Maui Fever (MTV)

MTV has perfected the unnerving reality show style of creating dramatic scenes out of real events. Rather than using the observational style of Real World or Survivor, Maui Fever often feels like a scripted drama. Participants play out scenes like actors, with close-ups, soundtracks, and sound bites. Though the dialogue (being "real") is less cheesy than that of some truly scripted dramas (like Falcon Beach and Monarch Cove), it's consistently inane ("We should all just be single and party!").

While Maui Fever might be a realistic (if overprocessed) look into a very specific segment of the population, it isn't an especially revealing one. Teens obsessed with boyfriend/girlfriend dynamics might find some of their experiences reflected in the show, but with its emphasis on Caucasian, attractive, thin, superficial characters, Maui Fever provides a warped (and often pathetic) look at these people's lives. Also, while the men and women on the show are supposedly of legal drinking age, their party-centric behavior is so similar to that of high schoolers that many teens won't be able to keep the distinction clear.