Here Comes the Bridezilla!

The other night a vast television audience watched transfixed as a beautiful girl explained in a conspiratorial tone to the camera that she was about to pull a fast one on the folks at the bakery who had produced the wedding cake she had ordered. She had originally asked for chocolate, changed her mind and opted for vanilla, but now had settled once again for her original choice. Alas, the vanilla cake was now baked so (she craftily explained) she planned to pretend that she had never mentioned vanilla at all, and that it was the bakery's mistake so they would make her a chocolate cake without charging her for one they had already finished according to her specifications). It sounds complicated, but "Bridezilla" (W.E. Channel, 9 p.m. DST, Sunday evening) gets a bit convoluted at times. The bottom line is that, when the ruse didn't work, Bridezilla threw a tearful, foot-stomping temper tantrum and smashed the offending cake with her fist.

Whoever hatched the concept for "Bridezilla" is a genius. For those of you who watch loftier stuff, the people who produce this show have rounded up some of the nastiest young girls you could imagine and filmed their hysterical wedding preparations. These young ladies (I use the term loosely) are so obnoxious that I suspected they were actresses deliberately misbehaving until Dr. Phil interviewed one along with her long-suffering mother on his show, where the girl's insensitivity and discourtesy reached new heights.

We have been regaled with Bridezillas who were adamant that their bridesmaids not gain weight, (countered only a week ago by a morbidly obese bride who was just as determined that her equally chubby bridesmaids could not LOSE weight because she was counting on their heft to make herself look "skinny" by comparison on her big day). We have had Bridezillas who screamed, who didn't like the food at their shower, and who melted down in tears and lamented "I'm the BRIDE, it's my day, nobody loves me!" Most frustrating of all is that the show always ends with Bridezilla marching down the aisle, transformed miraculously into a shimmering vision of innocent loveliness.

One of my secret guilty pleasures is loving this show and I'm probably not the only one. Watching "Bridezilla" is enjoyable because it affords us the double pleasure of viewing monstrous misbehavior which we don't have to deal with and a spoiled diva who makes most of us look good by comparison.

The Problem With This Show

The danger here is that "Bridezilla" tends to wink at obnoxious deportment as though it was cute or funny. A young girl watching might assume that being hurtful is an inevitable part of getting married and that all brides act like this. In reality, most of the people I know wouldn't be this rude if they were fighting their way out of a burning building ... but if everybody did the right thing, I guess we wouldn't have much of a television show.