Tool Academy? Seriously?

What's the deal with reality television? There are new shows that I see on tv all the time and I have to stop and wonder, who the hell is watching this crap? Now, don't get me wrong. I'm certainly not trying to be Miss High and Mighty. There are definitely reality television shows that I'm addicted to, shamelessly. I will watch Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew anytime I see it on television. Something about the Dr.'s calming presence really relaxes me. And Intervention? Wow. I can easily get sucked right into an episode of Intervention. We're starting to see a pattern here, I really like to watch people with addictions spiral down, then try to pick themselves back up again.

But there are just some shows that give me pause. Take, for instance, a little show on Vh1 called "Tool Academy." That's right. Tool. Academy. Now I can honestly say that I've never actually seen an episode of "Tool Academy" but after some brief research conducted here I'm able to deduce that basically, "Tool Academy" is all about taking boyfriends who are complete, for lack of a better word, tools and try to reform them into something better. Each week one tool who is, decidedly more "tool-y" than the rest is kicked off. The winner gets a huge chunk of cash and, hopefully, keeps his girlfriend. Call me crazy, I don't see the entertainment value. Then we have a show on MTV called "Is She Really Going Out With Him?" which is another show about tools and this one doesn't even try to reform them. They just film them fist pounding, drinking bare chested, and cheating on their girlfriends for our pure entertainment. I like to see a train wreck just as much as the next guy but do we really need to reward this alpha male behavior with a thirty minute chunk of time devoted to it on television.

Maybe I'm just not in touch with my generation and what we supposedly like. I mean shows like Laguna Beach and The Hills...I just could never get into them. They seem so petty when serious things are happening around the world. At the very least, one can use television to educate oneself on some kind of subject other than how to be a douchebag.

This is certainly not a personal attack on anyone who does watch these shows. You are certainly entitled to indulge in your tool watching just as much as I'm entitled to watch celebrities ruin their lives with drugs and alcohol. I guess I just feel that there is a piece of the puzzle missing for me. I just can't seem to figure out who gave the green light to these shows. Better yet, who pitched it? "So we have these guys who are total tools..."

The world may never know.