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My friend (and bridesmaid) Kimberly and I got together last Friday night. I needed to drop off the gift I bought her in St. Louis (we always do that for each other - pick up small trinkets from different places we travel to) and do the last try-on of my wedding dress (she has been keeping it safe for me - away from Gerry's eyes and numerous teeth, paws and claws). I arrived during an episode of Top Chef, and we watched some of it while unwrapping her present, fussing with both our dresses (she wanted to get a second opinion on her dress too, because she only just picked it up after alterations) and getting ready to go out for dinner.

I can see why people are drawn in by Top Chef. Aside from some very interesting cooking, there is a lot of drama and excitement, which brings me to the topic. Why? Why is it not enough to just watch some good cooking shows (of which there are plenty), write down some recipes and cooking techniques and whip something up to impress your friends or your significant other? Why do we have to lock a bunch of really good cooks in a house for 12 weeks, subject them to a bunch of really stressful situtations - both professionally and personally - and see who can survive? Why do people get off on that?

I don't have cable, and watching just one episode of Top Chef made me glad that I didn't. While I was amazed by some of the dishes these guys came up with (especially considering the stress), I felt terrible about all the crap they had to put up with from the judges and from each other. And the elimination process is JUST brutal! It was so bad, so hard and humiliating for the contestants that I couldn't even feel good for those who did well.

A long time ago, when people wanted good drama, they read books or went to the opera or to the theatre. Then the movie age began, but that wasn't bad. People still had their ability to get excited about things that were truly extraordinary: like daring rescues of lovely maidens by dashing heroes, gloomy castles invaded by ghosts and vampires, epic battles and so forth. Then we started getting - and wanting - more entertainment. More drama, more comedy, more color, more action, more special effects - more of everything!

I do not know when our senses reached saturation point, where it became necessary to take the most ordinary things and infuse them with as much drama as possible - like a bunch of people living in the same house, or a bunch of people living on an island, or a bunch of people trying to cook. Doesn't anyone see how absurd it has become? Doesn't it bother anyone that we must go to such extents to satisfy our need for excitement? I'd hate to imagine what's in store for us next. A show called The Restroom, perhaps, where participants are fed a huge meal laced with laxatives and then have to navigate a series of complex puzzles and an obstacle course to get to the nearest bathroom (is anyone writing this down?).

Hardly anyone can sit still for 15 minutes anymore, delighting in nothing more than antics of small children or animals, or the twirling of falling leaves, or the pattern of rain drops on the window. How sad...

Learn more about this author, Maria K..
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