The Harsh Reality of Reality TV.
Have you ever stopped to wonder why reality television programmes have become so tremendously popular? After all, they now take up an enormous part of our viewing schedule. ‘Big Brother’, ‘Coach Trip’, ‘I’m a Celebrity’, ‘Britain’s Got Talent’, ‘The X Factor’; it seems as though many of the public simply cannot get enough of this type of entertainment. But why? What is it that makes ‘reality’ TV so universally appealing?
As you have probably guessed from my tone of text; I am no great fan of these television shows. Personally I think they are banal, pointless and utterly boring. I find them just as stimulating as watching paint dry or carrying out an online search for the latest great hr software …
Perhaps reality shows are so sought after simply because people enjoy watching other people making complete asses of themselves. Nah, that can’t be right surely… Because if that were the case, then the viewing figures for The House of Lords would go right through the roof!
Maybe people see reality television as a type of ‘social education’… Could it be that viewers tune in to these shows to learn how to behave on a day-to-day basis? If so, then God help us! After all, the ‘stars'of such programmes are not exactly good role models.
Could it all tied up with voyeurism, perhaps? Besides, (and let’s be honest here) there is a little part in each of us that delights in being a bit nosey sometimes! It can be jolly good fun to have a sneaky peep into the lives of others…
Or maybe it is something far more terrible than any of the above. More terrible, in fact, than all of these things put together! Perhaps (shudder at the thought) programme makers are at rock bottom in the ideas department. If so, then reality TV shows are the perfect answer to this quandary, aren’t they? Reality TV is super-cheap to make and there is certainly no shortage of would-be participants. Humiliation, degradation and social castration; all for that special fifteen minutes of ‘fame’…
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