Realty Shows - Love them or Hate them

March 3, 2010 - What is it about realty shows that people find so appealing. What is missing from our real lives, which by the way is reality, that makes us have a morbid sense of wonder about the reality of others. We seem to have a strange draw to competition, human hardship, and conflict. Which is amazing as everyday my real life is full of competition, hardship and conflict.

Reality shows have now taken over the networks. It is almost impossible to find a light hearted show to watch. But there are endless choices of reality shows. There's 'The biggest loser'. This show is about 10 of the heavest people they can find who have a sad story as to how they gained weight. Which, by the way, are not as simple as 'I ate too much" but rather all have a terrible trama that led them to be heavy. These sad folks, with the sad story, are willing to face the world dressed in spandex and crop tops, or no tops if you are a man, and be examined, berated, pushed through extreme physical exercise and all for the glory of being the one person who loses the most weight and wins a large money prize. Not sure why you would want to be exposed on TV to do that but the show draws a huge audience. There is also a show 'great American race'. A group of 10 or so pairs, who, again all have a story for why they are doing this, travel around the world to different places, receive clues, and then have to do some ridiculous task, and make it to the destination of the day before all the other teams have come in. If they do, they are lucky and get to participate for another week. One episode I watched at a dear friend's insistence showed an elderly woman trying to milk a cow, getting kicked in the head and knocked her on her butt. Funny? not to me. Here's one I cannot bring myself to watch . 'The hoarder'... based on my friends explanation of the show I am completely baffled that anyone would watch it and can't immagine how the search takes place to find the most pathetic situation. When the show was explained to me you could almost feel the excitement in my friends as they talked about a person living in so much flith and garbage that there is only a tiny path through the house in which to walk. They were in total amazement and looked forward to the next episode. Nothing about the show appealed to me, yet it too, draws a large aurdience. And there are numerous others, Hell's Kitchen., about potential chefs' who work with a tempermental head chef who spends the hour screaming and shouting at them, and letting them know that he thinks they are idiots. The Little People, a show about watching the daily struggle of midgets trying to function is a world that is aimed at tall people or at least taller people. And of course, Survivor, which the name alone turns me off. Now I would be lieing if I did not mention that I too am drawn to some particular shows. American Idol, love watching to see what Simon will say from week to week about someone he feels is no more than Karoke material. Or Dancing with the stars, love to see which 'has-been' star thinks they will make a comeback. And of course 'so you think you can dance'. Pure honesty, a bunch of kids who just want to dance, some with no formal training, yet incredible talent.

At first I thought reality shows were nothing but a craze, and they would pass. become boring and not very innovative. But I was really wrong, reality shows are here to stay. As long as life continues to present us with daily challenges, someone will be willing to make a show about it, and many will be willing to watch, hoping that someone else's hardship might be a little worse than theirs. For me, I don't think I will ever be a big fan, when I want reality I just live my life and believe me, it is filled with enough material to make 10 reality shows. It could be called, Real Life.