New Years Resolution for 2011 - Watch Less Reality TV

I have some great books unread on the shelf, and have maybe seen only 3 or 4 Hitchcock films in my time.


I usually like to give something up for Lent, and this year, considered ditching crisps or Facebook, but decided to obliterate any Hollyoaks related programming from my life schedule. Oh how the family Lepki rejoiced in the additional two hours of parlour games and home baking. Well, not so much on the parlour games, but the bread making has come on leaps and bounds in 2010.


The start of 2011 marks a good opportunity to review some of the other time filling crap that filled slots in between work and bed. After a tough-ish day of bringing home the bacon, I have to set expectations with some relative sanity and am unlikely to thrash out a quick screenplay between 9 and 10 when the firstborn teases between cosy sleep and wide eyed attention seeking.


During the last few months of the year, I found myself watching the time sapping drain of the X-Factor, as Simon Cowell and Cheryl Cole paused and manipulated the proles into buying and voting and eating up column inches for 12 weeks and made names of the lesser talented participants such as Wagner and Cher Lloyd who made good copy that was constantly referred to in the show, but I ignored out the context of the 4 hours I was already watching. This spring, Michael McIntyre is added to the BGT panel, but I am not going to get sucked in.


I have managed to steer clear of Strictly and anything on Ice, long may that continue.


On the BBC, I also tuned into Alan Sugar's The Apprentice which whittled down another 12 or so candidates and padded an hour with a couple of well edited points and lots of nice HD flyover shots of London. I bought the bagels in Kingston and they were stale. the show can probably disappear from my schedule in 2011 too.


I doubt that I need to see another season of models move into house, bounce on beds, get makeovers, have a few ups and downs and one eventually gets some contract but you never seem to ever see again. I learnt that lesson from the Search for the New Pussycat Doll. The winner, Asia, never actually got to be that Pussycat Doll, but the 12 week elimination process had enough dips and grinds in branded PCD booty shorts in between time lapse shots of LA and painful renditions of Lady Marmalade to keep viewers intrigued.


I have probably seen enough The Hills for one lifetime, and on some occasions, have seen the same episode several times. I no longer spend Sundays in a hungover trance, so Lauren, Spencer and Heidi can do one, and take their accompanying The City with them.


Two reality shows that I am more reluctant to lose are sewing show Project Runway which actually showcases some kind of talent, and the Amazing Race for the semi-selfish travel bragging opportunity to see speeded up slowed down shots of nice places I've been to.


E4 and More4 staples Location Location Location and Relocation Relocation seem so pointless now considering they were all filmed in 2005 and feature conveniently indecisive couples who fill and hour, or rather about 30 minutes of original content as they ponder neighbourhoods they would consider moving to with the profits from their one bedroom flat in Balham which tripled in value between x and y in the early zeroes. Rather than the speeded up footage, the Kirsty and Phil shows have slanted angles of a tube station, and zooms into coffee shop signs to show the product of early decade E4 gentrification.


Supernanny and Wifeswap are another couple of tired E4 shows which tantrum their way through empty slots in the schedule.


So, unless any great new reality shows come along like Rollergirls, The Tourist Trap or The Town That Wants a Twin, I plan to steer clear or pretty much all of this stuff.


Unless it is about home baking that is, like the best show of 2010, The Great British Bake Off, which maybe in some way helped me kick the reality TV habit.


Pop may indeed eat itself.