Reality TV: Why Is it good to watch people being bad?

In my ongoing quest to do anything but the work I'm supposed to do, I've been keeping up with both “Survivor” and “The Amazing Race” and just wanted to note that “Survivor” is getting better each week, and “TAR” is just the best show ever ever ever on tv. “Survivor” is great because finally, for once, for the first time ever, a women's alliance against the men has held strong. Ok, in the latest episode it was shaken, and it was shaken earlier when Amy orchestrated the ouster of a woman who had said something that made her mad, but otherwise, it's been solid. What's funny about this is that nearly every season I've watched potential women's alliances fall apart, and this season when it first started looking like the women were going to run the board, I resented their ruthlessness. At first I thought Amy was far too mean and uncompromising in the way she manipulated her “team” of women. But then, each week, she earned my respect for both her brilliant psychological play and her excellent performance in challenges. She's simply been nothing but loyal to her original alliance and dedicated to her goal to be in the final two with another woman. If Amy doesn't win this season, it won't be because she hasn't been an incredible player. I'd say easily in the top five ever, maybe top two or three. The trick for power players, though, is always to manage the god complex tightly enough that you don't generate enough fear and resentment to fuel a viable alliance against you. Now, it may be too late for Amy; the last episode set the stage for her ouster, but she's strong enough that she could win some key immunities, and she's certainly proven herself smart enough and persuasive enough to outmaneuver her remaining rivals. This, my friends, is good tv. Prof. Yin has some additional interesting thoughts on what last night's episode might reveal about CBS. Nothing too surprising, really. Ridiculous, if CBS is editing out gay affection the way Prof. Yin suggests they might be, but not surprising. Oh, and the latest episode of survivor was a big ad for Powerbooks, Mac OS X, and iSight cameras from Apple, so of course you know the show has to be about the best thing on tv. I say “almost” because, as mentioned, “TAR” wins that prize. It combines great settings and exciting “challenges” with the most excruciating inside look at how mean people can be to those they supposedly love. For better or worse (pardon the pun), the most continuous theme I see is that men constantly underestimate and disrespect the women they claim to love, and this often comes with verbal abuse and public humiliation. The ideology of patriarchy exposed? To their credit, often the women involved display all sorts of retaliatory, defensive, and even offensive tactics, but still it's very sad. And sadly, it's great tv, too. While being on “Survivor” doesn't really appeal to me anymore b/c of its individualist qualities and the way it rewards ruthlessness, “TAR” is an entirely different story. I would love to try it, and I would hope I and my teammate, whoever it was, could find ways to cope with the stress and the inevitable setbacks and frustrations, w/out taking them out on each other. Of course, I'm sure many of the people who actually get on the show hope so, too.

Posted November 27, 2004 10:54 AM | tv land