Is Reality TV really that bad?
 

I have one of those "website-a-day" desk calendars, and today's featured website is the Reality TV Hall of Shame. These are the exact words on the calendar: "Reality TV is bad enough. Imagine how awful you have to be to merit inclusion in its 'Hall of Shame.'" Reality TV Hall of Shame!

The opening sentence - "Reality TV is bad enough" - is stated as if it were a law of physics, and most everybody I see on television and talk to in real life seem to agree. How did that happen? It's as if you are required to say something denigrating whenever the conversation turns to reality TV.

I see it with people I know and work with; I see it on all TV award shows and talk shows; I see it in the movies. They all can't wait to throw in a nasty, disapproving opinion about reality TV - almost like they won't be accepted unless they do.

So who are all these hundreds of millions of viewers watching reality TV in the US if everybody hates it? Who are all these celebrities knocking down their agents' doors to get a gig on American Idol or Dancing With the Stars if the entertainment industry is so dismissive of the whole concept?

After all, it's television we're talking about here - not Shakespeare. A week ago, when someone overheard me say something about Survivor, they muttered that I needed to "Get a life." I have a life, thank you. Grancey and I are happily married, we are active in our community's civic and local affairs, we have many ongoing projects, and we love stepping out to have a good time. And we also love reality TV.

There. I said it.

yes, it is that bad.
But since when did that ever stop people? :)

Is reality tv bad? Yes.
Are most best sellers bad? Yes.
Are most blockbusters bad? Yes.

Do people enjoy them? Yes.

They have their place.

Many desserts are bad for you, but that doesn't stop us from eating them.

(btw, "reality tv" is a misnomer.)

A few years ago I used to intellectually kick the shins of people who enjoyed reality TV shows like Survivor.

But the past few months I've been introduced to Project Runway a reality fashion design show that I really like and actually can't wait to see the next episode, which we rent on DVD.

Of course, I'd be remiss to omit mentioning that Heidi Klum walks around and sits around in some damn hot outfits, too... :suave:

I guess it's like any other TV show: once you get invested in it, you enjoy it, regardless of what genre of show it is.

http://i196.photobucket.com/albums/a...unway-tv09.jpg

The backlash against most reality tv is that it's not really reality at all. Most of the events are staged in the end. For instance, Survivor and Man vs. Wild were all found to have a huge staff and places to sleep within close distance to the stranded person(people). While some of that is for medical benefit, it's hard to premise a show that people are deserted on some remote island or place when in fact, it's possible for them to have the comforts of home.

Reality tv is also flawed by the fact that there are tons of copycat shows and they all seem to play before and behind one another. The bachelor, the Bachelorette, More to Love, Rock of Love etc etc etc. Loads of people watch them, but loads of people loathe them. I think you'll find that other than American Idol, the shows aren't as popular as the media outlets lead you to believe. Most of them are getting a 4% share while Leno is getting a 12% share at a later time slot.

I don't really care what people watch on tv.. I just don't want to hear about it all day.

the worst part of reality tv is that is glorifies the worst traits of humanity--pettiness, vanity, pride, ignorance, etc.

I remember the second episode of the first survivor. The challenge that day involved eating something gross (to me)... insects or something like that. My immediate thought was of the old Newhart Show, where Larry, Darrel, and Darrel had a business they called "Anything for a Buck"... They would undertake any job for a price of $1.

I said this is simply "Gilligan's Island" meets "Newhart", turned the show off, and haven't watched more than a few minutes of any of the reality shows since then. It's cut down on my TV watching a LOT!

Entertainment is in the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I can take 'em or leave 'em. The only one I try not to miss is So You Think You Can Dance just because I enjoy watching talented dancers and the way they move. Who wins and all that ... I don't really care.

well, yes, then there is Project Runway, the only good reality show :lol:

and we all know who the real star of the show is.
it's Tim Gunn.
don't lie. :p

There is a range of quality (tied to the degree of exploitation imho) amongst reality shows just as there is with any genre.

I don't care for the talent shows but I don't see anything inherently crap about them. They're not sophisticated but so what.

On the other hand, fly on the wall shows that exploit narcissistic fame hounds are unhealthy trash.


There are a couple of factors here leading to this bias.

The first is that people in the entertainment industry who have worked hard and honed their talents are naturally going to resent the growing legions of trashy maniacs that much of reality tv is built around. They're a threat.

