Why Cheaters is the Best Reality Show on TV

For the most part, television is, and has always been, a wasteland at best and a cesspool at worst. One of my favorite descriptions of the medium is that it is "the electronic opiate for the consumerist masses". Undeniably, at the bottom of the channel barrel are the reality shows.

Networks love these low-budget shows, because of all the money they save on production, writing, and casting costs (most people don't get paid for being on them). Plus, they have been very hot for over a decade, heralded by MTV's "The Real World", which featured a bunch of spoiled, moronic yutzes of one stereotype or another, and all the shallow drama that implies.

Personally, I'd rather have my toenails pulled out than sit through any of them, especially shows like "ElimiDate", but there is one I rather enjoy seeing every now and again, and that is "Cheaters", a kind of "GOTCHA!" show hosted by Joey Greco in which people suspicious of their significant other's loyalty hire a team of private investigators to trail the cheating partner and eventually sting them in an on-air confrontation.

On a side note, I also despise confrontational TV, which you can thank Geraldo Rivera for bringing to us. This oeuvre is nothing more than a modern Roman Circus, but the confrontation on "Cheaters" is different, I enjoy watching the cheatin' piece of crap try and lie their way out of their predicament.

It is one of the few reality shows I consider a public service, because it helps bring closure to someone who had doubts about the person to whom they have given their heart. Also, I must admit, I like the confrontation as well. I love to see the heartbroken one waylay on the piece of human garbage who thought they could get away with two-timin' them.

My only complaint is when Joey Greco and his security goons break the fight up. Its not like I get off on violence or anything, but I just love watching the sleazy sons-o-bitches get their teeth knocked out. The only exceptions I will make is for the innocent ones who were lied to by the cheater as to the status of their relationship ("No, I don't have a girlfriend/boyfriend.")

I am sorry if that makes me an evil person, but I think anyone who would cheat on their partner, married or not, is a punk who deserves to be exposed on syndicated television for what they are for the whole world to see. In other words, if you wanna play around, then you owe it to the one you're with to set them free, and stop lying to them. I love it when the cheaters get angry when they get busted, blaming the heartbroken one for the melee, as if they are the victim.

On May of 2003, one of Joey's "victims" stabbed him in retaliation for exposing his little side action (I guess he was pissed about losing his "good thang"!). Jack E. Jett, host of QTV's "Queeredge", filled in for Greco for several episodes while he recovered. I believe the stabbing only proves that cheatin' scum are usually scum all the way around!

"Cheaters" is awesome because it exposes cheaters as the scumbags they are. I think it is every bit as much a public service as a website that lists sexual predators. Seriously, if a guy (or girl) you saw on "Cheaters" asked you out, would you go? I realize some of the more cowardly ones have a legal right to withhold their identities, but enough people in their hometowns see them go down to spread the word around about their character. I can only pray that some pantywaist judge does not legislate shows like "Cheaters" off the air. They are the last line of defense of good-hearted people against the predators among us!