Too Much Reality a Bad Thing?

In my case, I'm guessing yeah. OD'ing on reality can be harmful to your mental health. At minimum, it really screws with your carefully constructed schedule for completing the Great American novel.

Personally, I blame the writer's strike. How else to explain the current overload? I mean, we're talking:

Survivor
Big Brother
The Bachelor
Top Chef
Dancing With The Stars
and last, but by no means least, American Idol

And some of the above air multiple times a week!

How's a struggling writer (who uses nighttime hours) suppose to pursue her dream? (Please don't say TiVo--I refuse to spend any more $ on television.)

Anyway, so I've made concessions. For example, I'm barely watching Big Brother--which ain't a big loss cuz this season sucks anyway. Oh, and here's my theory on that: usually, BB airs during the summer when there's less competition. For some reason (hello! writer's strike!), CBS chose to move up its airdate and loaded it with a bunch of whiny, unlikable youngsters to compete (I assume) with American Idol's demographic. Wrong move.

Here's another way I'm freeing up the schedule: I don't watch the AI results show until 9:50. And I only flip over to Dancing With The Stars during commercials because, hey--I can always catch the video on youtube the next day.

And if I really, really, have to, I skip Top Chef because Bravo does the rinse, lather, and repeat thing several times a week. (Shh. That's when I sneak in their Supermodel show, too.)

Speaking of programs I don't watch, have any of you caught the new, East Coast version of those Orange County skanks, I mean, wives? Holy moly. Are they for real? Are they so dim, they don't have a friggin' clue how despicable they come across?

Not that I'm watching mind you. 'Cuz, y'know...that would take away from valuable writing time.