Kathy Griffin’s “My Life on the D-List” Raises the Bar on Reality TV

Kathy Griffin is known for her willingness to do absolutely anything to bring attention to herself, but on this season of her Bravo reality show My Life on the D-List, she’s doing her most shocking, outrageous thing yet.

She’s taking the high road.

Let’s face it: reality TV isn’t known for its efforts to lift up the spirits of humanity. In the crowded reality show marketplace, many producers have learned that the way to get attention for yourself is to go straight into the gutter.

But Kathy and the producers of My Life on the D-List have taken their show in a completely different direction. Sure, Kathy sometimes talks trash about various celebrities in her on-stage act.

Yet on last night’s episode, Kathy went to Washington D.C. to lobby for the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” While there, she “spontaneously” called for and arranged a public rally in support of the issue.

Later in the season, Kathy is going to get a pap smear in public, calling attention to issues of female health.

Kathie with mother Maggie Griffin

And last week’s episode, about Maggie Griffin’s new book and line of merchandise, was mostly just an excuse to make Kathy’s effervescent 90-year-old mother Queen for a Day. As much as Kathy teases Maggie, she is clearly intent on honoring her in every way possible in the last years of her life.

It’s not that Kathy has turned My Life on the D-List into some kind of public service announcement. The show is just as entertaining as ever, mostly due to Kathy’s unique brand of personality-driven comedy.

Kathy shares a faux-mance with Levi Johnston

At the same time, the reality of this reality show is that its subject matter is usually completely at odds with the shallow, celebrity-obsessed, trash-talkin’ image that Kathy loves to cultivate.