This weekend has been absolutely crazy. A'DOLLed Fantasy held auditions for new spots within the company. We had a great turnout and we hired on some amazing new dancers to the company. They are all absolutely incredible and all bring different looks and talent to the table. Amidst all that, my icon and general role model, Miss Betty White, hosted one of the funniest Saturday Night Live episodes in a hell of a long time. It reminded me of the golden times of Saturday Night Live with Ana Gesteyer, Tina Fey, Molly Shannon, and more. They brought back some of my favorite segments and sketches for the episode.

Meanwhile, the Utility Players put up the newest episode of their podcast AWKWARD MOMENTS. This episode focused on a discussion of reality TV in all of its splendor. I have a very intimate relationship with reality tv - I basically grew up on it. I started out with a regular dosage of game show reality tv with The Price is Right, The Weakest Link, Hollywood Squares, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Deal or no Deal, and more. I then quickly moved on to the reality tv sensation of Real World and Road Rules. Then of course, competition reality tv took over with Project Runway, Survivor, American Idol, Biggest Loser, and The Amazing Race. Finally, but certainly not least, the reality tv dating games are perhaps my favorite. I became an avid fan of Joe Millionaire, One Shot with Tila Tequila, the Bachelor, and the Bachelorette. My favorite one and probably the one that highlights the ridiculousness of reality tv was a dating game featured on the Bravo network called Boy Meets Boy. It was a gay reality tv dating show where this studly yet sensitive gay bachelor had 15 hot men to choose from. He even had the assistant of his fag hag best friend to aid him in choosing which bachelors to kick off. The caveat of this show - not all of the men on the show were straight. If bachelor ended up choosing a gay partner, then he and his partner would live happily ever after in gay bliss with $100,000. However, if a straight men was chosen as the bachelor's partner, the gay guy would get nothing and the straight men would walk away with $100,000. The bachelor and and the friend were unaware of this at the beginning and it was only revealed to them at the end.  I remember watching the show fascinated until the producers told the bachelor and the friend and the best friend freaked out. She broke down and thought that this was stupid and hurtful to do to another human being. I had that get real moment of "how far are we willing to go in order to entertain the masses?"

Do we enjoy watching reality tv because it is comforting to witness the lives of people who are worse off than we are? Does it provide solace? Do we tell ourselves, "as bad as my life is, at someone else has it worse than I do"?

There is no doubt that reality TV has molded and shaped our experiences and perception of pop culture. It will be interesting - and slightly scary - to see how reality television continues to evolve and works to shape entertainment.

Here is the podcast episode with the Utility Players sharing their own views and experiences with reality TV. Enjoy!!!!