TradingSpouses
Sick of the Super Bowl? Here's a sampler platter of what else you can watch
If you're like me (you have my deepest sympathy), you don't have a dog in this Sunday's hunt. Thanks to the Arizona Cardinals' first appearance this weekend, my hometown team, the New Orleans Saints, will now be one of only five left in the NFL that have never made a Super Bowl appearance. Three if you don't count the expansion clubs.
So if you're a Cardinals fan and don't have the stomach to endure their slow, agonizing and inevitable defeat at the hands of the Pittsburgh Steelers, here are some alternative shows you can watch instead of the Super Bowl.
A history of reality television (part eight): Family, work ... and the future
Family and the workplace -- two constants in everyday American society. They are the places where we spend most of our lives. Sometimes we spend more time at one over complaints of the other. Other times, we barely want to spend time at either location.
Because these are so important to many people across this country, it made sense that television would delve into both of these environments during the Reality Revolution. However, since a 60-minute show about a senior technical analyst sitting in his four square-foot cube was not likely to draw in the audience, the reality shows that were created focused on those families and workplaces that were a tad more unique. Thusly, shows were created around well-to-do families, celebrity families, or families with multiple children, while workplace shows dealt in tattoos, motorcycles, hair styling, and house-flipping.
Coming in later than the game operas and relationship shows, these family and workplace programs ushered in a new phase of the Reality Revolution and set the stage for the future of reality programming.
What to Watch Fri., Jan. 26
Monk (9PM, USA)Has Monk found a new career? When a rich couple is killed, the detective goes undercover as a butler to investigate and discovers his OCD quirks actually make him a good servant. Sean Astin guest stars as the rich couple's son, who's crushing on Natalie.
What to Watch Fri., Jan. 19
Trading Spouses: Meet Your New Mommy (9PM, Fox)The God Warrior is back! Yes, folks, Marguerite Perrin, who infamously melted down last season, returns for another trade. This is the woman who vomited (caused by the "dark side"), screamed that her host family was "ungodly" and declared the show and its money "tainted." Perrin later accepted the cash, of course, and spent it on gastric bypass surgery. Now, she's 94 pounds lighter, but still a warrior.
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