Too much reality TV?
Photo by howies collective
Regular TV is so last decade. Now, it seems, reality TV has taken over our living room.
When the reality craze started, it seemed harmless at first. We were only rooting for the underdog to make it to super-stardom. Then, each season, there were more and more reality shows that got even more and more ridiculous.
They range from singing competitions, finding true love, surviving in the wilderness, losing weight, living with complete strangers, following celebs to watching a mother raise her 8 children.
Here’s a question: What WAS on TV before the reality-show era started? Back in the day, we watched movies, documentaries, and live or taped performances. MTV was still airing videos. Perhaps we’ll have a channel dedicated to reality shows just like news, music, and sports.
Even our community is curious about this trend asking why these shows keep taking over the networks. Apparently, there is even a reality show curse that causes relationships to break up. The Hogan family, Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, and Britney Spears and Kevin Federline are just a few of its victims.
Why do you think reality shows are so popular?
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I wholeheartedly agree. These shows deemed as ‘reality’ are often scripted and utterly fake yet somehow they get ratings and take over stations that were once dedicated to specific areas of interest like MTV and VH1. They’ve even begun to rear their heads in places such as Animal Planet, Discovery, and the History Channel (and Cartoon Network to a degree). Reality TV is just a quick way to gain ratings while not having to actually show some creativity and effort which is sad when one looks back on all the wonderful programs of the past that were truly innovative, unique, and entertaining. I hope that reality television soon goes the way of the dodo so that creative entertainment can take over once again.
Probably because they make the average watcher feel more normal, or it gives them something bizarre to talk about with their co-workers the next day so they don’t seem so boring.
The illusion that competition is what life is all about. Cooperative living requires a maturity that many never attain.
This article would have been more relevant about ten years ago, dude. These shows used to dominate prime time viewing slots, but now they’ve been smartly relegated to times where only jobless idiots and impressionable teenagers who are equally as jobless and unmotivated to do anything about it can watch it without getting in the way of actually entertaining shows that people with lives and IQ’s above 100 can enjoy.
tv’s just getting boring in general. people aren’t on tv for their talents anymore. people are on tv just so they can act stupid. even the cartoons are stupid.
LOL, we had reruns back in the day. StarTrek (original series) could be found on some channel or other, and if not that, then M*A*S*H. Before that it was movies from the 1930′s and Roller Derby (you gotta LOVE that green and pink hair in black and white).
My point being we have always had fillers. Reality TV is the filler of today, and with so many more channels, we need more filler
I’d like to see videos back on MTV. I used to watch some reality shows cause they were interesting but now I can’t stand them. All of the reality should have its own channel so they don’t take up all the good non kids channels.
I have no cable or satellight setup, so this is based on my good ol tv antenna tv.
Lately, I’ve been watching more and more PBS because there is less and less on regular tv. Where I used to watch four or five shows on several stations during the week, now it is down to one or two. I do not like the growing collection of televised trash: the game shows, the dancing/singing programs, ad nauseum. What makes me scratch my head is: some of these game shows look like something that might be local tv kind of stuff, but it’s national. Sad. Very sad. And we are expected to like this stuff? Geesh! Gimme the remote! Something is on PBS, right now.
I personally think the reality show is caused by how’s people act like asses and people love o enjoy that I am personally obsessed with reality tv some of my favorites are kardasians,jersey shore,spin crowd. I first started with Keeping up with the Kardashians and then in my personal favorite right now is jerseylicious excuse my typing I am on my iPhone please comment tell me what you think have a nice day or night
I think reality shows are way out of hand, esp the ones that are exploitative and bring out the worst in people, like the competition shows where a bunch of people are living in the same house fighting for a mate. If that is the way we find true love in the modern world, then we must surely be going to hell with gasoline undies on.
I like the reality shows that are about a unique way of life, or someone’s personal struggle. I do wonder how we went from having Little People Big World to a whole lineup of little people shows. It’s cool and all…but we have the family, the couple, the dog lovers, the chocolatiers. The only thing that seems to make these people unique is that they are little and that story is already being told. Am I missing something?
There are also a lot of “large family” shows too. It’s all a bit tired.
The others seem to fall into a few categories:
People who do a certain job.
Celebrities mucking around their homes trying to prove they are just like us.
Talent shows.
People in need of a makeover.
Fun little swap-a-riffic shows where people learn about other walks of life.
I used to watch a majority of reality shows but I just realized…it isn’t nearly realistic enough to be called reality programming. And at the same time, it is that is, entirely realistic and boring. Ex: OH look, Ozzy is taking out his garbage…to the curb behind his solid gold tour bus. Just like me, only…not at all.
