Where's the reality in reality TV? Rant

[Mountainman]

My wife loves reality TV. I can't stand it. It reminds me of the Romans giving the people a circus at the Colosseum. Romans went to see other people killing each other and being devoured by lions. All the while the empire was crumbling.

That seems to me to be very similar to reality TV. The country is going to hell and we spend our time watching a show where Trump throws people to the wolves. We watch to see who is going to get fired. Like the Romans seeing who gets killed in he Colosseum.

Where is the reality? There is none. It is diverting our attention away from what real reality in the world is.

Rant done.

[krack]

1. It's better than everything else on

It's "reality" tv because the lead characters of each show are unscripted. The producers can stick them in any outrageous (fear factor) or relatively normal (real world - I know, it doesnt seem like normal college age life, but except for the great house, it is) but they still don't know how the people would react.

I would rather watch Survivor or the Apprentice any day instead of the endless supply of terrible sitcoms and "teeny" (OC, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, type) dramas that are constantly on.

[tjwash]

4. Actually it's VERY scripted.

They have had a myriad of "secrets of reality tv shows" on that show just how scripted it is.

Reality tv bites.

[lazarus]

6. Some are scripted

most aren't. The good ones aren't. The bad ones are, and don't survive.

[elfwitch]

9. Hey wait a minute!!!

Have you aver watched Buffy?
Joss Whedon puts out very high quality televsion. Buffy and the OC shouldn't even be mentioned in the same breath.

[lazarus]

2. Wrong

The Colosseum and gladatorial games?

Sports.

Oh, and nobody's dying in reality TV, so the hyperbole is noted. And nobody thinks it's "reality". We know it's real people in an artificial situation. That's the fun, seeing how real people act in these situations.

Real reality TV would be boring. "Reality TV" is just a name.

Why not just accept that your wife enjoys something that you don't, and move on? It's not going to destroy society, any more than "Network Battle of the Stars" did. Or sports. Or card playing. Or games. Or movies. Or drama or theatre or anything else people use as diversions from reality.

Should we all burn our fiction books and plays and tear down the theatres and toss the VCRs? Are games and fun to be outlawed, because they're diversions from "real reality"?

[fob]

3. It's worse than that.

It is diverting our attention away from what real reality in the world is.

It is really diverting our real attention away from what real reality in the real world really is, really. Is really more like it.

[undergroundpanther]

5. I don't like

Reality TV because it's all about abusing people for "fun" or getting people in a situation so they will abuse themselves or abuse other people on the show.
It's NOT entertainment and it's scripted bullshit .It's all desensitization,watching people suffer,get insulted,get rude,manipulate,embarrass, panic or get sick/hurt.
So in the future, we can be conditioned to live in a world without love.

[lazarus]

7. How much Reality TV have you watched?

Just curious, you must have seen an awful lot of it to be able to make such a blanket judgement.

And I'm sure you can back up your assertion that reality TV is all scripted.

You do realise that you're saying that those of us who like reality TV enjoy watching people suffer and abuse themselves and others, right? That we want to be conditioned to live in a world without love?

That's rather insulting.

What's your favourite genre of entertainment? I'm sure we can find all sorts of problems with it, too.

How about, instead, we all just accept that different people enjoy different things, and all get liberal and open-minded and be happy that we're not all the same?

[gyopsy]

8. Don't take it so seriously

I watch Survivor and the Apprentice. The other shows are just too sick or too boring.

I don't think these reality shows are spelling the downfall of western civilization. I do think they're an indication of the creative "brain drain" that has been taking place on network television for the last decade or so. Sitcoms and dramas just aren't as good as they used to be.

I will agree that the enthusiasm for them goes overboard sometimes.

[kmla]

10. It's adding to the dumbing down of America...

And they won't go away soon. They are way cheaper to make than a sitcom of movie (no actors to pay weekly, plus no worries about syndication), and Hollywood is now known for having original, cutting edge programmers in abundance. Mostly just a bunch of lemmings, copying the used idea of someone else.

And besides - what is so original/captivating/educational/entertaining about watching someone eat a boiled pig's anus, and try not to vomit (a la "Fear Factor")?

Kinda sad. When I first read "The Running Man" by Richard Bachman/Steven King, I thought it was a great story, but it could never happen. Now I'm not so sure anymore...