You Should Be Watching: Face-Off

It's part of my being.  I was just born to hate reality TV.  I loathe it.  All the Bad Girls, Stupid Girls, Mob Wives, House Wives, Basketball Wives, Flipping Crazy Wives, can go swim in a vat of acid until there's nothing left but base amino peptide chains.  So annoying.

However, I do have a soft spot for the skill-driven, artsy reality shows.  I like seeing people working their hardest to improve and grow while competing for a prize.  It's exhilarating and you learn a lot by watching the way they work.  Plus, it keeps me entertained when I'm not feeling well. 
One of my favorites is Face-Off on the SyFy channel.

Origins:
Face Off is a competition based, make-up art reality television show.  It's been running for 4 years now.  Each episode features the contestants creating designs based on a theme.  The contestants are required to use a variety of special effects and beauty make-up application techniques as well as design a full costume for their entries in each weekly challenge.

Characters:

Since it's a contest, every season features a whole new set of contestants with different abilities, a fresh crop of fresh faces.  The main judges, however, usually stay the same.  We have Ve Neill, Glenn Hetrick, Patrick Tatopoulos, and Neville Page acting as the primary judges.  Meanwhile, McKenzie Westmore stands in as the show's host.  The judges and host boast awards for the work they've done in Hollywood and they offer great suggestions as well as criticism to the aspiring artists vying for the prize.

What I Like About It:
 Face Off has all the makings of a good reality competition show.  There is a diverse cast of driven creative specialists, there are artistic elements and media that most people aren't familiar with, the judges offer helpful and sometimes scathing critiques, there's a great grand prize, astounding transformations, and just a dash of drama, not a whole truckload.
The contestants, while they are all competing for the same prize, they are NOT horrible people out to sabotage each other.  They cooperatively help one another, compete with respect and, even when working with people they hate, they act with honesty and diplomatic graciousness.  That's something so rare in today's reality TV.  You can cheer for all of them without feeling any sort of guilt for favoring a contestant who happens to be a huge jerk. 
For those reasons, I can confidently say, You should be Watching Face Off