Here's the reality, Denise: you're not the Bond girl. You're not the girl from Wild Things. You're the woman who married Charlie Sheen. And, frankly, it's hard to feel sorry for anyone who would marry Charlie Sheen.
This stated, I did not watch this show wanting to dislike her. I really wanted to like her. Despite myself, I enjoy reality shows. Yes, I am a little ashamed, but there it is. What can I do? I wanted to like her and I wanted to like her show. However, she makes it very hard. If anything, her show, an obvious attempt for her to gain sympathy, hurts her case, because the difference between her and her ex-husband is that HE openly admits to being a deeply flawed individual, while she whines about her critics, but is somehow thoroughly convinced that America will think her bad personality is cute. I think I'd rather HE get his own reality show, because at least he's entertaining.
I digress. About the show: well, first of all, "It's Complicated" is a poor name, as it isn't complicated at all: she is an unpleasant person. Seems simple to me. And she's not even unpleasant in the typical reality "It makes for good television" way. She is unpleasant in a "I hope I never cross your path because you curse out everyone on it" kind of way. Okay, so she's not the first person to get angry at the people at the DMV, but let's see who else she insulted on her confessionals, been rude to or cursed at (who didn't deserve it): Her personal assistant; her sister, who was just trying to help her; her sister's husband, who didn't even do anything; her friend, who was just trying to help her; the guy who was on her date, who she was cold and sarcastic with, and then made fun of behind his back and called gay. And yes, girlfriends make those kind of comments to each other, but most don't do it on national television. I really hope that guy was just a hired actor.
Any more innocent bystanders you want to shoot, Denise?
The second episode wasn't as bad as the first, but how hard is it to get people to cheer for you when you're cursing out the paparazzi? I want to make this clear: I NEVER side with the tabloids. Ever. They are BAD people. They're like the mafia without guns with their essential claims of "it's only business". However, attacking the paparazzi is like shooting fish in a barrel. While I don't blame her, and even applaud her for doing it, it doesn't really get the "pity" affect she was going for.
You'd think that with her blunt personality, she would seem honest, but there's a hint if insincerity with everything she does. She says she wants to show another side of her, but we've seen very little positive except a few rare things: I do applaud her standing up to the tabloids. Aside from that? Nothing much. She seems to get along really with animals... Her dad seems nice... Anything else? Nothing really.
This being a business, most shows are devised entirely to make money. Obviously. However, hers attempts to serve dual purposes: to make money and to make people feel sorry for her. She may well do the first, but she's going to try a little harder to do the second.
