Ripped off

If you follow this blog at all you've seen a lot of kvetching about reality TV. My traditionalist self thinks the whole genre - at least the competition reality shows - is a rip-off of game shows. They just get out of the studio and into bitching between the contestants...er, houseguests or whatever.

Nice to see that one reality TV blogger agrees with me:

A go-to for TV producers in a pinch is to rip off old game shows. This week on Bachelor Pad they decided to rip off The Newlywed Game. Seemed like a good idea until Graham and Michelle Money solved it like they were the MIT blackjack team. You knew something was rotten when the host asked Michelle Money how many men she had slept with and Graham correctly guessed seven. There is no chance anyone would believe that the woman who took down Carlos Boozer’s marriage has only had seven sexual conquests.

At least Michelle didn't say the weirdest place she ever made whoopee was in the...

Well, this is sort of a family blog. But it's not enough that reality shows rip off the idea of game shows. Sometimes they rip off everything about a game show. Except I honestly don't give a flip how many studs Michelle has diddled.

Why don't they just play the games and skip all the whining and scheming and crying and backbiting and plotting? Yeah, I know the demos skew younger if you add in all that truly profound crap-flinging between the contestants. So I blame The Nielsen Company.