My antidote? Crime drama. woot!
I work in the industry, and can also tell you this: A big contributor to the preponderance of reality shows (and the simultaneous lack of scripted comedy and drama) in the last few years was precipitated and accelerated by the writer’s strike in 2007. Granted, there were some reality shows before then, but once the happened, the programmers and executives had thousands of TV hours to fill, and nothing with which to fill them, so they got creative, and thus, reality shows. Come to find out, they’re CHEAP to produce because they don’t have to pay actors or writers, and other production costs are a fraction of what it costs to make a scripted show. In large part, because of the advent of reality shows (and a few other factors that I won’t go into here), I am out of a job … but that’s the way it goes sometimes in the big city.
As for the reality show curse … I chalk the demise of their marriages or other personal problems to random acts of foolishness, general immaturity, and to the same thing that happens to fish when they go after the shiny stuff – they get caught.That’s what happens when you think all that glitters is gold.
Also, consider that once the writer’s strike was resolved in early 2008, there were rumblings of a SAG (Screen Actor’s Guild) strike, which they held over our heads for a full year. During this time, a lot of shows weren’t produced because what’s the point of having a shooting schedule when the talent might walk at any time … so a lot of shows weren’t done during that time. The SAG contract wasn’t ratified and approved until the summer of 2009, when the usual summer hiatus was taking place, so in essence the industry was dark and quiet for almost 2 years.
This is my take on it, from the inside.
Well as “gossips” and celebrities are becoming more frequent and popular what do you expect?
we were talking about this in one of my broadcasting classes yesterday.
the reason reality shows started was that networks were trying to find cheaper programming. with your average show you had celebrity’s that needed higher pay. with reality tv they had contestants that they didnt need to pay meaning the networks saved money. after survivor went on the major networks all did the same leading to the rise of reality tv.
I think part of the popularity is that people feel they might have some chance of being on reality tv or something like that.
Reality TV really gives viewers an opportunity to follow real people and how they live. On dance contest or singing contest shows, or games of strategy like survivor or the amazing race, you often get a look into how they’re feeling as they move through weeks focusing on winning a prize.
Real people are interesting.
It’s fun.
I have friends in the ‘industry’ they call reality TV idiot TV.
They do not have to pay the wages they have to pay stars. They do not have to deal with the primadonnas.
It is a win win for them.
The should make a reality show about trash that shops at discount stores and thinks they are shopping at Bloomingdales.
It’s no surprise to me why there’s so many of them now-a-days. Their cheap to make and if the ratings are high- Why not give the people what they want? However, personally I think it has got a bit out of hand, it feels like my whole television is being taken over reality TV so much that I don’t even bother watching TV much anymore. I don’t keep up with Reality TV shows. The secret’s out folks–> Reality TV shows aren’t as real as you might think. Lot’s of ‘set-ups’ and ‘acts’ hardly real.
Reality tv sucks!
Also just think about all the movies and tv shows that have been done over the last 40 years. Especially the last 20. Movie plot after movie plot, weekly tv show scenario after weekly tv show scenario. Then everyone plops down and watches so many movies and tv shows. After awhile when do you think you get to the point of things starting to look similar or the same. Eventually it gets harder and harder to impress anyone and find something new. If so much content gets done over and over as years pass by that is just going to happen. Eventually you are going to tire of the characters in a story line because they can only be in so many situations that seem fresh, and shows loose their freshness because we watch them all the time. 50 years ago this didn’t happen because you could only watch 3 channels, no dvd’s or vcr’s so you could only see movies at the theater.
Perhaps we’ll have a channel dedicated to reality shows just like news, music, and sports.
FOX Reality would like to have a word with you.
I hate reality tv, it seriously has screwed tv forever. I miss the old days when talent existed and im only 21
In the first few moments of my FIRST reality show, I decided: “If I’m going to sit through all those dumb commercials, I want REAL actors in well executed, well prepared shows, not some dumb lumpheads they picked up off the street.”
If a reality show has a reason and a purpose behind it then it can be good, such as Hell’s Kitchen or The Apprentice because they are actually molding people to be the best of the best in their field, making sure that they win not just an empty prize but actually go away with more knowledge than they came with that will last them a lifetime.
Nowadays though with the Big Brother banality you simply get famous for being a moron.
Where is the comparison?
Well if there’s other viewers out there that see these shows looking more fake with each airing, guess they won’t be popular much longer.I can hardly sit through one anymore.
there’s way too many reality shows/reality tv period! i’m sick of it.
Andy Worhol said “In the future, everyone will be world-famous for 15 minutes.”
