The American Spectator

The New York Times succinctly summarizes High School Confidential, the latest reality series to build a basic cable buzz:

Filmed over four years in Overland Park, Kan., the documentary series tracks 12 girls through two pregnancies, bouts of serious depression, numerous experiments with sex, drugs and alcohol, and, finally, one brain tumor.

I have to admit I wasn’t all that interested until the writer got to “brain tumor,” although personally I’m rooting for a neoplasm that will turn one of these pheromone-addled, oblivious to their own blessings mall dwellers into a John-Travolta-in-Phenomenon-esque genius. Kids impersonating Clueless characters sans irony is old hat nowadays. Someone wandering through one of these series with a dectectable IQ, on the other hand, would be ground-breaking television at this point, like an uncomfortably close to real-life remake of Idiocracy. (I write that as if any trip to a Manhattan supermarket or movie theater isn’t already too close to an Idiocracy remake for comfort already!)

But, in general, yeah, I’m a fan of both reality and reality television. (And always against brain tumors!) I’m part of the problem!