In the last week, nearly five people I respect have brought it up to me on separate occasions. (For the sake of their eventual progeny, they will remain nameless.) Worse still, I spent a night of cosmic bowling next to an entire group of “fans” dressed to the nines as their favorite… um… character?

If you’re not aware of what I’m talking at, please back away. In fact, clear your browser cache. No. Turn off your computer and read five pages of a book. (People Magazine is not a book.)

For the rest, you’ll have to explain the draw of this show. I’m kidding. If you try, I’ll involuntarily lose a bit of respect for you. The jokes at its expense are somewhat entertaining but I have to make judgements on the comments I’ve heard and the theme-partied bowlers.

The comments ranged from: “so much of a train wreck it’s hysterical” to: “it’s SOOO ridiculous… it’s like a sociological experiment gone awry.” One (so called) friend even likened it to season one of “Real World.” (There is no. way. that’s. true.)

That’s enough for me never to watch but then I went bowling.

On a night where temperatures hovered around freezing, this group of bowlers was dressed to prevent heat stroke. The hair was big, the skirts were short and the quotes were plentiful. (“Funbags?” Really?) They were probably great people but they were wearing the wrong uniform.

For those reasons, no matter how fervently you argue the merit, I see nothing but harm coming from this show and its ilk. Taking the mold of bringing stereotypes (optimistically, archetypes) together and making a show of stereotypes within those stereotypes is not interesting. It’s boring. To boot, MTV already made the show in 2004, which is just lazy wrapped in a warm blanket of apathetic.

If this is the state of things, where people ignore reality and instead immerse themselves in “reality,” hope is in short supply. Granted, that’s if you still have hope. To each their own.