I can fondly remember watching great TV shows on Nickelodeon as a child.

Now, as an adult, my television viewing has been limited to stations such as the Home and Garden network and USA network- mainly because there is a pretty good chance there won’t be hookers in bathing suits punching each other on these stations.

The phenomenon of reality TV has dominated screens everywhere.

And, I can proudly say that I have not yet been sucked in to any show with half-naked women (and sometimes men) fighting over D-list celebrities.

You all know what I’m talking about – “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila,” “Rock of Love,” “I Love New York,” “Flavor of Love” and MTV’s most recent waste of a perfectly good hour of air-time – “That’s Amoré.”

This gem of a show demonstrates just how much our generation has dumbed-down, well, everything. Class and taste are a thing of the past thanks to our generation.

When one “That’s Amoré” skank asked another, “We were just wondering why you don’t shave your vagina,” she went on to wonder why the unshaven girl was isolating herself from the group because of it.

I am relieved that I don’t have a little sister – a little sister with a young impressionable mind – who could easily be watching every trash TV show out there.

The problem is that it’s easy to get sucked in. If you can stand to sit through an entire episode of any one of these shows, you have to see who is going to make the next sluttiest move to get more attention.

When my friend met Romance from “I Love New York” at a Panama City night club, she was almost star-struck. In order for me to get her away from him, I had to remind her that he was the one who cried in every episode and that he wasn’t very cool at all with his skunk-colored, spiky hair.

Among other things, these shows are so terribly degrading to women. At what point do these women respect themselves when they call each other derogatory names and act like material sex objects? Who would want to date Flavor Flav or Bret Michaels anyway? They are old, washed-up and not attractive at all.

Many of these shows have a sequel, which only backs up all my claims. They didn’t realize that anyone who would compete to date on national TV isn’t going to be a quality life partner in season one.

Jessica Lumpp is a sophomore magazine journalism major and a columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact her at [email protected].