TVSquad

Some of this list is going to be very predictable and some of it is going to surprise you.

The Hollywood Reporter has the list of the ten most-watched TV episodes of the past ten years. Now, you know that shows like American Idol (season six premiere), Survivor (first season finale), and Friends (series finale) would be on the list, but how about the series finale of Spin City? Maybe it's because I never got into that show but I never really thought it would make the top ten (of the decade anyway). The ER episode where Lucy died is also in the top ten, as is the Grey's Anatomy episode that aired after the Super Bowl in 2006. The number three episode? Well, that just surprises and depresses the hell out of me.

Any episodes not make it that you thought would be on such a list?

Question: What do the following TV shows have in common? Joe Millionaire, The Bachelor, Are You Hot?, Trading Spouses, The Will, and My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance.

If you answered "they all destroy the human soul a little bit when you watch them," you're absolutely correct. But that's not what this post is about.

Actually, they're all shows whose workers filed a class-action suit in California three years ago. A settlement has been reached and the workers will be sharing a $4 million settlement. The suit accused the shows of violating state wage and work rules. Workers on those shows worked 80 hours a week and were denied lunches and breaks. They were also asked to fake their time cards. Worst of all, the workers were asked to actually watch the shows they were working on, which violating human rights laws in the United States.

Of course, I kid. It violated human rights laws around the world.

For some, watching relationship-based reality programming is not their idea of a pleasant night in. Why should they watch shows about finding and keeping love when it takes so long to find that right person in real life? Yet, since the mid-'60s, viewers have turned-in to watch others search for their soul mate. Or, at least their soul mate of the hour.

Of course, in the time of the Reality Revolution, the way love was found on television changed a bit. Rather than asking a simple set of questions to a set of bachelors or bachelorettes sitting behind a wall, men and women would compete for the love of a well-to-do bachelor or bachelorette, or a rapper/model, or a washed up 80s hair band star. They would even compete to see if their love could withstand an onslaught of temptation.

Sometimes they would find their one true love on these reality show. Other times they would be tossed away, their hearts broken, like a piece of paper. Along the way they would be love, sex, fights, sex, heartfelt moments, and sex. With reality programming being what it is, the viewers ate it all up.

Yes, that is a wiseass headline. I mean, is there anyone out there who really thinks that what they are seeing on all these network reality shows are the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, exactly how it happens?

James Poniewozik over at Time investigates some of the behind the scenes goings on at some reality shows, including Laguna Beach, where they allegedly made up a love triangle that didn't even exist; The Dating Experiment (an ABC show in the works) that took out the name of a celeb in a girl's quote to make it seem like she liked a male contestant, who she really hated; and Paris Line being told what to say on The Simple Life. This comes on the heels of Richard Hatch telling the judge at his trial last week that people cheated on Survivor and producers covered it up. Plus let's not forget the controversies from Joe Millionaire (editing that made it seem that Ethan and one of the girls were doing something in the woods), Blind Date, and other shows. 

I, for one, am SHOCKED. Shocked I tell you!

[via TV Tattle]