There's A Reason Why They're Virgins

You may have seen a snippet of the commercial from the new TLC program called 'Virgin Diaries'.  If not, brace yourself.



"First comes love.  Then comes marriage.  Then comes Oh my god.  What are you doing to that lady's face?"  The 'Jersey Shore' officially got one upped in their bid as the most disturbing reality show on television.  How is any of this appropriate for a wedding?  Could they be any more detached from reality?  Other than this guy, perhaps?

Ladies and gentlemen, this is what happens when children are not properly taught sex education.  It's obvious they have no clue as to what they're doing.  They don't even know how to kiss.  Look at them!  When it comes to the bedroom, the vast majority of these couples are not going to be using any contraception.  They have no information on the importance of using birth control.

In three weeks, the couple will be on their way to their first child, and then we're looking at the Duggar's, version 2.0.  It's disturbing, to say the least.

Dear lord.  This reminds me of so many Witness weddings I attended as a teenager.

Video: Pageant Mom Dresses Daughter As Prostitute

As if child beauty pageants aren't controversial enough, already.  TLC has released a promotional clip for an upcoming episode of 'Toddlers and Tiaras'.  In it, Paisley comes out dressed up as her favorite actress, Julia Roberts.  Take a look.



PARENTING FAIL!!

Paisley's mother spoke to TMZ today, trying to defend herself.  She says that due to creative editing on the part of TLC, she's made to look like a bad mom.  Paisley had another outfit that day:  the dress that Julia Roberts wore at the end of 'Pretty Woman'.  See?

No harm, no foul.  She's "a modern day Cinderella".  She says, "I'm raising my child just as well as any mother does ... I take my kid to church every week ... at least I'm not forcing them into sports and getting my child injured like some parents."

Maybe not physical injuries, but that kid is going to have a mountain of therapy bills.  Is she really so blind that she doesn't realize that she dressed her 3 year old up like a hooker on national television?

TLC's 'Extreme Couponing' Or, As I Call It, 'Grocery Hoarders'

I wrote a post a couple of days ago on TLC's apparent fascination with little people.  Most reality shows today can be sorted into one of four genres:

• Little people
• Pawn shop/Auction
• Extreme food/Gluttony
• Hoarding

In the last year or so, hoarding shows have become very popular.  It started with A&E, which used to stand for "Arts & Entertainment", debuting their provocative series 'Hoarders'.  'Hoarders' did a very good job at bringing a camera into the homes and lives of a group of people that are rarely seen and widely misunderstood.  It was educational, sometimes sad, and many times, simply disturbing (If you have a chance, watch the episode where the guy hoards thousands of rats.  Jesus!).

Last season, TLC (which ironically stands for "The Learning Channel") jumped on the hoarding bandwagon, and came out with 'Hoarding: Buried Alive'.  It was a much more exploitive version of the A&E original.  It had no substance.  It comes across as a "let's point and look at the freaks" type of program, with no interest in the lives in the people involved or closure in the situation.  

Three weeks ago, TLC premiered their new series 'Extreme Couponing'.  It is made with the intention of being inspirational to people, and to show viewers what can be done if you put your mind to something.  There have been shoppers featured on the show that have had over $990.00 in groceries, and have walked out of the store paying $9.00 after coupons and "club card" discounts.

The problem I have with the show is the obvious mental problems most of these people have.  Many of them truly believe that god is physically assisting them through their shopping process.  Such as this woman:

It's not necessarily the soccer moms evoking god that I have a problem with, which happens more often than you might think.  It's the greed and sheer gluttony that these people display that make me nauseous.  

The woman in the clip above, the one that god was helping collect the coupons, was helping her daughter in law start a stockpile of goods on a recent grocery trip.  Keep in mind, with god's help, she already had a reserve of over 2,000 packs of batteries, over 100 bottles of laundry detergent, and 300  2 liter bottles of Sun Drop soda, not to mention thousands of dollars of additional products.  During her shopping trip, she bought 114 bottles of Excedrin PM (every bottle the store had) and  54 more bottles of Purex laundry detergent.  How much did she give her daughter in law?  Four bottles of Excedrin and five bottles of detergent.

