POP CULTURE: 'Rock of Love' finalé delivers

Bret Michaels picked Ambre on the finale of “Rock of Love: Season 2” last week much to the chagrin on my girlfriend who yelled “I hate you!” at the television.
As you can guess, she wanted Daisy to win.

“Rock of Love” is one of my favorite reality shows, although I am not sure why. There are a bunch of trashy girls seeking the attention of a semi-washed up rock star. I admit that Michaels is incredibly likable on the show, but still, if I were a girl I would want no part of him.

I guess the more I watch reality television shows from “Rock of Love” to “Flavor of Love” to “The Bachelor” I get more and more confused. I watch the show and get invested in the characters as if I were watching a drama play out in a movie, but it is the whole reality angle that tricks my mind.

At least three times during Sunday’s finale, I told my girlfriend, “Who cares if he picks Ambre? It is not like he is actually going to be with her.” And that is the problem with these shows. Deep down I want the people to stay together, but they never do, so what is the point? I almost feel cheated in the end.

But then again, these shows are usually better then a scripted alternative. If you told me CBS was going to air a new drama about a bunch of girls looking to be with a washed-up rock star I would never watch, because it would feel forced and awkward. “Rock of Love,” though, was appointment television for me, because the characters felt so real.

For instance, the runner-up Daisy was a complete disaster, but she was also incredibly likable and had a unique sense of humor. During the finale, Ambre told Daisy she was too immature for a relationship with Bret and had not experienced life, which Daisy answered to the camera: “Just because I’m not like 500 years old like Ambre, that does not mean I am immature.”

Great stuff. Oh, and for the record, Ambre is 37.

So I guess what I am trying to say here is that the characters on these dating shows are better then those in scripted dramas. I dare someone to write a character as nuts as the “Flavor of Love” girls or the ones on “The Bachelor,” which features a girl who hiccups every three minutes.
My only hope is that the next time they fall in love it be for real…or at least lead me to believe that it is.

David Stegon grew up in Woodbridge and is completing graduate-school requirements
at Columbia University in
New York. Reach him at info@staffordcountysun.com.