Despite the writers strike, we’ve been enjoying great television lately. There are a few shows we genuinely miss, especially “The Office.” However, I have no problem with the writers wanting more money – if it weren’t for writers there would be no stories and without stories all television would be bad reality t.v.!!!
But not all reality t.v. will rot your brain. Here are two programs I watch religiously; not only are they entertaining, I usually learn a little something as well.
The first is Amazing Race, Sunday evenings on CBS. Ryan and I have been hooked on this show for several years. If you haven’t seen the show, it involves teams of two in a race around the globe. The winners walk away with One Million Dollars. Teams are comprised of married couples, siblings, friends, etc. In each country they compete against the other teams in competitions such as milking camels (they did this in Africa) or pole jumping dikes in Holland.
Ryan and I regularly discuss sending in an audition video, however, we’re a little worried our relationship would run into severe difficulties if we attempted this stressful race. I can just imagine how stressed I get everytime I have to fly anywhere -lost luggage, rude security people and long lines. If I were doing that every other day I’d turn into a raging bitch! Ryan and I are both extremely competitive and if he could put up with one or two mental meltdowns (by me), we would be a force to be reckoned with.
The second reality show we found this season is called Last One Standing (Thursday evenings on the Discovery Channel). The premise of the show is six athletes from the US and Great Britain, competing in real sporting events around the world. For instance, this last week they competed in a local Peruvian race, which is ran in honor of the gods. The race involves carrying a piece of glacier ice while participating in a one-mile run at 17,000 feet above sea level. Other events have included stick fighting in Africa, Sumi Kick Fighting in Asia, canoe racing in South America and many more.
The group gets one week to train with the locals and then must compete in the event. In all events they are also competing against the locals, but whomever comes in first among the six, gets a win. At the end of the season the overall winner is the athlete with the most wins. The producers of this show did a great job finding likable guys to participate. It wouldn’t be as fun to watch if they were just a bunch of arrogant bastards, but each one seems genuinely nice, and they all get along fairly well and even though they are competing against each other, they are all good sports. There are only two episodes of Last One Standing left, but since this is a Discovery show, I’m sure it will be re-run several times.
So there you have it. When scripted t.v. is on indefinate hold, watch reality television.
Link: http://alpha.cbs.com/primetime/amazing_race12/
Link: http://dsc.discovery.com/tv/last-one-standing/about/about.html