Bashing "reality" TV is a bigger sport among the people who write and produce most other forms of TV than it is among those of us who merely write about it.

On Monday, the diatribe came from the venerable Aaron Spelling (that's what they call you when you get as old as he is, even if you did produce "Melrose Place").

Asked his opinion of the genre, Spelling burst out of the gate strong: "Well, I've got to be very careful about this, but let me tell you, the reality trend makes me puke."

Spelling went on to say that his company had been approached to do "reality" shows, "but we're not going to do that as long as I'm alive."

Later, over dinner, a few of us had the chance to chat with Andrea L. Wong, ABC's suit in charge of "reality" programming, and someone asked her about Spelling.

The woman who helped bring Trista and Ryan together seemed unperturbed.

"Reality" shows "work for the same reasons dramas work - story and character," she said. "There is clearly an appetite for it and it's not going to go away."