another friend and I also love watching Jerseylicious and were scream laughing when Olivia and Tracey got into the throw down at Sonic about an old boyfriend that was back on the scene. I also love me some reality ghost hunting shows,E! reality shows, Tabitha's Salon Take Over,etc...ok I am a reality show TV addict and I admit it!! The latest and greatest I have found in the past two weeks is Bayou Billionaires and My Big Redneck Vacation on CMT channel. I'm usually screaming with laughter over these two show's tomfoolery. See even the music channels like country music television is in on this too!!

I was thinking just the other day "Wednesday why do you watch this trash?" echoed from Daddy Bear,and my only explanation is that I need it for a mental break from the everyday chaos and stress of my life. Now obviously I could be doing more productive things, like stalking Mr and trying to see what hot mess he has recently cooked up, housework (side note here I will take any distraction to keep from doing this nonsense), read evidence based medical journals "yawn" or fight for world peace or something better than mindless TV. But I need this kind of distraction of seeing people act out their "reality" and let my mind just travel along with them. No harm no foul right? I only partake of this trash TV as Daddy Bear calls it in the evening after I've worked my tail off all day delivering the best nursing care and skill I am capable of and going a couple of rounds with Mr about school, homework, latest Boo drama (translation of Boo drama--teenage girls) and where in the hell are your soccer cleats and shin guards for the millionth time!!! I think everyone should have a harmless, guilty pleasure and I would also like to support my TV choices in viewing with this: I do not believe this is really how "normal--whatever that is" people live their lives everyday. I mean really? that much drama would cause a massive coronary in even the most burly of folks. I just enjoy watching it, not thinking about what I need to do in clinic for my patient, why Mr has decided to drive me to the brink yet again, and Daddy Bear fussing about who knows what.

So I say to all you closest reality TV watchers out there I'm right there with you and loving every minute of it and I refuse to be ashamed of it. Everybody I know needs some kind of outlet from their daily stressors and if it's these shows, who really cares?? So program your DVRs, put on your favorite Pj's and enjoy the madness and crazy talk these "characters" provide us each week and don't worry about it probably being all rigged and staged, etc. Just eat your snacks, lose your intrusive thoughts of the day and take a little mini mental break from it all. But please keep this in the back of your mind, its not really real and I wouldn't suggest acting like those wild women on the above mentioned shows and take it to heart or maybe, just maybe Bravo will be contacting you to pitch a show :)






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