I will be the first to admit that I like television. During the time that I’m awake and in my house, my television is probably on some random channel (when I‘m not watching the news), since I‘m usually paying more attention to my computer (which is a completely different column on its own). But in the midst of the background noise, I’ve noticed something about television that is somewhat disturbing: reality programming has become a substantial chunk of American television programming.
For those of you that watch TV, let’s play a game. Name any major regular broadcast network. How many reality shows can you name? I’ll guarantee you get at least two. When you add in cable channels, it gets even worse. In all actuality, 333 reality shows have appeared on American television. As a comparison, only 85 reality shows have appeared on UK television. Japan’s had 16.
My question is: What is with America’s obsession with reality TV? Are we really so jaded with our lives that we have to live vicariously through others through our television sets? Is our country really that boring?
The answer I’ve come up with so far: Yes and no.
The source of the problem may be the stagnation that’s going on at production studios around the nation. Americans have hit a brick wall creativity-wise. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Hollywood. How many original concepts have you seen in movie theaters? Everything today is usually a rehash of an old movie (Robin Hood, Repomen) or an adaptation of a popular video game (Prince of Persia), comic book (Iron Man 2, Green Lantern) or novel (The Twilight Saga). Even Disney built its reputation by rehashing the works of the Brothers Grimm (and by hashing, I mean hashing. Try reading the originals, sometime.) This has also spread over into television (ABC’s V) and even into reality shows themselves. The Bachelorette is a spin-off (read: rehash) of The Bachelor. IRONY.
Looking at it through a cynic’s glasses, production companies have given up. The imagination isn’t there. Even through an optimist’s glasses, production companies have to wonder what sort of concepts have yet to be approached and how to make them appealing to audiences. But as a result, this has impacted what sort of programming is making its way to our televisions.
In the television programmers minds, since there aren’t any workable concepts as of yet, they have to offer something. That’s where the reality television block comes in handy. It offers something new to the viewer without really being new. All reality television does in the end if offer people a chance to see how someone lives or works or does something else, which they wouldn’t normally see. It gives them a glimpse into the “great beyond” that doesn’t involve buying the farm, in other words.
This isn’t to say that all reality television is bad. If you watch Planet Earth, Unwrapped, Nova, or even Jeopardy!, you’re opening yourself to something that’s wonderful: you’re learning about how something is made and how the natural world operates and just learning basic knowledge. Some of it is pretty mind-blowing, too. However, most of the reality programming that we’re seeing is stuff like Dancing with the Stars, The Apprentice and For the Love of Ray-J. What does this really provide? Mind-numbing goop at its less-than-finest. What do we really get out of it besides the chance to laugh at someone’s misfortune and the chance to say “At least I’m not that guy.”?
But it’s not just the network execs that are at fault. The public at large eats this stuff up. Celebrity meltdowns, catfights, marital screaming matches, car chases, whining kids, explosions (with machines and between people): all of those are characteristics of some of the most popular shows currently on television. Why?
Because we love drama. Seeing conflict is something akin to watching a train wreck for the public (and sometimes, we actually get to see an actual train wreck). It’s so morbidly fascinating that we can’t look away even though we know we should. It gives us something to talk about with our friends and co-workers. How many conversations at the office have gone something like this:
“Hey, did you see *insert show* last night? That was crazy.”
“Yeah, when *person* did *event*, I couldn’t believe it.”
“And then *person* came in and everything just blew up to hell.”
“I know! Me and *person I watched show with* kept saying *event* was gonna happen all season.”
Etcetera, so on and so forth.
What’s even more depressing to think about is the fact that now that reality has proven “successful”, it will never go away. There is no shortage of crazy people in the world, no shortage of celebrities (who are usually crazy), no shortage of dangerous jobs, no shortage of murders, or car chases, or people willing to do anything to win some cash. And there will be no shortage of intrigue into those sorts of shows, no matter how mind-dulling they actually are.
Yes, there are books. Books came before television and hopefully, books will continue to be here until Armageddon or 2012 or whatever takes us out. But if we’re going to have television, shouldn’t it be innovative? I don’t know what will be able to break us out of our reality rut, but I’m really hoping it’ll happen sometime soon.
