The EOE

I've dropped tons of acronyms on you within my blog posts since Day One. But, here's one you've probably never heard of before: The EOE. The Equal Opportunity Exploiter.

Yep, we're talking VH1. I have to applaud them. I've seen "Basketball Wives 1 and 2," "Love & Hip-Hop," "Mob Wives" and now we can all look forward to "Baseball Wives." VH1 keeps it real! No just exploiting black women here. They'll exploit anyone! Black, Italian and now a couple of Latinas and some good ol' American white women!

And I do give the cast members of this show a little credit. After all, each of them are either currently married to a baseball player or were once married to one. That's better than the baby mamas saturating the "Basketball Wives" cast.

I came across this show on Facebook when one of my "friends" stated that she didn't want to watch the show because the women dressed "slutty." LOL! What? This is from someone who watches BBW, Real Housewives and Jersey Shore. Uh, ok.

Trust me, VH1 guarantees drama which guarantees ratings. People will get their modern day Jerry Springer fix and will be anxious to discuss the show on social networks. Besides, I'm sure Anna Benson (middle of photo) has the resume to provide drama. She was once named baseball's hottest wife and said if her husband ever cheated on her that she would sleep with the entire Mets organization. If that's not drama, then I'm not sure what is.

After all, Anna is a self-made woman. Dropped out of high school, stripped in Atlanta strip clubs (where she met her husband, Kris) and has made her way onto FHM's magazine cover. Don't you love a country where self-proclaimed "harlot" can turn a 10th grade education into being a millionaire's spouse and a reality TV show? God bless America!

I guess Twitter will tell all. "Basketball Wives" has single-handedly shut down Twitter from tweets from the fans who watch the show. Personally, I wish all of these shows would go away, but they're very successful in the television ratings on top of being inexpensive to produce. I don't think we're too far away from multiple all-reality show channels and the extinction of scripted television. "CSI" will be replaced by "Welfare Women With Nothing To Do." "How I Met Your Mother" will be replaced by "From Ashy to Classy." And so on and so on...

Prepare yourselves people. The EOE is on pace to kill billions of brain cells... one episode at a time.




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Why Am I Not Asleep?

It's 5:35 AM... Why am I not asleep? I'm sitting up watching a high school football game I DVR'd last Friday. St. Thomas Aquinas (FL) is stomping Skyline (TX) 24-3.

They're playing at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington. For those of you who have not seen this stadium on TV/in-person, it is the most impressive structure I've ever seen in my life. I went there for the NBA All-Star game in February and the experience blew me away. Being one of the 108,000+ people in that stadium and part of a world recording breaking attendance event was pretty cool, too.



First of all, as far as the game was concerned, I've never seen so many women at a sporting event. It's something about the NBA that attracts women. I saw seven women to every guy and they were dressed like they were on the Red Carpet.

As a friend and I made our way to the concession stand, we saw Theo Ratliff, an older player, but a player nonetheless, walking through with his 6'11" frame. On his right arm was a 6'4" blonde (at least she was in her heels). Every girl he passed was trying to make eye contact with him. They would bump him as he walked by and say "excuse me" as if it was unintentional. He wouldn't even look down to acknowledge them. I'm guessing that's why the blonde on his arm never appeared concerned about the on-lookers as she chatted away on her iPhone.

I just changed the channel to "The Soup" on E! For those who haven't seen it, it's basically a highlight show for reality TV bloopers and other funny clips. Right now they're showing a clip of Nancy Grace going off on some woman who's defending Paris Hilton's drug charge.

Paris claims that she thought the cocaine that was found in her purse was gum. Nancy is one angry southerner. She goes off on everyone she invites on her show.



Oh, man. I need some sleep. I just saw Jesse James and Kat Von D holding hands leaving a World War II museum. How ironic of her to be there after the controversy going on about her being a Nazi. The fact that I recognize both of these people is probably something in which I should be ashamed.



Wait. Kate Gosselin still has a show? How did that happen? Why is everyone so fascinated by freaks and headcases? I'm one of the rare few who can't do most reality shows. I think they're all scripted and the ones that aren't scripted have participants who are blatantly trying to make a name for themselves instead of acting natural.

And Lord knows I'm tired of always seeing the angry black woman on these shows. Isn't that played out? Sometimes I think reality shows are half of the reason white people are afraid of most black people.

