Reality on TV

I've taken a break from blogging about Dancing with the Stars because we're going into a finale with Mario and Emmitt and I am knee deep in reality television heaven.

Team Hispanic Against Team Black...The New American Reality.


Since I'm on the subject of American realities, I hope everyone is watching Ugly Betty. Sure it's melodramatic and the title is intimidating, but it is a great show. The exploration of race and class often makes me think about the show for days afterward. For instance, on Television Without Pity people are slowly starting to recognize that Vanessa Williams character, Wilhelmina, is more qualified than the wayward son of the owner of Mode. Wil, the opposite of Ugly Betty because she is beautiful, fashionable, and comes from a well-to-do family, is also similar to Betty because she is a minority and intelligent, and that automatically takes a back seat to bloodlines. Ugly Betty is based on a telenovela, "Yo soy Betty, la fea". Telenovelas by nature are overly dramatic stories of women of the underclass crossing barriers into the wealth class. It will be interesting to see how ABC handles the tough issues. Immigration? Did ABC really want to go there? Whatever. You can catch the last four episodes of Ugly Betty on ABC.com.

The other thing I watched last night was "Soulmates", a documentary on the realities of black women and marriage. Lately, all of my conversations have been about the lack of suitable people to date and marry. While I have the discussion with both black and white friends, the tone is often different. The white unattached women seem to date on a consistent basis, regardless off how attractive they are. They also seem to think that they will eventually find someone. Which is very different from my black female friends who aren't in long-term relationships. The unpaired people seem to feel like they've missed the boat, and are trying to come to terms with the idea that they will be single for the rest of their lives. "Soulmates" echoes that sentiment, and encourages women to figure out how they will deal if they are never married (they encourage being completely wrapped up in your relationship with God.... it was Clean Heart Productions after all.)

Where does that leave me? I haven't given up hope. Once I'm finished working 20 hour days, I will begin doing some of the silly challenges I see on all my reality TV shows, some of those people seem pretty homely, maybe all I need is a little extra effort. I'll also see if I can recruit other people to join in. I'll post the results on my blog.

My first hurdle is overnight rehearsals; I'm not attractive at all on 10 days of no sleep.