When will "reality TV" go away? I'm ranting.... I'm tired of

[jimbo fett]

watching people grope each other or eat horse rectums or bicker at each other while on an island....

What are we teachinig our kids with this stuff? That it is okay to degrade yourself and others just to be on TV or for money?

Reality TV isn't just BAAAAAD TV it is BAAAAAD morally and ethically.

Don't watch it. Tell others not to watch it.

[greatauntoftriplets]

1. Reality TV???

I never watch it. Very easy to avoid.

[jimbo fett]

2. I'm just talking about the commercials really. But if others didn't watch

those shows then I wouldn't have to explain to my kids why the people on these commercials are eating horse rectums or whatever.

[Bertha Venation]

3. Actually, yes, reality TV IS "baaaaaaad."

It sucks. It has absolutely no value whatsoever. It contributes to the LCD Factor -- dumbing down the entire country. We got the first Lowest Common Denominator president a few years ago; that was a frightening moment in this trend, and it came way earlier than I would've expected.

As for bad morally & ethically -- I believe so personally, but then I'm a complete prude.

[coloradodem2005]

4. I agree with you.

I will admit I had watched the Osbournes occasionally a year or two ago but that is by far the best reality tv show ever and it was not that great. If I have to see another ad for Joe Millionaire or Average Joe etc. I will go completly apeshit.

[dodgerartful]

5. whats tv? and what

does reality have to do with it?

[CanuckAmok]

6. It's bankrupting me...

...and everyone else who makes a living producing scripted television.

The reason it's so "popular" is because the same people who publish the magazines stating how popular 'reality TV' is are the same people who produce the 'reality TV' genre itself.

And it's far, far cheaper to produce an episode of Cops or Fear Factor than to produce an episode in which writers, actors, and behind-the-camera craftspeope get paid.

Do me a favour...boycott Reality TV.

[coloradodem2005]

7. I don't watch the shit anyways so that won't be hard.

[Bertha Venation]

8. "Do me a favour...boycott Reality TV."

I have since it started. It doesn't make a difference. They just keep coming up with insipid, disgusting garbage to foist on the brain-dead populace as "entertainment."

[Deja Q]

9. Most television, "reality" or contrived/crafted is utter crap

I've boycotted most of it as it is.

I should give West Wing a chance since it's purported to be a liberal show. But otherwise there's very little I'll watch, and less I tolerate.

I suppose it's sad when I rewatch a certain television show that had an episode (made 20 years ago) revolving around a corrupt government, whose people watch disturbing and violent things on television. Sad that it's turned to be true.

I fear for America, though it's probably too late.

[lazarus]

14. So the networks

Don't pay attention to the ratings, they just read magazines and make programming decisions based on that?

There aren't that many reality tv shows on the air, anyway. It just seems like it. And at least I don't have to put up with reruns and rescheduling with Survivor.

CSI? I love that show. Except that I only get 2 or 3 new episodes, then 2 or 3 or 4 reruns, while they wait for another "sweeps" period to swing around. I remember back when there was a season, and we'd get mostly new shows for several months, then reruns all summer.

Now, you just have to gamble every night.

Or maybe I should just invest all my time in trying to find my favourite show, such as Newsradio, or Futurama, or Andy Richter Controls the Universe, or SportsNight. Shows that just kept getting moved and moved and moved and moved, and then cancelled because they couldn't find an audience, while shite like Victoria's Closet and Caroline In the City were allowed to go on forever.

Or I could look at the pay channels, which produce really high quality scripted television like Sopranos and Carnivale. And watch one season of 13 episodes every two years.

And maybe we can return to the Golden Years before Reality TV, back when there was things, um, Battle of the Network Stars and primetime game shows. Oh, wait....

[CanuckAmok]

25. "So the networks...

...Don't pay attention to the ratings, they just read magazines and make programming decisions based on that?"

Oh, come on, do you not believe that people's tastes aren't manipulated by what they believe to be popular? Yes, the networks rely on ratings, but the media empires have enough control to influence what people want to see. And the bottom line is that "reality tv" has provided formerly inconceivable profit margins for primetime programming.

If you were a network beancounter, would you rather under-write $30,000 for an episode of Joe Millionaire, or $10 million for an episode of Friends, with the same ad revenue potential?

C'mon Lazarus, you're too old to be that naive.

[AlFrankenFan]

10. As long as there's an audience for it...

...it won't go away for a long time.

[RebelOne]

11. Reality TV is for morans.

[lazarus]

12. Really?

There are a huge number of Survivor fans here on DU you just called morans. Thanks a lot.

How about a little tolerance, or is that too much to ask from some supposed liberals?

[lazarus]

13. An answer

http://www.calpundit.com/archives/002532.html

I'm always amazed at the snobbery that ensues in some quarters when the subject of reality shows comes up. It seems that certain folks love to sneer at them as a way to remove themselves from the base enthusiasms of the hoi polloi.

They define their intelligence by their ability to perceive that reality shows are completely unworthy of their attention. They have a complete inability to see that there is something there that engages people in some way.

