Amanda Greever

I was flipping through the TV channels this week on my quest to find something to kill a few brain cells with and I stumbled across a new reality show “Hitched or Ditched.”

With a name like that, the main premise behind the show isn’t hard to figure out, but I’ll elaborate further. The producers of this crap show find a longtime couple and give them a week to plan the wedding of their dreams. Here’s the catch, though: the couple is already on rocky ground and the wedding might not actually happen. That decision isn’t made until they’re up in front of their friends and family and it’s time to say “I do.”

I just caught the tail end of the episode, thankfully. It centered around a couple that had been together for a while but hadn’t taken the plunge. She wanted to be able to go out and have a good time at the bars with her friends, and he’d rather she stay at home, even going so far as to try to take her home from her bachelorette party. (She said no, by the way.) Seems another drink or three was her downfall as our groom told her how beautiful she was and how he loved her with all his heart but he just couldn’t marry her. Really, guys, don’t butter us up with flattery when you’re going to rip out our hearts and grind them up. Thanks in advance.

Another episode apparently features an interracial couple that is fighting to get the approval of their families because they’re from the South and that sort of thing is “really not acceptable.” The review I found said, his mother even called the bride-to-be “the white devil.” I wonder if she has separate water fountains and bathrooms for them to use, too.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure that heartbreak and tears on national TV is something that can pull viewers in. After all, we watch men get involved with 15+ women and dwindle the number down to one, after he’s tested all of them out. But relationships are hard enough without complicating them even further.

I’m horrible in relationships. I’ll be the first to admit it. I’m terrified of commitment and really have to stop myself from destroying relationships on purpose. Shows that capitalize on heartbreak and ruin don’t exactly make me feel warm and fuzzy.

There are couples in California fighting for the right to be married, an opportunity that got pushed further away as the California Supreme Court voted to uphold Proposition 8, an initiative first passed in November that would ban same-sex marriages. Of course, the divorce rate between heterosexual couples is 50 percent and probably going to rise. Marriage is becoming something to fear and avoid.

Weddings are supposed to be joyous, happy occasions. They’re supposed to be something that couples look forward to as they ponder their vows, who to invite, etc. They’re something little girls dream about. But the older the little girl gets and the more society progresses, the more marriage doesn’t seem all it’s cracked up to be.

Aren’t there enough problems in the world without TV producers trying to capitalize on the pain and suffering caused as a couple gives up its fight to find happiness? What’s next — we’ll have cameras in the divorce proceedings of Jon and Kate? Think we’ll have their eight kids in the room so that we can see their tears as Mommy and Daddy split up?

I like my reality TV as much as the next person, but I think that this show dishes it up a bit too cold for me.