
I’m not a big reality show person, though I had a long love affair with Survivor and it took me something like 18 seasons (9 years) to break my addiction. Everyone in our family slowly dropped out, and finally it became too repetitive and predictable even for me, so I let it sink into the sea.
Other than that, I haven’t ever watched more than an episode or two of The Voice or America’s Got Talent or Dancing with the Stars or Big Brother. In fact, I don’t know if any of those are actually the names of the shows. I’ve seen the ads, and clips but it’s been so long since I saw any of them that I can’t swear I have the titles correct.
All I know is that the subject matter doesn’t interest me. I don’t care about the people who are on them. The actions are staged, so despite the times when it seems like they might be doing something vaguely exciting, I can’t get jazzed enough to watch them more than once. Still, many millions of people tune in, so they can’t be all bad. Or, can they?
The U.S. version of Love Island proved that yes, more bad TV can be created. I don’t know what the ratings were for LI, but they were obviously good enough for the show to last through all its episodes. I, on the other hand, did not.
I did not make it through episode one. Ten minutes in I deleted the recording. Or, to be more accurate, perhaps is was 19 minutes in. Don’t want to exaggerate. And I wanted to give it a decent chance before I vomited on the remote.
Why did I want to watch initially? At this stage of early winter, I don’t really know. I can’t think back that far. I do remember the reviews were sterling and the way they were written it seemed to have some intrigue in terms of how the couples related and hooked up with each other. Cheap entertainment. Bubble gum for the mind after a hard day at work.
Instead of an interesting plot, what we got was mindless flirtation, stupid conversations and gossip. Sorry, but I don’t understand the attraction.
I tried, I really did. I watched a second episode, but turned that one off after 9 minutes. It only reinforced my perspective. “WHY WOULD ANYONE WATCH THIS GARBAGE!”
People do. They have different standards. Perhaps it’s an escape syndrome, wanted to leave a boring life. But I’m not sure how a boring TV show would help in that matter.
Maybe they want to watch hard bodies in skimpy bathing suits. Even if that’s your thing, it’s still pretty repetitive if there isn’t a story.
I’m not sure whether LI was canceled or renewed because I don’t care. I don’t care enough to even Google it to find out. The island should sink and something with better writing and a plot should emerge.