Saturday, November 04, 2006
Reality TV ends the first-boyfriend blues
(Written Sunday, May 21, 2006)
Tonight I caught an episode of Parental Control, MTV's newest parent-influenced dating show and it is seriously great. There's a young woman, in her early-20's, who is dating a total complete asshole. Her parents get to interview and choose two dudes to go on dates with her which will be aired in a living-room setting for her parents to watch with her current boyfriend. It's sooo funny because the boyfriend guy is always a self-absorbed jerkoff who talks shit to his girlfriend's parents while his girlfriend is on a date!
You get to see the embarrassing parts of the interviews, which is crucial to reality TV these days (I guess) and then the shit goes down. The dudes who are picked by the parents are on stellar first-date behavior so the girl gets treated way better than she does by her current boyfriend, who is jaded, bored, and unappreciative of his cutie girlfriend.
The girl flirts with both boys during both dates and her boyfriend looks like a total ass, defending himself from her parents' hilariously accurate shit-talking. He makes fun of the new guy, judges him, and reassures the parents of his confidence. When the girl returns to the living room after the date, she's giddy and optimistic, a newfound confidence exudes from her once-oppressed sexuality.
In this episode, the boy who shows up for the first date has a job delivering pizzas and the current boyfriend, an angsty, dark-eyed Good Charlotte-looking dude, makes fun of him for it. The mom says, At least he has a job, and the dad adds, And a car. The dude scoffs while his once-ignored girlfriend rides off with the pizzaboy.
So the dates go down, flirting ensues, and the boyfriend calls out every sexual advancement by the new dude. The parents defend the advancements as harmless. The boyfriend painfully watches each date, nervously fidgiting. Sweat beads down his once overconfident face. At the end, the girl gets to choose who she wants to date again - one of two blind dates or her long-term boyfriend.
During the three shows I've seen, the girl picks a new boy five-out-of-six times. It's so great because the boyfriends are such assholes and get embarrassed so badly. But in this case, the participants are not considering the long-term ramifications of these decisions. They're based on a single, video-taped date and the girl could easily end up in the same unhealthy situation as the current relationship. And honestly, some of these blind-date dudes could take anyone's girl if she hadn't been recently appreciated. There's some serious temptation going on here. But there's also a question to be asked: Are we satisfied in our current relationships or are we so far removed from feeling attractive and wanted that we settle for the comfort and safety of familiarity?
Like most reality shows, there are many variables that make this contest unfair to most of its participants. But the look on a dude's face when his girlfriend leaves him, in front of her cheering parents, for an MTV-sanctioned partner is pure hilarity.
Even if the TV-induced relationship doesn't work out, these girls will be saved from the first-boyfriend blues.
I'm going to be up all night if this show doesn't stop coming on.
EDIT: The next episode is role reversal. You mean parents hate girlfriends too?!?
Tonight I caught an episode of Parental Control, MTV's newest parent-influenced dating show and it is seriously great. There's a young woman, in her early-20's, who is dating a total complete asshole. Her parents get to interview and choose two dudes to go on dates with her which will be aired in a living-room setting for her parents to watch with her current boyfriend. It's sooo funny because the boyfriend guy is always a self-absorbed jerkoff who talks shit to his girlfriend's parents while his girlfriend is on a date!
You get to see the embarrassing parts of the interviews, which is crucial to reality TV these days (I guess) and then the shit goes down. The dudes who are picked by the parents are on stellar first-date behavior so the girl gets treated way better than she does by her current boyfriend, who is jaded, bored, and unappreciative of his cutie girlfriend.
The girl flirts with both boys during both dates and her boyfriend looks like a total ass, defending himself from her parents' hilariously accurate shit-talking. He makes fun of the new guy, judges him, and reassures the parents of his confidence. When the girl returns to the living room after the date, she's giddy and optimistic, a newfound confidence exudes from her once-oppressed sexuality.
In this episode, the boy who shows up for the first date has a job delivering pizzas and the current boyfriend, an angsty, dark-eyed Good Charlotte-looking dude, makes fun of him for it. The mom says, At least he has a job, and the dad adds, And a car. The dude scoffs while his once-ignored girlfriend rides off with the pizzaboy.
So the dates go down, flirting ensues, and the boyfriend calls out every sexual advancement by the new dude. The parents defend the advancements as harmless. The boyfriend painfully watches each date, nervously fidgiting. Sweat beads down his once overconfident face. At the end, the girl gets to choose who she wants to date again - one of two blind dates or her long-term boyfriend.
During the three shows I've seen, the girl picks a new boy five-out-of-six times. It's so great because the boyfriends are such assholes and get embarrassed so badly. But in this case, the participants are not considering the long-term ramifications of these decisions. They're based on a single, video-taped date and the girl could easily end up in the same unhealthy situation as the current relationship. And honestly, some of these blind-date dudes could take anyone's girl if she hadn't been recently appreciated. There's some serious temptation going on here. But there's also a question to be asked: Are we satisfied in our current relationships or are we so far removed from feeling attractive and wanted that we settle for the comfort and safety of familiarity?
Like most reality shows, there are many variables that make this contest unfair to most of its participants. But the look on a dude's face when his girlfriend leaves him, in front of her cheering parents, for an MTV-sanctioned partner is pure hilarity.
Even if the TV-induced relationship doesn't work out, these girls will be saved from the first-boyfriend blues.
I'm going to be up all night if this show doesn't stop coming on.
EDIT: The next episode is role reversal. You mean parents hate girlfriends too?!?
# posted by PASStheTEA_B @ 3:54 PM 
