Too real for "reality": When the reality-TV show "Wife Swap" featured a liberal family from Minneapolis' boho-lesbian Powderhorn Park neighborhood and a pro-Bush, ultra-Christian Kentucky family (on gender roles in the family, the wife said that thanks to Eve's apple-munching in Eden, she "condemned herself and her kind to be under the heel of man.”), some of the best parts never made it to TV. Like when the Minneapolis mom found a high-powered crossbow within easy reach in the basement. Or when she plastered her pro-Bush partner's pickup with peace magnets. Or when a fight between her and her "husband" ended up with a kicked door and a Minneapolis woman in a Kentucky hotel. Fun stuff. But what if reality TV delves into actual life and death issues?

Last week, I caught the last few minutes of "The Contender," a reality show about boxing. After boxer Najai Turpin left Contender headquarters, hangdog after having lost his bout, Sugar Ray Leonard appeared on screen to announce Turpin's unexpected death. Never did Leonard mention that Turpin's passing involved a self-inflicted bullet-wound. Apparently men beating each other til bloody is "reality," but a suicide, in the realm of dishonest TV programming, isn't.