Reality TV’s never been a friend of mine…

I hate it, it has all the appeal of watching a car crash and about as much relevance. As a rule I avoid it like the plague. Especially as most of the ‘watercooler moments’ I’ve overheard seem to involve people laughing at those who made fools of themselves the night before.  If I wanted to watch that I could drive through any town on a Friday night at pub/club kicking out time… anyway I’m going to stop trying to put my disdain into words at this point.

Now this is the part where I blame my mother, I bring her the London papers back on a night and she was curious about Susan Boyle. To appease the parental curiosity I pulled up the clip of her performance on you tube… and like most people she sang and I was speachless (doesn’t happen often). Since then the media did what they do, put her up on a pedestal to look at.  From my morning papers (even the Times got in on the act) I know she has learning ‘dificulties’ , was bullied at school and  has a cat called Pebbles and various other random things. She’s been under a spotlight for about 3 weeks even Simon Cowell reckons he couldn’t have predicted. And last week they decided to knock her down..Saturday she lost (No I didn’t watch – though admit to secretly rooting for her).

This morning her ‘meltdown’ was again front and centre of the daily papers (including the Times – again). I’m not suprised she’s checked into the Priory ’cause the atention over the last 3 weeks has been brutal. Even the ‘compliments’ were barbed – her apperence was disected and mocked and then the media was amazed when she changed it. She’s been called ‘the hairy angel’ for the last 3 weeks – when the important thing is she has a voice that can knock your socks off – I’ve heard some amazing singers in my time and while Pavarott was a BIG guy no one commented on his weight – just the power of his voice.

There are rumours that at the end of all of this Susan’s going to come out with record deals and as a bigger winner than of just a talent contest. I hope she does – not just because with what she has coped with over the last 3 weeks she deserves it. Not just because she can sing beautifully and not just because sometimes the underdog should win… but a combination of all of the above.  If there’s a kamic balence somewhere she should come out of this with more than a hospital stay and some lousy headlines.

P.S

I STILL hate reality tv