Reality or Not

To my readers,

So my professor has asked the class to write about reality television. Do I watch it, do I enjoy it, and would I recommend it, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Anyways, as most people know by now reality T.V. has pretty much taken over a crap load of networks. One would think people would have had enough of the “Kardashians” or of that curse “Jersey Shore” but even if you do manage to get away from these, there always seems to be something new right around the corner and you just cannot find the strength in yourself to resist.

First of all, I would like to point out (and I cannot stress this fact enough) I DO NOT and shall never watch reality television. At the same time though, I realize that that most people think reality T.V. to be the greatest thing since soap operas. Now, I’m not saying these are bad people…just that they make bad decisions. I’m also not going to disown any of my friends because they watch them either, mainly because they still have redeeming qualities and don’t allow their lives to revolve around any one show, or television in general for that matter.

People of a very bad nature do exist in this world. We all know the type, be it someone close to you or just a friend of a friend. We’ve all seen them, that person that obsesses over their favorite reality show or stars; they never miss an episode and insist on talking about the latest scandal or most recent piece of tabloid rumor. In my honest opinion these kinds of people need some kind of psychiatric help, or an intervention of some sort. What reality T.V. does to these people is just wrong; it’s not their fault either. It’s all the hype that goes into promoting this type of program and a sad mentality that can’t help but to go with flow of the mainstream.

 It personally infuriates me to think of what reality television has done to some networks, my greatest rage coming from the sadness that is now MTV.  What used to be a place where great music could be heard is now a place that almost seems to glorify teen pregnancy and promote idiotic and frankly douchebag behavior. Other things that can be found on television just leave me questioning how that ended up on the air in the first place, a common theme that I’ve heard is basically a group of people that sit around talk about the most ridiculous topics and viewers just waiting for some sort argument, fight or any form of drama.

There are however those reality shows that have survived the years and have become cult like. Shows such as American idol or even survivor, shows like this even I’ll admit that I watched at first, but now I sadly say have gone in the same direction as other reality television shows. By this I mean the people shown seem to be too unreal in motive or behavior. Let’s be honest, reality T.V. is some of the most scripted stuff out there. Though we all have to face that undeniably true fact, we all have our guilty pleasures.