They’re doing a good job of ruining one of my favorite shows.

We’re living in an overwhelming, confusing time. What with the war, gas prices, other political and economic issues, it’s hard to stay calm, to keep your head on straight. But this is not what the people on the autism spectrum on this show are concerned with. They’re just trying to navigate life.

And ultimately, it all comes down to life. Love and happiness. They’re the root of being human. But too often, in the everyday struggle, we lose sight of this. And “Love on the Spectrum” focuses us.

The people on this show… They’re navigating human interactions, relationships, they’re trying to find love. They’re not covering up, manipulating, it’s all out front, and it’s fascinating and heartwarming.

I thought I could watch this show forever, I love it.

But as it got closer to the end…

This is the problem with reality television, it becomes too self-referential, too inside, it disconnects from truth, it becomes entertainment as opposed to reality.

Bottom line…these people are now stars.

What have we learned about child stars? They end up on drugs robbing 7-11’s. Not all of them, but they’ve been plucked from the pack and had the light focused upon them, oftentimes for not much of a reason other than being lucky, sometimes being cute, and then it ends. Then what? Try coping with that when you’re on the autism spectrum. When the bottom falls out.

But even worse than the attention these people get on the show, the greedy corporations are now using them as influencers, hawking products. Their promotional clips are all over TiklTok, Instagram Reels. We use this, we love this, buy this… Yeah, right. Forget that the influencers burn out, do you think these people will not? Do you think these corporations will be looking for them to promote products five years from now? Five months even? When they crash, then what?

But there’s a facsimile of truth, until by the end of the show, the prior participants get together to celebrate the engagement. Like they’re all part of a special club. Do you get together with the people you were on TV with? No, because you weren’t even on TV. And when you get together with your old school/camp buddies, no one is filming it for everyone to see.

However, before we get to that point…

James and Shelley… Now she sought him out, but how can she cope with him? She can’t get a word in edgewise! I’d argue the true stars of the show are James’s parents. Who are nice, regular, but with a sense of humor. They can chide James, poke him, soothe him… Their son who is 37 and still living at home. As for buying a house, where did the money come from? Certainly not James’s work… There’s so much revealed in this series, and so much held back.

Connor is a savant. He knows so much about so many things. Makes me feel inadequate at times. But sometimes he seems so serious, nearly frozen, that you believe he is acting, when this is just who he is. Give him credit for leaving the show in the future, then again he was signed by UTA and is trying to become an actor. If you read online, he’s mostly looking for voiceover work, and I can see that, but…what if it doesn’t work out. It’s hard enough to be a has-been if you’re not on the spectrum.

Emma? She’s bubbly and alive. It’s kind of stunning no man has ever approached her for a date. Then again, you’ve got to have sympathy for the parents. We only see their children for moments, they’re exposed to them all the time, and that can be very difficult, with the repetition and meltdowns…

Logan… Hailey works, has he, can he? Ditto on Dylan…nice guy, mother far from rich, they’re living in a one bedroom apartment. He stays at home all day watching TV. He smiles, but it’s so sad, and sometimes this sadness slips through in this show, which is why it’s so compelling. But now Dylan is on social media too.

The awkwardness of the interactions on the dates… They’re not that far removed from the ones average people experience, which is one of the reasons the show is so relatable. What do you say? How do you engender conversation while you’re evaluating all the time whether you like them and whether they like you.

And there are too many holes. The show was shot a year ago, what has happened since. Abby and David, are they still together? They haven’t been posting about each other on social media, scuttlebutt is it’s over. But the real reason we’re interested is they were on the verge of getting married… Are their parents fearful of this or is the relationship just over?

As far as getting married…

Then what? How are the bills paid? What about children?

And little things slip here and there, Madison went to and graduated from college, yet she still has a helper. And then she has that meltdown when someone calls her “Maddie” as opposed to Madison. A person she labels a “fan.”

Is that what we want for these people? Fame? Fans? People who think they know them but really don’t? God, musicians take drugs to cope, how about these people?

And then you’ve got the parents cashing in with podcasts and…

Do you remember that Afghan girl on the cover of “National Geographic”? You know, the one with the green eyes? If you’ve seen the photograph, you’ll never forget it. But she didn’t know she was on the cover, she didn’t know she was famous. Ultimately “National Geographic” reconnected with her in 2002 and showed her the picture, but they said this was one and done, because they didn’t want to screw up her life, like “Love on the Spectrum” has done with its “cast” members.

Watching “Love on the Spectrum” makes you want to go deeper, work with people on the spectrum. But the bottom line is unless you’re a psychiatrist, there’s no money in it. So the best and the brightest don’t help those who need aid the most.

But this is life. Or at least it was, until the show gained traction and the people in it gained notoriety and not only did the producers start to trade on it,  the participants did too.

Bottom line, they’re screwed up for life.

Not that things were necessarily so great for them before, but at least they were rooted in life and its realities, its frustrations, its challenges. Now they’re like those kids on the “Real World,” famous for nothing, but still famous, when you see them as a waiter or in some other service job… They were on your TV, everybody knew their name…and many still do, but so many of these people are broke.

So I’m conflicted. If I’d written about this show after the first three or so episodes, it would have been a complete rave. But now, I’m a bit creeped out. The participants are all just grist for the mill, tools for others to make money. The fame will remain, haunting them, but the money will not.

As for the show itself… It’s a club with a cast party at the end. Which is strange, because so many of these people have trouble making friends at all. And when they go back home…