Exposed

Since, I’m feeling a geeky librarian vibe today, lets talk about MTV’s new dating show, Exposed. (seriously, don’t click through, it’s flashed and crappy). Here’s the wiki entry.

In typical fashion there are 2 people competing for the affection of the 1 contestant. And from the 2 bits I watched yesterday, they all seem to be in the 18-20 year old range. The 2 episodes I watched yesterday featured boys competing for the girl’s attention.

So, the boys meet, and hurl really dull insults at each other, then they meet the girl together. And she asks a series of questions to them, while they do boring date things, like eat dinner.

Meanwhile, back in the van, the girl’s best friend is feeding the girl questions, and the boys’ answers are being fed through a lie detecting machine. A lie detecting machine that they boys don’t find out about until the end of the show. Now, I’m no lawyer. And I have no idea what sort of crap the boys signed to be on the show. But, I pretty much figure one of my basic civil rights is the right to not have my speech fed through a lie detecting machine without my consent. In fact, the whole show just made me feel dirty.

Surely, there’s something they could put on MTV that doesn’t violate basic trusts and privacy. Music videos, maybe?

Even ignoring what a dirty scheme MTV is running. The show is awful. Mostly, I suspect, this has to do with my ever increasing age and educational level. The kids are young and generic and super boring. And the questions they ask are ridiculous. One girl asked how much money the boy’s have in their bank account. I was raised right, and would never answer that question on a first date (or really 2nd or 47th or really, right up until the engagement) and I would certainly never answer that question on TV. And, mostly, I’d get up and walk out of a date if a boy asked me.

Another lovely first date question a was about virginity. Granted, it’s a fun, shocking topic that middle school kids love to see on tv. But not a topic for a first date. Is that acceptable to teach kids the 3rd degree is acceptable for dating, I don’t think so. The other point to mention was, I think 3:4 of the boys were virgins, and they were all under 20. It just seems kind of wrong, in the whole barely legal sort of way…

In recent weeks a few stories have come out about how teens are wising up and taking a lot of personal info off things like myspace. I’m glad we still have plenty of public forums to bare your soul, embarrass yourself, and make it harder for you to get a job in the future.

It sure is a good thing the new season of My Super Sweet 16 starts soon. It's for sure the best show on MTV, if not all tv, ever.