I Wish I Were An Alien – A Reality Show Worth Watching?

It looks like the whole “reality television” trend is never going to die. Why should it? They are much cheaper to produce than the average scripted program and give society the bread & circuses they crave so much. Though I am not a fan of such programming I do, on occasion, find myself pulled into the train wrecks these people call lives. I never want to admit that fact, but as obnoxious as the people are, it is very addicting. I tend to skip the Jersey Shore and Kardashian clones and steer more towards the programs where people are trying to accomplish something like being the next big mma fighter or the best make-up artist ever. At least those guys are working to something and not just trying to get into the pants of a walking hepatitis c factory. On a side note, I met the first winner of Project Runway a year ago who admitted to me that the whole thing never helped his career and wound up being a waste of time. Surprise, surprise!

However, there is a new show on the horizon that looks a tad promising. Created by none other than Kevin Smith, Comic Book Men focuses on the employees and customers of his comic book shop.

Smith has shown, in his View Askewniverse, a knack for capturing people riffing on subjects ranging from comic books to Star Wars that feels very genuine. When you add to that his very popular podcast and Twitter, I guess it was just a matter of time for him to take the quasi-logical step into reality television.  Granted the natural feel from the two short promos strike me as just as scripted as his films. I am, for the most part, looking forward to this show because it’s just a group of guys talking about things I love. At least, I hope that’s the case. I want this show to be good and to be successful, but I have several misgivings as well.

One of my sources of anxiety is that they’ll show us geeks in a stereotypical light. Hollywood tends to see us as dateless wonders who are socially awkward. That’s the reason why I can’t watch The Big Bang Theory anymore (Thanks, Skott!). Will Smith allow producers to cut the show in such a way to make us look even more like weenies? My other concern is that the show will just be awful. This isn’t the first comic book-related reality show. Anyone remember Stan Lee’s Who Wants To Be A Super Hero? Man, I wish I could forget! Nothing like watching a bunch of jack holes who know nothing about comics share their crappy ideas in the hopes of being made into a comic book. And it lasted two seasons! Lastly, I hope this show isn’t just one big commercial for various Kevin Smith projects. Though that probably will be inevitable.

When the show does finally premiere in February I plan on watching it. I think this may be on for a season or two then disappear into the ether. As much fun as it would be to watch a weekly comic book discussion, nothing compares to talking to real live people about the things we enjoy. As I have said before geekiness, much like cookies, is better when shared.

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