Fox’s ‘The Complex: Malibu’ home renovation competition series to premiere August 30 - Reality TV World

A couple of hours ago on Good Day here on Fox 4 in Dallas, they aired an interview with the executive producer of The Complex: Malibu and the guy had the nerve to say “we injected a lot of drama into the show.” Based on the couples I saw interviewed, I highly doubt that. I don’t know when it became funny to be a couple where the wife is a nagging, disrespectful pain-in-the-ass to her doormat of a husband, but that relationship dynamic sure does seem to run rampant as of late.

Nevertheless, my husband and I were big fans of that show House Rules on TBS last year. Did anyone else happen to catch it? Doubtful. It was on Friday nights and they picked fairly “normal” couples to take on the task/challenge/insane project of renovating a complete house with a budget and a timeline. Normal = low ratings. This show appealed to us because we also are a fairly normal couple who works on their house with a budget and a timeline. That, and we were done with sushi and grocery shopping by the time it aired on Friday nights.

My point is…House Rules was about the relationships and the homes, whereas methinks that The Complex is more about watching the couples fight and “work through their differences.” I could be wrong. Could be. What always bugs me about relationship reality shows (and that’s what this is, regardless of the “winning couple” getting all the proceeds from the sale), is that it kind of gives the impression that in order to get through life as a couple successfully, you have to have drama. Lots and lots and lots of drama. Because without drama, what’s the point?

My husband and I have talked about this show and how great we think we’d be on it…because we can get through a home improvement project without fighting. While the other couples are bickering, we’re putting up drywall and smooching. While they’re crying over spilled paint, we’re installing faucets and slapping each other on the butt. We can manage to paint a room without me flinging a paint can into his head because he’s not listening to me. And, we can put a new patio down without him calling me a nagging bitch…or something else to that effect. Now that I think about it though, no one would watch us. I know I get a charge out of watching dysfunctional couples (sorry, but if you yell at your spouse and call him/her names, that ain’t right, no matter how hard you try to spin it) and thanking my lucky stars that my husband and I don’t operate like that. No one likes the “normal” couples or roots for them to win…we all root for the couples who fight the hardest to win, because we know eventually they’ll fight over the winnings and wind up on the cover of People. Think about it…who on The Amazing Race gets all of the airtime? Tara and Wil. Colin & Christie. Flo and her whippedboyfriend.

It just dawned on me…maybe my husband and I are the abnormal ones. Wow. There’s food for thought.