I would kill my daughter if she did this to me.

I'd disown her. I really feel bad for her family.

Since I don't actually watch them, are all reality shows this cruel at heart?

Think about it for a second..This idea was stolen from an I love Lucy eposide. TV Land which keeps her shows alive.

She went on a show to get extra cash--she had to keep up the serade with Ricki that the stranger was an ex until midnight.

Just proves that the I love Lucy show can weather the test of time.

You know what? You're right. I even think I remember that episode. I bow to your superior Lucy knowledge.

Amazing.

Actually, my impression of the bride's parents was that they were snobs, and they raised their daughter to be a snob.
By "snob", I mean, they consider themselves better than other people by dint of appearance, intelligence, etc.

But I do feel sorry for them sometimes.

Remember, too, that you aren't watching it actually happen. It's all old news, and was all complete before they aired a single episode. The family could not be put on TV without their permission, so I'm betting that it ended well enough that they didn't refuse to sign waivers...

I feel your pain, zomby. I'm going to have to see Average Joe 2 through to completion, but I feel dirty watching it anymore. I even blogged about the first two episodes (humorously, I thought), but after that I just couldn't finish a post on it. The fun wore off pretty quickly, and the gladatorial aspects of watching people form (and unceremoniously break) real emotional attachments with each other for my entertainment came to the fore. Ick.

My wife has a friend at church who knows the obnoxious fiancee family. (Or my wife's friend has a friend who knows them, or something--whatever the case, you can see I'm pretty tight with them all, and this is totally reliable first-hand information. :)) No details of the show's conclusion have been disclosed, but apparently some relationships were badly damaged there. Not good TV, this.

See, that's what worries me. I'm going to watch the last episode next week, but I'm not laughing at the show anymore. I'm just hoping the family can patch things up.

The basic premise of the show is simply to find out how much mental trauma the bride is willing to put her family through so that she can get her million dollars.

I'd complain that it appeals to the worst in all of us--and I think that I'd be right--but that would be a horrible indictment of me and how funny I thought it was that first night.

Ick is right. Nathan is right: obviously, the family already signed their waivers so it couldn't be too horrible of an ending. I guess what bothers me most isn't so much what it says about the show, but what it says about me.

The ones I feel most sorry for is the siblings, to tell the truth, and I'll bet that's where the biggest damage was done.

The basic premise of the show is simply to find out how much mental trauma the bride is willing to put her family through so that she can get her million dollars.
Yep. That's the main thing that keeps me from feeling very sorry for her.
I was feeling sorry for the parents until the mother said some things to the camera that indicated overprotective ownership and snobbery....but thinking back, I merely tarred the dad with the same brush, when he actually seemed to be trying pretty hard to balance his daughters apparent wishes with wanting the best for her.
...then again, the whole family (including the girl) seem a little too hung up on judging Steve by his looks rather than his heart. Since he was so dashing the first evening, I would have hoped they would try to find that guy again, rather than bashing him when his actions fit the preconceptions they made on the basis of his looks.

Then again, Steve does seem to enjoy raking the girl over the coals more than he needs to...

Blah. It may be the first reality show that is as tough on the watcher as on the participants...
...although I may be way off base, since this is the first and only reality show I've watched...

I thought that the siblings were being a little overly bratty, in all honesty. But it was pretty rough watching the mom in tears and begging her kids to go to the wedding because she didn't want this one thing to tear the family apart. I felt really bad for her at that moment.

My first impression was pretty similar to yours, and I still don't feel sorry for the bride to be. She brought this on herself--it's something like the people who act indignanty when they find themselves on Jerry Springer and someone springs a "I'm sleeping with your best friend" moment on them. What, precisely, did they expect? Happy things don't happen on reality TV.

Nah, it's the people who didn't sign up for the humiliation that I feel for.

The only other reality TV I've watched has been American Idol. Simon may be cruel at times, but it just doesn't seem quite so mean at its core.

Hmmm...I missed the one about the mom begging the kids to go. I only watch it when I stumble on it channel-surfing; which is 3 times so far. I couldn't even tell you what channel it's on.

i think the whole family is in on it too. They're all conspiring against Randi, which she deserves for lying to them in the first place.

You know, I hope you're right. That would make me feel better about the whole thing.

It's hard to watch this good family being tormented. Hard to believe it's real and that the bride to be would do this to her family.

I think it's been pretty amazing watching Randi learn what is TRULY important in life. It started out all ha-ha fun and games and "gee I hope I can fool my parents and get the money" ... to "I didn't know they'd be so hurt, what have I done?" As a mother myself, it's been painful to watch at times, and I was proud that moment when Randi realized what she had done.

I like Randi's family, especially her parents. Her mom said something in the last episode that really struck a chord in me. "A mother is only as happy as her saddest child."

Amen to that, Mrs. Coy.

Hilarious show. Who cares about what they all went through, as soon as they had that check for half a million dollars in their hand they were all smiles.

If you watched the WHOLE show, you'd know that at some point Steve, the groom, admits that the show had to literally be re-written as the Coy family didn't exactly fit into the mold they expected them to fit into.

don't you see .. this show just highlights how whacked out on money middle america is ... like randi's family REALLY needed a million dollars ??? .. they had a three car garage for god sake. this show was hilarious,and sad all at the same time. it highlighted what a moral abyss this family and the us as a nation has fallen into. they thought they were so well mannered. they were appalling, money grubbing snobs, proven by the fact they took the dough at the end. as for randi, made-up to within an inch of her life ... yuk.

I was the lucky person that the show chose to create the wedding cake (my business is called Sugar, located in Santa Barbara Calif.). We were kept completely in the dark throughout the whole process. I remember I was rather taken aback when I first saw the "happy" couple walking across the lawn... Steve didn't exactly fit into the stereotypical Hollywood "Barbie and Ken" mold that so many shows tout. But when I watched them interact, I thought, "Oh, ok I get it...he makes her laugh. Cool." Needless to say I was pretty shocked when I actually saw the show. I still think Steve was funny. It's too bad that Randi couldn't relax and have fun with it! I have a pic of the cake on my website if anyone wants to see it. :)

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