Best Premiere Week Ever.

This past week, two of my all time favorite Reality TV shows premiered on television. Yes, I am addicted to Reality TV, and y'all are probably going to get tired of my Tweets, Statuses, Posts, and Comments about Survivor, The Amazing Race, The X Factor, Project Runway, and so on, and so forth...

But, this past week, both The Amazing Race and The X Factor premiered on CBS and Fox. I guess I cannot call The X Factor one of "my all-time favorite shows", because the show only just premiered in the United States, but hey, I love me some Simon Cowell, and throw Ms. Abdul into the mix and you've got, in my opinion, the best show ever.

 So what is it that draws me to these

Gary and Mallory

 shows? 

Tyler and James

 The Amazing Race:
 Talk about a parasocial relationship. I cannot
 even begin to describe the emotions I have
 felt in the past when my favorite teams were
 kicked off. Whether it was Gary and Mallory, Margie and Luke, Tyler and James or a plethora of my other favorite teams, I always somehow managed to shed a tear when they faced their end of their race!
Not only do I tend to develop a parasocial relationship with these contestants, but I also feel that they provide narrative coherence! CBS casts this show based on stereotypes. What kinds of stories do these partners have? When you see the stereotype, your perception is completely changed and you see tons of references to that character, because they continue to act in such a reliable manner. And, when it comes to game play (however much there may be in The Amazing Race), you can sometimes predict how certain couples will act in certain situations.

The X Factor:

Simon Cowell and Vonzell Solomon
saying, "Goodbye."

I can still remember the night when Vonzell Solomon (left), a contestant on Season 4 of American Idol was eliminated from the show. I ran to my mom's room and cried my little heart out, because I was so sad I'd never see her again. Well, it looks like The X Factor may provide many more contestants for me to cry over. *Alert - Parasocial Relationship*

Chris Rene, The X Factor

Stefano Langone, soon to be seen
on The Jersey Shore.

However, I almost feel that although The X Factor casts it's show based on popular stereotypes (American Idol's Stefano Langone was a Top 10 Finalist because he was, for lack of a better term, a guido), yet in a different light. The X Factor loves to show people who should be a certain way, but instead, live and act completely differently. For example, contestant Chris Rene is a recently sober drug addict, who now competes on the show. As a drug addict, you don't expect him to sing and perform, yet he does. Why is this so mind boggling for us?!

I love Reality TV. Enough said. It should be a great Fall for me.

(My goal is to one day be on Survivor. After Survivor, hopefully CBS will love me enough that they'll ask me to race on The Amazing Race. From there, The X Factor will get a hold of me, and my life will be set. Finally.)