Finals are over. Finally. So, like other Brandeis students who have not begun their summer jobs, I've taken to a busy schedule of relaxing, which for me usually involves watching a lot of television. During the day, I usually prefer to steer clear of daytime queens Ricki Lake (too junior high) and Oprah (too whiny), which means I watch channels aimed more to my own demographic: MTV, VH1, and E!, to be exact.After awhile, even an avid music fan such as myself can get sick of watching the latest Ludacris video, and Michelle Branch, cute as she is, is frankly quite boring to watch for the hundredth time on screen. So, I long for the cable channels to show one of their ranking shows. You know, the ones that ask "music experts" or "celebrities" to rank the 20 or 100 best grunge songs, or handsomest celebrity bachelors, or something of the like. And, ever eager for bored college viewers with nothing else to do (like me), the networks seem to show one of these ranking shows at least once a day.

Two weeks ago, it was the 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders countdown on VH1. Five hours of William Shatner hosting a show about music's greatest one-offs, including singles like "Ice Ice Baby" and the number one on the countdown (drumroll, please), the peppy and poppy "Macarena." What is a better waste of time than listening to the songs you hate from artists you loathe for five hours? In the words of a top-10 one-hit wonder, Sinead O'Connor (it's their classification, not mine), "nothing compares."

If you flip over to E!, "Wild On" host Brooke Burke (the former Playmate), will rank Television's 20 Guiltiest Pleasures. Which includes her own show. How cute! After all, the only thing more mindless than actually watching "Jerry Springer" or "Judge Judy" is watching a show that ranks them. E! actually takes the opinions of Internet voters into account when making their picks. Which begs the question, who bothers to vote in these silly online surveys at www.eonline.com? Oh yeah - losers like me. And, probably more people than vote in the average presidential election.

Can you really put a definitive ranking on anything in pop culture? These TV shows are the new take-off on the year-end surveys that magazines like Rolling Stone and Spin have, asking serious music critics about the year's 10 best new releases. Yet, these magazine surveys have always been criticized for ignoring independent releases, realizing that asking one person to listen to every single album released all over the world in one year is literally impossible. What if that neighborhood garage band with a CD sold to 10 people actually had the best album of the year? We'd never know. And, they probably didn't. But, who can be sure? That's why they should call these lists the Ten Best Releases With Sales Over 100,000, or something like that.

This reminds me of People Magazine's annual 50 Most Beautiful People ranking. Why don't they call it the 50 Most Beautiful Celebrities ranking? That would be much more accurate terminology. Do we really believe there isn't someone in a village in Africa or a small town in West Virginia who is more beautiful than the 50 movie stars, musicians and politicians People Magazine pick in their yearly ranking? No, I don't think so. And, do we really think that the list should change dramatically every year? Will Nicole Kidman change her looks so much that by next year she won't be beautiful? No. But, she won't be on the cover of the issue next year, because that would be boring and repetitive and would reduce sales.

Can we blame TV networks and magazines for ranking things if we are the ones running out to buy the latest ranking issue or tune into the new list of the Best Videos of the '90s. Are we surprised when "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is ranked the Best Video of the '90s? No. It's what we expected all along. Admit it: It validates our own opinion and makes us feel smart for thinking the same thing as the so-called "experts."

Rankings won't end as long as we continue to enjoy them. Perhaps rankings are even natural - we rank colleges, attractive people and favorite foods on a daily basis. We are constantly fascinated by the rankings of others, so that we can compare them to our own. Choice is a part of life. And, so is what television show we choose to watch. While I admit they make a great procrastinating time-waster, on my list of favorite TV shows, the ranking ones hardly rate.