Harold makes some quick predictions on American Idol and other reality shows. He also talks about some of the recent changes at his website. (more…)

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In this episode, Harold talks about reality television and…breakfast cereal?

Howdy folks!

I’ve had a busy couple of weeks here. In fact, I’ve not been able to touch my writing project much at all since my last update. Instead of talking about my resolutions (happy Chinese New Year, by the way), I’ll instead talk about a couple of topics that are on my mind.

Reality TV. American Idol and The Apprentice are in full swing now, and the next seasons of Survivor and The Amazing Race are coming soon, so now seems like a good time to comment on them.

This season on American Idol, it seems like I haven’t really found a contestant to root for. Having inadvertently missed part of an episode, I have no idea whether some of the higher profile contestants from the auditions made it through to next week’s episodes. It certainly doesn’t help that FOX doesn’t give much information on its website. When a show like this gets into its fourth iteration, it seems like it’d actually be more necessary to provide further incentive to watch the show. I’m not surprised, though, since FOX has clearly lost touch with the viewing public in recent years by canceling such shows as Futurama and Wonderfalls, preferring to pitch fecal matter like The Swan and Forever Eden. At this point, the only factors that keep the show somewhat compelling are 1) that everyone thinks that they can sing well enough to compete and 2) people want to have some choice over the next pop star to be force-fed to us over the airwaves. Listening to people sing poorly gets old after awhile, especially without William Hung to provide a side plot to the season.

As for The Apprentice, the contestants this season seem a little lacking for the most part, particularly after that commercial debacle this week. Good grief…I guess Net Worth never heard of storyboarding, and Magna never heard of good taste. How did these people get into such top-notch schools or start “successful” businesses?

Survivor starts soon. I don’t think I care so much this time, though. Oh sure, I’m curious as to what they’re going to do with a whopping 20 contestants this time, but it seems like someone manages to spoil the show–in other words, reveal the order the contestants get booted/the final 2–every season. That’s why I won’t be running any Pick’em-style game for this season.

Ahh…The Amazing Race…after plotting how to get on this show, they changed the requirements for the next cycle. So for Amazing Race 9, we’ll be seeing teams of 4 family members or soon-to-be family members. Great for watching, but pretty much the death blow to my chances of getting on the show, for now. I look forward to seeing how they cram the cameraperson in with 4 other passengers in these cabs. Race #8 should be fun, though, with All-Star Survivors Amber and Rob forming one of the teams.

Froot Loops…different? While I have no quantitative evidence as of yet, I believe that Kellogg’s has altered its Froot Loops cereal. My most recent box contained smaller, less puffy loops with a less crispy texture and duller colors than I remembered from previous purchases. Furthermore, after a normal cereal eating session, the milk in my bowl failed to turn fruit-flavored. And no, these aren’t really old Froot Loops–the expiration date is sometime in June 2005. While they seem to float better and stay crunchier longer in milk, these changes do not improve the cereal enough to warrant the loss of its other features. Any evidence to support or refute this observed change would be most welcome. And no, I haven’t lost my mind, just a breakfast cereal.

And that’s it for now.

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