The television buffet

So last night I should have been working on editing Bitter Pill or assembling contacts for my freelance stuff or getting ready to start another round of queries. But was I? Oh, no. Of course not. My husband (probably even more so than me) and I have gotten sucked into the latest reality show, The Real Housewives of Orange County. It's fascinating like watching an all-you-can-eat contest is fascinating (and disgusting). How much can these people spend in one episode? Surely they realize buying a sixteen year old a new BMW is a little over the top. Nope. Surely the rich son of a formerly famous baseball player knows that school is important because he won't always be able to play ball. Nope. But the really interesting part is when the people on the show, not just the wives, are human and admit their mistakes or strive for a goal even us poor people understand, like trying to be a good parent or recovering from a bad divorce or developing a thicker skin against harrassment from an older sibling. Then the money doesn't seem to matter. All I can say is it's horribly addicting!

I also watched Top Chef last night, mainly because I think my husband had the remote and he fell asleep. But that was interesting too. I've long been against reality shows because they all start to seem the same after awhile and I like to be told a story instead of watching people suffer, which is pretty much the definition of a reality show. Watching people suffer (humiliation, usually)...again and again. And yet, sometimes I forget how appealing the raw emotions (well, however raw something is after being gently scripted and fiercely edited to create conflict) can be to watch.