July 11, 2007

Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School

I bet you've all been wondering if after my inexplicable obsession with VH1's hit Flavor of Love if I would watch Flavor of Love Girls: Charm School. Of course I did. I've just been too embarrassed to admit it up until now. What changed? Why am I now admitting that I watched it? Because in the reunion show, the show's host Mo'Nique said that Charm School was VH1's number one show. So with that many people watching the show, how could I deny ever having watched it? I can't.

The reason I enjoy this show much is it requires absolutely no thought at all. And it's designed that way. Somehow, Cris Abrego - the show's producer - has figured out a way to make a show that is all surface and no substance, more than any other reality show out there. And it's addictive. Once you watch a couple of episodes you become invested in the outcome. And you get caught up in all the little dramas. Never for one second did I believe that the producers really had any interest in teaching the Charm School students how to be more charming, although Mo'Nique did a pretty good job trying to convince us that she really did care.

If they really wanted to help these women improve their images, they would never have shown half the footage they did. When you think about it though, if they really, really wanted to help they would never have even filmed them. Of course, some of the women did thrive and those were the ones who really wanted to change their lives. But much like Flavor of Love, most of the women really just wanted to be on television. It was interesting to watch the women who couldn't reconcile that with themselves - like poor Larissa. Larissa - formerly known as Bootz - came in as a certain type of person and left as that person. She behaved just terribly on the show and really embarrassed herself. Not that the other women didn't, but her more than all the others.

Like I said, I found myself caught up in the life stories of these ladies and all their little conflicts. Will Leilene discover her inner strength? Will Buckwild shed her wigger pretense? Will Saaphyri be able to keep her temper under control? Will Shay and Larissa's friendship survive in the aftermath of having framed Shatar by stealing the photos of Leilene's dead mother? You get the idea.

And I was actually happy when Saaphyri Windsor won the $50,000. At the reunion show, I learned that with the money, Saaphyri put down a deposit on a condo, is starting a charity for women who have lost their hair through either cancer treatments or alopecia and is also starting her own line of "lip chap". I would like to know where she's living that she can make a dollar stretch that far. But I also hope that she's able to hold herself together after letting her image fall so far south in her first appearance on the Flavor of Love.

So. Yes. I did watch the show. I saw every episode - some I watched twice. And yes. I did enjoy the show.

1 comment:

AddledWriter said...

I have to post the picture I took of Buckwild looking just like me. EWWW.