Fakeality TV

We've all watched them. We have all sat there and thought to ourselves, 'What in Gods name is wrong with these people?' and 'Why am I watching this'? Yet somehow, we can't seem to pull away. 

People generally start out on these shows familial, and genuinely interesting. But as fame always has it the 'plastic' so to speak takes over. The producers get hold of their personalities and fill their pockets and they end up money hungry self centered conflict ridden messes. We've seen them come and go. That's right people, Fakeality TV. OH I'm sorry, Reality TV. Granted, I am myself guilty of the pleasure of watching an others demise on screen. Everything from the very first Real World on MTV to now Keeping up with the Kardashians, Little People this Little People that, John & Kate plus 8 to now Kate plus 8. The Duggars. Bret Michaels Rock of Love, I could go on. Just to give you a perspective here is a link to the ridiculously insane list of all the reality shows that have ever been in existence. This list is pretty eye opening. (Copy and Paste if necessary.)


http://www.realitytvworld.com/realitytvworld/allshows.shtml

So it made me think. What is it about these shows that compels us to follow them? Scandal, drug and alcohol abuse, divorce, and even shows ending in murder. Yes, Murder!! Then of course you have the innocent shows with the 'family'connotation but are they really just wolves in sheep's clothing?

Even the most wholesome of these shows holds some bit of drama and intrigue. If anything, those shows almost force me to question why they are doing this. However we know why. Money. But why are you watching it? Is it to escape from your own life or drama? Or mine? Is it to sneer at the whining of a spoiled brat bride? I do have a theory about this.

In Howard Sterns movie Private parts(which is about his life) NBC couldn't understand why he was getting such high ratings. But the rating information told them that people whether they like you or not will tune in to listen. Because they just want to hear what you are going to say next. Now if you know anything about Howard Stern he's out there. Anything racy or even slightly in the direction of gross or distorted good or bad, it's usually on his show. Well, I believe it's the same with Reality TV. The more you dislike, the more you may want to know. The louder, more obnoxious, more dangerous and ridiculous things seem with these characters, the better for us. Why? Because it's safe. We thrive on it. It's something to look forward to when you in your life have had a crappy day. Or week. Or month. Or if you just feel like it's all you've got. It's a way to get inside of a life of people who are mostly rich if not billionaires and living vicariously through them. Most of us will never own million dollar houses or Ferrari's. Or have a personal 'everything' assistant for every need known to man. But it sure would be nice to pretend it. And to revel or baulk or whatever it is that sucks you in. It's certainly nice to know you'll never be stuck on a deserted island with a slough of strangers to persecute and possible wilderness to conquer but what if? And these shows also do something extremely important. They give you a view of what people, big, small, rich, poor, middle class, educated, or otherwise, can be like. They are cunning and manipulative in convincing us that they are real, honest to goodness human beings. When it's so quite obvious that they aren't.

So what about you? Why do you watch reality TV?