Free Write - Reality TV

Reality TV, for most Americans, satisfies a need for interpersonal relations that can be accomplished while vegging out in front of the TV.  We laugh, cry, and get mad at the “characters” that are just like us while they dance, lose weight, hook up, paint their bodies with mud, eat gross things, and sing.  We can relate, because the contestants on the shows are just like us.  It is very entertaining.

Conversely, since the characters are just like us, the quality of the program is extremely compromised, and for two reasons: one, the people aren’t trained actors, and selected for their dramatic and/or scandalous personalities and potential to fail (which the audience loves), and two, the producers interject, selectively edit, and prod the contestant to spark drama in the program. They market it as “reality,” when in reality, it is just the directed throwing of fits.  Sure, we like getting to know the contestants on Survivor and rooting for our favorites, but what do we learn from it?  That the only way to win a contest is to lie, cheat, and double-cross your teammates?