Angela Baldwin
Staff Reporter
I remember turning on the TV when I was very young, coming across MTV and VH1. Back then, I would mainly see music videos, which is appropriate because MTV stand for Music Television and VH1 stands for Video Hits One.
This is apparantely not the case anymore. Instead of seeing rock bands and pop videos, all I see is Flavor Flav, New York, Tila Tequila and Bret Michaels. Yes, I’m referring to the infamous dating shows, Flavor of Love, I Love New York, Tila Tequila, and Rock of Love.
The prevalence of these shows highlights the extent of reality television’s takeover. Instead of listening to the new music out, I am subjected to seeing the depravity of the shows and those people’s lives.
These channels try to persuade us to actually care about these people’s lives, and for what reason? Flavor Flav and Bret Michaels are has been celebrities obviously trying to regain the spotlight by trying to find love on camera. Tila Tequila is only famous because of her MySpace popularity and New York is only known to the public through her attempts to win Flav’s heart on Flavor of Love. Neither woman has any real talent to justify being a celebrity, another case of being famous for no reason.
Not only are the people sad, but the challenges in all these dating shows are ridiculous. I never knew eating some grotesque substance on Tila Tequila or trying to run your own restaurant on Flavor of Love proved your undying love for someone! What about if the person is faithful or if he/she is a good person? I guess that just doesn’t compare to eating something you shouldn’t be eating.
These people always seem to eliminate a person only about a few hours after the daters arrive. How are you supposed to eliminate one in a few hours, which is not enough to really get to know someone? I always see either New York or Brett talk to the daters for like two minutes each, how is that enough to decide who goes home?
And these people wonder why they never find true love. Just look at how many sequels are there to each show. There have been three Flavor of Loves, two I Love New Yorks (there might be a third), two Tila Tequilas and two Rock of Loves. Can’t these people see that one cannot find true love on a TV show, especially with (most likely) pre-chosen contestants?
Unfortunately, these shows don’t stop here, they breed into other shows based off them. I Love New York was an example, based off of Flavor of Love, but lo and behold, there is a show called Real Chance at Love, featuring two brothers on I Love New York!
In addition, New York has another show, New York Goes to Hollywood. Why does VH1 keep subjecting us to this woman’s life?
Now, I know all this makes it seem like I actually watch this, and I’ll admit of being guilty of getting caught up in those monthly marathons of these shows once in a while. But as I’m watching it, I laugh and wonder about the contestants on the show and why do they put themselves through what look like torture to get these fake and annoying
people to actually like them. I know I could go on living without these people’s approval or liking of me.
Now I’m only talking about dating shows here, but there is a plethora of reality TV between MTV and VH1, shows such as Paris Hilton’s New BFF (apparently there are certain requirements to be in her presence) and I Love Money, which uses the cast of both Flavor of Love and Rock of Love. Will the Flavor of Love and its descendents saga ever end? Or are we doomed to keep watching as contestants keep getting their own shows, breeding more contestants and then producing more shows?