"Britney & Kevin: Chaotic"
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Tuesdays 9 p.m./ 8 p.m. Central

Who would have guessed that a pop princess was the next great harbinger of truth?

Cooped-up, un-occupied and in love, Britney Spears and recent hubby Kevin Federline are now starring in reality TV's latest insult to common sense and decency: "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic."

The celebrity couple filmed some home movies with a hand-held digital video camera and now, selected and edited between interviews and scenery set-up shots, viewers can catch a glimpse of what it's really like to be Britney Spears.

And what is it like? Well, it's embarassing: "I feel that love is love." It's nauseating: "Love, it is what it is. It's everything. Everything." It's excruciating: "I'm not afraid of my love. I'm afraid of other people's love."

It's surprising, actually, that it took Spears this long to get involved in reality TV. She's been selling her "real" self for some time, but up until now it's been via entertainment news, glossy teen magazines and industry produced singles.

Recently, Britney even exposed herself to fans by posting her deep thoughts on a blog. But stream-of-conscious prose could not have prepared people for this next level of Britney's "truth": when two blue mounds pop up at the bottom of the frame, we hear her giggle, "They look like boobs, but they're not. They're my knees."

Wow.

Is this a new low in television? Possibly. But it's also exactly what should have been expected from a Britney reality show. On the one hand, Brit's target market of teen girls, no doubt, feel empowered by her normalcy. Britney may not be the brightest bulb, but despite her success, she is true to herself, another young girl struggling with her womanhood in the big bad world. It's just like "her" music has said all along; and the younger generation, so desperately searching for authenticity, have been forking over a fortune to hear and see this honesty for a while.

On the other hand, Britney's ridiculous behavior in "Chaotic" confirms the obvious transparency of her status as a "celebrity product" and the calculated nature of her success. Now critics can easily open the floodgates for new and creative ways to discuss her offense to pop culture's attempts at meaningfulness. But let's face it, the formula works: people love to poke fun and people love to bitch.

(There's even a little something for Brit's other target market — dirty old men — who will no doubt get viewing pleasure from her incessant questioning of her friends vis-a-vis their favorite sexual positions.)

"Chaotic" confirms everyone's suspicions and successfully passes itself off as some type of reality. It easily caters to viewers legitimately interested in Britney's life, while at the same time setting itself up for most other people's lambasting. What would have happened if Britney and her beau sat down to discuss viable solutions to ending genocide in Darfur or the pros-and-cons of retaining the filibuster in the US Senate? Would anyone believe it was really reality? What would the shocked and confused audiences do?

In this light, it's interesting that "Britney & Kevin: Chaotic" was originally titled "Britney & Kevin: Can You Handle Our Truth?" The answer is a unanimous yes: Their truth might make many physically ill, but it can surely be handled. And that's a good thing, since, as a result of the show, her marriage and her pregnancy, Britney's definitely back in the spotlight.

And if there were any doubt of the Britney-publicity-machine's ingenuity, look at the numbers: 3.5 million people tuned into the first episode. In the days surrounding the debut, Brit and Kev hit the PR circuit, appearing on Ellen and doing Letterman's Top Ten. Britney also has a new single. The title? "Chaotic."

But despite its position within a well-coordinated publicity campaign, the show poses a few tricky questions: At just what level is Britney performing? Can she only interact through her public persona that, even in "reality," requires an audience, even if the audience is just a single digital recorder-holding friend? And what comes next, if even the stark intimacy of the home video has already been plasticized by Britney?

Admitedly, the last question may seem too much for "Chaotic." But compared to Britney's truth — "That's the most important thing, I think, is to have someone there ... to experience" — the complicated questions are much easier to swallow.

— Taylor Carik (cari0021 at umn dot edu)