I have a reality TV problem. The shows where stupid people do stupid things - like the now defunct Fear Factor - have never scratched my itch. Watching folks vomit has never been my idea of a good time.

Give me a show where there are skilled people testing themselves against other skilled people, I'm going to watch it. Especially when the judges are also smart and skilled, like chef/restauranteur Tom Colicchio, a panelist on Bravo's Top Chef and a guy who can articulately explain why the glass ceiling is still so hard to break.

Even if you don't give a rip about who won this season, Colicchio's blog about the finale this week proves that a) he's a guy you'd love to have a beer with and b) it is possible to coherently explain why there aren't more women with kids in traditionally male-dominated fields.  

I offer this merely as proof that the reality TV oeuvre isn't full of knuckleheads: compare Colicchio's musings with those of Penelope Trunk, who attempts to say the same things.  Neither will solve the problem, of course, but one does make it clear what the problem actually is, yes?

Photo credit.