As proof of this, consider that while in New York visiting my daughter in January, I was sick one night when my daughter was working, so I snuggled down on the couch to watch episode after episode of The Kardashians Take New York. I had heard talk of the show but had never seen it before. I ordered Chinese food and a bottle of wine, which were both delivered to the door of her Upper East Side apartment in ten minutes flat, and spent the evening watching this mindless, ridiculous show. It was great. It is easy to see why Kim has become the celebrity people love to hate.
Years ago, in the early days of reality TV, every Thursday night when my husband was off playing racquetball I watched Donald Trump's The Apprentice. That year, when I went to NYC to visit my daughter, I bought a bunch of "You're Fired" teeshirts. I had my 4th graders work in teams helping each other with their classroom assignments. The team leaders wore the teeshirts and could fire kids who were not pulling their weight for their team. The winning team was the group which excelled on their class and homework assignments. Many of the students watched the show each week, and I found the competitive spirit The Donald demonstrated on his show worked for this group of students, who often lacked motivation. Students who were fired from their teams for slacking off would have to work on my team. As the weeks went on, the productivity increased and no one was fired from their team.
My husband and under-appreciated editor has had some heated arguments with me about Bethenny and her two reality shows, Bethenny Getting Married and Bethenny Ever After. He points out that the show is absurd and that I don't even like her, and I agree, pointing out that Monday Night Raw, the show he watches from time to time (claiming that it is a form of ballet without tutus), is also absurd. The difference between watching a staged wrestling match with people dressed up in outrageous costumes versus watching Bethenny crying weekly in her shrink's office as she tries to adjust to her sudden rise from broke organic-cookie baker to millionaire skinny girl cocktail tycoon is lost on me.
We tuned into Swamp People this past week, and even though the hour was late we were hooked, and watched two episodes. This History Channel program, which follows alligator hunters in America's largest swamp, Louisiana's Atchafalaya, is into its third season. One of the major characters, Troy, is a direct descendent of the Cajun refugees who where expelled from Canada in the 18th century. He is very likable and his dialect alone is worth tuning in for. The competition in the swamp is fierce because the gator season is only one month out of the year. The bigger the gator, the more money the hunters can make. I am not sure I will watch all three seasons, but, given my history, I just may.
Having a middle-school nephew is nice and it keeps you current. While teaching a small group of 5th-grade boys this week, I brought up the fact that I was watching Swamp People, and all the boys turned out to be big fans of the show. I had created immediate rapport, but the boys could not understand why I was such a latecomer to the program. I told them I have not as yet watched Dance Moms, which they told me all the girls watch. "Yuck!" they said. "What a dumb show!" I decided not to tell them about Bethenny Ever After.
Maybe if there was a reality show that had swamp people in tutus, both of you could enjoy the same TV show. Or even better, a TV show with a wrestler named Bethenny.
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