Reality TV Can Become an Addiction

It started as a favor to my girlfriend. She loves shows like Project Runway and What Not to Wear, and lately has become addicted to even less informative programs, like The Real Housewives of Atlanta and Flipping Out. Three years ago, she wanted to watch Project Runway, and even though I knew nothing about fashion and thought the show seemed like just another reality TV competition, I relented. I thought to myself, "I'll watch a couple episodes with her, hate it, and then never watch it again." I couldn't have been more wrong.

It started with watching Project Runway every week when it was on. More than just watching, however, it turned into me actually caring about what happened. Even though anyone who knows me would say I'm inept when it comes to personal fashion (I once had to check with my girlfriend to make sure I knew what a V-neck sweater was), I found myself yelling at the TV when a design I didn't like ended up winning a competition. Then I started commenting on friends' Facebook statuses, telling them why I agreed or disagreed with their opinion of the latest Project Runway episode. I was only becoming addicted to one show, however, and still had enough dignity to try and play it off that I enjoyed the competitive aspect of the show, and not necessarily the drama and conflict that all reality shows seem to have. Then I watched an episode of Flipping Out.

For those that don't know, Flipping Out follows the business adventures of Jeff Lewis, a real estate investor who has a dry sense of humor and a large dose of Obsessive-Compulsive tendencies. Although the business aspect of Jeff's life provides the framework for the show, however, the real meat of the show comes in the drama between Jeff and...well, everyone else. His idea of what friends and business partners do is different than those around him, and often the interviews sprinkled throughout the show focus on how Jeff is completely crazy and taking the oddest things seriously (for example, "hazing" a new employee by asking them to go buy him new underwear, even going so far as to give them a pair of underwear he owns so that they know exactly what kind to get him).

If you had asked me even two years ago what I would think about a show like Flipping Out, I would have told you that it sounded like a complete waste of time and had no redeeming value. Now I know exactly when it's on (Tuesday at 10 PM Eastern Time) and even look forward to watching it. There's something about the drama and the craziness of the people on reality TV shows that makes it so far removed from reality that it ceases to be offensive or appalling and instead becomes entertaining, with almost every episode prompting someone to say, "Can you believe what they just said?" It becomes a conversation piece, and everything tunes in week after week because it's impossible to tell what the people on these programs are going to do next.

Now I watch everything from Project Runway and Flipping Out to The Rachel Zoe Project and The Real Housewives of Atlanta. And I enjoy them. So, to all those guys out there who think they will watch one of these shows once, thus proving to themselves and their friends that they really are trash, be careful. It might start as an innocuous favor to your girlfriend, but you may soon find yourself addicted. Then you become one of those guys who can try and start a conversation with, "Can you believe Nicholas' design won on Project Runway last night?" Don't say I didn't warn you.