I’m back in the US. It’s been pretty good so far: lots of great food, being able to go places without having to rely on trains, stuff costing closer to what it should, etc. I’m definitely leaning towards moving back here sometime in the next year or so, whether to St. Louis or somewhere else.

Oh yeah, so I complain a lot of times about how bad Japanese TV is, especially since 90% of programming in Japan consists of the same stable of untalented “talents” overreacting to food porn. But I was sitting here working on Monday afternoon with the TV left tuned to MTV and my god, I think the shows on there (of course they don’t play music videos) have gotten even worse than before, and even beyond bad Japanese shows. I watched about 10 minutes of this show called “Parental Control” and it was just so bad in so many ways I couldn’t turn it off. I’m hoping that none of you are familiar with this show so here’s what I can gather about it: it’s a dating/reality type show where a guy’s parents aren’t happy with their son’s girlfriend. Each of the parents set up the son on a blind date, and the parents and current girlfriend monitor the date from the living room with a TV monitor. At the end of the episode, the guy decides to stay with his girlfriend, or he can choose one of the other 2 girls.

First off this show had the same style, music, and feel that all MTV shows have had for the past 10-15 years. It was just sad how the shows on that station haven’t changed at all in so long, yet I’m sure they still have a steady audience of pre-teens who don’t know any better. Next, contestants on MTV shows are always the same type of people: obnoxious, stupid loud, rude, and suggestive. On this show the parents were also like this, which made it super creepy, especially when the dad brought his girl out for his son to date, and wouldn’t shut up about “how hot she is.” Where does a married guy in his late 40’s or so find a 20-something girl who wants to be on a TV dating show??

The answer, of course, is that he didn’t, and she was provided by MTV, but it was still super creepy.

And almost like clockwork, when things starting “heating up” during the date, the current girlfriend started getting all uppity and then was arguing with the parents, expletives flying and the censor beep being used just a little too much. The show was just obnoxious and repetitive, although I did laugh a few times. These times were when the son was on camera (a lot) since he was probably in his early 20’s, seemed to have an IQ equal to his age, and was going super bald but still insisted on spiking his hair up a lot. Har har.

Quote so bad I had to make a note of it #1: “Since we went rock climbing, I brought you some rock candy!”

Quote #2, by a girl who got rejected because she was mega butch: “You know what, I am manly, and if I ever see you on the street I’m going to kick your ass!”

Ugh. I hate you MTV.

Also I’m tired of seeing “professional” poker on ESPN. Mainly just the guys with sunglasses, because that’s obnoxious.

Seriously, I’m having a great time in the US, but a lot of TV here is just amusingly bad.