Should I feel bad for watching "The Simple Life"?

[Efexeye]

Well, the tone of the post is obvious from the subject. So let's just dive right in here.

I like to consider myself a fairly intelligent and sophisticated individual, but there's something about those damn Fox reality shows that just sucks me in.

Normally, I wouldn't give something like Joe Millionaire or The Simple Life a glance. Maybe I'd have a snide remark or two.

My general hatred of reality TV began with Big Brother, which I watched incessantly for some reason, even though I hated it, wishing and hoping and planning and dreaming for something to happen. But nothing ever did, so I swore off of reality shows.

Then, I'm at my buddy's house, and he has on Joe Millionaire (for some reason) and all of a sudden I find myself sucked in to the last three episodes, all of a sudden giving a rat's ass about it. (It could be because we usually get together for Monday Night Football, and there's nothing in in the "dead hour" from 8-9 before the game starts). And they run previews for The Simple Life.

Being the dork that I am, and staying in almost esclusively on weeknights, (TV and the Internet are cruel mistresses, indeed) I happened to be home yesterday, and, flipping around the dial, ran into The Simple Life.

Was it wrong to laugh as hard as I did? Did anyone else find the show HILARIOUS? Did anyone even watch it? Am I regressing intellectually? Or is it just cold outside?

WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME?!?!?!?

[ratm1966]

Oh, was that on last night?

[Efexeye]

Yeah, and tonight, too....

[Mighty_Wingman]

Efexeye,
" Should I feel bad for watching the Simple Life ? "

Yes . 2 reasons .

1)It's the equivalent of mental masturbation . ( Okay true, most T.V. is. )
2) And this is the more important reason. By watching the show your settling for less than we deserve from our recommended daily allowance of entertainment .You're also sending the message to programming directors and and advertising execs. that crap like this passes for entertainment. All these stinking reality shows WILL NOT go away unless we stop watching them and if you continue to give ratings to the beast it will eventually spell doom for scripted television.
But I think you already know this on some level , hence the guilt.

[Efexeye]

Actually, until I have a Nielsen box sitting on top of my TV, what I watch doesn't matter. That said, why don't I have a Nielsen box? I'm single, so the TV is on at least 5 hours a night when I'm home. I'm a 27 year old male, which is in the key demographic for most networks....hhmmmmm, Nielsen people? Give me a call!

[marksiwel]

You watched the "Simple Life"? Go to your room young man and think about what you've done.

[Efexeye]

Come on, the culture clash is just too funny. Did anyone else notice that when Paris and Nicole got paid for their first day's work, the milk farmer didn't take any taxes out of their pay? They were pissed that they only made 42 dollars, but in reality, they would have only made like 35. That show slayed (slew?) me again last night- it just tickles the right bone, I guess. I don't hate rich people or women, and I don't feel sorry for them either, but man, something about hearing them bitch and seeing them change their lifestyle so radically (even if it is only for thirty days) just makes me giggle like a schoolgirl.

Oh, my buddy and me were talking about what Fox will do for a sequel, and I thought, maybe they'll bring the farm folk to L.A.! But that would just be cruel- they'd fall apart.

[marksiwel]

Farm Folk to LA?

My para sailing Lesson is at 10 and then I will get my massage sometime after that, oh life is so stressfull.

[jjcourtright]

Would they call it "The Complex Life"? That don't really seem to fit.

I tried to watch "The Simple Life" yesterday. It was all that was talked about on the radio yesterday. They said it was so funny. So, I figured I would watch it. Instead of finding them to be Jessica Simpson-stupid-funny, I just found them to be (insert name of stupid-annoying celebrity here)-stupid-annoying. It just didn't seem to be my bag.

[DarthMaulRat]

My friend watched the show and the way he described how dumb the two girls are really sparked my interest. He said they can barely drive and one never heard of Wal-Mart. The fact that someone can be so disconnected from reality is kind of interesting. I'll probably end up watching the show at least once.

What would be more interesting is if instead of two rich Valley girls working on a farm, they used two rich Congress reps. Then we could really test the notion that our representatives are truely disconnected from real life.

[Efexeye]

Yeah, Paris asked if they sold walls there. I almost fell out of my seat laughing.

[jjcourtright]

See, I think that is why I didn't like it. Nobody is that [censored] stupid. It has to be an act.

Chicken of the Sea? - could happen
Walmart? - I've never met anybody that stupid.

[Efexeye]

No, seriously. These girls have never done anything for themselves in their entire lives. You could tell by their demeanor that they really didn't know what Wal-Mart was.

