‘Love Island USA’
I went into my viewing of “Love Island” with low expectations, thinking I would grow bored of a show with such a simple premise. To my surprise, I blinked once and found myself 10 episodes deep in one sitting.
“Love Island” centers around a group of “bombshells” living together in a Fijian villa in hopes of finding love. Players who find themselves single when a “recoupling” comes around are sent home, while the rest continue their search for love.
What makes the series so easy to latch onto is its electric cast. Each participant brings their own unique energy to the villa; I immediately found cast members and relationships to root for and I was hooked on seeing who my favorite contestants would end up with.
For me, half of the fun of “Love Island” was pretending like I was on the island myself. Feeling annoyed on behalf of the players, celebrating when my least favorites were voted off and twirling my hair or kicking my feet watching my favorite couples thrive were some of the many delights I indulged in during my watch.
My initial expectations of “Love Island” being obnoxious were accurate, as the series hinges on petty arguments and misunderstandings. With that being said, taking a backseat to the drama without having to experience the stress firsthand is the appeal of reality TV, and no show makes drama as fun to watch as “Love Island” does.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’
“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is similar in its competitiveness to “Love Island,” except instead of competing for love, players compete in drag shows for the chance to win a grand prize of $200,000.
What lured me in with this show was its drama; I can’t look away as the cast members vogue, death drop and strut for their lives across the stage. While contestants go head-to-head in onstage challenges, some of the most tense moments of “Drag Race” happen during the preparation between challenge sequences. This is when the shots are fired and the cast members speculate on which of the queen’s looks are the most “busted,” and which queens will be doomed to “flop” in upcoming performances. These scenes are the ones I looked forward to the most, as they raised the stakes for the challenges themselves.
Naturally, the theatrics aren’t exclusive to the competition; there’s just as much drama in the drag itself. Where “Drag Race” differs from other reality TV shows is the unbridled creative passion, driving everything the contestants do. There are a million things for me to admire in the looks the queens assemble for the runways: petticoats, feathered headpieces, spangled bell bottoms, syringes for nails and roller skates. Somehow, they always find a way to reinvent themselves in a perfectly picturesque way, and in turn, my jaw was always left on the floor.
There is never a dull moment when it comes to “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Its cutthroat and fierce competition rooted in authenticity are all reasons why I will definitely be tuning in every Friday for new episodes.
‘The Kardashians’
Watching “The Kardashians” felt like going to the circus, except instead of clowns, you’re watching one of America’s most privileged, influential families fly from coast to coast, attend events and shuttle themselves in Cyber Trucks. “The Kardashians” is a conceptually simple show: it follows the Kardashian clan as they
Unlike the other series I’d watched, I found myself struggling to engage with what was happening on screen in front of me. The plot of “The Kardashians” becomes quickly muddled because the series operates under the assumption the viewer already cares about the family and their lives from the get-go. I was hoping that watching the show would provide reason to care about Khloe’s birthday traditions or Kris’ aspirations for the year, but it instead left me confused about what the significance of each scene was.
Finding reason to care about “The Kardashians” might have been easier if not for the lack of relatability in the show. Every episode I watched just affirmed for me the Kardashian family lives in a world completely alien to my own. Watching Kim stress over whether or not her flight to
New York will land in time for her to attend the Met Gala and Kourtney lamenting the popped tire on her $100,000 car made me feel like I was from another planet. While I do appreciate this family’s 18 year-long commitment to their reality TV series, I can’t help but think “The Kardashians” might be a few years expired.
