On some level most of us seem to understand that reality television is both not real and mostly awful.

While the popularity of shows like Here Comes Honey Boo Boo sort of baffles me, in other ways it makes perfect sense. Many folks seem to have an insatiable appetite for the manufactured and random drama being fed to them, and they get to live vicariously through the real life cartoon characters that populate most reality television. In some cases, almost anyone gets the happy thrill of being "better than" the individuals they see in these shows. That's an appealing idea to a lot of people.

It's also a popular format with the people that manufacture crappy reality shows because the format is relatively inexpensive to produce and often results in a runaway hit show. Who knew that so many of us would enjoy watching wealthy "rednecks" or alligator hunters in Louisiana?

Who would've thought that we'd be so captivated by goofy, living stereotypes of New Jersey "Guidos", or "American Gypsies"?

So while the majority of us (Hopefully) realize this stuff is trash - the television equivalent of making fun of the retarded kid at school, or the poor kids that live in the trailer park on the bad side of town. But unlike those scenarios, these garbage shows let us feel superior in private, and not many people will criticize you for making fun of Honey Boo Boo's mother. Houston Press writer Pete Vonder Haar covers these garbage reality shows weekly, and I have to tip my hat to him - That's got to be a difficult job.