Newlyweds

Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica is now my favorite TV show.  I like it as much as, or more than, American Dreams.  (OK, so those are the only TV shows that I watch, but still.)

It’s a reality TV show, but it isn’t fake, like all the other reality TV shows.  (What’s real about some network giving some guy a million dollars and a bunch of women to choose from to have a relationship with?  Right: nothing.  The vast majority of reality TV shows are all based on some premise or situation that is fundamentally artificial.)

Newlyweds is about Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, who got married like 2 years ago now.  And it’s like the commercial says: If they were any cuter, they’d be puppies.  It’s true.  It’s so fun to watch, because they’re really cute together, and really funny with each other.

The only thing that I’d say could be considered anything like "fake" about it is the fact that they are obviously pretty wealthy, both being successful musicians.  So I think that to most of us, their unusually high degree of well-offness makes them a little different from us in some way.  But other than that, they are just normal people.  The comedy and drama that arises in the episodes is Seinfeld-esque, in that it’s largely the comedy and drama that arises from the events of everyday life.  And I think it’s that realness, combined with their puppy-like cuteness, that makes me like the show so much.

The second season starts this Wednesday, so all weekend MTV has been running re-runs of the first season (I had only seen it once or twice before this weekend).  They’re also running them through Wednesday of this week at various times, so if you want to catch up, you still can.  (And the re-runs aren’t really re-runs; it’s Nick and Jessica commenting on the episodes as they are shown, which adds interesting insight and is different than just watching the episodes alone.)

One thing that I thought was really neat is that in one episode, they show how Jessica is making a video for one of her songs.  In the video, she’s making out with this guy under a waterfall, and some other places... and the neat thing is, it’s her husband.  In real life.  And it turns out that the song is about the fact that she was a virgin until she married Nick, which is awesome for one thing, and it’s extremely unusual for any media outfit to show that in a positive light, let alone MTV.  So they definitely get a big word-up for that.  And in another episode, Jessica is cooking a meal, and she’s talking about how she decided to learn to cook for her husband because Nick had wanted her to be more womanly before he proposed to her.  I thought that too was neat, and admirable.

So basically, I really like this show, and I’m gonna go ahead and suggest that you check it out.