Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Daytime television (what you're missing part 3)

For those of you who watch THE SOUP on Friday nights, you might have seen glimpses of the featured show today. For this installment of my daytime television rant I would like to draw your attention to:
THE TYRA BANKS SHOW
What is this show about you ask? A supermodel past her prime who wants to be like Oprah, but is closer to Riki Lake. At 2pm every afternoon, she goes against Judge Joe Brown and the million episodes of a Baby Story on TLC. So why did I attempt to watch this show when the choices of entertainment were clearly endless? Mostly I did it because I knew it would be some good comic relief.
The main focus of Tyra's show is supposed to be about women's issues but the ACTUAL focus always ends up being about Tyra. If a tabloid called her fat that week, she has a whole series of shows with topics like "big is beautiful" and "embrace your big butt". In fact, I find that MOST of her shows deal with being overweight. Often she asks her studio audience to write their weight on a sign across their chests, or to strip down into their underwear to prove that we are all beautiful. It's sort of like what your 7th grade hygene teacher would do, if the board would let her that is.
The guests she has on these shows are typically women who have dealt with these issues. But most of the time, she spends talking to her guests about... you guessed it, herself. Occasionally she has some famous people on and asks them off the wall questions about what kissing Halle Berry is like or if they like Tex-Mex as much as she does. And she always ends these hard hitting interviews posing a question about if they think she looks good, or can sing or dance well, or if they will grab her butt; depending on the guest.
When I was in college, I had a roomate who had some self-esteem issues. She would wake me up out of a dead sleep each morning to ask me if what she was wearing looked okay. I would, in total sleep-deprived frustration, respond to her with a thumbs up, or a "you look great" and then roll over most days. It wasn't until halfway through the semester that she even noticed I never even bothered to open my eyes when I responded. Frankly, I don't think she cared as long as someone told her she looked alright. I feel like Tyra is the same way, always looking for praise or that extra bit of self-confidence she somehow managed to not get while being a supermodel?
If you're up for a good laugh, and you don't mind the constant shameless self-promotion, I would have to say that Tyra is entertaining. But mostly in that can't-keep-my-eyes-off-the-car-accident-on-the-side-of-the-road kind of way.

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