I’ve written before about my disdain for all the grown-up bullying on these “reality” shows full of catty immature women, but I kept watching the shows. Part of the reason was because I write about pop culture and love it or hate it, reality television is a big part of pop culture today. It’s hard to write about the stuff if you don’t watch it. But also, I watched it because I too was sucked into the train wreckyness of it all. Sometimes you want to feel morally superior and you can certainly do that when you watch 40-year-olds fight about Twitter comments or hide rotting fish in another grown person’s hotel room just for fun.
But after viewing the first episode of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta, I made the decision to ditch all those types of shows. It’s not that it was much different than any of the other “wives” shows. In fact, I think Mona Scott Young is very smart and the show is beautifully shot. It has the slick look of a scripted drama. For me, it was just a realization that I was wasting two or three hours a week on that stuff. Sure, not watching them means I have to turn down certain assignments, but I can definitely make up for that with other work.
Plus, I could use that time for more productive things like…well anything. Cleaning out the litter box, washing dishes, making a to-do list, anything. You know what I did instead of watching the second episode of Love and Hip Hop Atlanta? I made a delicious dinner of lemon baked cod, fresh salad and ice cream and raspberries for dessert. Much, much better use of my time.
So, Love and Hip Hop, Real Housewives, Basketball Wives…all those shows have been evicted from my television. So far, I haven’t even been tempted to look at recaps. I still have my guilty pleasure tv though, I just prefer the kind that doesn’t make me feel sad for the children after I watch it.
