Reality TV

Not only am I an American Idol junky, I also seem to watch a lot of reality TV. So far this summer, I've been watching The Scholar, Hell's Kitchen, Beauty and the Geek, Dancing with the Stars, and Hit Me Baby One More Time.

So far, my absolute favorite has been Dancing with the Stars. I haven't missed an episode yet, and the season finale is next Wednesday. I love the cheesy music and the cheesy hosts. To me, this is the perfect show to watch during the summer. My favorite contestant is John O'Hurley. I never watched Seinfeld where he played J. Peterman, but I think I fell in love with him the very first time I saw him dance. To me, he just oozes sex appeal and I think he's been consistently the best dancer. My second favorite contestant was Joey McIntyre. I'm a little old to have been a New Kids on the Block fan, though I did know who he was. He got voted off Wednesday. He probably wasn't the best dancer in the competition, but his performances were always entertaining and fun to watch. Videos of all the performances can be found here.

Another reality show that I've been watching from the beginning is The Scholar. I think it's cool to have a TV reality show that focuses on academics. Granted, the challenges and questions seem ridiculously easy to me, but maybe that's because of my advanced age. My favorite contestant is Scot. It just seems to me that he marches to the beat of his own drummer. He's already secured a place in the showdown, so I can breathe a little easier. I think there's probably only two more shows in the season, one to compete for the last spot in the showdown and then the showdown episode.

I missed the first episode of Hit Me Baby One More Time because of this, but I've seen all the other episodes. The idea behind the show seemed good, but, in my opinion, the execution failed. I don't know if it was because of the acts that were booked, the annoying host, the lack of viewing audience voting, or what. In some cases, the artists had aged well, but in other cases, they really hadn't. I'm not sure if they're going to do another season, but I think they'll have to do some major re-work to make this more appealing to me.

I missed the first couple of episodes of Beauty and the Geek, but after reading about it, I decided to give it a shot. It's actually pretty entertaining. They're down to the last two couples: Richard and Mindi and Chuck and Caitilin. I find both Chuck and Richard annoying for different reasons. Chuck just seems to a be a humorless know-it-all and Richard is hyperactive and annoying. If I had to pick a favorite contestant, it would be Mindi. She must be a saint to put up with Richard without wanting to deck him.

Hell's Kitchen is another show that I came late to. I started watching it after a co-worker raved about how good it was. I'll have to admit that he was right. I absolutely adore Chef Gordon Ramsay and he can yell at me anytime. Of course, I'm now leary about eating in restaurants after seeing what goes on in the kitchen!