The 5th Wheel

Finally a show that pays tribute to all the shallow, self-centered and outright moralless people who play the bars every weekend. It never ceases to amaze me how low the "contestants" can be, but they always seem to top themselves. And as if watching these miscreants take place in their parade of decadence isn't enough, we also get the privilege of the holier-than-thou host Aisha Tyler cracking jokes on everyone between segments. Can this be an entertaining show? Yes. Can this show also be used as a measuring stick of the decay of society? Yes.

Aisha Tyler was great on the show (the set was great, too.), but when the YDKJ guy took over as the show's announcer, the annoying factor was about to go up and over it. The beginning went with all 4 ranting about themselves on video, (if you where in the van, you watched it on a flat screen, or if you where at home watching, you did the same thanks to some special effects screen) then took 4 out on a locale, (1 switch per segment), introduce the 5th wheel to the show with accompanying graphics to introduce him or her, (all 4 rant on the 5th wheel on that same screen you saw earlier) go out to dinner with 3 on one table, 2 on the other, make love...we think, and vote on who gets to go out with who again. BTW, one gets shot out of voting when some graphic escorts her out. This is pretty annoying but it's a fun show with graphics and sound effects.

Alas, this is how much of current television is. The contestants seem to fit in a very small age range ( ignoring the existence of the millions of people outside the range ), are relatively attractive looking ( as if to say everyone else shouldn't be out in public ), and often bicker/insults the competition ( can't people get along? ). There also tend to be many shows where ALL the contestants are black, or none are, indicating some type of racial hangup with either the contestants ( all colors ) and/or the producers. Is my calendar wrong? Are we not in the 21st century?

For people new to America, I hope they don't assume all Americans are like the contestants on this show. SOME Americans are shallow, have a short attention span, and are sex-obsessed, but not all.