The second is that the internet demographic is not the same as the mass audience. The mass audience includes a larger walk of seniors and conservative folk who are just looking for pleasant diversion in their entertainment.

I think the internet peanut gallery skews young, male, cynical and urban. It's like an electronic a bathroom wall and the content masses don't feel the need to burn calories about the flickering screen in the corner.

Oh, yeah MM...Tim is totally watchable. His reconnoitering forays into the work area are one of my favorite parts of the show. To be sure, Tim's questions and reactions are a major part of what keeps the show entertaining. :thumbsup:

Plus, he's a sesquipedalian....

I agree with this. Very well said.

There are so many types of reality shows now and days that it is difficult to lump them all together. The painful ones are the ones like survivor, where people are lumped together (in a house or not) and pretend to be living some kind reality, where the contestants do their best to lie and manipulate others, all for entertainment purposes?

Yes. At least any of the current reality thats playing.

Depends on the reality TV, or what people consider to be reality TV.
I don't know if it counts to most people, but I'd classify "Dirty Jobs" as reality TV, and I like it.

realilty tv has its moments.

for example: a contest which requires a group of remarkably stupid people to build a giant catapult in order to hurl raw chickens across a football field to be caught in blankets by another group of remarkably stupid people wearing hockey helmets.
it's genius.
it really is.

i prefer reality tv to watching televised poker on espn.
watching groups of skeevy men sitting around vegas tables typically wearing cowboy hats and smoking cigarettes while playing cards makes me pine for the aesthetic integrity of real chance at love 2.
the only thing that makes televised poker seem interesting is a few minutes in the tv company of the unbelievable vacancy that is the kardashians.

parts of a giant puzzle, really.

Ooo, I can't wait until society sinks to the level imagined by Richard Bachman in The Running Man.

I think "Treadmill to Bucks" would be my personal favorite reality win-or-die game show.

Whatever happened to that Bachman fellow? I wonder if he had any more success with his writing ;)

---------- Post added at 12:32 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:30 PM ----------

They should just rename that show "Heidi Klum's Legs," I might be inclined to watch it.

Rumor has it he died in 1985 of pseudonym cancer. Brilliant... but Not A Very Nice Guy.

It's his wife, Claudia Y Inez Bachman that needs to be stopped. All those damn books about trains...

I have a small chair set in front of the television.
It has a cushion on it.
It has a cushion on it because my dog knows he will have purchase.

When he sees a teevee doggie, he begins to growl at the intruder.
He jumps up onto the chair with a cushion.

Face to face with the dog with no scent,
he turns and looks at me.

I say, "Yeah, that's just teevee doggie."

Reality Tv is no worse or no better than any other tv.

People love and hate soaps.
People love and hate crime dramas.
".........." news programs.
".........." situation comedies.
"..................................etc."

Reality Tv is just the new genre, the new kid on the block.
It's fashionable to hate it.

having worked on many reality tv shows including the king, Real World and Road Rules, and all the other drivel that came out from that....

That shit is horrible. I hate watching it, I do my best to avoid watching it.

I've finally figured out it's like some retard took someone's home movies and turned them into a TV show. No offense to the retards.

None taken.

YES!!

Interesting. Perhaps, it's so that we can see that there truly are others out there that are as, if not more, fucked up than ourselves?

Heh heh heh... reality t.v. is entertaining.

Hi, my name is noodle and when I'm bored or need to take my mind off of school, dying kids, relationship stressors, etc. I watch reality t.v.
I enjoy distracting myself with What Not to Wear, Man v. Food, Project Runway, and yes... even the dreaded America's Next Top Model. *gasp*
I despise Big Brother, I got bored with Survivor, and I don't enjoy the Amazing Race and the like.
I like television about traveling, food, and bitches. Some of the dramas on t.v. add more to my stress and I don't need that. Like the Gray's Anatomies of the world.

And you know that the God Warrior from Trading Spouses was pure entertainment, come ON.



(yes the show sucked horribly, but Batshit was hilarious)

*disclaimer: not mocking her faith by any means... more her meltdown. thank you.

the only reality show worth watching is Bad Girls Club. Hot Spoiled Bitches who like to fight?? All over it.

