by Melanie Denyer

Created on: November 02, 2007

Watching something like this is really akin to rubbernecking a car crash on a motorway. Taking pleasure in someone else's misfortune. And the biggest queues form when there's a scent of blood, an ambulance at the scene. Even more exciting if the air ambulance shows up, the fire brigade have the jaws of life out and the metal is particularly twisted.

And so with this. It may prove to be compelling viewing for other reasons but, let's be honest, how much drama do we expect there to be? Does Mrs Beckham break a nail? Does her PA forget to book an appointment or fail to get a table for her at whatever the latest LA hangout is supposed to be? Don't they know who she is?

OK, so that's drama off the list, how about comedy? VB isn't exactly known for her ability to laugh at herself, unless it's part of a carefully drawn-up PR agenda, under controlled circumstances. Will there be unintentional comedy - does the series have a director and editor with a sense of humour who put together a final cut that mocks her shallow celebrity? Would that it were so, but I have no doubt VB has veto over the edited version, so any humour is likely to be either spontaneously harmless (and hence rare) or so carefully choreographed even the most dedicated VB fan must surely wince.

Why else would we watch it? Does anyone genuinely believe it's going to be educational, or even remotely edifying to see the struggle of someone emigrating to the US with the help only of a few million quid, and an entourage to rival Kanye West's?

And so we return to car crashes. The average car crash is, at best, a problem or annoyance to the participants, at worst a life-changing or even fatal experience. It's no fun for anyone but the rubberneckers indulging their tendency to schadenfreude. While I'm sure there will be some genuine VB fans who are delighted to take a carefully sanitised 'sneak peek' into her life, I suspect the majority of people watching this are watching only in hope that she will fall and make a spectacular mess of the whole thing.

As for me? I wish her well on her venture into the States - indeed, I hope she has such success out there I no longer have to see her face plastered over the news, or hear people speculating on whatever plastic surgery she may have had, whether or not she's pregnant or whether Katie Holmes has snubbed her. VB: Coming to America? Let's just hope she's staying there.

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