Reality shows are much like anything else, there are good ones and not so good ones. The bad ones can indeed be wretched, but good ones like Survivor can be extremely enjoyable.

In our increasingly stage-managed and risk-averse lives and entertainment, the moments of real drama and real emotion that sometimes occur as a result of these contrived situations can be much more compelling than anything else presented as entertainment on television.

How is Survivor worse than baseball? Sure there's obviously some storytelling manipulation by the editors, but there's manipulation by the writers in the "literary" novels some critics would hold up as examples of "worthy" culture. As the person to whom the story is being presented, we expect and appreciate some manipulation to enhance and clarify the situations.

Then there's the slightly perverse pleasure of passing judgement on the real personalities of the participants, and sharing those judgements and speculations with others socially in venues like this.

Perhaps it's easy to point to something you don't like and say, 'There's an example of why things aren't the way I believe they should be. It's the fault of others who value things I revile.' In a democracy though, you might have more success in trying to understand why people enjoy something, rather than trying to make them feel bad for enjoying it.

[REP]

15. Like Roman Circuses?

Lots of people really enjoyed those. I bet a lot of people now would like to see people and animals killed for the sheer pleasure of killing. Yes, es, some snobs will laugh at the hoi polloi and their amusements, but who are we to judge those who enjoy a good spectacle?

I'm sure watching people degrade themselves for money has some cultural worth. I'll just be damned if I can see it, though.

[lazarus]

18. heh

Yes, a game show is the equivalent of having people kill themselves. Good comparison.

Why does everything have to have cultural worth?

Shall you list everything you find enjoyable, so we can all determine if it has "cultural worth" or not?

[REP]

21. Hey, It's Tad Disingenuous!

Yes, because people are no longer allowed to kill eachother in front of an audience for sport, my analogy has no merit at all whatsoever. That one spectacle involved death and another only requires the participants to degrade themselves for money for the amusement of an unseen audience means that reality shows are just hunky-dory.

Since you are the one defending the modern spectacle, can you explain what good it provides? Perhaps a distaction fron how hard it is to make a living? Perhaps a diversion from the squalor? Is diverting the public's attention from how hard they're being screwed while stealing their time to sell them useless trinkets really something that should be defended? Just because there are humans willing to debase themselves for your amusement, does that mean they should be encouraged?

Why shouldn't more things have cultural worth?

I'm ignoring your straw man.

[Bertha Venation]

17. Comparisons: reality TV to baseball and literature?

The three aren't comparable to each other. You may as well compare apples, pistons, and fireflies.

"moments of real drama and real emotion that sometimes occur as a result of these contrived situations can be much more compelling" . . . it's all a matter of personal taste.

IMHO, shows in the dating/marriage vein have absolutely no redeeming value whatsoever. None. Your post notwithstanding, I state unequivocally that they are garbage, that they contribute nothing of value to our culture, that they can instill trashy and frightening notions of what finding a lifelong partner is like in the minds of children and weak-minded or socially immature adults. Those are the worst of reality TV.

As for the "Survivor"-type shows: glorified, high-budget on-location soap operas. Enough said.

And the "Fear Factor"-type shows are today's "Circus of the Stars." Just as irredeemably bad as the marriage shows, but perhaps with less social impact.

Now that I've aired my opinion, I'll add that I don't begrudge any adult the right to watch anything that entertains him, and of course I can't control the viewing of any child not in my care, so them I'll have to leave to heaven.

[lazarus]

19. not enough said

It's not a soap opera. Have you ever actually watched Survivor?

It's a freaking game show, not a soap opera. Nobody falls in love. Nobody dies of cancer. There are no evil twins.

A game show.

And there are many people who find sports to have no redeeming value. I've heard quite a bit of trashing of sports right here in the Lounge.

Literature? What's literature? Who defines it? Today's lit is yesterday's trash (read up on the audiences at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre sometime).

If there are people out there weak-minded enough to get base their relationships on the Joe Millionaire style shows, well, they weren't going to be great romantics for the ages anyway. As for kids, that's up to the parents. "Trash" has existed in our popular culture for thousands of years, and people have decried it for just as long.

I can't imagine anyone thinking that "The Bachelor" is remotely anything resembling "what finding a lifelong partner is like." Maybe you know people like that. I don't.

[Bertha Venation]

22. I've read your reply

[Norbert]

16. When will "reality TV" go away?

When the more easily entertained of our bretheren quit watching.

[lazarus]

20. another IQ slam?

Is there not enough of that? Why should it go away?

[jimbo fett]

23. Why should it go away??? Well, how about

the fact it pits people against each other to create personal attacks for amusement?

How about the fact that it degrades people by encouraging them to eat or do disgusting things in order to win money or get on TV?

How about the fact that it turns the idea of finding a life-mate into a game of backstabbing and outright lies?

How about the fact that the companies that produce these shows manipulate people in extremely unethical and immoral ways?

I could go on...

[terrya]

24. Crap like "The Bachelor" and "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire"...

Have done a lot a lot to damage the sanctity of marriage. These shows have cheapened an honored institution just for some lousy ratings. Disgusting.

Those hate filled people against gay marriage just don't understand what REALLY is a threat to marriage.