The best and the worst

Along with most of the rest of campus, I have been catching up on long-neglected readings to try and be ready for midterms this week. But I've also made sure to have a break in my schedule if at all possible, to make sure that I am able to board and depart every Monday and Tuesday at 9 p.m. For where, you may ask? For the "Love Cruise," FOX's latest entry in the reality television business.\nThe concept is simple, for those who have been both blessed and unfortunate to have not seen the show. Sixteen singles board a luxury boat for a 15-day cruise, where they pair up every 48 hours with a mate. After the 48 hours, which usually includes a challenge activity pitting the couples against one another and a session in the "Hot Seat" -- a glamorized version of Truth or Dare -- the group votes off one male and one female. In the end, the last couple standing gets $200,000 and a trip around the world, and of course, the all too promising appeal of making a real love connection to top it off. In other words, typical FOX fare. \nAnd I'm addicted, hook, line and sinker. \nThe VCR is set if I'm not in the room, and I refuse to miss an episode. I can't help but be intrigued by it, and I can't explain why.\nAm I just a voyeur who is interested in the chance to glimpse into someone else's "reality?" Am I just a glutton for low-brow entertainment at its so-called finest? Or am I just one sick puppy who takes absolute solace in the idea that no matter how miserable I could possibly feel at any given time, a simple flick of the channel shows people whose lives are not only more destitute than mine, but being shown in lurid detail worldwide? Probably a little bit of all of the above. \nI can't help it, I'm infatuated with these relationship reality shows. I've never had more than a passing interest in the reality world before. Sure I've watched a few of the "Real World" and "Road Rules" episodes throughout their histories, and I gave "Survivor" its look-see. \nThen came the wonders of "Temptation Island." The wonders of depravity, sexual enticement and emotional rollercoasters had critics tolling the bell of popular culture, claiming things could get no lower. Yet I couldn't turn my eyes away from the horrible car-crash of love and lust that came on the screen. Even better and worse, the show had a direct influence on my life. Of all the things to inspire and move, I had to choose this?\nSo it was with great anticipation that I waited for "Love Cruise" from the minute I first saw the promo. It's restored my faith that I can always count on FOX to provide mindless, trashy entertainment that shows human life and love at its absolute best and worst. The show already had love triangles, cheating and deceitful back-stabbing in the first four episodes, and as the stakes get higher, one expects to see even more of the same.\nOf course, the fact that the producers can stretch 15 days into a full series speaks wonders for their ability to turn the most minute of details into a plot point, full of drama. Watching previews of next week's show, it's easy to see what lurid angle that episode will take. It's not rocket science by any means, but the fact that it is so-called reality at least adds a touch of authenticity, even if it is as predictable as Ross being the father of Rachel's baby on "Friends." \nMake no mistake, as much as I am a fan of the show, it is a vapid wasteland -- popular culture at its worst. And I know that I could spend my time doing a number of things more beneficial. But seeing the best and worst of humanity vying for a cash prize and willing to screw over so-called friends to achieve this is a disturbing and strangely comforting thing to watch.