Considering how prevalent reality television is these days, it's got to be a pretty daunting task to try and put together a comprehensive list of the best and worst of all time. But Entertainment Weekly thinks they've done just that. They've compiled the top 20 reality shows of all time, but also the ten worst reality shows of all time. All in all, they did a pretty damned good job.

I completely agree with the top six, but they lose me with Jackass at number seven. I have never understood the appeal of filming morons doing stupid things on purpose just to be stupid. But there were some shows missing from the list completely, like Little People Big World, So You Think You Can Dance and Beauty and the Geek. Surely those shows are better than The Hills and The Real Housewives of Sesame Street, or whatever franchise they're spinning now.

For some, watching relationship-based reality programming is not their idea of a pleasant night in. Why should they watch shows about finding and keeping love when it takes so long to find that right person in real life? Yet, since the mid-'60s, viewers have turned-in to watch others search for their soul mate. Or, at least their soul mate of the hour.

Of course, in the time of the Reality Revolution, the way love was found on television changed a bit. Rather than asking a simple set of questions to a set of bachelors or bachelorettes sitting behind a wall, men and women would compete for the love of a well-to-do bachelor or bachelorette, or a rapper/model, or a washed up 80s hair band star. They would even compete to see if their love could withstand an onslaught of temptation.

Sometimes they would find their one true love on these reality show. Other times they would be tossed away, their hearts broken, like a piece of paper. Along the way they would be love, sex, fights, sex, heartfelt moments, and sex. With reality programming being what it is, the viewers ate it all up.

Screener Hell is an semi-regular feature in which lead blogger Keith McDuffee tries to fry my brain with the worst TV has to offer.

(S02E01/S02E02) Do you have any idea how bad a show you have to be to include several scenes of gratuitous nudity and still be boring!? I love nudity. The more unnecessary the nudity, the better. My favorite kind of nudity is that mid-'90s Cinemax nudity where the main character, despite her ongoing undercover investigation into the exotic world of high-class prostitution, decides to take a shower for 20 minutes for no good reason at all. I'll watch pretty much any kind of claptrap if it includes that kind of nudity.

But not this show. Not Foursome. There is no amount of tanned, taut Californian wannabe-actress flesh that could get me to watch another minute of this show. Please, don't think this is because I'm maturing; the show is just that bad...

(S04E10) Hey Pam will you... wait for me one second while I tie my shoe?

For everything that happened this week -- a return to form for those of you who were upset that the previous two episodes strayed from the confines of Dunder-Mifflin -- I believe it's that question (and Pam's reaction to it) that will set up the conflict over the remaining episodes of the season. I'm about as good at reading female facial signals as Rain Man, but even I could tell that Pam's face during the "proposal" wasn't exactly filled with the kind of joy you'd expect it would be. Maybe the producers are just giving us a red herring and Pam's reaction tonight will be the equivalent of Lost's four-toed statue (interesting for a blip, then forgotten about) or maybe things are not all that well in JAM-land.

But, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's talk about the rest of the episode first...

Today is a day for rejoicing, at least TV show-wise: two of the most vile shows on television are saying bye-bye.

Both ElimiDate and Blind Date are not coming back next season. ElimiDate hasn't been renewed at all, and while Blind Date has been renewed in 90% of the country for next season, they are just going to show repeats.

And mind you, there are 1300 episodes of Blind Date! Yikes. Get your TiVos and VCRs ready to record them, so you can watch the show over and over and over and over again when the reruns stop.

TiVo is playing matchmaker. On Monday, TiVo is hosting a speed dating party with hundreds of its single subscribers in the San Francisco area. Singles will wear name tags that list their favorite television shows and they will be paired up with other singles who list the same shows as their favorites. And, in true TiVo style, daters will use "Thumbs Up" and "Thumbs Down" stickers on their cards to rate their potential mates. Unfortunately, they cannot fast forward the boring candidates. To get an invite to the event, you have to take the matchmaker quiz (and be in San Francisco by Monday).

Let's say you're on a blind date where your date tells you what shows he/she watches. What shows would make you never call him/her again? I'd run from anyone who watches Dr. Phil.

Yes, that is a wiseass headline. I mean, is there anyone out there who really thinks that what they are seeing on all these network reality shows are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, exactly how it happens?

James Poniewozik over at Time investigates some of the behind the scenes goings on at some reality shows, including Laguna Beach, where they allegedly made up a love triangle that didn't even exist; The Dating Experiment (an ABC show in the works) that took out the name of a celeb in a girl's quote to make it seem like she liked a male contestant, who she really hated; and Paris Line being told what to say on The Simple Life. This comes on the heels of Richard Hatch telling the judge at his trial last week that people cheated on Survivor and producers covered it up. Plus let's not forget the controversies from Joe Millionaire (editing that made it seem that Ethan and one of the girls were doing something in the woods), Blind Date, and other shows. 

I, for one, am SHOCKED. Shocked I tell you!

[via TV Tattle]