yelling at the tv

Last night I found myself yelling at the television again. I've always been one to walk around naked, but now that I have my very own house, I've discovered the joys of talking out loud to, well, either the people on the tv or the people who created the tv or fellow watchers or...

Anyway, the fox version of the show where two very different women visit each other's homes for a week and Learn A Valuable Lesson was on last night. It was the second of a two-parter but my usual show was on so I only watched it during the commercials. Okay, I snuck in a few flips while really stupid and/or embarrassing things were happening on the other show. Anyway, the two people who switched had completely different ideas of cleanliness. One was terribly ocd, vacuuming incessantly, making sure everything is put away, not letting shoes touch her carpet, forcing her children to clean, etc. The other lived in a rather slovenly house but it was clean enough for her by god and really gross stuff (dog doo mainly) eventually got cleaned up. She was the happy mom. She eventually got the kids and dad to lighten up, abandon their cleaning schedule, and *gasp* allow people to wear shoes in the house during an insane party that involved silly string getting all over the ceiling. The other one hated everyone in the house, tried to make them clean up, and wrote an extremely detailed list of how they had to spend their money. The happy one left money for a vacation, something else and the majority to the husband to buy a motorcycle.

I hoped that the ocd lady would go home a bit more relaxed and stop turning her children into hateful, small-minded ocd freaks. However, as soon as she got home she started complaining about the state of the house, what her family had allowed while she was away, and started trying to reinstate martial law. Her husband, having seen what she was doing to her kids (and him), balked. The end of the show left them in conflict and I found myself thinking that they should get a divorce.

I know lots of people who hate reality tv and for very good reasons. I like it because of the conflict it shows (except when it's obviously contrived) and the discomfort it causes me. I don't like conflict in my own life, so it's my way of getting my fill of it without getting hurt or hurting. Usually I just think the shows are silly but for some reason this one really got to me, maybe because it really appeared that the women were letting their real selves show and be judged.

Okay, enough about angst and tv. Tonight I'm going to an Aeros game, so expect a blow-by-blow (from the 3rd row) tomorrow.