Dose of Reality

Mr. Right has never been much of a TV watcher. He loves History channel and crap…erm…stuff like that, but he’s not one to get into a TV show. Much less – gasp – “reality” television.

Over the past 6 months, however, he and I have been at the mercy of network TV programmers. Tuesday nights are Biggest Loser and American Idol nights. Thanks to my sister and her family, we’re also hooked on Sunday night’s Celebrity Apprentice.

I actually enjoy watching these shows with Mr. Right better than a regular tv show. He’s self employed, so his work day extends well into the evening. He’s even had clients email him at 10:45 PM asking if he could call them and sure enough at 11 he returned their phone call.

Its hard for him to sit glued to the TV for an hour – so shows like Lost are out of the question. Instead he’ll have his laptop in the living room while we watch “reality” programming. He knows firsthand just how fake these shows are.

About two years ago he was working construction and the log home company he worked for was selected to build a log cabin for a certain home design TV network. I thought this was his 15 minutes of fame; after all he’s a good looking guy. It would be very easy for the camera to fall in love with him.

Only the camera stayed focused on the two models that they had brought in to “build” the cabin. Mr. Right’s crew would set the first 8 logs. Then the models would step in and set the last two logs for the camera, making it look like they did all of the work.

We now understand that these so called reality shows are just as produced as a scripted TV show – but thankfully that doesn’t spoil our fun. I like watching these shows because they don’t require your full attention. He can email a client, rub my feet, watch the show, and discuss it with me all at the same time.

Last night was the finale of Celebrity Apprentice. He and I were on opposing sides – he thought poker champ Annie Duke deserved the price for her superior game play. I wanted Joan Rivers to win, mostly because I hated how arrogant Annie seemed. I particularly enjoyed the moment where Annie thought she was going to win and got all excited right before Donald said “you’re fired.”

Of course if his parents knew – they’d probably think I corrupted their son. When we got married they told me that if they had a daughter they would want her to be exactly like me. Except for my reality show addiction, his dad added as an afterthought. I wonder if their son has told them about his new found addiction.

Biggest Loser finishes up tomorrow night, and American Idol is down to their final 3. What’s a reality couple to do when all their shows are over?

We’ve now got “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” penciled in our summer schedule.