Monday, March 21, 2005

More Reality TV...

So last night there was NOTHING on television, so we were flipping thru the channels and came across "Intervention" on Discovery Channel. Basically, this show interviews and follows people around, having told them that they were being taped for a documentary about their particular addiction. What they don't know is that they are actually being set up for an intervention to try to get them help for said addiction. The whole idea of broadcasting this very personal and emotional event sickened me, but I just couldn't seem to turn it off....

This particular episode dealt with 2 women - one was addicted to pain-killers, the other cut herself. It was extremely disturbing to watch this program, seeing as I have never actually seen anyone perform such acts as slitting their wrists, belly, etc, and then swirling the blood around like a demented form of fingerpainting. This woman also started to punch holes in a door and smash a mirror with her fists, kept screaming "OW!" and continued punching and crying all at once. Conversely, the drug-addict was pretty much a zombie the whole episode, emotionless until her boyfriend told her to choose between him and pills....she chose the pills and started crying briefly.

At the end of the show, both women agreed to go for help. The cutter actually did great and hasn't cut herself in something like 6-7 months. The drug-addict ended up getting kicked out of her rehab center for continual drug use while residing there. Now this I don't understand: kicking her out of rehab for the exact reason she was put there?!? Go figure.

All in all, a disturbing show that I hope never to get drawn into watching again. I do think that reality television is going too far these days, this program a perfect example of the current trend: a complete exploitation of a very serious situation for these people; they use the guise of "wanting to help," however it is painfully obvious that the entire process is shown for shock value, and thus good television. When "Who's Your Daddy?" - a show that has a girl trying to choose her birth father from a group of 12 men - is on Fox in a primetime slot, you have to question what the hell is going on in TV these days. I am hoping the reality trend is on the decline, and the next "Seinfeld" or "Friends" or "ER" will be on the way, cuz if I have to see one more commercial for a god-damn midget dating show, I am gonna have to take a sledgehammer to my TV. And that would just be a crying shame.

Back to "Family Guy,"

-B

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