"Reality" TV is, to me, just horrible. The networks love them because any idiot will sign up as an actor for ten grand or so. I think "Friends" kind of caused the "Reality" TV shows to happen. The networks just weren't happy paying 1 million bucks per episode to several people. It's sad. Even History and Discovery have reality shows now. Even the Golf channel! I hate the crap. My ex-gf used to try to force me to watch Flavors of Love all the time. I still get anxiety attacks when I stumble across any kind of show even remotely similar. Lol

Wrastlin' isn't any better. Watch the movie "Idiocracy." That's the direction that TV is going. I try not to judge people, watch whatever makes you happy, but I will never understand why anybody would watch that drivel. I'm thinking seriously about cancelling cable tv. Other than Comedy Central and MSNBC, there's never anything good on. Sci-Fi self destructed. I could just go all-internet and save a bunch. Well, football is still important.

Sorry for the long rant. I Hate "Reality" TV!!!!! Death to it! Kill it with fire!

I'll go against the flow here. As I've hopefully conveyed in my various postings here, I like to think of myself as something of an intellectual, or at least a media consumer of above-average intelligence.

I really like reality TV. I watch it almost to the exclusion of all other types.

I'd seperate reality TV into three categories. Skill-based TV, everyman competitions, and matchmaker shows.

Skill-based shows are my favorite by far. Top Chef is my favorite, followed by Project Runway, and distantly followed by America's Next Top Model (which receives demerits for modeling being completely subjective, and the whole show being basically a masturbatory endeavor on the part of Tyra to see how batshit crazy she can be and still have people take her seriously). I've also enjoyed Next Design Star and Sheer Genius, during their runs. Hells kitchen seems too extreme for the sake of extremity, but once this season of Top Chef is over, I'll get a season of Hell's Kitchen and give it a fair shake. I like these shows because I like watching creative people accomplish something impressive. I appreciate watching people go through the creative process, and thinking about what and how I would do things differently. I don't think anyone familiar with my hobbies legitimately could level any sort of 'durr you should be doing not watching durr' insult, as I do plenty of creative doing myself. I also put biggest loser in this category, although their creative task is losing weight...also something that is impressive to me specifically. I even tolerate the almost infomercial-like ad placement, as I like to support the products that support the show...in a sea of "who should I marry?" a show that helps teach America about responsible weight management should be lauded at every opportunity.

The everyman competitions I enjoy most are Survivor and Amazing Race, and I like them for different reasons. I like Amazing Race because I like to think about how I'd approach the different challenges, and I feel like it's well edited in a respectful way that actually tries to convey the contestants as real people. I like that they don't waste time voting people off, but rather just eliminate them. I like Survivor for the pure application of game theory (I really liked the Vampire game we played last year for the same reason!), and for the production value of the goofy challenges, and for the quality of the writing (more on that below also). Survivor has been going on long enough now that they have a good idea about what would be fun things to watch people try to do, and they're usually right.

My enjoyment of matchmaking shows falls purely in the 'meta enjoyement' category. I enjoy watching these people try to take the whole thing seriously. I enjoy seeing the producers set everyone up with fake personalities (villain, hero, victim, fall girl) through editing. A lot of my enjoyment of Survivor falls in this category as well. I enjoy the scriptedness. I enjoy seeing the lengths producers and writers go to concoct interesting drama. I enjoy seeing them always be sure to focus on two people as elimination candidates to preserve the drama of not knowing who is going to be voted off.

The worst insult that can be leveled against most reality shows is that it's "Fake." This blows my mind--how can people scream 'fake' at shows at least cut from reality cloth, and then propose completely fictional programs as the suggested alternative, with no irony? I know they're scripted to manipulate both the characters and impressions. I don't see this as a downside, rather, I like seeing the producers fit the pieces together into a coherent storyline!

---------- Post added at 08:22 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:17 AM ----------

Watch better reality TV. I feel like Top Chef, Project Runway, Biggest Loser, and (to a lesser extent) Amazing Race celebrate people's accomplishments, be they professional, weight loss, or goal oriented. I'd say these skill shows are the exact opposite of the traits you've just described, with the possible exception of pride, but I'd say pride in a job well done is NOT one of the worst traits, and in fact is one of the better.

With network and cable shows I always hesitate to watch because I may become a fan of the program and actually look forward to the show, the characters and the storyline. Most of the time a show I like is canceled far too soon and without any resolution.
With reality TV, and the reason I like some of it, it doesn't get canceled mid-season, and I get my resolution at the end of the run. I can choose to watch the next season without having a particular character or storyline to follow.
I've seen the finale of every American Idol and Survivor that I have watched. I know who won. Compare this to the numerous shows that are canceled and we are forever left hanging.