Finding Love on TV:
The Joke is on Us
by
Neely Steinberg
A few nights ago, while flipping through television channels, I happened upon VH1’s latest “Celebreality” show.
I Love New York follows Tiffany Pollard – whose trampy behavior, extreme profanity, and nonsensical catfights with fellow contestants on VH1’s equally trashy Flavor of Love, in which women fought tooth and nail (literally) for rapper and clock-lover Flavor Flav, were apparently (more like, sadly) rewarded with a spinoff dating series – as she attempts, via an elimination style format, to find a long-term mate from a pool of twenty male contenders.
 While I was somewhat amused by the buffoonery, I was also terribly embarrassed by the fact that I continued to watch. But as the show progressed, my mind began to wander – undoubtedly, due to a lack of brain cell stimulation. As Ms. Pollard (aka “ New York”) confessed to the camera regarding her affinity for men who drink alcohol, I had to wonder: Are we to believe that any of these people are really looking to find true love; and, if we don’t believe this notion to be true, why do we watch at all?
After failed love matches on ABC’s The Bachelor and other shows of similar formats, Americans have come to understand that finding love on television is a joke. And that’s what this show, and others like it, boils down to: One big joke. At first, we believed the gag had potential to be real (maybe soulmates could find one another in front of a camera), but now, we recognize the punch-line for what it really is: Money. Money for everyone – for the star, for the daters, and let’s not forget, for the television executives; indeed, with little production costs, producers and corner office holders are the ones laughing the hardest on their way to the bank.
I Love New York doesn’t offer any redeeming qualities as a reality show – other than farce; truly, the show is a clown act. Between “New York’s” flamboyant hair, makeup, and wardrobe and the peculiar group of men – consisting of thugs, a few metrosexuals, a crybaby with an obsession for his recently deceased dog, a serial reality show dater, a male servant (a.k.a. prostitute), and two white boys straight off the Nantucket ferry – vying for New York’s affections, one can only surmise that fame and fortune (not love) is being sought.
But at this point, as viewers, we accept this premise. While the chance for any real love connection to be formed is miniscule, it is more probable that we tune in for the voyeuristic pleasure of seeing people act like complete idiots. Perhaps the ultimate joke is on us, for we’re the idiots tuning in every week.
Or maybe as viewers we’ve just become entirely apathetic. Perhaps the explanation as to why we watch these moronic shows lies in the reasoning offered by the wise and unforgettable television character, George Costanza. In an episode of Seinfeld – the last great example of intelligent television programming – when George responds to the President of NBC after being asked why people would watch a show about nothing, he answers quite simply: “Because it’s on TV.”
Neely Steinberg is a contributing writer and editor for Nuts4chic. She can be emailed at neely@nuts4chic.com.
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