We can attribute at least one thing to MTV as it turns 30 this week: “The Real World” may not have been the first reality show, but it was arguably the most groundbreaking. In it, you can find the blueprint for many of the reality formats that dominate today’s TV landscape.

It was a simple idea - put a group of strangers together, turn on the cameras and see what happens – that yielded an addictive, engaging result. The show became a sensation, a part of our cultural consciousness that gave Generation X a rallying point and a shared experience.

I can still rattle off the names of nearly every cast member from the first 10 seasons. I can tell you when and why that famous introduction sentence changed from “seven strangers” to “seven people.” I know when producers stopped casting people who lived in the city where the season took place, and when they started forcing the cast members to work together as well as live together.

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In the fall, I’ll need several advanced logarithms to figure out a plan to DVR all of the shows I’ll be watching. But right now, the TV landscape is a little more sparse.

That means there’s an opportunity to watch shows I normally might not make time for, like “Covert Affairs,” “Falling Skies” and “Wilfred.”

They’re not the greatest shows ever, but they’re entertaining enough to overlook some occasionally clunky dialogue and implausible/predictable plot points. And a large part of that willingness to dive into these shows is the fact that, honestly, there’s not a whole lot else on. (If you're saying to yourself, "Jordan, I thought this was supposed to be a critical blog. Why are you writing about shows you like? Where’s the hate?" I'm getting there...)

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Let’s get this out of the way right off the bat: Watching “Wipeout” is not an intellectual pursuit in which one strives to find deeper symbolism about the meaning of life and the evolution of society vis a vis the physical hardships perpetrated upon a group of well-meaning volunteers seeking fame and fortune.

“Wipeout” is basically an hour of fall-down-go-boom. And that hour is funnier than it has any right to be.

Yes, it is in many ways a rip-off of “Most Extreme Elimination Challenge.” But it’s entertaining, often because of the visceral reaction that we have to seeing people innocuously get hurt. Why do you think “American’s Funniest Home Videos” lasted so long?

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