This is a prime example of a "reality" TV show that seems to have nothing to do with reality. Adjust your expectations accordingly.
My room-mate dotes on this show, and I've got no problem with a viewer having a few "guilty pleasures". I used to watch "Braniac" when it was on G4TV a year or so ago, so I have no room to criticize other people's viewing habits, or what it might say about them. So I ended up watching several episodes of this show by default (and after a certain point, out of curiosity).
As an aside, it is obvious that the show's producers were pretty ruthless about compressing sequences, omitting contextual details and (probably) manipulating things so that the subjects came out looking as bad as possible. So I tried to take that into account while watching the events unfold on screen.
Still, even allowing for the bias thrown in by the series' scripters and editors, what you see on the screen here is simply appalling. It almost makes you think that maybe the Taliban is right, and that the way these people live is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. It's as if they all watched "Beverly Hills 90210" when they were growing up and took notes.
I'm not saying that these people are evil. They aren't. They are just extraordinarily irritating in their narcissism and lack of anything resembling awareness, intelligence, taste, or even (in most cases) a work ethic. One exception may be the Playboy model-turned-Realtor, but even she doesn't seem to have all that much on the ball - the series makes it look as though a chimp could do her job if it could wear eye-liner. And the lady with the family and the cancer scare showed a bit of depth and humanity that I liked. She seemed to more motivated by genuine love of her husband and family than everyone else. She could be salvaged if she got out of that milieu; she might even turn into a real human being.
Pretty much all the rest of the "cast" is "shallow to the core." And this isn't a sexist thing, either - most of the men in the series are just as bad (or worse) in their way, and most of the kids seem to be completely out of it - lazy, whiny, and spoiled. If nothing else, "OC" seems to show that you aren't doing your children any favors if you make things too easy for them.
It's obvious that the best thing that could happen to most of these people would be to get tossed out of their little paradise/enclave and to have to rub shoulders with people with real problems and real jobs and real commitments. It would help restore their sense of proportion. But of course, with all the money they make by being narcissistic, pampered idiots on camera, that's not going to happen.
Really weird. As a friend of mine would say, "These people will be the first up against the wall when the Revolution comes."
My room-mate dotes on this show, and I've got no problem with a viewer having a few "guilty pleasures". I used to watch "Braniac" when it was on G4TV a year or so ago, so I have no room to criticize other people's viewing habits, or what it might say about them. So I ended up watching several episodes of this show by default (and after a certain point, out of curiosity).
As an aside, it is obvious that the show's producers were pretty ruthless about compressing sequences, omitting contextual details and (probably) manipulating things so that the subjects came out looking as bad as possible. So I tried to take that into account while watching the events unfold on screen.
Still, even allowing for the bias thrown in by the series' scripters and editors, what you see on the screen here is simply appalling. It almost makes you think that maybe the Taliban is right, and that the way these people live is an abomination in the eyes of the Lord. It's as if they all watched "Beverly Hills 90210" when they were growing up and took notes.
I'm not saying that these people are evil. They aren't. They are just extraordinarily irritating in their narcissism and lack of anything resembling awareness, intelligence, taste, or even (in most cases) a work ethic. One exception may be the Playboy model-turned-Realtor, but even she doesn't seem to have all that much on the ball - the series makes it look as though a chimp could do her job if it could wear eye-liner. And the lady with the family and the cancer scare showed a bit of depth and humanity that I liked. She seemed to more motivated by genuine love of her husband and family than everyone else. She could be salvaged if she got out of that milieu; she might even turn into a real human being.
Pretty much all the rest of the "cast" is "shallow to the core." And this isn't a sexist thing, either - most of the men in the series are just as bad (or worse) in their way, and most of the kids seem to be completely out of it - lazy, whiny, and spoiled. If nothing else, "OC" seems to show that you aren't doing your children any favors if you make things too easy for them.
It's obvious that the best thing that could happen to most of these people would be to get tossed out of their little paradise/enclave and to have to rub shoulders with people with real problems and real jobs and real commitments. It would help restore their sense of proportion. But of course, with all the money they make by being narcissistic, pampered idiots on camera, that's not going to happen.
Really weird. As a friend of mine would say, "These people will be the first up against the wall when the Revolution comes."