Tool Academy
spooky_thing and I are forever indebted to his roommate incontango for introducing us to our new appointment television: Tool Academy.
Yes, it's a VH1 reality show. Shut up. Behold the premise: a group of wronged girlfriends nominate their boyfriends to attend the awesomely named Tool Academy, in which they will learn... well, how to behave less like the assholish tools they are. (Why do the men agree to go on this show? Because they think they're on the even-more-awesomely named Mr. Awesome, that's why. How much do you love this already?)
The show proceeds in typical reality show fashion: the couples have to do some stuff together that teaches the men some non-tooly "skill," like "communication" or "fidelity." The man who fails the hardest gets kicked off the island by a scary British therapist, at which point his girlfriend decides whether or not to dump him.
On the one hand, as spooky_thing said, I love that there's a show with the premise that men should treat their women better, and that we as a TV-viewing society should mock the ones who don't.
On the other hand, the women make me very, very sad. They all know how to spout the right "oh snap, girlfriend" lines, but they are apparently incapable of applying this showy girl power to their own situations. After all, if your television debut sports the caption "Naked Tool's Girlfriend," you really must ask yourself what is wrong with your life. The girlfriend of the first eliminated Tool stayed with him at least long enough to drive off the set (uh... spoiler alert), and I have little faith that any of the other women will do better.
This show is gross, no doubt. But at least the first episode was also very entertaining. And if I hadn't learned to find schadenfreudisch amusement at drama queen, attention whore reality show contestants, what sort of American would I be? (Answer: an even angrier, more depressed one than I already am.)
Yes, it's a VH1 reality show. Shut up. Behold the premise: a group of wronged girlfriends nominate their boyfriends to attend the awesomely named Tool Academy, in which they will learn... well, how to behave less like the assholish tools they are. (Why do the men agree to go on this show? Because they think they're on the even-more-awesomely named Mr. Awesome, that's why. How much do you love this already?)
The show proceeds in typical reality show fashion: the couples have to do some stuff together that teaches the men some non-tooly "skill," like "communication" or "fidelity." The man who fails the hardest gets kicked off the island by a scary British therapist, at which point his girlfriend decides whether or not to dump him.
On the one hand, as spooky_thing said, I love that there's a show with the premise that men should treat their women better, and that we as a TV-viewing society should mock the ones who don't.
On the other hand, the women make me very, very sad. They all know how to spout the right "oh snap, girlfriend" lines, but they are apparently incapable of applying this showy girl power to their own situations. After all, if your television debut sports the caption "Naked Tool's Girlfriend," you really must ask yourself what is wrong with your life. The girlfriend of the first eliminated Tool stayed with him at least long enough to drive off the set (uh... spoiler alert), and I have little faith that any of the other women will do better.
This show is gross, no doubt. But at least the first episode was also very entertaining. And if I hadn't learned to find schadenfreudisch amusement at drama queen, attention whore reality show contestants, what sort of American would I be? (Answer: an even angrier, more depressed one than I already am.)