"Don't be THAT guy..."

I have become THAT GUY.

You know, the guy who watches every reality TV show on the planet? This summer has unearthed a newfound obsession of mine...REALITY TELEVISION.

I resisted. For a long time, I really did. But when they make shows that are this compelling, you can't do anything to tear your eyes away from the TV.

Here's a little review of the shows that have caught my fancy this summer:

HOGAN KNOWS BEST
"WHAT'RE YOU GONNA DO WHEN HOGAN KNOWS BEST RUNS WILD ON YOU?" I really am ashamed to admit this. I truly did not want to like this show. It is simultaneously terrible and completely amazing. It stars Terry "Hulk" Hogan and the rest of his family (wife, son and daughter) and basically is about their life. Much of it lately is centering around his daughter Brooke and her striving to get a record deal. Hulk manages her through it with surprising grace and intelligence. Who knew? And he cares immensely for his family, which is very cool. It's pretty much a rehash of The Osbournes, but with people that I think are way more interesting.

BEING BOBBY BROWN
I was against this show from the start. That is until I was exposed to the CRAZY. The CRAZY is Whitney Houston who steals the show completely. Their relationship is both volatile and sweet and is some great television. I don't really set down to watch this show, but if it is on, I end up watching it.

Keeping with the same channel...

BLOW OUT
One of my friends told me that he was watching this show and I made fun of him. Well, consider this my public apology because this show is great. Jonathan Antin is one of the most explosive TV stars on TV since that dude Chris from the Apprentice. The people around him are hilarious and I just find the whole show pretty comical, but also extremely watchable. Now that Season Two is over, it will be interesting to see if it comes back. Maybe not, but with Jonathan, anything is possible and as big of an egomaniac as he is, I wouldn't be surprised...that guy loves himself an awful lot. Probably, Blow Out: The Baby is Born...

Also on Bravo is...

KATHY GRIFFIN: MY LIFE ON THE D-LIST
I have always thought that while Kathy Griffin was maybe one of the most annoying "pseudo-celebrities", she was also, BY FAR, one of the funniest. She had an HBO special a long time ago that I watched on a New Year's Eve that made me laugh harder than I had ever laughed in my life. I don't particularly like it when she is hosting stuff like Celebrity Mole or The Surreal Life (which, BTW, I can't stand), but when she is just being herself or ripping on celebrities, I am totally there. She is a riot and I like her show so far (one episode).

SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE
I actually get a pass on this one because my wife has always been a dancer. She was captain of her drill team in both high school and college and even danced professionally for a basketball team after we got married. It's American Idol for dancers, but without Randy Jackson saying crap like, "It was a little pitchy." I can't stand that crap.

THE REAL WORLD: AUSTIN
I was totally over The Real World. I thought that after The Real World: Chicago, the show totally jumped the shark. It just got to be a big party with the pretty people. It was totally formulaic and you could predict the type of people that would be on every show. The straw that broke the camel's back was The Real World: Las Vegas. It was so disappointing that NOTHING REALLY HAPPENED when they were there. Just lots and lots of inter-roommate "relations" and your typical boring crap. HOWEVER, in my opinion, I don't think enough people give credit to The Real World for starting the whole "reality television" craze. When that show came out, it was huge and it still is. The reason is that they manufactured better drama than they can on normal TV shows because they make it look "real". I mean, it is "The Real World" for goodness sake...it MUST be real. This season has finally delivered with some serious drama. Plus, there's a dude from my hometown on it (albeit, he is the toolish Wes). The whole "Danny almost loses his vision" thing was CRAZY. I loved it. Brought me back to the show that I haven't watched since they went to Paris.

However, I don't usually catch it during its normal time because unfortunately, it conflicts with what is by far my favorite (and least embarrassing) show...

MIAMI INK
This is a legitimately interesting show. Premise: a guy owns and operates a Miami tattoo parlor with 4 of his closest friends. I don't know where these guys are in the KC tattoo parlors, but they are way more interesting (and surprisingly normal) than most folks I've seen. I have a new tattoo in mind and I want to go have it done by Chris Nuñez because I think he is the coolest out of the bunch. While the owner of the store, Ami, is a bit of a head case, I like the rest of the guys on the show and the stories of the people that come in to get tattoos are very interesting.

So that's all of them (I think). Pretty sad, isn't it. And that doesn't even include the home improvement shows that we watch, but we'll save that for another discussion...they don't really count.