Give me a break!

I'm a little bit of a tv junkie. I'm a reader, too, but I do love my televsion, particularly certain shows. For the last couple of years, in an effort to save money, Mr. Daddy and I have limited ourselves to basic -- VERY basic -- cable. For some obscene amount of money (considering the service), the cable company graciously provided us with something like 22 channels. Of those 22, 3 were Hispanic (I don't speak Spanish), 2 were shopping channels (I rarely buy anything off of television), and 2 were religious channels (I prefer to get my religion in person, thank you). So that left us with what? 15 channels? We watched a LOT of public television. Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of great shows on GPTV, but there are only so many episodes of Antiques Roadshow you can watch, you know?

So anyway, we recently celebrated our very slight decrease in childcare payments by getting a satellite and one of the most exciting things for me was the return of TLC. I love TLC. When Bubba was a newborn I spent many, many hours on the sofa, in a daze, watching episode after episode of A Wedding Story, followed by a couple of episodes of A Baby Story and then for good measure, a couple of episodes of A Makeover Story. But what I was most excited about was the return of What Not to Wear. I love, love, love Clinton and Stacy. I've always been a sucker for a good makeover, but what I love about them is how they really get the person invested in their makeover and genuinely try to help the person dress for their body and make them see for themselves how great they can look. I love the "rules." Everybody needs rules. And if you guessed that I watched with envy in my heart for a new $5000 wardrobe, you'd be right. I'm not ashamed to admit it.

So Friday night I sat down with glee and turned on WNTW. I came in on the middle of an episode about a girl who had super long hair. She was talking to the confessional camera about how she was going to try to talk Nick out of cutting her hair, that she "was pretty good at that sort of thing." Ultimately, though, she let him cut it and she was so happy with the results. And they all lived happily ever after.

I settled in to watch the next episode. It was going to be about a nurse who recently lost 20 lbs and was not dressing for her new body. The clips showed her having a MAJOR anxiety attack, crying and sniveling about how she "wanted her old clothes back." GIVE ME A BREAK, PEOPLE!

There was an episode on the other night about a rocker chick who practically went into hysterics because they wanted to color her hair. What is up with these people? Who is so tied to their ratty old clothes or their hair that they're not willing to be adventurous? It's just hair. If you cut it off, it will grow back. I apologize if I'm stepping on any toes, here, but I just can't imagine ever turning down such an opportunity. Good grief, if someone said to me "Hey, your style is terrible and we want to teach you how to dress. Here's $5000. Come to New York and let's go shopping" I'd say "Sweet! When do we leave?" I want to carpe as much diem as I possibly can.

So now I don't even know if I can watch this show anymore. Am I too much of a curmudgeon? Am I taking this all way too seriously? Carpe diem, people. Carpe diem.