More sports

Escaping reality? No way

This is a difficult thing to admit, but the reality is that I watch way too many reality shows.

By DAVE SCHEIBER
Published December 13, 2006

This is a difficult thing to admit, but the reality is that I watch way too many reality shows. I'll watch just about anything if I want to give my stressed-out brain cells a rest or share a little escapist time in front of the tube with my wife or three teen-and-older daughters.

The problem is, I always wind up more interested than they ever were and then I have to keep watching week after week - thank goodness for TiVo - to know how it all ends. Give me some quirky characters, a little backbiting and some spontaneous (even producer-induced) drama and I'm in. American Idol? Absolutely. I've been hooked since Season 1. Breaking Bonaduce? Sure, why not?

Nobody melts down like incendiary Danny Bonaduce. Hogan Knows Best? Hey, I have to know how the recording career of the Hulkster's daughter Brooke will wind up.

But for me, as a veteran sportswriter, it's really about the competition. It's the same as watching any sporting event. If I tune in and become even mildly interested, I want to know who's going to win. So in the true spirit of sports-viewing, here is my reality show top five:

1. The Biggest Loser

Hands down the best of the bunch. I missed the first two seasons but stumbled onto Season 3 this fall. All kidding aside, it's inspiring and poignant to watch the contestants go through grueling physical training regimens each week to shed amazing amounts of weight and make themselves healthier and happier. BL totally makes you want to get in better shape whatever shape you're in. And it's the only show of the crop in which the "losers" kicked off each week often win as big as anybody: They come back to let viewers see how great they look after continuing to lose weight on their own. Special bonus tip: See for yourself on tonight's season finale (8 p.m. NBC). Odds-on favorite: A deli owner from Long Island named Erik who has lost 124 pounds so far.

2. American Idol

Perennial fave dropped from the top spot this season after Taylor Hicks, only good enough to be a good local club singer with his faux Ray Charles-Joe Cocker style, won top honors over the far more talented Katharine McPhee and Elliott Yamin. The show has lost a little bit of luster as a result but I'm sure I'll be watching again in January.

3. Project Runway

Okay, okay. I swear I only started watching this because my oldest daughter is a huge fan and coaxed her parents into giving it a try. I state for the record: I know nothing about fashion and anyone who has seen how I dress knows this. But watching the contestants create outfits out of basic raw materials under intense deadlines and scrutiny from celebrity judges - coupled with highly entertaining arguments, Machiavellian tactics and temper tantrums from the contestants - makes for a great reality show, seriously. Unfortunately, Jeffrey, a surly punk-rocker with a weird neck tattoo, won this past season; beating out Laura, a mom with five kids and one on the way, who, for some reason, had the backing of my wife and me and our six kids.

4. The Apprentice

I'll be the first to say that Donald Trump's show is not as fun to watch without his sidekicks, Carolyn Kepcher and George Ross, replaced at times last season by his daughter Ivanka and son Donald Jr. In fact, I'm afraid it has been slipping since Martha Stewart, with Trump's blessing, over-saturated the franchise in 2005. But for good old back-stabbing and bickering, combined with the chaotic weekly challenges for competing teams, The Apprentice is still hanging in - barely - as the 2007 edition approaches.

5. Breaking Bonaduce

What, you ask, no Survivor? Loved Season 2 in 2000 but fell off the bandwagon. No Amazing Race? Hey, I don't have time to watch everything. Instead, a darkhorse rounds out the list. I discovered this weekly train wreck in the life of the ex-Partridge Family star while flipping channels on a Sunday night after coming home from covering a Bucs game. The show is gritty, often messy and you kind of feel bad about watching - come to think of it, not that different than the train wreck of a reality show starring a certain pro football team.

[Last modified December 13, 2006, 09:00:48]