Reality Singles

The last weekend of Spring Break, my teenage daughter indulged in a marathon of a "reality" tv show called "Outback Jack." After a few episodes in a row, I decided to check out what my impressionable daughter was watching.

yikes!

On this show, like I suppose many before them, Outback Jack has to select a bride by process of elimination through a series of tasks and events. This show was like Crocodile Dundee meets the Bachelor.

When I was my daughter's age, I would cringe when my mother was watching tv with me and a love scene came on. She was a nurse at Great Southeast Hospital in Washington DC in the women's health unit. She was treating women who were dying of stds. So I knew she couldn't help herself. She had to turn the tv show into a lessons. Sometimes my sister and I would catch each other's eye and brace for the inevitable lecture. It made me want to turn the show off.

Well, my daughter has a divorced mother. So when I learned that the "winner" had to marry the guy, I couldn't help myself. I had to turn it into a lecture.
- marriage isn't a game
- this isn't reality
- why are they crying when they get eliminated? they just met the guy!
- why is he crying when he eliminates someone? would he prefer polygamy?
- what are they going to do when they have to live together without a camera crew and scheduled tasks?
- what will dishes and laundry and babies and carpools do to their "love?"

My daughter asked me to leave to room. I was ruining it.
Gladly.

Do you guys watch these shows where beautiful people line up to fight for another's affection? Are the producers married? Are they mocking us?

But then I think, how could they do worse than I did? I was careful, thoughtful, took my time. We got to know each others' families, attended church together, had common goals, and it still ended in divorce. Who am I to criticize?