Over the past few seasons, CBS has scored a hit with the Amazing Race series, a kind of global road rally. The current Race (fourth in the series) is reviewed below.

The most amazing race, however, has been the networks’ sprint to see who can lower the bar most in their attempt to titillate and hook viewers on “reality” shows that depend on sexual tensions and selfish ambition. Television has long distorted the concept of real love, equating it with sheer physical acts, and foisting upon their viewing public a parade of stars who choose partners for casual sex as if it’s no bigger choice than selecting a meal from a fast-food menu.

The following “reality” series are among this summer’s most tasteless prime-time offerings. Keep in mind that each of these shows capitalizes on the weaknesses of human nature and propagates the fallacy that love is sex and little – if anything – else. The networks manipulate viewers by presenting their “real” players as if they’re normal all-American men and women. The only difference is, they’re proud to air on national television their selection of a man or woman they’d like to have sex with.

As sexually charged as these shows are, it’s noteworthy that these “real” people curse significantly less than prime-time fictional stars and starlets do.

• Anything for Love P3 S • TVPG-LS
Fox, 6/16 – “Do you know what love is?” asks one participant in the debut of yet another reality show. It becomes obvious that no one on this show knows the answer. Real-life couples (usually unmarried) are given the opportunity to test their relationships. Amy, for example, is upset that her new husband spends more time at the strip club than with her, so she decides to strip for him at the club to win him back.

There are the usual scenes of bump-and-grind strip club dancing. In another segment, Richard suspects his girlfriend of being unfaithful, and she fails the test as the show sets her up with a male model, who tempts her into flirting and accepting a date. There is a lot of bleeped profanity.
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On June 23, the back-to-back 30-minute episodes (P6 S • TVPG) continued to focus on subjects who are trying to trick their partner into cheating. In one segment, Trinity and Mike have endured an 11-year romance, the last five years living 500 miles apart. Trinity rents a moving van and drives to Mike’s house, demanding that he let her move in or end their affair. Mike says no thanks, and the spurned Trinity hits the road again.

The second episode that night included Chris and Jennifer. The poor sucker has seen Jennifer once in 11 years, and shows up to declare his undying love on national television. Unfortunately, Jennifer has a boyfriend – and his name is not Chris
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• Dating Experiment P12 S • TVPG
ABC, 6/25 – The debut episode’s teaser boasted, “Complete strangers give up all control over their lives, putting their trust in a diary, a diary that foretells their future, real people daring to take a chance for love.” For five days, a man and a woman – the complete strangers – are directed by what a diary says they are doing.

The man in this first episode brags, “When it comes to women, I’m the guy who takes ’em home and sleeps with ’em. There are plenty of times when women have come right up to me and said, ‘You’re coming with me.’”
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• For Love or Money S • TVPG
NBC, 6/2 – A 33-year-old Dallas, Texas, ex-Marine stars in this show. He gets to take his pick of 15 desperate women selected for his review. Once the series begins, the women are told the one he picks will win $1 million. At the end of the series, the winner cannot have both the man and the money – she’ll have to choose between the two. TV Guide said, “Before you can say gold digger, rivalries erupt between the ladies who are after Rob’s heart and the tramps after the loot....” Each week, the man chooses women to move to the next round of competition.
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• Meet My Folks P1 S • TVPG
NBC, 6/23 – On a previous episode, a high school principal and his wife had narrowed down the field of five young bachelors who want to take their daughter to Australia. The young men first meet their potential travel-mate when they come to spend a week with the family.

This episode focuses on the “finalists.” One is pretty arrogant about his chances to win the parents’ approval over his competitors. The other has a history of being unfaithful to girlfriends. The parents choose the latter to travel with their young daughter. It’s a contrived and bizarre situation most “normal” families would avoid like the plague.
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• Paradise Hotel P4 S • TV14-DLS
Fox, 6/18 – This debut episode followed a voice-over that said Paradise Hotel is “where every desire is fulfilled and the only rule is hook up or go home.” The phrase “hook up” is used repeatedly to imply sexual intimacy. Eleven men and women meet for the first time at the hotel. That night they have to choose roommates. The five men choose their women, and woman number six rooms alone. However, she has a week to break up one of the couples. Dialogue indicates that one of the couples had sex on the first night they spent together.

In following episodes, the women do a “butt check,” instructing the men to show off their behinds; and one of the participants declares, “These relationships, these friendships are real.” Really?
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Other series continue to pander to the prurient

• Amazing Race 4 H P17 S • TVPG-L
CBS, 6/5 – This series debut sets up the context for ten two-person teams who compete in a global marathon road rally. The teams include best friends, one married couple, engaged couples, and a homosexual couple. CBS identifies each couple in voice-overs and with on-screen graphics.

The network insists that the homosexual men have achieved the impossible. They are identified as “Married Couple” multiple times in each episode, despite the fact that same-sex marriage is not legal in the U. S.

Others teams are identified as “Best Friends,” or “Air Traffic Controllers.” And of course, there’s the engaged couple who are always identified as “Virgins” with the clear implication that they are the ones who are not normal.
Advertiser: McDonald’s

• Charlie Lawrence H P4 • TVPG-L
CBS, 6/22 – Charlie Lawrence, main character in this sitcom, is a former TV sitcom star and a homosexual politician serving his first term in Congress. In addition to being the star, he is, of course, the moral and principled man in D.C.
Advertiser: Yum! Brands

• CSI: Miami P6 S V • TV14-V
CBS, 5/19 – In its season finale, this show continues to combine compelling story lines with its graphic depictions of violence. Escaping prisoners leave behind brutally murdered victims shot in the head and shown lying in puddles of blood. Graphic animations show what happens when bullets are fired into a person’s skull.
Advertisers: Yum! Brands, L’Oreal

• Keen Eddie P5 S V • TV14-DLSV
Fox, 6/3 – Eddie, the main character, is a cop sent to London to work with Scotland Yard. He walks into his new apartment to find a couple having sex on the sofa. His new partner asks right away if he’s a “swinger.” He takes Eddie to a bar where most patrons wear leather and skin. The bar scene features a lesbian kiss.

In the June 10 episode (same ratings), a stolen race horse provides the premise, as thieves attempt to obtain horse semen to sell on the black market. There are two perverse scenes in which people are implied to be attempting to masturbate a horse to obtain their “product.” Later there is a grotesque scene in which tapioca pudding is used as a double entendre for the semen.
Advertisers: Church and Dwight, McDonald’s

• NYPD Blue H P14 S V • TV14-DLSV
ABC, 6/17 – This cop series continues to be a leader in prime-time sex, violence and profanity. A woman takes the precinct lieutenant into an interrogation room where the camera focuses on his facial expressions of ecstasy while she performs oral sex. A dead woman lies nude in the street, only one buttock and one leg covered. It turns out to be Heather, a 17-year-old auxiliary cop who was having sex with countless cops in the precinct.
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