Giving the judges veto power on "American Idol"

As a person who loves watching solid strategy and gameplay on reality TV, hearing about the coup d'etat on Thursday night's "Big Brother" made me cringe. In theory the coup sounds like a great idea in that it gives America a chance to impact the "Big Brother" household; yet, at the same time, it completely disrespects anyone who has worked their butts off to get into a secure alliance. Now the show is put into the hands of America, and obviously they will want to give more power to underdogs or those with a positive edit.

However, put up against some of the other bad twists in reality TV history, maybe the coup isn't quite so bad. There are some twists out there so bad they make watching a chore.

5. Giving the judges veto power on "American Idol"

All right, we all know that sometimes America messes up on the voting and the wrong person goes home (see Chris Daughtry for evidence); but isn't the controversy really part of the fun? If Daughtry hadn't left the show at the final four, no one would've been talking. Giving the judges the power to "save" a contestant from elimination is silly, especially since we all know that, at the end of the day, record sales will determine how successful a singer really is.

4. "Big Brother 8"

The only thing possibly worse than the coup d'etat was the idea for this season: to randomly put three sets of "enemies" into the house along with "America's Player," who would act on the nation's behalf. Both ideas were actually pretty cool, but CBS only went halfway with casting the enemies and should've made a whole cast about them. This season also introduced us to Dick Donato (which may actually be a good thing to some people). It was too confusing and far too random to be fun.

3. "The Amazing Race: Family Edition"

This season almost killed "The Amazing Race," mainly because it took away from the point of the show: to be amazing. It was a glorified road trip across America (and I guess Panama) with families that were difficult to remember and challenges that included "find a giant rocking chair." Plus it wasn't exactly a fair competition; the teams with small children lost early, and the Linz Family, made up of four adult siblings, ended up winning the grand prize. (Plus, the Weaver Family lasted too long and they were quite frankly frightening at times--who stops on the final leg of the race for fast food?)

2. "Celebrity Mole"

Okay, these two seasons did pretty much kill "The Mole" for a while. The show gained a fan following for being witty and intelligent, and then decided to cast Dennis Rodman and Stephen Baldwin and make the challenges far easier. Nobody asked for a celebrity season of this show--thankfully, ABC redeemed itself by making a new edition last summer with some really great contestants and ideas. However, poor ratings ultimately sent the show to the grave.

1. The Outcast Tribe on "Survivor: Pearl Islands"

Unless they are voting on a winner or coming back for an All-Star season, bringing back previously-eliminated contestants is never a good idea. It's happened on "Big Brother" and "American Idol" before, but nothing will ever top "Survivor" allowing six previously-eliminated contestants the chance to come back into a tribe. Two contestants (Burton and Lil) managed to re-join the game after winning at a challenge, throwing all strategy out the window and angering the cast. The worst part? Lil beat out popular players like Rupert and infamous players like Johnny Fairplay to finish second.From:www.examiner.com