it's worse than I feared

The week in reality t.v. is nearly over and I've decided to make some bold changes to my viewing habits of the last half-dozen years or so. Namely, I shan't be watching America's Next Top Model this cycle, or, unless I hear otherwise as to the quality of the show from the likes of Heather Havrilesky, ever again. After watching last night's premier, I've concluded that that show is like a bad dog, who keeps pooping in the corner and despite shoving his nose in his own excrement time and again, can't seem to learn from his mistakes. The premier was actually worse than I feared, a particularly volatile group of girls as rabid as ever over the ridiculously dramatic entrance of Tyra Banks as prom queen. Even the Jays annoyed me, actually taking part in the prep school charade. Tyra's clearly gone crazy, but they should know better than to play along with her absurd scenarios that are somehow incorporated into the show's introduction and development. Even the kinds of model-hopefuls who get on the show have become completely tired and predictable. As usual, we have the token plus-size model (Whitney), the new Mom (Claire...how exactly does she plan to get all that breast milk she's pumping back to her baby?), the inexperienced girl who's always been told she should be a model but who's never worn heels (Lauren), the charmingly clueless blond (Kimberly), and the foreigner who will turn every bit of criticism into a compliment (Anya). I've seen this show many times before.

So that should make watching American Idol and Big Brother on Wednesdays, when I'm usually in class, a little bit easier. Big Brother wasn't faring much better than ANTM, I'm afraid, until Jen got the boot last night (sorry, Parker). I can't really add anything to what I wrote earlier or to Havrilesky's typically spot-on review, only to say that I'd made a pact with myself that I would only continue watching if Jen left the show. And my commitment to keep watching is pretty tenuous, finding most of the remaining contestants much easier to watch than Jen but still not all that likable. I guess you could say I'm watching on a week-to-week basis at this point.

American Idol, oddly enough, it being the show I've found difficult to get into over the past few years, is probably faring best in my reality t.v. line-up. Skipping the first three weeks (three weeks!) of auditions but tuning into Hollywood Week proved to be a winning strategy. I still feel like there's a whole lot of riff-raff to weed through over the next few weeks. In fact, I could deliver a top 6 or 7 after seeing just one performance, and that list would include Alaina Whitaker, Alexandrea Lushington, Asia'h Epperson, Jason Castro (who totally looks like a young John Travolta with dreadlocks), Michael Johns, and Syesha Mercado, with Ramiele Malubay as a standby. I didn't feel compelled to call in and vote; that kind of effort is reserved for a truly excellent reality t.v. show like So You Think You Can Dance.