NYC Prep

I don't know that I'll be speaking much about this show in the future. I can't decide if it's car wreck interesting or the 7th sign. I mean, as a professional television journalist of course I'll be tuning in, but I may not give it a platform in the future.

The thing about the show is that I hate the people on it. And I don't mean Spencer Pratt love-to-hate, I mean that I hate them. People like these kids---self-aggrandizing, entitled, important for absolutely no reason but cosmically gifted with the destiny of having more money, power and opportunity than every good human being I have ever known---make me ill. I feel conflicted about my negative feelings. They are, after all, children. Is it fair for me to judge the actions of teenagers? Is it fair for me to criticize those who choose a path of wrong perhaps simply because they know no other route? At any rate, my gut emotional reaction to these people and their "lives" was disgust.

The premise of the show is touted to be a real-life Gossip Girl. Much like the inception of Laguna Beach (which called itself "the real O.C.), the reality show follows the extra-curricular lives of privileged teens. But what we come to find out is that the Upper East Side is a much different beast than the beaches of Orange County. Where money was a background player in Laguna---LC's house was insane and these girls had more clothes than any real person could have dreamed of in high school---the almighty dollar is a loud and proud castmember in NYC. The money worship is pervasive. There literally isn't a cut-away interview where money/wealth isn't mentioned.

I suppose the best thing to do in this situation is to accept the truth of the story. These people are real and however troubling their words are, they are indicative of how they really feel and live. And although that's troubling at best, it's what art ought to be...truth.