Many consider watching TV a useful way to escape the stresses of daily life. Still, somebody thought it would be a good idea to make "reality" a part of a person's television-viewing experience. Why this idea caught on, spread like the plague and is still going strong is beyond me.

The whole concept of reality shows is a paradox. The extreme situations people are put into is not reality. It's people getting paid to eat African cave-dwelling spiders while a director on the sidelines provokes fights. Before this reality TV craze spread, didn't we have enough reality on television already with the news and the Miss America Pageant? (Ironically, the pageant will not air on television this year. The Swan will probably take its place.)

The first few reality shows, though not perfect, were acceptable. I admit I was entertained by watching people eat rats and live in the jungle in the first season of Survivor. However, we've been desensitized to the grossness of eating rats by shows like Fear Factor that get people to eat live bugs and animal-intestine concoctions. Such ideas could only be conceived by a sick-minded TV producer. Plus, Survivor has been on far too long. Watching people starve and fight over who gets the last coconut gets old after umpteen seasons. Even the catch phrase, "The tribe has spoken," has lost its luster and been replaced by "You're fired."

Out of the wilderness and into the contest shows, we have American Idol. I only have one thing to say about that. Once you get a guy like William Hung a record deal, it's time to quit.

The countless makeover shows are grating on my non-Botoxed nerves also. These programs only give people negative self-images and tell the general public that diet, exercise, and self-acceptance is unnecessary as long as you have a scalpel and silicon. The botched women and men always come out looking like Frankenstein creations. Some even look Michael Jacksonesque.

Many other shows are out there that present an equally degrading view of "reality," but I decline to mention them. Just turn on your TV to Fox, ABC or NBC from 8 to 10, and you're bound to see some contorted portrayal of life. I prefer shows that have nothing to do with reality or real people. Take a weekly drama like The O.C., for example. The fictional teen-agers in this over-the-top California soap opera have more life issues than a Chicken Soup book. These characters have an impossible number of problems, tragedies and dramatic encounters, and that's what's so great about the show. Lack of reality is what I want from my television programming. I want fake teens throwing temper tantrums and running away from home on a catamaran, not real people getting their home redone.

Leave TV to the actors and real life to the people.