Guilty Pleasures Revisited

I've written about my embarrassing love for Jersey Shore here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/05/guilty-pleasures.html and here http://lynnecoll.blogspot.com/2010/08/jersey-shore-season-two.html.

But I've had other reality guilty pleasures. Here is my story.

In started in 2007, when I broke my second ankle. I am prone to foot injuries. But let me tell you, feet injuries are easy compared to ankle injuries. Thanks to wireless, I could do most of my work at home, going into the office only occasionally. I spent a lot of my recovery time home in bed.

During my recovery, I watched a lot of TV. One Sunday afternoon, I came across my introduction to the Flavoverse (term courtesy of Television Without Pity) a marathon of Charm School: Flavor of Love Girls with Monique. I got sucked in pretty quickly. I tried to cut my losses by not turning into the heavily promoted Rock of Love.

But my defenses were eventually worn down. I watched episodes of Rock of Love, Real Chance of Love, Daisy of Love, Entertainer of Love: A Basement Affair, and Megan Wants a Millionaire. As VH1 expanded its dating shows, the objects of desire became more and more removed from "prizes." Real, Chance and Frank were losers on I Love New York, and New York was a loser on two seasons of Flavor of Love. How many degrees of separation are these contestants from the original prize? Are the originals really prizes themselves? Hoopz, the winner of Flavor of Love, joked on I Love Money that she could kiss anyone; after all she had kissed Flav.

What I like about the dating shows is that for all the talk of love and being there for the right reason, the interesting relationships that develop are between the competitors such as Farrah and Ashley from Rock of Love Bus. The relationship between the prize and the winner rarely survives to the reunion show.

Once people are cast on I Love Money--the pretense of being there for Brett, Flav, Daisy, Megan, etc. is cast aside. They're all there for the money--hey it's in the name of the show.

VH1 has quietly resurrected I Love Money 4. It had to shelve Megan Wants A Millionaire after a few episodes and I Love Money 3 completely because one of the contestants on both shows, Ryan Jenkins allegedly killed his wife Jasmine Fiore. While VH1 needs to strengthen its screening process of contestants, I must admit that I'm happy to see I Love Money again.

Is there a 12 step program for reality show addicts?