Joe Millionaire

So somehow or other I heard about the latest popular reality show, "Joe Millionaire." I must’ve seen previews during the superbowl or something; that was the last time I watched TV.  Anyway I’d never watched Joe Millionaire, but I came across a website that’s doing a running commentary on it.  It is hilarious.  This guy cracks me up with his comments and observations on the whole thing.  I read through all 6 of his commentaries so far (for the first 6 episodes of Joe Millionaire).  So after reading them, I was really curious and anxious to know which girl Evan would pick.  And this 7th episode was supposed to be the one where he decides, so I watched it on Monday night.

It was ridiculous in many ways, but enjoyable to watch.  Let me just say that I’m so glad he picked Zora.  She was the only one out of the bunch that wasn’t thoroughly annoying.  She wasn’t an extremist about this or that like everyone else.  Like the one girl was a dancing freak... and then another girl was like "if you come home from work one day and say you want to go waltzing I’m gonna freak out!"  Zora was just... nice.  She wasn’t ridiculous like the rest of them.  Of course, Fox certainly tries to make everything extreme/scandalous/confliction/etc, but still.

And I knew right from the start of the show (I mean, the 7th episode, the only one I’ve seen) what the "shocking twist" was going to be.  They kept saying that it’s so "shocking" and that even Evan didn’t know about it.  Well what else could it be, excep that there really WAS going to be some money for him?  Obviously not $50 million, but... to just let the show end, and send Evan and Zora back home, for Evan to go back to his "$19,000/year construction job"... I just couldn’t see them ending it like that.  (Incidentally, $19,000/year is about $9.50/hour, and no one who operates heavy construction equipment gets paid that little.)

While this show was mildly ridiculous, this next one coming out really makes me mad.  I forget the name, but the deal is, the viewers pick a man and a woman based on seeing them on the show, and they pair them up to get married!  The viewers completely make the decision; the man and woman never meet before their wedding day.  That shows complete and utter contempt for the sanctity of marriage.  And people have the nerve to wonder why our country is going to hell.  The destruction of the family is the destruction of the nation.  Someone recently said (was it the president?  I forget) that a nation is only as strong as its families.  It’s common sense and it’s so true.  (Which is not to say that single people don’t matter but 1) the majority of people do get married and 2) even if you’re not married you still have a family.)  The media is incredibly influential in American society, especially to young minds, and this is the kind of crap they’re presenting.