2) Why, at the age of 33, am I finding myself regularly tuning into an MTV program featuring college freshmen and high school seniors living lives of luxury in southern California, packaged together with a theme song by Hillary Duff? (I'm sure my wife would like to know the answer to this as well.) Yes, kids, I'm talking about my addiction to the second season of Laguna Beach. And as countless entertainment columnists (as well as many other bloggers) reveal, I've got plenty of company.

I first discovered the program last year. Stumbling across the show one evening while flipping channels, I found something quite unique, and to be honest, I wasn't even exactly sure what I was seeing. Was it a drama show filmed and presented as a reality show? The camera work and (apparently) unscripted dialogue had me convinced that I was right... until I did a little more research and found that it was precisely the opposite, but no less unique -- a reality show filmed and presented as a drama.

Take what you know about the average reality show and throw it out the window. Lots of things you see on other reality shows (Real World, Road Rules, Survivor), doesn't happen here. For one thing, LB cast members never talk to the cameras in "confessional" settings. Camera work is usually rock-solid (in fact, the show is reportedly filmed in widescreen), and many of the scenes are set up in advance, with all the necessary lighting, etc before the production team "allows" cast members to enter the scene. Of course, while this obviously kills the spontaneity of some scenes as they occur in real life, it's not as if the average viewer watching at home is going to notice. There are no obvious "assignments" for cast members to undertake... no obstacle courses to run, no scavenger hunts to embark on, no series-long project to undertake. It's just a weekly look at the lives of a group of young adults in California.

But none of this really explains why I've become a regular watcher. Yes, there is the uniqueness factor... I've never seen another show anything like it, either in appearance or concept. As far as tv drama shows go, I've never had much use for them. I never was into 90210, Melrose Place, or the OC. Dramas bore me. Well, there was that one show on MTV about 10 years ago... My So Called Life... I tuned into every damned episode of that, mostly due to my unhealthy attraction to Claire Danes. (Wow, her career really skyrocketed, huh?)

I think the main reason I'm into LB is that the show brings back memories of that point in my own life (finishing high school and starting college; experiencing attraction and rejection, enduring love triangles, hanging out with friends and having fun). Granted, my surroundings in my hometown of San Angelo kind of paled in comparison to those experienced daily by the average Laguna Beacher. One blogger suggested that we watch partly because we see things we can identify with and relate to, and partly because the setting (an upscale, oceanside town with amazing views) is about a thousand times more spectacular -- and the young ladies many times more beautiful -- than any of us actually remember from our own experiences. It's a combination of the life we lived and the life we wish we'd lived. Ain't it great?

WSC

np: James McMurtry - "Talkin' at the Texaco" on the KHYI lunch hour
nr: John Steinbeck - Cannery Row