COLUMN: Reality TV is just washed up
Has anyone else heard enough about so-called “Reality TV?” This fad has outlived its own name.
When it started with MTV’s The Real World, there was at least some base in reality, though it was a stretch. The only time, in reality, that six of the most annoying perfect strangers in the country are stuck living together in an apartment, is moving into a college dorm.
Following the success of that, MTV added Road Rules to their reality TV rotation, which is where the television world got lost in the most unreal reality anyone could imagine.
Now, it seems like some new “reality” show is everywhere you look on television, magazines, and newspapers.
Maybe I live in a bubble (or Utah, it’s kind of close), but in my reality, I’ve never woken up and found myself on a desert island with 15 other people, one of which would be voted off every week. I also can’t remember the last time I was locked in a house for three months with a group of other people, with a complicated set of rules that require a cheat sheet to even figure out.
As if this wasn’t enough, MTV had to remind us all what they think reality is, by airing another ridiculously unreal show, The Osbournes. Though some find it entertaining, this show has started a new bandwagon, by exploiting the lives of the rich and famous, and glorifying their excessive lifestyles. Since the popularity of The Osbournes, the E! Network has jumped on-board with the Anna Nicole Smith Show, followed quickly by VH1 with their forthcoming program showcasing the life of Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.
These shows may have a little base in reality for their stars, but there’s no telling how much is real, and how much is for the benefit of the camera.
To everyone else who’s watching these shows, they are entertainment, with no regards for the hurt feelings of the people voted off the island, or the tormented lives of the stars whose every move is documented and exploited for the benefit of the networks’ ratings.
In fact, judging by the ratings and buzz about these shows, it seems the only reality is millions of people with nothing better to do than watch television.
Jason Robey is a senior majoring in public relations. Comments can be sent to him at jasonr@cc.us.edu