Not So Reality TV

           When it comes to what to watch on the tube, I do my best to avoid reality TV. The premise of these shows is to unveil candid moments of, in most cases, a celebrity profile. Producers market them as reality based, but what they fail to mention is that it’s actually scripted. Due to its likeability, however, reality TV has gained a large audience, but why do people gorge on it so much? I don’t get it, and, frankly, I’m choosing not to. Although watching these shows may be very entertaining, I believe it obscures the viewers take on what is positively true to life.

            Is watching another person live their “life” on television more interesting than living my own? Ask yourself this question, if you are an avid reality TV viewer. It’s one thing to watch a documentary on someone who actually made a difference in others’ lives, than it is to watch “wanna-be “ famous actors deal with trivial matters on a day-to-day basis. The monotony of drama that is presumed to be real is mundane. If you stop to think about it, can one person’s life really be as eventful as they portray? It boggles me that so many individuals believe and feed into that sham.

            Lets take into consideration the show called “Keeping up with the Kardashians.” I’m most certain everyone knows of this show. It consists of a dysfunctional family attempting to work through their differences in front of millions of spectators. Not only does it lack morals and values, but it also sheds light on how superficial some celebrities can be. The show is clearly meant for exploitation. I don’t see what one can gain from watching this form of debauchery. There is zero take-home content, and it often repeats its theme of unruly behavior.

            More and more, these types of shows are coming out of the wood works, because of it popularity. The television networks are fully aware of the amount of viewers that tune in to watch reality TV, so they must feel the urge to produce more of them. Now when I’m flipping through channels, all I see are talk shows and, what I like to call, surreal TV. I feel the “reality” that is being televised is skewed and embellished. Which in turn, gives the viewer an abnormal perception on what is real.

I’m sure you’ve heard of the saying, “Don’t believe everything you see on TV.” Well, that is because not everything you see on TV is what it seems. The only alternative for a true source of reality is the news. If you’re looking for a big dose of realism, feel free to take a gander at what’s going on around your city. Other than that, everything else on TV has been Hollywood fabricated, and cannot be trusted as factual events. If I want to get a glimpse of reality TV, I’ll turn my channel to either Discovery or National Geographic. So for me, I always make a hard pass when it comes to watching un-reality TV.