Reality Complex

Last week while I bemoaned the effect the writer’s strike will have on our TV viewing, I quaked in anticipation of an increase in reality programming. A few days later I’m still mortified of things like Celebrity Apprentice and Who’s Your Daddy 2, but after taking a step back maybe things won’t be so bad after all. I mean we’ve got books, theatrical films, and DVDs to occupy our attention and you know what there are still some oldie but goodie reality shows that just might keep us entertained. Of course the big one is season 4 of Project Runway debuting Wednesday night (9pm CST, Bravo!, review to follow Thursday) but there’s hope in a few others as well…

Survivor
This season set in China has brought the show back from a week spring season. All the contestants remaining feel like viable candidates to win and the intrigue outside of the challenges has been top notch. I’ve said it many time on this blog that there is a reason that Survivor is the longest running and most successful reality competition and it lies in the fact that the producers are never afraid to make subtle twists and tweaks. The duo immunity idols made for interesting preliminary rounds and now that one player has both, watch out from here on. Plus this season produced one of the most outlandish scenes in Survivor history when 2/4ths of a team blatantly threw a competition. While this season begins to wind down I think we can have faith that the spring edition should help ease our lack of scripted TV.

The Amazing Race
While Survivor might be the most successful show over the years, The Amazing Race has been consistently stellar. While Survivor seems to emphasize the dark side of human nature, this season of the Race has already provided some moments showing both sides of human nature as teams and players bond and compete together while still having some nasty flare ups. In a nutshell, that is why the show remains constantly gripping. It also doesn’t hurt that the casting folks on this show have a knack for finding unique couples such as past contestants like the hippies, the hicks and even convincing Romber to slum it from Survivor. This season they’ve done it again with a Goth couple I’m loving to cheer for, a father/daughter team that’s almost painful to watch, and sadly an already departed team of lesbian ministers. The challenges are still fresh and while Survivor tends to patronize the culture around them I always feel like the Race is trying to celebrate and honor the traditions of whatever land they’re in. CBS had originally left the Race off its schedule but thanks to the strike and the failure of some of their new scripted shows, I’m betting we’ll have another installment lined up after this.

The Hills
I know some of the stuff is staged. I mean I can buy that Heidi and LC could run into each other at a party but literally missing each other by a few feet or seconds prior to meeting just smacked of a staged tension builder. Still I could care less. Last night’s latest installment was a perfect reminder of why this vapid show is so damn enticing. While Audrina finally took a step forward in her career by getting out from behind the reception desk and working with actual musicians, you could tell she was more preoccupied with continuing to attempt to date JustinBobby, a guy that wouldn’t know the word commitment if it slapped him in the face. Meanwhile in between a series of wonderful comments and looks from Whitney we finally had the LC/Heidi showdown and it didn’t disappoint. You can just see Heidi slowly realizing that she’s dug herself into a hell hole with devil spawn Spencer and thankfully LC is smart enough to let Heidi stay there. New episodes are supposedly still being filmed so I imagine we’ll have a wedding in our future before we know it.