TV Worth Watching?

 

 

Whenever I see a post on Facebook asking who can say they’ve never seen a single episode of the Kardashians, the number of responses makes me wonder who actually is watching the show, and why it’s still taking up space on TV.

They appear to be a group of rather unattractive women – imho—who are fake from the false eyelashes so thick one wonders how they can even open their eyes, to the “enhanced” breasts and bums, and the claw-like fingernails. I have yet to hear of any talent. I believe one of them has her name on a line of bras. I’ve seen the bras. They’re nothing special.

All of them seem to change husbands the way the rest of us change underwear. And with the exception of the one whose surname is actually Jenner rather than Kardashian, their fame stems from their lawyer father’s having defended O. J. Simpson in his murder trial.

What I know of these people I’ve learned from magazine covers at the checkout counter of the grocery store. I don't even open the magazines. That shows what a dearth of real information there is in the checkout aisle.

I wonder why anyone would care what such people do. They follow the previous famous-for-being-famous daughter of Lionel Ritchie – her name escapes me, if I ever knew it – and Paris Hilton. Both demonstrate what people will allow you to do when you have enough to pay them to do what you want.

The Real Housewives of Pretty Much Anywhere (Dallas, Atlanta, Okeyfenokey Falls) is another example of the depths to which television has plunged.

When I think of housewives, I think of my mother and her friends getting together around someone’s kitchen table, drinking coffee and discussing their kids or grocery prices, or how much housework they still need to get done.

I don’t think of the catfights I’ve heard often punctuate episodes of “real” housewives. I saw enough of catfights on Knott’s Landing and Dallas the few times I tuned in to those shows in the ‘80s. And I never even cared who killed JR.

The closest I’ve come to watching “reality” TV is tuning in to Jeopardy, which is to a reality shows what watching a game of Monopoly is to real estate. I watch mainly to see if I know the answers.

I certainly don’t root for the multi-game winners. I find the likes of Ken Jennings, Matt Amodio, and James Holtzhauer -- who after all, is a Las Vegas gambler -- to be smug and overbearing. I’m happiest when someone comes from behind and beats out anyone acting smug.

I do sometimes watch the DIY shows, mainly to get ideas for things that might look good in my house – I got the idea to look into glass railings on my stairs (too expensive) to replace the ugly black, wrought iron ones we have from DIY shows – or more often just to see if I like what’s apparently all the rage at the moment.

Unfortunately, avocado green, completely open concept houses, ship-lap and subway tiles seem to be the only thing the newest crop of flippers and interior decorators can think of. 

While open concept is okay when not overdone, I hate the color avocado green, and have since it was last in style in the ‘70s. I also would fire anyone who even hinted they were putting ship lap or subway tiles in my home. 

When we moved into our house, the bathroom had those icky pink and grey tiny public restroom floor tiles. We got rid of them as soon as we could.

Add to the same-old-same-old, interior decorators are now including their divorces, their trips to the doctor for in-vitro fertilization visits, and other things that should remain private into their shows. I’m revolted by all of that. Get back to house remodeling, and leave your personal life at home.

The only reason I’ve ever seen a minute or two of “The Bachelor” is because the producers can’t maintain their time limits, and nearly every week they run over into when an actually watchable show, like “The Good Doctor,” is supposed to be on. Maybe if they had to cut out a couple of commercials for prescription drugs --  which I still don’t think should be on TV --  instead of interfering with TV worth watching, they’d get a better handle on time management.

Show of hands of those who actually think some single man or woman will actually find love among a couple of dozen members of the opposite sex set on lying, cheating and backstabbing their fellow contestants? Crickets? What is the allure of 20-somethings behaving badly? Has the show ever produced an actual marriage, much less a happy one?

But as badly behaved as those on “The Bachelor” seem to be (from what I’ve seen on commercials), they don’t hold a candle to the judges of one of the “talent” shows. 

Years ago, I suppose as a way to ape mean girls, they allowed a contestant to spend weeks being laughed at because he couldn’t carry a tune in a bucket rather than telling him at the initial audition that he wasn’t good enough to be on the show. When I heard about that – I think it was even on the evening news – I determined I would never watch any of those so-called talent shows. It’s reprehensible that the judges could behave in such a bullying manner. Even, "You're the weakest link. Goodbye!" is kinder.

And when you look at what these shows actually produce, besides Kelly Clarkson and Adam Lambert, what winners of these shows have gone on to successful music careers? I’ve never heard of any others charting on the top 100, much less the top 40.

While Adam Lambert has worked with Queen, Kelly Clarkson is advertising for Wayfare and running a talk show. Hardly the career dream of someone trying to break into the music industry. Why isn’t she touring and recording instead of selling sofas and hawking Deals and Steals?

When I look at what’s on TV today, frankly, I think we had better selection when we only had three TV stations, and everything was in black and white.