The funniest part of the show, to me, is the girls' willingness to tell everyone how boring and lame their lives are. They told the family they are staying with that they hear that people in the South hang out at Wal-Mart for fun, and I really think they meant it. I mean, they had a job on the first day, and they ended up in their bosses' hot tub, then napped on his couch! Seriously. They have no clue, and it's hi-larious.

[psychofiend]

While some idiots were glued to the television watching that dumb show about the two hottest girls I have ever hated in my life... I was reading Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption, that story makes me fell so hopeful. Perhaps I will get out of this hellhole I call home and the prison I call school.

[code6enterprises]

I am sick of rich people getting their own reality TV shows (Osbournes, Rich Girls). They are already rich so why do they need to be paid just cause they are rich. That just annoys the hell out of me.

[Matt1]

At least Ozzy Osbourne is actually famous for doing something. The Hilton sisters are just famous for... what exactly?

[ILovePapaSmurf]

<font color="purple">*insert Jeopardy theme song here* </font color>

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
The Hilton sisters are just famous for... what exactly

[/ QUOTE ] That's why I maintain the notion that maybe the tape was conveniently released so Paris would be in the public eye just before the debut of her new show.

[Matt1]

But they were famous before that. Granted, a lot of people didn't know who they were, but they were still celebrities. On the covers of magazines, in the tabloids, etc. My question is: Why?

[Zens_7s]

Because they are worth billions (literally). Blonde bimbos worth that kind of money? People will pay attention, even if she did get cursed with torpedo tits.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Right. It was so it would get everyone talking. Not just the people that sort of knew who they were because of the family name.

[Matt1]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Because they are worth billions (literally). Blonde bimbos worth that kind of money? People will pay attention, even if she did get cursed with torpedo tits.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ain't our society grand? /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Dave]

so, my favorite part of this show is the little kid terrorizing that little dog, pushing him down the slide and feeding him cheese, that stuff.

[Efexeye]

If that dog got within 10 feet of me, I would punt him like a football....I can't stand little rat dogs. Dogs in general, for that matter. I like cats.

[karmattack]

It must be of the breed Kique'mi.

[marksiwel]

WE are still talking about this!?! Thats it, GO TELL MOM WHAT YOU DID! GO or I'll tell her! YOUR IN TROUBLE! YOUR IN TROUBLE! /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Okay, so I watched it again. I know how I've fallen in some eyes from this admission. Zens and I actually had this discussion about me watching it. Should I feel guilty? I don't know. My only excuse for it is I've been reading a collection of Lester Bangs reviews, and I find it interesting how he could find redeeming qualities in Emmerson, Lake and Palmer and how he can so savagely tear apart an immortal in Bob Dylan (especially in the seventies when Dylan was an institution and the unofficial Poet Laureate of the U.S.).

I am over the shock value of the show. Growing up in a small Southern town, I was considered an outsider in my formidable years and the shock value of these girls actions has worn off on me. As Springsteen put it, "I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing."

While the show was intended as a platform for the hilarity that ensues when girls of their class distinction have to endure the grueling small-town life and wake up to the realities of Wall-Mart, there is an actual redeeming quality to this program. It is not that we are supposed to feel sorry for the slack-jawed yokels whose town these snots have invaded, nor is it to laugh when two rich bitches have to stick their hands in a cows uterus. The redeeming quality is that the towns folk, for their lack of sophistication, their xenophobic tendencies, or the fact that these girls are just plain sinners look down on these girls. The heroin chic Nicole Ritchie can do the talk-show circuit and say how "sweet" their host family was, but she's just saying that to humor herself because she does not want to make it too obvious she holds herself above them now that she is back in her world. Ritchie talks of these people like they are her dogs.

Fact is, these people looked down on them. They think they are better people than Paris and Nicole, just as much as Paris and Nicole think they are better because they rooms in their mansions as big as the house they have commandeered. It is certainly an angle that FOX is missing out on. Sure, all the girls in town hate the privileged pair because they are taking their men. Yet the whole town looks down on Paris and Nicole, mainly because they do not understand why these new miscreants are more important to their tribe (817 people can certainly count as a tribe) just because they have expensive clothes. The girls have not earned the right to live in that town, because while the town is the furthest thing from Paris' and Nicole’s version of the civilized world, it is all that these people need. The little inconveniences of holding down jobs for the glam tramps may make for a funny show, but switching roles Beverly Hillbillies style would be tragic. The Protestant work ethic of the blue collar people in the city would not allow them to enjoy all of the extravagance.

