No, I'm not laughing with them. I'm laughing at them.

Okay, I admit this. I should be really ashamed I watched the premiere of the new season of "You're Cut Off" (this is one of those VH1 faux-reality shows, in which a group of utterly spoiled "princess" types are sent to live in an ordinary suburban home and do chores for themselves. And things are planned to cause maximal catfighting. It's a horrible, horrible show and I feel dirty watching it but...you know, there's only so much punditry one can take, and USA network was showing wrestling, which I hate, so....)

Anyway, this was the show I talked about a year or so ago. I still can't tell how much of it is 100% pure acting (hell, ALL of it could be) and how much of it is that there are actually people in this world who do not know how to install a closet rod or a toilet seat, and instead of trying to figure it out or read the directions, sit down and whine about it.

I think I'm kind of fascinated by the whole thing because, even discounting for the fakeness of the show, the idea that there are women out there who (a) claim to never have cleaned their own house, (b) don't know what their credit card balance is and don't care, and (c) think it's perfectly OK that they're 22, not employed, not looking for work, and being supported by their parents - and more than just supported, having cars and expensive shoes and purses bought for them.

It's so foreign to me. It's actually kind of like reading old National Geographic stories on some distant tribe with a totally different lifestyle.

I guess what amazes me is how the characters on the show claim to justify their sponging off of others...that they "deserve" everything they have, because they're special or they're pretty or whatever. And it amazes me how these women present themselves as being totally unashamed of the fact that they're sponging off of either parents, boyfriends, or husbands, and that, in fact, they believe they "deserve" every Jimmy Choo and Prada bag that they demand be bought for them. (and I'm being very careful in my wording here, because there's a chance the thing is entirely put on, and all of the women involved are actually students at some theater school who have been hired to act as if they are spoiled-rotten "kept women" for the purposes of the show. If so, they're pretty talented actors.)

I will say there was a total laugh-out-loud moment for me last night. I mean, I feel terrible laughing at the woman (and yet, I don't, not that much). I can't remember what it was apropos of, but she remarked, "I'm not stupid. My GPA in high school was like 2 point something."

O_o

Okay, maybe she's not STUPID but she certainly wasn't STUDIOUS.

(I can't tell you my exact high school GPA; we were graded on an odd, 7-point scale, where 1 was abject, should-not-be-at-private-school failure, 3 was equivalent to a D, 4 was about like a C, and 6 and 7 were "honors," and "high honors," respectively. I think my GPA hovered somewhere around a 6 (or perhaps slightly below, the year I took Calculus.)

Will I watch other episodes? Maybe, maybe not. I admit, it's a waste-of-time type of show...but at least I got one good laugh out of it last night. And sometimes, you know? Mindless trash tv is a good way to relax.