Whither Art Thou Mullet, Mandel?

Ah, the full-time life. Today was my first day in my summer of my first forty-hour work week. I almost feel like an adult. Almost.

So this evening after a rousing run to Arby's (Marry me, Five for $5.95 deal), I decided to take part in a typical working American evening of watching 2.5 hours of television, which is granted still lower than the normal average of hours per night, I believe.

I started off with longtime favorite Jeopardy! where I alternatingly felt slightly smart (Hey! I knew a question about the Azores!) and very stupid (Shit, I don't know Maugham. Or Wolfe. Or Fitzgerald. Or ANYTHING.) I am way, way out of practice and might just have to start watching the show regularly to slowly claw my way back up. Or at least stop the yay-for-killing-brain-cells thing.

Then I caught a rerun of a recent episode of Deal or No Deal on CNBC. I watched mostly out of curiosity, what with the mixed and mostly negative press the show's been getting. For the most part I have to say I was kind of entertained with a few periods of boredom. Perhaps, boredertained? Maybe it's just me coming from a relatively working class background, but if I was offered anything over $5000 by "the banker", I would SO TAKE THAT SHIT. These people don't seem to understand odds very well, especially the fact that they have a 1 in 26 chance of taking the $1 million. I'm sure it's all very exciting being on live television with an audience and Mandel's gleaming head and distracting soul patch, but come on people. Dumb. They are, however, likeable enough to keep me watching, and I have to say that for a completely random game that requires zero skill, they put out a pretty good show.

Of course, my biggest problem is the gross treatment of the 26 models. I can put up with Vanna and even Barker's Beauties, but this is just ridiculous. Especially when a contestant's grandfather asks her to "pick a pretty one" for him. Eeeww. As much as I want to see a likeable irony in their presence, it still leaves a blech taste in my mouth. Ditch the objectification and speed up the pace of the game and you might have something I would watch semi-regularly.

Oh yeah. After that I watched Sex and the City for an hour. But Carrie didn't even wear anything that heinous in either ep, so there's really nothing worth mentioning.

Tomorrow: more pseudo-adulthood. But there's something about being an adult that really makes me...want some candy. Ooh! And a slushy!