Last night, my guy called during this week’s encore presentation of Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood.  It was half past ten and he was tired, on his way home from a long day on the grind. “What are you doing?”, he asked. “Oh, sitting on the couch, watching some television.”, I reply. “What are you watching?” Fuck.  Not sure if it’s due to his professional background, but he can always tell when I’m bluffing. Actually, much to my dismay and his good fortune, I can’t lie to him. With much hesitation, I reply: “you’re going to get mad.” “Why? What are you watching? Tell me”, he says, amused. “Love and Hip Hop”, I respond, pusillanimously.  I was right. He was annoyed. He went on a ten minute tirade on how he can’t understand how a woman that can argue the divergence between the terms Latino and Hispanic can actually (as he put it) waste her “beautiful mind” watching such garbage.  I tried in vain to defend my choice in entertainment but failed terribly. Let’s be honest, there’s no defending shows like Love and Hip Hop.  Not sure if he was joking but it felt like an argument. Thanks a lot, Mona Scott Young.

That “argument” got me thinking. Why do women like me watch reality TV? To my credit, these days, I only watch the Love and Hip Hop franchise (New York, Atlanta, and Hollywood). For now, I’ve kicked my Real Housewives of Every Fucking Random City-habit. I don’t watch the Kardashians or any of the Bravo shows anymore. No more Mob Wives (I couldn’t take another minute of Renee’s whining and fake tough girl steez) or Basketball Wives (Evelyn is too pretty to be such a mean girl).  And while I will admit, K.Michelle’s new show is tempting, I have chosen to forsake the ratchetness and watch “Finding Your Roots” on PBS instead.  So again, why do women like me watch reality tv? Here are my Top 3 Reasons:

Social interaction: In your mid to late thirties, whether single or married, parent or not, chances are you don’t hang out with your friends as much as you did in your 20’s. Hell, you probably don’t even have as many friends as you did in your 20’s. To me, watching reality shows feels like social interaction. I want to laugh and be distracted with the happenings of what’s going on in someone else’s life.  When the lives of these characters become too dramatic or begin to encroach on mine, I just turn the television off and go to bed – guilt free. I can’t do that with my real friends. In my head, Kim Zolciak and Teresa Guidice are two of my homegirls. Love them.

Fashion and Trends: Have you seen the make up on the Kardashians?! Beat, honey! Sounds like bullshit but yes, I watch reality shows for the fashion and trends. The only people I see on a regular basis are the ladies at work. I don’t want to dress like them. I don’t think they want to dress like them. I don’t have the attention span for InStyle or Cosmopolitan. Women on reality shows, like celebrities, have become trendsetters. I want to see what’s hot in fashion and beauty, therefore, I watch reality tv.  The Kardashians singlehandedly revitalized the use of false eyelashes and spearheaded the annoying fake ass trend (I can’t WAIT until it’s finally over!).  Love and Hip Hop: Atlanta made the rest of the country aware of stiletto nails. The girls on the Real Housewives made the less fashion astute aware of Louboutins and Birkins.

Pop Culture: Admit it. You’re not as cool as you use to be. Sometimes, you have NO idea what the younger generations are talking about when they use terms like “turn up”, “thirst”, “tea”, and “shade”, etc. Well, I want to stay young as long as possible and understand the rappers and such.  I have a pretty decent dominance of both the English and Spanish language, I can’t say the same for slang. It doesn’t hurt to stay current, especially if you have teenage kids.

And there you have it, my top 3 reasons for wasting my beautiful mind watching reality TV.  My predilection (and yours) for these shows should in no way undermine your intelligence or other interests. I read often; books, articles on a variety of topics and random Wikipedia pages out of boredom and curiosity. My favorite book is the dictionary (ummm, I bet you don’t know what pusillanimously means, huh?). I watch CNN – a lot. I love Scandal, Power, and other scripted shows. I watch sports. I don’t rely exclusively on reality TV for entertainment. Reality TV provides an escape, a voyeuristic view into the lives of others without catching a case, and an opportunity to learn lessons from their experiences without having to pay the repercussions for the mistakes.  I don’t and won’t apologize for watching…at least not until men everywhere apologize for countless wasted hours watching sports.

Who’s excited for the next season of Real Housewives of Atlanta????