I remember years ago a co-worker sent me a link to a story about a new television show that was going to strand people on an island, vote them off weekly and the last one standing would win $1 million. We laughed and joked about how low TV had stooped and debated whether the story was even real.
Within a year we were all poised in front of our televisions watching Survivor. Millions of us were hooked. Reality TV had taken off.
Some people of my generation are quick to claim MTV’s Real Worldas the “original” reality show. But I remember my father laughing uproariously at Allen Funt’s Candid Camera, which played practical jokes on the unsuspecting public while filming their reactions. On Chuck Barry’s Gong Show, people actually agreed to go on TV and make a fool of themselves in the hopes finding fame and fortune. Wherever it all started, reality TV has gone further than anyone could have suspected.
We’ve had competition shows (Amazing Race, Dancing with the Stars); celebrity shows (The Osbournes, The Simple Life); dating shows (The Bachelor, Flavor of Love); job searches (The Apprentice, Project Runway); makeover shows (Celebrity Fit Club, What Not to Wear); renovation shows (Trading Spaces, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition); and gross-out shows like Fear Factor, where George Clooney’s girlfriend once famously ate a scorpion. I don’t think I could eat a scorpion, even for a date with George.
American Idol is arguably one of the most popular shows on TV and it surely saved Fox during the writers’ strike when the other networks were at the mercy of reruns. I wouldn’t begin to try to explain the popularity of this glorified talent show - many others much more qualified than I have tried their hands at answering that impossible question.
A couple of years ago I decided that my life would be considerably more serene without television that was, quite possibly, rotting my brain. The only reality program I still keep up with is Amazing Race, but I justify that by arguing that the show teaches about geography and foreign cultures, and that the lowest-common-denominator factor is minimal. I enjoy tuning into Biggest Loser occasionally too. I think the transformations are pretty awesome and I find the show can be inspiring (if you can get past all the crying).
Do you watch reality TV? Why, or why not? Do you readily own up to watching, or is it a secret guilty pleasure? How much of “reality” programming do you believe is actually REAL? And most importantly, what do you make of John McCain calling Heidi Montag a “very talented actress”???
Responses to “Do you watch Reality TV?”
April 11th, 2008 at 5:30 pm
I can almost sit through “The Amazing Race”,but have otherwise never watched a full episode of any reality show. I tried to watch “Survivor” but didn’t like the pettiness & backstabbing because there is enough of that in my reality. The writer’s strike nearly killed me because I was left with only reruns of my fave shows or reality TV.
April 14th, 2008 at 1:44 am
Um, no. I once watched Paris and Nicole just so I could see what everyone else was talking about, and it made me sick to my stomach. These days just reading what the show is supposed to be about makes me sick, I don’t even have to watch. Sickest so far: The Swan.
I’m not sure contests where the contestants have some identifiable talent other than sheer cussedness should count as reality shows - after all, The Gong Show was never called a reality show.
April 14th, 2008 at 9:19 am
Cynthia, I find your point if view familar with my own.
Can’t do reality tv. Back in the day there was something inside me that was intriegued by the original Real World season. But that went away in short order. The voyeur in me doesn’t manifest itself around Big Brother’s running video but in other ways, I’m sure. Saw ten minutes of Survivor once, but I don’t watch people eat bugs. Can’t watch Nicole and Paris act like idiots. No other reality series interest me enough to be familiar with their names.
The writer’s strike about did me in as well. Luckily television’s only true reality offering, live sports is omnipresent on the tv dial.
Differnet strokes for different folks, I’m a “whodunit” man. Without a Trace, Cold Case, The Closer, all the Law & Order series, but curiously enough never have seen any CSI, don’t know why, really. Maybe I’m missing somethng there?
Changes in my life recently have tempered my laughter. I rely on the old standbys via TV Land and Seinfield to fill my rare situatuon comedy fix.
I guess I prefer real tv (series) not reality tv ones.
April 11th, 2008 at 10:42 am
I am a bonafide lover of reality TV, and it’s in no way a “secret” or “guilty pleasure.” I love everything from CBS’s Big Brother to E!’s Girls Next Door and Keeping Up With the Kardashians. I do not, for one second, think it’s all “reality,” however. Most conversations are obvioulsly scripted, which I’m OK with. TV is TV. I watch it just for fun, but (fortunately) am able to draw that thick line between “reality TV” and actual reality!