Speaking of horrifying TV shows, on my way out of the subway this morning I passed an ad for The Cougar.
The premise? It’s a dating show where a middle-aged woman selects her favorite from a group of much younger men. It’s being hosted by Vivica A Fox.
I hate the whole ”cougar” label to begin with. Why is it worthy of a title when a woman dates a much younger man but not when the opposite happens? Why is Demi Moore open to more scrutiny than Harrison Ford?
There’s also the whole notion of these Bachelor-style shows that’s a problem. You get a bunch of people together to compete for ”love.” This turns the person into a commodity. And then they pass off this forced courtship as a relationship. Not to mention how they always use only conventionally attractive people, placing the focus of love onto appearances and perpetuating the idea that only hot people will ever find love.
Of course, if they don’t use conventionally hot people (see Beauty and the Geek or Average Joe) then at some point the contestants either get a makeover or get replaced by underwear models. Or they are just used as spectacle (like the upcoming More to Love).
Not that I expect reality TV to do anything other than play into the grossest of stereotypes, but this is pretty low. Even for a dating show.
Anyone else miss when TV Land just played Rhoda reruns all the time?
-Liza
(photo via www.tvland.com)
