It's easy, sometimes even enjoyable, to disparage reality TV, a genre so notorious for bottom-feeding it just asks for abuse. (When I heard someone was shopping a show reuniting Amy Fisher with the Buttafucos, I thought about early retirement.) Despite all the soul-numbing creepshows we've witnessed — Anna Nicole Smith, the Gottis, Danny Bonaduce, we know ye too well — there is a gratifyingly popular trend to deliver shows with one goal in mind: to entertain, leaving you with a grin instead of a grimace for having wasted your time. Here's my ranking of the current crop.
American Idol Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 8 pm/ET, FoxThe hook: Watching someone’s musical dreams come true — eventually. But not before we endure weeks of painful auditions by people who are way t
read more
