Keeping Up With The Ridiculous

When my sister was visiting me, she made some comment about not even knowing who those Kardashians were and why was anyone bothering to keep up with them? I just laughed. I told her it was like any other train wreck that you can't take your eyes off of. Jersey Shore. Pretty Wild. Keeping Up With The Kardashians, the two that take Miami, etc. Some shows are just created to titillate the viewer with the lives of the rich and famous.

The Kardashians were children of a highly paid LA attorney. When he died they opened a clothing store. Their mom married Bruce Jenner. They became friends with the rich and famous because they were rich fashionistas. They started walking the red carpet with their BFFs and got famous for being famous.

Now, when I am not paying attention to TV--read this, 'watching TV with my laptop or a book on my lap'--I often end up with the channel on HGTV, The Food Network, or E! Entertainment. These channels are ones that I can watch out of the corner of my eye and not be distracted too much. When I'm paying bills, or researching, even catching up on emails, I generally have this TV on as company.

So, I see way more of the Kardashians than I'd like. Because they do doggone marathons of that show.

I saw a new one last night. They were, in turns, bemoaning the fact that Kim Kardashian is single and needs a date, and showing her in her new home. When the family forced a 'house warming party' on her, against her will, she rented people corrals from a local movie theater so that she could bar off rooms of her house. She erected shoe racks in the foyer so that the party attendees would take off their shoes. When her mom saw it, she made Kim take it all down saying she couldn't be rude to her guests.

So, Kim had all these people over and had a nervous breakdown because they spilled drinks and messed up a pillow. She fled upstairs crying like a baby about her stuff being ruined. When Bruce Jenner (the voice of reason in this crazy family) went up, he told her that having a home was a place to make memories. All the stuff could be fixed or replaced, it was the memories that you made in a home that you treasured. Good advice.

So, the little rich girl went down, crammed a cupcake in her mother's face and got in a food fight in the kitchen. It sounds stupid, but it really was her way of relaxing and having fun.

The thought that circled through my mind the entire episode was this: "THAT is why she's single. No man would put up with that craziness, no matter how pretty or rich she is."

When I watch shows like this, it reminds me how good I have it. It doesn't matter to me that I'm not rich, or famous, or living an LA lifestyle. What matters to me is family and love. I've got that in spades. If you want to come over to my house and spill a drink, you can. I'll fling a towel at your head and bark at you to clean it up. That's it. If you ruin something, I'll replace it. Because I've never cared about my stuff... not more than my friends.

There's a lot of good TV on these days. Excellent dramas and comedies were feted on Sunday night at the PrimeTime Emmys. I'm pretty sure none of the shows I'm watching were even nominated. But who cares? I watch mindless TV when I want NOT to be engaged. And this show is mindless TV.

My sister is right to ignore these antics. They can have no impact on her life. She doesn't care about celebrities and they don't care about her. When she watches TV, she pays attention. So she watches better shows than I do. Generally, when I'm watching TV, it's with a book in my lap. I should just turn it off, shouldn't I?

--Sandee Wagner