Teen Mom (2009– )

I avoid reality shows in general, but find those that challenge people athletically to be tolerable. But THIS one, which I have avoided until I recently, out of boredom, made the unfortunate choice of watching - completely sent me over the edge. I found myself asking the question: which teen mom do I want to slap the hardest? And which of their parents should be slapped even harder? First, Farrah: Spoiled, shallow, defensive, angry, and totally removed from reality. After watching Farrah verbally abuse her mother thru 4 episodes, and give away a dog because it was inconvenient to make the effort to train it, it makes me cringe to think about what kind of person, her toddler, Sophia will be. Most likely, Sophia will be: spoiled, shallow, defensive, angry, totally removed from reality, and hopefully rude as hell to her overbearing, narcissistic mother. Farrah seems to believe she's a Kardashian. She's not. Then there is Maci: a pretty, blond who is bored with life. In every scene, between flipping her hair around, she seems to be constantly thinking about how to stir up conflict, and has to be the center of attention at any cost. Her poor child, Bentley, named after a vehicle, is never allowed to be away from her because she disrupts his peace by appearing wherever he is, and making him want to be with her to the point of crying pitifully. I noticed Maci's skin progressively deteriorating into flagrant acne after a few episodes, and her personality becoming more manipulative and less pretty. Then there is Amber: this girl was ruined before she started. She has no imagination, and wallows in self-pity. I shudder at the thought that she has a child, and hope she is never allowed to raise a child. Catelynn is the most interesting of all the teen moms because she actually loved her child enough to sacrifice her own selfish desires and place her child with a good family. Her child actually has a chance at being raised to have self esteem, and a future. Catelynn has the most dysfunctional parenting situation of all the teen moms, yet has the most supportive partner in Tyler who actually listens to her, and doesn't make every scene about him. Tyler, who also has to literally raise his own father, the idiot Butch, seems unusually stable and mature for his age. I found myself rooting the most for Catelynn to succeed because, although she is very young and has NO role models, she is the most unselfish of the 4 teen mom's. As far as this show representing anything about reality, it does not. Most teenage girls who get pregnant don't have the money to live in their own apartments and go to college, or hire a nanny. This show actually encourages teenage girls to get pregnant, and I'm very disappointed that MTV would participate in such a trashy project. How about a reality show entitled, "Hollywood Whores?" featuring the soul traders of Hollywood, and how many lives they ruin in exchange for profit, sexual favors, and promises of success that will never happen? I'd watch that.