No Shots for Me

You know I’m all about reality programs but you also know I can be a little snobbish as well. I prefer reality shows that are competitive in nature with a clear prize or truly intriguing people with their own show. Somehow, I don’t think Tila Tequila qualifies as intriguing. Yet, MTV (not VH1) gave her a show, A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila.

The premise of the show is as smutty and manipulative as Age of Love. The show follows TT as she, at least in the first episode, sucks face with every contestant vying for her love. By contestants I mean, the straight men and lesbians who are gathered but don’t know she has a secret.

What is that secret? She’s a man. She’s a virgin. Oh no, she’s bisexual. A secret she says her parents don’t even know but decided a TV dating show was the time and venue to come clean. Her parents must be so proud. Why didn’t they pick bisexual men and women? I’m sure she’s setting the bisexual movement back 50 years by making out with everyone on the show. Thus proving the stereotype that bisexuals are predatory and up for whatever. The show seems like an excuse to highlight hypersexed 20-somethings. Did the Real World run out of oversexed roommates? To make matters worse, one of the male contestants is a cast off from the Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency.

I know I’m sounding like a suburban housewife clutching her pearls but I’m not clutching them because I’m shocked at the act. I don’t care about that. I’m disgusted to see the lengths that women will go to not only exploit themselves (that’s her choice) but to include others in the follies. It’s different if all parties knew what the situation was but they didn’t.

I’m not one of those women that think pornography is exploitive. I say if you’re in control and it’s what you truly want to do, than go for it. But if you’re doing it because you’re strung out on drugs, have daddy issues or abuse in your background there are other ways to work through that issue. I believe in female empowerment. However, ASAL is not female empowerment. It’s about extending your 15 minutes of fame.

When I first heard about the show, I thought it was a joke. Like a Saturday Night Live skit. I also wanted to know who was Tila Tequila. I went to my good friend Wikipedia. I learned she is a model/entertainer/singer and popular MySpace fixture. I was more impressed to see that she hosted Fuse’s Dance Off/Pants Off, which is a hilarious program that shows slightly unhinged people dancing and undressing to music videos. Don’t judge me. It’s hilarious and often unsettling.

I guess the real point of this blog is an impassioned plea for MTV to pull it’s programming out of the crapper and get back to the basics. Music videos. Please.

What do you think about ASAL?