“Rock Of Love”: Do You Care?

noah | July 17, 2007 4:40 am
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An e-mail from a reader today, subject line “bret michaels horrible/wonderful reality show”: “Have you seen it? As per VH1 policy, they’re rerunning it six times a day. It’s just ghastly, but you truly cannot turn away. From Michaels’ pathetic, forced enthusiasm to his bizarre wigs to the varying levels of desperation in each contestant, well, this thing is quite special.” I haven’t seen all of the first episode, in fact–I caught the first two segments when it streamed online last week, and we did break the news that Bret was the “’90s rock star” the ladies would be competing for–but it’s waiting on the TiVo, almost begging me to write about it. Should I heed its call? I’m still a little indie-logged from the Pitchfork festival, so clearly this calls for an Idolator focus group. Check out the pros and cons, as well as a handy poll, after the jump.

Okay. First, the pros:

The show may actually have music-related content, and when do you see that on VH1 anymore? The theme song is a Bret original. There’s a woman in the house who, upon seeing a drum kit, made a beeline for it and started playing. Surely the guys in Warrant would jump at the chance to visit a house full of ladies and be on camera at the same time.

Bret Michaels doesn’t seem like that bad a guy. Yeah, he’s a rock star and by extension kind of gross, but it’s not like he’s as disgusting as Vince Neil. (By the way, how did he not get asked for this first? “He’s married” isn’t even an excuse.) And there’s even a promo during which he talks about his diabetes, which I’m sure will be amazing fodder for tipsy-lady chitchat.

I’ll probably be sucked into it anyway. The season pass has already been thrown onto the TiVo, although I’d likely watch more of the show–particularly the stripper-pole scenes–on fast-forward were I not engaging with the show in some sort of “professional” capacity.

And the con–there’s only one, but it’s a doozy:

I feel pretty bad enough about humanity as it is. Also, what happens if I see someone I knew in high school on there? I’d have to take a long, hot lye shower, and those are never fun.

Anyway, I’m throwing it open to you, readers. If the numbers call for it, I’ll watch it tonight and write it up, thus attracting all the Google News stragglers:

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Rock Of Love [VH1]