This is a confession coming from 16,000 ft. high up in the air.
Literally.
I'm totally rock and roll today, traveling three European cities in one day. For a lack of proper access to a computer on board, I'm typing this on my Blackberry thingy while I'm hungry, dehydrated and waiting for this last lag to be over.
It feels like I'm living an episode of CBS' The Amazing Race, which leads me to my confession:
I love reality television.
Not the cheesy or the scripted kind, like ACB's The Bachelor or MTV's The Hills, but the fun and exciting kind such as CBS' Survivor, The Amazing Race and Bravo's Project Runway (and I don't say that because Bravo employs me).
I don't watch any scripted shows anymore. I find them tedious, repetitive and the plots are oh-so-very predictable. Where's the originality? Only exception is HBO's Six Feet Under, which was totally groundbreaking in terms of subject matters and storytelling. Perhaps I should consider The Office as well.
Good reality television is totally fun to watch because it includes spontaneous moments from "real people" that other "real people" can relate to. Sure, reality TV shows are not often set in common situations. But despite the fact that we all know that scenes are often staged with challenges and such, the genuine response of participants and the drama that ensues is priceless.
The Amazing Race in particular is very entertaining to me. It is as if people that are used to their comfy, familiar surroundings are set free in the wild.
And they struggle.
And they adept.
And I watch in awe.
Remember for example Uchenna & Joyce from Season 7? Joyce decided to shave off all the hair on her head in a Buddhist ritual. That's a big, big deal. But she won major karma points and the pair went on to win the race and the one million dollar prize.
As a welcome side effect, the show even serves an educational purpose that can be used to weaken and/or defeat stereotypes. When gay couple Chip & Reicen won Season 4, it showed America that gay men are not the losing sissies we are often portrayed to be. And Charla & Mirna showed on Season 5 that you don't have to be a strong tall male to deal with the most difficult of challenges.
And with that said. It is time to shut off this little apparatus to get ready for landing.
My amazing race continues...
Bossy loves the Amazing Race too. Minus the eating-weird-things part. And minus the flying through the air on ropes part. That leaves approximately seven minutes an episode.