Television is a funny thing. When you've been watching it all your life, it not only takes on a habitual role, it can also become extremely personal. Everyone has "their shows" -- the shows they watch religiously, the shows for which DVR isn't an option, the shows they try to talk their significant others into liking, the shows that force them to ream out a blogger for merely suggesting that "maybe the show is slipping," ignoring the fact that the blogger really likes the show too, and if they could just meet face to face they would see that there's no need to call him that.

Taking that into account, it can be depressing, quite frankly, when the summer months arrive and all those shows we've been manipulating our schedules around are gone. But it doesn't necessarily have to be. The summer is an opportunity to leave that televisual comfort zone that we've spent so many years cultivating and seek new shows to add to our socially acceptable obsession. Here's a shortlist of shows premiering this summer that should be a cure for the "where's my show" blues.

So, remember that time paparazzi snapped photos of reality TV luminaries Heidi Montag, Danielle Staub and Jake Pavelka filming some sort of show in Hollywood?

Well, the reality-pocalypse is nigh: Those A-listers and more will be coming your way this fall in VH1's new reality series, 'Famous Food.' According to the network, the former 'Hills' star, 'Real Housewife of New Jersey' and 'Bachelor' will join Three 6 Mafia members DJ Paul and Juicy J, former call girl Ashley Dupre (she's a singer now, apparently) and 'Sopranos' star Vincent Pastore in starting a new restaurant.

The pseudo-celebs will work alongside Los Angeles restaurateurs Mike Malin and Lonnie Moore of the Dolce Group as they try to launch a new restaurant in L.A. called Famous Food.

This weekend, the Los Angeles Convention Center played host to the Reality Rocks Expo, a sort of Comic-Con for reality TV fans. The convention promised intimate access to such luminaries as the goths with the pink hair from 'The Amazing Race' (Kent and Vyxsin), Judge Lynn Toler from 'Divorce Court,' and early 'American Idol' castoffs.

Though our friend Andy Dehnart at Reality Blurred reports that the staff projected an audience of 15,000 attendees, come convention weekend, nobody actually showed up. Seriously -- check out these photos of the event from B-Side blog, featuring crowds as large as 12 amassing to watch former 'Idol' finalist Andrew Garcia, empty autograph lines for 'Paranormal Files' hosts, and a 'Big Brother' panel with the same amount of panelists as audience members.

Even The Los Angeles Times, which co-sponsored the event, posted two devastating recaps on its Showtracker blog. Events featured "embarrassingly small audiences," and the lone high point from Saturday's write-up was that "the food lines were short."

I watch a lot of television -- some would say an unhealthy amount -- walking the thin line between hobby and obsession. I have the luxury of having jobs (writing, teaching) that allow me to sheepishly categorize my viewing habits as "research," no different from Cousteau or Goodall, but probably with more Cheetos.

Through all the "research," all the time spent lying in bed thinking, all the shouting of things at random passers-by, there's still one thing I have yet to wrap my admittedly gargantuan head around: Why does anyone -- even members of her own family -- care what Kirstie Alley is doing?! Unless she's making you a pie or babysitting your infant (that's my show idea -- don't even think about stealing it), why would anyone care?

I don't mean to single out Ms. Alley, but I'm using her as an emblem for all of celebreality-dom. The truth is that there are countless others out there slapping on makeup and inking deals with the devil for one more shot at being recognized in line at Subway -- enough to necessitate the obnoxious term "celebreality."

More of our best of the decade coverage, which started on Tuesday. You can read the other posts at the link above. Here, we talk about the cheesiest in reality from the decade. And there was a lot of cheesy going around.

The turn of the millennium was the point when television networks were watching the rise of Survivor, The Amazing Race, and American Idol and thought, "I can do that!" What they didn't realize was that to maintain a high quality level, they still needed a big budget.

Instead of monetary prizes, networks turned to things like love, the experience, and the belief of fifteen minutes of fame to entice people to participate. Slowly with the help of networks like Fox, E!, and VH1, reality shows got more classless and turned trashy. Like a car accident, viewers can't stop watching. The decade has provided a countless number of trashy reality shows and here is TV Squad's favorites of the decade.

VH1 is expanding on its 'Tough Love' franchise by ordering eight episodes of a show that is to include couples, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The spinoff, aptly titled 'Tough Love: Couples,' will feature 'Tough Love' star Steve Ward and his mother JoAnn. The two will assess the relationships of the couples just before they are set to marry, determining if they are fit to tie the knot together.

This is certainly not the first time VH1 has spun off off their popular shows, sometimes unnecessarily. In fact, there are so many spinoffs of their reality shows, we have compiled a list of just the worst ones.

One of the biggest names and egos in the National Football League will try to cram his big life (and mouth) into 30 to 60 minutes of weekly programming for VH1.

