The Inner Dumbass

I'm pretty sure, Robbie, that the reason most people act like dumbasses on game shows and reality TV shows is akin to the same reason TV crews ALWAYS manage to find That Woman in the wake of a disaster. You know the one...curlers in her hair, baby on her hip, standing outside a ruined trailer in the wake of a tornado, with a cigarette dangling precariously from her lips as she grunts answers to the overly coiffed made-up reporter in her candy-colored suit and Texas prom queen hair that could withstand nuclear fallout.

What is the reason? Ratings. America loves trainwrecks, but even more than that, we like a reminder that someone else is trashier than us. It's why most people watch Dr. Phil and Deal or No Deal. I mean, let's be real - Jerry Springer fans don't watch the theatrics and fireworks to relate to the guests on the show.

We watch purely BECAUSE it makes us feel better about ourselves and our mundane little lives. It allows us to get in tough with our inner dumbass without having to actually cheat on our baby daddy with a neonazi who has a child by his cousin. It's the very nature of the breathlessness of vicarious TV viewing.

What I'm wondering, though, is if Bob Barker will take those blondes with him into the sunset?