Contrary to what Alan Calder bellows during the opening of the Late Show, New York City is not the greatest city in the world to some people. My father lives by these words (sung by some guy, I forget who), "just send me to Hell, or New York City, It would be about the same to me." (Ironically, he's in NYC on business right now.) While Paris Hilton and Nicole Ritchie may not be from New York City, they are the debauchery and lasciviousness personified when the under-privileged middle American thinks of when they imagine the horrors of the New York City lifestyle. And for every time Nicole Ritchie says how sweet the townsfolk are like the little Chihuahua Paris carries around, that is one more of those folks that kind of enjoys New York City was the target of terrorist action.

[code6enterprises]

When I flip through channels, I go through all the local channels first. Wb, ABC, CBS, UPN, FOX, and NBC. 4, 5, 7, 10, 11, and 12. But tonight, I made a specific point skip over 11(FOX) and straight to 12(NBC), during the 8:30-9:00 time slot. I didn't even flip through it. Maybe we should all do this.

[Mighty_Wingman]

Robbo ,

I haven't watched it since the first night. I am amazed, nay , flabbergasted, that you can put such emotion and substance into a review, of a show that has neither.

Well written .

[Robbo_the_Hood]

Well, I think I could have written it better, but this whole Lester Bangs kick has got me trying to *gasp* expand on just face value.

Look at me not taking a compliment. Thanks a lot.

[marksiwel]

I think you may have written the smartest thing about a fox show ever (expect for maybe the simpsons.) Good job.

No one wants to be those girls, they just want there money. Hell I would live the same life I had now if I had there money I just wouldnt worry too much about anything.

[psychofiend]

Im not gunna say anything I watched about 10 seconds of the simple life and then went to my room and started reading a book, hopefully I still have a shred of intellegence after that 10 seconds of sheer stupidity.

[Sheriff]

Robbo-
Did I read that last sentence right? Are you saying that because of the 0.00001% of rich snotty bitches that claim NYC as a home will make blue collar America happy about the terrorist attacks on NYC?

[Threadkiller]

So, for the next season of 'The Simple Life' they could get other subsects of NYC. Maybe a couple of wallstreet types could work in a small town general store.

All this sounds intriguing but I liked it more when it starred Michael J. Fox and was called Doc Hollywood. Paris and Nichole are about as unlikable a pair as have ever graced a hit show.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Are you saying that because of the 0.00001% of rich snotty bitches that claim NYC as a home will make blue collar America happy about the terrorist attacks on NYC?

[/ QUOTE ]

When that's all of what they hear or see of New York City, then as tragic as an attack was on American soil, I think some people may have enjoyed it. I refer you to the "Hell or New York City," line I quoted. And I wrote it merely for shock value.

[Razorback]

Nice avatar! Can I have the entire collection? /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

RB

[Efexeye]

Damn, Robbo.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

What?

[Efexeye]

Nothing, that was just a hell of a post, that's all.

[Robbo_the_Hood]

It's only because Zens is out of town. With her gone, I've had a lot of time to collect my thoughts . . . and watch the Simple Life . . . and I smell, and I'm hungry. This is what happens when there's no one to take care of me.

[Zens_7s]

I have a feeling I will have some work to do when I return...are you ok dear? Have you left the couch? Where are our pets? Have you eaten anything besides Jack Daniels and stale potato chips? How many times have you watched the MTV re-runs? Why are you using TIVO on The Simple Life?

Don't fret dear, I will return Saturday...and we can get you all straightened out. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Robbo_the_Hood]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Have you left the couch?

[/ QUOTE ] Why? There's nothing else to do. The ashtray is getting a little full.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Where are our pets?

[/ QUOTE ] We have pets? I did find some stuffed animals in the bedroom.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Have you eaten anything besides Jack Daniels and stale potato chips?

[/ QUOTE ] Well, they were the closest things to the couch since you left.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
How many times have you watched the MTV re-runs?

[/ QUOTE ] I would think you'd know me better than to assume I'd been watching MTV. However, I'll have to tell you about all the wrestling and Days of Our Lives episodes your missing.
</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
Why are you using TIVO on The Simple Life?


[/ QUOTE ] Because those girls aren't as perfect as you.

I certainly miss you.

[Zens_7s]

Ahh...Ain't lust grand! /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Efexeye]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
we can get you all straightened out.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmmm, thinly veiled sexual innuendo on the 'Shoot? What have we become?

[Zens_7s]

hmmmm...you have a point. Normally on the shoot we don't bother to thinly veil it. /forums/images/icons/grin.gif

[Mighty_Wingman]

I have a thin veil but I only wear it with my leather bustier. (sp? )

Sometimes, I refer to my hands as booby traps. Or as Data( "The Goonies" ) would say, Booty traps.

Why do I feel like Ralph Wiggum right now ?