Monday, January 08, 2007
Those Un-"Reality" Shows?
They keep coming up with what TV folks like to call "reality shows," but just how much reality do they have? I mean, is dropping a bunch of greedy, self-absorbed people onto a deserted island or into a wild jungle and having them compete for "survival" (and a million dollars) anything but artificial and unreal? Or having people scurrying around the globe in some kind of fabricated "race"? Or having them eat worms and cockroaches?
To make it even worse, they count competitions like "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" as "reality" shows. How crazy is that? They are talent shows, harking back to the days of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour. Nothing new or realistic about them.
The others can only be called "gimmick" shows to be even half-accurate. Hell, fictional programs like "Law and Order" and "Brothers and Sisters" are ten times more realistic than any of these turkeys (artificial turkeys, excuse me).
Erik Estrada and La Toya Jackson running around the streets of Muncie, Indiana, pretending to be cops-for-a-day? Yeah, that's reality for you.
If you want reality on television, try the Discovery Channel or the History Channel (but only if you want WWII 24/7). Or, God forbid, the news channels (which does NOT include Fox News). Better yet, just watch Comedy Central. Laughter is as real as it gets these days.
To make it even worse, they count competitions like "American Idol" and "Dancing with the Stars" as "reality" shows. How crazy is that? They are talent shows, harking back to the days of Ted Mack and the Original Amateur Hour. Nothing new or realistic about them.
The others can only be called "gimmick" shows to be even half-accurate. Hell, fictional programs like "Law and Order" and "Brothers and Sisters" are ten times more realistic than any of these turkeys (artificial turkeys, excuse me).
Erik Estrada and La Toya Jackson running around the streets of Muncie, Indiana, pretending to be cops-for-a-day? Yeah, that's reality for you.
If you want reality on television, try the Discovery Channel or the History Channel (but only if you want WWII 24/7). Or, God forbid, the news channels (which does NOT include Fox News). Better yet, just watch Comedy Central. Laughter is as real as it gets these days.