It looks like he was right, but why does all this “reality” have to force its way into my home on my TV set and my computer every day?
I can well do without reality TV shows, blogs, twitter, you-tube and all the rest.
“Perhaps we’ll have a channel dedicated to reality shows just like news, music, and sports.”
Nice research, dude. That happened last year. Since then, most carriers have dropped it. Talk about old news.
It’s horrible, I tired to watch it, it just started killing my brain cells. I don’t get the obsession at all. They’re all the same. All have stupid unneeded drama, and do dumb things. Television has gotten so crappy now, I only watch premium channel shows and very few cable shows.
It’s like the Twilight Saga, Crap acting, and stupid drama and the constant irritating obsession.
Here in the UK reality shows have killed any pleasure I had in watching TV. I cannot stand the self serving inadequates who appear on most of these – or the Z list celebrities likewise. It is a sign of the total lack of imagination amongst those who commission and make programmes.
You guys should see what it’s like in Canada. Not only do we get the American shows during primetime, but right after that we get the Canadian version of the same show. With a much smaller population base to pick contestants from, and lower budgets, in general they are just plain awful. Imagine an elementary school doing an “American Idol” pageant, hosted by someone who has no talent but only got the gig because his daddy was Prime Minister decades ago. That would still be a higher quality production than what we actually get. All too often our prime time TV watching involves watching the same Discovery Channel documentary on Dubai for the sixth time.
I’ll admit, I watched Survivor, the original, with as muc fascination as everybody else ten years ago. By 2002 I was all reality’ed out. 8 years later my TV spends most of its time on one of the cable news channels.
Yes!! It influences others on how to act and reflects poorly on us as a society.
There’s mo such thing as “Reality TV”! ALL of them are interfered with by producers to make it more “exciting”. Everything is staged. Look at the Whitehouse Crashers. Their whole life is an act.
I have no idea, I watched the first season of big brother and that was all the reality TV I could handle, I’m actually really surprised that there’s still money in it.
I just think that it’s ridiculous, some of the things the people do on those shows. Even if the people don’t speak from scripts the whole time, you know they’re being encouraged to say something to get better ratings sometimes.
It’s like, who lives like that?
I loved “Run’s House”, but they had “Daddy’s Little Girls” spin-off of it. I don’t like that one!
Now the second one seemed to be scripted. Sorry girls.
That’s another thing. Please, PLEASE stop making reality show “spin-offs”. Nothing seems real. It all seems so business.
Then the fact that camera crews have to shoot certain things under certain lights and in certain areas, to make things seem “real” doesn’t make anything feel too authentic.
AW, please, JUST LEAVE IT ALONE!!! Where are my sitcoms?!!! “Thanks” ‘Real World’, for starting this crap!
I watched reality tv, it’s my favorite type of show. I love Big Brother, Amazing Race, Wipeout. Stuff like that. I dont see anything wrong with it.
There was a reality show on a few years back, cant remember what channel, that was actually a reality show. No bullshit. They took two couples and plunked them in the middle of nowhere and they had to build a house, start a small farm etc. It was an experiment to learn about the living conditions of the settlers.
The difference being it was more of a documentary with a reality show setup. The people were paid for their time, but it was mainly to cover their not being at work rather than a prize.
A reality show like that is interesting, as stated, the way a documentary is interesting.
I believed that there is too much of this going on our lives. This fad might end soon enough.
In my opinion network TV has become as edgy as it can given the FCC and the decency standards it has to work with.
Cable TV can be more edgy and it is. Do you think The Sopranos ever stood a chance of landing on Network TV in its cable TV form? No way.
One can only take so much of The Brady Bunch or Three’s Company or Seinfield or Grey’s Anatomy. People want new things and reality TV is new. It’s cheap to produce. It can grab good ratings.
When it comes to ficitional TV I think the river has run dry for the networks. Cable TV has many areas yet to explore.
I despise reality tv also. What does it say about a society that gets a thrill from other people’s misery?
might as well face it we’re addicted 2 dumb
see i agree with Michaela about videos on MTV it should be renamed MRT =more reality television me and my peeps used to watch the new and upcoming vids all the time after work now it just reality BS so i stopped watching it and as someone also said discovery animal planet is jumping on board with these and nat geo .is the same. every channel on satellite has one or two of these shows i myself just watch PBS from now on and nothn else so i cut my satellite
THERES JUST TOO MUCH TV IN GENERAL.
I agree but then you have to think… who is making all these reality shows popular? We are. Maybe not all of us… but I will admit… I love SOME reality shows. The Bachlor, Big Brother, America’s Next Top Model, Dancing with the Stars, and before all the judges left, American Idol. So they aren’t all bad.
