The Daily Gamecock

Issue date: 2/20/07 Section: Viewpoints

Alexis Arnone Fifth-year print journalism student

The other day I was depressed, so I decided to crawl into bed early and drown my sorrows in reruns of reality TV shows.

This is a little tradition I have because watching other people acting like fools on TV, a la "The Real World," makes me feel much better.

I can sit down and watch hours upon hours of this stuff knowing that no matter how bad things get, it could always get worse. I could always go on a drunken tirade and yell at my roommates for not putting the toilet seat down, which automatically makes them inconsiderate. (Note: I have three male roommates who always remember to put the toilet seat down and who also adore females.) But instead, I like to watch other people do this on national TV.

Recently, there have been some TV shows that have done the exact opposite of helping to cheer me up. They have sent me further into a spiral of self-loathing.

ABC's "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" is just downright upsetting to me.

I appreciate the thought. I think it's a fantastic idea to give deserving people a home. And with a hot carpenter, no less. What I don't appreciate are the families and people they pick for this show. It's like the publicist thought, "I've got a great idea for a show. We need to find the most pathetic family in the entire world and give them a new house."

Good job ABC, good job. The family with the 17 adopted autistic children now has a brand-new mansion. Their children still have autism, but that's beside the point because Ty Pennington just built a TV into your 4-year-old's bed.

After I watch this show, I'm not happy. I'm more depressed. You gave them a home but that won't fix the fact that the cat has three legs and the youngest child can't read.

This show does not make me feel good about the bad day I had. Because no matter how bad my day is, theirs is always worse. And this time, it's not because they got drunk and threw up on camera.

If I'm going to watch the overly saturated reality of TV, then I want to be amused, damn it.

I'm a student. Every weekend I get to watch the debauchery that happens down in Five Points if I so choose.

But, I'd much rather sit inside the safety of my own home and watch J. Lo deal with a bunch of whiny dancers compete for a spot on Ashlee Simpson's tour. Or, because I'm so interested in journalism, watch a bunch of whiny writers piss away their one shot of becoming something on "I Write for Rolling Stone."

TV is supposed to be an escape from all the pressures and stressors of everyday life. If you're going to focus on reality, you need to keep it to the twisted, crazy people who sign up for MTV's "Real World v. Road Rules" battles.

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