2003-12-9 5:23 p.m.
A Simple Letdown
With The Bachelor a total snooze and season 2 of The Surreal Life a month away, I really had high hopes for The Simple Life. Or should I say low hopes?
I was hoping for a good half-hour of schadenfreude as we watched Paris Hilton and Nicole Richie frolic among the cow patties of rural Arkansas. A guilty pleasure with which I could have a love-hate relationship. A show about which my attitude would be best summed up by this request, from TheBoy, on the night of the show's premiere: "I don't want to be here when you watch that. You are TiVoing it, right?"
But alas, it was not to be.
Thanks to this show, Paris and Nicole have their status as two of the most useless human beings on the planet locked up. Paris in particular comes off as stupid, but it's not even a fun kind of stupid. Either she really is that dumb, or she thinks there's some sort of Jessica Simpsonesque benefit to be gained by feigning ignorance of the terms "well," "soup kitchen" and "Wal-Mart." I can't decide if it's sadder if she's so dumb that potted plants could beat her at Scrabble or if she's so desperate for attention that she thinks acting that dumb is a good idea.
At least Fox hasn't cancelled Arrested Development. Thank God for small favors.