America?s Next Top President a guilty pleasure

By Adam Strunk

There’s been plenty of water cooler talk about it and I have a confession to make.

I’m addicted to America’s Next Top President.

Sure, you can tell the show is scripted, but it’s this season’s must-see reality TV.

If you haven’t seen the show, it’s like ?Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,? except everyone looks like Regis Philbin and already has millions of dollars.

In a nutshell, the show makes a bunch of contestants stand on a stage for a few hours and complete challenges like ?relating with working Americans,? ?yelling loudly? and ?making snide comments.?

Social media, previous contestants and critics judge the challenges. Winners automatically get invited back for another episode. Losers get a book deal or cable TV job.

A character called ?The Moderator? ensures contestants complete the challenges and avoid talking about issues or politics.

When the contestants are not on TV, they travel the country finding sponsors to pay for fans. These supporters vote in certain states and determine who else gets invited to the next episode.

It’s a little complicated, but it’s still good television. It lets you distract yourself from all the issues the country faces. I can’t even look at the news anymore. War all over the place. Growing income inequality and poverty.Woof. Kind of a downer. But I digress.

As far as I can tell, the show has sparked a billion dollar industry and millions of fans. I can see why. The horse race aspect leaves me begging for more and I love the characters’ backstories.

So far my favorite is a guy in a hairpiece who builds towers, played by Donald Trump. He always wins ?loudest yeller,? and often ?snidest comment.? It’s not his first reality TV show and he’s in the lead so far, ahead of The Neurosurgeon, Folksy Grandpa Arkansas and someone in a sweater vest.

Then there’s this George or Jeb something. I feel sorry for him. He was supposed to do awesome and the announcers and critics like him, but the fans and contestants don’t. I guess his dad was on the show once and his brother won two seasons in a row. But who doesn’t love a dynasty for president. He’s still my dark horse to win the season.

Soon producers plan to add another set of characters. I haven’t heard of most of them but I know one character will get caught sending secret emails and another comes off as cranky and mumbles about the economy. I don’t know why the show producers invited cranky economy man. He doesn’t even have a lot of sponsors yet.

Regardless, at the conclusion of the show the top two finalists will fight to the death, gladiator style for the title of America’s Next Top President, just like they used to do in Rome.

Just give it a watch and seriously tell me, ?Are you not entertained??

I know I sure am.

So I’m giving the show 7 out of 10 stars. It has a few too many characters to remember and could use a romantic aspect. Perhaps the out-of-work computer tycoon will fall for the King of New Jersey. I just can’t wait to see what the writers come up with.

And, it’s already been renewed for future seasons, so grab your popcorn folks. Welcome to our modern day voting process. Whoo Doggies!

 

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