REAL Reality TV

As much as I would LOVE to say I don't watch reality tv, the truth is I do!

But I try to watch Reality TV with some redeeming qualities. Hoarders & Hoarding: Buried Alive help kpeople pick up the mess that has become their life & start a new. Or at least gives them a chance to do so. Intervention is the same way.

Storage Wars fascinates me! They picked such interesting people for the show. Dave Hester is the west coast version of someone I know- a lil jerk who thinks he's a BIG jerk cuz he's standing on his wallet. Darrell is just one of those people you hate to love. Barry is so eccentric & nutty you can't help but to like him. And for some Reason I feel like Brandy & Jarrod are my friends & I root for them everytime! I also find myself CONVINCED that they set some of these lockers up for filming because there is NO WAY  a locker full of college furniture (i.e.; futons & bean bags & the like) has a working antique phonograph in it. Yet I watch it faithfully. Storage Wars Texas is a cheap knockoff that I cannot bring myself to watch.

Near & dear to my heart are the competition shows that require the participants to have an actual talent. I'm not talkin American Idol or Dancing with the B-List. I mean Project Runway, The Voice, Top Chef, Face Off. THESE are the shows that really find myself emotionally invested in- yelling at the screen & talking to people about the contestants like they are indeed my best good friends. 

Project Runway All Stars came on last night and I was really excited to see what everyone was up to. THe host is lackluster & the judges are MEH! But how can you not love the southern lady AND gentleman that is Anthony. Or the damsel in distress with a mustache that is Austin Scarlett. Or the many faces of Mondo- who last night was dressed like a crazy cat lady meemaw in the work room

 & and  an organ grinder's monkey at the runway show... GOTTA LOVE IT!

The Voice comes on after the Super Bowl in February & I am holding my breath in anticipation. For once I felt like there was a singing show that was about real talent & not who would sell the most bubblegum pop records or whatever standards (or lack there of) people use to vote on those other singing shows. 

And anyone who knows me knows that I love Top Chef because I love food! nuff said!

And I absolutely cannot WAIT to see what FaceOff has in store for me this season! Last season was AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING! The fact that they can take a PERSON & turn it into anything a bird, a rock, a living room chair... ANYTHING in a matter of a day or two is real talent & creativity.

Now on the flip side... I hang my head in shame as I admit I watch Real Housewives of Atlanta AND Braxton Family Values.... for NO other reason than to feel better about myself because I'm not as crazy as ANY of these chicks. So thank you Tamar for making me feel good about me. Thank you Sheree for helping me keep my priorities in order because yours are EXTRA out of wack! I slaute thee!

Mind Ya Business- Poor Princess Boy

This little boy was on tv yesterday wearing a tutu. Why is this news? Why did they keep making him twirl? He's a boy in a dress. Strange? Yes. Newsworthy? Uuuh, no! In this day & age, acceptance is the buzzword. And personally I think it needs to be "mind ya business".

Seriously, I had a male cousin that liked to take care of a doll. His mom didn't like it, but my grandmother didn't see the harm. Guess what, eventually he grew out of it & we moved on. He is now in HS & is moving into manhood with a plan & no thoughts of that baby doll. Can you imagine what his life would be like now if his mother had decided to write a book about him playing with dolls and then he ended up all over national tv with his doll baby?? What would that mean for him in high school once his phase was done?

I had a thing for Hot Wheels when I was younger. I asked for the Hot Wheels Gas Station Garage one Christmas. You know the one with the ramp & the lil Amaco sign. But anyway, I got the toy and a Barbie toiletries set. And i played with both. I also preferred pants to dresses and playing with the boys over playing with the girls. Eventually I realized I liked dresses too & like my Cabbage Patch & Barbie dolls way more than some Hot Wheels. But what would happen to me now if my mother had my first & last name all over the news because I liked to dress different?

When I saw the clip of the poor little Princess Boy I was immediately saddened & appalled. How will all of this publicity affects him later if & when he decides he's way over tutus? His first & last name are now permanently linked to what may turn out to be a PHASE in his young life. And not only that, it seemed that they were nudging him into femininity. When I saw him, he was sitting like a boy, talking like a boy, being a boy. But the host kept making him "twirl". I wasn't under the impression he liked to twirl.... he seemed to like to run & climb trees & oh yeah, wear a tutu. He's barely FIVE YEARS OLD. Most little kids are odd.

When I was maybe 3 or 4, I told my grandmother I used to be her father. And I told my mother that I used to be a man & I killed my wife in the kitchen. Did my mother write a book? Did she put me on tv? No. She asked me a few questions about it, made a note of it & kept an eye on me. Eventually, I forgot I even said it & we moved on. I had enough growing pains to deal with: a big gap toothed smile, a huge forehead, glasses, a short stint with a  jehri curl. I can't imagine how much more complicated life would have been if I was also the Creepy Past Life Girl! Would I have felt the need to expound upon my tales?

In this age of Instant Celebrity, I can't help but to wonder what all this attention to people minding their own business is doing to them down the line. The obsession with peoples' strange realities has prompted many people to come forward with things that used to be private. Not necessarily a secret, but definitely your own business. Coupling that with the fickleness of childhood I went thru stages where I obsessively loved & then irrationally hated or vice versa the following: cheese curls, my mother, Michael Jackson, school, dresses, boys. Just to name a few...

Don't get me wrong, I am curious about the lives of people with strange habits, tendencies, etc. But, when it is a child being exposed & ultimately exploited, made to twirl in a tutu on daytime news, something in me just cannot get behind that! My friend Les said: "Don't tell him he's gay, let HIM tell us!" And I couldn't agree more. There was nothing effeminate about the little boy other than his attire so why make him "twirl"? Mind ya business.

That's Entertainment: 24 Hours With Bobby Brown

Read that title & think to yourself... is this a good idea???

How much would someone have to pay me to do this?

MY answer after seeing this clip?: Depends on how I'm feeling that day. If I'm up for an adventure, then MAYBE free.... if I am not, then there wouldn't be enough money in the world that would allow me to subject myself to this:
oh, btw... he is letting some CHOICE words fly... so ummm maybe it's NSFW.


THis dude's ETD was about to be 12:12! I understand him trying to get a reaction out of him, but COME ON DUDE, Bobby Brown does NOT play!

The show is called "24 Hours With..."  The reason you probably have not heard of it is beacuse it is a British reality show. But I am so sure American TV will copy this model soon. But here is more about the show from WikiWiki:

24 Hours with... is a chat show format as celebrity and interviewer spend an intense 24 hours locked in a room together.

Bobby Brown, Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen, Lee Ryan, David Gest, Stan Collymore and Steve-O leave their mobile phones and PR advisers at the door for the first series in the UK. The host, Jamie Campbell can ask them whatever he likes.

Each 30 minute show tells the story of their 24 hours in the hot seat, with a digital clock at the bottom of the screen marking the passing of the day.

I am STILL laughing!