TV isn't really real

I hate to admit it but I watch “reality” TV. I resisted as long as I could, but they invaded the airwaves until I only had two alternatives – watch them or don’t watch TV. The latter is an unacceptable alternative to someone of my generation. The first generation to be plunked in front of a television every Saturday morning. The generation that invented “TV dinners”, TV trays, rabbit ears, and game shows.

So I watch reality shows. I don’t know why they’re called “reality”; King of the Hill and the Simpsons are more real than many scenarios you can watch on reality TV. When was the last time you were cast away on an island with a dozen strangers and two dozen TV cameras? When was the last time you vied for the attentions of a handsome bachelor? (and why didn’t you invite me?) When was the last time you ate maggots mixed with hissing roaches just before you put on a bikini to bike across a narrow beam suspended between two high rise buildings?

I have a handful of favorites. The Amazing Race, The Apprentice, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition; Endurance Hawaii, The Next Top Model (don’t ask).

I like Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. Nobody competes, everybody wins, and nobody lies, cheats, or steals. At least not as part of the show. Last night they were interviewing volunteers from a Florida organization called Builders Care. When asked why he volunteered his time after spending all day at work, one man replied, “I help my neighbor, he helps his neighbor, and this becomes a better world.”

Here’s to a better world!