Reality?

I could handle Reality TV when shows like Survivor came around - some day I might need the knowledge about how to kill a wild boar or make my own shelter.  I'm even okay with the shows that revolve around singing, like American Idol, or around fashion, like Top Model, because they give unknowns a way to get into the industry without having to have connections by skirting the traditional system.

I can understand while people enjoy watching trainwreck shows, too.  It's great comedy to see women fawn over Brett Michaels and Flava Flav.  Stupid and often gross (did you hear about when one girl pooped her pants right before Flav gave out his clocks?) but sometimes it is good to have just pure escapism shows.

Let me be clear, I don't necessarily watch these shows, but I can understand why they're on.  (I did watch one season of Survivor, the summer that Anny was working 24/7 at camp and I was home in the evenings.)

I do enjoy watching things like Little People, Big World because of the real life stories and struggles.  I know that when my daughter is 12 she will be dealing with some of the same things that their daughter is.  We enjoy SuperNanny because it makes us feel like no matter how bad we are at parenting, there are worse people out there.  It's actually helped us to talk through some issues that we have had while parenting thus far, too.

Somewhere along the way, though, things have gone horribly awry.

Two shows will be premiering in the coming weeks that I just can not see why they are being given air time:

JOCKEYS is on Animal Planet.  It will follow the lives of... Horse Jockeys.  I literally could not care less.

and

Heli-Loggers is on The Learning Channel.  This will follow the guys, all guys, are the ones that go in with huge chainsaws attached to a helocopter that they use to cut down trees.  Not exactly what I'm looking for in entertainment.

So, Discovery Channel partners, I'll stick to watching your new shows on your new network - Planet Green.  At least they have Bill Nye and Emeril!  You know, folks looking to help out the environment, not continue to do useless things...