However, some of the stupid ones like Jersey Shore are only staying on the air because of the many people that watches it. So, I guess until we stop watching… reality shows are here to stay and thats not ALWAYS a bad thing.
If we could ever go back in time 100 years and tell our ancestors what life is like now, they would be so amazed how shallow we have grown. We are now more interested in watching the lives of others who we do not know, than we are in going out and creating an interesting life for ourselves. Life has just become a spectator sport for too many.
How come the Osbournes aren’t on anymore?
So many assumptions, traditions and foolish insight that leads nowhere. I got sick of foraging through the masses of the above mentioned about 3/4 of the way down (this at a little after 3:15 PM on the day this was composed), and just decided that it was better to add in my two cents rather than wasting my time sifting through all the comments that have been made.
We have free will. Ergo, the best solution is to NOT watch TV, period.Trust me, you’re missing little to nothing of actual interest.
In its place, show your respects to shows that you actually find GREAT, not just good or mediocre, and only those. For me, the number of (American) TV shows I found/find completely worthwhile to watch is a small one at best.Please note I make no mention of ongoing series that still are airing new episodes, because I reserve full judgement on a show until it’s no longer airing new episodes:
1. Every live-action Star Trek show except Enterprise that was aired (4 out of 5 of them, Animated Series obviously not counted). Gene Roddenberry’s dream was carried out in often painstaking detail to plot and character development (although not always the sets).
5. Andromeda. What can I say about such a masterpiece of its collected experience? It’s a shame Roddenberry died six years before his creation would air its pilot episode.
6. MacGuyver. Without Richard Dean Anderson helming the starring role of this one (one of the few reasons I’m PROUD to be from the midwest), it would simply not exist. Sadly often forgotten but masterfully executed episode after wonderful episode. One of my favorite television shows of all time.
7. StarGate: SG1. For the most part, this show did NOT dissappoint.
8. The Twilight Zone (1950′s and 1960′s version). A nod goes to the remodernized version hosted by Forest Whitaker, but it just didn’t retain the same level of intrigue or mistique because too little was left to the imagination.
9. Band of Brothers. One of the greatest masterpieces of a war TV series ever known to man.
10. Shark. This one lost out to the corporate idiots more than anything else. This series could’ve EASILY been extended 5, even 10 seasons (of at least 20 episodes each) longer than its two-season- long intrigue.Every single central character had whole worlds of potential that may now never be explored.
As for current tv, my television, for the most part, if I bother at all, is kept in two places for REAL entertainment- USA (because they have THE best lineup of any channel) and then G4 (formerly TechTV (I MISS THE SCREENSAVERS!), and long before I watched it, ZDTV), in that order as to how often I watch them.
There. My two cents.
I love reality TV!!!!
Ew. I always skip over reality shows (except for some of the cake stuff when I’m bored and hungry). It’s just.. boring. I’m sure I’m in the target demographic, ’cause a lot of us high school kids don’t seem to realize there are channels other than MTV… but really, I’d just rather be watching cartoons. I mean, a bad reality show just gives you a headache. A bad cartoon, well, at least it still has bright colors and stuff.
Wow! I never thought i would see the day a yahoo blog thing actually has a good message.
I have no idea why reality shows are so popular, I’ve never actually sat and watched one, have only surfed past them and frankly think they’re pretty stupid. If I want realitiy, I’ll go outside. There’s way more interesting stuff happening around me that I can actually see or participate in.
But I’m weird, I grew up with very little TV and even now pretty much only watch movies, mostly only with positive themes that make me feel good an only in venues without commercials. I have an aversion to drama in my life and avoid “fake” drama in media like the plague.
One time I was flipping through the channels and I saw a reality show called “paralyzed and pregnant with twins.” No lie.
these reality shows took up where the trash talk shows left off.Supposedly reality,but with a huge helping of added Hollywood BS to get ratings.There is no reality in these shows.Everything from Axemen to the Biggest Loser has some drama added.I think if these shows were more real,I would have a much better time watching them
Your MTV point was my favorite. I HATE all the reality shows on MTV, I wish I could actually watch music videos, and not at 6am!
Reality TV is “value based” as it doesn’t cost much to produce, and a fair hit is a money maker and a big hit makes a fortune.
Of course, the other major experiment with “value based” television, Jay Leno’s 10PM talk show, was a dismal failure. But that is a unique time slot as the stations depend on their 11PM news show for their revenue, and they need a strong lead.
We may see a merger of a talk show at an earlier hour of 9PM or 8PM, and some sort of reality show. The talk portion might be combined with some reality shots of the stars life.
