Dancing With the Stars

Image via WikipediaGenerally speaking, I do not watch so-called reality television.  There have been a few exceptions, but for the most part it is not something that I usually watch.  I can say with all honesty that I have never watched a single episode of American Idol.  Nor have I watched shows like Survivor, Big Brother, or The Amazing Race.  They just do not interest me.

As I said, it is a general rule for me.  There have been a few exceptions over the years, usually if there was a celebrity participating in the program that I had some sort of affinity for.  For instance, last year, I got caught up in watching The Biggest Loser when it was announced that Olympic gold medal wrestler Rulon Gardner would be a participant.  I watched Celebrity Apprentice the year that Trace Adkins was a member of the cast.

Dancing with the Stars is one of those programs that I rarely watch though I have watched with some interest in the past.  I think the only full season of that program that I watched was the year that Kristi Yamaguchi was a participant and eventual winner.  I watched a good bit the year Sara Evans was on the show.  As much as I like Sarah Palin, I did not watch much when her daughter Bristol was on the show.

The cast for the upcoming season of Dancing with the Stars was revealed, and in looking at the cast, I can safely say that I don't believe that I will be watching the show.  Their is just no person on the cast that I am even remotely a fan of.  I will say that the inclusion of Chaz (nee Chastity) Bono as a member will make for an interesting study of human nature and the tolerance of the country as a whole.

Chaz was born as a woman, the only daughter to Sonny Bono and Cher.  A few years ago, she began the process of gender transformation, identifying herself as a man, taking hormone shots and having sex change surgery.  A year ago, she had the court recognize her gender as male and legally changed her name from Chastity to Chaz.  Henceforth, for the rest of this post, I will refer to Chaz in the male gender as is his preference.  Chaz will be participating in the show as a man with a female dance partner.

Personally, as a Libertarian (though very conservative leaning) I could care less how Chaz identifies himself gender wise.  To each his own is my motto.  If this is what Chaz needs to make himself feel whole and happy, then more power to him.  When it comes to gay issues, I usually tend to be more neutral than hostile to their causes.  I do, however, also understand the issues that some more socially conservative folks have, especially withing the religious community.

I do believe that the majority of this country is center-right in their social and political views.  While I personally have no qualms with Chaz participating in the show as a man, there are those out their calling for ABC to remove Chaz from the programming and calling for boycotts of the show.  As I said, I will not be watching this year, but not because of Chaz Bono.  I do think it might be interesting to see if ratings suffer at all due to his appearance, or if there would be a concerted effort to see him eliminated from the show.  Then again, their could be a push from the gay community to vote for him.

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The Biggest Loser

Image by rockymountainhigh via FlickrIt is Tuesday night, so that means I will be watching "The Biggest Loser" on television tonight, much like I have since the current season began nearly three months ago.  Normally, I am not a fan of genre of television referred to as "reality television," but when I heard that former Olympic gold medalist Rulon Gardner was going to be a contestant, I decided to watch.

This is the 11th season of "The Biggest Loser," so it must get fairly good ratings on television.  I think this is probably the second season that I have actively watched the show.  It has been a few years since I watched it, but having rooted for Rulon when he won his gold medal, I had to watch this season.  I watched one full season of "Dancing with the Stars" when Kristi Yamaguchi was a contestant and winner of that contest.  That has been the extent of my reality television viewing.

Regular readers of this blog know that I am currently trying to transform my eating habits and trying to lose weight.  Since starting in mid February, I have lost about 15-20 pounds.  I still have a way to go to be at my "ideal" weight, but I am making progress slowly and steadily.  The best part is that while on my current program for nearly two months, I do not feel like I am depriving myself of anything which is half the battle.  I would like to say that watching "The Biggest Loser" is what inspired me to begin my own weight loss quest.  However, that isn't the case.  It was more a case of just feeling poorly all around.

I will say it is very inspirational to watch the contestants work towards their weight loss goals.  It can also get very emotional listening to them talk about how they got where they are and how they are doing working towards their goals.  The thing about watching a show like this is the fact that it is on television, and so often while watching television, the viewer engages in certain activities.  For me, those activities involved several glasses of red wine and a box of Cheez Its or a bag of chips.  The irony is not lost on me.

There is no doubt that there is an obesity epidemic in the United States these days.  I do not want to come across like a reformed eater trying to change everybody's eating habits, much like a reformed smoker can be the most obnoxious anti-smoking advocate, since I admit I still have a long way to go.  Still, I can not help but wonder how many people sit and watch a show like "The Biggest Loser" who do so with my old eating habits of pigging out on junk food oblivious to the irony of such behavior.  I have never been large enough to be a contestant on the show, and I hope I never do.  I also hope that I will never get as large as I was, nor be as large as I currently am.

Balloon Boy Family Facing Charges

On Thursday, I was sitting at my desk when my boss came by and told me that a six year old boy had somehow gotten into his father's homemade hot air balloon and taken off.  I had two thoughts, how could they possibly get him down, and who in the hell would have a balloon that could take off inflated and unattended where a child could get into it?

A couple hours later, I heard that the balloon had crash landed but that the boy was not in the basket.  Like many, I immediately thought that maybe he had fallen out of the balloon to his death.  In the back of my mind I held a sliver of hope that perhaps the boy had not been a passenger in the balloon after all.

By now, we all know that Falcon Heene had been hiding in a box in the attic of their house.  The family, which had appeared in the reality TV show "Wife Swap," immediately hit the morning talk show circuit.  On the Larry King show, young Falcon may have let it slip when he said "You said we did this for a show."

Now the Larimer County sheriff says the parents are facing misdemeanor charges of filing a false police report.  He also says that he is working with the Federal Aviation Administration to see if additional federal charges could be filed as the misdemeanor charges don't measure up to the severity of the situation.So now it looks pretty clear that it was all a hoax.  Turns out the father, Richard Heene, feels he should be famous and it was all part of trying to develop his own reality television show.

What a piece of shit this guy is!  I certainly hope that federal charges can be filed and that they are felony charges.  If this is true, he deserves to go to jail for a long time in my opinion.  He definitely should be held responsible for the cost of all the resources that were used to try to save his son.  What kind of dirt bag would ever suggest, even knowing it to be a hoax, that their child was in mortal danger?

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