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I hate reality TV. It is one of the reasons I left the Buffalo News a year ago.

That’s right. You missed the first anniversary celebration of this blog, probably because you were more concerned with Oprah saying goodbye last week.

Of course, reality TV is all over broadcast TV in the summer, which means I’m thankful I have most of the pilots of network fall series to watch on summer nights between now and when they premiere in September.

The only two summer reality series I enjoy start tonight and Wednesday evening.
No, I’m not talking “America’s Got Talent,” which probably will beat my top summer reality series in the ratings by a wide margin.

My top summer reality series, which starts at 9 tonight (forget what it says in Sunday’s TV Topics), is the NBA finals between the unjustly vilified Miami Heat and Dirk Nowitzki, Jason Kidd and the other old-timers who play for the Dallas Mavericks.

The second best summer reality series starts Wednesday between the fourth most popular sports team in Boston – the Bruins – and the only pro team in Vancouver (the Canucks).

Western New York usually is more into hockey but that could change this postseason because of the Heat despite the fact the games could end close to midnight. According to ESPN, NBA ratings in Buffalo had the highest percentage gain of any market in the country during the regular season.

The Heat started the season as the biggest sports villains in the country because LeBron James (see above) took an hour of cable television to tell Cleveland he was jilting it to try and win the title with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh in Miami.

LBJ (LeBron James to those like a professor friend of mine who thought I was talking about the late President)  deserved the criticism for starring in ESPN’s hour-long reality series last summer, “The Decision.” But his decision to leave Cleveland has been proven to be the correct one basketball-wise. The talent level on the Cavs without LBJ was exposed this season when the Cavs finished 19-63 and “won” the top lottery pick in the draft.

During this year’s playoffs, LBJ has been a star on and off the court. On the court, he has made big play after big play and been favorably compared to Michael Jordan. Off the court, he has been Jordanesque as well, saying the right things about his teammates and his opponents in post-game interviews.

In short, he has grown up and no longer seems to be worthy of being cast as the villain. Like every pro athlete, he did what he was entitled to do and did what was best for him. Besides announcing it in a tasteless TV special, the only difference between LBJ’s decision to go to Miami from Danny Briere’s decision to leave the Sabres to go to Philly or Chris Drury’s to go to the New York Rangers was that LBJ didn’t do it for more money. He did it to get a better chance to win even if it meant taking a pay cut.

Short-term, LBJ took a big and deserved PR hit. Things look a lot better for LBJ long-term.

Truth be told, I’m rooting for the new, PR savvy LBJ in the finals even if I wouldn’t be upset if the Mavericks’ and Dirk won, either.

Ratings for the NBA finals should be high nationally because of the stars involved even if it might have been better for the league if a bigger market team like Chicago or Boston made it from the East.

The ratings for the NHL finals are certain to diminish from a year ago — when Chicago and Buffalo’s Pat Kane won — because Vancouver is a Canadian market and its ratings won’t count in the United States.

There is a Buffalo angle to the Stanley Cup finals as there always seems to be. The Bruins are owned by Buffalo native Jeremy Jacobs. But they still are the Bruins, which means they don’t get much love here.

That’s another reason I wouldn’t be shocked if the NBA finals had higher ratings on Channel 7 here than the Stanley Cup finals on Channel 2 and cable’s Versus.

pergament@msn.com

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