#14. Women need salvation from reality TV shows

This post is unfortunately about a reality show I happened to watch and how it disrupted my night. I am not opposed to all shows of this genre because I am a big American Idol fan, used to follow Survivor and The Apprentice, before it went celebrity. However I feel as if the networks are inundated with these containerized talk shows, and instead of seeking quality they are grasping at straws.

So it is the last day of our holiday vacation and the family is hanging out with my little cousin before he heads back to college and we are eating and having fun. As the conversation mellows we head into the living room where “True Beauty”, the new collaboration between Tyra Banks and Ashton Kutcher, is already in progress. Initially, the group of us challenged the criteria for participating on this show – this is supposed to be a beauty contest right? But in true reality form, the more you look at people, the more they grow on you and so did the show - at least until the last twenty-minutes when they totally blew it.

What bothered me most was not the absence of all cultures and diverse looks, but that the most ethnic woman was dismissed first. How did the networks let this happen? How could they buy into stereotypical rules about beauty, all while stating that the show is about inner beauty as well? The lone beauty banished from the show did not have a symmetrical face so she was among the least beautiful, her name was hard to pronounce, she was nosey, had a foul mouth, an ATTITUDE, was arrogant, and she did not even have the good sense to hold the door open for a guy carrying a tray of coffee. I read her every move. When does typecasting go too far? Is not this the type of neck-rolling black female that sappy black males complain about and leave for white women? Was that the ulterior motive here?

In the meantime, I would really like to know how Hadiyyah-lah got this job. Perhaps her pledge to natural beauty made her different and eligible for the competition, but what about her obvious personality issues? Someone had to notice. Now here it is on mainstream television for all to see. For all dufuses, who really think reality television is real, to rationalize their prejudices. This is not all beautiful black women and Tyra, of all people, should know this.

Again, I am tired of the networks pawning off cheap labor, wannabe actors on us as good television. I am frustrated about how women are depicted on too many of these beauty and dating shows. How can we save the integrity of “real” women from Hollywood?