Back to "Reality"...

No surprise that, in the land of the "tube", I've felt compelled to carry out my own investigation into the state of U.S. reality TV. And you'll be pleased to hear it's alive and well, thriving, in fact. My favourite show so far is "Reinventing Vanilla Ice" - the masterstroke being that he CATEGORICALLY refuses to be reinvented, making the whole thing just "Errrm, old Vanilla Ice". What a mighty strange individual he is - the stylist described in him in one SUPERB bitchy aside as "cheap Fred Durst". Vanilla, or Rob as everyone called him, kept insisting it was "all about the music" and that he "didn't want to throw anyone under a bus". But he refused to give up his "Mary Jane" (geddit?) even though watching him work out with a trainer made even ME feel out of breath - completely compelling and futile.
Another gem was "Chasing Farrah" - I completely missed the point of this one, I thought it was to follow Farrah Fawcett around, but the show was actually more about the people around her - her manager, Mark (excellent) and her hairdresser (a complete kook). She looked a bit rough, though, and is obviously no stranger to the old saucebottle (if you get my meaning). Americans just do this sort of thing better, I think, they're weirder and at the same time, much more anxious to justify and articulate that weirdness.
And, of course, no scientific probe would be complete without an episode of "American Idol". The candidates have such wonderful names: Anthony Fedorov (my fave, obviously), Bo Bice (who looks like Buffalo Bill) and Carrie Underwood. I was a bit disappointed by the jury, though. Simon Cowell isn't half as nasty as I'd been led to believe and Paula Abdul and the other guy are merely gushy. ABC is showing a programme called "Fallen Angel" about one of the candidates who claims he was secretly coached by Paula Abdul and had an affair with her. Marianne James had better look to her laurels....