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| "American Idol Experience Stage" by Sreejithk2000. CC-BY-SA-3.0. |
There are some shows I have never watched more than an episode of, like the MTV ones, all the Real Housewives spinoffs, Big Brother, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, Jersey Shore... But I'm still a big fan of Survivor, even though this year I am really quite disappointed in the women on the show and think that maybe, just maybe, I could let this one slide this season. Life raising teens, working and going back to school means something has to go.
There are a couple of shows that Trish still watches that I don't... The Voice for instance. In its new format, American Idol is still a much better show, I think, though if we get another sinker like Scotty McCreery for a winner I might have to rethink things. And Trish likes Who Do You Think You Are? which I've never really given a fair shot. Likely that's because it falls on a night when the DVR is humming along, packing digital heat while taping two shows while I'm watching a third simultaneously. (Really... Tivo etc. needs to come up with a DVR that can tape more than 2 at once.)
Did I just confess that?
Anyway, my list of fave reality shows can be broken down into seven categories:
1. Food reality TV... i.e.: the Top Chef series, Chopped, Worst Cooks in America, Hell's Kitchen, The Next Food Network Star, The Next Iron Chef, The Great Food Truck Race and MasterChef. My daughter is also a huge fan of Cupcake Wars, DC Cupcakes and The Next Great Baker, so they also occupy the family DVR list.
(To set the record straight, it took me some warming up to the Gordon Ramsay shows.) Right now, we're recording Chopped, Worst Cooks and Cupcake Wars. I'm not sure if The Chew qualifies as reality TV, but I'll say this: I liked it for a while, but then got tired of it. I think it's Daphne's fault. Carla, Michael and Clinton are all that the show really needs to work. (I could do without Mario, too.)
2. Game show reality TV... i.e.: Amazing Race and Celebrity Apprentice.
For the record, I have never watched more than one episode of the regular Apprentice franchise because I found it way too demeaning (!). And I almost bailed on the celebrity version when Joan Rivers won a couple of years ago (Annie Duke was clearly the better player). Both of these programs are sitting on our DVR queue.
3. Survival reality TV... i.e.: Out of the Wild, Survivor, Survivorman, The Colony and I Shouldn't Be Alive.
The only survival reality TV show we are recording right now is Survivor (see my aforementioned comments about its potential fate). Somehow Les Stroud fell off the face of the earth and took his camera and harmonica with him because we haven't seen hide nor hair of Survivorman in a long, long time, but there are rumors... I keep hearing conflicting reports on The Colony but hope-hope-hope it will come back as it feeds my strange fascination with post-apocalyptic survivalism as well as my husband's extreme DIY fixation. I have also tried to watch the new "preppers" shows, but they leave me flat.
4. Chick reality TV... i.e.: America's Next Top Model, the Project Runway series, Remodeled, What Not to Wear and Shear Genius.
I don't mean to seem insensitive by using the gender slur, but ours is a household of girls and my husband can't stand any of these shows, hence we call them "chick shows" (like "chick flicks?") and only watch them when he's not around. We did let ANTM drop over the last year but came back for the All-Stars season last year and will stick with the "British Invasion" series at least for the time being (although the bitchy cat fights are already getting tiresome). Project Runway and WNTW are perhaps our all-time favorites in this category, though Remodeled is really growing on us as well (and even Mike will watch that one). I'm not sure if it's because of the lead personality, Paul Fisher, or if it's because of Joseph Villanueva, Fisher's uber-snarky goth boy wonder. Or maybe it's the intriguing model, Meghan, who they are building into a rising star. We also miss Shear Genius, which is sadly RIP in televisionland. What are we watching now? ANTM and Project Runway (I think Remodeled is done for the season?).
5. Talent show reality TV... i.e.: American Idol, So You Think You Can Dance, Platinum Hit, Face Off and The Sing Off.
Ours is a dance and music household, so these kinds of shows are our mainstays; Face Off is fascinating, but it will likely to fall off the list due to time constraints. For now, the big attention magnet for us is American Idol and we're champing at the bit for SYTYCD to come back on. The Sing Off inspired us to go see Groove For Thought when they appeared in Seattle, which was a fun live extension of our family's DVRscape.
6. Paranormal reality TV... i.e.. Paranormal State, Paranormal Detectives and The Dead Files.
No, we don't watch TAPS/Ghost Hunters or Ghost Adventures. They're interesting enough, but PS is far more freaky and we love Chip Coffey and Ryan Buell/crew. The Dead Files is a new show we hope will be coming back soon; their tag team, cool psychic Amy Allan + hard-boiled detective Steve Di Schiavi, works very well. Paranormal Detectives went off the air a while back, which is too bad; those were great stories. Right now, the seasons that remain are all in hibernation, so we aren't taping anything otherworldly.
7. Other reality TV... i.e.: Auction Hunters, Pawn Stars, Storage Wars, Junkyard Wars, Mythbusters and Shark Tank.
The last one we are currently programming to the DVR, but the rest we can usually find playing ad nauseum in perpetual repeats without tying up the recorder (except for the much-loved but long-gone Junkyard Wars).
Trish talks about a desire for quality programming, and I second that and agree with her. We share The Walking Dead as a DVR darling on our current queue. Other favorites in my household include Suburgatory, Raising Hope, Parks & Recreation, Grimm, Alphas, Fringe, Hell On Wheels, The Good Doctor, Alcatraz and The River. Comedy has really made a nice comeback and these new SFF/horror dramas are pretty riveting. Looking forward to Awake (now playing, but it's still on the DVR) and Touch (coming soon) for their interesting takes on psi.
So tag, you're it! Are you watching reality TV anymore? If not, what are you watching?
