Skip to main content

Denying Reality

I have to admit that life is pretty good when the biggest bummer of the night is that all the reality shows I watch are over. After Memorial Day weekend, and out-of-town company, I hadn't had a spare second to relfect on the fact that Survivor, American Idol, American Inventor, Amazing Race, etc...are all finished. Some finished the way I wanted and some didn't. Just to prove that I really need to get a hobby, I looked up in Wikipedia to identify a list of reality shows of which I have seen at least one episode. Mind you, there are only very few regulars, and I will star those that I intentionally watch so that you don't think I'm a complete moron with way too little to keep me busy. But here they are (drumroll....)


Airline
Amazing Race***
American Chopper
American Idol***
American Inventor***
America's Next Top Model
The Anna Nicole Show
The Apprentice***
Average Joe
The Bachelor (Used to be a ***, but they never stay together so I skipped the last series)
The Bachelorette
Big Brother
The Biggest Loser***
Blind Date
Boiling Points
Brat Camp
Candid Camera***
Celebrity Fit Club
Cheaters
Cops (Hero Guy still forces me to watch)***
Dog the Bounty Hunter***
Dog Eat Dog
Extreme Makeover
Extreme Makeover Home edition
Faking It
Family Plots
Fear Factor
For Love or Money
The Gastineau Girls
Girls Behaving Badly
Growing Up Gotti
Hogan Knows Best
How Clean is Your House*** (for strong stomachs only)
I Married a Princess
I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here
Intervention***
The Jamie Kennedy Experiement
Joe Millionaire
The Joe Schmo Show
Made
Making the Band
Meet the Barkers
Meet My Folks
Miami Ink
The Mole (MISS it)
Nanny 911
Nashville Star
Newlyweds
Laguna Beach
Punk'd
The Real World
Reno 911
Rescue 911
The Restaurant
Road Rules
The Salon
The Simple Life
Sorority Life
Spy TV
Star Search
Starting Over
Survivor***
The Swan
Supernanny
Temptation Island
Tommy Lee Goes to College
The Osbournes
Trading Spaces
Trading Spouses (a spouse-appreciation exercise)
True Life
What Not to Wear
Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire

There may be a few you've heard of that are not here. It is either because the list was so long that I missed one ( I only went down the list once) or that I've only seen part of an episode before I lost interest for some reason or another. Otherwise, I've heard of most of them, but haven't watched more than a channel-clicker's worth, so I won't count it.

One tidbit that I'm sure you'll want to know: Reality shows are classified as one of several categories - Documentary style (where it follows something happening to a group, like Airline on A&E), Hidden Camera (like Candid Camera), Reality Games/Talent Searches (like Survivor or American Idol), Spoofs (like the Joe Schmo show) or Parodies (like Reno 911).

After analyzing my results, I guess I'm more of a game show type girl. See what you're missing?!

Comments

Rochelle said…
I looked forlornly at the TV listings for last night myself!! I am into the NBA playoffs, especially since the Miami Heat are still in the game...so tonight's lineup is lookin' a little better.
5/31/2006 3:30 PM
Anonymous said…
I know it's a really sad thing that our shows are over this season.

Bob and I are now going to start getting into "So You Think You Can Dance". We really enjoyed that one last year.

- Debbie Stewart
5/31/2006 5:11 PM
Anonymous said…
So You Think You Can Dance, Hell's Kitchen and Rock Star: Supernova will all be on this summer.

But I'm kind of bummed that Survivor (Terry should have won), American Idol (cannot stand Taylor Hicks); and The Amazing Race (yay BJ and Tyler!) are over.

Here from Wendy's
5/31/2006 5:33 PM
OldLady Of The Hills said…
How did you miss TOP CHEF! THAT was fabulous! Especially if you are really into beautifully presented food! I got hooked on it when I was lying in bed sick...and found it completely addictive!
I haven't seen many reality shows and that was the only one I was really "into" except for the last four episodes of American Idol...
5/31/2006 5:40 PM
JenLo said…
Ok, so I'll try 'Think you can dance', but as for the food shows, I only like to see the final product, and then I want to eat it, which puts me in a bad mood.
5/31/2006 6:13 PM
Maggie said…
My husband makes me watch Dog the Bounty Hunter occasionally. It's good for a laugh sometimes.
5/31/2006 7:40 PM
Anonymous said…
It's funny that we grew up in the same house b/c I really don't get into Reality shows. Now 24 and Lost...bring 'em on. Actually we watch those a season behind so that we can get the DVDs from Netflix and watch the whole season in a few weeks. abb
6/01/2006 8:07 AM
Anonymous said…
I think we were separated at birth...I'm completely hooked on anything reality and there are a few that weren't on your list that I watch...Project Runway with Heidi Klum and sadly...Flavor of Love...did I just admit that in public? :)-Jenn Jones
6/01/2006 10:12 AM
Anonymous said…
I forgot, Hell's Kitchen, we really get into that one too. We will be tuned to that very soon as well.

We've also watched many, many, many of the shows you've listed.

- Debbie Stewart
6/01/2006 1:13 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Stickin' It Out

I got married today. Well, not exactly today. It was Friday, June 2. But the year was 1989 - 17 years ago. "Amazing", people say. "Good for you", they comment. "You must have picked the right one", the add. Amazing? Yes. Good for me? I'll admit it. But it has nothing to do with picking the right one, really. It's not because I found the perfect boy, and it's certainly not because he found the perfect girl. It might sound a little unromantic, but there never really is a 'right one' floating around out there waiting in the cosmos for the other 'right one' to crash and connect. There may be 'better ones'; there may be 'more easily compatible' or something or other. But the real story is you start becoming the right one the moment you vow that "you do". When I married, I had been 20 for a whole 33 days, we had just completed a 2-year long-distance realtionship and HE was five years older tha
19 comments
Read more

Too Close For Comfort

Depressing: Def., "Realizing that you and your Dearly Beloved are entirely to close to wearing the same pant size. Case in point - Hero Guy came ' har har-ing' out of the bedroom relating that he had accidentally been wearing a pair of my jeans for the last 15 minutes. He wondered why they felt so weird (translated - TIGHT) until he took them off and inspected the tag. He gloated that at least he knows he can fit into a Ladies Size ___ (you really think I'm going to tell you the number?!). My Observations: 1) He had a MONSTER wedgie, so the jeans were entirely too small for him. 2) They are my "fat" jeans, a size bigger than what I actually wear, but I just like the broken-in feeling of them. Or the roominess or something. 3) They were the stretchy kind of jeans, so an elephant could have painted itself into them. 4) What's he bragging about having a girlish figure for anyway? Not very macho if you ask me. Hmph.
11 comments
Read more

Mixed Feelings

It's been a long time in coming, but as of this morning, I'm no longer a medical transcriptionist. I'm not sure how I feel about that...a little bit relieved, a little bit sad, a lot bit uncertain about whether I'll regret this decision. For the last year or so, I've found that the transcription work isn't fulfilling the need I once had to stay at home with my babies and have an income. I've increasingly felt that I need more interaction and less monotony. I've also felt the pressure of work that constantly needs to be done, with no sense of ever being really "finished." No matter how much work you've done for the day, there's always another note waiting to be transcribed. That goes for sick days, holidays, vacations days or any kind of days. This year, I've dabbled in substituting as a school monitor and office staff, and kind of found my niche in the last few weeks. I'll be working a couple of hours a day in one of the
13 comments
Read more