Let's face reality

Some of you will be glad to hear that regularly scheduled reality shows are almost over for the 2006 fall television season. The Apprentice is still trying to find a new apprentice for Donald Trump, but that will be decided by this next week. In my opinion, both of the two finalists should just be fired because they both exemplified stupidity while choosing their final team. Here are some rules of business I liked to share with Lee and Shaun.

• Never take business advice from a guy named Lennie.
• Never bring your girl friend along on a job interview, especially if you can't keep your hands off her and your mind on the business.

The bad news is they're bringing 'em back - those strange and wacky reality shows of summer.

• First, let me say I still don't know why they call them reality shows. I've seen cartoons that were closer to the real world.
• Second, I know you don't like reality shows and think they should have died out long ago.
• Third, it's 5:30 in the morning and I'll write what I want. So there.

The summer line-up contains some familiar names like So You Think You Can Dance, Hell's Kitchen, Rock Star, Big Brother, Fear Factor, The Contender, and Last Comic Standing.

• I watched some of So You Think You Can Dance this week and the response for most of the contestants was "Well, you can't."
• Re Hell's Kitchen, if you want to work in Hell, I can tell you where to go to find a job. I've worked there a few times myself.
• Let's hope they get some funny people on Comic. Everybody needs a good laugh after watching some of the other reality shows.

Some of the shows which are new this summer (or at least I never heard of them because I'm too cheap to pay for cable) are My Fair Brady, Fresh Meat Challenge, Kathy Griffin: My Life on the D-List, The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency, America's Got Talent, Work Out, One Ocean View, and Treasure Hunters.

• My Fair Brady actually stars one of the Brady kids - because those guys will do anything to be on television.
• When I saw Fresh Meat, I thought "What the .....", but apparently it has nothing to do with beef or pork and it's far from being a new show (but I'm an old lady so I don't know about these things).
• Kathy Griffin will do just about anything for money and Janice Dickinson will do just about anything.
• America's Got Talent should be hilarious because, let's face it, Americans are one weird bunch of people with some really strange talents.
• One Ocean View sounds like a mix of Big Brother, The Dating Game, and The Bachelor. How disappointing. - the name held such promise.
• Treasure Hunters is a rip-off of a personal favorite, The Amazing Race. However, it lets the viewers play along for a chance to also win a prize from the comfort and safety of their recliners. My kind of adventure.

There are a lot of new and returning shows I haven't mentioned here, but based on what I read some of them may actually kill the reality TV genre.

But then that's what I thought the first time I saw Big Brother.

Jump already, why don't ya?