VH1 Makes Me Feel Like I Need a Shower

Apparently I am getting old, or at least, mature. When you stop laughing, read on :)

I was waiting for Casey to join me for a little Gilmore Girls on DVD the other night, and I started channel surfing. I came across some VH-1 shows that were a bit like a train wreck - I had to watch, even though it was horrific. The first (Yes, there were two, and I get that I could have changed the channel, but it is hard to look away from a train wreck.) was "Scott Baio is 45....and Single." I will admit, I LOVED Scott Baio when I was in junior high/high school. Who didn't love Chachi? So, I was curious. This was pathetic. He is still good looking, and I am guessing he sports a mustache so he looks over 21. He still has sort of a baby face. His mannerisms are all still the same, which on an 18 year-old is cute, but on a 45-year old borders on sleazy. Apparently the premise has something to do with going to a life coach to figure out why he keeps screwing up all of his relationships with women. In the episode I caught, he was in the midst of an 8-week celibacy challenge. One of his poker buddies hired a stripper to try to tempt him, but he had the decency (and cash) to pay her to just leave. That sounds really nice and upstanding, but the overall feel of the show was very degrading to women, and shows all of the worst stereotypes about guys. Scott bashes Rosie O'Donnell by telling his buddy that if his blind date looks like Rosie, the guy should stay, but if she is hot, he should go. RUDE! In a scene from the next episode, he is talking to the 17-year-old daughter of a women he is apparently quite serious about, and might be the reason for the whole life coach makeover. She asks if he's ever cheated on a woman - Yes. Did you feel guilty? No. She warns him not to hurt her mom.

So, I have no idea what Scott Baio has been doing for the past 20 years. Maybe being a TV star at a young age wrecked him, as it did so many others. He never did anything else significant on tv or in the movies, but he did crop up every now and then in a bit part. So, in a way, I can maybe feel sorry for the guy. Let's face it, having your flaws exposed on VH-1 is darn close to rock bottom. Still, this show....well, as I said, I feel like I need a shower to cleanse myself, but it gets worse.

Next up was a show that I can't even find listed on VH-1, and maybe that's because it was intended to be more of an infomercial, but it comes off as a documentary. It is about Wild Women Vacations - heterosexual couples and single women, where all the women are bi-curious or bi-sexual. Apparently this couple makes a living setting up vacations where the couples go to a nice tropical location and the women get the chance to live out their fantasies about being with another woman. The men are not allowed to participate, but apparently it can lead to some spark being put back into the marriage. Again, train wreck. Wife got drawn into this one, too. We were both struck at the ordinariness of the people shown, and in some cases, more on the weird/creepy side than ordinary. We are so used to seeing "beautiful," "perfect" people on TV that it is surprising to see someone that could be your not-so-hot neighbor. The show did not really focus on the sexual activities, and we saw no more than a couple women kissing or touching in PG-appropriate ways. Interestingly, the focus was on what each member of the featured couple was thinking and going through, and while the guy seemed uncomfortable, he really seemed to want to be supportive of his wife's curiosity. The show really made me feel like I was intruding on something private, but again, train wreck.

Next time, I think I'll stick to reruns of "Friends."