With the exception of Gene Simmons' little "Ozzie and Harriet Meets The Osbournes" offering, I've always felt like reality shows were nothing more than a quick buck for the producers and the entertainment equivalent of rice cakes.
And, seriously, here's a sure fire drinking game for you...every time you have one of those "wait a minute, that didn't just happen, that totally had to be scripted ahead of time" moments, take a shot.
Not to mention that I totally get enough reality hour after hour in my day without coming home and trying to relax by watching it on television.
That said, there's one reality show, already in "previews" that is shaping up to be a real barn burner come the first of the year.
"So You Wanna Be President?"
Week after week, we will get a glimpse behind the scenes at the plights and progress of the three main character clusters as they act towards us and interact with each other.
The Democrats...
...Barack... a guy who came out of almost nowhere as the next big thing,racial ceiling breaking Bill Clinton/JFK/Gandhi incarnate but who has, to date, pretty much made a lot of the faithful, formerly faithful and forever foes suspect that he will end up in the pages of history as Jimmy Carter portrayed by Denzel Washington.
The Republicans...
..."a guy named Mitt" wanders from primary to primary trying to find, and express, his own vision and voice, all the while saddled with the inevitable suspicion that he is just this year's version of John McCain...the guy called front runner while no one, for the life of them, can figure out why...not to mention those of us who weren't pumped about having a president named "Al" some years ago are less than pumped about having a president named after a baseball glove...
...a "handful of huck" as we watch Mike Huckabee tease and toy with us, having declared that he is not running, but never sufficiently shutting the hell up to convince us that he won't splash a little spoiler sauce in the machinery somewhere along the trail...
...Pawlenty...if there were any real comic justice in this life, he would run as a VP with somebody named Good....as in, Good and...."
...Newt...see the earlier comments about Mitt's name issues and try to envision the guy at 1600 Pennsylvania turning out to be an right wing, southern fried, slightly overstuffed version of Phil Donahue named after that tough little kid in "Aliens"...
...Rick Perry...George W. gets a makeover and is re-issued with a pretty transparent coat of Jimmy Swaggart...
And, then, last, but certainly not least...
The Tea Party...
...Ron Paul...sorry, don't mean to fixate on the name thing, but, really, can anybody ever take seriously a Ross Perot type whose name sounds like it could be either a French porn star or the company that brings us the Veg-o-Matic?...
...Sarah...one word says it all....and even a politically themed reality show has to have a Snooki, I guess...
...Michelle Bachmann...Eve Harrington to Sarah's Margo Channing (for the olders)...JWow to Sarah's Snooki (for the youngers)...from the garbled syntax to the marvelous malaprops to the already beguiling and bedazzling performance as a cross between Huey P. Long, Glenn Beck and Anita Bryant, this chick has all the makings of the break out star of the show..throw in that wacky husband, Marcus, add a little dash of their various and sundry financial and ethics issues and get ready to laugh with all of America as we watch them make that bully pulpit their own and convince the doubtful that you really can "pray the gay away...."
"So You Wanna Be President?"
Coming to your living rooms....on CNN, MSNBC and FOX, et al this fall...and this winter...and next spring...and next summer...and next fall.
Who needs islands and tribal councils?
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