Reality TV: Fascinating commentary on society, providing insight into the structure of communities and the esoteric workings of cultural subgroups or complete crap-discuss.
I just don’t get ‘reality tv’.
I can see where tv station management are coming from. In these times of economic accountability it’s all about the bottom line, and reality tv, with its incomprehensible cult following, provides maximum return for minimum outlay. No actors, no script writers, minimal scenery and make-up/wardrobe costs, what’s not to love?
But what’s the attraction for viewers?
Maybe the first wave of reality tv offered something new and different but the longer these shows run the less they have to offer. And don’t even get me started on “Fill-In-The-Blank with the Stars” type programmes. Apart from the fact that the definition of Stars as used in the title of such shows is somewhat liberal, who cares?
Sure I could shrug and say if I don’t like reality tv I don’t have to watch it and leave it at that. But its insidious presence leaks out of its allocated timeslot and into that of the few programmes I can be bothered with.
And it is this that annoys the hell out of me.
What is so compelling about these shows that they must run overtime by up to twenty minutes? From the inane rubbish I’ve been exposed to while waiting for something half-way decent to start, I can’t tell.
Really, if you’re a fan explain it to me, I’d love to understand the attraction.
1 comment:
The running over time is really annoying and I'm a way bigger TV head than you so I find it even more annoying!
For someone studing the social sciences I have very little interest in people, at least en masse, and watching something like Big Brother, where (as far as I can gather, having managed to avoid actually watching it) a group of vacile people sit around make inane conversation.
However, there's more to the genre than that. I think there's reality TV and reality TV - I have absolutely no interest at all in the whole Cross-Promotion with the Alleged Stars, or fly on the wall documentaries about US B- and C-list 'Stars' (The Osbournes, Playboy Mansion etc). But there are some reality TV programs that I find compelling or that expand my knowledge.
I'm enjoying So You Think You Can Dance, where actual people with talent and training extend their abilities and I - not an arty person - learn a little about the world of dance and choreography. The judges are critical but supportive, and are all current or former dancers rather than celebrities themselves (I don't watch Idol).
I love The Amazing Race, where the voyage is as important as the destination and game play and Darwinism are illustrated in real life - some teams cooperate and thrive under pressure, others bicker and self destruct, and in the end luck is as important as behaviour.
And I admit to the guilty pleasure of watching Beauty and the Geek, where the contestants do experience significant growth.
But when TV, and TV , runs over its allocated slot I too grind my teeth. Stick to your freaking time slot or advertise the overrun!
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