While I’m a huge TV fanatic, I have always been super resistant to what I call the “trashy reality show” genre. I have never watched any of the Kardashian series or the Real Housewives Series, or Basketball Wives or anything like that. I’m more of a Project Runway, Hell’s Kitchen or So You Think You Can Dance kind of girl when it comes to reality shows. Needless to say I was always woefully clueless when it came to conversations surrounding these reality “stars” and always had to google them when there was any kind of twitter beef or Instagram drama. HOWEVER, one day I was idly flipping through the channels and was looking for something mindless to watch while I wrote a paper and landed on VH1 aka home to the trashiest of the trashiest when it comes to reality TV and I became a believer. I am now firmly converted to trash TV and of course I felt the need to write an article to spread the word to everyone about how therapeutic it is to watch people enact their entire, messy lives on TV simply for our entertainment.
Love and Hip Hop Hollywood
I have not watched any of the other versions of Love and Hip Hop so I’m not sure how it matches up but for me this show is amazing. It is the first one I believe that actually features some relatively familiar names like Soulja Boy, Ray J, Yung Berg and Omarion and Lil Fizz from B2K. Somehow all of the characters on the show know each other and have been linked to one another romantically in one way or another and it makes for really entertaining TV. The women on the show are not to be played with and on some level it is kind of refreshing to see women so boldly unapologetic and determined. That said, the show is non-stop drama with plenty drink-throwing, screaming matches and love triangles with a healthy sprinkling of Hollywood glamor. If that in any way sounds remotely appealing to you (or even if it doesn’t) then I would highly recommend this show when you need a pick-me-up. Also as an added bonus follow the characters on Instagram and twitter because a lot of the drama actually plays out on social media rather than on TV.
Bad Girls’ Club: Redemption
I have actually watched a few of the seasons of Bad Girls Club before so this one isn’t totally foreign to me and this season they basically just brought back some girls from previous seasons who clearly have not been able to kick the “bad girl” out of them the first time around. They have included a life coach to help counsel the girls, giving this season at least a semblance of respectability and the girls really seem like they are trying to change themselves. However, don’t for one second think that means that the drama has lessened. If anything the drama has increased and the girls are just as fiery as ever. If Im being frank, this is a particularly mindless and potentially damaging show but as far as entertainment value goes; it can’t be beaten. Besides, nothing entertains me more than hearing Natalie Nunn screech “I run LA!” 37 times per episode.
Are you the one?
This show is currently in its second season and I discovered it one day when MTV showed a marathon of the first season in preparation for the premiere of the second season (so essentially I binged watched the entire season in one evening). Basically what this show does is gather a group of 20 super-hot singles who go through rigorous compatibility testing and are then paired with their “perfect match”. They then have 10 shots to figure out who their match is and if everyone figures it out in time, they get one million bucks plus what should be the love of their lives. On some level this show is super ridiculous to me, (especially when people get crazy attached to the point they believe they are in love after knowing each other for like a week) but I can’t stop watching it. Maybe it’s the romantic in me but I feel like this show is the perfect mix of sweet and spicy; lots of drama but a lot of romance as well. Plus it really does make you think about compatibility and how reliable our judgments are when it comes to love- if your perfect match was right in front of you, would you be able to tell?
90 Day Fiancé
I’m not going to lie, in many ways this show is super sketchy. There is just something really shady to me about foreign nationals coming to America on a “fiancé visa” (who knew that was even a thing, by the way) and having to get married within 90 days. The sketchiness is compounded by the fact that often the relationships seem quite devoid of real chemistry. While I’m not saying it’s impossible that a hot 20-something Tunisian man could fall in love with a middle-aged woman with three kids after only having ever spent 11 days together, I’m just saying it’s a little bit out of left-field. I mean, some of the relationships do seem genuine, especially the ones where they fell in love in person as opposed to online but quite a few just come over as super phony to me. Honestly, I watch the show just to see if my cynicism will be justified but it is definitely an interesting watch!