Wow, Kathie Lee on the "Today Show" told Hoda that she wouldn't recognize a sex toy "if it slapped her in the face". LOL! (insert joke here)

It's 6:08 AM and I'm obviously delusional and ranting. Besides, any time you see Larry King singing Lady Gaga's "Poker Face", then you know it's time for bed.

Good night, all.

Keeping Up With The Idiots (On TV)

I hate reality shows. I hate them like Lindsay Lohan hates rehab. Yet, I'm not only surrounded by reality shows, but I'm also surrounded by people who watch them.

Now, I will admit that I watched some reality shows back in the day when they were new. Years before they littered my TV guide on my DirecTV receiver. I watched "Real World: Hawaii" and wondered how in the world someone like Ruthie Alcaide (I wonder if she's related to Tiger) would ever live to the age of 30 at the rate she partied.



I watched Richard Hatch walk naked on an island and win a million dollars on the first "Survivor" and fail to report it for tax purposes later. I also watched Reuben Studdard win the second season of "American Idol" after the show changed the rules and allowed Clay Aiken to return after being eliminated.

So, I can honestly say that "I've tried". But no more. I can't bare to watch a season of anything deemed as a "reality show" other than "Cops". Because it didn't take me long at all to realize that they're far from real.

Now, back in the "Real World" days, reality shows felt real. The show was designed to take several young and volatile people and put them in close quarters. It's only natural, like lab rats, that something was going to "pop off" as Tanisha from "The Bad Girls Club" once yelled. It wasn't truly a "real life" situation, but the reactions to what was going on seemed genuine.

Today, things are a little different. The attitudes and confrontations aren't always (if ever) even slightly real. They're scripted. Manufactured just like the weave that all of the "Flava of Love" women wear.

Because of this, people now go on "A.I." and sing as horribly as they possibly can in an attempt to earn themselves 15 minutes of fame. Did Larry Platt really think that singing "Pants on the Ground" would get him to Hollywood? And why did "A.I." let a 60-something year old even participate on a show with an age limit? Because it was entertaining and that's all that matters. FOX doesn't care if the show comes off as real or not. They only want people to watch it and discuss it at work tomorrow.

That's why broadcasters use a new math when it comes to creating shows:

Attitude equals ratings: Omarosa Manigault or Tiffany "New York" Pollard
Controversy equals ratings: Kim Kardashian or Ray J
Sex appeal equals ratings: Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino or Parvati Shallow
Acting a fool equals ratings: Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi or (insert Real Housewife here)



The bottom line is: it doesn't have to be real for us to watch it. We watch it because it makes us feel better about ourselves. We watch it because we love to see other people with problems. Or, if you're like me, you watch "The Soup" for comedic effect.

But, what about the people who can't seem to separate entertainment from the real world? What about the people who clutter their bodies with tattoos because of what they see in a music video? What about the women who pose pigeon-toed/or do the peace sign and pouty lips in every Facebook photo because they saw it on TV first?




My parents taught me at an early age that TV wasn't real. I remember the day I found out wrestling was fake. I think I was about seven years old. It changed my perspective on it which eventually led to me to not watch it on a weekly basis as I once did. Sure, I can still watch a few minutes of it now and then because the sheer athleticism that some of those wrestlers have are amazing. But you won't see it in the Series Manager of my DVR. But, when I'm flipping channels and catch a glimpse of WWE, I see an arena filled with paying fans. All of them screaming for what a majority realize is fake. It makes me sit back and put things in perspective a bit. Why are they actively participating in something that everyone knows isn't real? Then it dawns on me:

One purpose of TV is to entertain, right? To take you away from your life and allow you to peek in on someone else's. Have I've forgotten that? Am I so cynical now that I can't even enjoy watching TV?

Maybe reality shows aren't just a cheap way for broadcasters to fill their time slots. And I do mean "cheap"! Snooki, one of the higher paid reality stars gets $30,000 per episode for "Jersey Shore" while Charlie Sheen, a real actor, now rakes in $1.8 million per episode for "Two and A Half Men". I guess if I owned a TV station and had a choice at those rates, I'd fill my line-up with reality shows, too!

Maybe I'm reading too much into the fact that reality shows are exploding on VH1 and MTV where my music videos used to reside. I guess as long as you're entertained, who cares if the show is real or not?

Give your opinion here!