Recapping my week in reality show hell

Eventual X Factor champ Carly Rose hits high note, puberty

The reason why few new network reality shows break through, I'm convinced, is that even the most ardent fan of the genre not named Murtz can only faithfully follow two or at the most three a week.
I've held this view for a while, but it was pounded home this past week after TheStar.ca asked me to recap four of the top reality shows currently on the air: Dancing with the Stars, The Voice, Survivor and The X Factor. Even CTV couldn't fit all these shows on their schedule. How did The Star know I don't have a social life?
Seriously, after all this talent show time wasting, I now want to throw away any CDs still in my house and rip out all the speakers.
These singing star search shows are too similar, not just in how they work, but in how they present their storytelling. So much time is spent setting up some wannabe as a hard luck case/dashed dreams survivor/arrogant fame seeker, and then it all leads to 90 seconds of warbling.
At least on DWTS, the celebrities are the props, not the judges. The judges on that series have their shtick down and so does host Tom Bergeron. The people getting humiliated chose to do this for a living already. Some of these young kids on the other shows just seem used and confused.
Here are the links to the cheap shots and sarcastic comments I made about these shows this week:

Drew Lachey (right) asks Tom Bergeron (left) to stop being so tall

Dancing with the Stars had its dreaded "Double Elimination" week, with two former champs going down among the remaining 11 "All Stars. Check out the Monday recap here and the Tuesday results recap here.

Melanie and Caitlin are told to stop phoning it in by Adam Levine

The Voice has shifted from the Blind Audition round to the Battle Zone or the Cage match or something. The new twist this season is the "Steal" and it is used, but not to save 2Steel Girls. Read all about it here.

The Matsing tribe tell Probst what he can do with his daytime talk show

Survivor has been hard on the Maytag Tribe or whatever it is called. They are a wash out so far, making four consecutive trips to Tribal Council. See who gets their Tiki torch snuffed this week here.

Scooter, Biebs and LA think the economy has rebounded just fine, thanks

The X Factor had moved on the the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous round, where the remaining hopefuls get to schlep to the homes of the ridiculously wealthy judges. Some of the singers can see their homes in East L.A. from LA Reid's palace. Read about it here.