I Love Calpernia

Logo's new reality dating show, Transamerican Love Story, is as much fun as I Love New York -- without the exploitation

By Neal Broverman

Can’t you see the 28-year-old junior development executive -- “We’ve had reality dating shows with a bi, a gay, and a ghetto girl…how about a transgender person?” A year or so later we have Logo’s Transamerican Love Story. And as it turns out, it wasn’t such a bad idea.

Reality dating shows are always good for networks because they’re cheap to produce and garner decent ratings. The trouble comes with the inherent exploitation, when the audience is asked to laugh at the star and his/her suitors. There’s usually some vague racism or sexism thrown in as part of the appeal, though the 28-year-old executives would swear that’s not the case.

TLS bucks this trend. It’s as fun as A Shot at Love With Tila Tequila, Boy Meets Boy, or the 18 Flavor Flav shows, but it remains guilt-free because the stars of the show -- trans bachelorette Calpernia Addams, Calpernia’s best friend Andrea James, and host Alec Mapa -- are visibly winking at the reality genre, and we're laughing with, not at, them. All the same, TLS nourishes viewers with the necessary doses of drama -- it’s the Scream of reality dating shows. (Full disclosure: Calpernia, Andrea, and Alec are all friends of mine and this magazine -- Alec’s a regular columnist.)

Broverman is The Advocate's associate editor.

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