TV: America's Next Top Model

Along with my sister, I tend to catch reality shows in marathon chunks - it's just too much effort to try to watch all the inanity week to week, but it makes for an enjoyable diversion if you're stuck at home doing laundry and other chores all day.

America's Next Top Model (often abbreviated to ANTM), created and hosted by Tyra Banks, is probably one of the silliest of these shows, but the concept has proven to be popular the world over. There's nothing quite like hearing fashion pretension not from the people who actually design the clothes (as in "Project Runway") but from the people who merely wear them. To be fair, the show ticks off all the reality check marks (suspenseful judging, varied challenges, interesting contestants) and started airing before the current glut of competitive reality shows.

One curious thing about this last season is that Whitney Thompson, the plus-sized model, won the final prize. Keep in mind, though, that this is "plus-size" by fashion industry standards - her dress size fluctuates between an 8 and a 10.