Real-life TV often stars real-life alkies. “Bachelorette” and “My Cat from Hell.”
TV’s Real-Life Alcoholics
I’ve noted previously (in issue # 9 and issue # 14 of TAR, among others) that reality TV is filled with alcohol and other-drug addicts; “Survivor” and “Big Brother” are replete with them. While identifying such addicts on “Bachelor” and “Bachelorette” might be a bit of a challenge (only a few are immediately obvious), they appear ubiquitous in this summer’s reality trash “Bachelor Pad.” In the latest incarnation of the series, Ed Swiderski is the patently obvious person with alcoholism, as he can’t seem to go a day without naked swimming, loud hook-ups and running around like a crazy person while clearly under the influence. In general, his poor morning-after performances in the competition events confirm middle-stage alcoholism in a younger man’s body. He couldn’t even get himself up the chocolate sundae slide, which all the other guys easily scaled. However, if signs of inflated ego are an indication of alcoholism, as is usually the case, there are many other alcoholics in the Pad. I would suspect at least Erica Rose, Kalon, Chris, Reid (who’s already gone home as of this publication) and Blakeley.
Occasionally, we stumble across shows in which addiction is unexpected. One of recent vintage was in the Animal Planet series “My Cat from Hell.” While one must wonder about Jackson Galaxy, the rather freakish but very gentle host who clearly lacks egomaniacal behaviors (at least on the show), one of his recent guests makes the likely-addictive cut, at least for me. In the first half of the show titled “Cat Escape,” Khrys is a trashy-looking girl with low-cut dresses in all the scenes. Her hair is messy, she does “hair flips” (no doubt thinking it’s sexy), she sounds like she’s slurring her words in an early scene and she has a propensity to fail to follow directions (“the rules are not for me” attitude). She owns a Russian Blue who, according to the boyfriend, “declared war on its owners.” Despite the fact that it’s “her” cat, she refuses to care for it—she won’t scoop the litter box, clean up its spray, chase it down when it goes outside and take the cat to have it neutered even though she’s agreed to do so. While the boyfriend is portrayed as having created the problem with the cat, Khrys may have set the stage for problems, but you can take a look here and see what you think. My associate Kristin thinks she acts just like some (most?) 20-somethings today, but I’ve got to wonder.