#41 A week with TV is a week. . .?

Because I’ve been laid low with a cold, I’ve been catching up with daytime TV to pass the time. Dr. Phil is doing his own Monday reality show on weight loss. He had about 12 people living together in a mansion and agreeing to lose weight in front of America.

Today he did step 3--no fail environment, or removing temptation. One lady poured about a gallon (not exaggerating) of caramel syrup in the toilet. People were throwing out huge bags of snack foods--Doritos, pork rinds, King Dongs. One lady even had her son clean out his large “snack drawer,” stuffed with his favorite snack items. Even food scented candles had to go.

A nutritionist accompanied the participants to the supermarket to show them how to shop. Her information was so basic, it was difficult to imagine that these people hadn’t heard or read all this before. At least several appeared to be in upper income families--at least the out sized clothes they were dumping (Dr. Phil’s advice) were extremely nice and the kitchens they were purging were to die for.

His other reality show which runs on Thursday is about a family coping with the pregnancy of their 15 year old. Mother, father, daughter and younger sister are on camera. This week, the mother-to-be is going to start interviewing couples interested in adopting. Up to this point, she has been planning to keep the baby without looking into other options.

The most fun is the HGTV, home and garden channel and Discovery “makeover” shows. I learned how to spend only $2,200 redecorating my dining room to make it look almost like $72,000 model. I can spray paint old bread pans, fill with rice, poke in some candles and have a lovely Christmas center piece. Shiny metal window wells can be installed as interior valances over windows. And for only $50,000, I can make my kitchen much more efficient and workable.

Actually, the soaps look much the same. I caught Erica on “All My Children” and realized she looks about the same as when I watched her back in 1968. And was that Bo Buchanan getting married again, or just walking someone down the aisle?

I opened one eye, reached for a Kleenex and clicked forward to the International Channel. The story seemed familiar. It was awhile before I realized the soap was in Korean.