I couldn’t agree more. They are thoughtless, brainless, and don’t require any creativity. Shows like the bachelor are “fake” and shot full full of bulletholes by journalism which has more of a semblance of truth., I hope. Payu tV should have more documentaries. At least learn something from life, right?
Because we like to make fun of stupid Italians who will soon die of skin cancer.
I’m 19, I don’t own a tv, never watch it anymore. It’s been a few years since I actually use to watch it daily. Couldn’t be happier. I don’t have to deal with this bs, it’s pretty nice
I know right, like a few reality shows are okay.
But in general, if I want reality, I would be living, not watching T.V. That’s the whole brilliance of it is you can make it whatever you want.
And it doesn’t help that the shows are dumb.
Reality TV has to go. Not all of it but most of it! These people with no talent are getting paid for nothing, for ex. (kardashians,whitehouse crashers,jersey shore,lol balloon boy was about to) They act so fake on all of them it has to be staged! MTV should change its name it has nothing to do with music anymore! I hope this reality tv stuff fades in the next few years
I wholeheartedly agree! Television shows, not just Reality Television, but also cartoons, seem to be becoming… well, I’d say, “weirder.” Cartoons aren’t the same as they used to be. Spongebob is incomparable to Looney Tunes. And in my opinion, I’d much rather watch an older game show offering a total of $5,000 to some lucky guy who appeared and got all the questions right, than watch talentless celebrities and one-hit wonders acting stupid in front of a camera.
It’s probably what the public wants. Spongebob isn’t as violent and crude as Looney Tunes, which included not only unrealistic talking animals, but those animals getting injured by household items and crashing into things, only to receive a black eye and cast. It’s much more family-friendly. Also, people are now uninterested in the lucky guy that scores 5-grand from a wheel… well, I’d say more uninterested than watching a couple of girls in their 20s calling each other street hookers and getting into cat fights.
Absolutely, there is too much scripted reality TV on today. The reason for it is because the writers are no longer creative in coming out with new entertaining shows…so it is better to steal so called ‘real’ peoples lives and script them to make their lives more nauseating than it really is. Point of fact: The real housewives of Whatever land are no real housewives at all…at least, they are not mainstream and thus…people with little to do find it interesting how the nearly rich and now famous live on a weekly basis. This is proven by the recent attempts to do-over Hawaii five-O….yes, again. It is destined to fail….everyone knows the characters—the writers were too dumb to list the children of the original characters and lead us to believe that they are spry and young at 75 years old. Can anyone earn their writing income these days?
I don’t watch television that much .anymore, due to the overkill on reality television.. Most of them are pretty lame ,wondering why they are on .
While I’m not that old, I think that this is sad.
I remember as a small child running down the hall to find my mother crying because of something that happened on some SOAP opera…
Now, I find her crying more and more because something bad happened to someone on some show. Not just SOAPs now.
And it’s also frustrating. I can’t even find Power Rangers anymore. Pokémon has gone to the dumps. There’s no new Teen Titans episodes to enjoy with laughter and suspense. And Batman? Harder to find then ever!
There’s nothing good on TV anymore…
They are mostly scripted. Way too much ‘reality’ shows. The writers strike made many go into reruns…. if they are real, why was that?
Reality TV is very much like the Roman times. Watch people do stupid things for entertainment.
get that dumb reality TV junk off the air period, its garbage and the people in there act like nerd’s,
get the garbage off TV like jerry springer, stupid chop cut rebuild,and overhaulin ,
all the junk on there that has no actors and the junk like mad men and rubicon,
thats garbage,
that dumb thing called woman in cleveland or I dont know what its called?
all the young people junk on the disney channel like that waverly place crap, and the two young boys living in the ritzy apartment acting like little heathens,
friends or junk like that,or these dumb college people nothing shows that have nothing but junk on them,
all the soap operas and all the junk that turner puts on,
mindless garbage that needs to be thrown in the trash
its cheaper and easier for the networks to produce…
& the simple minded willingly soak up what ever is on the tube because if its on tv it must be “in”
reality tv isn’t really reality, it’s simply taking ordinary, dumbass people and putting them together and letting them run whatever kind of lives they want. they take people who are polar opposites so that they will clash with one another creating something interesting for people with no lives to watch. if reality tv really was like reality, people would be out there LIVING it inside of watching it and fantasizing about that kind of life. the people on it are seemingly too lazy to actually work for money, so they decide that the longer the stay on a show by acting immaturely, thus creating drama for viewers to stay interested, the more episodes. more episodes+”x” amount of money per episode= easy money with little work involved
People love it because it’s easy to understand and the show doesnt take much time … and it’s real and fun