Reality TV bites

   I try not to be a crybaby but last night I found myself tearing up over Snooki’s show. I think I’m in trouble. I knew I might be headed down the wrong path when I felt the same way over a Folger’s commercial at Christmastime. You know the one with the son who comes home in time for the holidays and sees his little sister first? That’s it.

   Who’s the Svengali who decided to pull on our emotional heartstrings with his voyeuristically styled productions? It’s like watching surgery. You want to turn away but something compels you to look again.  Somebody’s making a bazillion dollars on this and we keep looking.

   And then we get embarrassed and never admit we watch it.

   “Oh, that crap. I never watch that stuff,” everybody says. Right.

   For me it all started with Little People, Big World. I was captivated by a few aspects, one of which was the Roloff family pumpkin farm in Oregon and the really cool open floor plan of their house. The scenery was beautiful and the fact that Amy and Matt wanted to strangle each other half the time was also a factor. And the fact that they are little people who got more exercise in an episode than I will in my lifetime.

   There are so many reality shows on television now days that it’s hard not to watch them. That’s all we’ve got. You find yourself sucked into the everyday woes of the Sister Wives or wondering how they’re going to potty train the dog on Married to Jonas. Like we don’t have enough to worry about. We have our own bills to pay and dogs to take to the vet in diamond encrusted pet carriers.  

    I’ll say one thing, they’ve got us. Oh, I know there are some people who live quite nicely without television. I’ve even tried cutting the cable cord but I always come back to it like a moth to a flame.

  I miss the old days when the people on television got in those wacky situations and we just laughed along never worrying whether or not it was real. Whatever happened to Bewitched, Green Acres and the Patty Duke Show? Now that was some quality television. They don’t make TV like that anymore. Ah, today I leave you with this:

Where Cathy adores a minuet,

The Ballet Russes, and crepe suzette,

Our Patty loves to rock and roll,

A hot dog makes her lose control --

What a wild duet!