I Saw The Signs...

Is reality TV making us all experts at failed love? I must admit that, I have a small addiction to reality TV. I don't always watch them all and, there are some that I won't watch, some that I will watch religiously and, some that I only tune into if it happens to be on when I am channel surfing and can't find anything better. One such show is Little People, Big World. It is about a husband and wife who are "Little People" more commonly known as, but not entirely politically correct, dwarfs or midgets. I have tuned in now and then, throughout the years that they have been on the air and, over the course of the last season, they were showing some problems in their marriage. She had a speaking engagement and had told him about it. He insists she didn't tell him about it and made a plan for the family to go to the British Virgin Islands. In another episode, it was Mother's Day and their twins' 19th birthday and he planned to take a trip, by himself, to Maui, Hawaii. Who does that? It hurt her feelings but she said that she wasn't going to grovel and try to talk him into staying and celebrating Mother's Day and the twins' birthdays with her and their kids. He expressed a minor bit of regret for having planned his trip at that time but said that, and yes, he actually said this shit, sometimes it is a better gift to get out of her way and leave her alone to celebrate Mother's Day. He said, "Sometimes it's a vacation when I leave people alone. It's like, hey Amy, you know what your present is for Mother's Day this year, I'm gonna leave you completely alone." Way to justify leaving your wife on Mother's Day you jerk.

So, I see this marriage crumbling. I rarely watched John and Kate Plus Eight but, it seems the deterioration of their marriage may have been evident to their viewers before it actually ended. I can't help but feel like a little bit of an expert these day, while watching these shows.

And now for the next question...is reality television a curse on a marriage? I have seen the previews for the newest season's premiere episode and it appears that they are trying to take another family vacation and he is screwing it up for everyone. And, I have seen the previews for Tori and Dean's reality show about their relationship...it has a new name and I am too lazy right now to interrupt my own writing to see what name it is going by now...and it looks as though their relationship is a little bit rocky in the new season as well. Granted, he cheated on his ex-wife with her so, while I always hoped the best for Tori, I can't say that I would be shocked to open up People magazine and see that they had split up. And no, to my knowledge, they have not split up. I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

So, the moral of the story is, don't make your relationship public on TV. While your marriage without TV may have issues and may not always be perfect, and it may fail anyway...if you want a fighting chance, don't put it on the airwaves.