Another woman in a past episode purchased 70 bottles of yellow mustard, clearing out the store.  She's the only person in the family that likes mustard.  Why?  Because, with a coupon, she could get it for $.39, instead of the regular price of $1.69.

Another has collected over 1400 packages of toilet paper, under her son's bed.  Another lady has over 700 packages of diapers in her garage, yet she is single and doesn't have any children.  Why?  Because she can.

There are a couple of exceptions to the rule, however.  Jessica, a mother of four, had her grocery budget reduced to only $160 a month after the recession hit.  She used coupons to make up the difference in her budget.

Others, like Nathan, use coupons to donate food and other goods to local food banks and to troops overseas.

For the most part, though, many of these people are mentally ill.  In tonight's episode, someone goes dumpster diving, yes, dumpster diving, for coupons.  Is it really worth 30 cents off of a stick of deodorant to jump into the trash for a coupon?  I'm all for saving money.  I saved $23.00 using coupons the last time I went to the grocery store, but isn't this crossing the line?

TLC Announces New Lineup - "All Dwarfs, All The Time"

Monday night is especially big on little people (pun intended), with 'Little People, Tricky Fridge' at 7, and 'Dwarf Hoarders' at 10.



Is 'Dwarf Hoarders' about dwarfs that are hoarders, or people that hoard dwarfs?  The latter would be much more entertaining.  Then again, wouldn't that just be a replay of 'Snow White'?

In all seriousness, though, is it just me or do the Discovery Networks, which include TLC and Animal Planet, have a fascination with little people?

For the record, I'm not going to post video of any of the shows that I'm going to mention.  The above video was made as satire, but I think that it makes a valid point.  At some time within the last five years, TLC has realized that little people attract viewers.  Viewers attract advertisers, and advertisers generate revenue.  Millions and millions of dollars of it.  TLC, and their parent company, Discovery, have gotten rich exploiting, let's face it, a disabled segment of the population.

It all started with the Roloff  family being filmed in 2006 for 'Little People, Big World'.  The show featured little people parents, a set of twins (one of which was a little person), and two younger siblings.  The final episode aired in December of 2010.

Then came 'The Little Couple'.  It debuted on TLC in October of 2009.  It features a dwarf couple by the name of Bill, who is 4' tall, and Jen, who is 3' 2" tall, and is a neonatologist at Texas Children's Hospital, in Houston, Texas.  The show's fourth season is supposed to premiere on May 31st.

Then on January 31, 2010, 'The Little Chocolatiers' debuted on TLC.  This show mixed the two popular genres of little people shows and cake/cooking shows.  It features chocolate shop owners Steve Hatch and his wife Katie Masterson, who are little people, and the goings on in their Salt Lake City shop.  It was canceled after one season.

Let's not forget 'Pit Boss', a show on Discovery owned Animal Planet, which crossed the popular little people and Pit Bull rescue genres.  It debuted two weeks before the "Oh how cute.  Little people are making chocolate" show, on January 16, 2010.  It follows Shorty Rossi and his group of little people Pit Bull activists, as they rescue, steal, and care for Pits at Shorty's Rescue, his personal Pit Bull rescue facility.  It's currently in it's third season.

At least they're not TruTV.  The network, which is owned by TBS, has signed a contract with former pro wrestler Hulk Hogan to develop and star in a show tentatively titled Micro Championship Wrestling, or 'Hulk Hogan's MCW'.  It will feature Hogan "serving as a mentor to the wrestlers -- who also happen to be little people -- in a new professional league."  Really?  Really.


So pull up a chair people.  Grab a beer.  Let's sit back and laugh at the midget wrestlers on TruTV.  Check your local listings.

New Polygamy Reality Show On TLC

What I wanna know is: Where is the polyamory reality show? Polyamory is much more common, and, for mainstream America, taboo than polygamy. Give me a show where the women aren't just sharing a husband, but sharing each other, and I'll give you my time. Polygamy....been there done that. It's called Big Love, and, based on the preview, it's much more interesting.