52nd City

Cara Kahn's Nightmare

I'd confess to bad problem, an addiction, really, to reality television. But that'd only be half the story. Instead, I'm addicted to really, really bad reality television. For example, while I've never seen ratings giant "Survivor," I watched the entire, 10-episode run of "Filthy Rich Cattle Drive." Shameful, this. Just shameful.

I'm also copping to an addiction to magazines and one of my favorites is Topic. It's a quarterly, themed magazine (love the concept!) about various and sundry... topics. The current edition is Games, and one of the pieces in the mag is "Reality Check" by Cara Kahn. You may remember her as a cast member on "The Real World: Chicago," which ran earlier this decade on MTV. I believe that version was one of the last RW's I watched, in total, and Cara was a memorable "character," as she herself puts in.

As a read, it's pretty enjoyable, confirming many of the suspicions that viewers have about reality programming, including the story-shaping and intentionally-induced stress on cast. Plus a few nuggets, like: the fact that cast members aren't even able to control the lights in the house; and the confessional interviews can last upwards of eight-hours. (No wonder there're so many catty comments and tears.) You'll definitely gain at least a touch of sympathy for the author after reading this one, esp. since she's declined to part of the never-ending parade of spin-off "challenges" and reunions that MTV orchestrates.

At any rate, if you like mags, try Topic. Starting with this issue. Read a little more and you'll watch the tube a little less.