Terrell Owens, the Buffalo Bills' new star receiver, will star in a new reality show called Playing the Field.

The show will give one of the league's most vocal stars a chance to show his fans and haters what life is like on and off the field, and could start with his firing from the Dallas Cowboys.

Judging from the amount of hyperbole being used each day on The Drudge Report, it appears that the nation might be sliding into an economic downturn. While a lot of you might be worried about this, I'm completely confident that the current presidential brain-trust will solve the problem and in no way will it lame-duck its way through the next seven months, leaving the economy's problems for the next poor schlub who gets elected.

So while most of the big media outlets focus on silly, soon-to-be-solved problems like "the economy." I've moved on to bigger and better things. In fact, I believe I have found the number one problem facing the next president and some practical advice on how he might be able to fix it. This is a problem that affects democrats and republicans, the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the black and the white. I'm talking, of course, about...

Welcome to Super Skank Wednesday. This is where I celebrate the awesomely skanky people on the following shows: Flavor of Love, I Love New York (or whatever show Tiffany Pollard is making next), The Surreal Life, Charm School, and Miss Rap Supreme.

After the jump, I have a list for you. I call it, "The 10 Most Fabulous Flavorettes and Rockettes." Not those Rockettes. Not the ones who kick really high and line-up in different formations and perform at Radio City. Bret's Rockettes! Okay, it's a bad name, but what else do I call them (especially when Flav refers to his skanks as "Flavorettes")?

Welcome to Super Skank Wednesday. This is where I celebrate the awesomely skanky people on the following shows: Flavor of Love, I Love New York (or whatever show Tiffany Pollard is making next), The Surreal Life, Charm School, and Miss Rap Supreme.

After the jump, I'll talk about this Monday's Flavor of Love 3 Reunion, The Bad Girls Club reunion from last week called "Unfinished Business," and Miss Rap Supreme.

VH1 released a superteaser for their new summer celebreality series I Love Money last Friday. From the looks of the video, I Love Money will be more of the trashiness and scandal we've come to expect from other VH1 shows like Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, I Love New York and Charm School. The cast will be split into two teams (gold and green) and compete for a $250,000 prize a lá the Real World / Road Rules Gauntlet or Inferno shows. However, since this cast is less athletic and more skanky than the RW/RR folks, the actual challenges themselves look like they will be much more entertaining. And of course, you won't be tuning in just for the competitions. According to the superteaser, they'll be hook-ups, secret alliances, a spitting contest (perfect for Pumkin), and even some "true" love.

The superteaser is five minutes long! That's five minutes of skanky goodness for your enjoyment.

Okay, you can commence the happy dance! Contestants from your favorite skanky shows on VH1 coming together for an all-star competition called I Love Money. What will they be competing for? I think you can figure that one out. The show will feature your favorite personalities from Rock of Love, Flavor Of Love, and I Love New York. It's produced by Mark Cronin and Cris Abrego (my personal heroes) who have produced, well, just about every successful show on VH1.

Welcome to Super Skank Wednesday. This is where I celebrate the awesomely skanky people on the following shows: Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, I Love New York (or whatever show Tiffany Pollard is making next), The Surreal Life, and Charm School. Basically, I'll discuss the skankalicious shows that make VH1 the network it is today.

After the jump I have a look at my favorite quotations from this week's episodes of Flavor of Love 3 and Rock of Love 2. I call it Epigrams, A Discussion. Enjoy Skank-lovers!

Welcome to Super Skank Wednesday. This is where I celebrate the skanky people on the following shows: Rock of Love, Flavor of Love, I Love New York (or whatever show Tiffany Pollard is making next), The Surreal Life and Charm School. Basically, I'll talk about the shows that make VH1 the network it is today.

SSW is a celebration of the many life lessons we can learn from VH1's raunchiest characters. I'll put together lists, Vs. articles, spotlight a special skank or two, and maybe even throw in a pop quiz for you adoring VH1 fans. For the next few weeks, I'll focus mostly on Rock of Love 2, on the darling bachelor Bret Michaels and his crew of devout skanks.

My first article, How to Impress Bret MIchaels: The Dos and Don'ts of a Rock of Love 2 Talent Show, is after the jump. I threw in some "Bret-isms" at the bottom too. Some nuggets of wisdom from the man himself, if you will.

VH1's I Love New York (the spin-off of Flavor of Love, which was the spin-off of Strange Love, which was the spin-off of The Surreal Life) is set to debut on Monday, January 8 at 9PM. Kick off the new year with a bit of trashiness! This is the new cast picture of New York (Tiffany Patterson) and her victims lucky bachelors. The flamboyant fellow in pink is the Big Rick to New York's Flavor Flav (so, his job will be to follow New York around and tell her how great she looks). I've already picked my favorite of the bunch... the blond guy in the button-up and khakis. He's in it for the long run, folks!