Everybody's got issues...have you?

I have confessed to those who know me that I am deplore most reality TV shows. I put the blame on the oodles of these ridiculous to the fans of the one that started it all--Survivor. That's right. If that show didn't draw record numbers on a weekly basis, things could have turned out different. When networks saw how popular (and cheap) they could produce reality shows a funny thing happened. We got more and more and more and...well you get the idea. I haven't done a count so if someone wants to tally up the number of shows since Survivor....Having said that, I spent my day working on some stories for this week's paper and watching a fourth season marathon of The Surreal Life the MTV show where they bring seven once famous celebs who have faded from the public together to live together as a family in an LA mansion.I had entertained a couple epsisodes of season one but just couldn't justify spending my time watching an entire episode. Well, from like, 11 a.m. till 5:00 p.m. I endulged - I did get my stories written - in the day to day of Chris Knight (Peter Brady), Chyna Girl (Chyna from the WWE), Da Brat, Jane Weidlin (Go-Go's, America's top model male and female (Markus Shekenberg-sp. and Adrianne Curry) and Vern Troyer (Mini Me).Chyna has some major issues to overcome, Jane Weidlin is insecure, Da Brat is brutally honest, Vern puts on a tought front; the two most normal seem to be Chris and Markus.Well, I pretty much saw it all: excessive drinking, skinny-dipping, S & M, verbal slinging, confessions of suicidal tendencies, fight or flight parenting skills, tears of joy and laughter, late night phone calls from a supposed 'abusive boyfriend' and stripteasing and lapdances. I tell ya, this had it all. And I was buying every minute of what they were selling me.My favourite 'plotline' was where 22-year old Adrian falls for 40-something Chris. Any guesses why?I also chatted with my daughter on messenger for about an hour and I called to wish my dad a Happy Father's Day.And for those of you who are fans of "Animation domination" on Fox, check out American Dad. It's funny, it's risky and it has an alien and a talking German goldfish.